ode to dinner...pause

tonight my dinner was an all-canadian meal at mcdonald's at 5:15 pre-double header softball games then a bagel with cream cheese at 8:45 post-double header. not photo worthy whatsoever.

and now i'm drinking neo-citron. what? a cold? at the beginning of june? the life of a teacher.

so in lieu of a dinner post - it's a book post. ode to gary paulsen.

gary paulsen wrote Hatchet - one of my all-time favourite kids novel of all time. if you haven't read it, you should pick it up at your library immediately. he's written tons of other books for kids as well a some for adults. i recently finished an "autobiographical odyssey" by paulsen called Eastern Sun, Winter Moon about his experience at the end of WW2 when he went as a child to the Philippines where his father was stationed at an army base. a wrenching story. but now i'm reading the above book: Winterdance, the Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod. if you've ever had a vague interest in the dog-sledding race, the Iditarod, that takes place in Alaska - you'll be thrilled by this book. if you've never heard of the Iditarod, you'll still like this book because his descriptions are just so clear and the story is so unbelievable. if they made this guy's life into a movie? we'd criticize it because it's not believable. he should have died a hundred times yet he's still alive to write about it and make you want to read more. so anyways - if you're looking or something...i recommend.

ode to dinner...five

spinach salad with chicken

yeah, it's one of those meals that you think you might need to eat again later but it's suprisingly filling. plus when you had a scone on the drive to work, you have to find a way to counteract. if you buy kraft rancher's choice fat free dressing - it's 0 points. ranch for 0 points? i'll take it.

ode to dinner...four

salmon and french fries

this is a wednesday dinner. it can be made in 20 minutes which is what i want after an exercise class that ends at 7:00pm. the salmon comes frozen in packages of about 4 or 5. just plain, really good. sometimes we add lemon dill sauce. the french fries are mccain superfries. which are only about 3 or 4 WW points. the salmon is 2 points. this entire meal with grapes included? 6pts. hey, if i can work fries into a "diet"? i'm pretty pumped.

ode to dinner...three

bbq-ed chicken thighs & sweet potato fries

so it's not my prettiest meal ever. the thighs look a little sketch and the sweet potato fries are burned...but good nonetheless. so if you go to the store to buy sweet potatoes for sweet potato fries - buy yams. that's what we call them in canada. sure, right next to them are the real sweet potatoes but they're not the ones the recipes are talking about.

grind the following (i used the magic bullet):
2 Tbsp coriander
2 Tbsp fennel
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper (i used chili powder)
1 Tbsp coarse sea salt (i used regular)

cut up the yams into sticks (this is much much harder than it sounds because they are HARD) and put them in a bag then pour an appropriate amount of olive oil (i used canola) in the bag and shake it (like a polaroid picture). add in your spices and shake it some more. pour the fries out onto a pan and try not to let them touch each other so that they can get "crispy".

cook at 450 for 10 min then turn them each. it's tedious but they WILL burn. badly. cook for only about 10 - 15 more minutes.

there are many a sweet potato fry recipe on the internet. alyssa gave me a good sounding one but i haven't tried it yet due to not having egg whites in the house. but apparently the egg whites make the fries crispier. definitely worth a try.

1/3 cup egg whites
1/3 cup light olive oil (or grapeseed oil)
1 Tbsp cajun spice

coat fries with whites/oil mix then add spice. then cook as written above.

a matthew favourite.

ode to dinner...two

chili and chips

this chili is famous at the macdonald household - according to tim, it's in the hall of fame. though if you are a fan of spicy, you will be wanting a refund at the hall. a very mild, simple chili...but very good. and even i can make it.

