Give Me Liberty....

"Give me liberty or a bran muffin."-Colin Morchie

Muffins, I possibly made the most tasty, most scrumptious, most decadent muffins last night in all of my history of muffin making. Do I have your attention yet? Picture dense, creamy white batter that bakes up airy and light. Raspberries, sour cream undertones and just a pinch of white chocolate ..... Nom nom nom! I am not kidding, possibly my best yet and I have been baking muffins since I was five years old with my mother! Don't believe me? Bake them up and I promise you will make someone very happy! Pictures and recipe follow!

-m

Best muffins ever!

Five tablespoons of softened butter

Half of a cup of sugar

One egg

Two teaspoons of vanilla

Three-quarters a cup of sour cream

One and a half cups of flour

One and a half teaspoon baking powder

One quarter teaspoon baking soda

One quarter teaspoon salt

One cup fresh/ frozen berries of choice 

One quarter cup white choc chips

In a large bowl or a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Slowly add sour cream and continue to mix. Add dry ingredients a little at a time and mix until just mixed...aka don't over do it ! Gently fold in berries and chips. This will be very thick dough, scoop into lined muffin tin and bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Pop on cooling rack and enjoy with a pat of butter!

 

Breakfast Is...

"Breakfast is a notoriously difficult meal to serve with a flourish."- C. Freud

This week I had the pleasure of having two of my nearest and dearest friends pop over for a couple of nights! Boy do I love company, there are few things better than strong coffee and friends at a kitchen table. We had a splendid weekend, catching up on each others lives (a lot can happen when life gets in the way!), drinking wine and adventuring around Halifax. I look forward to the next set of road tripping visitors!

For breakfast on Sunday I whipped up a twist on a classic, coconut french toast. Like I have said before you can't go wrong with french toast and this made it an extra special treat! It is perfect for company, simple as can be and is best served with a little fresh fruit! Recipe follows!

Happy mother's day to all the mums out there, especially mine- you are the best!
-m

Coconut French Toast

In a shallow bowl, combine four large eggs and 3/4 cup of coconut milk (I used lite but I am certain regular would make it even more decadent!). Whisk and add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of coconut extract and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. Give another little whisk. Slice a loaf of French or Italian bread with each slice around 1/2 inch thick.

Dip each side of the sliced bread in the egg mixture and then dip each side in shredded sweetened coconut (have it spread out on a plate). This should stick well as the eggs are wet.  Cook each slice in a non-stick frying pan or griddle on medium heat. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Serve with real maple syrup and some fresh fruit on the side (I chose pineapple and raspberries!).  Guaranteed crowd pleaser!

 

The Trouble With Retirement...

"The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off"- Abe Lemons

In April, two of my favorite people retired from work. They made my transition to an ICU setting as a new nurse a simplified as it could be. They gave me important advice over the years, taught me skills one would never have dreamed of in nursing school and they were constant providers of encouragement. I don't think I would be the nurse I am today without these two, cool cats. I also don't think I would own a house or have an appreciation for as much different music without them. Can you tell I cherish their friendship?

A week ago I had a little retirement soiree for them at the house. One of the best parts of owning a house is having people over! You can stay up late, play your music loud and not have to worry about the people living above you or below you. We had a wine and cheese, which is always fun and I sort of over shot it just a bit. I had about six liters of wine left over (Gasp! Not to worry...I will drink it sooner than later) and far too much cheese (my co-workers must think I have a cheese fetish cause I keep bringing in a different kind each shift!). It is better to be over prepared than under prepared right?! So here are my tips for throwing a shin-dig of sorts and a tutorial on the perfect cheese board!

"Perfect" cheese board 101

Cheese boards can be pricey and it's always nice to have one big enough to serve a variety of cheeses. If you are a DIY kind or person and you love a deal like me then drive, bus or walk yourself to home depot and bomb straight to the tile isle. Look for a dark ceramic or if you want to get fancy, a slate tile (I picked ceramic that looks like slate..best of both worlds). Grab a couple then walk, drive or bus yourself to a local dollar store...get some chalk and furniture pads. For $8 TOTAL(!!) I made three of these bad boys (see pic below!).



