The facebook status that turned into a blog post... On inequality.

I just read in the paper that a two girls were essentially forced to sit out of their unisex soccer tournament because they were playing against an Islamic team who is unable to play with girls because of religious reasons. The Islamic team offered to forfeit but this would mean the Catholic school would not be able to advance if they didn't have a certain number of goals. The rules of the tournament are clear that girls are eligible to be on the boys team, if there is no girls team at their school.

This is a classic example of the rights of one group infringing upon the rights of another. Does the Islamic school have a right to refuse to play with girls? Absolutely by a) not entering the tournament in the first place and b) forfeiting with no penalty against the opposing teams. Instead of honoring both the religious rights of the Islamic team and the rights of women to be free from discrimination, the Catholic school and tournament officials stomp all over the rights of the female players by putting those poor girls in the position to "take one for the team" - literally. No one should have to "take one for the team" by way of outright discrimination.

There is so much emphasis on equality and inclusiveness in our schools yet give a clear-cut case to school officials and they blow it. Anyone who knew me as a teen would have described me as a feminist. I do not generally agree with mainstream feminist ideals but I am for equality of the sexes, and more importantly for equality of all people. What I am against is the idea that minority rights on any grounds can trump the rights of the majority. This goes for the forcing and/or excessive influence of minority ideals upon the general population. Likewise the majority group should be never be allowed rampant bias against minorities because of the presumed upper hand.

Kobo go boom!!! for the techie in me

After 2 Kobo e-readers I am the proud owner of the Sony Reader.  The USB port on both of the Kobos never did plug-in properly to the reader.  It was always loose and had to be jiggled around to connect.  The first one I had which was just 3 months old fried the motherboard of my computer when I plugged it in to charge.  Luckily this didn’t result in a loss of data just a $150 second-hand motherboard.  I got a “new,” meaning refurbished, Kobo from the company under warranty but it had the same problem as the first.  I didn’t bother to send it back because I just figured it would be the same with another.  Needless to say, I didn’t plug into my computer unless absolutely necessary. 

Perching it upright to charge (which was the only way it would connect) worked okay for a couple of years until around February when I plugged it into the  computer to add some books and realized that the computer would no longer recognize it.  The whole time I  had it had been very iffy with connecting to the computer with the Kobo software often not recognizing it (another dud) even if Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) did.  Now not even ADE would recognize it which meant that I could no longer put books from the library on it.  I decided to do a little troubleshooting and updated the reader firmware.  When that didn’t work I decided to do a factory reset which would bring the reader back to it’s original factory state completely wiping all books.  This was after buying 3 new books.  BIG MISTAKE.  The stupid thing still wouldn't connect to the computer and unlike later firmware upgrades, could not be updated via Wi-Fi.  That left me with an old version of the firmware and Kobo doesn’t connect automatically to the store so there was no way I could re-download my books.  In frustration, I took the thing apart and was not surprised to find the USB port to be completely unattached to anything inside the reader; worn down where the electrical components met the plug-in; and even wear against the metal frame of the reader where the port was constantly being forced to connect to the cord.

What would Kobo do about it?  NOTHING!!!  They won’t even fix the unit or replace it if you offer to pay for it.  The problem is reported widespread across the internet and is obviously such an problem that when you go to their website to send in a complaint, the USB port is included in a drop down list of issues.  There only advice was to buy a new Kobo reader.  FAT CHANCE!  It’s really too bad because otherwise the Kobo reader is a fairly good product.  All they had to do was properly anchor the USB port.  Moral of the story:  splurge the extra $50 or so and go with a different brand than Kobo.

About when this was happening, Sony users will know that Sony decided to discontinue manufacturing of their reader and switch their store to Kobo.  Perfect timing for me because although I was out a $150 e-reader (plus the $150 fee to fix my computer), I was able to pick up a refurbished Sony Reader at Factory Direct for $50.  An extra $5 extended 1-year warranty puts me pretty square with buying a brand new e-reader.

So, finally after what has only been a month but seems much longer, Sony has switched their store over to Kobo and HOPEFULLY I can download my unread books from Kobo store to my Sony Reader.  All in all, I am kinda glad this happened because Sony Reader by far is a superior product to Kobo.  What a relief to plug the USB cord into the Sony and it fits perfectly with no jiggling.  I preferred a few little aesthetic things with the Kobo but nothing compared to Sony’s superior web browser and ability to access your public library right on the reader.  With Kobo you have to download the book on your computer from your library’s website, download ADE in order to access the books and upload to your e-reader via USB.  That’s alot more effort that touching a few buttons on the Sony Reader and your done!  Now I’m just hoping I will have no problem uploading my Kobo library to my Sony Reader … fingers crossed.

