One of the MANY Reasons I Love to Blog

I really enjoy seeing where I was and where I am now. It gives me an almost tangible way to see how far I have grown, to remind me of my many joys and to inspire me to keep climbing higher. Today I spent some time taking photos of a recipe I have already made and posted on this blog. I retook the photos because the one of the pictures I have of the Broccoli Slaw I took in July of 2009 were too disappointing to put into my cookbook. And since I was curious I wanted to see the photo I took seven months ago vs. the one I took today side by side.





OH MY GOOOODNESS was all I could say. The older photo looks like a sloppy mess, something I was proud of when I took it I am sure, but would be embarrassed to post now. I won’t update the old photo with this new one either, because going back isn’t what I am trying to do here and I will cherish the old photo for the step that it was to get where I am today.

Of course that comparison having blown me away I decided to find a few more comparisons like my Cheesy Potato Recipe also taken originally in July of 2009.





Or the photos of my beloved cats who are generally seen in my house lounging together. The old photo, taken in March 2008 is flat with little depth, dimension or contrast; where the new one is full of vibrancy and dynamism.





Even the photos I take of people have gotten vastly better. Something that was dull and blah with no expression or character like Mr. Rogue fixing my chocolate diabolical taken in February of 2008 ...



To Baby Fruit mid action caught in that split second connecting with the camera.



It is one thing to note that I took over 1200 shots of Baby Fruit in her photo shoot to get this one shot that I loved where last year, when I took the photo of Mr. Rogue, I only took two (and the other one is blurry). Lesson learned, take MANY MANY photos and keep trying because you can and will get better.

Taste Buds: Chickpea Curry Soup

I spent all day in the kitchen yesterday playing and tinkering and jiggering around many different spices in my cupboard. I wanted a dish with an Indian flair (hence the large amount of curry and yogurt) but I wanted also a vegetarian dish. What I ended up with is an amazing soup, I know I seem to be obsessed with them lately but I just LOVE my husband and he LOVES my soups to take to work for lunch. So now I have 28 cups of soup which makes 14 servings, I will leave half out for both of us for the next few days and freeze the rest for handy quick meals that are healthy.

RECIPE: INDIAN CURRY SOUP INGREDIENTS 2 tablespoons olive oil 6 teaspoons cumin seeds 6 tablespoons fresh ginger 6 teaspoons curry powder 12 cups vegetable broth 6 cups pre-soaked, drained chickpeas 6 cups of chopped sweet potatoes (approx 2 large potatoes) 1 cauliflower head 4 cups green beans rough chopped salt and pepper to taste 1 ½ cups yogurt 6 tablespoons all purpose flour garnish with toasted un-sweetened coconut, rough chopped cashews and fresh jalapeno peppers DIRECTIONS 1. Heat oil in a very large stock pot over medium heat; once the oil is hot cook cumin seeds for two minutes being careful not to burn the seeds. 2. Add in peeled and finely minced ginger and cook for an additional two minutes. 3. Add in the curry powder stir and cook for an additional minute. 4. Conserve two cups of vegetable broth and set aside in a bowl. Add the remaining 10 cups of vegetable broth to the pot and bring to a rolling boil. 5. Peel potatoes and chop potatoes, wash and break apart cauliflower into small pieces, wash and discard ends of green beans and roughly chop. 6. Once broth is at a rolling boil add vegetables, bring back to a boil, cover and reduce heat cooking until vegetables are tender 15-25 minutes. 7. Add flour to the two cups of vegetable broth that you set aside and whisk until combined. Stirring the vegetable mixture constantly, slowly add the flour mixture to pot. 8. Turn off the heat and slowly stirring the soup constantly add the yogurt. 9. When ready to serve toast cashews and coconut in separate pan. Serve two cups of soup over ½ cup of rice and top with cashews, coconut and jalapeno peppers.

Taste Buds: The Way we Look at Food

The rainy weather has me sleeping more often which has left me MUCH less productive. The rain has also produced a significant amount of cloud cover so the few things that I have cooked cant get photoed because there is not enough light. So today I thought I would talk about the top changes we have made at our house involving food. Our mantra to keep trying better and the inspiration for this year’s challenge.