1.5 lbs hamburger
1 onion
2 28oz. cans of stewed tomatoes
(if you can find the ones with italian spices, those are good)
2 14oz. cans of kidney beans
1 small can of tomato paste 7.5oz
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp chili powder
heaping tsp of salt

brown the hamburger and onions together first. (i never use the onion though) combine everything except the kidney beans in a big pot. simmer for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so. add beans and simmer for another 30 min - an hour (or until the consistency is right).

this chili is the best the next day. throw it in the fridge and warm it up later.

i always used to eat this chili by scooping it up with tostitos...which means you eat a lot of tostitos. now, i count out the "serving size" and then crumble the chips over the chili and eat it with utensils. way less chips but still a good crunch.

i usually count the chili as 6 WW points - but that's really my guesstimate.

ode to dinner...one

there's a blog that is just pictures of a girl's breakfast everyday. and i thought it was interesting. so this week long series will be titled - ode to dinner. and you will be forced to look at pictures of my dinners for a week. i figure at least this might help me eat more vegetables. ha.

and so it begins:

quiche & strawberry spinach salad

this "quiche" isn't really quiche because it doesn't have a crust but it's one of tim's favs, easy to make, and warms up well the next day for breakfast since it's comprised mainly of breakfast foods.

4 eggs
2cups of milk
1 cup Bisquick
1 cup swiss cheese
12 pieces of bacon (or deli ham)
a desired amount of onion

grease a pie plate or round cake pan. put the shredded swiss in it along with the bacon (or if you want a healthier version, i ripped up ham from the deli and it tasted just as good) and chopped up onions. (i don't put any onions at all)

in a separate bowl, mix eggs, milk, and bisquick and blend with a hand mixer until smooth-ish. pour mixture into the pan over the cheese and meat. bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. or until it's brown around the edges. let sit for a few minutes before eating.

(if you make it with deli meat and skim milk and cut it into 8 - one piece is only 3.75 WW pts)

speaking of birthdays...

and for our joint birthday present to ourselves, tim and i got tickets to see REM at deer lake park last night. good times. there's really nothing like an outdoor concert.

yeah - most of the concert we were happy being halfway back and then at the encore, we went up closer.

but it was dark and my camera is silly. but you get the idea.

happy birthday tim!

yes...it was almost a week ago now but post-worthy nonetheless. all tim has talked about since we moved into our house is planting trees. yep, all the talk gets old. however, tim's wish came true when his parents got him a tree for his birthday.



now he won't stop talking about the next three trees he's going to plant. maybe next year tim. :)

oh the summer fashions...

wow - warm weather brings out the worst clothing or lack of. i'm sure you saw them too. they were everywhere yesterday and today. maybe you're one of them. haha.

comments of strangers?

as i have mentioned before, since my friends don't blog as often as i'd like to read, i resort to reading the blogs of friends of friends. i don't think it's weird. and i'm sure there are those of you reading this right now who are friends of friends of mine and we have never met. hi. i'm happy you're reading. so anyways, today i was thinking about how i like comments and how i must not be the only blogger who likes comments, right? even though my husband tried to tell me that there is no comment option on a true blog - that's it's just for yourself. and i get it - i'm coming to terms with it. i am hoping to be a little part of your procrastination or entertainment or lack of something better to do. comment or no comment.

but then i thought to myself, should i comment on other peoples' blogs? those people who are friends of friends? sure, it's not weird to read them. and i'm not weirded by those who comment on mine...but me commenting on someone else's? surely, that must be weird. i distinctly remember giving my dad a hard time for commenting on a stranger's blog before. haha. sorry dad, i take it back. i think you had the right idea.

today (because i'm procrastinating from work) i am planning to comment on some never before commented on blogs. maybe they will come and read my blog. maybe THIS is how your blog gets "famous"...

ah francais...

j'ai travaille tres fort sur ma francais. oui, je ne sais pas les "verb tenses". (tu peux regarde dans le premier phrase) MAIS...je suis fatigue avec ma francais. je suis fatigue avec les classe de francais. et j'ai les classe de francais sur lundi, mercredi, jeudi, et vendredi tout le semaine. qu'est-ce que tu pense? Est-ce qu'est ma francais tres mal? haha. je sais. je sais l'histoire de les trois petit couchons tres, tres bien mais c'est seulement une histoire, oui? ack. au jourd'hui (sp?) je me rappelle deux ou trois mots je sais (past tense) quand je suis (past tense) dans ecole! l'oiseaux? birds? tres humeureuse. (sp?) alors, apres tu lis ma francais, est-ce que tu es triste pour ma etudients? haha. je sais. mais je suis nouvelle!

