In My World

I've tried poutine (pronounced Poo-TIN in Quebec and poo-TEEN pretty much everywhere else) a few times but I'm just not a fan.  I love the cheese curds. Poutine fans -- it's the real deal if it's made from fresh cheese curds. However, if your aged cheese curds are being served over french fries and smothered in hot gravy, can you really tell the difference between fresh and aged?  I love french fries.  I am NOT a fan of gravy. In Québec, the term poutine is slang for mess. Take a pile of fresh hot french fries, pouring in delicious, squeaky cheese curds, and covering them with hot gravy looks like a mess. But to a lot of people I know poutine is the perfect food. I have no personally tried recipes for poutine but . . . Authentic Canadian Poutine Prep Time 30 mins Cook Time 30 mins Servings: 3 people Ingredients Poutine Gravy: 3 Tbsp cornstarch 2 Tbsp water 6 Tbsp unsalted butter 1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour 20 oz beef broth 10 oz chicken broth Pepper,...

 What illegal things would you most likely do if you had no fear of getting caught?

Quantity : 2  Preparation : 15 min Cooking : 10 min 370 calories/servings Ingredients 160 g broccoli rabe 160 g penne, whole wheat 2 cups 2 tsp olive oil 10 mL 2 Portobello mushrooms, cut into 1 cm-thick slices 90 g 30 g salami, spicy, cut into small pieces 1/4 sprig rosemary, fresh, finely chopped 1 g 2 tbsp pasta cooking water 30 mL 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated [optional] 6 g 1 pinch salt [optional] 0.2 g ground pepper to taste [optional] Before you start Keep the serving dishes in the oven at the lowest setting so they are warm when you serve. Put a colander in the sink to drain the cooked pasta so that it will be ready when needed. Method Prepare the broccoli rabe: remove any tough portions of the stalks and wash well. Blanch in a pot with plenty of salted water about 4-5 min, then drain. Cut the broccoli rabe into chunks and set them aside, keeping them warm. To save time, the rest of the sauce preparation and pasta cooking can be done at the same time. Cook the pasta. In t...

 What things would you not want to find in a friend's medicine cabinet while snooping?

Chicken in a spicy and creamy sauce. Also known as «Chicken Makhani», it is a classic Indian dish with many different versions. This one I have inherited from my grandmother.                                                                                                                                                   2 servings                                          ...

What moments in movies have truly inspired you?

When I received Heaven in Her Arms  by Catherine Hickem to review, I was expecting a biography of Mary.  While the book does tell Mary's inspirational story quite well, the actual purpose of this book is to use Mary's story to share life lessons for today's women.  Hickem is a licensed psychotherapist and relationship expert who puts her experience and education to use teaching these life lessons to wives, mothers, daughters, sisters and friends. A very interesting read.

Avril Ramona Lavigne, born September 27, 1984, is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actress. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain, and by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more than $2 million. Lavigne's debut studio album, Let Go (2002), is the best-selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian artist. It yielded the singles "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi", which emphasized a skate punk persona and earned her the title "Pop Punk Queen" from music publications. She is considered a key musician in the development of pop punk music since she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. Her second studio album, Under My Skin (2004), became Lavigne's first album to reach the top of the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, going on to sell 10 million copies worldwide. Lavigne's third studio album, The Best Damn Thing (2007), reached number one i...

Quantity : 2 servings Preparation : 5 min 170 calories/servings Ingredients  4 cups mixed greens 100 g (I used spinach) 2 radishes, thinly sliced 30 g 1 green onions/scallions, chopped 40 g feta cheese, crumbled 2 tbsp Classic Vinaigrette 30 mL (I used Italian dressing) 1 pinch salt [optional] 0.2 g ground pepper to taste [optional] Method Wash the mixed greens and blot or spin dry. Put them in a salad bowl. Thinly slice the radish and chop the green onions, then add them to the bowl. Crumble the Feta cheese over the salad. Pour in the Classic Vinaigrette. Add salt and pepper to taste, then toss well and serve.   http://www.soscuisine.com/recipe/mixed-greens-radish-salad-feta-cheese

Quantity : 2  Preparation : 10 min Cooking : 25 min 230 calories/servings Ingredients parchment paper 1 carrots, coarsely grated 100 g 1 zucchini, coarsely grated 130 g 1 sweet potatoes, coarsely grated 180 g 3 green onions/scallions, finely chopped 2 tsp olive oil 10 mL 1 pinch cayenne pepper 0.2 g 1 pinch salt [optional] 0.2 g ground pepper to taste [optional] 1 eggs size large 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated 26 g Before you start The quantities given here are based on this recipe served as a starter. If serving as a side dish, divide the quantities by two. Method Preheat the oven to 205°C/400°F. Line one or more large baking sheets with parchment paper. Prepare the vegetables: Coarsely grate the carrots, zucchini, and sweet potatoes; finely chop the green onions. Put all the vegetables in a bowl, then stir in the Parmesan cheese. Add the egg(s), Cayenne pepper, oil, a little salt, and pepper to taste. Mix well, then portion out the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet(s), fo...