1. Try new things
I am forcing myself to embrace new foods that I would have never bought because I had NO IDEA how to cook it. Weird things that I don’t even know the name of are ending up in my basket so I can take it home and experiment with tastes. I had NO IDEA if I would like it and there is certainly a bit of fear but that is what life is all about, jumping and taking chances. Trying new things also keeps variety in your diet which means that the amount of nutrients you are getting day to day are changing all the time. Score

2. Cook more often
Since I really concentrated on cooking in my kitchen mastering certain techniques opens doors to making other things. Right now I am using a lot of books and research on the web coupled with the things I have learned. In the near future I would love to take some cooking classes. But in the end better cooking is its own reward. I also like how I get to be the nutritional gatekeeper by using whole materials and creating things from scratch. I get to skip out on all the added preservatives and salt canned goods have. In essence I know exactly what my family is eating.

3. Go vegan
Ok I am not entirely giving up meat but more than half our meals now do not have meat and when there is meat it is not the majority on the plate. Focusing more on the other food groups especially fruits and vegetables we have a more healthy balance. When we do eat meat I follow the advice of an article in super foods where it mentioned to eat meat less but when you do eat it get the best that you can afford. Now when I buy bacon I get four slices of slow aged apple wood smoked bacon instead of the pre-packaged bacon in the freezer. I found it makes a HUGE difference in the taste of our meat.

4. Never skip on breakfast
Mr. Rogue and I eat a bowl of oatmeal EVERY SINGLE DAY. It is a no brainer that starts our day off with something in our bellies. We have a rotating wheel of stuff to put in the oatmeal, dried fruit or fresh fruit, wheat germ, flaxseed or a bit of raw honey or cinnamon keep it from getting boring.

5. Smaller portions
In October I could eat a dinner meal that is a quarter of what I eat now. It took a while to work my body down from a full plate that left me stuffed to a plate that leaves me satiated but this has helped me cut back a ton of calories. We found using smaller plates helped make it feel like there was more on the plate, a great way to trick yourself.

With these modifications we are making life changes that will positively affect us for the rest of our lives.

Baby Brain: The Magic of it All

It is 2:30 in the morning and I cannot sleep, partially because I cannot get my brain to turn off and partially because I took a four hour nap this afternoon. So I am on the web surfing for anything and everything baby. To some it may be strange that I am starting to pick things out for a nursery and starting to prepare checklists. Mr. Rogue and I only JUST started trying to get pregnant this month exactly on target for our plan, but for those who know me, well I like to get things done and I like to be prepared.

Lately I am recording my basal temperature in the mornings. And its not because I am trying to time my ovulation like a crazy woman that will come if I am not pregnant after six months I am sure, but because I am preparing in case we do have problems and because I am curious how this all works. I want to be careful not take the magic out of the moment. When my mother’s generation were starting families they did not chart and plan and predict, instead they let nature take its course and the world is pretty well populated. So I am working on staying calm, because working myself up and thinking about it too much will make it technical and like work. And I want to do everything I can to preserve the magic.

Because becoming pregnant and giving birth to a human is magic.

Helping Out

Every Thursday night I take Mrs. Fruit to play badmitten. She generally plays for 2.5-3 hours and in that time I get to spend time with Baby Fruit. Taking a leaf from my sister-in-law, Mrs. Lambchop, I decided this week to head over to Target instead of just hanging out at the court. We walked around, I picked up random things that I really did not need, and then once Baby Fruit started getting a bit restless we headed over to the toys section. Let me tell you it was like I stumbled onto the HOLY GRAIL. She played, touched, and giggled at everything in those isles. I saw the big bouncy balls in the cage and remembered that Baby Lambchop loves them so I took one out for Baby Fruit to play with. Her eyes got as large as saucers as she accepted it.



Even though the ball was almost as big as her she was enthralled. I brought it back to the court with us and she played for over an hour with it, much to the merriment of everyone there. It was the best $2.88 I ever spent in my life.

Photo Phriday: Flowers in February

One of the best things about living in LALA land is that the winters are oh so UN-winter like. I get to hear all my family and friends from back east complain and lament over the freezing cold and all I can think about is that I have flowers on my property in February. Life can sometimes be wonderful.

