Year of the Dragon

I made a pie! Perhaps I'm beginning to un-beige. My assignment was to bring a dessert to the dinner hosted by Terry and Brian to celebrate Chinese New Year. I was SO CLOSE to buying something. A Chinese bakery makes a lovely cake. It would be SO EASY! The Hubby even urged me to buy something. But I fought those beige tendencies.

I never make pie. Pie is something that was my mother's domain. But it has always intrigued me. Tips to making a good flaky crust: Keep it cold. Don't overwork it. Once it's rolled out and ready to be placed into the pie plate be careful not to stretch it.

Pie crust only has a few ingredients so it's not hard to make. But it's tricky. Just the challenge to push me out of beige.

The family celebrating the Year of the Dragon

As a first pie, I decide to go with one that only has a bottom crust and a crumble top. Half as tricky I hope. I email my Auntie Katie in Vancouver for tips. She is the one who taught my mother how to make pie crust. Unfortunately I don't hear back from her in time. I'm on my own.


I choose a Deep Dish Winter Fruit Pie with Walnut Crumb. It is filled with apples, pears, cranberries, and dried figs. It turns out beautifully. I am happy. I'm a little less beige than I was before.


Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Still So Beige

I can see that others are living lives of colour.

Colin's Bacon Milkshakes

My nephew Colin embarked on a 41 day bacon eating adventure. He ate at least one piece of bacon every day for 41 days. On the weekends he made out-there bacon recipes. Colin is obviously not Beige.

Bacon Cake made by Colin

The Daughter's hair bun is normally small and underwhelming.










Then she does something magical with a sport sock and voila: a full and luscious bun.

This is what someone who's beige finds fascinating.











Treasure, who some might call a "sensitive" (picky) eater, tries various foods that he normally would have refused. Squid and mussels are not beige.

Sabina who previously was struggling with beige has joined the Ride to Conquer Cancer and her face is too red and her butt too sore to be considered beige any longer.

I, on the other hand, am still so beige. I think it has to do with my New Year's Resolution: Acceptance. I'm used to spending a lot of my energy trying to inspire others to...well...to see the world like I do. You can imagine how well that goes over. I really don't understand what all the reluctance is about. I believe strongly and sincerely that if more people saw things the way I do then the world, well, maybe not the world, but definitely I would be much happier. I know on an intellectual level that it's perfectly fine and actually desirable that everyone has their own feelings and thoughts blah blah blah but deep down I really don't get it. But I'm going to try to Accept People for Who They Are. Very basic stuff but not simple or easy for me. I think Acceptance is making me Beige. It's hard to imagine needing much passion to Accept people (yawn). But I probably don't quite Get It yet.

Will keep you posted.

The Year So Far is Beige

The year so far has been underwhelming. Kind of beige. Tofu-like. White rice. Cream of Wheat-ish. I guess it's going to be hard to match last year. In 2011 I became a Cyclist. I clip in. I wear shorts with a padded butt. I ride 100km in one go. In 2011 I became a Blogger. I have followers (only 6...but still...). I post from far away places like Thailand and Vietnam. In 2011 I became a Photographer. The Daughter shared tips. I know (a little bit) about shutter speed and ISO. Aperture is my friend. The few pictures I've taken that are not fuzzy or dark are works of art! In 2011 I made delicious things with yeast. Donuts. Cinnamon buns. I learned about Twitter and opened an account. The Hubby taught me to play pool.

In 2012, so far, nothing. Absolutely nothing. And I'm not just talking about Doing something exciting. I would be happy with even just Thinking something exciting. I know it's only been 7 days into the New Year. But for me the start of the year is usually a time of inspiration, of grand ideas. This year my only New Year's Resolution is to make Croissants. And that's a carry over from last year. I'm worried I've lost my zest. I need some chartreuse. A shot of magenta.

The Daughter and the Adolescent aren't helping matters. I haven't yet figured out how to be graceful as I slide into parental colourlessness. I would like to be doing this with quiet dignity and elegance. But how do you get used to being demoted from the centre of your child's universe to one who is way down on the list of people whom they want to spend time with? I lie in bed at night unable to peacefully sleep until they get safely home. Shouldn't I be the one out late at night having fun? I used to be. Before I was beige.

There are no photos today. They'd probably be fuzzy anyway. I wonder what colour self-pity is?

Ringing out the Old

As we do every year, we take some time out after Christmas at a cottage in a snowy winter wonderland. When people ask us what we do during our week away there's never much to tell them. We do what we always do: Not Much.

Not Much involves a lot of euchre playing. The Daughter and I are the family Euchre Champions. And as this is MY blog, I can conveniently choose to forget to mention all the times that the Hubby and the Adolescent beat us. Those times are purely fluke.

The Beamer, the Daugher, the Adolescent, and me playing euchre

Not Much would not be complete without a lot of lazing around.

The Daughter and the Adolescent lazing around

It also means a soak in the hot tub.

