What's Carrie Been Doing? Not Much

My computer is still in the process of being repaired. Seems I got a virus of some sort and Jim has been piddling away on my machine when he has time. Luckily, I was able to back up most of my "stuff" before everything went haywire. Then, in the meantime, I seem to have lost my camera. I'm just beside myself. It was a gift from Jim and I had pictures stored on it that I'm afraid I'll never get back. I'm hoping I've just misplaced it, but I've practically ripped this place apart and so far, no luck. I'm sick over it.


I wanted to stop by and give you a quick update on what I've been up to and since I have camera & pictures on my mind, I'm presenting a pictorial of sorts. Pictures say more than words, so here we go.


I did my income tax. I owe. Lots. $992 to be exact. That totally sucks! I was mildly freaking.

I'm not sending it in until the last possible moment - 11:59pm on April 30. So Mr. Taxman, if you're reading this, you'll just have to wait for your dough. I had to pay last year, but not nearly as much. I got my T-4's gathered together, went over my gross income from all sources, the deductions, etc. and realized that having 2 part-time jobs just doesn't pay.

So I'm quitting this one. After I considered the income from this job, minus the travel time, bus fare and the long days; sometimes 15-16 hours with both jobs combined, it just isn't worth it. I've given my notice and my last day will be May 9.

I'm still keeping my LCBO job of course. This picture is of my store! I was looking for pictures on-line and found this. How cool is that? Anyhow, the LCBO is a government job with lot of room for advancement & the pay rate I'm at right now is double what I was making at the bakery. Hmmm....which would you choose? Since it is only part-time still, I need to supplement somehow. Jim & his partner, Ron, are getting so busy now. They've hired a new contractor tech and our friend, Scott (best man at our wedding) helps Jim out when he can. Because of the extra work, Ron needs some help in the office so he can get out in the field more. Enter Me!
My new position is in the satellite field! I've had years of experience doing office work and having owned a small business, I know that aspect of it as well. I'll probably work one-two days a week, as needed and they are so flexible, they don't care what day I decide to come in. They are just thankful for the help. Hey, what can I say? I'm sleeping with the boss. It has it's benefits. I'm really looking forward to it and am happy to be able to give Jim some hands-on help with his business.

So, of course, the way things seem to go - I decide to quit one job and I ended up in the last 2 weeks getting more shifts than I can handle. This weekend will be a welcome break though.

We've planned time to go to our favorite getaway. Niagara Wine Country. Can't wait! In the meantime, because I've been working a lot, my life has consisted mostly of vegging out with a bit of TV.

I didn't watch a whole lot of hockey this season. Not that it mattered from a Leafs point of view. They sucked so bad, they didn't even make the playoffs.

Toronto FC on the other hand were off to a booming start. They won their home opener which I would have loved to have gone to, but tickets were sold out in minutes and scalpers wanted a fortune. One of the guys I work with has a son that works for Burlington Youth Soccer and he said he'd try to get me some tickets. (fingers crossed). FC is now 2 and 2.


Yeah. I'm still watching. I don't care what anyone says, I like this show. I have it set up on the TiVo so I don't miss anything.

My favorite, David Cook, is still in it and still giving great performances week after week.

This has been my saviour lately. I take the bus to work and I've been in a mood where I just don't want to make chit chat with strangers in the morning. I have to make chit chat with customers, so I don't want to on my free time. I put the buds in, turn on the tunes and get lost in my own little world for a while.

Of course, I've got lots of Floyd on my iPod. Some nice mellow, easy to wake up to music for the most part.

Then there's these guys.

Good ol' Led Zep gets my blood pumping for the work day ahead.

One of my very favorite albums.

As you can see, I've not been doing a whole lot of anything. Like I said, working and vegging out. Oh! I almost forgot. I got tickets for.....

We're not worthy! We're not worthy! Alice Cooper! He's playing in Hamilton in October, so I got tickets for Jim and I to go. I hope I find my camera before then. Geez! That is just driving me crazy.