still inspired by sewing...

well it's been 4 months since i took my sewing class. it wasn't love at first stitch - i learned more about myself, patience, and my lack of precision. i was determined to make it stick though and even bought myself a pattern. sadly, however, it sits alone in it's package in our office.

but i read these blogs: here, here and here. and i still think to myself - why am i not sewing? at least now i have a little more realistic perspective on it all...like really, maybe all i want is someone else to take my ideas and favourite fabrics and sew them into pieces i like. that's probably what i'd really like. ha.

so i think the next project is going to be a quilt. all i'll have to cut are squares. can't you just sew squares of fabric together and then sew on a back? hmm...obviously a naive question...but i might try it anyways. and don't worry - i'll keep you posted.

scorin' the deals judy style...

umm...i thought everyone knew this but just in case you're not getting scorin' the deals -

if you sign up for the rogers video newsletter, they email you a newsletter (it seems like every couple weeks) that has a coupon for movie rentals. very great if you're a movie renter. and rogers is very great if you return movies late. no fees.

if you sign up for the blizzard fan club , they send you two for one coupons once in awhile and always one on your birthday. and it's no "kid's size" blizzard - it's a medium.

blockbuster also has a coupon thing like rogers but they charge you a "restocking fee" (ahem - late fee) if you don't return your movies on time.

if you're a girl, you can sign up at ricki's for $10 on your birthday every year. i know i doesn't seem like much but i still have last year's $10 in my wallet and just got this year's coupon too. hmm...maybe it's the clothes there...

anyways - this is all i can think of right now. and really the most useful one is rogers. but i'll keep you posted. and if YOU are scorin' deals - let me know.

judy hits agassiz...

a couple weeks ago, i had the idea to have a mother's day chapel and then have the moms stay for pancakes after the chapel. last week when they were making their invitations, a students suggested that i invite MY mom. cheers went up in the class. i explained that my mom lived in white rock and would have to get up at 5:30am to get to agassiz by 8:15am so she probably wouldn't come. another student shook her head and said, "no, mrs. shulba. she'd just sleepover at your house the night before and come with you in the morning!". hmm...so i put the invite out there and she made it happen!

so today my mom travelled with me to agassiz and helped me put on the pancake breakfast for my students and their moms! she was a whiz on the electric frying pans. i don't know what i was thinking when i originally thought i'd do this myself. i don't think i made one pancake yet was running around like crazy getting coffee, juice, forks, etc so it would have been a gong show without her (as most things are). she and i didn't even get to eat a pancake! so it was unfourtunately not a great mother's day event for HER as i worked her hard but the kids loved having her there and she even got hugs when she left. judy is really the greatest! thanks mom! it was a great morning thanks to you! happy mother's day!

go photobooth!

kudos to photobooth vancouver for making it into a fantastic article by cbc about the photobooth trend beginning in Canada. way to have the only booth around, ang!

read it! http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/hightech/photobooth.html

fort langley

weird that i'd never been there before but on thursday, i had my first ever experience at Fort Langley.

all i knew about Fort Langley previously was that my brother had to make a model of it in grade 4 or 5 and my dad spent many an hour cutting the tips off of wooden matchsticks to make the logs. it was intense and i'm pretty sure it's still in the crawlspace...how could you throw away something that took so long to build?

anyways...the fieldtrip was so good. what an interesting place. the oldest building in BC is in there. i recommend you go see it yourselves. while you're there, pan for gold. panning for gold was intense as some kids were yelling out "i found one!" and others weren't. overall, we all got a piece to keep. :)