Intentions for March

How things went in February

Not well, actually.  I've been back at work for 2 months and everything seems like a struggle.  There is never enough time in the day to do what I need to do, much less what I want to do.  I'm exhausted all the time and I've gained 8 pounds.

Yoga and walking every day - This has suffered a lot.  I'm taking my 2 classes a week at the studio, but most weeks that's been it.  I need to fine some inspiration and new energy for my practice.  And walking?  Nope.

Reading - nope.

Menu planning - ugh.  I have lost all interest in food, cooking and planning.  I'm starting to resent even having to do it.  Not a place I want to be or ever thought I would be.

Say Thank You to the Mister - not enough.

I'm feeling like I've lost sight of what my plan was for intention setting, so I also went back and looked at my January intentions - 

Yoga every day - nope.

Drink lots of water - ha!  Next.

Use my Fitbit - I don't even know where it is since I changed the battery.

Keep Calm - nope nope nope.

So! Back to basics.  Focus on family and health this month (not that my family isn't always my main focus anyway.....)

Intentions for March -

Yoga every day again.  Even if it's just a few poses or stretches.

Drink lots of Water

Eat more veggies and fruits

Read with The Boy every night

Pineapple Cupcakes

I made these for work for a lady who was leaving - I hardly knew her, but felt badly that no one was going to make any sort of fuss on her last day, so I whipped these up the night before.

They are the sort of dessert I feel like maybe I should feel badly about - boxed mix with more prepackaged add ins - but frankly they were so freaking delicious I don't care.

The can of mandarin oranges whipped into the batter is a genius move, and one I would definitely use again. 

I left them un-iced with the frosting in a bowl for everyone to do themselves, and I swear, some people were eating it with a spoon.

SO good.

Recipe: Pineapple Sunset Layer Cake

Spiced whipped cream

I made Mr. G's carrot cake cupcakes for the baby's birthday.  I'm so over cream cheese frosting

 right now there was no way I was doing that, but I didn't want to leave them just plain.  

It was a party, for heaven's sake!

I whipped up a batch of whipped cream, and when it was almost ready I added some maple syrup, 

cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.  

It was so delicious, and perfect with the carrot cake. Or just a spoon. 

Snapshot - It's heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere!

I actually gasped out loud yesterday when I saw the book was in Chapters, then 

grabbed a copy and ran for the till.

I am so excited to get reading.

Roasted appple pancakes

The Mister made some roasted apple slices for the kitlets to eat.  Apples, peeled and sliced, tossed with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, and baked for a while. 

They were delicious.

For Sunday morning breakfast I chopped some up and stirred them into pancake batter, 

with a little extra cinnamon and nutmeg.  

They were so flavorful they didn't need butter or maple syrup, but to me a pancake 

isn't a pancake without them.

Tender, homey and comforting. 

Walkies

Last month, out for a quick walk by myself. 

Snapshot - Cookies for coworkers

It's 10pm, and I have to get up at 4:30 am, so I really should be in bed, but the first trays of cookies just came out of the oven.  

When you promise your co-workers cookies for Friday, you gotta follow through.....

Something I like - Line a day memory book

I bought this on impulse at the end of December, and it's become very important to me 

quite quickly.  The one line a day memory book give you a small space to jot a few lines

 about each day of the year, for 5 years.

I have an absolute terrible memory - I am not a parent that can spout off facts and dates about their kids development at the drop of a hat, or even tell you what I did last weekend, usually.
It's sad.

Our lives are really not super crazy, so some days are easier and more
 fun to fill in than others.   What a joy it will be to look back at days that say
"Worked late.  A&W for dinner."!

Hee.  But I am excited about keeping this up to date and being able to look
back at our year, and years.

I also think this would be a great gift for new parents - what a way to track important days and milestones in your babies lives!  If only I'd know about this 6 years ago.

Buy here!

Book Club - Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese

"He'd never known lonely.  If he put his head to it at all he couldn't work a definition for the word.  It sat in him undefined and unnecessary like algebra; land and moon and water summing up the only equation that lent scope to the world, and he rode through it fleshed out and comfortable with the feel of the land around him like the refrain of an old hymn.  It was what he knew.  It was what he needed."

"Down the one side was a tangle of lilacs, un-pruned and ramshackle, old and uncared for, scraping against the side of the house, and there was only one bloom.  It sat high at the point farthest from the house.  A small dab of color."

