Long weekends are beautiful things no matter what.  When the weather is gorgeous (relative to the time of year of course) and sunny and you've all survived another dark, snowy winter then the weekend is damn near perfect.  We, in Toronto, are experiencing just such a weekend.
This is when you want to fit everything, absolutely everything into 96 hrs.
We are about to head to the valley for a long walk on the nature trail.
D and I have both done a nice, long run.
We would like to get to the bookstore and cafe later because it's wonderful to sit in a sunny spot and read.
The bike is finally going into the bike shop.
We are heading out to Bowmanville to spend a little Easter time with my parents.
I've already had a leisurely lunch with KT (and wish I could fit another one in for that matter).  BTW, KT gave me a stupid awesome care package to take to Italy with me... THE best BFF ever.  Stupid Awesome.
Kid #1 has baked for the Easter Parade Bake Sale.
We have an Easter Egg hunt...
And you get the idea.



This is a time when you can take time out of the regular routine and celebrate the new life of spring, the longer days, the warmer temperatures, the return of the 'evening' time, the goodbye's of mittens and scarves and the beginning of the push to empty out the freezer for the new harvest of vegetables and fruits.  Hence this bar recipe to begin the freezer drain.  I've still got dregs of everything and I'll be finding ways to sneak frozen whatever's into everything over the next little while.  At the end of the day though, this isn't a half bad way to use them up.  Not half bad at all.


Doesn't matter to me if you celebrate easter or not.  It could be Passover, it could be Phagwa, Holi, Higan, Nowruz (already passed I think) or maybe La Divina Pastora.  Whatever it's called, part of it will be about new life, change or new growth.  It's beautiful here - Finally.  Sun is out, green things are peaking out and poking through the earth hesitantly.  A new season of life after the difficult season of dark.  Make something special, get out and enjoy and be with people you love and who love you back.


Blueberry Lemon Crumble Bars adapted from Sparkling Ink
makes and 8x8 pan of bars

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (pastry flour if you have it) or oat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
8 oz unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 egg + 2 egg whites (you could just use 2 eggs if you don't want to use just egg whites)

2 1/2 cups blueberries (frozen or fresh)
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp corn starch

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Line a 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment.  Set aside.
Combine both of the flours, salt, baking powder, sugar, brown sugar and the cubed butter.  Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it's a crumbly texture (should look like pebbles).  Add in the egg and mix in well.
Take about half of the mixture and press into the bottom of the pan to about a half inch.
Combine the blueberries, lemon zest and juice together until mixed.  Add the sugar and cornstarch and mix.
Pour the blueberry mixture over the pressed down crust.
Use the rest of the flour mixture and sprinkle over the blueberries but don't press it in.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until the topping is just beginning to turn golden.
Cool for about 15 minutes before cutting.

Let me preface everything I'm about to list off here by saying that this bread really and truly does not need to be sprinkled with a post of the kind of potential fluff that's about to hit you between the eyes.  Nope.  Not at all.
I found this bread recipe while leafing through the pages of 'Nourishing Traditions' and dreaming about making sour dough bread - which will (I hereby solemnly vow) be my next project where things bread are concerned.  The recipe looked like it was one step away from sour dough by literally letting the flour/butter/buttermilk mixture sour for about 24 hrs before adding yeast and all that stuff.  You don't get the sourdough feeling for sure but you do get a damn fine loaf of bread.  FYI - the buttermilk is essential.  Don't skimp.

So.  You and your partner have been planning to do this for a while but you haven't quite plucked up the courage to bite the bullet?  This pizza deal may just tip the balance for you.

A very serious study and subsequent conversation around convenience food saving time... or not.  FYI the convenience food in question here is not of the chips and lucky charms variety but rather the stuff that we use to help us prepare our dinner stuff.  And yeah, it doesn't actually save us time.  If you stick to the chips and lucky charms though, turns out that you will still save time.

The sweet potatoes in my pantry have petitioned to be turned into this quiche crust.  I will oblige.

Our Prime Minister is really into Pandas.  Super Bad.  Serious Panda Thing.

