We then [...]]]> Katy and I were masters in the kitchen tonight. It started with Beef and Roasted Red Pepper Sandwiches. I just happened to have some home-roasted red peppers, naturally. These turned out deliciously and were consumed with the jus served from Royal Worcester Evesham Gold small bowls. I have leftover sandwiches for tomorrow–mmm.

We then cleared the kitchen for the Magic Cookie Bars II recipe. This was the first time I had used sweetened condensed milk, and was surprised by the viscosity. Truthfully, Katy did most of the work. This recipe was so easy it was actually somewhat surprising.

With the bars in the oven we moved on to the chocolate truffles. We used the Cooking for Engineers recipe. It was so easy I cannot believe truffles are so expensive. Ours didn’t turn out perfectly circular, but they look and taste delicious. I will say that we learned a little bit about the process this first time, and I am certain that they would be even better the next.

While we waited for things to cool we watched the first episode of An Idiot Abroad series 2. This is a hilarious show; it is worth a second watch through.

Yesterday Chris and I went downtown to the German Deli for lunch. I had two sandwiches and a large chocolate milk. After work I saw Katy and we went to Domus Cafe. We split the Stacked Suntech Tomato Salad, she had the fresh fish [...]]]> Why am I so full? Well, let me tell you.

Yesterday Chris and I went downtown to the German Deli for lunch. I had two sandwiches and a large chocolate milk. After work I saw Katy and we went to Domus Cafe. We split the Stacked Suntech Tomato Salad, she had the fresh fish selection which was a Nova Scotian haddock wrapped in prosciutto and pan seared Digby scallops, I had the foie gras, and we split the vanilla bean creme brulee. It was a fantastic meal, and to top it off we were both dressed in t-shirt and jeans. Compliment of the night: “you look like someone who rides a motorcycle”.

Today I had Gilles, Natalie, Alexie, Chris, Jen, Avery, Kevin, and Caroline for dinner. I had prepared a variant of D’s famous salsa recipe (using fresh tomatoes) and set it out with blue corn tortilla chips. We had a strawberry spinach salad, garlic chicken (grilled by Gilles in the rain), orzo with parmesan and basil, and baked asparagus with balsamic butter sauce. For dessert the Mars brought a cake, which was excellent, and I had prepared Oreo truffles.

My notes on the recipes: the salsa is awesome; I had doubled the salad recipe and it ended up being not quite double so some proportions were off (I am not good at salad); the chicken was great, and would probably be quite tasty baked; the orzo was a huge hit; the asparagus was good but a little over cooked following the recipe’s directions; the truffles were excellent–very rich.

I had a great time playing host, but felt bad that I couldn’t spend a lot of time with everyone. It’s definitely very different when children are around–not in a bad way, but a different way. Hopefully everyone will return.

This morning Adam and I bicycled from my house to Carleton Place. This was almost 80 km round-trip. We took the Ottawa-Carleton Trailway, best described on this page about cycling from Ottawa to Carleton Place. We stopped at Gourmet Restaurant [...]]]> I spent my day bicycling and cooking. I’d like to tell you about both.

This morning Adam and I bicycled from my house to Carleton Place. This was almost 80 km round-trip. We took the Ottawa-Carleton Trailway, best described on this page about cycling from Ottawa to Carleton Place. We stopped at Gourmet Restaurant for breakfast and then headed back to Ottawa, actually to the Sippy Cup Cafe before returning to my house. We recovered a bit, cleaned up, and met up with Kyla to start the work on dinner.

Dinner was awesome and I have a few recipes to share. First, appetizers. Eric was kind enough to prepare an awesome appetizer that included shrimp, cheese, cucumbers, and crackers. It was delicious but I have no idea what all was involved so I can not share the details with you. I was able to prepare a tasty salsa, which I have made once before, and I do have the recipe for that. It is based on D’s Famous Salsa Recipe. Modifications are: fresh (obviously) vine tomatoes, and fresh, jalapeno pepper instead of that canned business. I might change the proportions slightly and scale the recipe as appropriate, but this is all done to taste. Both Eric’s shrimp and my salsa were fully consumed, which I believe is a sign of approval.

The entree was a Maple Peameal Roast. I didn’t do an adult and child variant so I doubled the glaze. Most importantly, I cooked the roast rotisserie style on the barbecue. It was perfect. I believe some of the guests may have had some uncertainty about eating bacon as an entree but this uncertainty was washed away in the first byte.

As a side to the bacon we had green beans and Smushed Apples and Sweet Potatoes. I would say that this recipe also rated well. It smelled amazing. I didn’t alter the recipe at all because I haven’t really worked with sweet potatoes in the past. I will say that the apple slices were, for the most part, present in the final output and I was quite happy with things that way.

Dessert featured chocolate chip cookies prepared by Kyla using my Grandma’s secret recipe. They were so tasty that nobody had just one, and most had more than two. The cookies were served with vanilla ice cream and fresh, cut strawberries. I served some of Sippy Cup’s “freakin’ good” coffee. It was satisfaction all around.