Party Throwing Tips

1) Make sure people know about it a while in advance
2) Try to get an idea of numbers...so you don't have six liter of wine left...or worse not have enough!
3) Make simple apps and prepare as much as you can the day before. Less stress is good stress!
4) Don`t go overboard with decor, people came for the social aspect and to have a good time, less is more!
5) Try to buy local...all of the wine I provided was made in Nova Scotia (blah blah..I know it can be hard to find decent local wine but I have a couple of ringers up my sleeve).
6) If you have furry friends and it is April and they are shedding, ship 'em off a day or two before so you can dust and sweep and suck up all of their little tumble weeds. This way your guests won't find fur in the apps...mine went to my sisters for the week!
7) RENT wine glasses....cheap as hell and easy peasy!
8) Get creative and have fun!

If I Were Thin...

"If I were thin, I would never say I am powerless over fudge"- Camryn Manheim

I have been known to bake for the fun of it. I find it relaxing and love to challenge myself in the kitchen (when my time, my patience and Kenmore allow me to). I don't however, baulk at a simple, straight-forward, never-fail-me-now, even-a monkey-could-do-it recipe. Often I find that the simple no-fuss recipes are the most well loved and most requested. Easy peanut butter cookies (off the back of the jar) are one of those recipes, as is a basic rolled shortbread. While stumbling through the blog-o-sphere this week, I came upon one that seemed so simple I thought it was a joke! Peanut butter fudge, with one spoon, one pot and a total of four ingredients. No candy thermometer required. With my lovely co-workers and their late afternoon break in mind, I got to it after finishing the dinner dishes. Four minutes later, my fudge was cooling in the fridge and the dishes were drying. It's melt in your mouth good and sweet enough that is croons for a glass of cold milk or a cup of steaming hot coffee! Happy baking!
-m
ps. check out my getting fancy with the pictures!


In A Snap Fudge
(for last minute showers, parties or guests!)

In a sauce pan, combine 2 cups sugar and 1/2 cup of milk (I used skim and it was perfect!). Heat on medium and bring to a boil while stirring. Let boil for precisely 2.5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 3/4 cup of smooth peanut butter. Stir well and immediately pour into ungreased 8x8 or 9x9 inch pan. Transfer to fridge and cut before fully set (keep things easy!). Wash your spoon and pan, then pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

A Woman Without A Man...

"A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle."- Gloria Steinem

Fish cakes, for some reason I LOVE fishcakes. I gravitate towards them on menus and am always positively thrilled with the chutneys, sauces and pickles that can be found in their accompaniment. The day my door was being fixed, I decided I would try my hand at good old fashioned fish cakes. I looked at dozens of recipes and hmmed and hawwwed. There were so many varieties it was almost overwhelming!

What did I do? I winged it. I combined bits and pieces of all the recipes I had viewed and whipped up what was to probably be a holy mess of fish cakes. It turned out one of the carpenters working on my door was a fish cakes connoisseur, or at least that is both what him and his son told me, so he gave me a little bit of advice. I ended up sending him home with half a dozen! I was pleasantly surprised at what my little kitchen turned out and would make them exactly the same way again. For a modern take on a classic item, find my recipe  and pictures below.
-m


Mich's Everything-But-Kitchen-Sink Fish Cakes

You will need:

-500g fresh haddock (3-5 fillets, depending on size!)
-300g fresh salmon
- A bottle of beer, or a glass of white wine...whatever you got goin'
-5-6 medium potatoes
-A bunch of green onions, chopped
-A small bunch or cilantro or parsley (I am partial to parsley as cilantro is the devil to my taste buds!) chopped
-Juice of a lime
-Juice of half an orange
-Zest of that same orange!
-Good sprinkle of salt and pepper
-Dash or four of your fav. hot sauce
-Dollop of olive oil
-bread crumbs of choice

Turn your Kenmore on to 350 and let it preheat. In a baking dish, place raw fish and pour wine or beer over top (I used beer cause I am more of a red wine gal). Add the dollop of oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Bake for 20-25 min, you don't want to over cook your fish! Next up peel and boil your potatoes, when soft mash em up...if they are too dry add a bit of oil. Be sure to allow your fish and potatoes to cool for 10-15 minutes. In that time chop up your greens, zest your orange and prep the rest of the ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, add 2.5 cups of potatoes, your drained and broken up fish (if should be tender and fall apart), your green onions, parsley/ cilantro, citrus juices, hot sauce and zest. Mix with your hands and add more potato if the texture requires it and then salt and pepper to taste. Form little patties in your hands, about 2 inches in diameter, and lay both sides in bread crumbs. In a large pan, heat some oil and cook fish cakes a few at a time on med heat. 2-3 min on the first side should do it then carefully flip them (you don't want them to fall apart) and cook for 2-3 minutes on the second side. I served mine with a dollop of Greek yogurt that I added some lime juice, lime zest and some hot sauce to! Delicious!

