Hot CoCoa(chocolate)

well this has been sitting in the draft box for about a month sorry.


I will admit it. I love chocolate any form, mainly Dark Chocolate.

When we went to Hillside Festival last summer. There was a food vendor that I was eyeing every time we showed up, left or walked past. It was pretty well at the entrance to the festival. They were making corn flour tortillas on a huge cast iron looking pan, with I'm pretty sure cocoa in the stuff being wrapped up maybe I'm wrong, but they also had Aztec or Mayan Hot Cocoa. Which by the end of three days of walking past I finally had enough. I says to myself "F-this noise, I'm getting some Hot Cocoa, and tacos or burritos what ever those things are" luckily it was like the last 15 mins of the festival and they were just trying to get rid of stuff, and selling it cheap, put in my order and got the hot Cocoa and just about died, it was awesome, warm as in spicy, and hot as in hot chocolate it was marvelous, finished it before my taco or tortilla things were ready, before the security officials were asking us to leave, before they had to do something about it.

Well now it's getting close to it actually being winter and hot chocolate season, I'm ready to start experimenting. first batch. Cocoa powder, powdered sugar, skim milk powder, pinch of salt, cornstarch(why I am not sure but it asks for it), then in my cup I added a pinch of chili powder, that sucked, nothing even close, that really was bad, but I finished it, it tasted more chocolate than chili so it was bearable.

Then added the mix to another cup added a little cinnamon, and Cayenne pepper, wooo I found it, not the same but close enough to tie me over to the next time I find Aztec hot chocolate from someone who knows how to make it.... WARNING watch out how much Cayenne you put in it. Did I ever tell you how intolerant I am to spicy, I love it, it does not like me... but either way hit the gas.
 So I drank it, it was phenom-nom-nom-nomenal, if i don't say so my self.

Will post Recipe in the future once I have perfected the Mayan on Aztec part of it. But for the time being.

Hot Cocoa

1 1/4cp - Cocoa Powder
2 cp      - Powdered Sugar
2 cp      - Skim Milk Powder
1 tbsp   - Corn Starch
1 tsp     -  Salt

sift through ........sifter? to break up any large chunks of powders.
Boil water add 3 to 4 heaping spoonfuls into mug, fill with boiled water half way mix vigorously til mixed add soy, almond, coconut, or more water... enjoy.

Peace

The ...... Rain

Snows gone, kale and chard still here. Rain has taken the snow away, back to looking grey and miserable.  Got back from the St. Johns Ambulance Craft Sale @ the Armouries in Lindsay, got some bees wax candles from Back to The Land, from north of Port Perry. 

The Snow

Well it's official there is snow on the ground snow on the kale which is looking defeated going to have to gather up the last of it and see what we can do, the salad greens and chard under our home made greenhouse/frost protectors, are still looking well. little flakes of snow are still floating down onto the ground, our new cat is still unsure of the snow she was attacking it on the deck earlier which was pretty comical. We made Sweet Potato Biscuits yesterday, they were delicious, forgot to take pictures though so if we make them again I will be all over that.

Kids in the Street.

I remember growing up in the east side of Toronto, East York, to be exact Sammon Ave, and Woodbine Ave. My brother and our friends on the street or a few blocks down, running in the street skateboarding, rollerblading, playing catch, climbing the sides of our house, putting speakers on the outside on the roof from our bedroom playing records and tapes maybe CDs and pretending we had a radio show, microphone and all the whole block probably heard it through my dads stereo system. Running around outside was not foreign, playing Cops and Robbers with my parents Black Pontiac, Parisienne (the bat mobile) it would be the Cop car and getaway car depending on who was in the drivers seat, now we didn't have the keys and the thing didn't move but we would jump around in and out of it slamming the doors, probably yelling and carrying on like boys would do. Playing Basketball, road hockey and baseball in the alley between the houses were in our repertoire, I was young but I am pretty sure there were no complaints to our parents about this racket.
Then "Game On!" we move to Napanee near Kingston, and in Kingston there are people complaining about street Hockey and wanting it banned, the main complaint, was that someone had to wait a moment while they cleared the equipment or just the players to get out of the way. That opens up another issue with the mentality people have of they need to get where they want to go, as fast as possible. Now they didn't ban street hockey and most people say they did but the put restrictions on it, they just pointed out the obvious. Clear the way when vehicles approach, don't break neighbours lawn or things, keep noise down(F-that one right there) you can't play between 8pm - 9am Street Hockey in Kingston, By-Law.
Then again "from downtown" we, my partner and I move to The City of Kawartha Lakes, and a friend from Toronto who used to partake in the noise in the streets with my brother and I, well he posted a link about a woman in Peterborough complaining about a kid playing basketball in his parents driveway, and getting the Ministry of Environment involved. Are people that out of touch with their younger selves? Do they not remember they were annoying loud bastards also? Its what kids are, That is why we ourselves don't want any yet, we enjoy quietly walking the dogs and sleeping in.
Kids need to be outside playing, making noise, breaking things, getting hurt, adventuring, doing things that might get them in trouble, from the greatest movie ever made, The Sandlot Mothers plea for son to go outside.