If you want to check out my adventures in Italy (along with the adventures of 250 grade 5 - 12 boys) then check things out here.  P.S. I will not be on a red Vespa.

I have no link for this but can I just tell you that the crossing-guard lady who cheers me on and wishes me a safe ride everyday as I'm riding through Regent Park is an inspiration and sometimes her encouragement brings a tear to my eye.

I want to read this book soooo hard right now.

Even though we are just peaking at Spring through the door that's only cracked open, there may be some of you out there who are still pining for the glory that was Christmas 2012.  Let Christopher Lee (Saruman/Willie Wonka's Dad - among other roles) help you through.  Take a listen to 'The Little Drummer Boy'.  Go ahead... listen to 'Silent Night' too... you know you wanna.



Whole Wheat, Slightly Soured, Yeasted Bread adapted from 'Nourishing Traditions'
makes 2 loaves

1 1/2 cups spelt flour
2 1/2 cups whole wheat/red fife flour
1 - 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, warm
1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup water, warm
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 tbsp honey or brown sugar

4 tbsp honey or brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp salt (preferably sea or kosher salt)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup unbleached, all purpose flour

Combine the spelt and whole wheat flour.  Add the butter and 1 cup of the buttermilk.  Mix well and add the rest of the buttermilk in order for the mixture to form a cohesive dough ball.  Put the dough ball in a bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel.  Place in a warm, draft free spot for 12 - 24 hours.
12 - 24 hrs later:
Combine the warm water, yeast and 2 tbsp of honey or brown sugar together and set aside in a warm, draft free spot to proof (get bubbly and yeasty smelling) for about 10 minutes.  Once you know that the yeast mixture is good then add the remaining honey or brown sugar, salt, baking soda and unbleached, all purpose flour.  Mix and divide in half.
Divide the whole wheat flour mixture in half and add to half of the yeast mixture.  Do the same with the other half of both.  Keeping the dough balls divided begin to knead each for about 4 - 5 minutes or until the yeast mixture has mixed thoroughly into the whole wheat mixture.  Once both dough balls have been kneaded then combine them and knead for another 5 minutes or so.  The dough should be silky and smooth.  Place the dough into a buttered stainless steel or glass bowl (make sure that both sides of the dough have some grease on them), cover with a clean cloth set in a warm, draft free spot to rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hrs or until about doubled in size.
Butter or grease two small loaf pans or cookie sheets if you want to make two round loaves.
Turn the dough onto a flat surface and divide in half.
Shape each into either a log or a round ball.  Grease the top of each and place either in the loaf pans or on the cookie sheets.  Cover with a clean cloth and place in a warm, draft free spot to rise for another 1 - 2 hrs or until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust is hard, golden and sounds hollow when you knock on it.
Cool completely before slicing.

Having just had a week off I've been wrestling with this nagging issue in my mind.  I found myself, throughout the week, hard pressed for energy to think of something to do that didn't involve getting to a store to pick up things that the kids were needing or plunking myself in front of a screen.  Sure, I can chock it up to exhaustion.  I can blame the crappy, cold weather and lack of sun.  Suffice it to say that it was all I could do to keep up a reasonable yoga and running schedule throughout the week and plan one other thing in the day.