As I was writing this I got some more good techie news.  A knock on my door just delivered a new, free print head for my equally troublesome Kodak printer.  Sure two years ago when I first reported the problems they told me I would have to pay $40 for a new print head but after being printer-less for way too long I called to order one and they offered to send me one for free at their agent’s discretion.  Sure it took two years but at least I had the option!  And before you make any comments about it being cheaper to go and buy a new printer I will enlighten you that the printer is actually really good and at $15 to $25 for printer cartridges, it’s one of the cheapest on the market to maintain.  But that’s just dust under the rug … I got it fixed for free!

Mmmmmm Breakfast

Goings Ons

Where I’m from there are a couple of different “definitions” so to speak of “going on”…  Below, I will tell you about the recent goings ons in my family.  There’s the “It was some goin’ on over there last night” meaning something unusual or exciting has happened and depending on the tone of voice it could be a scandalous event or if said in a jovial tone, might mean that everyone had a pretty good time.  There could also be “What a goin’ on I had…” (not a question) which is usually describing some difficult or unnecessarily complicated situation that had occurred.  This too could be a negative thing or said in a jovial tone would imply that “it was hard but I had alot of fun trying to fix the situation.”  Anyway, this is not the point of this blog, I just thought about it as I was writing the title.  I’m here to tell you about the goings ons in my life.

We made a BIG move in July which I don’t think I’ve mentioned here.  My husband has a new job which he LOOOVES!  He’s away quite a bit for his job so I’m often home alone with the little ones but I don’t really find it any worse than he worked shift work.  I like that many days he’s home by 3 to pick the kids up from school!  And he’s way more relaxed than he was at his old job.

Of course we have a new home.  A much bigger new home.  In our old home all 6 of us were sharing a 3 bedroom bungalow so our new 2-story, 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house is much more comfortable.  The babies are still sharing a room but it’s a really big one and I think they sleep better together.  My 3-year-old was used to sharing a room with her big sister and on the rare nights that my baby won’t go to sleep right away, I take her out of the room and the 3-year-old won’t go to sleep alone.  I like to think of it as a nursery although my baby will be 2 in a few weeks.  And is she ever clinging to baby-hood!  Didn’t stand until 10 months, didn’t walk until 17 months and is taking her time with talking.  Why bother when saying “Mommy” and pointing to what she wants works just fine?  I give her too little credit; in the past few weeks especially she is saying plenty of new words.

My two older ones are settled into school pretty well.  It was a huge surprise to me that my 6-year-old had such a hard time adjusting to the move.  I guess it shouldn’t have been but I never moved as a child so I didn’t really know what to expect.  My easy-going boy had no obvious problems but my little girl is only just now not having weekly outbursts blaming all her problems on the fact that we moved (problems she would have had in our old town as well but that’s 6-year-old logic for ya).  Next week I have to register my 3-year-old for the junior kindergarten program that is here.  I would love to keep her home with me for next year but I don’t want her to be lagging behind her peers.  I think my 1st-grader’s teacher expects a little more out of her than she should considering her peers have a full year more of schooling than she does.

I really like the area we are in.  It can be busy but it still has elements of small-town charm.  I love that fastfood, Wal-Mart and grocery stores are 5 minutes away depending on traffic.  The downtown park is beautiful and it turns into a meandering skating trail in the winter-so cool.  I’m so blessed that we live 5 minutes from my aunt and my Nan.  My aunt has been here for over 30 years and she’s never had family live near her (besides my nan who moved in with her 6 years ago) so she’s very happy we are here.  I don’t get over there as much as I would like but between hustling the kids around and renovating our kitchen, it’s been pretty busy.  Cross my fingers the kitchen will be completely finished by tomorrow.  I’ll post pics of the whole process soon.  Then we have to start on our basement.  Oh did I mention we got this house really cheaply but it needs some upgrading.  We are gonna finish the basement into a functioning laundry room, play-room, and media room (read Man-Cave).  Nah seriously I am so happy about the media room.  My husband has been talking for years about a cool room to set up our seldomly used projector and having a place to show case all his memorabilia.  He’s just a little bit of collector!  A friend recently said that she’s never felt her current house of 3 years was home like her old house.  I feel the opposite.  I feel more at home here at 6 months than I did in my older home of 7 years.  I think it’s because with our growing family I was never comfortable there.

I think that is about it.  At least that’s it for now.  I have to get to bed.  Blessings to you all and thanks for reading.