The Adolescent, the Hubby, the Beamer, the Daughter, and the Boyfriend

A treasured tradition is the Family Walk which I force/threaten/bribe my family to do with me every day. Once they're out they always enjoy themselves. As I've said so many times before on these pages: why don't they just listen to me in the first place? Their lives would be so much easier and better.

The Hubby, the Beamer, Richard, Trish, Scarlett, the Boyfriend, and the Daughter

I cook...a lot. This, as you know, is unusual for me and not my preferred state. I did have one temper tantrum this week where I refused to make dinner because my efforts felt unappreciated. The Hubby readily agreed to cook instead. He didn't want to eat food tasting of resentment. But then, surprisingly, so unlike me, I couldn't let go of control and ended up doing it anyway. The result was Pasta with Provencal Vegetable Sauce and it was very tasty, bitterness and all.

Pasta with Provencal Vegetable Sauce

But as you know I've been trying to embrace change. Well maybe embrace is too strong a word. I'm trying to get a little more comfortable with change. This week it comes in the form of the Boyfriend. He has come up to spend a few days at the cottage with us. As when anyone new comes into your life they influence you to do things differently or do things you might never have considered before. The trick, I think, is to be open to the influence and not dismiss the opportunity however small it might seem.

The Daughter and the Boyfriend

The Boyfriend suggests an alternate walking route. We grumble but ultimately take the road less traveled. We discover great tobogganing hills which never would have been found if we had stayed with the tried and familiar. The Boyfriend leads by example and jumps from the hot tub and rolls in the snow in -10C weather. Others follow stupidly.

The Adolescent and the Boyfriend doing craziness

The Boyfriend and the Daughter make dinner one night. Burgers with bacon smothered with aged cheddar cheese and covered with carmelized apples and onions on sourdough bread. It's called The Johnny Appleseed Burger . Delicious! As hard as it is to give up control of the kitchen, I do, and actually think I could get used to someone cooking for me (once in a while).

The Johnny Appleseed Burger and sauteed potatoes

It's near the end of 2011. It's time for me to appreciate (and cling stubbornly to...just kidding...not really) all the old familiar things and look forward to the new things that lie ahead in the new year. Some I will bring on myself. Others will just present themselves if I'm smart enough to recognize the opportunity.

Christmas Traditions

The Hubby and the Adolescent enjoy Scarlett's house

In the spirit of letting things go that should be gone, I tried getting rid of some Christmas traditions this year. I didn't cajole and threaten the kids into making gingerbread houses. I accepted it like the (fake) mature adult I am and refrained from fondling the gingerbread house kits at every bakery and supermarket I went into. However, when the Adolescent realized what had happened he gave me the evil eye. Apparently he LOVES gingerbread houses!

Sinikka, Brian, and the Daughter

According to the Adolescent I should have kept gingerbread houses and let go of singing Christmas carols around the dining table. I mused about forgoing carol singing on Christmas Eve because it's usually met with trepidation and claims of tone deafness. But when other more musically inclined members of the family caught wind there was protest. Apparently they LOVE the singing!

Me and my Dad

I gave up making Eggs Benedict for Christmas brunch because, although delicious, some people don't like runny yolks, some think Hollandaise sauce is too fattening, etc. But when my Dad realized what was for brunch instead he elegantly let it be known that he LOVES Eggs Benedict!

The Daughter got a gift card for the liquor store in her stocking

I decide to be ok with the kids opening their stockings on Christmas morning in the living room rather than making everyone trek up to our third floor bedroom. This made sense when the kids were small and we could all fit on the bed. But now everyone is huge AND Scarlett and family join in too. But apparently everyone WANTS to trek upstairs and crowd onto one bed.








There's a time for change but apparently there's also a time for everything to stay exactly the way it's always been because that's what we're familiar with and that's comforting in this crazy world.  Finally something that makes sense!

Me with the Beef

For Christmas Eve dinner I make a Herb and Garlic Crusted Beef Tenderloin with Red and Yellow Pepper Relish. It's gorgeous!

Trish, Terry, and Scarlett

A yule log complete with mushrooms!

 For dessert I try my hand at Buche de Noel. A yule log. It's basically like a jelly roll but in this case filled with a luscious coffee cream. It's then cut and artistically manipulated to resemble a log. I ripped the recipe out of a magazine I was reading while on the train to Montreal a few weeks ago.  The cake and filling came out beautifully but the chocolate icing was hard as rock and definitely did not have the capacity to transform my pieces of misshapen cake into a beautiful yule log. I guess this is what one gets from a recipe in a home design magazine! I followed a different recipe for chocolate icing and it all came out very yule log-like!


All the best of the season to you!

Mothers-in-Law

We all know the stereotype of the woman who can't bear to see her precious son giving his love to another woman so makes life hell for the daughter-in-law. My own mother-in-law, the Original, was one of these women. She had four boys and loved them all fiercely. No woman was good enough for any of them.