In Jamaica There Are No Problems...

"In Jamaica there are no problems, only situations, mon."- Everyone we met

I have a confession, I was planning on blogging prior to my trip down south. Maybe it was the eight twelve hour shifts I worked in ten days, or maybe it was my dreams of fresh coconut milk, but I was on Jamaican time before I even left Halifax.

Jamaica was lovely. Positively lovely. I will be honest, all inclusive travelling isn't totally my speed. I am more of a book a flight and rent an apartment in Paris or a villa in Tuscany kind of lady. My previous experience with all inclusives in the south was that the beaches were great and the liquor was flowing but the rooms and food left much to be desired.

Jamaica blew all of my expectations out of the water. The rooms were bright and clean, the service and the food was impeccable (jerk chicken and curried goat...could eat them every day!).  The beach was only steps away and the pools were clear and crisp.

Travelling in a large group is also the way to go. Down for a wedding, there were over fifty of the bride and grooms closest friends and family. There was always someone to have breakfast with, lounge by the pool with and climb water falls with. The beach wedding was beautiful as was the beach party afterwards.

I feel refreshed and I even have a bit of a tan. I brought back some Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and some Jamaican Rum Cream to continue to my vacation back in Canada. A few pics below!
-m

A Girl In A Bikini Is Like Having A Loaded Pistol On Your Coffee Table...

"A girl in a bikini is like having a loaded pistol on your coffee table- there is nothing wrong with them, but it is hard to stop thinking about it."- Garrisson Keillor

Bikini or Bust. That is how my last few weeks have been. Not even a bikini, just anything that would be appropriate for lounging on the beach or swimming up to a pool bar in Jamaica. 'Cause that is where this chick will be in approximately thirteen days.

I understand that no one likes bathing suit shopping (at least not the average lady). It is brutal. We are pale, maybe even see-through from wearing parkas, scarves and fleece lined leggings during the eight month phenomenon known as an atlantic Canadian winter. Those fluorescent lights that exist only in malls are also a problem. They have probably been put there to encourage people to spend money on fat-burning pills at GNC, vigorous gliding on an ellipticals and intermittant crying into morning coffees. I swear, they even my fingers look lumpy...it's marketing magic. I would bet Don Draper came up with it himself.

All of that said, I have a problem and it is a little north of the boarder. I am chesty, a little too chesty, especially when it comes to bathing suits. I tallied it up today; grand total of bathing suits tried on in two weeks- forty-nine. To break that down mathematically, of the said forty-nine suits, exactly forty turned out to be glorified nipple covers (as in little to no coverage and probably illegal in at least ten states...). Three, I had no words to describe and one was a beauty that fit like a dream but the top alone was over two hundred dollars. It had this budget-savvy-diva seeing dollar signs flinging here there and everywhere (feuw-feuw-feuw..the sound they were making as they whizzed by me). Bikinis, tank-inis and even the one-pieces were no-goes, they fit everywhere but the bust. Sets were just as bad. If the bottoms fit, the tops looked like dental floss or yarn (which is obviously both very flattering and supportive, not to mention dead sexy..). If the top fit (which lets face it, it didn't really) then the bottoms could have been used as a parachute if the plane unexpectedly crashed (safety first!) on the flight down. Sigh..

After hours of working the bikini-beat and after ingesting an entire crop of coffee beans, I settled. Yes, settled for a top I already owned but never loved. It fits enough to cover the danger zones and some mix and match bottoms should suffice. They had the top in six colors- obviously only two came in my size. Neon orange and white, nothing like attracting extra attention to an already attention grabbing area right? Double sigh..

So, here are some tips.

1) Don't beat yourself up, there is always gonna be someone who looks worse than you (ha!)
2) Don't get frustrated...hard but important.
3) If the lighting is terrible- wear your sunglasses and remember that natural light is always the best light.
4) Remember that bathing suits tend to run a little smaller then regualr clothing so sizing up is not a shameful, it is flattering
5) More coverage can add extra fabric that can exagerate problem areas you are trying to hide.
6) Tequila (otional) may help things along
7) ...and finally give yourself lots of time, you don't want to settle if you don't have to.