Ezekiel’s Bread

The week I left to go to my home province for Christmas break I was grocery shopping at Fortino’s and as I was walking by the frozen food section I noticed the word Ezekiel.  I was delighted to find a bread that is based on a recipe from the Bible in Ezekiel 4:9:  “Take also unto yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make yourself bread of it…”.

It’s made in California by a company called Food for Life which I thought explained why they freeze it to keep it fresh until it arrives to the consumer.  It’s made with each of the above organic sprouted grains, lentils and soybeans and has no flour.  Don’t ask me what sprouted grains are all about because I have no idea.  They make a plain bread specific to the recipe but I thought I would try the added cinnamon and raisin type.  It actually tastes really good for a multigrain bread.

When I came home last week after a month long holiday I was surprised to see a half loaf of Ezekiel bread still up in the cupboard just like I had absentmindedly left it.  At the time I thought that my husband must have bought another loaf (he came home two weeks earlier than me and the kids) or maybe that I hadn’t been so absentminded after all and had put it in the freezer and he had recently taken it out.  Today as I was putting away the mother-load of groceries the hubby picked up at Costco, I again noticed the loaf of Ezekiel bread and asked him about it.  He said that he hadn’t put it there.  As I continued to clean out the cupboard I found another slice of bread that I had made from last month rolled up in a bag and as you would expect it was completely covered in mold  (blech I could barely open the bag)

I don’t know if it’s the special combination of these amazing grains or the fact that they are sprouted or the technique the bakers use (supposedly preservative free) but not only is it completely mold-free, it’s actually kinda soft and fresh in the middle.  It feels like bread you may have left out on the counter for a couple of hours, hardly dry at all.  Anyways, the remainder of Ezekiel 4:9 says: “and make yourself bread of it, according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety days shall you eat of it.”  So maybe it is a special bread and it still has a life shelf of 360 days!!!

The most obvious yet ignored piece of advice you’ve ever heard

It’s taken me 32 years… night after night of my dad yelling at me during my teenage years… and groggy morning after groggy morning of my adulthood but I’ve finally got it… GO TO BED!!!
For years I’ve been lamenting about how tired I am.  Why do I feel like I need a nap almost every afternoon?  Why do I never wake up on my own?  Why do I feel so groggy 10 even 20 minutes after I’ve been awake?  How come I feel like going back to bed after getting my kids to school nearly every day?  I’ve finally figured it out.  I haven’t been getting enough sleep.  You kinda go on the standard advice:  Most adults need 6-8 hours of sleep every night.  Okay, then I should be able to go to bed at midnight and get up at 7:20am and feel rested, right?  WRONG.

The last month or so I’ve been aiming to get to bed at around 10:00pm and at the latest 11:00pm.  And guess what?  I’ve often been waking on my own around 7:00 am.  I may not get out of bed until the alarm goes off at 7:20 but I get up and I don’t feel like a walking corpse when I do.  I haven’t been going back to bed in the morning until my younger kids wake up.  I’m able to go all day and not have that 3:00pm slouch.  As a result I’ve had WAY more energy.  Now when I’m tempted to stay up watching a marathon of episodes on Netflix I think about how crappy I’ll feel in the morning and how wonderful I’ll feel if I just go to bed now.

Some of you may thinking “10:00pm??? That’s a little early.  I have so much preparation; laundry; chores in the evening.  Not to mention some much need relaxation.  I can’t get to bed until way after 11”  I understand.  As I rarely have my kids in bed earlier than 8:45 (I aim for 8:30 but it always seems to be pushing 9 before they are settled), it’s a rush on to get to bed before 10.  That means by the time I get the younger munchkins to bed, who often have incredibly long naps and may not be tired at 9, then it’s all I can do but to brush my teeth and hop in the sack myself.  It may take some sacrifice but it may mean feeling more energized in the morning to get up 20 minutes earlier to make lunches or put a load of laundry in the washer or even get to work a little early to get a head start on your work day!  I just know it’s been working for me and if you have been feeling way too old and way too zonked than maybe it’s something you should try.  If you can keep your sleep stores up on a regular basis than you can manage to slip in an occasional later night without feeling totally drained.

So consider the most obvious advice ever and try to get to a good night’s sleep!

PS If you've been waiting for another post about "Believing God".. it's coming soon.

Totally forgot I wrote this

I found this poem I wrote on my facebook notes...

Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 11:46am

One Stone: A Lament for the Lost

One stone stands different
One word, one date
Both birth and death together
No dash to separate

One word to name him
One date to mark his life
Both death and birth
In a single strike

No body to lay here
His mother his grave
But to keep his memory
The stone she gave

No body to lay here
Just remnants of his soul
His mother now bears
That terrible hole

"Please forgive me" she whispers
And somehow hears "I do.
But now, dear Mommy,
You must forgive you."

This poem is an adaptation of a book called "Tilly" by Frank Perretti.

My kind of man

So this is the kind of husband I have…  I work two 12-hr days in a row.  He’s  home with the 4 kids.  On Tuesday, he prepares super-delicious Manicotti for supper all the while dressing all the kids in their Christmas dress clothes to go the school Christmas concert.  They are there not only on time but 25 minutes early at 6:05pm.  Day 2 I get home at 7:20 pm but he’s not home because he’s out carting the kids to dance and karate.  There are two baking dishs of Rice Krispie Squares on the the table as well as dozens of chocolate chip cookies.  The table is also covered with grocery bags of baking supplies that he picked up earlier.
That’s the kind of man I married… my kind of man :)

Slowly going yzarc

This was the original name of my post but now I am definitely going yzarc because I just spent all morning researching and writing a blog and went to answer the phone and somehow my 2 year-old cut the entire post.  Even though I was “saving drafts,” I accidentally saved the deleted post over it instead of hitting UNDO!  I can’t believe it.. it was worth the work though and maybe I will rewrite it again soon.  BOOOOOO….

A Proper Perspective

No sleeping in this morning for me as my 8 month old is uncharacteristically awake at 7:30 am.  As I lie in bed hearing the wind roar and the rain beating off the windows I think of my husband who is doing Red Serge duty later this morning at the Remembrance Day Service.  “Sucks to be him” I think as I contemplate dragging my kids out to the service to watch from the protection and warmth of our vehicle.

Then I realize what Remembrance Day is all about.  It’s remembering that men lived and died in trenches in conditions much worse than a little November rain.  It’s being thankful for the men and women who now serve our country to assist in bringing peace to other countries.  And never forgetting that we enjoy the freedom we do because battles were fought, wars were won, and lives were lost.

Thank-you Veterans and Members of the Canadian Armed Forces.  Canada is eternally grateful.  I am eternally grateful.

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders Fields
by
Dr. John McCrae, Canadian Soldier, May 1915

LOL

Deprived

When I hear my 6-month-old laugh hysterically just because her brother threw a playing card within her line of sight… When my toddler giggles under a blanket while “hiding” from Daddy… When my 5-year-old laughs at her own silly antics… When my 8-year-old roars from the depths of his belly at the latest episode of America’s Funniest Most Videos (as he calls it)… When I am filled with joy by these precious moments, it is sometimes instantly taken away as my heart aches for those who’ve deprived themselves of these incomparable joys. It’s their child who has been deprived of life, torn limb from limb in an act so violent that we’d be hard-pressed to find another crime on earth as horrific. But they themselves have been deprived of all the love, joy and purpose that child could have given them or, if not them, another family.

When you ask for mercy, you will receive it. When you receive mercy, your mourning turns into dancing, and your weeping into joy.

Modern Conveniences

I’ve been without an oven for about a month now.  The element in my oven went and despite mine and my husband’s efforts, so far we haven’t been able to find a new one to fit.  The oven went the night that my husband went away for vacation with my 2 oldest kids (along with the leaky pipe in the basement and my washer while he was away-grrr).  I was fine without an oven for just me and my babies but when he got home he took the element out altogether and now I can’t even use my stovetop without tripping a breaker.  As per my last post, I love my George Foreman grill and have been getting along okay with just that and the BBQ.  However, it’s been getting a little tricky without the stovetop.  Here’s some pics of the adventure I had trying a fantastic recipe from fellow blogger, and Newfie, Barry Parsons from Rock Recipes.  I did make some changes to the recipe for taste such as using only 1/3 of ginger, a smidgen of crushed chillies, and substituting seasoning salt for five spice.  I also don’t keep peanut oil on hand so I used canola instead.  My husband thought it was phenomenal commenting “If this was in a restaurant, this would be my favorite thing to order.”  It’s Crispy Honey Orange Pork Medallions with brown rice and egg rolls.  I’ve tried orange-based Asian recipes before with very little luck, but this one looked so good and it’s turned out to be a winner.

 

 

 

George Foreman Grill, electric fondue pot, and the good old microwave

 

 

 

 

The finished product!