Music, Turkey, Music, Turkey

Went out to The Academy Theatre on Thursday night to see Joel Plaskett Emergency with Mo Kenney, wicked performances just to bad there was seating and no one got up to dance till the last few songs. Hopefully the small turn out of people didn't scare them away, maybe they will come back sometime.

Also made a soup with the left over turkey and half the stock that I made the other half in the freezer with the rest of the left over meat. I added with some carrots, potatoes, beans, and celery, from our garden and farmers market. The soup is good more kind of a stew then a soup always happens we put too many veggies in and gets to be quite chunky. Had that for supper with some pumpernickel bread and goat cheese. What a damn good dinner that was.

We cleaned up our garden this weekend emptied out the pots of soil into a pile added some compost and black earth and manure into it before covering it with a tarp for the winter, put away the pots into the garage attic, our yard looks really bare now everything is dead or dying. Our Kale, and chard are still doing well a couple leaves of the chard got hit with the frost the other night so we are going to have to eat some of the bigger leaves so that the little green houses can fit over them. Brought what ever tomatoes didn't get damaged by the frost in to ripen in doors.

Got to remember to email the community garden to get a plot for our onion and to plant the garlic within the next week.

Peace out.

Turkey, Things

Turkey left overs.

Yesterday I prepared the turkey carcass, that we brought home from the family, for some stock making. after I found our largest pot threw in some celery, onion, carrots garlic and some bay leaves with the carcass. and let that boil down for about 3 hours. The house smelled awesome and thanks to the leaky windows I'm sure we made everybody on the block salivate. Let that cool and skimmed any fat off the top.
Now I have to make up a batch of soup and freeze half of the 12 cups of stock.

Now its time to get something done.

Peace Out.

After the Thanks were given

So this is the first day back to work after all the Thanks, Feasts, and Toasts were given, and taken. We arrive back home. With left over treats baked by my Mum for my birthday, Pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, some hybrid Rice crispy peanut butter nanaimo bar which was awesome, and we can't forget the newly introduced thanksgiving desert Baklava, Thanks Ma.

We came home with a carcass, new wooden crates from an old store display (thanks M) one has already replaced my non existent night stand, and full bellies.

Sorry no pics of the treats, they were good, got around to eating them too fast.

This is the time....

This is the time when we get together for feasts and family, long trips away from home to the west then to the east. Long ago stories from relatives with beverages, food, and smiles.

My thanks, are to my family and friends, air and water, Flora and Fauna, Health, food and beer. And being lucky to be born in this place we call the Great White North.

Hope your weekend is just as fantastic.

Peace out.

Can...ning,

Canning of the tomatoes continued into Monday, we canned 6 jars of salsa, with peppers and tomatoes from   our Winter Friend. It was supposed to be spicy but it did not turn out like that, I am fairly intolerant to spicy, I sweat go red and cry. I love it but, it does not like me. 

We used this recipe Spicy Tomato Salsa, maybe all the peppers weren't spicy, but the piece of pepper that I tried that seemed to be the same as the others felt like burning. It ended up a bit sweet, possibly from the red wine vinegar but its better than last years batch. Found a trick, after you dice up your toms put them in a colander and let them drain into a bowl, for about an hour or till you clean up everything, that way you won't have as much water to combat with when you boil down your salsa. re-measure your tomatoes and add more to bring up to the recipes amount. That trick gave us a slightly thicker salsa this year than last. We may just have to add some Sriracha sauce when we eat some salsa.