Thank goodness for this book which I've been devouring (although I have to slow myself down sometimes to really take it in).  I'm not just pushing the book because the author is Canadian but because he's also kick-ass deep. Throughout the week I was reading his chapter on the image and the power of the image.  J.R.S. went succinctly through a look at western religious art and the transformations that it went through up to about DaVinci when the 3D reality kicked in.  He talks about how artists were looking for the moment of epiphany when that reality was created... except the epiphany didn't quite happen.  The paradigm didn't shift epically like they thought it would.  And then the still photo was invented and that kind of kicked paintings butt.  A perfect image of whatever it was the photographer wanted to capture.  Further still was the moving picture.  But something happened in all of that 'reality' and along the way the reality of the photo and the moving picture wasn't reality at all.  It was illusion.  It was set up.  It was doctored.  Now, we live by the moving picture.  It informs us in every way about ourselves - our looks, our expectations, our beliefs.  J.R. Saul even goes as far to say that tv is our new religion.  It's the one thing that we do, in the western world at least, ritualistically and en masse.  Except it's all staged.
It got me thinking a lot about how much screen I take in.  It got me thinking about how much I see people talking about tv shows on FB, on their blogs or in everyday conversation.  It's how we talk about it too.
'I've got to make sure I catch the new episode of...'
'I can't believe what they just wrote into that story line...'
'I can't stand that character'
'My PVR only records 2 shows at a time.  How am I going to catch everything'
I don't have either cable or satellite.  The channels we get come through our rooftop antenna.  I don't miss cable.  I don't think that I've ever even considered getting it again and that was about 5 years ago.  But I still watch my fair share of shows and it's still crap.  It's still written in this stilted, formulaic manner.  It's still played by actors who must look a certain way for everything to work.  It still wraps up into a neat little package that leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction but the desire to experience the same banal comfort next week.  Reality tv... worse.  News.... the worst.
I'm going to work toward becoming more aware of what's in front of me all the time.  I'm not going to say 'that's it - I'm cutting it out' because that's not just unrealistic, it's unsustainable.  I think that the key is awareness.


During my week off I also decided to get serious about varying my cooking again.  It's so easy to get in ruts.  My ruts include cream, parmesan cheese, greens and pasta.  That's ain't half bad.  There is, however, only so much of that one family can take.  I made some Trini Stewed Pork and this is the stuff that we made with it.  Callaloo looks kinda gross and goopy but once you put it in your mouth you realize you haven't yet lived until that very moment.  It's amazing, beautiful stuff.  It's also good for you and if you can't find Dasheen leaf you can always try substituting with spinach.  You will get quite a different taste so you might have to adjust a bit but it's still absolutely worth it.

Trini Callaloo adapted from 'Naparima Girls High School Cookbook'

Happy Spring.
It's the first day of spring.  Here in Toronto, Spring has been welcomed in with a few days of cold temperatures and off and on snow flurries.  I hear in Montreal they still have about 30 cm of snow so I'll keep my complaining at a minimum.  The imminence of Easter though seems to bring with it the expectation of warmer temperatures.  In that we've been very disappointed, frustrated and even cranky.
I remember one of my first couple of Easter's in Montreal a friend invited me to the Easter 'Sunrise' Service on easter morning.  It sounded interesting and there was a pancake breakfast afterwards.  Either way my friend T and I found ourselves standing on Mount Royal in Montreal at 6 a.m. that particular Easter morning.
We were freezing our asses off because it must have been about -10C at the time and while we were standing (for the entire service!) to add insult to injury... it started to snow.  We were both miserable although T is much better natured than I am about those things and he put on a brave face and faked his way to friendliness.  Neither one of us knew liturgy very well back then.  So when one of the lay-leaders (someone who doesn't get paid for their work) shouted 'Christ is Risen!' at him he didn't know what to do and she was standing there watching, waiting, anticipating a response.  We both looked at each other confused and finally he blurted out 'Hallelujah'.  Not missing a beat, our fearless lay-leader shot both of us a frustrated and angry look and snapped 'No - It's He is Risen Indeed'.  She taught us.  That was it though.  I had stopped even attempting to hide my crankiness and poor T snapped once he got that response.  Pancake breakfast or no, we left.  Bolted.  Found warmth at the closest spot that we could find and then made our way home to make better pancakes than we would have had in the church basement.  Not my best Easter but we made lemonade out of them lemons.