I started the sauce in my fondue pot while I prepared the pork.  Fried the pork in the baking pan on the George Foreman.  Meanwhile thawed the egg rolls in the microwave, and boiled some water in the electric kettle.  Once the pork was ready and added to the sauce, I switched up to the grill plate and baked the eggrolls while finishing the rice with the boiled water in the microwave!  Whew that was a mouthful.  Despite the result of my last three blogs, I don’t intend on turning this blog into a foodie blog but I really do love cooking.  I have a few other ideas for things to blog about but the food has been topping them all lately!

Homemade Hummus with My Make-It-Easy Appliances

My family and I have been eating alot of hummus lately and on my last trip to the grocery store I decided to pick up a can of chickpeas and make the stuff myself.  The first time I ate homemade hummus it was made by my very close friend (probably the nicest person I will ever meet in my life).  She LOVES garlic, and that’s probably an understatement so I’m sure she made hers with 6 or 7 cloves of raw garlic which was a little too potent for me.  The recipes I’ve looked at call for 2 or 3, so I used 3, and I roasted them for a milder taste. 

In the last few years I’ve stocked my kitchen with any appliance that makes cooking and food preparation easier.  My latest addition, the G5 George Foreman Grill, has proved to be as useful as it claims.  There are 5 plates but 2 of them are used for making waffles so it really only has 4 different functions.  My husband bought it for me almost 1/2 price at Christmastime, as well as a new Magic Bullet on sale.  Good ole Canadian Tire.  I find the only problem I have with my new grill is getting used to using it instead of say, turning on the oven.  I was going to roast sesame seeds in the oven for homemade tahini paste and to roast the garlic but caught myself before I’d wasted all that energy pre-heating my oven.  The reason I needed a new Bullet was because the plastic mechanism that turns the blades on my old one had cracked.  I know other people this has happened to and my hummus making friend says the trick is to unplug the Bullet when you are using it in “Lock On” mode instead of trying to unlock it.  This is as technical as I can get when trying to describe this problem so if you have a more valuable description to offer, please do!  So far it seems like the unplugging thing is working but if this Bullet breaks prematurely (like barely a year of use like the last one), I will not be buying a Magic Bullet brand blender/food processor again.  In general however I love my Bullet and use it very often.  A silicone spatula works great to scrape sticky food from the cup.  They really should include one with the Bullet actually.

I turned the grill on high (or 3) and heated it up.  I peeled and cut 3 cloves of garlic, placed them on one side on the baking plate and drizzled them lightly with olive oil.  I might use more than 3 next time or try them raw because I could do with more garlic flavor.  I also minced 4 cloves of garlic in the Bullet and sauteed it in olive oil to top the hummus.  I sprinkled the sesame seeds on the other side of the plate then I closed the grill, turned it down 1 and set the timer to 5 minutes.  I’ve never roasted sesame seeds before and the recipes I looked up range from 5 to 15 minutes in the oven but all agreed to not brown them as it creates a bitter taste.  I figured 5 minutes with grill closed should do and a few of the seeds were starting to brown so I think that was just about right.

Tahini (sesame) paste is basically roasted sesame seeds made into a paste with oil.  Some recipes call for sesame oil (Chinese) while others call for olive oil (Greek).  I have both so I thought I’d use both.  Most recipes online are for making a huge amount of tahini paste but I found a recipe for just about the right amount for my hummus recipe.  I used a recipe for hummus from my Magic Bullet 10 Second Recipes book with a little tweaking.  I almost never use a recipe exactly as it’s written.  I’m a tweaker.  For instance, I found the 2 tablespoons of liquid called for in the hummus recipe was not nearly enough to blend the ingredients in the Bullet, and I ended up using 5 tablespoons or 1/3 cup.  I admit this could have been due to the fact that I used the small cup instead of the tall cup that was recommended but anyways the hummus turned out great and as I mentioned, I think the only thing I will change next time is adding more or raw garlic.  Here’s the recipe:

Tahini Paste

• 2 tbsp. roasted sesame seeds
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Place sesame seeds, oil and salt in Magic Bullet, blender or food processor and grind until smooth.  If using a blender or food processor you may need to add up to 2 tablespoons of warm water.

Hummus

• 1 cup canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained, reserving liquid 
• 1/3 cup of liquid from chickpeas or chicken stock
• 3 cloves garlic, roasted or raw
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. tahini paste (or all of homemade tahini paste)

Add all ingredients into the Tall Cup of the Magic Bullet or a food processor.  Twist on the cross blade for the Magic Bullet and blend until smooth.  The traditional way to serve is to pour the hummus into a bowl and drizzle it with olive oil, then sprinkle the top with paprika.  May also be topped with minced sauteed garlic, or bottled garlic.  Serve hummus with toasted pita triangles. 

