Monday, January 24, 2011

:'(

I was very very excited for my first Daring Baker Challenge.. But this surgury has me down for the count... and I will not be able to complete it, as much as I want to. However, when i get well again, I will still do the challenge, and post it, it just wont be on time... or in January.
Called the Dr's office this morning and they called in a prescription for me, so i dont have to go all the way down to the office to see the dr.... I now have a 5 day dose of SulfaTrim.... which I informed the pharmasist, is the same drug we use for horses... Ironic no?
anyway, i gotta go laydown again, just as soon as i post on the forum that i am unable to complete the challenge (insert sad, crying emoticon here)

Friday, January 21, 2011

Wisdom Teeth

Surgury was yesterday, and I honestly thought that It woudn't hurt that much... But it did... Until after we got home and then i got to take this amazing little pill... (they only gave me one).
Actually it woudln't have hurt this much if ALL FOUR teeth weren't impacted. Im pretty sure that the dentist guy had to get up on the table just to get more leverage cuz my gawd does my mouth ache. PLUS it took longer than they thought.
I am pretty lucky that I have an amazing boyfriend... most definatly the love of my life to take care of me. He helped pull the spit and blood covered gauze out of my mouth, and make sure i had icepacks for my face, and got me up to clean out my mouth. He is really amazing.
so while he is at work today, My goal is to clean up our house (between naps and while pain killers are in their full effect of course). and maybe try and make him something yummy to eat too.
He had the last of the lasagne that I had froze last night, And boy did it ever smell good.... I wish i could've had some... stupid teeth
I've had a chopped up popsicle (can't suck on anything for a while), applesauce and pudding... Mmmmm and now im reading food blogs and thinking about what i could make when i can eat solid food again

Sunday, January 16, 2011

drum roll

A few weeks ago, I spread the word that i was looking for a kitten... as young as possible without emotionally scaring it for life... Like 6 or 8 weeks.. not 15 weeks where it is "litter trained". I want a kitten this young for 2 reasons:
a)it will be used to Wilson's high energy
b)it won't be afraid of Dogs, and he can actually play with it without being clawed to death... and thus both of them will not be stressed out all the time (and try to kill each other when we arn't home)
So...! One of the girls at the barn has a cat, and it is having Kittens, and I get first dibbs... (YAY!!!) And so my kitten should be entering the world next week sometime! So excited, I kinda feel like a name that relates to "wisdom" is in order, even if it is dumber than a box of rocks... Just because my surgury (widsom teeth extraction) is on Thursday!!! (so excited to get these damn things out of my head)

Will post pictures of my kitten as soon as he/she graces me with their presence.

On another exciting note... I might get a puppy too!!!! I'll write more when i know more

Stay warm!!

Friday, January 14, 2011

I've decided!!

I am trying REALLY hard to not forget to get my Daring Baker's challenge done in time... and after 14 days of trying to decide what my take on the challenge is... I have finally decided!!!
I've been thinking about this while I clean stalls in the morning, while Im washing horse's legs, while im tacking up and un-tacking... so im pretty excited that I finally figured out my plan!
The best part is that it is going to be pretty cheap to buy the ingredients, since I already have most of them, and I cannot wait to share it with you.
The second best part is that Im doing it AFTER my wisdom teeth surgury next Thursday, and I will still be able to eat it (fingers crossed)

If i was more awake, I would write more, but im not, so im going to head to bed, right after a quick soak in the tub
Goodnight!

Ps... My kitten is going to be born sometime next week (probably) so i cannot wait to go and see it and figure out which one to take home (after it is all grow-ed up of course)
Also.. Might get a puppy too!! (exciting!!!!)

ABC Survey

A - Age: 25
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: Dishes/putting away laundry
D - Don’t eat: organs
E - Essential start-your-day item: coffee
F - Favorite board game: Monopoly
G - Gold or Silver: White Gold, or Silver
H - Height: 5'6"
I - Instruments you play: nothing
J - Job title: shit-shoveller
K - Kid(s): not for a (long) while
L - Love or lust: Love, with a healthy dose of Lust
M - Morning Routine: get up, warm up car, put Ava in car, get in car, go get coffee, drive to work
N - Nicknames: Kendy, Wen
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: epiglotittis at age 2, many many ear infections requiring treatment before age 10, Emergency Appendectomy at age 18, Torn Meniscus - age 21, Tonsillitis/strep throat/tonsilar abscesses/mono (all at the same time) age 23, Severe Allergic Reaction - age 23, Impacted wisdom teeth surgery - age 25
P - Pants or pantyhose: pants
Q - Favorite Movie Quote: "It's better to break a man's leg than his heart" (seabiscuit)
R - Right or left handed: Right.
S - Siblings: zero
T - Time you wake up: 6:20 am
U - Underwear: boy shorts
V - Vegetable favorite: carrots, green beans
W - Ways you run late: I'm compulsively early... so other people make me late
X - X-rays you’ve had: everything... LOTS of knee x-rays...
Y - Yummy food you make: cookies, cinnamon buns, roasted chicken
Z - Zoo favorite: Hippos