The second book I published is called Scrapbooking with Two-Page Sketches , available in colour or black & white . I hope this sketch which is taken from Scrapbooking with Two-Page Sketches will inspire you to create a layout today.

What music videos do you wish you had starred in?

Did you know that Canada is home to the largest garter snake den in the world?

What would you buy if you had only three days to spend $1,000,000?  

I've eaten donair before and I recall it as being very messy and very delicious.  It has been a while though.   Seriously, wasn't there a donair place at the Elgin Mall (now Elgin Centre) many many years ago?  I'm pretty sure of it. A new pizza and donair restaurant opened recently in St. Thomas . . . Pizza Parlor and Donair  and I'm hoping to check it out very soon. I found this great article about the Halifax donair, online of course.   I did not know they were a huge deal in Halifax or I would have tried one while I was on the east coast last spring.  GLOBE AND MAIL PUBLISHED JUNE 13, 2012 UPDATED APRIL 30, 2018 There is a ritual that happens every weekend in downtown Halifax. It starts around 2 in the morning, when bars start to close and throngs of people congregate at the downtown intersection of Blowers and Grafton Streets, better known as Pizza Corner. They seek slices of pizza, subs and, above all else, donairs. Th...

 What three things would you insist on having if you lived in an igloo?

Tell about some ridiculous thing someone has done to impress you.

 What are your favourite Party Themes?

The Devil in the Junior League  is another wacky look at the snooty, obnoxious world of Texas society women.  Frede Hildebrand is the perfect Junior League woman living her live according to the written and unwritten rules of Texas society.  And then her husband has an affair, steals her money and flees the country.  Frede tries to hide her disasters and maintain her place in society.  She goes to Howard Grout, her loud, no class neighbour who also happens to be the most aggressive lawyer in the county.  Howard agrees to help Frede track down her no-good-husband, retrieve her fortune and save her place in society . . . under one condition . . . Frede must groom his other-side-of-the-tracks wife, Nikki, and get her into the Junior League. This novel is wacky funny.  And lessons are learned.  And there is a happy ending.  I recommend this novel as a great summer read.

 What game shows do you think you could be a successful contestant on?

My list challenge list says that " Canada Is Home to Approx 15 Million Cattle " but my quick fact checking suggests a different number. Cattle inventory in Canada by type 2020 Published by Emma Bedford, Mar 31, 2020 This statistic shows the cattle inventory in Canada as of January 2020, by type. As of January 1, 2020, there were approximately 3.556 million beef cows and around 981,300 dairy cows in Canada. 3,556,000 + 981,300 __________ 4,537,300 Hmmmm?

 What things what you like to do if you were in your favourite foreign country?

Who would you like to trade places with for one day, but not more?  

The Nanaimo bar is a bar dessert that requires no baking and is named after the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia. It consists of three layers: a wafer, nut, and coconut crumb base; custard icing in the middle; and a layer of chocolate ganache on top. I've never made Nanaimo bars but I have certainly eaten a few.  So delicious!  And so many recipes available online.   If you have the perfect Nanaimo bar recipe please comment and share it with us. The whole list of A Taste of Canada foods can be found at www.listchallenges.com/a-taste-of-canada  

 What super powers would you most like to have if you were a superhero?

I read The Ex-debutante a while back and I can still remember the story so vividly.  Do you love soap operas?  Well this book is soap opera x 10!! Carlisle comes from old Texas money.  Raised as a southern belle, she becomes a Texas debutante.  Carlisle becomes a divorce lawyer, flees the rigid rules of old rich Texas society for Boston and becomes engaged to a . . . Yankee! When her mother needs a lawyer to divorce her latest husband while keeping a deep secret deep, Carlisle comes home.  It doesn't take long to be drawn back into the society and rules she had fled. At the end of the day Carlisle learns a lot about herself and learns the family secrets that her family had tried to keep. This book is funny, over the top funny.  Linda Francis Lee knows this world well and writes about it in an exaggerated way to enhance the crazy rules required to be part of the Texas debutante world.  I recommend it highly for a good light summer read.