Spring Break 2012

I'm always a little jealous of people who get 2 weeks off for Spring Break. We only get 1 week and it always goes by way too fast.

This year, as always, Auntie Shirley came to visit for a few days. But for the first time, we decided to take a little roadtrip with her, up-island, for an overnighter. I found a great hotel right on the ocean, at Qualicum Beach and it was fabulous. The weather was cold and rainy, but we still had a great time.

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We took our time getting to Qualicum, stopping at the Doghouse restaurant in Duncan for lunch because I missed the turnoff to Cowichan Bay.. .how is that possible? Must've been talking too much. We spent awhile at the Coombs market before heading to the Shorewater Resort. It was pouring but we wandered on the beach anyway, and enjoyed watching the migrating Brandt geese, seagulls and seals.

After the kids got thoroughly soaked to their underwear, we headed inside, got on our warm jammies and had Happy Hour... coke and cheetos! It's traditional when Auntie Shirley comes into town... Shirl and I had alot of wine instead of the coke, of course. We watched movies, did some knitting, had hot dogs (another tradition) and just hung out with the fire on. So much fun! The kids slept in the loft and Shirl and I bunked up on the bed downstairs.

In the morning we had a huge breakfast, went back on the beach for awhile, and then sadly checked out of the resort. We did some wandering around in town then slowly headed for home. We ended up at Cowichan Bay, just in time for the sun to come out (finally!) so we enjoyed an ice cream before going home. An awesome mini vacation!!

Before Shirley left for home we did some shopping in Victoria, went out for a fabulous lunch in Brentwood Bay and just hung out some more. Then she had to go...I also hate to say goodbye and I'm usually in a funk for a couple of days afterwards. Her visits are never long enough... but we'll take what we can get! Love my sister! :-)

Seriously...

Come on now... it's the end of March for crying out loud! (And believe me, I do cry out loud sometimes.)

Rain, rain, go fly a big kite
I'm tired of my dorky S.A.D. lite!

On a positive note, I don't enjoy wearing sunglasses anyway.

I need me some "HELP"!

Ever since I read the book "The Help" and watched the movie, I've been craving some good 'ol southern fried chicken.... so I googled a bunch of authentic recipes, watched a few U-Tubes on the subject, and bought a bunch of chicken, Crisco and Buttermilk.

Long story short, I stood at the stove with my hot bubbling Crisco for at least 1 1/2 hours, making chicken that was boring, greasy and only slightly crunchy. And marginally cooked... I had to put some pieces in the oven to continue cooking. Very disappointing.

I watched the U-Tube... why wasn't my chicken as good as that Chef's? He said "Let's just say, if I was stranded on an island and could only eat one thing for the rest of my life... this chicken would be it." If that were me, I'd be a very depressed 400 pound woman stuffed into a bikini, wishing Colonel Sanders would come back from the dead. meet me on the island and give me his secret recipe.

So the moral of this story is... drive to the nearest bucket place, it will save you time and frustration, even if the drive is 40 min. one-way.

Unless your name is Minnie, from Mississippi, save your Crisco people.

But my sweet cornbread turned out awesome, so dinner wasn't a complete bust. As an aside, I also made 2 loaves of whole wheat bread, a huge round Raisin Bread and dough to make buns.... but since I was so busy making cornbread and frying the chicken, I didn't get around to making the buns. The dough is currently in the garage, after rising at least twice. I don't know if I can save it??

"Wing It" Chicken Noodle Soup

I'm only documenting this because my Chicken Soup actually worked pretty good tonight. So I want to remember what I did for the next time. Given the fact that I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner at 4:42 pm, I managed to pull together a culinary delight, and even the kids liked it! (Although Simon pointed out that it wasn't really soup, it was more like noodles with a bit of liquid.) Call it what you like, as long as you eat it! :-)


So, this is my "never been done before" recipe:

2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove

Cook that and then add (estimations):

1 tbsp. Epicure Curry Dip Mix
3 tsp. Epicure Chicken Bouillon
1 tsp. Coriander
Bit of Salt

Mix that up and then add:

3 celery sticks, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
Water - enough to cover liberally all ingredients.

Cook it until the veggies are tender

While simmering, throw in a whole bunch of instant noodles equal to about 3 pkgs. of the Ichiban size squares. Use whatever you have.

Cook for about 3 minutes, until noodles are soft. Then remove from heat and add a bit of 1/2 and 1/2 cream if desired - about 1/2 cup

I served it with homemade whole wheat biscuits.

Voila!

Cabinets are done, done, DONE!!

I am so excited... and exhausted. After 12 long days, my kitchen cabinets are painted and re-hung, and my kitchen is back to normal. For now, that is. I'm not done the kitchen makeover just yet... but I am taking a short break before I tackle the next thing. I'm tired.

Anyway, here's a reminder of my "before" kitchen:



And here's some "during" photos:



And here's my "After"!



I LOVE MY NEW KITCHEN! But I have to admit, during the whole process I really struggled with my decision as to whether to paint the cabinets white or antique them. My original vision was to have a white kitchen, but when I started painting the cabinets, they just looked "flat" and not quite right. So I chose to use a glaze on them and I'm so happy I did.... the look/colour just fits so much better in my home.

Today I just sat at my table and just stared at my cabinets, as the sun streamed into my window (which is rare these days). The lighter, brighter kitchen just makes me so much happier. It better, after all that work. And let me tell you, it was ALOT of work!! Oh my word, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But I don't regret it for a minute, it was worth all the pain, exhuastion, whining... No, I didn't whine, not me! :-)

During the whole process, I also cleaned/organized/de-cluttered inside all my cabinets. You would've been amazed at all the stuff I got rid of!

Okay, as you'll see from some of my photos.... I'm in desperate need of some sort of backsplash to bring some colour into the space. I'm looking at wallpaper options but haven't figured out which direction I want to take: faux tile type of wallpaper or just something fun/geometric for a completely different look?

I thought about taking all the crap off the fridge, but who am I kidding?? My fridge is going to look like this for years to come, and who cares anyway? Oh, and on Monday I am painting the small wall by the fridge because there is very little contrast between the cabinet and wall colours... I am painting it a dark red which I think will look great.

Mmmm.... my counters are very PINK... I have ideas for that too. Once I get some sleep and my arm muscles have recovered enough to hold a paintbrush again.