My computer should be up and running properly before too long. I have some food photos backed up, but, obviously, haven't been able to take any new ones. I use Jim's laptop now and again, so if I can, I'll pop over to your blogs and see what you're all doing. Oh, and before I go...just for LAURA because she's been so busy with the tax season... ENJOY!

(yummy)

Computer Trouble

I'm having some problems & am working on getting them sorted out. Hopefully, I'll be back soon.

Bath Time!

Mom's calling me to the bathroom. She asks me if I want to have a bath. Do I? I think so!

Oh, yea. Now I remember what a bath is. I'm not sure if I want to do this.
.

I think I've changed my mind. Let's get out now.

Look at me all soaped up. I must admit, it felt good to get rubbed and scrubbed all over.

Here I am all rinsed and getting towelled off. Mommy & Daddy told me that I was a very good boy. Mommy kept saying I was so handsome and that I smelled so nice.

.

OK, that really is enough of this. I want out please. Mommy doesn't know a thing. I had to go rub myself all over the bed and all over the couch to get this crazy scent off of me! Now I was getting tired.

All the excitement of the bath has really pooped me out. I had big yawns. Then I laid down with Daddy and had some sleepies.

Geez. I must admit, Mommy was right. I do look pretty handsome.

My Guilty Pleasure - American Idol

I freakin' love this show. My favorite contestant this year is David Cook. Check out this performance from Tuesday's show. They had to pick a song from the year they were born. This blew me away.
Anyone else watching?

So, my work schedule has been a mess. No consistency whatsoever. For a couple of weeks, I kept getting these last minute call-ins. I was buying food, then having to go to work and not being able to use everything up. Stuff would go bad and I'd have to throw it away. Grrr! The call-ins still go on throughout the year, but more so than usual this past month. I've been trying to plan meals based on staples I have in the house.

St. Patrick's Day came and I wanted to make stew. I found this recipe in Robin Robertson's Fresh From The Vegetarian Slow Cooker and had almost all of the ingredients. It's called Almost Irish Stew and the only thing I had to buy a green leafy veg.

Again, trying to get some greens into Jim.

I had just picked this up the day before, so it was nice and fresh and green. The regular Swiss Chard looked like it had seen better days, but the red was really vibrant.

The recipe also called for white wine. I was in the mood for red wine with dinner and didn't want to open a big bottle of white just to use half a cup. OK, the recipe called for 1/4 cup, but who's measuring? I have a few small bottles of wine in the house, just for occasions like this. Don't buy cooking wine!! It's horrible stuff. Use a wine that you would drink.

I used this one for the stew. It's decent enough and it won't break the bank. It comes in little bottles (250 ml) that are under $4.

The stew slow cooked all day in the crock pot. The greens were cooked seperately and then added in about 10 minutes before serving.

The original recipe didn't call for any kind of meat alternative, but did say that chunks of seitan could be substituted for the beans. I didn't have any seitan on hand and frankly, was feeling just too lazy to make any, so I fried up some veggie burgers, cubed them and added them in about half an hour before the stew was done. I used the beans too for an extra protein punch.

I didn't even make any soda bread (feeling lazy, remember?) so I opted for these delicious ciabata buns that we make at the bakery. They are crisp on the outside and dense and chewy on the inside. Perfect for stew.

Since the stew had a "light" broth, I went with a light red wine. I really enjoy Pinot Noir. In Ontario, we don't see a whole lot of wines available from BC for some reason. They have a thriving wine industry, but I don't know where all of those bottles go. Certainly not east. This one, from Gray Monk, comes in through Vintages and I usually try to grab a couple. I've had this bottle for over a year and decided to give it a go. It was delicious! The 2006 offering was recently for sale and again, I bought 2 bottles. Wino Will didn't give it a great review, but I'll let it sit for another year and then try it, which I've always done with these wines anyway.

.

Oh, did Jim like the Swiss chard? Better than the kale, but still not a fan. He ended up leaving most of it on his plate, then when he thought I wasn't looking, gave some of it to Simon. Did Simon like the greens? He LOVED them!

