I had a dinner guest last night, and so of course, took that as an occasion to make something delicious. It took me two days to settle on the menu and in the end I chose a honey-lime salmon, with basmati rice and roasted green beans. I also decided that I should make a dessert, because Canadians don't seem to be able to finish a meal without the dessert course. The meal's crowning glory: chewy caramel pecan cakes with homemade caramel sauce and vanilla gelato.

Now, I had grand plans to photo document this, for your viewing pleasure. But when it finally came time to eat, I was so hungry, we plated the food, poured the wine and consumed without any photos! My sincerest apologies!

For now, enjoying the bubbling pot of insanity, a.k.a. - the caramel sauce.



My grandfather was a candy maker and taught me, before he passed away, that you should always have a healthy fear of giant pots of scalding sugar water.


My healthy respect produced this:




That went with this:



When combined, produced this:




End result, this:



It was a pretty stellar evening. Maybe next time, I'll remember to properly document it. ;)

In pictures.

Lake Louise on a rainy day. It was beautiful, hardly any people.


Backcountry backpacker's best friend - the Jetboil. Hot food in under 2 minutes.


Ice cave we found under the Robson Glacier on the first trip of the season. Incredible.


Native to Alberta - they reminded me of the Trufula trees in Dr. Seuss' classic The Lorax.


Healy Pass/Mummy Lakes - 30+ weather, slept under the stars.

Travelling food/love fest.

On a recent trip to Athabasca, my buddy Dylan and I decided the only appropriate way to celebrate my return to the tiny town was by hosting a dinner party. Very quickly we arrived at the decision to have an Indian themed supper, complete with samosas, naan, butter chicken, chana masala and cardamom and pistachio ice cream. It was pretty much the best meal in recent history. Cannot wait for round two!


Our sweet potato variation on the samosa - got the oil a little bit hot for some of them, but they were still delicious.


The butter chicken receiving it's tandoori marinade before being popped into the refrigerator for a few hours.


Chana masala - an interesting experiment because we used tamarind instead of the tamarind paste as called for. Stronger flavour than we anticipated. Still delicious. The joys of gourmet cooking in a tiny, tiny town where Extra Foods and Buy Low are your only shopping options. :)


The crowning glory of the night - ice cream! The flavours were so subtle and so perfect in this icy, milky wonder of a treat.

Vegetarian chili?

As you can see, I'm pretty excited about my pot of chili. The excitement stems from the fact that this one pot wonder is loaded with protein, veggies, good carbs and should last me into next week.


Vegetarian? Because it was hotly debated after work whether or not eating meat, albeit certain types, i.e. chicken, turkey or eggs still lets you qualify as a vegetarian. My best pal Sibina said, "Turkey chili? Yeah, it might as well be vegetarian." I still don't get why people think ground turkey is inferior to ground beef because I actually prefer the flavour or turkey and it's better for you. Regardless, it will be delicious.

Supper

It looks almost as good as it tasted.

Spinach, ricotta and cranberry stuffed chicken breasts:
Combine 1/2 cup ricotta, 1 cup chopped spinach and 2/3 cup dried cranberries and a smidge of salt and pepper. Cut slit lengthwise in 2 chicken breasts - fill (it will be overflowing). Bake at 350 degrees for an hour. While the chicken is cooking you can whip up some wild rice, brown rice, quinoa or any other wholesome grain of your choice.

The best bit? Under 450 calories!

Enjoy!

Washington, in pictures.

Something about the wet sand between my toes and the waves crashing against my legs make it seem as though my mind and body both go, "Ahhhhhhhh, now all is right in the world."

These photos were taken at the Dungeness Spit National Wildlife Reserve in Sequim, WA.

The Olympics in the background, wildlife reserve in the foreground.


Flock of seagulls.


My sister-in-law catches me in a ridiculous pose.


Sunbathing in a MH jacket - it's what you do when you're born here.


The classic self-portrait - this girl is happy to be home.

Flirt? Flirt Who?

I took matters into my own hands. I made sour lemon cupcakes, iced with a vanilla buttercream and rolled in lemon sugar. They're pretty damn tasty - but then I'm biased. My coworkers will give me a somewhat objective opinion tomorrow morning. All told, the total price tag was about $7.35 for 2 dozen homemade, flavorful cupcakes. Of course, I had staples like sugar, flour, eggs and butter in the fridge. Even if I hadn't, this recipe would've topped out at $12. Factoring in about an hour and a half of labor - I'm still struggling to see how normal people can pay $3 a cake at Flirt. But I digress.


Into the oven - I filled these a little on the full side. Never having used this recipe I didn't know how much they'd fluff up.


On the cooling rack - some poor cupcakes found the hot spot in the oven.


Iced with vanilla buttercream and rolled in lemon sugar.


Ready to be enjoyed!

Now, how to get rid of 2 dozen cupcakes and not gain 15 pounds...

Happy Easter

Yesterday afternoon was spent colouring Easter eggs with my best friend, her boyfriend, his son and her mother. It was a pretty low-key afternoon. Much of the time was spent discussing Easter traditions, and for me, trying not to swear in front of Sibina's future step-son and her mother. Difficult task.

One thing that surprised me was how odd my family's tradition of dyeing and then consuming Easter eggs seemed. Apparently it's "traditional" to boil eggs, colour them and let them sit from year to year, praying/hoping that they don't break. The idea is that the inside will dry out completely and you can use your eggs as decorations from year to year. Anyone else heard of this? I think it's a disaster waiting to happen: two pets and a very clumsy owner = potentially smelly mess.