Taste Buds: Healthy Cheesy Breakfast Potatoes

I created this recipe a while ago and posted it here, but that is SO FULL of everything that is horrible for you, although tasty, I decided to revamp it into something that is still tasty but much better for you. By making these in mini tins or a cupcake pan you can have individual portions already separated for a get up and go kind of meal. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a few fresh chives, delicious.

RECIPE: CHEESY BREAKFAST POTATOES INGREDIENTS 2 cups Idaho Potatoes (about 1 large potato) 2 tablespoons cream of chicken soup 4 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese 2 tablespoons sour cream 2 Scallions DIRECTIONS 1. Peel and grate the mashed potatoes into a large bowl. Add the soup, cheese, sour cream, and chives and stir. 2. Pam individual tins or a cupcake pan (you can also make this in a large casserole dish). Put in ¼ cup per section of the mixture and bake at 350 degrees for forty five minutes. 3. Serve immediately with your breakfast.

Makes 7 mini cakes

Taste Buds: Burgh Wedge

I went to college and lived in Pittsburgh for 7 years. During that time I worked a wide variety of jobs one of which was a brief stint as a pizza delivery girl which I am not going to get into now because that is a completely different story. ANYWAYS, because I was in college and because I was POOR as college students generally are I made it a point to eat as much free food at work as I could. I love pizza but you can imagine how the boredom can set in after eating it for three months straight. And there was no way I was going to stop eating the free food, as far as I was concerned it was a work perk.

Regardless we, meaning the cooks and I, got pretty imaginative about creating various meals out of the pizza ingredients we had. Now I cannot take full credit for this recipe because in fact I am not sure WHO thought it up at that Pizza Outlet but the resulting pizza sandwich we called the Burge Wedge became a favourite. With a pizza dough bread and gooey cheese, hot meat and crisp salad this is just a melt in your mouth kinda meal. Now that I don’t have a pizza store and several cooks to make this for me I have had to modify it slightly for home making but eating this brings back a flood of memories.

Even as I type it makes me hungry.

RECIPE: BURGH WEDGE INGREDIENTS 2 oz mozzarella 3 slices Delano ham 1/3 Trader Joes pizza dough 1/8 head lettuce 1 small tomato 1/8 purple onion 3 tablespoons Hellman’s mayonnaise DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you have a pizza stone make sure that is in the oven before you preheat. 2. Lay out dough to reset for 20 minutes on a sprinkled work surface. After the dough is done setting spread it out in a rough oblong shape. Lay out meat on one half and then sprinkle cheese over entire thing. 3. Bake for 20 minutes until the crust is done and the cheese is gooey. 4. Mix sliced lettuce, chopped onion, sliced tomato and mayonnaise in a large bowl. 5. Take pizza crust out of oven, put lettuce mixture on top of meat half, fold over other side of dough to form a folded over half circle, cut in half and serve.

Sometimes it’s Hard to Move On

Sadly a month ago my trusty, OH SO WONDERFUL, blow dryer started making this funny noise. Like that person sitting next to you in the doctors office, coughing so hard that you can just picture how much it hurts and cringe, yea that is exactly how it was, this funny noise that was more painful than anything. However I am a person who loves my products so I just kept on using it. The noise got worse and sadly a week ago it died completely shuddering to a silent halt never to turn on again. I feel like I just lost a friend.

So I had planned on replacing it immediately but in order to get a decent blow dryer I have to go to the salon warehouse an hour away and with the week I have had it just was not possible to take time away and get there. What with the plumbing issues we have had and the lack of water in our home, my hair has really been neglected.

Fast forward to today when I walked into the warehouse and had two lovely women help me pick out the prefect dryer. Its Bio Ionic and lightweight which were my two musts and it came very highly recommended by both the associates. When I got home I immediately took a shower so I could test out the new addition. This blow dryer is AWSOME. I guess that is the one good thing about this whole situation, I lose one friend only to gain one that is better.

Baby Brain: Investing in a Thermometer

I have not had a thermometer since I moved away for college, what did I need it for anyways I was a 20 something healthy kid with limited space and a very limited budget. Now however I need to track my basal temperature so a thermometer was needed. I opted to do some research before I ventured out. I don’t like to go to stores and just pick something because it looks pretty and because I wanted a nice family thermometer because we are hopefully going to be having a baby in the house soon I wanted to make sure I got something that would last. I ended up getting the ThermoScan by Braun.