We've all been so sick of winter - the cold, the snow, the damp, the cloudy - that we made our way to the west indian store last week and picked up some much needed ingredients.  We made it a family trip and got a lot of pleasure out of walking the isles looking at foods that reminded us of a warmer, sunnier place.  West Indian curry powder, salt fish, dasheen leaf (recipe to follow in the next post), Apple J, coconut milk and pigeon peas... yup we got it all.
Then we made our way home and I started making some stewed pork.  In Trinidad it's much more common to make stewed chicken.  A typical Sunday lunch is stewed chicken, callalloo (recipe coming with the dasheen leaf) and macaroni pie.  This time around I went for cubed pork instead of the chicken and we opted for plain rice instead of the macaroni pie.  It was fantastic and brought a little bit of sunshine to our cold, cranky, almost-easter-and-disappointed selves.  If you don't want to use that much meat please feel free to halve the quantity but you could easily use the same amounts for everything else just add less water to the marinade.


Trini Stewed Pork adapted from Naparima Girls School Cookbook
serves 8 - 10

Marinade
4 tbsp mixed herbs
5 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
4 tbsp Soy Sauce
3 tbsp sugar
3 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper sauce (or 1/2 tsp cayenne)
1 boullion cube
water

3 - 5 lbs pork (any cut, including the cheaper cuts like shoulder), cubed

1 med onion, sliced
5 - 6 carrots, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp butter or lard
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and whole
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup coconut milk (optional)
2 scotch bonnet peppers, whole - do not cut
salt to taste

Combine the herbs, garlic, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, sugar, salt, pepper sauce and boullion cube together in a large bowl.  Add in the cubed meat and enough water to just barely cover the meat.  Stir and marinade together for anywhere from 1 - 8 hours (even overnight if you wish)
Heat a large, heavy bottomed dutch oven (big enough to hold all of the meat) over med or slightly higher heat until the pot is quite hot.  Add the brown sugar and the butter or lard to the pot.  Cook together until the brown sugar begins to melt.  Add in the whole garlic cloves.  You can remove the garlic cloves now if you wish or keep them in - up to you.   Once the sugar begins to get dark (chocolate coloured dark) then turn the heat down a bit and add in the carrots and the meat - you might want to add in stages so that the pot doesn't cool down too much.  Once everything is added in and the meat has browned a bit add in the marinade liquid.  Bring to a low simmer.  Add in the ketchup and the coconut milk (I did not add it to mine).  Mix well.
Before covering the pot add the set the scotch bonnet peppers on top of meat but don't stir in.  Cover and lower the heat to just barely keep things simmering.  Cook for about 1 1/2 hrs.  The meat should be quite tender.  Check the tastes and add salt if necessary.
Serve with a big bowl of callalloo and some rice or macaroni pie.

I'm going to Italy.  I don't think that I've mentioned this yet.  Maybe I have.  I am not in Italy presently.  I am not leaving for Italy tomorrow.  I will be gone in a couple of weeks.  I would love to tell you that I'd be idling around Florence and Rome for two weeks on the prowl for the best coffee and gelato but that is not the case.  I wish that I were telling you about the red Vespa that would transport through the narrow streets of Rome.  Nope - that's not happening either.  Although I'm not a big fan of biscotti in the afternoon, I am a fan of red wine in the afternoon but there won't be much of that happening either.  Instead, I'll be running around Florence and Rome with an entourage of about 250 of us most of whom are under the age of 18.  I will be one of the chaperones for these fine gentlemen - yes, they are all boys.  I will also be helping to prepare some of the soloists for the Mass that will be held at St Peter's with Pope Francis.  Hmmm - red wine in the afternoon with my red Vespa parked just off the terrace sounds much more fun.
With my trip only a couple of weeks away I am already thinking ahead for this blog.  I don't want to bore you all with two weeks straight of pictures from Italy and complaints about how many times 12 yr old boys complain about being hungry and needing to go to the bathroom.  I've spent the later part of this week and most of the weekend (well not most) cooking, baking and taking pictures.  I want to start getting ahead of things so that I've got some good stuff to give you when I'm away.  As a result of my kitchen plotting I didn't get my bike into the bike shop for it's tune-up.  That will be for next weekend.  I also didn't get around to getting my next tattoo arranged.  Maybe that's for next weekend too - I have been fawning over these one's though.  I'm not going to feel bad even for one minute about not cleaning my bathroom.


