Holiday traditions

I know people say this a lot at this time of the year but, I can’t believe Christmas is just two weeks away (or is it three? My math is a bit off.) I feel like Christmas always kinda sneaks up on me. I’m never prepared,  I always have hopes of sending cards and all that jazz which never happens. But there is something Christmas-ey that snuck up on me the other day on my drive back from Cranbrook, Vinyl Cafe Christmas. Stuart McLean, has one of those unmistakeable voices, so as I was scanning through the fuzz of radio waves, I came across his voice and stopped the radio. I listened for most of the drive back, and at one point, even got a bit teary. It made me realize Christmas really is upon me, and it’s one of those monumental Christmases, the first away from home. Instead I will be spending it with my cousins and aunt in Calgary, which I’m equally excited about. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m all about new experiences.

But one tradition I will never give up on (even though I’m on a diet) is Christmas baking. Because thing about Christmas baking is that it’s to give away, which is pretty fun. So I started making my list, and here it is so far.

-Grandma’s shortbread

-Mexican wedding cakes.

-Chocolate pistachio fudge

-Christmas fruit cake

-Almond-raspberry sandwich cookies

-Cardamom-orange sugar cookies

-Ambrosia macaroons

I’m hoping to have some to bring to share with my co-workers and some to bring to Calgary for my family. We’ll see how it goes. I may have to cut it down a bit, I would like to go out in the snow for a bit on the weekend.

But, I’m wondering, what are your favourite Christmas treats?

(Fig cookies from Gourmet that I made a couple years ago)

Alien

I’m not going to pussy foot around it, I was a negligent blogger this weekend. I don’t even really know why I didn’t. I don’t have a valid excuse. So I won’t try and come up with one. I’ll just apologize and assume you’ll forgive me, and we’ll kiss and make up and move on.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let me tell you about what happened to me today! Let me start off by saying, especially to all you city folk, you don’t know what you’re missing. Sure, I had a minor melt down on Saturday night when I decided walking too and from the Ghostriders hockey game in my jeans would be a good idea, oh, it was -15 degrees out. But, the thing is, when it is cold like that here, it is because the sky is totally clear. Which means you can see every mountain in the area perfectly! It takes your breath away.

Yesterday, my car got here! Driven all the way from Victoria, B.C. And let me tell you, this morning when I saw that it was -21, I couldn’t have been happier to get behind the wheel of a car. My parents asked a co-worker of my mom’s, named Monty, a former long-haul trucker, to drive the corolla across the province. So, when he got here, I had to drive him to Cranbrook so he could fly out to Victoria. I’m not a snow driver, I don’t think anyone who grew up in Victoria or Vancouver is. We just never get enough of the white stuff out there to give us the practice, so needless to say, I was a bit nervous to make the two hour drive, there and back.

The hardest parts of the drive where making sure I kept my eyes on the road and not on the mountains, rivers and other bits of gorgeous scenery, and surviving a stare down with a mountain goat. We passed the mountain goats on our way to Cranbrook. They walk on to the highway and lick the salt off the road. So I round this corner, and smack dab in the middle of the high way are about 15 mountain goats. And I don’t mean goats like you see in your local petting zoo, I mean curly horned, big a**ed goats. But they were pretty cool nonetheless. So we manage to slowly move them off the road and head off to Cranbrook. Well on the way back, sure enough, there they were in the exact same spot, only this time I knew where they would be and had tips from my new friend the long haul trucker to get them off the road. So I start inching up, and the start moving towards the side of the road. And then this big guy stops right in front of the hood of my car. He looked me right in the eye (I’m serious, RIGHT in the eye!) and curls his lips. It creeped me out for a minute, and then he shoved a female goat in the butt with his horns and they went on their way, and I did too.

I spent the rest of the day unpacking the boxes that my parents had shoved in to the car. I now have all my cookbooks here in Fernie with me. And they are taking up a pretty big portion of the kitchen, but I think it makes the kitchen look used, which is always a good thing.

Today it was back to work, and I decided I was going to have spicy oven-fried chicken for dinner (ala everybody loves sandwiches), I asked my co-worker about the butcher near work, and she advised me that Backcountry meat and sausage is better, and cheaper. I didn’t even know there was another butcher in town so I was pretty excited about this. And after work on my way home, I stopped in at Backcountry meat and sausage.