Toasted Pita Triangles

• whole-wheat pocket pitas (approx. 1/2 pita per person)
• olive oil
• garlic powder

Pre-heat oven to 450 deg F.  Using kitchen scissors, cut pitas into triangles and place on cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and lightly sprinkle with garlic powder.  Bake for 5 minutes.  For crispier “pita chips”, open up pita pocket by cutting around the circumference of the pita to make 2 thin slices.  Separate slices before cutting into triangles.

For original hummus recipe (larger serving), click here.

For original tahini paste recipe, click here.

Chili Lime Shrimp

I brought this to a party a few weeks ago and a friend asked me to send her the recipe so I thought I’d just as well add it here too.

-Olive (or cooking) oil 1/4 cup 60 mL
-Liquid honey 3 tbsp. 50 mL
-BBQ sauce (or sweet chili sauce for more heat) 1/4 cup 60 mL
-Lime juice 1/4 cup 60 mL
-Dried parsley 1 1/2 tbsp. 25 mL
-Onion powder 1/2 tsp. 2.5 mL
-Garlic powder 1/4 tsp. 1.25 mL
-Salt 1 tsp. 5 mL
-Dried crushed chilies 1/2 tsp. 2.5 mL (or more for extra heat)
-Raw jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined, 2 1/4 lbs. 1 kg tails intact or frozen, cooked shrimp small bag (approx. 300g or 30 ct.)
-Bamboo skewers, 4 inch (10 cm) length, 25 - 30 25 - 30 soaked in water for 10 minutes

Thaw shrimp if frozen.

Combine first 10 ingredients in large bowl.

Add shrimp to marinade. Stir to coat. Cover. Marinate in refrigerator for 3 hours, turning several times. May marinade for less but flavours are better if left longer.  Remove shrimp. For raw shrimp, pour marinade into small saucepan and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. For cooked shrimp may use marinade without boiling.

BBQ:
Thread shrimp lengthwise onto skewers, starting at head end.  Or if not using skewers, place in grill basket or grill skillet with small enough holes to not lose shrimp through.  Grill shrimp for 2 minutes per side, brushing with marinade several times.  Raw shrimp should be cooked until pink.

Oven:
Place shrimp, skewered or not, on broil pan or ungreased baking sheet.  Broil on top rack about 2 minutes per side, basting with marinade several times, until raw shrimp are pink.

1 appetizer: 72 Calories; 1.9 g Total Fat; 150 mg Sodium; 8 g Protein; 4 g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fibre

Original recipe from Company's Coming Most Loved Appetizers cook book. You can view it online here.

Benvenuta Bella! Welcome Beautiful!

We've a new beauty in our home, the lovely Bella. My husband and I have been talking about getting another dog for a few months now: "Oh, when we move"... or "When we get a bigger house." He showed me Bella on online and I just couldn't get her off my mind. She's supposed to be a Shepherd mix and I'm not really a big dog person but she looked so much like my husband's old dog that I was just sure he would love her. He wasn't really serious about

getting her but I just really wanted to see what she was like.

I wouldn't dare take a grown dog without bringing her home first to see how she was with the kids and our other dog, so I arranged to have her come for the evening last night and she's been with us ever since. I expect her former owner will want to take her back at least to say goodbye, but it seems like she’s ours! She is so great with the kids and comes from a family with two children, one being a one-year-old which is nice that she’s used to babies. She also doesn’t give two hoots about our dog Sam. Sam can be aggressive to other dogs especially ones that are vying for my husband’s attention. He’s very protective and doesn’t like Bella to go near my two daughters. He’s not so protective of my son, but that’s probably because he’s bigger.

We love Sam but he isn’t the most easy going dog. He’s great with the kids which we are so grateful for and is really the most important thing when you have pets and children but he runs away the first chance he can. He’ll come back for my husband sometimes if he’s already had a little run, but he barely ever listens to me. We have 3 acres of land so he loves to explore it and he never runs more than 1/2 km from the house but he’s a car chaser and we’re so afraid he’s going to get hit. We’ve considered the electric fence but keep saying we’ll get it for our new home. Mind you we’ve been talking about moving for 2 years now and we’re still here.

