Oh no, I am being captured! Friends to the rescue!! |
Testing out the photo booth while Jiggs goes for some ice. |
Our set-up at the Rowing club, we couldn't have made it look this nice without help from all our family and friends. |
Now that we have moved, I'll try to keep weekly updates and pictures about our experiences in this vast province.
Oh no, I am being captured! Friends to the rescue!! |
Testing out the photo booth while Jiggs goes for some ice. |
Our set-up at the Rowing club, we couldn't have made it look this nice without help from all our family and friends. |
Cassandra and I have been together for seven years now. For breakfast to celebrate I made banana pancakes with grapefruit slices and apple. We are going to have Moussaka for dinner after we watch the Jets hopefully beat the pants off of the flyers.
I finally got around to uploading my pictures from last month so there is new stuff up on my Flickr page. I hope everyone is doing well.
- Theo
Cassandra's parents are on their way home now. We had a good time with them and were glad they could spend their holidays here. Especially since they arrived for our two weeks of summer. This picture was taken from our 2nd hike on the Tablelands. Our first time out was for an interpretive tour in the rain. During the hike the weather just got worse and it started to rain sideways. Cass' mom didn't have rain pants and went back to the car to change and wait while us three quickly walked the rest of the way leaving the tour behind. We spent the rest of our day at the Discovery center drying off and found a quaint coffee house near by. We decided we could come back on a sunny day.
Cass' parents are in town for a visit. Last week we went to Cape Spear to hike around and take some pictures. This one I grabbed from Rob's camera. This past week we spent at Gros Morne National Park on the West coast of the island, hiking and camping. There are lots of pictures for me to put up still from that, so more to come.
- T
Yesterday was race day in St. John's, NL. Down at Quidi Vidi lake they hold fixed seat rowing races all day, a lot like the corporate rowing challenge, except bigger. The lake is lined with booths for food and games and buskers take to the streets. There is also a beer tent for the older crowd. The city gives everyone the day off to attend.
Cassandra and I along with a couple friends went to Europe for the weekend. A french Island off the coast of Newfoundland. Lots of baguette and wine and European cars. We were lucky enough to see a music festival that was on the night we were there. The town only has 6000ish people and we were told that it can sometimes be lacking in things to do. We had a great weekend though.
(Click the picture to view my Flickr account)
T
Cassandra and I were lucky enough to see either a dolphin or a Minke whale off of the coast this afternoon. We went to a place called Middle Cove about 10 min from where we live. We plan to head out there more often, it is an awesome place.
This morning Cassandra ran in the Tely 10. A road race that has been going on since before WWII. She did a great job, although I missed her running through the finish. I got some pictures of the other 3000 participants, a new enrollment record. Maybe I'll run it next year.
Cassandra and I went to Mobile to go on the Molly Bawn whale watching tour. We didn't end up seeing any whales on our trip but we did catch some dolphins.
It felt good to just be on the water and go for a boat ride in a small vessel. They only take 12 people at a time and the boat rocks like crazy. I felt all wobbly when I got to solid ground. We will probably try going again this summer.
Cassandra made a delicious restaurant quality devils food cake with raspberry meringue buttercream icing. It was reeeeeaalllly awesome. The chocolate melted in your mouth. I have more pictures posted on my flickr. What a great birthday.
Cassandra was obviously laughing at something hilarious. I caught a few good laughs on our trip. I locked my keys in the car which was fun, wasn't much trouble to get a door open though. We ate a pot luck picnic when we got to the sports field and Cassandra made some hand pies so we could eat the pie as finger food. I had fun taking pictures hope there are some you like. Take a look on my flickr page by clicking the picture.
Today was a day I also decided to make chocolate chips. I saw these on Foodgawker.com and decided they looked delicious and I had to make them. I melted some chocolate and dipped in some regular ripple chips. I then placed them on some wax paper and chilled them. They make for some awesome addictive treats.
