1/3 of the way done!! Celebrate!

I have commitment issues...I have millions of projects or hobbies started but lose interest fast.

I have been slaving over making my kids felt/fabric Quiet books for the looooong drives back to my hometown. The drive takes about 5-6 hours (depending on pit stops) and dvd's only get you so far.

I have finished one of three books!! I will tweak it over the next month before I head home for a visit but for now, DONE!!

Regardez avec Awweeeeeeee (Sorry Mr. Sears, my French has died)





This is one of the front covers. I tried to use different textures...the blue being from a Chinese dress with no give to it, and once I got it stuck on my body and had to cut it to remove (the dress not the body :P) it was retired.

The phone's receiver snaps on  and off...I love the cord.


The Owl of Funk has wings that lift.


Theres a "callerpiller" as my kids call it with a removable butterfly in the cocoon. Tie the shoe, finger puppet farm, Mr. Bo-tatoe head, oven mitt and removable cookie that can be placed in the oven (the door opens), comb/braid her hair, bead counting, the back page is a pair of jeans cut in half and the 'bum' part will hold a sock puppet and the pockets hold crayons...and opposite page holds a coloring book...and finally a snack bag for extra quiet treats.
The boys book has a roadway page with Velcro strips on the road to drive his car on and the other page has a car with removable wheels. He's obsessed....don't ask really.

 

















Please excuse my photo aligning abilities...I know not what I do.

I searched far and wide the millions of websites for ideas, they can be found under anything from "quiet books" or "busy books". None of these were solely my idea but took others ideas and made them my own so credit belongs to them not myself for ideas.

mainly:

http://quietbook.blogspot.com/2008/09/introduction.html

Hopefully my kids enjoy them as much as I would...stay tuned to other projects I have started...and when I say started I mean got lazy and haven't finished.

Let your kids be kids...or let yourself remember how to be one.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear, you will never read about me claiming my house is clean. Cluttered chaos. The only place clean enough for inspections is where I cook, for obvious reasons. In my humble opinion: A child stifled in their mothers obsession of cleanliness promotes psychotic behaviours...or stifles their creativity-however you want to smoke it.

While some parents have this abnormal ability (to me) to be comfortable enough to slap on some outdoor clothes and head out the door for many adventures with their toddlers, or even a few kids. The difference from me? I have 3 all at the age of three. When I leave the house it is for a purpose and if I go visiting I kinda like to not be stressed out. I need 6 extra hands most days.

This year is much better, as they follow directions a lot better then any year before...but it is still not an easy, stress-free, fast feat.

So I have found many ways to amuse the kids inside, when it is too foggy, wet, cold to take them outside in the backyard...most of these ways involve mess. So, people with O.C.D, cleaning fetishes etc, move away from the site...back away from the blog.

I think most of the activities we do with the kids is to see if I can out-do the mess of the last, also, to see if I can give the grandmothers strokes. Not my mother though, she's even worse then I am when it comes to messy activities.

Since before the kids first birthday's I have allowed them freedom of their own personal space. Ex: stewed blueberries. While it provided them with a healthy meal chock full of anti-oxidants, while it peeled off the first layer of babyhood to expose their inner creativity, I didn't think things through.

Stewed blueberries cause staining of furniture, clothing and mostly the skin. My kids looked fairly greenish for a few days...but really a few days of staining it worth a million words in pics...doncha think?

Our next ventures with creativity is finger paints. You can buy non-toxic, safe varieties cheaply at the store...or be right crunchy with yourself and make them: http://www.creativekidsathome.com/activities/activity_42.html

I have never tried a recipe for it, as my mother gave us huge bottles a long time ago and it seems to last forever, though as soon as we run out I'm giving it a go!

With finger paints start off slow. A few squirts on their feeding tray of the high chair, creep up to the next step with paper...if you are lucky enough not to have vinyl flooring tape down large sheets of paper or newspaper...strip the children to its diapers and let them go at it!! This is my favorite!


My way of thinking is that if you have to wash the floor...if you have to bathe the  kids, you might as well make it worth  the effort!