I fear that I have the potential to become such a woman. The Adolescent has only had one girlfriend (that I know of) when he was 12. And I didn't really like her all that much. She was demeaning of her own mother. And was never really warm toward me. When I asked him what he liked about her he said "Everything". I knew he was at risk to get his heart broken by her. And she did. Bitch. I give myself hope by recognizing that I haven't had much practice yet so hopefully I'll get it right by the time it's necessary.

Me, the Beamer, the Hubby, Great Aunt Helen, the III

I could use as my role model my Mother-in-Law III. She's actually now divorced from the Hubby's father so is actually my ex-step-mother-in-law. The III knew how to do the mother-in-law thing. She liked me right from the Hubby's first date with me. She was a doting grandmother to our children, treating them indistinguishably from her own biological grandchildren. Even as her marriage to the Hubby's father was breaking down her love for us never wavered. Unfortunately we don't see each other as much now because of the logistical and political challenges that divorces bring. But I know that she will always be in our lives.

Note the feathers

Tonight we are invited to the III's home for dinner to celebrate Christmas together. Great Aunt Helen is visiting from St. Catharines. At one point during the evening the Hubby needs tools for something manly that he's doing. The last time the Hubby was called upon to find his hammer he couldn't. He had to hang his head in manly shame. The III finds her tools in no time. They are adorned with feathers and rhinestones. The Hubby bangs away as the boa feathers tickle his nose.

Made with love from scratch

For many years after the III's divorce she was figuring out how to live by herself again. She wasn't inspired to cook only for herself so ended up eating a lot of frozen dinners. Recently the Domestic Goddess in her has been awakened and we benefit! For tonight's dessert she makes a Chocolate Salted Caramel Layer Cake. From scratch. The last time she baked a cake from scratch was before cake mixes were invented! It is delicious. The chocolate cake is dense and intense but not too sweet. The icing is rich and luxurious with little Skor bits and fleur de sel sprinkled on top. The perfect special occasion cake.

The III and her Labour of Love

But she doesn't stop there. She also makes Billy Goat cookies. Delicious and crispy with pecans and toffee bits. She makes chocolate covered wafer bark. Her freezer is stocked with homemade borscht, spaghetti sauce, and stew. Domestic Goddess reborn! I feel pampered. I feel doted on. I appreciate the effort and care that the III put into making this feast for us. A role model for all Mothers-in-Law.

Food is Love.

New Traditions

Proscuitto, goat cheese, and veggie pizza

The Daughter has many many wonderful and endearing qualities, some of which I've described in these postings. But one annoying habit is that she points out all the long standing family practices that have gone astray since she went away to university. I love traditions. Particularly those that bring the family together. Friday night pizza was a weekly ritual. Every Friday night was the same. We'd order in pizza and eat it while watching a movie together. All 5 of us. Together. Ahhh! I really don't like change. But as we all know change is inevitable and everywhere. Friday night pizza was the perfect balm for me. We ordered from the same pizzeria. We ordered the exact same ingredients. Every single Friday night. We all looked forward to it. We would decline other invitations. Nothing got in the way of Friday night pizza. But then the Daughter went away for school and wasn't here on Friday nights anymore. The Adolescent matured (a euphemism for "thinks his parents are extremely annoying and would rather be with his friends"). The Beamer continues to like Friday night pizza. But he likes everything. I realize that one has to change or risk becoming obsolete. So tonight the Hubby and I will still have our same pizza from our same pizzeria. But we'll have it late after the Beamer goes to bed. We'll have it by ourselves because the Daughter is out at the bar with her friends and the Adolescent is at his part-time job. We'll still eat it while watching a movie. But it will be a grown up movie. I guess it'll have to do.

Chocolate truffles in progress

My friend Treasure discovered a blog written by a 19 year old young woman about her adventures in baking. She has a bucket list of 30 things that she wants to make. Over 2 years she's already made about half of what's on her list. Croissants are on her list. They're on my list too. Chocolate truffles are on her list. Chocolate truffles can be crossed off mine.






 

A truffle just before the final roll in cocoa powder

 
Treasure and I had a BakeFest. We made chocolate truffles. They are easy to make but take some time due to the chilling needed between the various steps. We made our truffles with 70% dark chocolate. I might make them again with a less intense chocolate (50 - 60%) if I want them slightly sweeter and silkier.

Crushed candy cane is sprinkled on top of the chocolate shortbread

We also made Peppermint and White Chocolate Covered Chocolate Shortbread. These were a big hit.

Lemon slice and bake cookies

Lemon Slice and Bake Cookies were not as popular as the chocolate goodies but delicious just the same.












I'm hoping that Treasure will participate with me in the upcoming Croissant BakeFest. It will make up for the pain I feel at not making gingerbread houses at Christmas anymore. Change or be changed.

To new traditions!