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A Week in Their Kitchen

June 2, 2010 By 3 Comments

This week, Tim and I are participating in a challenge for the Calgary Food Bank called “A Week in Their Kitchen”.

A Week in Their Kitchen is a week long challenge that will see various members of Calgary’s media and public surviving on the contents of only an Emergency Food Hamper throughout Husky Help the Hungry week (May 31-June 6 2010).

Participants will be blogging about their experience, both with visiting the food bank, and cooking with the items in their hamper, to help give the public a sense of what it’s like to be in need.

As part of my job, I regularly have to refer clients to the food bank, so it is very interesting to view the experience from their position. Please check out the blog, leave a comment, donate to your local food bank, and open your mind to what it might be like for you to depend on a food bank for your nutrition.

http://weekintheirkitchen.wordpress.com

Thanks in advance for your support!

Filed Under: Calgary, charity, food

Daily Addiction

June 18, 2009 By 12 Comments

Since I live with the Culinary Master of Canada, I get to enjoy a wide array of delectable meals on a daily basis. Seriously, he will concoct up an amazing meal, cook it for me and leave it in the fridge for me to eat at night, or spend three hours cooking for me in the evenings (we eat late dinners – visitors take this as your warning!). He has a huge imagination when it comes to food, and comes up with taste creations that I never thought even existed. Recently, he has started grilling fruit. I don’t know if this is a regular practice, but man, it should be. The boy will throw any fruit on the grill, and it comes off tasting better than that fruit has tasted before. Last night I decided to document it, because I wanted to share the goods. BBQ

Last night Tim did a surf and turf, pictures is steak, asparagus, red peppers and … peaches!!! There was also some extremely fresh halibut searing in the oven. We are very meat and veggie heavy in our household. No need for fluff like pasta or potatoes. Unless it’s risotto, which in that case is a whole other story altogether. There is always room for more risotto.

Tim used the grilled peaches to make a grilled peach chutney, which he seasoned with mint and was the best thing ever. Grilled Peach Chutney

My food photos aren’t exactly Pioneer Woman worthy, but you can at least get the gist. Here is the end product:
Dinner

And we were stuffed after! It tasted great, and we had enough steak leftover to make a pizza later that night (we eat A LOT – if we eat dinner early, then we have to eat two dinners!)

Another great thing to grill is pineapples. If you ever make homemade hamburgers, grill some pineapple slices for a topping on the burger and your life just might be changed for the better. More things I would grill: strawberries, mango, bananas (mmm… for bananas foster), or any kind of fruit really.

What is your favourite thing to grill on the ‘que?

I am adding comments people give me on Twitter because dammit, my followers (I hate saying that word) are awesome people with great comments:

@darylcognito: @leahblonde to be complete asparagus needs to be wrapped in Prosciutto (Mmmm … more meat. I mean, very good idea)

@calgaryfitness: @leahblonde Wow ur man is a great cook! I ? grilling fruit…I have a great recipe for grilled peaches stuffed with veggie/feta quinoa YUMM. (Wow, must get said recipe ASAP!)

@danellew: @leahblonde Yum!! I’m jealous :) (Note: It is not hard to get an invitation to dinner at the Tim & Leah household! You pretty much just have to bring wine and be prepared to bring board games)

Filed Under: Calgary, food, leah

Tuesdays with Micaela ~ Cooking with Kento.

March 24, 2009 By 13 Comments

Kent and I went out for lunch on Saturday and had spring rolls for an appetizer. We enjoyed them so much that on the way home we stopped at the grocery store to buy ingredients to make spring rolls for dinner. They were so good and so easy to make that I would totally recommend making your own over paying $10 for two spring rolls at a restaurant. Unless of course you are going to Kent’s restaurant, which you should support 100%!

You can pretty much put whatever in them but this is what we put in them:
chicken (basted with butter and cilantro)
carrots
celery
alfalfa sprouts
bean sprouts
cilantro
garlic
salt and pepper

Kent just started working at a new restaurant which unlike any he’s worked at before, requires him to wear a tall chef hat instead of a short one. He hates it. I don’t know what’s funnier, the hat itself or the fact that his mom irons it for him every morning! I guess in a month that will be my job. I’ll let you decide:

My dad (who reads our blog! Hi dad!) tried on the hat too and I think it suits him better than Kent. But maybe it’s the jam on toast and the moustache. Then again, he did keep it on for much longer than Kent did. He also makes a mean bacon and eggs.

And one more thing before I head off to religion class – some family blog love!

Our cousin Lindsay just started her first blog called One Million Little Thoughts which everyone should check out and leave comments on to get her motivated! She did a “100 things” for her first post so she is obviously a natural.

My last post on things that I love inspired my cousin Lara to write her own post, current L-O-V-E-S on her blog, Crazy/beautiful/blog. I only share one of the same loves as her despite being family… can you guess which one?

Filed Under: blogging, food, micaela Tagged With: ,

Tuesdays with Micaela ~ Shrove Tuesday edition.

