update

I guess I havent really been in the mood to blog lately, maybe there hasnt really been anything going on... work is stedy today so this will be short. I had a really relaxing weekend, sans hair and make-up, sleeping in till at least noon... watching movies and eating good food. Lots of work being done to the house, the mudders and tappers are in the basement finishing out the ceilings and walls, we may paint next week or just save it till the in laws get here... myabe i should save it for the sister in law, muwahahahaha. just kidding. The concrete gyus are working on our patio today :) cant WAIT for patio parties. 19 more days till my baby sisters wedding-hard to believe the countdown is in the teens... yikes. i started welling up the other day talking about it with joben... the actual day is going to be a gong show of emotions im sure. been having some decent grilled meals lately but havent taken pics... cant WAIT to post my first ever daring bakers blog post on my food blog but I must wait till im allowed... Summer is truley here and its going to be jam packed full of crazy fun times & I'm reallllly looking forward to it... here's what to look forward to:

1. FAMILY & VACATION TIME
-going to bc for sister wedding in a week and a half... so much goodness there
-mom and dad b comming to stay with us from NC & graciously helping us finish out the basement for a couple of weeks- cant wait!!!
-sister in law hannah comming for two weeks (over lapping mom and dads stay for part of the time) to goof around. :)
- going to the family cabins in Princeton at the end of August for Gramps' birthday calabration... if Jo-Ben can manage to come with we will celebrate our 3rd anniversary then too!

2. Finishing out the yard in the commming weeks- we wont have a fence this year (lack of funds) but we will have a stellar patio and GRASS!!!

3. James (our friend from BC) moving in with us to come and work with Jo-Ben & some friends renting the basement suite when its done and moving in... the Barkey commune? oh yeah!! (we should have our own reality show)

Just a few things that im looking forard to- lots of awesome people in my life and good times to be shared with them.

Also, my super awesome hubby was in a really intense nuclear physics radiology course in Calgary for a few weeks which he not only passed but got a VERY good grade in... now all he has to do is pass the extremely hard gvmnt exam- yipes! Im sure he will do amazing... hes pretty darn smart if i do say so myself!!!

Have a great day y'all!! (getting ready for the in-laws)

Just stuff :)

Not a whole lot new happening in my neck of the woods... Jo-Ben is still in Calgary learning nuclear physics... packing his brain full of new stuff at a rapid rate :( poor guy. I am working like a busy worker bee... going to see his soccer game in Red Deer tonight. My sisters wedding is in one month EXACTLY from today... I am SO extremely excited I can hardly contain myself. :) Things are falling into place and I think that it is going to be an incredibly beautiful celebration... cant waitttttt! Top three things I cant wait for: 1) looking pretty 2) seeing so many family and friends and partyin it up 3) the candy bar!!! hehehe Going to an engagement party this weekend in Calgary and am SO excited- should be a blast. Ive posted a link below to an article I saw today about unique homes... I would want to live in the beach house in Germany I think. Have a good day!!!http://realestate.sympatico.msn.ca/PhotoGalleries/Unique+homes+around+the+world.htm?feedname=PHOTO_GALLERY_REALESTATE_UniqueHomes&pos=0&nolookup=true

Stumbled upon this website today... an amazing photographer recreating childrens drawings into photographs- very cool . Enjoy!

http://www.yeondoojung.com/artworks_view_wonderland.php?no=88

weekend

-little bro in law showed up at my work on Friday at noon, elbow effected by tendinitis so is out of commission as far as tree planting goes therefore here for a visit
-hang out with little bro in law Friday night (finally come out of state of procrastination and clean house, surprise company=motivation)
-intense sleep in saturday (was very sick with the flu all last week and didn't miss a day of work so slumber much needed & appreciated)
-hang out with little bro in law, watch some TV, play with dog, prep for bbq
-joben returns home after being gone for 10 days in Calgary for his level 2 NDT course, home for less than 24 hours for a short but sweet visit
-bbq Saturday night, menu: grilled rosemary & balsamic glazed chicken pieces, roasted red pepper roasted potatoes, Mediterranean cous cous salad & apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for desert. Good food & good friends.
-watched amazing movie: 'catch a fire' A drama about terrorism in Apartheid-era South Africa, revolving around a policeman and a young man who carries out solo attacks against the regime. Very powerful story
-brunch with husband and little bro in law Sunday morn, fresh sour cream scones, crepes with blueberry sauce, sausage, coffee, awesomeness
-help husband study his butt off
-spend afternoon reading :)
-head out to Red Deer for a chilly viewing of husbands soccer game where he scored a very nice goal, yay!
- say goodbye to husband and head back with the soccer boys to Three Hills