I like the fact that it records temperature in a second, that it has a pre-warm-up tip and that it comes highly recommended by MD’s. The only thing I really don’t like are the replaceable caps that need to be changed after every use. Personally I would much rather have a way to sanitize the sensor instead of having to buy the disposable tips.

Baby Brain: Dispelling Myths

There are so many things that I thought were true and are not or that I heard from other people but they end up to be not supported by any facts. Getting pregnant it seems comes with many people giving unasked for advice, but I better get used to this or so my friends with children have said.

Every day I go on to the web and find out something new. For instance I was wondering if there was a specific position that was best or if I am supposed to lay there after with one leg in the air as I pat my tummy and sing Kum Bye Ya; seems that none of that is necessary. As my mom says, nothing was that complicated when we were trying to have kids. I guess sometimes too much research can be a bit overkill.

I have nothing but time on my hands though so I just keep plugging away. Most of what I learn is super interesting and I cannot believe the things I did not know about my own body. Each day brings something new and exciting. It would be WONDERFUL if we got pregnant this first month. Here is to hoping and praying.

The Challenges we All Face

I just finished reading Ms. Eden’s success with her long journey of weight loss. Aside from being completely jealous of her transformation I am more proud of her and her overwhelmingly focused achievement and I can see the work I need to do to follow in her footsteps; the dedication to workout, the dedication to a very strict diet and the dedication to not deviate. She is an inspiration and I need to sit up, grab a notepad, and follow in her very successful footsteps. Although Mr. Rogue and I have made major changes in the way food is viewed and used ‘in this house’ and we have dedicated ourselves to exercising more there are still more changes that need to be made. Things that I have been cheating with, things I love, like pasta.



I have gotten to the point where I CAN keep it out of the house for the most part, but saying NO to Olive Garden, like today, is just tough. UMMM Pasta!



The thing is that I stay focused for a while. Over the past five months I have lost 14 pounds and I am really proud of myself. But then I will have a moment, a moment were I get distracted from my end goal, a moment that derails my hard work. That moment could be caused by stress, or old habits, or even bright shiny lights. Whatever that distraction it makes me regret my actions afterwards and it takes me DAYS to get back to focusing on what I really want.



With anything challenging I tend to jump all in or all out, I know what the problems, the diet coke addiction which in turn does not allow me to drink enough water, the love of sweets (see my downfall over those the past couple of days in the recipes I have been cooking), my love of pasta, and lazily skipping exercising when we have a gym right in the house. This is where I need the strength to say no to my bad habits and really change those last few things. The problem is that these addictions ARE SO DAMN GOOD!



Seriously half the time I cannot control what I am doing. One moment I am happily taking a walk with the dogs in my neighbourhood enjoying the sunshine, my furry companions, and the exercise; the next moment I am sitting at a cafe cramming 24 donuts in my face while the little old man sitting next to me watches me with HORROR IN HIS EYES and the dogs look on with pleading expressions that I should JUST WALK AWAY. Ok that may be a slight exaggeration it was only 23 donuts and I am sure the dogs were not pleading for my well being but begging to have just a tiny bit for their own.



I know I will find a way to break the cycle of self sabotage eventually and I am VERY PROUD of the huge steps Mr. Rogue and I have made. It is just frustrating to admit that sometimes I am not strong enough to just stop.

So here it is my struggle to keep trying, I will keep getting up after every minor step-back because I will succeed and I have people like Ms. Eden to draw inspiration from. I am SO INCREDIBLY PROUD OF YOU MS. EDEN.

P.S. please God help me stay away from pasta, although Baby Fruit seemed to enjoy it tremendously.

I Will Never take it For Granted Again

When I turn on the faucet, as I am sure MANY of us do, I expect water. And I am not even sure expect is the right word because I don’t think about it very often at all. Other than to be careful not to leave the water needlessly running, it is just one of those millions of things I generally DON'T have to worry about; which makes more room for me to obsess over which recipe I should cook next. Running water is a simple concept, something that I have taken for granted since I can't remember when. That is until Sunday happened and a series of events unfolded that ended with our water main unexpectedly bursting. Being left for over 48 hours without any water in our home was “challenging”, uncomfortable, frustrating, and just sucked. Basically it just made me really miss my pre-water-main-bursting innocence when the water just magically worked.