February 24, 2009 By 16 Comments

For good Catholic girls like us, today is Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Tuesday or, if you wish, the horrible name, Fat Tuesday. What is the significance of this day? Well it’s the day before Ash Wednesday, but other than that I’m not really sure. Maybe you are supposed to fill yourself up with pancakes before you fast on Ash Wednesday. I could google it, but instead I will let someone feel smart and comment with the answer.

At my school this morning, we all enjoyed McDonalds pancakes. They were delicious. After school my friend Chris that I carpool with said to me, “I’m so full of pancakes. I had seven. And two donuts.” which made me laugh pretty hard.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, in which us good Christians give something up or do good deeds to commemorate Jesus walking  through the desert for 40 days and nights.  As children, our mom always made us give up television for Lent because she hated us watching it. We weren’t really allowed to watch it much any other time of the year either, but that didn’t really matter when we all had four sisters always around to entertain us. It worked, because none of us (well except Lauren) are big television watchers to this day.

To be honest, I can’t really remember if I’ve given anything up in recent years, so that probably means I haven’t given up anything too significant. This year, inspired by my previously mentioned pancake-loving friend, I will be giving up junk food of all sorts. My working definition of junk food is “anything that I would feel guilty eating.” Since I am a bridesmaid in Erica’s wedding in May, and a bride in my own in August, this is probably a good idea, Lent or no Lent.

What I like about Lent is that there is a set time limit. New Years resolutions are so difficult to keep, I think, because the time limit is something more like “forever.” Nobody can give up junk food forever.

So today I ate my last pancake and tonight I made my last batch of popcorn. Let the fasting begin…

And you? Will you be giving up anything for Lent?

Filed Under: food, Holidays, life, micaela Tagged With: , , , ,

Crave'ing

October 10, 2008 By 9 Comments

Dayumm, why is the first sentence of a new blog you write always the hardest? I swear I just wrote five different opening sentences, consequently deleted them and then got very frustrated! What I am trying to tell you, dear readers, is that I LOVE CUPCAKES! So much so that yesterday just before lunch I was really starting to crave a cupcake. Conveniently, there is a store located not too far away from both my work and home that specializes in none other than cupcakes! Yes, an entire store devoted to the production and sales of cupcakes. Pure genius, I say! Also very convenient is the name – Crave.

Who wouldn’t crave a cupcake from Crave? (You know when you type or say a word too much in a short time span and it seems to lose it’s meaning? That just happened with crave.) Well, I couldn’t get there for lunch, as I have been going home for lunch everyday because Tim has been working 3pm-12am everyday this week. Let’s do some math – if Leah works 8am-4pm and goes to bed at 10:45pm, and Tim works from 3pm-12am and gets up at 9:00am, how much time do they get to spend together? You got it kiddies – NONE! Unless Leah comes home for lunch between 12pm and 1pm, then they get 30 minutes because it takes 15 minutes to walk each way. Anyways, what I am trying to tell you is that I didn’t go to Crave to get a cupcake for lunch because I went home and visited Tim for half an hour. Although, that didn’t stop me from going AFTER work!

I got there right about 10 minutes before they were closing, and they happened to be getting rid of the days leftovers. They may have noticed me eyeing those puppies up, or else out of the very kindness of their pink frosted hearts they gave them to me! For free! I was so happy, but I swear I must have looked like the biggest oinker when I was walking home with 18 cupcakes. I didn’t even have an excuse. I bought 6 for Tim and I to put in the freezer, and they gave me 12 more mini ones. (More math time – If Leah buys 6 cupcakes and received 12 mini-cupcakes free, and then takes them home to her gluttonous household of two lonely souls, after 24 hours how many cupcakes are left? If you think I’m telling you, you are crazy. This was a rhetorical math question. Do those exist?)

Filed Under: food

I need help eating.

September 30, 2008 By 14 Comments

I’m having a problem with food lately. You might say we have a complicated relationship.

Right now I’m sitting at my desk with a half-eaten Michelina’s Spaghetti dinner beside me.  I could barely make it past the first bite and now the smell is making me sick. Excuse me while I dispose of it…

There. Now why didn’t I do that ten minutes ago? Anyway.  My favorite granola bars? Can’t finish them.  I used to go through a box a week, but I haven’t bought any since August.  I have half of a chocolate bar next to my computer monitor that I just can’t eat.  Yesterday’s lunch, leftover meatloaf that I enjoyed the evening before, came home barely touched.  I open the fridge, stare, and close it.

I am practically living on frosted flakes. I kid you not.

I need help. I am craving veggies, I know I’m not getting enough. I hate spending money on food, I know that sounds really stupid but the receipts just pile up and pile up. It bugs me. I’m a picky eater, I hate that too. It doesn’t help that I’m not feeling well.  I survived my rebound cold but I’m still not 100%.

Maybe I just need new food ideas. For the sake of my already-scrawny self, please share yours?

Filed Under: food

On (expensive) Pie

September 19, 2008 By 10 Comments

Tonight, we blondes (ok, three of us) will venture forth to our hometown fair to celebrate all of the wonderfulness of fall, and of pie.