miss you

This post is mostly for Jo-Ben since he is away for the next few weeks he doesn't get to see daily life around here & the pictures were taking forever to attach to an email to him so I'm just going to post them on here. I was trying to get some pics of Joey with his dirty "beard" that he was sporting today after playing outside in the mud. Also, got some pretty good shots of the beautiful sunset that we had tonight... wish I had a better camera to capture shots with but what I have will have to do. Enjoy!

Isn't this the look of a pup who knows that he isn't supposed to go down and play in the mud... but is going to do it anyways? Yup.

THE DIRTY BEARD

I said "show me your beard" and he literally stuck his chin out like this for me... I was rolling on the ground laughing right after the pic above was taken.

Blogging

Ive been thinking that I need to start a separate blog for food stuff and keep this blog for life stuff so that's what I'm going to do. Ill put the link to my food blog in my about me section (and vice versa) The thing that I think spurred this thought on was that I joined the group "Daring Bakers" Its basically a blogging community where every month a new challenge is posted and you all bake the same thing and then on the same day of the month you post your food... might seems silly to some of you but I am really excited... its really going to encourage me to bake new things therefore there will be more food posts (lucky Jo-Ben) so instead of bombarding my "life blog" with food posts I figure I'll just make a separate food blog all together. So look for that coming soon! I was also toying with the idea of making my blog private but for now I am just going to keep things open... and maybe watch what I say! :) Have a great day everyone!!
ps: for now I just have a temporary template on my food blog but I will be playing around with a more personalized one & transferring links and everything.

soups on!

Tom kha gai (Thai: ต้มข่าไก่, IPA: [tôm kʰà: kàj]), literally translates to boiled galangal chicken. It is a spicy hot sweet soup in Thai Cuisine made with coconut milk, lemon grass and chicken. The fried chillies add a smoky flavor as well as texture, color and heat, but not so much that it overwhelms the soup. The key is to get a taste balance between the spices.

There are other versions made with seafood (tom kha talay), mushroom (tom kha het), and tofu (tom kha tofu). All follow a similar recipe.

Ingredients

• coconut milk. 1 can, 400ml14fl oz/1 2/3 cup
• galangal (ข่า, pronounced kha), 2cm 3/4in pieces, size of US quarter, of galangal or galanga, peeled and finely sliced. I found galanga at the Chinese grocery store.
• lemon grass, 2 stems, lower part, 1/2in slices
• kaffir lime leaves, 2 leaves, torn in pieces or crunched to release the flavor, option is to use young lemon leaves
• coriander (cilantro) leaves for garnish
• lime juice, 2 tbsp lemon juice, or 1 lemon
• fish sauce, 4 tbsp
• sugar, 1 tbsp sugar
• small crispy fried chillies, or not fried, 2-7 (mild to medium) small Thai chillies, seeded and sliced
• mushrooms, preferably a can of straw mushrooms, drained
• chicken (ไก่) 1/2 to 1 chicken breast(about 175g/6oz) cut into silvers, bite sized pieces
• 570ml/1pint/generous 2 cups chicken stock, or 1 can of chicken broth

That's how it traditionally goes (well, at least as far as Wikipedia says) Basically, its a Thai Coconut Chicken soup that is to die for... and super easy to make. I woke up this morning feeling cold and flu like symptoms and all day all I could think about was making this soup to warm my tummy and soothe my throat. I found most everything I needed in my pantry and at our local grocery store in our small town... except for the kaffir lime leaves and the lemon grass.