I've got some gorgeous blueberry squares coming and some Trini food in the pipe as well.  I've got faint plans to do something with this cauliflower crust pizza thing before winter is completely over with.  I spied this cornmeal casserole thing that looks interesting too.  Chicken potstickers.  Yeah - there are a lot of plans floating around in my head.

Buckwheat flour has these dark specks  - so beautiful.

One of the first things that left the kitchen this week were these muffins.  They did not stick around for long but mostly because I shared.  It happened to be playdate day for both Kid #1 and #2 so I shared with each family involved.  I made these with orange juice and orange zest which I decided - once I tasted the zest in the batter - that I don't really like.  I would leave it out next time.  The recipe itself called for persimmon pulp which I didn't have so I just replaced it with buttermilk (and orange juice) and things turned out quite fine.  They are pretty chocolatey and rich so sharing was perfect here because a little goes a long way.  I'm going to point ever so gently to the sentance earlier in this paragraph where I mentioned 'playdate' and refer you to my previous post where I talk about my parenting philosophy.  We had an afternoon and evening of 'playdates' happening in the middle of our March Break week.  Both D and I felt like stellar parents and celebrated ourselves heartily afterwards... and we survived BTW.


Whole Grain Chocolate Muffins adapted from 'Good to the Grain'
makes about med/lg 13 - 15 muffins

1 cup buckwheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

3 oz unsalted butter, soft or almost room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
grated zest of 1 orange (optional)
2 cups total: use the juice of the zested orange and fill to 2 cups with buttermilk
7 oz dark chocolate (42  - 60%) coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Rub a muffin tin with butter or line with silicon  or paper cups.  Set aside.
Sift together the buckwheat and all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, espresso powder, salt and baking soda.  Mix and set aside.
In another bowl beat together the butter and both sugars until light and creamy coloured.  Add in the eggs and continue to beat until combined.
Add in the yogurt and mix well.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet.  Mix well and gradually add the buttermilk/orange juice mixture.  The batter should be much thinner at this point.
Gently fold in the chopped chocolate and mix gently.
Scoop the batter into the prepared tins until the batter comes just over the top edge of the muffin cup.
Bake for about 35 minutes or until the muffin springs back or until a tester comes out clean.
Cool on a rack.
Eat warm or store for a couple of days.  Freezes well.

One of the best things I've done all week is make this stuff.  I've done other good things too don't get me wrong but this casserole is right up there with the best.  It certainly is the best thing I've done with cauliflower in a good long while.
Being on spring break this week and surrounded by my kids and sometimes other people's kids too, I've been thinking a lot about parenting lately.  I've been giving a lot of thought to the way parenting changes as kids get older.  I'm ninety three percent convinced that my twelve year old has decided that it's her goal in life to make us crazy but she's not going to win that one.  She doesn't know who she's dealing with.  Reality is that she needs me to be a completely different parent than my six year old does.  Neither role I feel totally equipped to do well and if most of the parent model's I'm seeing are the 'right way' then I'm in big trouble.  I believe that the real issue here is that I don't really care.  I know what it is I'm supposed to be and it's not realistic nor is it any kind of recipe for success.  I'm pretty happy with the way things are.  We have one night during the school week when both kids have an activity.  The activity for both of them falls on the same night.  Kid #1 is carpooled for part of her activity so we're off the hook once she's been dropped off.  Additionally, Kid #1 has dance and piano which, for the most part happens on Saturday mornings and if it doesn't happen on Saturday then we're probably not going to do it.  D and I both work in the evenings after 'work' and there are many occasions where I have to be in to work on one day over the weekend.  We can't fit any more activities in without some serious juggling around.
Then there is the park stuff which I endure in the summer only because it's warm outside and I can sit off by myself being most antisocial, reading and sipping something cold.  When it's not warm we don't go.  I despised Mom and Tot groups when my kids were babies because they felt like they weren't for the kids at all but the parents.  The parents seemed to feel like we all deserved a collective pat on the back for our efforts towards socializing six month old people.  Nope - didn't last long and I didn't once feel bad about it.
I don't freak out if my kids didn't get outside over the course of a day.  I don't freak out if they didn't eat as well as I would have liked.  I don't freak out if they haven't finished homework or practiced piano.  I freak out a little if they spend too much time in front of a computer screen but even then it depends on what they're doing in front of that screen.  D and I have flatly refused to ever take Kid #1 camping because we don't camp.  I've never once held a birthday party in one of those places where there are games and lights and noise and awful pizza because I can't deal with it - I want to curl up in a corner, close my eyes and fall asleep just thinking about it.  I miss the days where we could just let our kids hang out outside until it got dark and we could do it without needing to sit out there watching them in order to be 'good' parents.  I need time away from them although I feel a little guilty when it happens.  I try to make sure that I take it whenever I can though - even if just for a couple of hours.
Craziest part is that I don't think my kids are suffering at all.  In fact, they seem to be pretty well adjusted so far.  Sure I wish that they did a little more of this and a little less of that but mostly they're doing ok.  We're not pushing them to be at the top of their class but neither are they failing or even seriously struggling with anything.  They enjoy their friends and they aren't unhappy to be alone.  It's weird.