We also tried out canning Pickled Beans, pickling is a lot faster than anything to do with tomatoes so that was more fun, less clean up.

Peace,
Have a good night.

You say tomato I say .....tomato

Well got to texting our Winter Friend, she was our neighbour 2 years ago, and a wicked neighbour she was and still is. We or I coined that term last night "Winter Friend" because in the summer we typicly don't see her, because both parties get pretty busy.

So to get back to the story. She got to texting both of us on Friday, and we found out she can't keep up with harvesting her toms and beans and everything, so we went over on Sunday, filled half a wheel barrow with tomatoes, that is like her 4th wheel barrow of tomatoes. When we got home I instantly got to peeling coring and canning the toms into Canned Crushed Tomatoes. We still have a grocery bag full, and probably do some more, and we also got 2 or 3 grocery bags of green and wax beans so I was going to take a stab at pickled beans.

There they are in all their glory

Peeled, 4 cups of just tomato skin.

6Qt pot filled right to the brim, boiled for 5 minutes.

doled out.

10 500ml Jars.

Earth?

What is Earth? Is it a planet in this huge vast area, and no one really knows how big it really is?  They can lie and tell you they do know, but, its all guess work.
We call lots of things Earth, Black Earth, Diatomaceous Earth, Soil is sometimes referred to as Earth, Earthworms, Earth Shelter, Earth Quake.

What is Earth? Dirt? Yes, at least to me it is. I like it and all the things it can do. Support life, Micro organisms, It supports me and my feet, my home, my plants, the animals in which walk on it, the farmers market I go to down the road, my bicycle and car tires, the grass in which my dogs pee and poop on, where my cats can chase mice and bugs and think they are hiding in, The enormous and beautiful trees, the water that sits on it, or goes through it and gets filtered. We can all thank dirt but most of us don't. This is my thanks.

We dig into it, we plant our veggies and flowers into it, sow seeds into it, walk, run, trot on it. Sleep and sit on it, put different types of dirt into our bars of soap, press it into pottery, make buildings out of it. Get it in our hair up our cracks, under our nails, stuck to our feet, packed into our boots and shoe treads, tread it into our houses, sweep it up throw it back outside.

How many times have you looked up at a tree? To see its Large trunks, colour and shape of its leaves, its twists in its branches, texture of its bark.

Now?

How many times have you looked down at the Earth? And seen its jewels and gems, colours and textures.  Whether its arid or saturated, if its hiding treasures just underneath its surface, whether its been compacted to support buildings and roads. Has it been disturbed?  Is some creature running through it like a miniature subway system, or did another creature bury its meal for safe keeping? How many different layers of different types of dirt are beneath you?

Peace, I'm out.

What the Pud!?

Well its getting cooler up here now. Maybe it will warm up again in the next few weeks. We sowed a few spinach, kale, and chard seeds. The chard we sowed a few weeks ago have grown very well and ready to be eaten, the spinach I believe got eaten by squirls. The second bunch of seeds we put into the ground, just to see how long we can keep them going under our mini green houses, or just over winter under some mulch, since that was successful the past winter.
Well to get to the point of this, my Little lady friend went out to help with a fundraiser for the Healing Horse Center at Boston Pizza, for their vet and hay bills. I went and got some groceries and made a mess in the kitchen. What mess did I make?
I made Chocolate Pudding mess, but not just any chocolate pudding, since the two Humans in the house are lactose intolerant.

3 Avacados - scooped out and pited
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup of Honey (or to taste)
2tbsp of Peanut Butter (optional)
1/4 tsp of Salt
2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 cup of cocoa powder

put it all in the food processor mix until smooth, scraping the sides back into the mixture. Refrigerate and bam pudding.

Now this tastes good but don't be fooled its not going to taste like "regular" pudding, but if you have good ingredients it will taste good. But, thats just my opinion

Most of the ingredients.

All of the ingredients.