Sam will also get into garbage, compost etc but if we specifically say “No” then he’s pretty good to listen. He used to have a disgusting habit of eating our daughter’s dirty diapers but he’s kinda gotten out of that now that he’s older. When he was a younger, I’m not sure if he was a puppy or maybe over a year old, our glass outdoor table blew over and broke and no word of a lie, he ate the broken glass. It’s the kind of glass that doesn’t shard, but it was still like eating sharp rocks. It’s amazing he’s still around really. He jumped out of our car window while we were driving 100 km an hour and got away with just some road rash. I was holding him in my lap, and looking back I think if I hadn’t been holding the leash or had let go immediately, he might have gone straight under the car tires and well, he might not be here. He also does many other annoying things like scratch at the door to get in even though he knows that I won’t let him in unless he barks. I’ve trained him to do bark on command but he reverts to his instinctual scratching. What is with that anyways? Why do so many dogs scratch to get in? He’s a good boy though for the most part.

Bella seems like she’s much more laid back. She’s also more cuddly and affectionate. With Sam if you try to rub him down or scratch him he just gets all excited and wants to lick you or play or get in your face. Bella will gently put her head on your lap and snuggle in. She’s even done this with my son who was tickled pick with that because even though Sam will play and is good with the kids he’s just not that kind of dog. I feel bad for him because he’s getting a lot of scolding for growling at Bella and I’m sure he feels so threatened right now but I know he’ll get over it. He was the same way with my sister-in-law’s dog and now they are the best of buddies. Right now he’s preoccupied with some perceived threat outside and he’s hasn’t growled or bothered with Belle since they came in from their nighttime potty. I think it’s because the outside light which usually only comes on by motion sensor is set to stay on and he’s really smart, he probably thinks there is something out there to make it turn on. I should turn it off and see what he does.

Ha ha just what I thought. He spent a few more minutes looking out the window, then moseyed on down the hall to his bed, ohh, back for one more look, and gone again. He’s just too smart and that’s what frustrating about him, he knows when he is doing wrong but chooses to do it anyways :). Like us all at times I guess.

Bella seems to like to lie down next to wherever you are and that’s what she’s doing right now. Sam has finally decided there really is nothing outside and has gone to flake out on the couch. Me? I’m going to bed, Char out.

A blog about, my blog

Soooooo…. as you can seeeeee….. (if you’ve visited before) I’ve updated the look!  Something I’ve wanted to do since almost immediately after I initially designed my site and Blogger came out with a new fancy, shmancy “Template Designer” that had much nicer, more customizable templates.  But alas, as it takes me forever to decide on backgrounds and colors and whatnot, I delayed redesigning it until this past week.  And I should have delayed longer because I have my husband’s entire family (and I mean full immediate family-7 in all, 12 including us) coming to visit in a few days and I have a ton of cleaning to do, but what else is new?  Did I mention I have 3 kids, a 3 bedroom bungalow and nowhere to put these people except in our travel trailer.  But my in-laws are seriously the best, and so easy to please, so it’s all good.

I hope you like the new look.  I liked the green before, but it didn’t really say what I wanted the blog to say.  I found this picture online (don’t worry, I’ve sought permission to use it), and thought it was really appropriate even though I was trying to stay away from photos as backgrounds and wanted a little more color than black and white.  I think the pink tones add a nice touch, even though I try to stay from pink too because it’s just so girly.  But I have to admit, I like pink.  When you have 2 daughters, it’s hard not to.

Back to the photograph.  I was going to add a caption but thought photography, as an art, shouldn’t have captions (unless it’s incredibly abstract) and should say whatever the person viewing thinks it says.  So here’s my question?  What does this photo (to the right, if you’re confused) say to you?  Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.  I had a friend say she tried to leave a comment the other day but had to have a Google account in order to do so.  If you neither have, nor want a Google account, then comment on Facebook (if you linked from there), or email me at stailingblog@gmail.com.  I’ll then post your comments on here for you!  Won’t that be fun?!?

So there’s this daddy blog at www.danoah.com that’s been up since July, 2010, and it’s already gone viral in September with a blog about his experiences of rude questions asked about his adopted son of another race.  I got the link from, well, a friend on Facebook who has adopted children of another race (wonderful family).  Good for you danoah.com but what is up with that?  How come I can’t go viral? or even just a little stuffy with maybe a touch of the runny nose? (drum roll anyone?)  Who came up with the term viral anyways?  I would settle for my site to come up on the first 50 pages of Google when I search “stailing” but nope, not yet.  Anyhoo, not having the internet savvy to create my own URL might be something to do with it (but I’m still appreciative Blogger).  Or maybe my life is just not as interesting as recently single dads of adopted mixed race sons.  Or maybe I’m just little old me up here in little old Canada (comparatively in population to the US).  Goodness knows there are thousands, if not closer to millions of mommy blogs out there and mine is well, no more special than the next.  I should clarify, I don’t really expect to ever go viral.  I just hope that every now and then I can make someone smile, or cry, or cause to reflect.  I’m really appreciative of the few comments I have received (mostly on Facebook) about my blog and I guess I’ll just keep writing until I run out of things to say, which, let’s face it, will be never.  For now, I will write for myself mostly; for my kids later to read later about their crazy mom; and last but not least, for you, you seldom few who come click your way here.  Thank-you and goodnight.