So this week, when D and I ended up being the only ones who dug into this cauliflower casserole, I didn't freak out 'cause they weren't trying it.  We told them that they were missing out but didn't force it down their throats.  They really did miss out but what it meant was that we got to eat it all.  I can live with that.


Cauliflower Casserole adapted from 'Give Recipe'
serves 6

1 head of cauliflower (about 4 cups) broken into medium sized pieces
slice of lemon
1 lb ground beef, pork or lamb
1 onion (1/2 cup), diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 - 3/4 cup red pepper, diced (I used roasted red pepper from the freezer)
1 boullion cube (veggie or whatever)
1 1/2 tbsp mixed herbs
2 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp pepper sauce (optional)
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 - 3 tbsp water
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

Place the cauliflower pieces in a large pot of water.  Bring to a boil and add the lemon slice.  Boil for about 7 minutes or until the cauliflower is just beginning to soften.  Drain and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Heat a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat.  Add a little oil and then add in the onion and garlic.  Cook for about 1 minute and then add in the ground meat.  Turn the heat down a little and cook together for about 4 minutes or until the meat begins to brown.  Add in the red pepper and veggie bouillon.  Cook for another 4 - 5 minutes.  Add in the herbs, honey, salt, Worcestershire, pepper sauce tomato paste and water.  Mix well.  Continue to cook for another 5 minutes.  Check the tastes and adjust if necessary.
Place the cauliflower into a deep baking dish (I used an 8 inch round) and sprinkle about half of the mozzarella on top of the cauliflower.  Pour the meat mixture on top of that and sprinkle the remaining mozzarella over the top.
Bake covered for 20 minutes.  Remove the cover and bake for another 15 or until the cheese begins to bubble and brown.
Cool for a few minutes before serving.

