B-B-Q steak

This is not the greatest picture, but it'll do. This is Gregory's steak and he put some garlic and hot sauce on it. mmm, spicy...
A lot of my posts happen to be about food and about what we cook and eat. Is that weird? I guess dinner time is when we all get together as a family and enjoy each other's company.
Anyway, tonight we had bar-b-q steak, grilled eggplant & zucchini, roast potatoes, and a spinach salad.The potatoes were cut like french fries, tossed in a bit of oil & sprinkled with paprika, salt & pepper, and roasted at 425* for about 25 mins. The eggplant & zucchini were simply tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper, then grilled on the B-B-Q, and then I put Parmesan cheese on top to serve. It was all so good and of course, there was a delicious wine to go with the meal. Greg's dad came over for dinner tonight too, which was very nice because we haven't seen him for a week or so.
Confession: (we don't always cook a huge meal-- last night we had KFC)

the best french onion soup ever

Gregory made the best french onion soup today! It was so good! We don't use a recipe when we make this soup because it is so simple – like classical French cooking ought to be. You simply slowly caramelize a couple pounds of chopped onions (brown them in about a tablespoon of butter and a couple tablespoons of olive oil). As they brown, add a little salt, as this helps them release their water. Add pepper and thyme (we use fresh thyme from the garden). Near the end add a few cloves of minced garlic. When the onions are a nice golden brown, deglaze the pot with the onions still in it with about a cup of white wine, added slowly. Add a splash of sherry, and fill the pot with chicken (or beef) stock. We had made a chicken stock a few weeks ago with the leftover bones of a few roast chickens we had, and then froze it – this came in handy. Simmer the soup for a few hours on low until ready to serve. Ladle the soup into bowls and place a piece of toasted bread and Gruyer or Emmenthal cheese on top and broil for a minute or so until the cheese is browned a little. That's it! For dinner we had the French onion soup, sliced ham & summer sausage, bread, veggies & dip. Yum.I made apple pie and served it with vanilla ice cream for dessert. mmm...

Tom and Dad

Thomas had saved up enough money to buy a new video game, "Lego Star Wars", so Gregory gave Thomas a ride to the store on his motorcycle. Thomas was in luck as the game was on sale today!
It was a perfect day for a ride and only started to rain just as they got home.
How fun is that to go for a ride with Dad on his motorcycle?

black bean soup & jicama salad

Tonight we had a spicy black bean soup. It is a quick dinner to make and everyone loves it. When I gave up meat for lent I would make this with vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
We never have left-overs!
Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in soup pot.
Add 1& 1/2 cups chopped purple onion,
2 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp cumin
1 & 1/2 chopped jalapeno.
Cook for 5 mins.
Add 2 x 15oz. cans black beans
1 litre chicken broth
juice of 1/2 a lime
1/2 cup corn (I forgot to put it in the picture)
bring to a boil, then let soup simmer for about 15 mins.
Just before serving stir in a bunch of cilantro.
While the soup was simmering I made a jicama salad. Jicama is a Mexican root vegetable and is very refreshing and totally delish.
I just mixed together
1 Tbsp lime juice, (next time I will use orange juice)
1 tsp olive oil,
salt & pepper,
1/2 cup purple onion,
1 Tbsp cilantro
and a julienne sliced jicama.
Here is the dinner. I also cut up some corn tortillas and crisped them up with a bit of vegetable oil.(put these in the soup instead of crackers) The jicama salad is served on a lettuce leaf. The black bean soup is served with a bit of sour cream, a slice of lime and extra jalapeno.
Pineapple and mangoes for dessert.mmm...

ouch

I took Felicity to her family doctor this afternoon because her foot was still very sore. After prodding her ankle *ouch* and reviewing the x-ray from the hospital, he said there was a slight crack in the growth plate on the ankle. Felicity now has a "lovely" red cast (for a month) which she will be able to walk on in a couple days. This definitely calls for a box of chocolates (mint) and an Archie comic book! Get well soon, Honey.

Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre

Felicity and I just returned from a three day field trip (with the two grade 8 classes) to Bamfield. It is so beautiful there and the kids really learned a lot about marine biology. There was a lot of hands-on stuff, which everyone likes much better than looking at pictures, etc. The only down side was that the day before we were to leave, Felicity pulled a ligament in her ankle, so she was using crutches the whole time. Bamfield is not an easy place to get around with crutches! Lots of (steep) gravel trails, grassy hills, tree roots, not to mention tidal pools, rocky/sandy beaches! but Felicity did great with hardly any complaints. She did almost all the activities, with the exception of a 20 minute hike to Brady Beach, instead, we got to relax on leather couches in a gorgeous lounge with the most amazing views of the ocean and drink hot chocolate and eat cookies! Not bad, huh?We drove from Duncan to Port Alberni and then got on the "Lady Rose" which took us to Bamfield. It was a beautiful sunny day and Felicity & I found a perfect spot to sit outside on deck to read and relax.The Lady Rose had quite a few stops to make, dropping off supplies to little post offices, fish hatcheries and just little docks, etc. The picture above is of an old canning site. I thought it looked neat.
Here is Felicity with her friends writing in their journals.
Skeletons of different marine animals such as otters, seals, and the big one is a *baby* whale.
Felicity at one of the "touch tanks" in a lab.Sunfish!
Me, holding a starfish.
The kids got to go out in a boat and test the salinity of the water in an estuary and then in the open ocean and at different depths and chart their findings. They also took samples of the water and took them back to the lab to look at under a microscope . They found different types of plankton, crab larvae, tiny jellyfish and other stuff, too. Felicity said the zooplankton was really cool to see.Felicity with her fish print.

A Scottish Variety Show

Mark your calendars! A Scottish Variety Show is on Friday, June 1st at the Cowichan Theatre at 7:00 pm. Grace is on the poster in the front with the blue vest on. Grace, Heather and Mary Margaret will all be dancing in the show. It's a lot of fun, but the youngest dancers are always so hilarious. As soon as the music starts they all start jumping up and down like little jumping beans, and I usually laugh so hard it hurts my stomach. See ya there!

Happy Mother's Day

I had a very nice day on Sunday. Gregory made a wonderful breakfast of bacon & eggs. Here is a picture of the kids and me at the table. (I was served 1st!) Yummy.
Check out the Dogwood tree in the window, it is amazing.


Trinity was a bit grumpy, but cheered up after breakfast.Here are the wonderful treasures the kids gave me for Mother's Day. I got a new table cloth, a pretty broach, the cutest little bottles of Givenchy perfume, and all sorts of poems, stories, and pictures that the kids made me. I am so spoiled! But my greatest treasures are the children themselves. I am so blessed. Thanks, kids, I love you.

Isn't this a cute picture of me that Grace made?
My mum and Rod came over for a bar-b-q. We had a great time. Here I am with my mum. We are about to dig right in to the chocolate cake I made for dessert. mmmm.....chocolate!

Roast pork dinner

We had a roast pork for dinner tonight. I made a marinade with white wine, lemon juice, olive oil, rosemary, garlic, salt & pepper. I didn't measure anything, just mix it all together, pour the marinade over the pork and let it sit in the fridge for a night (or 2).

Roast it at 375* for about 25 minutes per pound (500g). Internal temp. should be 170* F (75*C)I served the pork with roasted potatoes & carrots, spanakopita, and a salad. I also made a bit of sauce with the drippings from the pan and poured it over the roast after it had been sliced. It was very nice.

Spanakopita

I made spanakopita today. It's not hard to make, but it is time consuming.
To make this you will need:
2 packages of frozen chopped spinach (thaw & squeeze out moisture),
a bunch of fresh dill,
1 clove of garlic,
8 (or so) green onions,
1 egg,
about 200g feta cheese,
and salt & pepper.
Mix all of the above together well for the filling.
You will also need filo pastry(thaw in fridge over night) and
olive oil & melted butter.(to brush on the filo pastry).

It's a good ides to get everything set up before you start. I keep the filo covered with a sheet of parchment paper and a damp cloth, so it doesn't dry out.
On a cutting board, place one sheet of filo, brush with a mixture of melted butter & olive oil, place another sheet of filo on top, and brush this one, too.
Cut the filo into 6 strips.
Put 1 Tbsp of mixture on bottom of each filo strip.
fold up in a triangle shape.
Place triangles on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and brush with oil/butter.
Bake in 350* oven for 25-30 minutes, or until nice and brown.

This recipe makes 44 spanakopita triangles. I like to make individual spanakopita triangles, instead of a pan of them. It is easy to freeze some of them, or pack in the kids' lunches, and it's also perfect for a pot-luck. To freeze the spanakopita, freeze them first on the baking tray, then put them in a baggie in the freezer, so they don't stick together. To "re crisp" the spanakopita, just pop them in a warm oven for a few minutes. Enjoy!

good dog

Prima went to the groomer today.
"before" "after"
Prima will be nice and cool for the summer with her short cut.
Good dog, Prima.

stop and smell the lilacs

More pictures of flowers in our garden. We have so many bluebells, it's crazy. But the little ones love to pick them and put them in vases all around the house.This is a white lilac bush in our back yard. It is gorgeous.
Mary is taking time to stop and smell the lilacs.
I picked some lilacs and put them in a vase outside by the hot tub. Aren't they pretty?