Meatballs Carbonade

I haven’t posted in my Kitchen and Cooking tab yet, so I thought I would start with what I made last night. I got this recipe from some old books my husband bought years ago at Value Village (he used to work there and we still have issues that he just has to go there every time we visit the city, but we never seem to get time to visit the book and bible store. I sing and it’s the only place to buy soundtracks for church).

Okay, sorry, back to the point of this blog. If you ever come across a Better Homes and Gardens recipe book volume I would strongly encourage you to pick it up. It isn’t fancy cooking. It relies on canned goods, and powdered boullions, and dried herbs and spices (who buys fresh anyways?). But it is good simple, family cooking. I’ve used dozens of recipes from them and this is one I found for meatballs that isn’t like totally awesome, but it’s really good. This one is from BH&G Beef Recipes. I tried it because I had non-alcoholic beer that I wanted to use up (I also use it in my fondue broth that I’ll have to post another time), and I remembered at a night shift potluck years ago a co-worker brought a beer-based meatball sauce that was awesome. It should be a requirement at potlucks to bring copies of the recipe your making, don’t ya think? I’m thinking hers had BBQ sauce too and who knows maybe I’ll be able to mimic that some day. Anyways, I’ve tried this recipe a couple of times and last night tasted the best. I’ll include the main recipe and little alterations I made which I think make it taste better. The alterations to the ground beef mixture are ones I got from another BH&G cookbook called Barbecue Recipes in a recipe for Barbecued Beef Burgers. Makes the most moist, awesome handmade burgers ever.

First a little history on Carbonade. And you thought you were just getting a recipe. I thought Carbonade was a dish that contained bacon (like an Italian Carbonara) but it is actually a Spanish word for a Belgium dish that contains beef, onions and beer with thyme and bay leaf for seasoning (thanks Wikipedia). This recipe doesn’t have bay leaf which may be a nice addition, but it does add bacon. Cow and pig. . . mmmm. Now for what you’ve all been waiting for: The Recipe . . .

Meatballs Carbonade

Ingredients

Items in brackets are alterations from the main recipe.

• 3 slices of bacon (4)
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• black pepper to taste
• 12-oz can of beer or 1 1/2 cups (355ml can)
• (2 tbsp. each of milk and ketchup if not adding beer to meatballs)
• 1 lb. ground beef

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• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced (1 large)
• 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour (2 tbsp.)
• 1 tsp. instant beef boullion powder
• 1 tsp. brown sugar (1 tbsp.)
• 1 tsp. white vinegar (1 tbsp.)
• (2 tbsp. ketchup)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
• (1 bayleaf)
• 2 tbsp. snipped parsley for garnish

In medium skillet cook bacon till crisp; crumble and set aside, reserving drippings. In bowl combine 1/4 cup of the beer (or milk and ketchup), egg, bread crumbs, 3/4 tsp. salt, and pepper; add ground beef and mix well. Shape meat mixture in to 24 meat balls. Brown on all sides in bacon drippings. Transfer meat balls to 1 1/2 quart casserole.

In same skillet cook onions til golden; stir in flour. Add remaining beer, boullion, brown sugar, vinegar, 1/2 tsp. salt, thyme, and dash pepper. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Pour over meatballs. Cover and bake at 350 deg. for 45 minutes. Top with parsley and crumbled bacon just before serving (and remove bay leaf).

My notes:  -I just leave the bacon in the pan and mix it in with the sauce for more flavor. -I didn’t use beer in the meatballs as they were premade. They will be too messy with both the beer and the added milk and ketchup, so I would choose one or the other.  Use the milk and ketchup for regular meatballs in other recipes.  -I mix the flour and remaining sauce ingredients in a blender or Magic Bullet. -I added ketchup to the sauce for a little color and flavor. -My meatballs were nearly cooked before I put them in the oven so they were only in there 20 minutes or so.

PS. I tried everything I could think of to make a printer-friendly, 4x6 recipe card but I'm not techie enough to figure it out. My best advice is to highlight and select the recipe and then click "selection" under the print window before printing.