I'm sitting in front of the screen waiting to be inspired.  I decide to start reading some blogs that always do just that.  I read for a few minutes then decide I should just upload my pictures and start dealing with them so that once I finally write this post I won't have to fiddle with the pictures.  Then I think 'That's dumb - the pictures are the easiest part'.  I go back to the blog but a few minutes later find myself almost involuntarily inserting my camera's memory card into the computer slot.  And around we go.
I'm all over the place.  I'm making the adjustment to not having to hustle out the door except I don't want to truly adjust because it's only a week off and then I'm readjusting.  Trust me when I tell you that adjusting to a more relaxed schedule is a lot easier than the adjustment back.  Ick.  I managed to get myself together enough to meet up with KT for lunch.  Still not enough time (for me) but it's a start.  We got to catch up a bit finally.  Up until about 24 hours ago I hadn't cooked anything in a few days.  DAYS.  What does that tell you.  I'm slowly catching up but honestly I think that I've needed to fall apart just a little.
The thought of having to plan a March Break getaway makes me nearly apoplectic.  However, I'm not sure if it's worse having to deal with two kids asking you each day (and possibly multiple time throughout the course of that day) whether 'we're going to do anything fun today'.  'Since when is doing nothing NOT fun'  I ask.  And around we go... March Break.
I'm going to use this week to get back into some kind of running routine because now there are clear sidewalks and the temperature is such that my brain doesn't shutdown when I look outside.  I'm going to take in my poor bike that has gotten me through another winter... but barely.  Poor baby needs some TLC so badly it's not even funny.  While I'm getting my bike seen to (this is a great shop BTW) at the shop, I'm going to start a conversation about commuter bikes.  Shudder.  I know that they were made for people like me who ride everywhere and all the time (ie. through rain and winter).  They make so much sense... but they're so lame looking.  I gotta get over it and then I've gotta scrap up the dough.  I'm also going to contact my tattoo guy about #2 because I've already got an idea for #2 and #3 and I'm just going to do it.  I need some pain in the very best way.
With the kids... maybe we'll go to the theatre... maybe we'll just rent.  We've already gone out once for dinner so that's covered.  We've booked a possible play date and we've got a dentist appointment.  I'd say that if we get to the bookstore and maybe out into the ravine for a good long walk that we've covered some decent parental duties.


When it come to food I'm pretty relaxed this week.  I'm going to venture into sour dough bread but only just a little.  I'm making some beef stock with bones, meat and marrow and of course a few veggies thrown into the pot.  I did something spectacular with cauliflower that surprised even me - you'll be getting that post next.  I made these beauties.  They're all cheesy and green and square like.  I'm trying to convince myself that they're like a savoury custard bar.

The plant that was taken out of the basket that my school sent us for my Father-in-law's Memorial is finally starting to  get some new leaves.

Spinach, Kale and Feta Squares adapted from 'Almonds and Raisins' by Evelyne Pytka
makes 1 9x9 inch pan of squares

1 cup whole wheat flour (I used Red Fife but any whole wheat flour will be fine)
1/2 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
6 - 7 tbsp cold butter or lard or a combination, cut into small cubes
1/2 - 3/4 cup cold milk

1/2 cup onion, chopped
3 cups spinach, chopped
3 cups kale (I used Cavolo Nero), chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp dried mixed herbs (I used parsley, basil, oregano, marjoram and rosemary)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp paprika
1 egg
4 egg whites (or just use 2 more eggs)
3/4 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup milk
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp dijon (or dried mustard powder)
dash of Worcestershire
dash of pepper sauce (optional)
1 cup feta, crumbled
1 cup cheddar (or any melty cheese), shredded

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Butter or lightly grease a 9x9 baking dish and set aside.
Combine the flours, salt and 6 tbsp's of butter or lard.  Using a pastry cutter or two knives cut the mixture together until it forms a crumbly texture.  Use the extra tbsp of butter if necessary.  Add enough of the milk to form a dough that will stick together when you try to form a ball in your hand.
Pour everything into the baking dish and pat down using your fingers until it is pressed into the bottom fairly evenly throughout.
Bake for about 15 minutes or just until the dough has baked together but hasn't gotten browned.  Set aside to cool slightly.
Remove from the oven and turn the oven up to 375°F.
Meanwhile, heat a heavy bottomed sauce over medium heat.  Add a little oil to the pot and add in the onion.  Stir for a minute or so and then add in the spinach and kale.  Turn the heat off immediately and remove from the heat.  You just want the greens to wilt, not really cook.  Once wilted add in the salt, herbs, nutmeg and paprika.  Mix well.
In a bowl combine the egg and egg whites (or just all the eggs) and whisk for a couple of minutes by hand.  Add in the yogurt and milk and mix.  Add in the honey, dijon, Worcestershire and pepper sauce.  Whisk until combined.
Place the greens evenly over the baked crust.  Sprinkle the feta and cheddar evenly over that.  Pour the egg mixture over the top of everything and spread evenly.  Sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese if you would like.
Bake for about 30 - 35 minutes or until everything has browned nicely on the top and the centre feels fairly firm to the touch.
Cool for about 10 minutes before cutting.