Our latest messy art project is nothing new to some early childhood educators...shaving cream!! My kids have these little tables and I squirted foam all over it. They spent close to an hour driving dinkie cars through it, drawing pictures in it and just plain having fun...rumour has it I took part in some of the mess as well.

We also play with glue, glitter, pompoms, pipe cleaners, oobleck, gunk...maybe to expand their creativity, maybe to give myself a few minutes break from the fighting, whining and crying...but I'll never tell...

Some might think this is a waste of time, but when I watched my just 2 year old daughter back then pick up a magna-doodle and draw a very realistic face (including eyes, nose, mouth, arms, legs, ears and a boob all in the correct place)...I kinda feel "How can it be wrong?"

So people let your freak flag fly...strip your kids off, put on old clothes and let kids be kids...make a mess. If people come in and don't like the state of your house tell them "The door is thatta way...the broom is thatta way...take your pick".

Cape Island Creamed Lobster- not for the feint of heart.

I'm so sorry to keep you all waiting, I'm sure you all rushed right out after reading the last entry and cooked up a huge feed of lobsters waiting for this next installment. This will be the last cooking post I do for awhile...I don't want to be in a rut :P

Creamed Lobster!

Lets start off this with a disclaimer...there are as many varieties of this dish as there are families around here. Every kitchen has their own tweak and every cook in the family does it a little differently. Creamed lobster can be considered the Official Dish o'Sou'west Nova Scotia.

This is my version.

First and foremost...light candles. This stinks. If you don't like lobster really dig deep in your soul and wonder why you are doing this in the first place. Put on your fancy shmancy apron...all cooking feels better when you don your apron. (plus who wants this smelly splatter on your clothes?)

Haul out a frying pan...I enjoy using my cast iron one as much as possible. I have it in my mind that the iron that leeches out evens out the 'unhealthy' qualities of this dish. ;)  PS if you think this is a low fat meal you might as well hit the red "X" in the corner of the screen now.

*not my pic, I scoffed it from a google image from http://www.cookingnook.com/easy-creamed-lobster-dinner.html

Melt a big gob of butter in the pan. (real butter don't use margarine or Becel...that's another story) Take your bowl of lobby out of the fridge and chop of your lobby bits into bite sizes pieces and drop into the pan. Fry up the lobster in butter  for about 10 mins. Stirring occasionally. *I use approx. 1/2 cup of butter but it depends on the amount of lobby and I possibly use more then some people. At this point grab a glass, add ice cubes, vodka and oj and take a swig.

*This is about where peoples recipes branch out to their own. Mind you, some people cook onions (green or fine chopped white) with their lobster pieces.

Remember this is MY version...and I will tell you some other ways as well.

From this point your butter should almost be soaked into the meat and brightened up some. Add a pint of cream (coffee or whipped, remember the more fat in the cream the faster it thickens...I use whipped) to the pan and give it a good stir around the pan. Add about a quarter cup of vinegar. Allow the cream to come to a boil for about 10 more minutes...until it is the consistency of an "Alfredo Sauce". The longer you boil, the thicker it gets.  Pick up your glass and make a counter clockwise movement with the remaining vodka drink...to get it all evenly dispersed and cooled with ice...take a swig.

Ehhh Voilaa.

Serve over toast, mashed potatoes or what have you. Make it thick and add on top of french fries to make lobster poutine, pour over poached eggs on English muffins for a version of Lobster eggs Benny (not a Benny sauce though lol)...serve over egg noodles. I don't care how you serve it as long as I don't have to eat it. Finish vodka drink and possible pour another one...its all up to you like I said, everyone does it differently.

My way I serve to my family from away differs a lot from most. I add crushed garlic to the butter and lobster, add parsley...because parsley is the mascara of the food world. I also served it over garlic toast. Mind you, they have never ate it creamed before so they have no idea whats right or wrong.

Some variations:
What G is used to is only cooking the cream until it is just boiled, not thick over buttered regular toast. Some people add a squirt of ketchup to the cream...some add cheese whiz...G said if I ever do the cheese whiz again he may have a stroke. Some use wine instead of vinegar...some just use plain butter and cream...that's it.
Like I said every family makes it differently...serves it differently...and thinks their way is the only way.