This is going to sound ridiculous, but then again ‘ridiculous’ is pretty close to ‘normal’ for our family and friends.  Basically, there will be several hundreds of dollars worth of homemade pie purchased in an auction (benefiting our local fair board) and consumed in a pie party at our farm.  The pie might be made by a local with over 50 years of pie baking experience, or it might be baked by a teenager just starting out in the world of baking.

You receive only tiny slices, because there’s only around 5 or so pies purchased.  Apple, cherry, or raspberry?  A la mode?  You got it.  mmmmmm PIE…

It’s worth every penny.  That our parents spend.

An open invitation is extended.  Join us! BYOB. Also, BYO plate and fork.

PS:  What is a pirate’s favourite arts and crafts material? Yaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrn! Happy Talk Like A Pirate day!

Filed Under: Family, food, friends Tagged With: , ,

PETA?

April 18, 2008 By 12 Comments

Congratulations all, you have come across a FiveBlondes exclusive post. No one in my crazy family knows about this, only one or two friends. I, Lauren, have decided to (try) to become a vegetarian. I know, I know, I live on a pig farm, but I’ve decided it would be a good challenge for the summer.

Speaking of summer challenges, I’ve come up with a list of things I want to accomplish this summer. Here it is:

  1. Knit socks, slippers, or mitts. With help from Oma of course
  2. Try to eat vegetarian
  3. Exercise more. This going along with numero uno, just trying to make myself healthier.
  4. Bake a themed cake. There is a story along with this one. For Christmas Ericas fiance D got a cookbook, and I was looking through it and saw these awesome cakes shaped as all different things, so I want to bake one of those. Maybe for my birthday…
  5. Learn how to drive “the pig bus”. Long story short, we have a school bus (painted) that we drive the pigs to the end of the driveway to get put on a truck, and I want to learn how to drive it. I don’t know why, I just sort of thought of it one day and decided I wanted to learn. Unfortunately this picture is not ours, but don’t you think we should paint/decorate it like this?

The Pig Bus

Luckily, our cafeteria at school has a great vegetarian/vegan menu, and an all over great cafeteria, so it shouldn’t be too hard…until I get home that is. It’s been two days and I have so far succeeded!

Filed Under: agriculture, farming, food Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

BBQing has begun!

March 27, 2008 By 8 Comments

For a wedding present my aunt and uncle and cousins from Alberta bought us a BBQ! Since our wedding was at the end of October and then we headed on our honeymoon we didn’t get to set it up, because BBQing in the winter really would not be fun. Last night we busted it out, built it and commenced BBQing season!

The living room looking messy with parts everywhere.. please ignore messy bookcase, Chase (our cat) enjoys pulling the books over.

We made a BBQ!

And the BBQ outside where it belongs. And me with a silly pose, there were 2 versions of this photo, I chose to use the silly one for your viewing pleasure.

We made burgers and they were really good! We also bought a fish cooker and vegetable cooker for the grill so we can cook in style.

Plus 2 bonus pictures.. Chase, my cute cat.

And my newly re-potted plant.. it was in a much smaller pot and i decided that it was outgrowing the pot so I bought a new pretty one. Well! The roots were so thick (it looked like worms) and winding all around in the pot, it sure was ready for a new pot. Now it can grow much better. Oh and I’m growing a tree, see it beside the newly re-potted plant.

Filed Under: food Tagged With: , , ,

Adventures in Bacon Making

February 29, 2008 By 3 Comments

Have we mentioned that we grew up on a hog farm? We have a great appreciation for all things porcine – especially food! Not a summer goes by where we don’t enjoy a few pork barbecues (we’re talking a whole pig turning on a spit – delish!). At Kate and Scott’s wedding we dined on – what else? Pork tenderloin. Now they are raising pigs on their own farm. My future father in law is a butcher – my fiance has learned a lot from him. Micaela’s boyfriend Kent is a chef at a great restaurant in Stratford, and Leah’s boy is in the restaurant/hospitality industry. I look forward to future delicious (and possibly – hopefully! – fattening) family get togethers! Lauren – how about finding us a bartender? Just make sure that he’s not a vegetarian…

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Commons License photo credit: Lionoche
A few days ago I was admiring drooling over not martha’s Bacon Curls – wow! – and yesterday she shared her adventures in bacon CUP making! Um, wow again. Sisters – seeing as you will be throwing parties in my honor over the next year, I’d like to put in a request for something – ANYTHING – presented in bacon cups.

Speaking of pigs, have you seen the story about piglets raised by a tiger? If not, don’t worry, the story is bogus. The pictures are cute though – and because of those pictures (and the bogus story) Five Blondes has seen over 50,000 unique visitors via StumbleUpon since the post was stumbled on February 4 by Jason of Gorilla Sushi. JASON ROCKS. Consider yourself an honorary blonde! For those of you unfamiliar with SU, Jason wrote a great post on getting StumbleUpon traffic recently. If you’re a stumbler, you can find the Five Blondes here!

Filed Under: food Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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