We were blessed to have Walter & Sherry, Andy’s bro & sis-in-law, join us for supper, which helped to make it much more of a celebration than with just us as immediate family. They happened to bring along a superb gift for Spud, who was quite thrilled with his new drill set. Andy and I were a little unnerved at how easily he figured everything out…I’m kinda hoping that he learned a lot of it at daycare, as that makes that jump seem a little more reasonable.

In other news, Andy and I are going on a couples retreat at Queen’s House next weekend, and I am very much looking forward to it! Andy’s parents have generously said ‘yes’ to coming up and watching Spence for the weekend. While not our first weekend away from the little man, it is our first ‘in town’ weekend away from him. I think they’ll have a splendid time together, especially if the weather keeps us nice like this (high of -1 today! great weather for venturing outside!)

Here are some great pictures from the last week. Happy weekending!

‘I’m sad’

‘I’m innocent’

‘Wow!’

‘I’m smiley!’

Learned how to put his hands in his pockets

Spencer helped make his whipped cream icing. He actually did more than just eat off the beater: he helped hold the thing and move it around the bowl.

I forgot the wheels.

Soooo intrigued!

And loving it!

]]> http://ajk2.ca/2012/birthday-celebrations/feed/ 1 http://ajk2.ca/2012/this-moment-26/ http://ajk2.ca/2012/this-moment-26/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:04:27 +0000 jane http://ajk2.ca/?p=2106 {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

I haven’t had much of a chance to update, but I’ll be here tomorrow with This Moment.

Included in his birthday feast (which is primarily roasted turkey), is a chocolate train cake! So I’ve been reading up on how to make these so called train cakes. What is it with people torturing our children by using tons of black licorice? You can rest assured that there will be no black licorice for this two year old on his birthday.

In related news, Spencer received his first birthday card this year from Andy’s parents two days ago (Thursday). We tried to make it exciting, as he really doesn’t know what his birthday is all about yet. Since Blue’s Clues is one of his most favourite TV shows to watch, Andy thought he could help make the mail more exciting by singing the ‘Mail Song‘ from the show. This, it proves, was a disaster to do. It was a nice dump-truck card, with a big dump truck on it. When Spencer saw it, he became extremely excited. As in, hoppy excited and squeely. He kept pointing to it saying, ‘Truck! Truck!’ and making for it. Eventually I asked if he wanted me to cut the truck out for him, cause nothing else was seeming to please him. Thrilled, he said, ‘Yes!’ and eagerly awaited. So I cut it out and handed it to him, and he had one of the worst break downs I’ve seen in awhile. He kept holding it up to me saying, ‘Truck, truck!’ in a longing/agonizing sort of way, like, where is it? where’s my truck? Why is it paper? He apparently did not want it cut out. It occurred to us later that in Blue’s Clues, when Steve opens his mail, there is a video in the letter that ‘comes to life’. We think Spencer must have thought that the truck was going to ‘come to life’, which was very exciting, but when it didn’t, he was heartbroken. Oh, it was such a trying 1/2 hour as we tried to explain that real mail doesn’t come to life. Alas that we should be caught in this, and if this isn’t proof enough how TV influences children, I don’t know what else would. At least it was only over a truck, and not something more dire. Poor boy. He will be getting trucks on his birthday, so he’ll be amended soon enough. We’ll have to watch ourselves a little bit more in how we relate TV to real life. In the meantime, he was OK if I taped the picture to the back of one of his car books.

Andy is busy with a RCIA workshop today, so I have ‘Spuddy-Mommy Time’ today, and tomorrow as well, as Andy is having his day off. I’m hoping to make bread today and get started on figuring out Spence’s cake.

Unfortunately I didn’t get around to doing a Recipe Thursday this week; it turns out this week has been more than full and I don’t think I even had a chance to check email on Thursday.

I thought I’d post our menu for the week; if there’s a recipe you want from it, lemme know and I can post it on Thursday (or before, if I have other plans).

Monday – Meatballs & Spaghetti
Tuesday – Almond-Dijon Crusted Chicken
Wednesday – Roast Turkey with White Bean Ragu, Asiago Mashed Potatoes, and Yams
Thursday – Chicken Parisienne (Slow-Cooker)
Friday – Turkey Pot Pie
Saturday & Sunday – leftovers!

Before I get to that, a look at a recent one:

This was before ‘The Project’. Here is after:

So easy to access, there’s tons of room, and things that I use regularly are not, now, hidden behind things that I don’t use regularly. Very happy with that result. (Andrew, how are you going with your ongoing Project?)

And now, here is my bigger one yet, which is a gift for my brother and sister-in-law in anticipation of the birth of their first babe (though I fear it’ll arrive after the fact…):

This is the outlining plan…it has been subject to change already

This is our original copy, the one in which I made my own pattern after

And these are the nearly-finished results

What’s your latest project?

The LCBO, Liquor Control Board of Ontario, produces a magazine every few months called Food & Drink. It features many different wines and alcohols that they carry. However, my interest is more peaked by the recipes that it carries (over 100 usually!). I’ve challenged myself to make 1-2 of these recipes a week until I finish the ones I like. Our most recent adventure was the Cashew Chicken Curry (p. 154 for those of you lucky to have the Autumn 2011 issue). Needless to say, it was amazing, as most of the recipes tend to be.

Cashew Chicken
(Food & Drink Magazine, Autumn 2011, p. 154)

3/4 cup roasted, salted cashews
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro
1 tbsp chopped fresh, peeled ginger
1 tbsp mild or hot curry paste
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp each salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
2 lbs chicken thighs (worked out to about 4-5 pieces for us)
1/2 cup chicken broth

- in food processor, blend cashews until finely chopped. Add yogurt, cilantro, ginger, curry, brown sugar, salt and pepper and process until smooth.
- in large pan, heat oil over med-high, brown chicken thighs until very brown, approx. 4 min each side.
- scrape all of the sauce over the chicken with broth; stir until blended, reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cover.
- cook until chicken is cooked through, approx. 15 minutes
- let sit, covered, 5-10 minutes
- serve on rice with chopped cilantro and cashews

Notes: – I used turkey stock; it was what we had
- it turns out unsalted cashews work just as good
- it is actually best if, when simmering, you check every 2 minutes and stir well. It can get stuck on the bottom like you wouldn’t believe

So there you go! I think serving with some broccoli amadine would go well with it too, but we only had the broccoli when we had the recipe. This dish is delish, so try it out!

Have you experimented with any new foods lately?

What things do you have on the go?