This dish is very, very rich, especially when it is thicker. You wont find it on Jenny Craig's list of what to eat tonight people!

Get a group of Cape Islander cooks in a room and ask them the "right" way to cook this and duck, you have a better chance of nailing jello to a wall then getting these people to agree...but it is fun to sit back and watch them go at 'er.

There ya go...pretty much the basics of creamed lobster...now ya know and knowing is half the battle.

Now pat yourself on the back, pour another drink and let the people who ate this fine dish do the clean up for you. It's only fair.



Oh...want my easy, never fail recipe for Alfredo Sauce?
Frying pan, 1/4 to 1/2 cup of garlic butter (pre-made or make your own), melt it and add heavy cream (half pint to a pint)....boil it till thick....tahhh dahhhhhh. Seriously...that's how I was taught in a restaurant I cooked at...easy. Ohh and to be all fancy add freshly grated parm. cheese and pepper. Toss with cooked noodles and then serve. Making sure you sprinkle some flour on your face (a throwback to that old 80's rice krispie square commercial). Your welcome hahahahah

See, even if you don't eat/like/ or is scared of lobster...anyone can do it...even me! Now go have another drink, you deserve it!!

Cooking Lobsters 101- the shellfish haters guide to gruesome...

It should come to no surprise to anyone who knows me when I say, "I hate shellfish". I mean ALL shellfish. I say that twice because people think there is a loophole in my hate.
"You don't like shellfish?" said in such a way that people would ask "You don't breathe air?"..."Oh well you must like clams though...no? Not even lobster??"......."WELL....you gotta like scallops, you gotta!"


People, if it has/had or even thinks about shells...I don't eat nor do I like it. Scandalous I know! Most people from this community can't even fathom it as the main industry is lobster fishing. I don't enjoy the taste, I definitely do not enjoy the squeaky texture when you chew it (like a raw mushroom) blick!!!


*Remind me to tell you about my 'setting lobsters free days'

Another misconception I actually enjoy smashing to smithereens is the old saying "If you don't eat it, ya can't cook it right"...my friends, gather around. I am going to tell you in layman's terms, step by step how to cook, shell and in the NEXT POST make our regions most treasured dishes. CREAMED LOBSTER. So you too can woo the crowds.

Cooking Lobster (sea spiders, spawns of Satan, stinky bastids)


Firstly: get lobster as many as you want... make sure they are alive and feisty (the feisty ones make you have less guilt about the murder) also if you aren't blessed like us and have to buy them at a store (blaah) don't go for the big ones (jumbos) apparently the meat is tough....get a big pot with a lid <very important I cant stress this enough!


Next: chuck the beasts of Satan into a clean, dry sink. Take this opportunity to swear at them or apologize (depends on your disposition). Drag your boiler out to the ocean and fill it with sea water...if you aren't blessed with one close by, fill pot with water and dump enough salt in to almost taste like sea water (I use sea salt cause I'm all hoity toity) let the water come about 2/3's to 3/4 of the way up


*side note: people may argue with me about cooking methods, some steam them...I boil. TomAto, TOMaTO. G was a steamer till I came around and he prefers it now so :P.


While you bring your water to a boil...take this time to run around the kitchen and open windows a crack, light a million candles and take a drink of wine to calm your nerves...these next few steps can be very scary.


Put your apron on and tie hair back, remove all jewelry and pray. You don't want to give these minions of horror anything to grapple on to. Now people from away (meaning from back home especially!) you DON'T cook the lobbys with the bands still on. That is cardinal rule #1! Don't argue, don't complain, just D.O.N.T! Capishe? lol....don't even admit you do it!!


Take the bands off as safely as you can. I don't enjoy this, so if someone offers I take a rare moment and step back here!!

 *Throwing them in? I try to always put them in head first, that way there is less jumping of the lobster and seems to kill them right away. Yes, you may feel guilt. HOWEVER, if you invite someone over to eat...sometimes you get lucky enough to guilt someone else into doing this part for you...I hate it and panic...that is all.


