In the summer I live for Joanne’s Market.  God I love that place.

And I love to stock up on their Julians day old bread, because, well, it’s Julians bread, so even if it’s a day old, it’s still pretty awesome.  Plus, it’s only two bucks.

So one particular day, I said to hell with my low carb diet, and I ate an entire load of Julians bread.

French Cubes

Dice a sturdy bread in inch cubes and soak in the following mixture:

3 eggs

1/4 cup blend and 1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Grated orange rind

Saute them in butter on all sides.

Sprinkle these little darlins with icing sugar.  I use that weird apparatus for loose tea.

I also fried some diced peaches and bananas.  The peaches were delicious, I wasn’t crazy about the bananas.

Then for lunch, I made a Caesar salad unlike all others.  You know how normally you eat everything in a Caesar but the croutons?  Well it turns out that the croutons aren’t these ones.  Remember when I made that little jar of garlic?  Yeah, dig that out.

Saute the roasted garlic, add olive oil, cubed bread and parmesan cheese.  Add to romain and top with dressing.

And all for two dollars!

I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that Evan no longer wants to be an NHL hockey player when he grows up, thou I’m sure if that opportunity arose, he’d change his mind.  The bad news is that he wants to be a writer, which means he’ll likely be living in my basement until he’s thirty.

It’s not that I want to dissuade him from being a writer.  I think it’s an honorable profession.  But lets face it, the J.K. Rowling’s of the world almost always get discovered by accident.

But Evan does have a knack for story-telling, and just like I’ve nurtured Colin’s interests in cooking, I’m going to do the same with Evan’s writing.

I bought 3 of these books from Bridgewater Photo and Art on King Street.  I actually bought 4 but can only find 3, and I have a special plan for each of them.  I’ll tell you about them all later, but in one of them Evan is going to learn about some great people who have helped shape our world.

In this book, I have pictures of  some incredible people.  Then I did a bit of research on them so Evan could read and learn about them.  Like Rosa Parks…

And Martin Luther King Jr.

And I also added good ol Canadian boy, Marc Keilburger.

And then I added some pictures with some blank pages, because this is where he’ll learn how to do research.  He’ll write what he’s learned about Barack Obama…

And Nelson Mandala…

And Bono…What, he’s a great man!!

And just because I know how to motivate my child…

The rest of the book I left blank so he can add who he wants to write and learn about.

And because he’s stuck already, he wants to knowt…who should he add?

One of my longest relationships will be coming to pause very soon, and I’m left feeling a bit… scared.

When I was in grade 8, my parents moved from the town of Bridgewater to Auberndale.  So for a 14 year old teenage, hormonal bitch, they pretty much moved me to hell.  For those of you who think your teenager daughter is giving you problems, talk to my parents.  They’ll tell you, it could be much worse.

I went from being a townie, with my home-made flask which was an old VO5 hairspray bottle walking to the Mustangs game, to having my parents picking me up from everywhere.  Hind-sight, having my parents make me change schools from BHS to Hebbville probably saved my life.  Or at least kept me out of prison.  Please note, this was just my experience.

That first day I walked into my new grade 8 home room class and my teacher, Rhonda Himmelman, told Nadia Murphy to show me around. Why she chose Nad, I have no idea, I don’t think she knows why, but Nadia was my first friend at Hebbville.  She introduced me to her tribe. That’s how I met Jen.  They were athletes.  Smart athletes.  I was all, soooo do you guys party or what? They were all, ahhh, no we play sports and we’re smart. It was like I was in detox.  I thought this would be the longest 2 years of my life until I got to Parkview.

I met lots of other good friends.  Friends that I’m great friends with today.  But I always had a special friendship with Nadia.  We may not have eaten lunch together everyday, but I knew that she was rooting for me to do well at this school, and she knew that when the time was right, and she was ready to put down that basketball and scientific calculator, I would introduce her to my friend, Dr. McGillicuddy.

Throughout Park View we met lots of other friends, had boyfriends, she played basketball while I played volleyball.  Everyone was busy with their own lives.  And then someone would put the call out.  There’d be a girls night after exams, a Rockey Movie mararthon after a championship and slumber parties after  bad breakups.

Then everyone went off to school in different parts of Canada. Jen, Nad and I would meet in Ottawa and a few years later drive for 20 hours to Brockville Ontario to have a few dinners together.

Then, we stood for each other in all of our weddings.    And she rubbed my back during my entire labour and delivery.  We’ve been there for each other through marriage, divorce, births, deaths, the good, the bad and the ugly, and we’ve been doing it for 20 years strong.

And every time…

She answers the call.

Nadia will be going to NewZealand to practice Orthopedic Surgery for 18 months, and we’re so happy for her.  She’s worked hard for this.  She deserves all her success.  And I’m not worried that she won’t do well.  She will, she’ll do great.  I guess I’m worried that she may not be able to answer the call; if there’s a tragedy, a celebration, a milestone or just… a need. We’ve been conditioned to count on everyone being there to answer that call, and I’m worried when that won’t be able to happen.  And I thought I was worried for Jen and I, not having her to answer our call, but the truth is…I know Nadia.  And despite her sometimes tough, surgical exterior not being able to answer that call will be very hard for her.  She’s never missed one before.  I think it’s worrying her too.