There wasn’t much leftover, but I am thankful for the few bytes leftover that I do have. And the cookies.

Thursday night I made a shrimp pasta, and visited with Will until I almost fell asleep. Friday morning Will and I went to the gym, then Starbucks, then joined Alex, Mom, and Aunt Shelley for lunch at the Golden Rooster. Then a drive with Nana, Shelley, and mom to [...]]]> I had a family-filled weekend.

Thursday night I made a shrimp pasta, and visited with Will until I almost fell asleep. Friday morning Will and I went to the gym, then Starbucks, then joined Alex, Mom, and Aunt Shelley for lunch at the Golden Rooster. Then a drive with Nana, Shelley, and mom to Toronto.

The four of us stayed with Uncle Steve and Aunt Cynthia Friday night. Mom and I went for a 10 km run on Saturday morning, and Shelley joined us for the first couple of kilometres. We started our drive to Hamilton, picking up Erin on the way, got stuck in traffic, but still made the main event: Robin Hood the musical, starring an incredible cast that included our cousin Michael. The play was excellent; they had a real bunch of talent there.

After the play the group of us headed to the Limeridge Mall, then headed back to Toronto to the Westin Harbour Castle. We had a regular little party going on there, with 7 of us staying across 3 rooms. We all headed to dinner for 12 at Baton Rouge, walking there and back in the beautiful outdoors. Walking by the CN Tower I got the idea of bringing Will back for the CN Tower climb in October.

Back at the hotel some of us went for a swim, and Nana came down to check out the pool and patio. Afterwards we had a romp of a time up in the hotel room, fitting 10 of us together for some beverages and potato chips. After all of that driving and family time I had no problems falling asleep.

Early in the morning I woke up and mom and I went to meet Erin and Stephanie for an 8:30 am run. We did a nice 6 km run around and through the Mount Pleasant cemetery. After the run we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the day (including a stop at Starbucks, plus Starbucks brewed in the hotel room), then checked-out and walked to Fran’s for brunch. Uncle Paul and picked Michael up from his apartment in Oakville and Mr. Keeves also joined us for brunch. I had Fran’s Big Breakfast.

On our way home we all stopped at Steve and Cynthia’s again for a little pool party. Andrea and Wylie joined, with Braydon and Alyson, not to mention Erin, Stephanie, and Mark. It was a nice little visit. It felt weird to leave as early as we did, but we all had to return to Kingston. After dropping Nana and Shelley off, we picked up Will and he joined mom and I for dinner. We made shrimp pasta again, because Will missed out on dinner Thursday night. After this a sleep and then back to Ottawa in the morning for me.

A fun, family-filled weekend. (And I’m in Kingston tonight for a belated Father’s Day dinner, which was excellent spaghetti.)

I bought the grill at Preston Hardware and was very impressed: free delivery, free assembly, and they [...]]]> Today I received my new Broil King Signet 70. This is a 3-burner barbecue with rear-burner and rotisserie. You can read up on the details at the specs page or jump right ahead to my barbecue porn.

I bought the grill at Preston Hardware and was very impressed: free delivery, free assembly, and they were competitively priced. They communicated very well during the process, and ordered in the specific model I wanted (not many stores had this model).

For dinner last night I made the family-favourite Pork Hock Sauce. It was my first time making this. I took some photos of the process. My favourites are:

I had an chorizo sausage, red peppers, and cream that I had to use up. I roasted the red peppers (reserved two) and made a red pepper cream sauce with [...]]]> Between my time spent working, at school, and playing squash I was able to find time to cook two really fantastic meals this week.

I had an chorizo sausage, red peppers, and cream that I had to use up. I roasted the red peppers (reserved two) and made a red pepper cream sauce with some cooked garlic, parsley, and cayenne pepper. I fried the chorizo and then deglazed with the creme sauce. Throw that on some rotini and top with fresh parmesan. Mmmm.

Yesterday I roasted a whole chicken, which I rubbed with butter, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon then topped with bacon. Gravy was also made. I had some rice, and some halved grape tomatoes to go with this. Really simple, and really fantastic. I have leftovers galore.

Tonight: studying for midterm on Sunday morning.
Tomorrow: gym, squash, Starbucks, viewing a motorcycle (more on motorcycling soon), studying, watching hockey.
Sunday: midterm, Church, then either a quick trip to Kingston or watching the football game.

For the entree I served sloppy joes topped with a slice of avocado and a side of fresh, baked [...]]]> Tonight we started with my home made feta pate, served with sliced fresh baguette. This was followed by an Italian tomato and bocconcini salad with fresh basil in a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing.

For the entree I served sloppy joes topped with a slice of avocado and a side of fresh, baked French fries tossed in garlic, celery seed, and sea salt. For desert we had hand made truffles from Ottawa’s own Truffle Treasures.

The meal was paired with an Australian shiraz from the LCBO vintages collection. Desert was served with a vidal icewine from Ontario’s own Niagra region.