Apple pie, sunset and fall leaves

Here's Mat and Licorice the other day. It's his 29th birthday on Sunday, I can't wait:D I have a few surprises planned, but unfortunately for whoever reads this I can't talk about them cause he might read it too :P I'll make sure to post pics and videos though!



We did a huge cleanup of the wiring behind our computer desk on Sun. afternoon, it's so nice now!





Here's the sunset after the rain in the parking lot of the Maxi yesterday evening:



Some more apple pie I made last night:



And wet leaves on the sidewalk on the way to work this morning:











On the bus on the way home from work tonight I was thinking to myself about why I keep this blog. I guess it's basically a documentation of my life to show my kids when they get older, and look back at myself as well. That and I like taking pictures of things and I have to put them somewhere! :P

Kids?

In reading this post and the comments on it, especially Kim Ayres', just for a second I thought to myself "ok I want to have 6 kids just to do the opposite of what society dictates I should!" It's a weird thought to have for me, because I'm still afraid of having kids for several reasons. Mostly responsibility. But at the same time I do believe kids are a blessing, and that there's something special in a large family with lots of kids that you just don't get in a family of only 3 or fewer kids. I read a series of books once, I can't remember the author or the titles, but it was about a family of 8 or so kids living in Ireland in the 50's I think. After reading that I remember thinking to myself after reading that that I wouldn't mind having lots of kids later on, that there was something special about it. Mat and me only got back together in January, so our relationship is still stabilizing itself, and we're still waiting to see whether he'll be able to join the army or not. Once those things get sorted out a bit more I hope I'll be less afraid. Lol I'm weird, I don't want kids right now, but once I do want them I want lots! :P Well we'll see how I feel after I've had two, that might have changed drastically by then... :P

Another thought I had reading that post is that I'd really like to go live in asia for a while, just for the culture differences. Also I'm lucky, I wouldn't get stared at because of my height, I'm only 5'1".

Tomato pie and coffee marinade

No, not pizza. Tomato pie. No I haven't heard of it before either. I'll be making some this weekend, I can't wait!

Another recipe I'd never heard of before: coffee marinade. I'm gonna try that as well this weekend, I have a nice t-bone sitting in my freezer for it :D I wonder if that steak would keep me awake at night?

Ok last recipe I swear. I have to stop looking at food blogs for today. Lemon pepper nuts. Go look! I can't imagine what lemon pepper seasoning+sugar would do to nuts. I'll have to try this as well.

Burnt car

Here's the pics I took this morning:





And the videos I took last night:

Hey lookie!! And how to fry a turkey

My blog is at the bottom of the list of Most Recent 5 Blogs in The Foodie Blogroll widget in my sidebar! :D

Thanks to a kind commenter on my second to last post I discovered that you can deep-fry an ENTIRE TURKEY. I guess I must be behind in my culinary knowledge. I'm going to have to add that to my list of Cooking Projects To Do, along with:

curing and smoking my own bacon (along with making my own smoker out of a trash can)
smoking a whole pork shoulder
corned beef
turducken (I can do better!)
gravlax
making my own hard cider
pork rillettes
homemade wood-fired pizza
bionic turkey

I called it cooking projects instead of recipes because these are all two-day (or more) affairs, seeing you have to brine/cure/prepare them in advance. Ok now go watch Alton Brown fry a turkey, it's very entertaining:

Car in flames

I was lying in bed when I heard a POW outside, but didn't think anything of it, then a second one a minute later, then I heard the cat scratching at the balcony door frantically to get in, so I went to let her in and there was a car on fire behind the building next door:



As it is the video is going to take 2 hours to upload for some reason, so I'll post it later. Mat called 911, and by the time he had finished giving our adress we could already hear the sirens in the distance, and 10 minutes later it was out. I'm gonna go take pics tomorrow too.

Lolcats

see more Lolcats and funny pictures


see more Lolcats and funny pictures


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Chocolate bacon and other stuff

It was ok but I'd like to retry it with thick-cut bacon and different chocolate. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, the chocolate ended up tasting a bit bitter, I'm going to retry with some american chocolate from the chocolate shop where I used to work. Oh, and definitely some saran wrap under the bacon strips next time! I had to chisel them off bit by bit from the plate after...






Some new pics of MOS:





And some candy made from violets supposedly that a coworker brought from france:

New member at Foodie Blogroll

I've been added as a member at Foodie Blogroll (see also widget on the left) today. When I went on their homepage I saw an article saying that they were welcoming their 5000th blog. I clicked on the link to check in case by any chance it was me (and they had forgotten to mention it somehow in the welcome email I got), and coincidentally the 5000th blog is Cooking With Sara, and Sara happens to be my name as well, spelled the same and all :P So if you like food and blogging go check it out and add your blog if you want.

I'm also a member of the Orthodox Christian Bloggers group on Blogcatalog, now I just have to create an Orthodox Foodie blogroll:P

Tonight: CHOCOLATE BACON!!!

I don't know why I didn't think of making this myself before, but in reading this article I realized that I have both decent bacon and semi-sweet chocolate at home, so I can make some myself!! I can't wait :D:D:D

Win!

When good manners get left at the gate.

Cleanup and a "new" roommate

So we decided to take in Mat's brother Max again for a month or two to have some extra money. I'm going to get rid of some furniture in the livingroom to make room, as well as some plants and other stuff I've been meaning to get rid of for ages. I can't wait to get home tonight so I can do that. I procrastinate forever, and then all of a sudden I get all motivated and have to do it NOW lol.