But it’s ok, because 18 months isn’t all that long, and I have a feeling that we’ll have a big celebration when she returns.  And I’m pretty sure that our friend, the swanky orthopedic surgeon, will be picking up the tab.

I’m sorry, I just had to freak you all out and have this as the first image on this post.  I know what it looks like, but trust me, it’s delicious.  It’s donair meat, and every once in awhile, I’ll make a few loaves and have them in the freezer.  They make for a super easy supper.  Plus- you can make donair meat that is really healthy.  Well, sorta healthy.  I encourage you to make a few loaves to have on hand this summer, because donairs are awesome and they are a great hangover cure!

Donair meat is just lean ground beef, lots of spices, and technique.  Unlike meatloaf that you want to handle gently so it’s tender, you’ll want to mix the meat vigorously.

So- mix together the following:

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon ground oregano
• 2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I use italian dressing because I don’t have italian seasoning)
• 1  teaspoon garlic powder
• 1  teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 pound ground beef

Mix together for about 10 minutes in a Kitchen Aide with a dough hook.  Mix vigorously!.  Form in a loaf and back for 1 1/2 hours in a 350 degree oven.  I put this on the a wire rack and then on a cookie sheet and the fat pretty much drops off.

Then slice the meat.

Serve on a pita with onion, tomato and this donair sauce.

Mix

• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder

Whisk in 4 teaspoons vinegar one teaspoon at a time.

I was going to take pictures of the donairs…but we ate them.

As it turned out, sticks weren’t nearly as much fun as jars.  Sorry about that.   I meant  to make Smores with the kids last night as one of the great things that we love to do with sticks, but you’re smart people, you know how to make Smores.  Thou I will say, I make a mean Smore.

So today, because I’m over sticks already, I’m just going to post pictures of my boys at WWE.

I took my kids to WWE the day after I got back from Toronto purely out of guilt for being away, because when I ‘m away at conferences I don’t bring them back anything except pens and balls and memory sticks from the vendors, and how much fun is that.  My kids are all, who’s City Media, mamma, and what am I suppose to do with this key chain?

And not only did it cost, like, a bajillion dollars for tickets, but it was time that I’ll never get back. I couldn’t help but feel really badly for some of the people around me.  At one point I was very close to telling the girl behind we who kept swearing at the wrestlers, that this really wasn’t real.  But I’m pretty sure she thinks Bo and Hope on Day’s of our Lives are really going to be together.  But she was missing a few teeth, so I thought, instead I’d just sit in my chair and take a picture as proof that people really…get into wrestling.

But there is no judgment from me.

None what-so-ever!

Because my boys were into it!  It was my proudest moment.

The boys got very excited when Ray Mysterio came out!

But probably got more excited when the Diva’s came out.

Because isn’t this how we ladies behave in real life?

I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses.  I can’t cook duck, but give me a slab of ground beef, or hamburg as my mother would call it, and I can make a mean chili or meat sauce that would even turn any vegan into a Neanderthal.  Well, maybe thats a stretch.

And such is the case with meatloaf.  I can’t even believe I’m saying how much I love meat loaf because growing up it was like having meat boiled in fat, groose.  But I learned that there’s a better way to cook meat loaf that makes it awesome.

For one, I use lean ground beef, secondly I put lots of stuff in it that makes it dense and tender, and I don’t work it very much.  The more you work your meat the tougher it become, so true for so many things.  And since it’s the top of the meat loaf that’s the best, I find making more of the meat loaf the top makes for more sauce surface, making for more awesomeness.

Here is my recipe, I call it Meatloaf by the dashboard lights.

2-3 lbs lean ground beef

½ cup or one large grated carrot

one medium sized onion diced and sautéed (you must sauté the onion)

one slice of white bread soaked in 3/4 cup of milk, soak up all that milk.

1 egg beaten

1 tsp soya sauce, worcestershire sauce, minced garlic, salt and pepper (I put all this stuff in the beaten egg.  It just means I work the meat even less)

Mix everything carefully and gently, breaking up the bread.  Lay on a wire rack that has been covered with foil and make big holes in it (the fat slides right through it), like this:

Form into a rectangle like this:

Top with sauce:

In a saucepan bring to a boil:

½ cup ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 TBSP soya sauce and vinegar

salt and pepper

Boil for 5 minutes.  Pour over the meat and top with slices of bacon.  Just because.

Bake in a 350 oven for about 40 minutes.

I almost always serve meatloaf with mac and cheese.  Why?  I dunno, I just do.

I guess they just look good together, which is perfect, because…for evenings like we’ve been having lately, when we’re on the road almost as soon as the kids get home from school going to soccer games and stuff, being able to throw a couple of mac and meat kabobs in their hand is perfect.  I simply top  the meat loaf  with the the cooked mac and cheese casserole and stick a bunch of squires in it, then cut in squares.

See, sticks just make life a little easier.

