Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Well that bites...

I took this quiz to see what bible character I most resembled...not very happy with what I got. Maybe I need to rethink the way I behave and believe? hmmm

But apparently I have lots of company ;)




You Scored as Jonah

But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.




Jonah


100%



Barak

75%




Peter

75%



Samson

75%



Delilah

50%



Thomas

50%



Jacob

50%



Paul


50%



David


25%



Joseph


0%
Curious to see how you'd do? Here's the link

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

I'm a bad blogger. Remembered to take my camera to our family thanksgiving but forgot to take it out of my purse until it was practically over!

There were 27 people at my sister-in-laws place to celebrate together and I don't have any decent pics to show for it.

Lots of food, TONS of desserts and plenty of laughs. There is always a lot of silly laughter and shenanigans going on at our family gatherings. However, not this time. Weirdly everyone was rather well behaved. So, I don't have any funny stories to share this year. Bummer.

Hmmm, can't leave a post with no pictures, so I share the few I did take and a little info about each one.

We started off the day going to my favourite apple orchard again! 3x's this year! Everyone was so impressed, even my sister Ginny, that we are going to go there from now on.

Now, I know I've been promoting Barb's orchard here on my blog and some of you may start becoming a little suspicious, but truly and honestly, she's not paying me a cent for this lol.


Welcome to my favourite apple orchard :)

















My big brother, Ted, looking a little confused...though I'm not sure why :)

















Jay trying an apple he wasn't too sure about...

















My sister, Ginny, and niece, Emma.

















Amy enjoying the fruits of her labour

















Nephew Alex staying cool...

















We found this bird nest in one of the Mac trees. Momma and babies were already gone though :(

















Alex and Simon


















Sister-in-law, Chris , and her daughter.






















































































Later on that day, my kid brother showed up with his fiancee and baby girl. These are just some pics of Isabella another miracle baby in our family, she so tiny but growing beautifully. Bella will be 1 on November 27th.

Isabella and mom, Kathy

































Bella attempting to chew on a wooden apple




















































Amy with her Uncle Rob :)


















Emma, Aunt Cindy and Amy...

















Simon with Trouble (the dog)

Friday, October 10, 2008

Amy's First Photo Shoot

Oh wow! I am such a proud momma today. My dear friend Jeanette stopped by this morning with an awesome gift for us.

Last Saturday we went to watch Amy's good friend Katie get her blue belt in karate. While there, Katie's dad, Michael, was taking pictures of the event. Amy was supposed to originally go to their place in the afternoon for a photo shoot with Michael, who by the way is a fantastic amateur photographer. Since we were already there Michael wanted to try some shots with Amy.

These are some of the shots. To see all of them you can view our public web album here.








































































Why do our kids have to grow up sooo fast?

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

RECIPE & Herbs : We had frost last night...

Thank goodness I brought in my herbs.

I decided yesterday to take the last of the herbs in for drying. Amy and I hung them up in the kitchen/classroom window.

The house smells divine and it's really nice to see all these little bundles just hanging around. I've asked hubby to make me a rack for the kitchen ceiling for next year. I'd like to hang my pots from it and it would be perfect to hang the herbs next year.

I think I'll take all the sweet and greek basil and make pesto to freeze for the winter. I love this recipe.

Basil Pesto

1/2 pine nuts, toasted
1 cup packed basil
1 cup packed flat leaf parsley
1- 2 cloves garlic (to your taste)
Ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1/2 tsp lemon juice (if freezing to prevent discolourization)

Add the basil, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper to food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Stream in 1/2 cup EV olive oil and pine nuts, pulse until combined, transfer into a large mixing bowl and stir in the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Since I'm going to make a big batch for freezing, I will omit the cheese and just add it in when I'm ready to use it. I find the cheese doesn't take to well to freezing and thawing.

I freeze my pesto in small ziploc bags, pressed flat for easy storage in the freezer. I also make a batch or two in ice cube trays for when I just want a small amount for a recipe or meal.


















Monday, October 6, 2008

My Blog Has Hit 1000+ Visitors

Wow, I never ever would have thought people would be so interested in our lives.

Who are you people?

Where are you from?

Please take a moment to say hi in the comments section...I'm very curious about those who are visiting.


Sunday, October 5, 2008

Happy Sunday

What a great day!

Our new pastor started today and what a service! I am beginning to feel the stirring of optimism but trying to keep my expectations down :)

I will write more about our pastor later, perhaps, but for now let me show you some pictures of our afternoon after the service.

Our family plus two other families from our chuch took the new pastor and his family apple picking at my favourite apple orchard (see this post).

A good time was had by all and lots of apples got picked and eaten along the way :)


Ann-Marie and moi
















my hunky hubby looking serious

















Myself and friend with friends darling daughter

















hunky hubby and best friend with best friends daughter

















hunky hubby and darling daugher

















worn out son (running around an apple orchard is exhausting work!)

















the group

































Amy took this picture of the beautiful sky on our way home
































Friday, October 3, 2008

Suncatchers

Oh how our backyard sparkles in the sunshine now. Some pics of the 130+ cd's that we made into suncatchers on our 'mental health' day (just a fancy phrase for playing hookey) lol

Thanks Andrew & Lorraine for donating to the cause. We love them!


RECIPE - Perfect Pizza Dough

SORRY, NO PICTURES YET, LIFE IS GETTING IN THE WAY AND WON'T LET ME MAKE PIZZA! SOON, I PROMISE :-)


Our family are big pizza lovers. Number one son is a very plain pepperoni pizza guy while myself and Amy are huge fans of everything goes. Jay on the other hand is somewhere in between as long as there's lots of meat on it :)


After years of buying store bought doughs and never being really happy with them, I decided to try my hand at homemade *gasp* from scratch dough.

Now realize, up until maybe 10 years ago, scratch for me was a boxed cake. I've come a long way since then baby.
Many attempts, mediocre results, and sometimes downright disasters (be very careful when using recipes off the net, and read them very carefully) I finally came up with what I consider TA DA! "The Perfect Pizza Dough" Woot woot! I'd like to share that recipe now with all my friends in blogger land :) Please let me know what you think once you try it. So far the response has been very positive with my friends...one even calls me the "Queen of Pizza" haha!

One note though: I have a Kitchenaid mixer that has a bread kneading hook. My friend who makes this often does not. It works well both ways.

If you have to make it by hand, just follow the instructions and try to enjoy the gooey hands. It might help to have the flour pre-measured in a bowl to save fiddling with flour goo covered hands and measuring scoops.

So here goes...

Vic's Pizza Dough Recipe

Recipe make one really large thick crust pizza or 2 large thin crust pizza's, we personally prefer the thin crust.

1 1/4 cups warm water

1 tbsp honey

1 pkg. yeast or 2 1/4 tsp

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp salt

3 cups flour

1. Mix first 4 ingredients and then add 2 cups flour. Mix well.

2. Add 2 tsp salt (never allow salt to touch live yeast or it will kill it) and the last of the flour. Mix on medium speed 6-8 minutes.

3. Let rise till doubled. Punch down and shape onto greased or corn meal covered pizza stones.

4. Put on toppings as desired.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 15 for thin crust and 20-25 iminutes for thick crust.

Watch those thin crusts!

**Check back tomorrow for photos of the process and final product as I will be making this tonight for dinner and will take pictures of the steps**