Curling Bites Back

I literally have bruises on top of bruises.

The first set was from volleyball two weeks ago. The hardwood wasn't very forgiving when I was trying to dig for the ball.

The newest bruise is from curling. It does not quite match the ugliness of my knee bruise from last year, which I wrote about here. I didn't have a dramatic spill this time around. But I banged my knee into the ice enough to leave a pretty good mark!

On Friday afternoon our team at work met at the curling club for a little bit of team building. After a quick lesson on the basics of how to balance, slide and make your rock curl, we split off into teams of four. We played two quick matches comprised of two curling ends. Our little team lost both games, but we certainly had a good time.

The most notable moments were when an engineering tech and engineer tore the crotch on their jeans while throwing rocks. I guess that's why they told us to wear loose-fitting pants!

This was my third experience curling. I've had fun all three times I've gone. If I had more time in the evenings, it is a past-time I could imagine getting involved in regularly!

Here is a picture from one of my past curling experiences.

Hopefully there will be more curling in the future!

Stuffing Your Face

Ed,

Today is your 26th birthday, and I have been creeping your Facebook profile for an appropriate picture to post. This was a difficult task because I'm pretty sure you wouldn't appreciate me posting the photos that I liked.

For example, this one of you stuffing your face:

Or this one of you and Jackie Chan.

I also like this one, because you are wearing your purple shirt, and Paige appears to be screaming in the background.

But I have settled on this one of you and Christina. It's pretty nice!

We have only known each other for about two and a half years, but it seems like longer. We share a similar sense of humor, and the same love/hate relationship with the satay noodle soup at Thai Tai. You have Rock Band with all its peripherals (which makes you pretty awesome in my books), and you have forgiven me for the times I've nailed you in the face with a volleyball. Plus, you are always game for a morning Starbucks run.

I hope your 26th Birthday is great, and the poutine we gorge on after work lives up to the previous hype!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

All Pumpkin Weekend

I have recently gotten in the habit of trying new recipes on the weekends.

First was the casseroles, Chicken Tetrazzini and Mediterranean Tuna Noodle. Those were both successes!

Next I tried an Asian Hot and Sour Soup. It was delicious!

Last weekend I tried Ricotta Gnocchi. I was not impressed with the results. Yech.

But this weekend... Well, this weekend turned into an ALL PUMPKIN WEEKEND.

Initially, all I wanted to make was some pumpkin loaf.

But after scouring the shelves of the grocery store, I determined that the World's Largest Can of Pumpkin was the only can of plain pumpkin puree at the grocery store! The smaller cans were pumpkin pie filling, and already had spices in them.

World's Largest Can of Pumpkin

With this gigantic can of pumpkin, I made the most beautiful loaf of Pumpkin Coconut bread. It might sound like an odd combination, but it was absolutely delicious! The loaf had the perfect amount of rise, the most tantalizing aroma, and a pleasant browned colour.

See for yourself!

Amanda's Pumpkin Coconut Loaf

With nearly three quarters of the pumpkin puree remaining, I tried my next creation: Pumpkin Soup!

I have never tried pumpkin soup, so I searched out a recipe that had good reviews. This gave me the opportunity to use our hand mixer (which sprayed soup everywhere).

Be warned! It is important to read your soup recipe thoroughly... I didn't know it was going to take an hour of simmering to whip this soup up! We ended up eating much later than I had hoped.

Amanda's Pumpkin Soup

A deviation from my pumpkin theme, I also tried to make Crab Cakes this weekend. I was pleasantly surprised with how they turned out. They are actually coated in crushed Ritz cracker! But they were very tasty and moist. There is lots of green onion in them, a bit of mayo and mustard, and good dose of cayenne pepper.

Amanda's Scrumptious Crab Cakes

And to finish off my pumpkin, I made a batch of pumpin muffins.

I guess I never took a picture of the muffins baked...

It's amazing how exhausting cooking and baking can be. But it was nice to have so many treats for the week. The pumpkin was a success...

But it'll probably be another 10 months before I touch pumpkin again.

It's Cooooold Outside

The last week has been cold. Really, really, really cold! We've been dealing with temperatures in the -20's, plus wind chills of -27 to -30.

Every morning, I bundle myself up. I don't own long johns, so I put tights on under my work pants. I put a hoodie on over my regular office clothes, and then I layer on a scarf and my ski jacket. I've been carrying a tuque with me, but I prefer the hood of my coat.