I should have wondered when I pulled up and there was a row of pick-up trucks in the parking lot, but a lot of people drive trucks here. So I zip up my coat and hop out of the car. When I walked in, it became clear that I was the only woman there, and also the only one not wearing camouflage. To be honest I wasn’t really phased by this. I just looked in all the cases, while I was eyed up by all the camo-clad men. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any chicken legs, just breasts. So I was sore out of luck as far as oven fried chicken goes. But I learned a valuable lesson, if you are looking for good meat and sausages, follow the camo.

Friday morning

Just a picture for now. I’ll talk to you after work! Have a great day!

The unexpected

I’m sorry I haven’t been around lately. I have been thinking of you though. It’s been a busy couple days with learning my new town and learning my new job. But I’m starting to feel more settled and more at home which means I’m getting more comfortable making fun meals. But let me tell you what has gone over the past few days. First of all it has snowed, but I’m sure as you noticed in my past pictures, there was snow her to begin with. But it’s funny, as a girl who grew up on the coast, I’m not used to walking up, day after day to new snow. But that’s how it goes here. And guess what’s underneath all that snow, ice! And I bailed pretty bad on my way home last night. But I took control today and bought myself some Yak Traks, which are basically teeth you put on the bottom of your boots to help you grip the ice. But back to the food.

Do you ever have those nights where you want something quick and easy? But for me, I try to steer clear of the pre-made, “easy”, “fast” meals. Because lets face it, those things have nothing good for you in them. One of my favourite ways to fill my belly on a lazy evening is with brinner, what is brinner? you ask. It is Breakfast for dinner. And, I admit I had brinner twice this week.

The thing with the GI diet is that your meals need to be made up of grains, protein and most importantly a lot of veggies. It’s hard to think that way sometimes when a lot of our meals are centered around a lot of pasta, or a lot of meat. I’m still working out that balance. Also, I’m not supposed to have eggs. I’m supposed to have the liquid eggs in a little jug. But I just can’t bring myself to do that. Anyways, what I ate, right. I had a piece of high fiber toast with grainy mustard, some back bacon (yes, it’s on the diet), poached egg and as you can see, some steamed green beans and some lovely Roma. I know you’re probably thinking, “well, that isn’t very exciting!” And my response is, there is beauty in simplicity, and some of the best meals on earth are the simplest ones.

Like last night for example, I got home late after an meeting in town and needed something in my belly that was quick and tasty, basically I ate what I eat for breakfast every morning: blueberries, low-fat, no sugar added yoghurt, and Kashi Go Lean cereal. It’s basic, but delicious and has everything I need.

There it is. My Wednesday night dinner. Isn’t it beautiful? I know you’re wondering what that yellow stuff is. Well I have introduce Udo’s Blend of Omega fatty acids into my breakfast. It actually tastes pretty good. And I don’t mind the oily-ness in my cereal. I also added Chia to my breakfast this morning, my mom told me to, and well I do what my mom says (within reason.)

But all good things must come to an end, and brinner three nights in a row would have been absolute madness. And I was feeling wild tonight.

I can’t have potatoes right now, or I can but shouldn’t, or something like that. But I love gnocchi, and found a recipe for Ricotta gnocchi on thekitchn a few months ago. Ricotta gnocchi, that can’t be bad, right?

I thought I followed the recipe, and I dropped them in the pot, and do you see what happened? They pretty much fell apart int he pot and floated to the surface in gross little clumps. I thought maybe I could salvage it. But well, it would have been pretty mushy. So I abandoned ship, flushed the pot of gross clumps, and went for the whole wheat pasta in my cupboard, and pulled a pork chop from the fridge.

The pasta sauce saved the meal. It was one of my best. I was eating it with a spoon right for the pot while I was waiting for the pasta to cook. So, sure my gnocchi fell a part, but that’s life. Sometimes, things just go awry. Sometimes, the unexpected hits you right in the face and knocks you on your butt, but it’s how you deal with it. It’s the old when life gives you lemons thing, only in this case, it’s clumpy gnocchi.