So– pathetic as it might be, I could have posted about another kajillion posts about jars, but alas, let’s move on to sticks to keep things interesting because as I mentioned before, food on sticks just tastes better, and plus, it frees up your other hand for a beverage.  Priorities people!

This week, it’s food on sticks…and other stuff.  Which is sorta crazy, because my mother never let us eat food on sticks, in fact, I distinctly remember her making my sister and me eat suckers only while seated.  And juice packs?  Forget it.  “You could run and trip and that straw could get jammed up in your throat and stick into your brain, and I’m not sitten in out-patience all night, so sit there and drink that juice-pack and just be grateful that you fella’s got a juice pack to drink.” It’s a wonder I’m not rocking in a corner somewhere.  But granted, this is the same women who believes that cucumber peelings are poisonous and if you ask her what car she drives she’ll say a Ford Toyota.  I try and cut her some slack.   (It’s ok to laugh, my mother will, trust me.  She’ll remember having said that.)

I, on the other hand, allow food on sticks because I’d prefer they not be terrified to eat, and I think that they are more likely to become ill from malnutrition than they are to fall and jam their stick in their throat.   You watch, now it will happen.

This is Hannah, sweet Hannah.  She’s the type of girl that would make you say, Why Lord, why didn’t you bring me a girl? And than, later, he’ll remind me as I flash back to my youth.

Hannah came over awhile back and helped my boys make caramel apples, simply by sticking in a stick and dipping apples in caramel (I cheat and just melt the caramel packets), and topping them with candy.

It made for an entertaining rainy afternoon.

And even better, no one was injured.

I may very well lose some of you with this whole jars thing I’ve got goin on here.  Just when some of you are rinsing and scraping out jars, this one might just be over the top.  But the good news is that this will be my last jars post, and next week I’ll move on to sticks!

Food on sticks just tastes better, don’t you agree?

Did you ever buy an entire watermellon, and were all, Geeze, what to do with all this rind?. No? See, this is what keeps me up at night.  What do I do with my watermelon rind!  And since I had an empty dill pickle jar, it just came to me…I’ll make pickled watermelon rind. Fortunately, there was a recipe on this here world wide web.

I let the kids eat all the deliciousness…

and I cut off the hard green shell until I was just left with the white parts.  Then I put it in a pot of boiling water for about 10-15 minutes until a fork would easily   go through it, but it still had some tooth to it.  Take the rind and shock it in an ice bath to stop the cooking.  Add to the jar.

While I did that, I prepared my brine.  I boiled a 1/2 cup of cider vinegar, a half cup of brown sugar, a lemon cut in chunks, tsp of cinnamon and ginger and a few pickling spices, and added a cup of the water from the pot that I boiled the rind.  Strain and add to the jar over the rind.

I added a colourful material and ribbon, and then took it to a Spring gathering, and we ate it just like you would olives, in a bowl or in a watermelon martini.

You should let them sit for a few days, and are good for a few weeks after that, but I promise you they won’t last that long.  I also promise that they’ll get the party started.

SO–have I lost you?

I made a little something, and it will be ready around Christmas, but I know just who I’ll give it to.

One of my favourite food sites is foodgawker.com, and awhile back I saw that everyone was making vanilla, and I was all…whaaaa? and ruin perfectly good vodka?? But I was intrigued do I decided to think about it over a vodka tonic with lime.

I took an old Smuckers Jam jar, and filled it with vodka and the seeds from 2 scraped vanilla beans, threw in the bean pod, gave it an aggressive shake, and now I’ll wait… for 6 months.

Then, I decided, since I had another jar, and another vanilla pod, that I’d make vanilla sugar.  OK, OK, you caught me, I just didn’t want to waste more vodka.  I filled the jar with regular sugar, the seeds from the bean, and the pod and gave it a stir.  It smells divine!

I shall use it to rim my mug for special coffees.

Garlic!  If garlic’s wrong, I don’t wanna be right!

I love garlic, and I wish it loved me.  David says it oozes out of my pores for days, but for somethings, I’m willing to sacrifice myself.

Such is the case with ….roasted garlic.

I think a jar of roasted garlic in extra virgin olive oil is the most incredible gift you can receive.  Well, I’d prefer an Ipad, but the roasted garlic would be my second choice.  Plus, it literally costs a buck.

Take 2 heads of raw garlic, chop the top off, sit it in a square of foil, drizzle over it the oil and salt and pepper…

Crinkle it up in a lovely little packet, and roast in the over at 375 for 1 hour and 15 minutes-ish, until your house smells so good you want to eat it and it looks like this:

Scope all the roasted garlic cloves out like the jewels they are…

Put them in a jar and top them up with olive oil.

Now, if you find yourself asking…”What would one do with this jar of roasted garlic…” and I’d say, “well, since you asked, I’d stick some in some mashed potatoes with butter and cream, or smear some on some fuchsia before topping it with cheese, or add it in a salad dressing, or just eat on steak along side some horse radish, and yes, I would (and have) given this very jar as a hostess gift, and may I just say, the hostess was very happy.”