Once all in the pot, slam the lid on and have a big gulp of wine. This is where the lid is very important you want to forget just what has happened, and keep them in there....the hard part is over. Take this time to clean out the sink, search high and low for the bands you removed,  light more candles and complain 8 more times of the smell in your kitchen! Boil those suckas till you look in and see the color turn a bright red and if you can pull a feeler off of it easily, they are done.


Once finished remove the lobsters from water and put back into the clean sink. Now you can serve it however you want. On a plate? On a platter? or you can shell them now if you want the meat for some dishes such as Creamed Lobster (in next post).

I'm going to try to be speedy with the shelling part. I love to do it and if they are soft shelled you can do it with your bare hands (I hate using a knife, much to the horror of anyone watching).

•  separate the tail from body by holding tail in one, body in other hand and twisting.
• tail meat, either lay on its side and press down to crack the backside or rip off the flippers and stick your finger in the space and push meat out (which is the most fun) Remove the black vein running through the meat. If you have a female you may find roe which is orange...some eat it, some don't.
• twist both claws off. smaller end of claw wiggle and pull out of socket (hopefully with the cartilage still in place) crack larger claw with cracker, chef knife or bare hand (animal like me!) and carefully remove meat...for appearances you want it to be intact.
• inside of the knuckles (joints of claws) you can take a small poker, skewer, finger and pop out the little bits of meat there as well.
• I don't forage the body. if there is someone there who eats tomally let them go to 'er, I just can't be bothered with the little meat in there.
• place meat in bowl and you can rinse in cool water to remove the white slime (blood). refrigerate covered or begin cooking with it now.

Notes: always remember to dispose of shells and bodies right away and wash out your pot ASAP. If you wait till the next day the smell will make you want to curl up and die!!

So now what? You did it! Believe me, even if you don't eat lobbys, conquering cooking them is just as rewarding as mastering a perfect med-rare prime rib...not as tasty in my opinion...but anyhooo. Take this time after doing so well, with very few tears, to pat yourself on the back...after you get a bath that is...your hands smell like ass by now! THIS is how I survive the 3 times a year we cook them...and this is what makes me wish I lived beside a beef farm instead of the ocean....no, not really.

a few links of you don't trust me yet: http://www.ehow.com/how_2072_boil-lobster.html
http://www.helpwithcooking.com/seafood-shellfish/how-to-cook-lobster.html
http://www.discovernslobster.ca/index.php

ps Enjoy Nova Scotia Lobster ;)

Dude, I can totally bake!

Since I was very young I was in the kitchen making, mixing, baking. Mind you, at the age of 5 it was most likely just to lick the beaters...hence my addictions to raw dough and batter.
           *side note...I really don't believe the thing about getting worms from raw batter, but I still wont give it to my kids...its MINEEEEE alllllll MINEEEEE!!*

Sure I have certain things that challenge me still in the baking department, such as biscuits and pie crust. I can make them well NOW but I'm old. For years I had people stand behind me, telling me exact steps, showing me exactly HOW to make a pie crust or batch of fluffy biscuits...but alas...I was told "You just can't do it!" ....my baked goods were even snubbed by crows...laughed at by sea gulls. ..actually I watched a sea gull pick a biscuit up and try to smash it open on a rock like he would shellfish- that's how bad they are!!

Today I have overcome this obstacle when it comes to pies (thanks to my Grammies recipe) and my biscuits are hit and miss...but I will tell you what...

This domestic goddess (*ahem* stay with me now) can make bread!

I can still remember my first batch of bread. I was 8 or so, followed along with the pictures from Mom's Betty Crocker Cookbook. Thankfully my parents let me usually have free reign of the kitchen as long as I cleaned up the mess....anyhoooooo

I lined up the ingredients, carefully measured, cups of flour, spoons of this and that...a package of yeast....

*can you guess where I went with this?