This weekend seemed to feel like spring. We cleaned up the apartment and thought flowers would be a good idea. We have a nursery near by that we went to. It turns out they have a huge green house that was fun to walk around in.
Cassandra and I headed out to an Easter Weekend potluck with some friends this Saturday. Cassandra made some delicious Ukrainian Easter bread. Babka being sweet bread usually with raisins and Paska, always made in a circle wrapped with braided dough. Click the picture to see more on my Flickr page. They both tasted delicious and drew several oohs at the Potluck especially the decorative flowers she made on top.
I put together a fruit salad which didn't draw nearly as much attention but was fun to make and even better to eat. I used whole fruits so we have plenty of leftover melon and pineapple to eat for breakfast this week.
Last week I saw pictures of fruit carvings and came across carved apples. I thought it was something I could do so I tried out a swan. This one here got it's beak accidently taken off. The Apple was pretty soft and fell apart. It turned out pretty well I think. I might try some more feathers next time.
Another food endeavor. Cassandra and I ventured to make same summer rolls. We had bought rice paper a while ago and it had been sitting around for quite some time. We decided to make use of it tonight and the wraps turned out pretty good. The peanut sauce Cassandra made was delicious. It had peanut butter, soy sauce, onions and garlic and topping it with plum sauce was a treat.
Rice paper is easier to work with than I assumed. It's too bad we don't have any left overs for lunch tomorrow; I can't show off at work and I have to make something else to bring.
In other news I got bed rails after going to four different stores looking for them and it has snowed a fair amount in the last few days. I wish it would stop and wait till next year. I hope you all have your party hats on and are ready for another election. I have a feeling not much will change. Minority governments are a blast.
- T
On Monday I made Nanaimo Bars for Cassandra's birthday. They are delicious and already half gone. Filled with butter sugar and chocolate, who could resist.
The snow banks here are still hanging around. It rained today but only shrank them a little bit, and made a lot of slush.
Click on the picture to see the Nanaimo photo series on my flickr account.
- T
Instead of going out for dinner I thought it would be good to stay in and make a full meal with Cassandra. It was a delicious idea. We had this great baked brie for an appetizer. We made asian noodle soup for a main course filled with cilantro and lime and other vegetables. To top it off for dessert we had key lime pie with coffee. I had to squeeze 15 key limes to make 1/2 cup of lime juice for the filling. (click on the picture to see the photos on my flickr account, http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjerrettenns/)
Cassandra made some sugar cookies for potluck. She used our new baking mat to make them golden brown and iced them with royal icing. It seems all we did this weekend was make food and eat it.
I like this. I had fun creating a brine for the pork chop and enjoyed the suspense of whether or not it would taste good. Discovering I had cooked the meat just enough and roasted the potatoes so that they got golden brown spots just added to my happiness. Then came the actual taste test. I was hooked, it was delicious.
I made a salty, brown sugar, and apple with cloves and pepper brine. Boiled it, cooled it and left the pork in it for 5 hours in the fridge. I added more sugar than salt to the brine and it made an addictingly sweet hunk of meat.
I surprise myself a fair amount actually. It's like a competition with myself; how delicious can I make food taste today? It may just be my low expectations and the anticipation of tasting what I created. I rarely follow a recipe, I consider them just guidance and leave most tasting until the final product is made. I find it all adds to the final enjoyment of the meal. Top it off with a beer and it was a great evening. Now back to the homework I have been avoiding. (Maybe that's why I enjoy cooking!)
- T
Food led to games after. The game Jungle speed came out. When certain card combinations were flipped the first one to grab the totem in the center of the table won. If two people grabbed the totem at the same time it led to a one armed battle of who could wrench it out of the other persons hand. This created a few battle scars but made for a pretty fun evening.
- T
Cassandra made a couple kinds of Cupcakes for potluck on Saturday. Chocolate with a sprinkle of cayenne and a chocolate gnash icing as well as a lemon with a lemon glaze icing. They were delicious and didn't last long.