Simple marinade

I don't have a name for this recipe, but it is one of my favorites. It is very simple marinade for chicken or pork: 1 part Thai chili garlic sauce and 3 parts teriyaki sauce (that's it!). I don't actually measure the amounts, but if you like your food really spicy, add more chili sauce. (or you could add more chili sauce at the table) Tonight I made it with skinless boneless chicken thighs. I let the chicken marinate in a large zip-lock baggie in the fridge for about 6 hours. This is best done on the bar-b-q, but I have also baked it in the oven and even sort of pan-fried it with a bit of vegetable oil & sesame oil.
I served the chicken with jasmine rice, stir-fried baby bok choy & snow peas in a black bean sauce, and spring rolls. A couple kids thought it was a bit spicy, but everyone loved it and they all cleaned their plates. The spring rolls are not homemade, I just buy them frozen and heat them up in the oven.

Slava

Saint George Slays the Dragon
Yesterday we celebrated "Slava" for the first time with my mum and her husband Rod. Rod is from Serbia where they celebrate the feast day of their family's patron saint. They call it Slava. Their patron saint is St. George. It was a lot of fun, and there was so much food! There was a roast lamb and also a pig roasting over a big fire. (My favorite was the stuffed peppers made by Rod's mum.) It was nice to meet Rod's family, too. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and Thomas used our cam-corder to film a whole bunch of stuff. We watched it last night and it was highly entertaining. Grace and Heather played their little violins for everyone and looked so cute. I can't believe that I forgot my camera, though. Darn!

hobbit house

We had a very pleasant Saturday, mostly out in the garden. The girls were swinging on the swings, Thomas and Eva were playing baseball, Trinity helped me plant some sweet pea seeds, and Felicity and Dad had a plan to help a "Mr. Bilbo Baggins" move in! This is the stone "hobbit house" that Gregory got for father's day a year or so ago, but it never had a home until today. It is now on a mossy hill near the back of our yard and it looks so cute. I love the pathway Felicity made.
Mary Margaret had a friend over today, and they had a lot of fun planting flowers in containers, and this is a tea pot that they painted and put some alyssum in. I think it is pretty sweet.
Grace went to a birthday party this morning, and at the end of the party, her friend gave her a goodie bag tied to a yellow balloon. Well, when Grace took out the little package of crayons that was inside the bag, the balloon floated off, carrying the goodie bag and all its contents away! It was so sad seeing Gracie standing in the sandbox crying while the balloon was getting farther and farther away. What could we do? A hug from Mum was o.k, and Dad gave her a ride on a utility dolly, which is kind of fun, but Eva made Gracie happy again by cutting out a balloon from yellow paper and tying a string on it for our dear little Grace. Aren't big sisters great?

awesome project

Gregory built this absolutely beautiful pond with a fountain in it last weekend. I love it! He dug the hole, inserted the liner, filled it with water, emptied it and filled it again,(someone put a bunch of clay in the water) and hooked up the filter/fountain all in one day.Greg even had the stones, pond plants and lights all in place by the end of the day.
The stones are a really nice sort of turquoise colour.
Trinity & I bought 7 fish and 2 snails for the little pond on Monday.The fountain sounds so relaxing, too. What an awesome project! I can't wait for the weather to get a bit warmer in the evenings, so we can have dinner outside by the pond. Sweet.

Tatabun's violin lessons

Here is a picture of Heather & Grace having a violin lesson with Tatabun. The little ones usually have a lesson every time Tatabun comes over for dinner (at least twice a week). Sometimes he helps Eva with her cello, too, and Mary with the guitar. It is so nice for the children to spend this time with Tatabun.
Before Eva played the cello , she would have (pretty long) violin lessons with Greg's dad. One time, Eva & Tatabun were both being stubborn and I was sure Eva was going to smash her violin, she had this **look** on her face and was spinning her instrument around!! (artistic temperament?) Luckily all was well and about two minutes later we were all laughing around the dinner table. (phew)
I noticed that it's kinda' hard to swing a cello around. Tatabun playing the piano for his "little bunnies".