Well, Hello There!!

Long time no see. To quote Fiona Apple - I've been a bad, bad girl. I haven't put up a post in over 3 weeks! It's not like I've been loafing around, doing nothing. I've been clocking quite a few hours in at the bakery. I was also busy studying and I wrote the test for LCBO's Product Knowledge Level 2 and am waiting for my results. Right after that, my back had a minor flare-up. I'm doing a lot better now, so I have some food photos to show you.

Before I get to that, I was going through some pictures in my camera and found these that I had completely forgotten about. Since it seems to have ceased snowing, (for now anyway) these show us what we can look forward to very, very soon.

I've mentioned before that I live across the street from Lake Ontario and quite often I will take Simon for a walk along the waterfront. We like to watch the geese.

Simon sometimes barks at them, but most of the time he's not too sure of them, so we watch from a distance. They are beautiful (and protected), but they can be Nasty - with the capital n. I wish I'd had my camera when I came home from work the other day. There was a whole gaggle of them on my front lawn, squawking & pooping everywhere. I guess they decided the neighbour's lawn was better because they sauntered over there. They don't care about traffic either. If they decide they want to cross the street, they just go. They're total jay walkers.

Simon loves to walk this pathway at the park. The trees were given as a gift from our twin city Itabashi, Japan. Right now they're leaf-less and everything is still covered in snow.

He stops to sniff a lot along the way. I figure, it's his walk, let him sniff.

Futher down the walkway, just for our convenience....

These, like the leaves, disappear in the wintertime. I took a picture because the sign on the door just cracked me up.

Go with class? Do they mean 'choose us' or go as in "go"? Either way, I thought this was funny on the door of a plastic port-a-potty. Stinky, port-a-potty. Go....and hold your breath. Peewu! When I think outdoor toilet, I don't think class.

That's not a very good segue to food, so before I move on, I'll fill your thoughts with nice things like puppies.

OK, nasty thoughts gone....onto eats.

I still do occasionally eat free-range eggs and made something I haven't made in years - quiche! This is my take on Quiche Lorraine. I call it Quiche Carrie.

Some Lorraine recipes call for onions, some don't, some call for cheese, some don't, so I'm not quite sure which is authentic, but I like onions & cheese, so I include them. I used veggie bacon of course and since neither Jim or I like Swiss cheese, I used cheddar and a bit of mozzarella that I had in the fridge.

This turned out so well, even I was impressed. We had a salad on the side. I picked this wine:

From Fielding, this is a favorite of ours. It's a Sauvignon Blanc that gets a bit of oak aging & it's very delicious. Alas, this was our last bottle of this vintage. The members club Sample & Shop Weekend is coming up & I'm hoping to see the 2007 offered.

Dessert just topped the entire meal. I made Dreena's Sunny Pineapple Yogurt Cake with Orange Glaze.

I cannot rave enough about this cake. It is out of this world! Jim really, really liked this and told me so after one bite. He usually doesn't comment too much unless I ask for his opinion, so for him to volunteer his thoughts after the first taste speaks volumes.

It's so moist and delicious. It stayed moist for days afterwards which scores big points for this 2 person household. I served vanilla ice cream on the side, along with steamy mugs of hot chocolate.

I wanted to show you my mug. I got a pair of these as a Christmas gift a few years ago. The picture on them is a Jack Russell! It looks almost as cheeky as Simon does.

I trust you all had a Happy St. Patrick's Day. I made an Irish stew of sorts that I will post about it a couple of days. Until then, Happy Easter to all who celebrate. I'm looking forward to the little mini vacation we get this weekend. Too bad Saturday isn't considered a holiday as well. It would make for a super 4-day long weekend. I also see a chocolate & sugar overload in my very near future. Check out this article for all that is bad in the way of Easter candy. Bring on the Easter Creme Eggs! I would say they are my favorites. I ate one while reading the article about how bad they were for me. (I'm not kidding!)