self-timer button

When our baby is no longer a baby and looks back at the pictures that we took to capture this time in his life, I want him to be able to see not just his face but him interacting with the people that love him.  This is kind of a tough task when the majority of his daytime hours are spent at home, with usually just me. it's also a little tricky sometimes to get pictures when you're usually the "picture-taker". The nice thing about this time in my life, is exactly that - in this moment I've got the time to try and to practice and to take pictures (and delete them) for as long as my baby will let me.  Hopefully I'll get better as we go.  Anyway, here's the best shot from day #1 of using the self-timer button :).

happy tuesday

outtakes

On the third of every month (or around then), I take a picture of our little guy on our desk calendar.  this is an outtake from march - at the time i thought it was just cute, but since then this has been his position of choice. i guess this is now our baby "relaxing".

it's like feeding time at the zoo

Feeding the Animal.

HE has to hold the spoon...

LOVES the avocado!

Crying because I literally cannot SHOVE it in fast enough.

Cleaned up and still hungry.

Just cute.

Nap and repeat.

lazy weekend

we just had a pretty lazy weekend.  we needed one of those..... really the only notable thing that we did was eat great food (and that's not really notable for us :) ).  Friday night, before the Canucks game, we ate at La Tacqueria (SO GOOD) - I think it'll be a new Canucks game tradition! The rest of the weekend we ran errands and did a little home shopping, and today, after a burger at Vera's, we just hung around home.  So there you go, pictures of us just hanging around on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

oh, and happy St. Patrick's Day...

happy birthday!

Happy Birthday to the best brother a girl could ever ask for!

just because....

a new toy

While I work on a consulting project, behind me I hear baby giggles and instrumental renditions of itsy bitsy spider, skip to my lou, and strangely enough 99 bottles of beer on the wall, amidst others.  Despite swearing that we would never embrace loud plastic toys with flashing lights and obnoxious music, it seems our living room is now filled with them! Our tiny Tiger seems to be more than willing to embrace (and enjoy!) what we wouldn't/don't.  One year ago I wouldn't have believed that I would now regard these sounds as my happiness.

mompy, this one's for you!

Rustic Simmered Chicken, from Donna Hay's "No Time to Cook"

This is a fantastic recipe - I mean, what's not to like about a recipe that contains garlic, wine, and cream? Plain delicious if you ask me. I have made this recipe multiple times, and it seems pretty accomodating of substitutions.  On occasion, I've subbed in onions and/or shallots for leeks, bacon for pancetta, chicken breasts for chicken thighs, extra chicken broth for wine, used dried herbs instead of fresh.  I've added extra veggies sometimes, and I always omit the flour. I know it's March now, and spring is fast approaching, but on a day like today when its raining sideways, this is like a bowl of comfort.

*I know my food photography skills leave much to be desired, but this really is an delicious, easy weeknight meal.  It takes me 15 minutes to prep/sautee, and then the 25-30 minutes to simmer.

my world

what's cooking?

both mike and i like to to cook (unfortunately, neither of us likes to clean!). we share the meal prep so that both of us will continue to like cooking and surprisingly i've found that my husband is a better cook than i am.  not only is he better at it, but he often chooses recipes that i would've simply glanced over and  never chosen.  he's definitely broadened my horizons and introduced me to things that i always thought i didn't like. just like in so many other ways, i think in this we complement each other and balance each other out.  and now that i am trying to stay home more (and get my baby to actually sleep) we do our meal planning at the beginning of the week. this is new for us - i know that this will shock most of you but being organized at home is NOT my strong point so i guess we'll see how this meal planning goes (and if it continues)...... :)

so this is what we're cooking this week:
bbq rib-eye steak with cauliflower gratin (j.o. food revolution) and sauteed spinach
chicken korma (j.o. food revolution) and spelt flatbread (adapted from the weber's bbq cookbook - pizza dough)
rustic simmered chicken (donna hay's no time to cook)
sweet potato frittata with fresh salsa (gordon ramsay's healthy appetite)
lamb rogan josh (j.o. food revolution - IF i can find the right cut of lamb) otherwise leftover turkey chili or beef stew from the freezer (from last weeks cooking binge)

also: for community group this week i'm baking chocolate chip cookies (the BEST recipe is on the back of the milk chocolate chips package), sugar cookies (in the shape of dollar signs since our discussion is about money, Anneliese's recipe on mennonitegirlscancook.blogspot.com) and apple streusal cheesecake squares (bettycrocker.com)

as always, if you want any recipes, email me or leave a comment!

a one trick pony

our baby learned a new trick last week.  he can now roll over! while this was pretty exciting the first time he did it intentionally, the novelty is slowly wearing off as he will only roll in one direction and hasn't yet figured out how to roll back.  couple that with his intensely strong desire to demonstrate this trick any time he's lying flat, it makes for a long day of constant moaning quickly escalating to crocodile tears from the above position :). so far, no obstacle has distracted him from this singular mission which lands him in some pretty humorous positions and places. i'm quickly learning that this is what the days of a stay-at-home mom are made of - copious body fluids, giggles and crocodile tears, big ugly plastic obstacles and small victories, all sprinkled with a little humor and multiple photo ops.

the sous chef gets a snack!

how he really feels...

...about getting up early....

.

what's cooking?

Here's a few pictures of what we've been cooking this week... and a few of the sous chef, since he's so cute sometimes :)

Our neighbour just had a baby and we have a friend who's having surgery so we're cooking a little differently this week, with sharing in mind - lots of freezer food and more baking than usual.

here's the list:

for sharing:
beef stew (jamie oliver's food revolution)
turkey chili (all recipes: "terrific turkey chili" by big surprise)
yam and chorizo soup (j.o. food revolution)
cauliflower soup (j.o. food revolution)
doubletree cookies (can't remember where i found this recipe)
debbie's blueberry muffins (our wedding cookbook)
cheese biscuits (all recipes: "easy-bake cheddar biscuits")

for us:
steamed salmon with pesto and brocolini (j.o. food revolution)
shrimp stirfry (j.o. food revolution)

on the bubble (if i have time):
anneliese's pizza buns (mennonitegirlscancook.blogspot.com)
brownies (williams-sonoma cookies book)

We got the Food Revolution cookbook around Christmas and Mike made it his goal to cook through the whole thing, hence all the Jamie Oliver recipes.  We're about a third done, and every recipe we've made has been awesome. Well, except for the desserts... for some reason, Jamie Oliver is not strong on dessert. But everything else has been great! So that's our week.... email me if you want any of the recipes :).