APPARENTLY a package of yeast does NOT mean a whole can of yeast. I, sweet naive little me, dumped the whole can in. It rose, and rose, and smelled oddly like a stale bottle of beer (I don't know how I knew that)....it rose some more...and as long as the recipe told me to wait for it to rise I stood guard over my precious dough. I faithfully gathered up the excess dough rising and trying to expand all over the kitchen.

I remember looking at it thinking, "Well, this is awfully dark white bread".

I baked it. Actually as it baked it turned into the largest loaf of bread I have ever seen...and when it was finished I turned my accomplishment onto the counter. Dark golden brown, large, and still smelling of beer.

My father was the first victim taste tester. He cut the loaf off into thick steaming slabs and put on a nice layer of Parkay...bit and chewed, gagged, and swallowed....and then he ate another one...gushing about how good it was.

ETA: it needs to be mentioned that even though I used a whole can of yeast, only the regular amount of water was used...producing a nice crunchy texture :S
I'm not sure how many pieces he ate...or when exactly I realized I used about a hundred times the regular amount of yeast. You would have thought the loaf weighing 15 lbs gave it away....but my Dad, the superstar, not wanting to crush my dreams of being a great cook and baker ate it with a smile. I'm pretty sure when Mom saw the empty can of yeast, smelled the horror I just baked and saw the massive yeast loaf I made she broke it to me gently while throwing it out the door.

What is the moral of the story you might ask? Well, today I enjoy baking....I enjoy my kids liking my baking. I will never, ever, never forget that a package of yeast is not a can but in fact around 2 and 1/4 tsp!!!

 If I wasn't given complete run of the kitchen at an early age I might have lost interest and relied on bought food more then not. I plan of giving my kids carte blanche to my kitchen and letting them experiment, let them enjoy what may soon be a rare activity in some families....let them get dirty in flour...and you can bet I will swallow down whatever creation they serve me....send prayers and kitchen cleaners as I feel at the age of 3 they are way ahead of my legacy.

Kids Lesson #23: a child, never mind if they are boys or girls should be well rounded and adept in all matters...whether it be cooking, baking, cleaning, plumbing or car repair...we have no gender role ideology issues here. I wont have my son grunting "That's women's work" or my daughter's fluttering  their eyelashes for a man to to whatever. If their Mommy can bake a cake....she most certainly can replace a kitchen faucet too.


PS. I really just don't want my kids fluttering their eyelashes at anyone till they are about 65...in fact once I get them all trained up in the cooking department maybe then I can watch one of those soap operas, read a book...relax?    .that is all....

Stop gawking at my clothesline!

For as long as I can remember I always wanted a house on the ocean with a big country kitchen and a clothesline. Not one of those blue wire jobbys with wheels at either end...a good, sturdy rope one with a big stick to prop it up with.


Fondest memories of my childhood all have visions of running through all the clean sheets snapping in the wind, held fast on fisherman's rope by faded (and sometimes mildewed) wooden clothes pins. The smell was unbelievable when you snuggled deep in your bed, the sheets stiff from natural drying without a Bounce sheet.


So I swore I would someday have a house, on the ocean, clothesline a must.


Well, now I do, and I admit I don't use it often as I should/want. You see there is a clothesline 'code' around these parts. Oh sure, some will deny it and scoff at the notion....but believe me...THERE IS!


First off: I know....and YOU know people really do inspect your line. I admit I have a fascination with them but only ones with quilts and sheets on them. If there's regular clothes, especially undies, I quickly shift my eyes. There's something about watching old handmade quilts, colorful and clean drying.


Anyhooo. These are some of the unspoken "RULES". I don't make them up people...these are local facts, unspoken and denied maybe..but still....