All day today our plumber and his helper dug up our yard, drilled things, broke concrete and made so much noise and mess that I almost cried. Phoenix however was overjoyed yet again that her new friends were back because this time they were digging more holes.



She got to help and the plumbers just chuckled like indulgent Uncles as they continued to dig and dig and dig some more. I am glad they found it cute because it would have been VERY hard to stop her from ‘helping’. She is like her mamma in that respect and got an extra dose of stubbornness when she was born.



After working since 8 am this morning the plumber called me outside to inform me that he FINALLY got the water turned back on, and let me tell you I was so excited I didn’t even want to hear about the rest of stuff he had to say. Seriously, remember when Charlie Brown’s teacher used to talk and it came out as a bunch of nothing, I swear that is the exact noise I heard. All I could think about after he said the water was on, which was his first sentence, was ‘I WANT TO TAKE A SHOWER’. As soon as I could I excused myself from the conversation so our very nice plumber, who I hugged when he told me the water was on, could fill back in the craters he dug in my yard. I dashed into the house and ran a load of dishes, did a load of laundry, and took a shower all at the same time, JUST BECAUSE I COULD. It was heaven.

Once my shower was complete I felt human again so I went back outside and apologized to the plumber because I had to ask him to repeat everything I had missed in our last conversation. You see my plumber he wanted to let me know that Mr. Rogue and I made the right decision. Basically the plumber gave us two options, to either patch the hole in the pipe OR to replace the entire pipe. Since it was galvanized steel and we had already updated the entire house with copper and because our plumber told us our pipe looked old we opted to replace the pipe altogether so this situation would NEVER happen again. When he showed me the old pipe that they removed.



The super nasty rusted pipe that had so many holes in it it looked like Swiss cheese. Then he smiled and said that we made the right decision because our pipe would have just kept bursting until it was replaced and I am not sure if I could take one of these again.



Excuse me while I go take ANOTHER shower and marvel at the magic of how it all works again.

Taste Buds: Petite Clementine Madeleine’s

Madeleine’s are French cookies baked in a special pan looking something like a fluted scallop. A cross between a cake and a cookie with a texture similar to a sponge cake my cookies are infused with a distinct Clementine flavour. Lovely when accompanied by tea (how I love to eat them), ice cream or on their own these cakes are worth the time to bake. With an interesting history dating back to the 18th century these cookies match up to the French desert I would expect.

Please note that this recipe needs to be refrigerated preferably overnight or at least 5 hours before baking.

RECIPE: CLEMENTINE MADELEINE’S INGREDIENTS 5 eggs 1 cup sugar 3 Clementine’s zested 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¾ cup cake flour 1/3 cup almond flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 14 tablespoons butter DIRECTIONS 1. In a small saucepan over medium heat until light golden brown and fragrant (About 5 minutes). Remove from the heat and then strain into a bowl with a fine strainer, note you may need to strain it more than once. 2. While the butter is melting beat with an electric mixture the eggs, sugar, zest and extract. Whip continuously scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. 3. Add the flours, baking powder and salt slowly mixing until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. 4. While the beaters are still running very slowly add the butter. 5. Let sit in the refrigerator overnight or at least 5 hours before cooking. 6. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put batter into Madeleine molds and bake for 8 minutes, reduce heat to 375 and cook for another 5-7 minutes until lightly browned.

Photo Phriday: My Furry Children

Today I realized that in the melding of my days I totally missed Photo Phriday which is totally unacceptable. Because there were a ton of people walking into and out of the house today my animals were curious what was going on so I took some photos of them being part of my chaotic day. Hope you enjoy.

The cats were alert and on the lookout, especially Seurat he is like that nosy neighbour that is constantly watching EVERYTHING that goes on outside.



When I did get a few moments to return to my desk both cats were nearby probably wondering why I was sobbing, Its the lost shoes I explain!



And then the excitement was just too much and Picasso decided to take a nap because he is like his mama like that, nothing gets in the way of naptime.