"They snowshoed in for two hours, built a fire, and drank strong tea, and in that cold and barren-feeling world, the kid came to know Christmas as a time when the land and its emptiness were perfect."

Perfect Yorkies

We had roast for Christmas dinner, with all the trimmings - roasted potatos, sprouts, creamed spinach, gravy, and the best part - yorkshire puddings. 

I absolutely love yorkies but have always been afraid to make them. Years ago a friend and I made - tried to make - them and we failed miserably. 

I never attempted them again but always wanted to. 

So what better time than a crazy busy day with the stress of completely wired children and grandparents coming for dinner? 

 I followed Jamie Oliver's Amazing Yorkies recipe and they were perfect and impressive. 

Definitely the best part of the meal for me.

A couple of days after, we finished up the leftovers.  I'd discovered a yorkshire pudding mix package in the cupboard, so I made them to go with the leftover beef.

Yuck.  Little tasteless hockey pucks.  Won't be doing that again.

Recipe: Amazing yorkies

(For the beef we followed this recipe and omitted the peppercorns.  Delicious.)

Intentions for February

How things went in January:

Yoga every day - pretty well.  I have definitely come to rely on my practice to bring some peace and calm to my mind and life.  I went for a few days without practicing mid month, and was ready to "remove my skin and throw it at someone" as I so charmingly shared with The Mister.

Lots of water - during the day, I'm pretty good.  At home, no.

Use my Fitbit - I FOUND my fitbit.  So that's a start.....

Keep calm - hmmmmm.


For this month -

Yoga and walking every day.

Reading.  More.  Do it.  I have a big pile of books to read, but I don't actually have much interest in those particular books.  Boo.

Menu planning  _ I have totally fallen apart on this.  I need to make a plan for the week every weekend, and stick to it.

Say Thank You to The Mister, every day.  The man is a saint, and deserves the moon.  Instead, he got stuck with me.

Book Club - This Is Where I Leave You

'Once, when I was old enough to ponder these things and young enough to think there might be credible answers, I whispered to Dad during Rosh Hashanah services, "Do you believe in God?"
"Not really," he said.  "No."
"Then why do we come here?"
He sucked thoughtfully on his Tums tablet and put his arm around me, draping me under his musty woolen prayer shawl, and then shrugged.  "I've been wrong before." he said.'

Chicken Parm

This is my very favorite sort of recipe - a non recipe!

The Mister loves Italian food.  I've become quite "meh" about most pasta, especially pasta with red sauce, which again The Mister loves.

He "casually" mentioned that he'd seen a delicious looking chicken parmesan on TV recently.  Now I am very lucky that The Mister is a very easygoing eater - he'll eat pretty much anything you put in front of him, is always complementary, and very rarely complains about what I cook.  So occasionally I like to cook things he brings up, because he's obviously interested in them.  Occasionally.  Not too often.  Don't want to spoil him or anything.

Anyhoo, the chicken.  So I preheated my oven to 425' and got 3 shallow bowls ready for the breading of the chicken - flour seasoned with salt and pepper in one, 2 beaten eggs in the second, and panko bread crumbs in the third.  I lined a baking sheet with foil, placed a cooling rack on the sheet and sprayed it with non stick spray.  Then I cut up 2 chicken breasts into 3 cutlets each.  Flour, egg and bread the cutlets and lay on the baking rack.  I baked for 15 minutes, flipped, and baked for 5 minutes more.  Then I removed the tray from the oven, spread each chicken piece with a few spoons of pasta sauce and topped with shredded cheese.  Back in the oven for 4 or 5 more minutes, until the cheese is melted.  

I was going to sprinkle them with parmesan when they came out of the oven, but forgot.

Quick and delicious!

M&M Rice Krispie Cookies

I made these cookies for The Boy's class during December.  They were, I heard, a hit.  The rice krispies add some nice texture and crunch, and you cannot go wrong with M&M's in a cookie.

When I was a kid my mom would occasionally make Smarties Cookies.  I absolutely loved them and they are one of those childhood food memories you never forget.  A couple of years ago I asked my mom for a copy of the recipe - she couldn't find it, but said she was sure it was just a standard chocolate chip recipe that she swapped in smarties for the chips.  

My brain remembers them differently, but these are pretty good too.  

