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.

I did laundry, cleaned my bathroom, vacuumed (upstairs only), and cleaned out the fridge. The fridge had a lot of food in it that was past its prime. I had amassed a huge amount of leftovers that, try as I might, [...]]]> I just had a housekeeping Sunday. I was in desperate need of one.

I did laundry, cleaned my bathroom, vacuumed (upstairs only), and cleaned out the fridge. The fridge had a lot of food in it that was past its prime. I had amassed a huge amount of leftovers that, try as I might, I could not finish. I’m starting relatively fresh with it now.

It was so significant that I blogged about it.

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).

Later in the day I had a milk emergency, which [...]]]> I went to the International Chicken and Rib Cook-Off on Sunday after church. It was delicious. Alex and Matt came to the city to pickup a subwoofer but couldn’t stay for the cook off, in part due to an incident at a Tim Horton’s.

Later in the day I had a milk emergency, which I twittered about.

I still worry about Lindsay Lohan.