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

About Me


So I was reading Joy the Baker's About Me page, and realized that I, myself like to know about whoever the blogger is... Little random stalker facts. And I don't have an "About Me" page yet, so I'm posting it now.

25 Random Facts About Me

1. I live with my Boyfriend just outside of Calgary, Alberta
(This is my pony... the first Love of my Life)
2. I love horses... And not "like" them... I L.O.V.E. them... Which is convenient since I work with them everyday.

3. My favourite thing to cook is Shepard's Pie... which in all honesty is Cottage Pie... I've only had lamb/sheep twice in my life... and both times when I was living in England.

4. I like watching the Dog Whisperer. Cesar is the man! And his whole theory can be put into context with other animals too... "Talk" to dogs like a dog, "talk" to horses like a horse... Energy and Body Language. Simple ya?

5. My favourite show is Greys Anatomy... and "my person" lives far far away now, so we watch the show and end up missing each other.... You can check out her blog, and pester her to write more often if you want

6. I started this blog so that I could do the Daring Baker Challenges. I was introduced to them by my old pen-pal (like snail mail pen pals). Her blog is here, and she was my inspiration for starting this.

7. I continually find myself inspired by the other bloggers out there. I like finding new recipes from Blogs... usually I have found them through the food porn sites like tastespotting, or foodgawker... You just click on a picture and then read all about it... Written by normal people who don't use big fancy words like they are writing a novel... I love it. And I find it more inspirational than any cook book.

8. I can't tell you what my favourite thing to bake is, because I don't know. I like trying a bunch of different and new things. I have yet to find a regular Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that I love... I make some pretty incredible Triple Chocolate Cookies.

9. I like making food that has stood the test of time. Old fashioned recipes like stew, or ratatouille... Things that my ancestors might have made too. Because food like that, that stands the test of time, just seems to taste better to me.

10. I wouldn't turn down Kraft Dinner though. I love it. It is quick and easy, and a childhood memory. It has to be actual Kraft Dinner... And Canadian Kraft Dinner... the American stuff is not good.... When I was living in Florida, I had to get my mom to ship me some real KD.

11. I have lived in 3 different Countries (Canada, US, and UK), and 3 different provinces in Canada (Alberta, B.C. and Quebec)

12. I don't speak French... In fact, I probably speak more German, Italian, Icelandic, Latin than French... But I don't speak much of those languages either.

13. I am working on a Cooking/Baking Bucket List too

14. I'm an amateur Genealogist. I love researching my family History. I want to write a book about the whole thing, and I am slowly (VERY slowly) chipping away at this goal.

15. I am Canadian - 3rd generation... All my grandparents were born here. And the Majority of my great grandparents were immigrants.

16. My heritage is: Germans from Russia, Italian Swiss, Scottish, Irish, English (UK countries-all came to "Canada" prior to 1867), Icelandic, Norwegian.... I am a Heinz 57

17. Favourite snack from the Convenience Store = Teriyaki Beef Jerky and a Banana Colada FUZE drink (or a blue Monster)

18. In 2005 my grandma was diagnosed with Brest Cancer, (she went through Chemo and had a boob removed and is cancer free today)... When we found out, I cut my long hair to above shoulder length and donated it to Locks of Love. I'm growing my hair out to donate again this summer. My other grandma has Lung Cancer, so this donation will be for her.

19. I love the smell of clean laundry, but i hate putting clothes away after they are clean. I often forget and end up wearing wrinkled clothes from the dryer

20. I had my Wisdom teeth out on January 20th, 2011. They were all severely impacted. My surgery lasted an hour longer than they originally thought. It is currently 6 weeks later, and I still can't open my jaw all the way.

21. When I was 6, I was flying a kite, running as fast as I could, and looking back to see if the kite was flying yet, and then SMACK! I ran head first into a big tree and got knocked out. Kind of funny... and one of my favourite stories

22. I am 25 years old right now.

23. I am a stubborn, obstinate, determined, grounded Taurus

24. I sleep on the left side of the bed

25. We can't get anymore pets, because there is no more room on the bed... With the 2 of us, 1 little dog, and 1 puppy who is going to get big... There is no room for anyone else.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Lasagna

Last week I made Lasagna...
For the Very First Time
and I made a lot of it

AND it turned out better than I ever expected.