The joys of sibling rivalry

Lol I was just on the phone with Mat telling him to try the apple pie I made. He said he didn't want to, he didn't like apple pie, so I replied neither did I but this recipe I actually liked, to which he replied again that no, he didn't like apple pie, and so on and so forth. Finally I heard his younger brother say in the background "apple pie? can I have some?" to which Mat replied "No! I'm eating the pie!" lolllllll. I would have been rolling on the floor in tears of laughter if I hadn't been at work. As it was I had to be satisfied with barely smothered guffaws while hoping that my coworkers weren't staring at me. Well, I found the trick to make him eat the pie: offer it to his brother first!! :P I said goodbye through giggles soon after, as he wasn't very inclined to make much conversation after that (that and the fact that he was gaming).

Church and dinner

Took this at church this morning:



Here's what I made for dinner, some cheese salad with a mix of 5 herb and cheese caesar dressing, salt, and a TON of white pepper, which turned out absolutely delicious:



And leftover beef patty with bacon and plain brown rice:



After church today I went to the mall to look for a pepper grinder, and shopped around, the cheapest I could find was $5, so I decided to wait to buy one. So this evening for dinner I got out my hammer and smashed a few grains in a plate for my salad :D

Apparently Mat's brother Max is coming back for a few days again. He'll arrive tonight. I spent all afternoon cleaning, my apartment is looking a lot better! The window with my plants hadn't been done in ages, it looks so nice now :) I'll have to take a picture tomorrow. After dinner I'm going to put away the clean clothes and try to find space to put away all the junk lying around in the livingroom before Max get's here.

Atwater Market Sept. 09

My quest for whole white pepper was a success, at Le Vrac du Marche. Now I just need a pepper grinder.







I also found a bottle of steak sauce that made me laugh, I'll have to buy this one for Steph, he likes spicy things lol:



Here's some other pics I took while there. Seeing these sweet little tomatoes was nostalgic for me, they're the same kind that my mom used to grow when I was 7, she would send me out to fill my skirt with them and I would eat them on the way back from the garden:

Apple pie: Success!

It turned out delicious :D Although the filling was a bit runny, but I'm guessing if I had let it cool properly before cutting it it would have been less so.

My First Apple Pie

I decided on the spur of the moment at the grocery store earlier to make an apple pie tonight. So I grabbed some lard and extra Royal Gala apples and after dinner tonight started making it. The first one is in the oven right now, I'll wait to make the second one tomorrow I think because I'm not sure I'll have enough flour to roll it out. Here's my grandmother's recipe for pie crust (makes enough for two large pies with top crusts):

1lb cold lard/shortening
4 cups of flour
1tbsp salt
1 egg
1 cup ice cold water
2 tbsp vinegar

Mix salt and flour in a large mixing bowl. Cut the lard into 1in. cubes, add to flour and then using the flat side of two butter knives cut into small pieces the size of peas and mix occasionally to distribute the flour evenly. Then separate the egg, beat the egg yolk and mix with the vinegar and water. Mix the yolk mixture with the flour and lard, then mix the egg white in, and chill 1/2 hour. Take a chunk of dough about the size of a softball and roll it out to about 1/4in. thick on a clean, well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. When it's rolled out, slide your pie pan underneath, and tuck the dough into the pie pan. Cut the excess dough away with scissors or a knife, leaving about 1/2in. overhang to compensate for the dough shrinking when it's cooked. Pierce the bottom of the dough several times with a fork, then add your filling. Make the top of the pie the same way as the bottom, and cut a slit in it to let steam out.  Bake at 425 for 10 minutes and then lower to 375 for 30 minutes. Check near the end to make sure the color is right and remove when it starts to be golden brown. There should be enough dough left over to make some pets de soeur.

For the filling I just cut up two apples into wedges and drizzled them with honey. The filling I based off another apple pie recipe I got from a lady at church. Her filling is thin apple slices mixed with a few tablespoons of orange juice, honey, and a few drops of vanilla extract. I didn't bother to check her recipe, I just remembered it called for honey on the apples, which I did because it was simplest. And of course I had to eat some raw dough, it's so yummy!

10 minutes till checking time, wish me luck!

Noodles and cheese with bacon and the quest for freshly cracked white pepper

Here's what I just made for lunch:



Ok it would have looked prettier before I stirred it all up but I didn't think of that when I dumped the bacon in the bottom of the bowl and then noodles and cheese on top. It's quite good, but it would be better with freshly cracked white pepper instead of ground black pepper, and good bacon. The bacon I used was Spalding brand, incidentally the same brand name that makes basketballs, and it shows, they use the same rubber for both. I've been spoiled by my parents nice tall wooden pepper grinder filled with Blue Ribbon brand white pepper that my mom has had since I was a baby. Whenever I visit I put it on everything savory I eat. Just called my mom to ask the brand name and apparently the grinder was handmade, she bought it years before I was born in Sweden from a guy selling all sorts of things made from wood. Today I'm gonna go to the Atwater market and get some whole white pepper since I can't find any in the grocery stores, and then find a cheap little pepper grinder somewhere else, at the dollarama maybe, since I'm tight for cash and then get a proper $20 one when it breaks later on.

Hehe, a friend from the UK just popped up on my msn to tell me some friends of his, Andy Sweet and MC Iou, are spinning here. The camera view is really cool, I went to say hi from Montreal on the chat and he said hi back on the air:P

It's been a while since I'd listened to some DnB.

*dances*

MOS 2009

Meeting of Styles 2009 happens to be right beside my job. Lucky me!