I am also surprised by the people who are not as bundled-up as me. And shockingly, there are a LOT of people who are not dressed properly! I see girls wearing leggings, or flats without socks (it is snowing out, people!). Men wearing hoodies instead of coats. Teenagers shivering on the street corners while they wait at bus stops...

I can understand being unprepared for a surprise day of cold weather... But after a week of frigid temperatures, you'd think people would adapt.

Here are some things I recommend on a cold day.

1) If you have to go outside, get yourself a cute toque!

2) Carry some money for an impromptu Starbucks Hot Chocolate.

3) When you are cozy at home, stock up on some "Hussy" books (a term coined by my wonderful husband!) Tom relentlessly makes fun of the covers of these books because they are so ridiculously cheesy. I chose this cover in particular because if you look closely, you can see the heroine has three hands. One on the ground, one on her side, and one clasping the heroes hand.

4) It is also prudent to have some warm blankets on hand. I suggest the As-Seen-On-TV Snuggie. "The Blanket That Has Sleeves!"

5) And don't forget your four-legged friend! Snuggies come for dogs too!

6) Or maybe... Just MAYBE if you are hardcore enough... If you are really, REALLY serious about keeping warm... You will invest in this... A fleece adult onesie. If you have a onesie... I salute you.

Keep warm, everyone!

Uninvited Guests

The new year is upon us, and with it, Tom and I have some uninvited house guests.

These pests answer to the name of Drosophila Melanogaster. They are also known more commonly as... Fruit flies.

Sneaky little bastards!

I'm pretty sure they hitched a ride into our house in a box of mandarin oranges or on a bunch of bananas. And while we've had the occasional fruit fly in the past, they always seemed to die out pretty quickly on their own. We keep a clean kitchen, so I don't think there's much for them to live off of. But these fruit flies have been more resilient, and highly annoying.

In general, I find fruit flies (along with lady bugs) to be one of the least offensive insects. They don't have creepy multiple legs like spiders or centipedes. You can't hear them buzzing around like flies. They don't leave itchy welts like mosquitoes. They aren't spastic like moths around lights and flames. They don't scurry around like ants.

Scurrying is a huge problem for me. Beetles scurry (gross). And even though cockroaches aren't a problem in Canada, they also scurry (double gross). Thinking about ants scurrying brings me back to June 2007 in Australia. I was in Cairns for a friend's wedding, and we were staying in a pretty nice resort/hotel. One day I was enjoying (i.e. gorging) on some gummy candies, but didn't completely finish the bag. I rolled up the bag and put it on my nightstand for later consumption. A few hours later, there was a line of tiny ants marching in and out of the bag of candy. I was like every ant-raiding picnic cartoon you've ever seen! I don't think I ever told Ashley about that... I was sharing the room with her, and it was too disgusting to discuss! Guess she knows now!

Or perhaps the most disturbing example of scurrying...

A few months ago I was doing laundry. I was laying out some sweaters on the floor in our spare bedroom to dry, when I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. Looking closer, I saw a giant spider sitting on my sweater. Granted, spiders don't get that big in Canada, but this was the second largest Canadian spider I'd seen.

I picked up a shoe and some paper towel. I urged the spider off my sweater, and at the right moment...

SMASH!

I nailed that spider!

But wait!

What were those little things scurrying everyone? I smashed the spider! Didn't I? Didn't I?

It was worse than anything you could have imagined! There were dozens of tiny baby spiders scurrying around everywhere. In addition to the baby spiders, there were also spider eggs. I guess that's why the spider was so big... It was a pregnant momma spider.

I vacuumed that room again and again and again.

It was three days before I could go back into our spare room.

Anyway.. Fruit flies.

Yesterday I was particularly pissed when one retarded little bug decided to commit suicide in my glass of water. Just a few days earlier, another had decided to take a dip in my cup of tea.

Last night I tried to make a fruit fly trap. I left some white wine vinegar in a bowl out on the counter. According to the various websites I've read, usually that works. But this morning the bowl of vinegar was untouched.

I've only seen one fruit fly today. Usually I see about 4-5 of them floating around in confusion. So maybe that means they really are dying off on their own.

These house guests have worn out their welcome.

I just know I don't want to find any more floating in my beverages!