Of course everyone loved Phoenix because she is just too adorable until she began to really get in the way of the digging. I have the HARDEST time getting photos of her, normally they come out like this:



That is until I hold a treat behind the lens, then she freezes trying to figure out what I want her to do so she can get that treat; lone cricket chirping in that tiny cute pea brain of hers. And look her face is COMPLETLY covered in dirt, you should have seen it when I let her into the yard, all the holes were dug from the plumbers and she got SO EXCITED. Like look mom, here are my people, THEY APPRECIATE HOLES, EVEN MAKE THEM, THEY ARE HUMANS AND THEY ARE DIGGING. She begged me to start digging too.



And Rogue, my patient loving well behaved gentleman just sat by my side and watched with me the chaos Phoenix wrecked.

Just Imagine the Amount of Shoes I Could Have Gotten

Yesterday we found out that our water main had broken and today I spent HOURS on the phone dealing with the city, plumbers and our homeowners insurance attempting to get the problem fixed as quickly as possible. Unfortunately I encountered stupidity and incompetence at every turn which super pisses me off. There is nothing like people who can’t do their part to do their jobs correctly that makes me angrier. DUDE, JUST DO YOUR DAMN JOB ALREADY!

It started with the plumber I hired yesterday who was supposed to be at the house by 10:00am, when he had not shown up by 10:45 I called and he said he was running late and would be leaving soon. Fair enough, everyone runs late, but have you lost your DAMN MIND or are all your fingers broken and you couldn’t call. Needless to say when he still had not shown up by 12:30 I called again only to be told that OPPS he did not know I was so far away and that he decided he was not going to be able to make it all the way out to our house. (#*$&(*&(#$*UT)$)(*#$ BASTARD!

I spent the next thirty minutes calling every plumber in the nearby area crossing off those that could not answer yes to ALL THREE of my questions:

1. Were they licensed
2. Had they have at least 5 years experience
3. Could they come RIGHT NOW!

I found one that said yes to all three and he was over within 15 minutes digging holes in my yard with a fanatical gleam in his eye like trying to find the path the water pipe takes in my yard was some incredibly interesting puzzle. Two hours of digging and breaking concrete later he delivers the bad news. It will take three days and at least $5900.00 dollars to fix this problem.

GASP AND DOUBLE GASP. I bet that damn plumber had no idea how many shoes I could buy with that kind of money. Hopefully I can get the insurance company to cover SOME of that cost.

I really hate water main pipe bursts.

Baby Brain: Hiring a Gardener

You may be cocking your head and scratching trying to understand why hiring a gardener would have anything to do with trying to get pregnant but my OBGYN does not like the idea of me cleaning up the doggie doo and handling fertilizer and well my husband works WAY too much to even know we have a lawn. Therefore we made the decision to hire a gardener a few months ago.

Since I lost my job a year ago I have been keeping things up with the weeding and mowing but now I am a little sad and a little excited to not have to worry about it anymore.

I lucked out and was able to hire my neighbour’s gardener, thanks Mrs. Rambo for recommending him, and this tomorrow I am going to be so excited when he comes for the first time and my yard is beautiful without me having to labour long hours to make it that way. I especially enjoy my morning decaffeinated tea out on our back porch in the morning, reading and just being in the outdoors at this quiet time is very soothing. After the birth and once we get things running smoothly we will have another discussion whether or not to keep the gardener or if I will again take over the job. For now though I am going to kick back and enjoy!

Taste Buds: Magic Cookie Bars aka Death By Sugar

Let me just start out by saying that although Mr. Rogue and I are trying to eat better and I am attempting to gather together recipes that are good for you I just HAVE to put this recipe here. The problem is that these are fat filled hips in the larva stage. They are so bad for you, so sweetly delicious, one bite may put you in a sugar coma. Why you ask am I posting it? That’s because it is THAT FRIGGIN GOOD!

So I am going to post the recipe and maybe just maybe, when I am strong enough, I may attempt to make these a bit healthier. God give me strength.

RECIPE: MAGIC COOKIE BARS aka Death By Sugar INGREDIENTS ½ cup butter 1 ½ cups finely crushed graham crackers 1 (14oz) sweetened condensed milk 16 oz chocolate chips 3 ½ oz coconut 1 cup chopped walnuts DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Pam a 13x9 baking pan 3. Melt the butter. Lay down the crushed graham crackers in the pan, pour butter evenly over top. 4. Mix together milk, chocolate chips, coconut and walnuts. 5. Place small spoonfuls of mixture evenly over graham cracker crust. 6. Bake for 30 minutes and let completely cool before serving.

