We have had a pretty good amount of snow here since yesterday! I am such a winter snow fan so I really love this!
Yesterday I went to the Antique store with my mom in search of a fancy hat for my birthday party and the whole time it was super lightly lightly snowing in tiny sparkly flakes. It was pretty fantastic! But in the end I didn't find a hat and at the same time also realized that I already had a hat, but I had never had a reason to wear it! I'll save photos for the party because my outfit will also be fantastic!
After that we came home and I made a right feast. I had taken a pork roast from the farmer's market out of the freezer a couple of days before my birthday, intending to cook it for my bday dinner. The next day Ryan's mom invited us to dinner for my bday after that idea had come, so I didn't end up cooking it.
It turned out well for us, because we got to have something I would normally make on a random day. So I spiced the roast with steak spice and made a baste for it out of Diana's Pork and Chicken bbq sauce, worcestershire sauce, sambal oelek(aka chili paste) and water.
It turned out really good!
I also roasted some squash, yam, carrots with whole garlic cloves and chunks of onion. It was also delicious.
And I made brown basmati rice to go with.
I really enjoy good hearty meals like that... I also wish I'd had the idea to take a photo of it all.
I did, however, remember to take the camera out with me and Mom when we went for a snow walk that evening after dinner!
It was really cold out! (Can you tell?^_^)
The view across the river, from the River Rd. Park.
View from the same spot toward River Rd. It was such a beautiful night, and damn the snow was coming down good!
Today Ryan took the kittens out in the snow. We got them harnesses and retractable leashes so that we can take them outside! They cry soo much to go outside, and we feel so bad not letting them.(We don't let them out yet because they are too young to get fixed and we know for a fact the neighbour's male cat is not fixed)
I think the deep snow was a bit of an adventure for them! They sunk in right to their bellies!<3 So cute ^_^
We had a pretty good day here. Ryan is enjoying a new game of his and I have done lots of good things! I searched online and found some really good beginner's beats and practices to play on my djembe drum and had a lot of fun with that!
I am very much so enjoying having a camera again! Can you tell?
And I must share the fantastic soup I created for dinner tonight.
Potato, Bacon and Kale Soup
It was so good! I made it like this:
Butter
1 onion, roughly chopped
5 good sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 strips of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 leaves of kale, chopped(we used dinosaur kale, but any kind would work)
Water or Broth, enough to cover potatoes( didn't have broth so I used water)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed and roughly chopped
1/2 tsp fennel seed, pulverized in mortar and pestle
Braggs, to taste
Salt & Pepper to taste
Dash Cayenne pepper (optional)
2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce (optional)First sautee onion in butter (I use lots), season with salt and pepper and fennel. Sautee until onions start to soften, add cubed potatoes and stir... Let sautee for a few minutes. Add water or broth, Salt, Pepper, Braggs, worcestershire and dash of cayenne if desired. Bring to boil and simmer 20 to 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
Meanwhile, fry bacon and set aside.
When potatoes are done, remove from heat, spoon out 1/3 to 1/2 of the potatoes from the pot and set aside. Add garlic to the soup pot and blend until smooth. Add kale and bacon as well as the potatoes that were set aside and replace pot on stove top to simmer again for about 5 minutes. Adjust taste if needed... Serve!(I added a bit of cream to my bowl... mmmm)
It was so yummy!
I realize this post is getting long, but I had a rather good day and have just one more thing to share.
I just finished reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler.
A couple of months ago I found myself running out of birth control pills again and really didn't want to continue taking them once I ran out. So I decided not to.
After that I was on the look out for a natural birth control, because I knew there must be something out there!
So I was in the bank line up one day and looking over the books on the donation table, and just happened to find a brand new-looking copy of this book. After reading the full title, Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement and Reproductive Health, I grabbed that book up, tossed $5.00 in the donations bin and stuffed it in my bag. I knew I must have finally found my answer!
Awesomely enough I had! What an amazing book! I recommend anyone with a uterus seek out and read this book! I learned so much that I didn't even know I didn't know and feel so confident now! I even bought people this book, and would buy more people this book, so that all women can finally know!
*sigh* Enlightenment is fantastic.
That soup sounds fantastic, but I have a question! For this part:
ReplyDelete"When potatoes are done, remove from heat, spoon out 1/3 to 1/2 of the potatoes from the pot and set aside. Add garlic and blend until smooth. "
Do you mean, blend the the potatoes that you took out of the pot, or blend the potatoes remaining in the pot?
I learned something super interesting in ecology today that I would like to share with you! Well, we all have unique smells referred to as pheromones. Have you heard of these? Basically everyone's BO smells different. :P But there are proteins responsible for the smell, which means you can relate it to a specific gene. Some scientists have figured out the gene and different variations of the gene means different smells.
A study was done and this is what they did:
1. Have some guys jog a lot so they sweat. Take a blood sample of each guy.
2. Put the sweaty tshirts into separate boxes with a tiny hole in the top of the box
3. Get women to smell the contents of the box (they don't know what it is) and rate it on a scale
4. Get blood samples from each woman.
So the blood samples provided the means of getting their protein gene arrangement. The study found that women preferred the smell of the men that were genetically most different, and also found that the women that thought the grossest smell was actually the men with the genetic sequence most similar to herself.
So basically if the women had sex with the man that smelled the best (least genetically like her) then it means their children's DNA would be varied and have a higher chance of surviving.
There was an exception to this, in which the women that were on the pill liked the smells that were closest to their own. The explanation is that its similar to a woman being pregnant, in which she wants to surround herself with family (those that are genetically similar).
Hopefully that wasn't confusing!
Blend the potatoes remaining in the pot with the garlic! The ones taken out are just so that the soup has some chunky texture and you aren't just eating liquid... That is unless you just want to eat liquid, then just blend it all.
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't confusing at all, Crystal! That is actually super interesting and makes lots of sense!!! What cool things you learn. Thanks for sharing!
LOL, I also forgot to say to add the potatoes back to the pot! Time for an edit, in case anyone actually uses this recipe! hah!
ReplyDelete