• Timing: timing is everything. If you are too late in the morning or afternoon hanging...it's no good. You will end up drying them in the dryer at the end of the day, and whats the point of that! If you think you are being smart and hang them out the night before you are tempting Mother Nature herself...and we all know how that woman works! How do I get around this? I watch for my neighbour...when she does, I do...and she's a hardcore hanger! Merciful heavens if you leave them out all night :O
• Weather: You must always check the weather, and I don't mean on a channel on TV, I mean ask someone older then you. Around here even an 80 year old will believe a 90 year old about the weather. I like to ask the fishermen...if they don't know the weather they need to retire! If, by chance you hang your clothes out and 30 minutes later it rains...you wont get pity, you will get a surrounding sound of "tsk tsk's"...on the other hand if you hang and there isn't a breath of wind, it could be just as bad. You would think it shouldn't be this difficult but if it's too windy you might as well just throw your clothes in a far field or dump them on the ground...*see below note re: clothes pins
• Placement: Don't let them fool you, some will tell you "Go on, no one cares how you hang your clothes" They lie...they're judging you. If you mix your face clothes in with a pair of jeans, beside a sheet, followed by socks of random order...you might as well have danced naked at a crib tourney. Towels with towels, sheets with sheets, pants with pants, shirts etc....socks paired up/not doubled up though. Oh, and hardcore hangers sort each category by color as well. Ohhhhh and for sure, hang your undies/delicate on either a hidden line or not so obvious to passer bys...what a scandal if you see someones Grannie Panties flapping around like a dead cod in the wind.
• Hanging Style: as above they can deny all they want but I was laughed at the way I hung my pants. Apparently you cannot/should not hang pants by the cuffs, APPARENTLY it looks crazy. Who knew. Jeans should be in the sun obviously since they take the longest....and lord have mercy if you hang your sheets weird. Twas' confessed to me there are women who fight every urge in the world to pull over and 'fix' your sheets. The key is to hang in such a way to get the most of the wind to blow through the clothes.
• Clothes pins: Don't go for cute and colorful plastic pins, they suck, if its too cold they will shatter and cut your eyes out, they can't hold heavier clothes and they like to spring off in a good wind leaving you chasing around the yard picking up your clothes (again...makes the hard core hangers tsk tsk) Go for the larger sized wooden ones, they aren't as cute, they seem to attract earwigs more but they are key to a non stressful laundry session. (ETA: unless you enjoy earwigs, otherwise known in my house as **^%$$^&* bugs!! you shouldn't leave your pins outdoors, just the thought of reaching my hand in for one and having one of those black *&^%$# crawling up my arm makes me want to scream)
• Clothes line poles: If you don't have a wheelie out line (blue line with pulleys?) a good sturdy propping pole is needed. It has to be strong and at the first sign of weakness or rot get a new one...coming from someone (me) who had a pole break in half as she was propping it up and the end came smack dab into a very uncomfortable spot (crotch)....I'm still a girl, and it still hurt!!

*plastic=devil pins*

Here is a link with pointers if you need: http://www.ehow.com/how_2323695_hang-laundry-outside.html
All joking and snark aside, drying clothes on the line saves energy and is so worth all the extra work and hassle. Imagine how many loads per day I had/have to do raising three toddlers (mind you it was way more when they were babies)...saving a few cents here and there on your power bill sure helps.........plus it takes so much longer then the dryer so you don't have to spend all day folding each load, one big one at the end of the day still seems like less work. *ya right* As well it is much easier on your clothes then a dryer, and you get fresh air.


These are just a few 'rules' I've come in contact with. When it is all said and done I still follow my own rules. My pants are hung wrong, I hang them when I can and pick them up off the grass more then not. Even if some oldies (and younger whipper snappers) drive by and shake their heads at my technique the sounds of sheets snapping, the smell of a fresh quilt and watching my own kids running through the clean laundry line makes me smile...and if you look closely enough, you may catch me running through them as well.

Here we go...again.

Welcome, welcome...again. We'll see how long I can keep up a new blog, I have commitment issues. What I really want to do is give a little peek into my life. Raising a few kids the same age...making a transition from text books to vintage styled aprons...sewing...recipes...crafts...and the things I have to put up with *errrrr ahhhh* I mean get used to moving from my home town into a smaller fishing community.

What makes it fun? My family.My friends, the beach, a slower pace, getting back to basics when it comes to parenting and the fact people can't get past the idea that I HATE SHELLFISH!

My goal for these kids? To raise them to be happy, healthy, respectful people...and to have great childhood memories.

My house is a mess...my hair is even worse...but we laugh.