The Ugliness of Owning a Home

I woke up this morning happy that I had my husband home for a whole day off, GASP. We discussed last night about going skiing today since again our fourth rescheduled ski trip got cancelled for next weekend because of work “shaking my fist at the sky”, but Mr. Rogue was feeling exhausted so we decided to just hang out at home. I woke up early and was reading on the couch letting Mr. Rogue get some extra ZZZZ. When he came out of the bedroom an hour later he started pacing around the house asking me if I can hear the noise. Ummm what noise? I ask. Once he points it out I can hear what he means, it is a slight hum, a hum that woke him up at 3:00 in the morning, a hum that we both ended up investigating. Neither of us could determine where it was coming from but Mr. Rogue thought it sounded like running water. He decided to check the water meter outside which is in the rarely used alley out back. What he walked out to was a surprise to both of us. The alley had water in it!

Mr. Rogue tried digging around in the murky stuff for the shut-off valve to the house.



He spent a good half hour rooting around trying to locate it... Oh wait did he find it? That face does not look good. Of course I helped by tiptoeing around the water and taking photos. I am a girl and plumbing is not something I signed up for.



The entire alley was soaked with hundreds of gallons of water, who knows how long it has been leaking. All I could think about was all that water gone to waste!



Unfortunately Mr. Rogue was unsuccessful at finding the main shutoff to the house. We ended up calling the city water company to come out and help, hoping that this would be their problem and not ours. I was praying all fingers and arms and legs and pinky toes crossed.

While we were waiting we found where the water was bubbling out and DRAT it was on our property. It was not a slow trickle either, this was a rip roaring spew of water.



Mr. Rogue tried to stop the leak with his finger, that did not work out so well.



Even two hands were not enough to stop the stream.



And the city came out, they shut off the water and stop the leak from continuing to water the alley but unfortunately all that praying and crossing did not get me anywhere. The damage is on our property and therefore our problem. We have a plumber coming out tomorrow to investigate and then there are the calls to the homeowners insurance and the problems to navigate once the plumber opens up the concrete and finds out how extensive the damage was.

For now all we can do is wait, wait in a house where we cannot use the faucets, the shower, or the toilets. We are lucky in the fact that my husband’s brother lives two doors down and our neighbour has given us free reign to let ourselves in their home with our key, Thanks Mrs. Rambo. But it could be several days until water is restored to the house. HOW ANNOYING!

As Mr. Rogue puts it
“At least it’s not black mold.”

Taste Buds: Margarita Pizza

One thing on this new food kick that Mr. Rogue and I are coasting on is that I miss, OH HOW I MISS YOU delicious, delectable, cheesy, gooey pizza. So I decided to make my own, a version that was still pizza but to dial down some of the most terrible aspects of it.

Now I did ‘cheat’ a bit on this and I bought premade dough from Trader Joes but I am determined sometime in the near future to attempt to make my own pizza dough which I think would be really fun! The only difference in this pizza is that you need to put down the toppings and then put the cheese on top of that. Trust me its good.



This recipe is based on Ms. Eden’s version of pizza and it is DELICIOUS.

RECIPE: MARGARITA PIZZA INGREDIENTS 1 Trader Joes Pizza Dough ½ Jar Tomato Basil Lowfat Pizza Sauce 5 roma tomatoes 15 basil leaves 2 cups loosely packed spinach leaves 15 baby portabella mushrooms 6 oz goat cheese 3 oz mozzarella balls 3 oz parmesan cheese DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a pizza stone put this in the oven. It is not mandatory to have a pizza stone but you will get a crispier crust if you have one. 2. The dough needs to set out for 20 minutes. While it is setting you can prepare your vegetables and cheese. Slice your mushrooms and start them sautéing. Thinly slice your tomatoes. Rough chop basil and spinach into large chunks. Shred your parmesan, cut up the mozzarella balls and crumble the goat cheese. Have everything ready to the side. 3. Lightly pam or olive oil a baking sheet. 4. Stretch out your dough using a bit of flour, I just stretch mine on the counter and place on baking sheet. 5. Spread out the sauce evenly on the crust. 6. Place mushrooms, tomatoes, basil and spinach on the pizza. 7. Top with cheese and bake for 30-40 minutes.