I cooked the meat (2 parts ground beef, one part ground pork) and then added in some Tomato Sauce and some spices and let them all blend together nicely
In another pan, I put in cut up onion (not my favorite veggie, but they are healthy and Boyfriend likes them) and sliced fresh mushrooms, a can of whole tomatoes (that I cut up... with the spatchula) with the juice, some spices, and let them all blend together nice too.
In a big pot, i boiled the lasagna noodles... I know they make the ones that are oven-ready, But I'm more of a traditionalist, and My Mom has strong feelings against the oven-ready lasagna noodles, and i have to agree with her that they don't taste as good.
While this was going on, I washed Spinach and took the stems off, and grated a whole big brick of Pizza Mozzerella (it was on sale), got the cottage cheese out and ready to go, and got the pans all ready.
And pre-heated the Oven
So I had a lot going on all at once, which i am pretty proud of, considering everything turned out amazing in the end.... apart from all the tomato splatter everywhere on my stove and nearby counter-tops.
Assembled in the layers... Noodles, meat sauce, noodles, spinach (kept the leaves whole and just coverd the noodles with the spinach leaves), cottage cheese, vegtable mix, noodles, good layer of cheese
I baked one dish and wrapped the other 2 in tin foil and put them in the freezer, ready for a night when i get home from a long day at the barn and want some good food, but not to cook anything.

We had one of the freezer lasagna;s the other night and it came out of the feezer almost better than the one I baked right after it was assembled... But maybe i was just hungrier or proud of myself for being really respoinsible and having fore-thought to pre-make dinner.
Either way, my very first Lasagna turned out incredibly, and I will try and add some pictures when i have my camera with me again...
Right now the camera is out in the car, and it is blowing crazy snow and North winds out there... REALLY dreading having to go to work tomorrow, and trying to develop a way to train the dogs to feed the horses so I dont have to get up as early...
Maybe Ceasar Millan could help me with that? lol

Friday, January 7, 2011

How my day was today:

Today.... there is a clinic with a pretty big name going on this weekend, and we have a few horses heading out that way, so I've been busy clipping all their hair off so they look pretty (and don't sweat as much)
All afternoon yesterday, I was clipping the long neck bug eyed horse... he's got a giant heart and stands nice for long periods of ancient-clippers clipper-ing... Except for his ears...
And I don't mess around with ears if I can't get them right away... 1)because I don't have the time to paitently train them to accept it, as much as I wish I did; 2)because they are usually older horses already ready to fight with twitches and other means of restraint; 3)im not a fast ear clipper, so I need them to stand nice or else they look weird, and 4) the vet comes once a week, and will tranq them lightly, so their ears get clipped, and then their owners are happy (Personally, I don't mind hairy ears on horses unless they are going to a fancy show where it actually matters if they have hairy ears)... Ok, so bottom line, I left long-neck-bug-eyed-horse's ears until the vet comes.

All afternoon today I was clipping the chubby-but-handsome horse, who also stands perfectly. He stands so nice infact, that I was actualy kneeling on the ground underneath him to clip his belly hair off. (sshhhhh, don't tell anyone that I was a pony clubber!).

After I finished getting the last of the hair out of all the chubby folds of skin (his elbows and his gullet were the worst to clip!) another girl in the barn asked for help to clip her horses ears... *insert exasberated sigh here* so... crazy-bitchy-mare wont even let her bridle path get cut with scissors, so obviously this is going to be fun (and by fun, I mean a hellish experience). But we can't get the twitch to stay on her lip... she doesnt have much lip to begin with AND its an annoying one with a big wooden handle and rusty old chain.... and then for a minute or two, it stayed on... and then *BAM* all i saw were stars... that crazy biotch smoked me in the head... I literally saw stars.
We eventually got the old-man hair trimmed with some sneaky scissor cuts and a bucket of grain distraction...
and I got home before the full concussion effects set in. Which i am definatly starting to feel now.. not just the pain from being smoked in the head with a horse's head... but because the boyfriend won't let me sleep, because of the likelyhood of the concussion.. And I am exhausted from working 10 hours and just want to sleep.


On a different front... My daring baker challenge (im not allowed to tell you what it is) is not going so well, I have only so far thought of ideas, I havn't bought ingredients or figured out my complete idea ... But I guess I still have 20 more days til I have to revel my creation.. Definatly a hard first-challenge!!!

Maybe my concussion will give me good Daring Baker Challenge ideas!!!