Here is my version:
Amanda's sweet and spicy Thai chicken & shrimp soup
2 chicken breast halves, thinly sliced
1 cup of uncooked, deshelled and deviened shrimp
a couple of tsp minced garlic
a couple of tsp minced ginger
a couple of tsp red pepper flakes
a couple of tsp sugar
a couple of tbsp fish sauce
the zest and juice of 1 lime
1 carton of chicken stock
1 can of coconut milk
1/2 head cauliflower, sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into rings
1/2 cup shitake mushrooms, sliced
coriander, chopped
green onions, chopped

Basically, I threw the chicken stock and coconut milk into a pot with the garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, sugar, fish sauce and lime zest & juice and brought it all to a boil. I simmered the broth for about 10 mins and then threw the veggies, shrimp and chicken in and let them all cook through for a few mins.
Served up in a bowl, over rice, sprinkled with coriander, green onions and a squeeze of lime and a little hot sauce & I think its pretty much the perfect chicken soup... especially when its a drizzly day out and you have a cold. I had two bowls :)

some food blogs that i am enjoying today

http://laylita.com/recipes/
the food on this blog looks AMAZING- real authentic Latin influenced food- my husband would die if I made this stuff- not too sure about the octopus civiche but if you have never had civiche in your life you are sure missing out- by far on my top 5 favorite foods ever. I might just have to have my hand at making plantain chips from scratch though, great pics!
http://www.redramekin.com/
Her pea shoot omelet is so cute! I just learned this year how to make the perfect omelet and it is certainly a staple dinner while my husband is out of town, my omelets are always much more hearty and thick but I just might have to try making a crepe thin one like this.
http://www.rasamalaysia.com/
next time I make a curry I am definitely going to try my hand at these babies... pretty much the coolest crepes I have ever seen.
http://fotocuisine.com/2008/06/01/roasted-whole-snapper-with-jicima-ceviche/
WOW- not sure that I would try my hand at this meal but the step by step pictures are incredible... huge props to this blogger. I especially love this pics of shaking the martini shaker and the squeezing of the life with the fork.
http://iheartcuppycakes.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/caramel-appletini-cupcakes/
finally, something sweet. I LOVE LOVE LOVE caramel appletinis and this blogger turned this fave drink into a cupcake- amazing. Good thing we aren't living in the future with taste-and-smell-a-vision because I would be licking my computer monitor. :)

Sunday Crepes

I'm watching a movie with my pup- isn't he a cutie?!




Crepes are probably one of my favorite foods... I could eat waffles, pancakes, crepes and the like for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day of the week. So today, when I stumbled upon a blog that I saw on Tastespotting that featured Mango Nutella Crepes, I had to have some. Since those are three of my favorite things (...and I just so happened to have the good part of a box of mangoes courtesy of mom- thanks mom:) ) I decided to whip some up! I tried the crepe recipe on the blog that I stumbled upon... a much more liquidy
batter than I am used to. The crepes turned out a little on the wet side but DELISH... I stuffed it full of mangoes and Nutella just like sugested on the blog I read & I even added some bananas... I was in heaven. Your wouldnt think pairing mangoes and chocolate would be good but its FANTASTIC. I had a few friends over to join me in devouring these fabulous pockets of deliciousness... some stuffed theirs with pb&j, others with just Nutella or Nutella and bananas but Nutella, mango and banana was overall agreed to be the best combo. I'm posting the recipe below as well as some of my pics.

Crêpe batter (this will yield about 12-15 crêpes)

• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• Orange zest (I used just a little, not even the zest of a quarter of an orange)
• 4 eggs
• 5 Tbsp melted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt

This is the original recipe- I omitted the orange zest because I didn't have an orange and I upped the sugar to 1/2 a cup rather than 1/3 of a cup.
It took me a while to figure out the right temperature and the crepes were on the wet side so they were a little tricky to flip but I found that if I used pretty much exactly 1/3 of a cup of batter and always made sure to swivel the pan so that the batter was nice and thin & even they turned out pretty good.



Enjoy!

On a non-food related note- I am watching an AMAZING movie called Into The Wild. Go watch it.