Maybe one day my kids will be making these for their kids.....

Recipe:  M&M Rice Krispie Christmas cookies

The Buffet

Last month we visited the new casino in town for lunch at The Buffet - their (you guessed it) buffet restaurant.  The Mister loves a salad bar, and you don't see them often any more, so he's been wanting to go since the concept was announced.

It's pretty straightforward - pay at the entrance, grab your cutlery, find a table, and get to eating.  

After grabbing a red plastic Coke cup of beverage (ice tea and water for me, ginger ale for The Mister), we headed to the soup and salad station.  We tried both soups - Italian Wedding and Minestrone.  The Wedding was pretty standard.  The Minestrone was good - the fresh beans and zucchini had nice firmness to them.  

The salad bar station was not too bad - 2 lettuce choices, 3 dressings, plus cheese, bacon, veg, croutons and seeds.  The only quibble I had was there was only one set of tongs out for both cheeses and the bacon, meaning the cheeses had bacon in them, and the bacon had cheeses in it.  Not the end of the world, but I'm sure they could have found a couple of extra sets of tongs in the back.

On to the mains - there were 4 choices for vegetables - roasted potatos (which were borderline cold), peas, brussel sprouts, and deep fried zucchini.  There was pork fried rice, baked mushroom pasta, and the meats - 5 selections.  BBQ shredded pork, sweet chili chicken, teriyaki pork bites, spicy ginger beef strips, and fish bites.  

Lots of brown food.  A sea of it - the rice, the spuds, the zuke, pork, chicken, pork beef, fish.  Brown.

But, mostly tasty.  The pasta was super bland, and the chicken, while looking appetizing, hardly had any flavor.  But the rest were all good to quite good.

Desserts were bad.  3 choices, and all very obviously prepackaged from a supplier.  

The staff were all lovely, and the price was not bad - $12 for lunch.

The Buffet is open for weekend brunch, lunch Monday - Friday, and dinner nightly.

Supposedly they have "theme" buffets as well, but I can't see any info on the website.

Website:  The Buffet

The pretty frost with the rude name

I am  not a fan of winter, but there is something so pretty about lots of frost on a sunny day when you're inside and don't have to go out.

Australian Busters

You guys.  Seriously.  Finally, after all these years, I baked something that my family not 

only ate all of without me bitching at them, but actually fought over.

I've given up trying to figure out what they will and won't eat when I bake.  

It's a crapshoot.  I make oatmeal cookies and they tell me they're amazing, so I 

make them again a few months later and no one eats them.  

So annoying.

I sort of figured these would be a hit as The Mister loves cheese, but I was unprepared 

for how quickly they ate them, and how passionate they were about them.  

So weird.

Check out this recipe for Australian Busters - an easy and delicious cheese biscuit. 

Book Club - I Remember Nothing

"There was a diet cola ad that was so in love with itself that it actually recommended going to a special web site that explained how the ad had been made."


"I resent that asking for salt makes me seem aggressive towards the chef, when in fact it's the other way around."

"You always think that a bolt of lightening is going to strike and your parents will magically change into the people you wish they were, or back into the people they used to be.  But they're never going to. And even though you know they're never going to, you still hope they will."

Intentions for January

How things went in December:

Yoga every day -  Success.  I've taken classes 2-3 times a week, and done something at home every other day - some days just a savasana, or deep breathing, some days 10-15 minutes of poses, some days, although not enough - an hour or more.  I also learned the Wild Thing pose.  That made me feel so confidant.  Currently working on Crow Pose.  Not going as well.

Drink more water -  Meh.  Not as great as I wanted. 

Drink more smoothies -  Ha.  A complete failure.  I think I had 2 the whole month.

Read every day - Definitely better.  It can be hard to read with small children around, so I do my best.

Be grateful -  Not enough.

Be kind -  Not enough.



What I'm hoping to work on this month:

Yoga every day.

Water, water, water.

Dust off my fit bit  - somewhere I've got a basic one that counts steps and syncs with my computer to track it for me.  I've been meaning all year to look for it. 

Keep calm - I'm heading back to work this month.  :(
This is going to be upsetting and sad and stressful and tiring.
Here's hoping I don't completely fall apart.

Dave Cooks the Turkey

One of the best parts of the holidays for our family. Enjoy. 

Dave Cooks the Turkey