Rainy Day Farmers Market

Woke up today, rain, rain, but we have got things to do today, taking a trip to the Big Smoke to visit some family. I was riding solo today @ the farmers market. K was sleeping in, she didn't get home till 6am. She has been taking the night shift @ The Healing-Horse-Centre, taking watch over a sick pony named Ziggy Stardust, Poor little bugger has had a rough go over the last week, but things are looking brighter. You can check out his progress and story @ that link, they are also looking for donations, to help pay for the vet bills and new hay.

The Lindsay Farmers Market was pretty slow not to many people wanting to step out in the rain today, that was fine it was quick and easy not having to dodge people and I was able to get home quick to eat my treats. I picked up some treats from The Sweet Kitchen, and Cabbage rolls and Perogies for breakfast from Taste of Russia. If you live in the area I recommend heading out to the farmers market, show support for local foods, and good treats. If you are not in the area I'm sure there is a farmers market in your area, which has probably got their own delicious treats. List of Ontario Farmers Markets.

My Perogies, and cabbage roll from Taste of Russia

starting top left Blueberry raspberry? crumble, Salted Caramel Brownies, S'More bar

My photos don't do the food justice, but they were yummy.

First try, Pesto!

Got bored on Monday (Labour day). So I tried my hand at making Pesto for the first time. After reading about how to store it, I found that most sites say to just put it in sterilized jars and freeze it. As "canning" water bath or pressure cooker, ruins the fresh taste of it.

After you put the pesto in the sterilized jars put a layer of olive oil on the top to cover pesto completely, make sure its nice and flat before hand makes it a lot easier, and less oil having to be used. Then just put a lid on it and freeze it for up to 6 months. So, I thought I should try it out. We don't eat a whole lot of it, but we had enough basil to make it, so I figured what the hey, I like it. I chose to use almonds instead of pine nuts, and it tastes like pesto still so not that big of a problem.

Loaded everything up in the processor 

just thought I would show you another.

Finished only made two small jars, looks like I will be making more in a months time I guess.

 Peace!
Have a good night

Cleaning the Cupboards

So, have you ever had a problem with crowded cupboards because of pots and their lids all over the place, and just didn't know what to do about it. Instead of making a huge racket every time you go to make supper for you and your family, And after a long day of work you just can't even bother dealing with the clutter. You reach in the freezer for you organic, low fat, low sodium, burritos and throw those in the nuker for your family. But stop no don't do that, I have got a solution for you. 

I too suffered from these nuisances and was sick and tired of dealing with this none sense, I did what any handy crafty lunatic would do....IT's TIME TO RISE ABOVE...... I went to the Dollar Store, now now now I know that sounds insane but come on they have almost everything. Went to Isle #9 and found these towel bars that hang over your cupboard doors..... no no no that doesn't work, but I could drill holes in the hangy deals to allow for myself to put screws through. so I did just that. with some #10 1/2" robby screws. I hung those suckers up on .... wait for it... on the inside of the cupboard doors, You picking up what I'm putting down?

Messy cupboard pots and lids every where

Handy, over the door towel racks, bad idea turned better.

put some holes in there to secure to door.

NICE! easy peasy, it helps.

Oh yeah, Thats nice

Peace WE out!

Diggin the Dirt

So yesterday, the little lady and I spent sometime digging in the dirt. Sifting through the compost, after about 4 years of dumping kitchen scraps in there. It was surprisingly really good, fluffy, dark, earthy smells, lots of critters, sow bugs, tons and tons of worms, and other little guys. We pulled out 4 wheel barrow loads spread the first three around our raised garden, tomato pots and flower gardens.

We also dug out one of our potato baskets all the plants have died so we decided it was time. The other basket is still alive but probably ready to be dug out shortly. We use the potato basket method of piling the dirt around the plants in a type of container so we can grow more plants in a smaller area and contain all the bedding (straw, dirt). The potatoes only develop in the first 6 to 12 inches of material same as last year so our baskets don't need to be as tall next year maybe that just means more baskets next year.

our last load being saved to mix into our dirt from the containers on our deck

what was left after our hard work of sifting, This thing was completely full.

our first basket harvest, three large pots are missing due to
baked potatoes last night 

First time for everything!

So this is my attempt to blogging I'm going to try this out see how it goes, hopefully all goes well. I will blog about things I do, things I see and maybe just somethings, for every one to parouse about if the mood  strikes you.
I will try and be more entertaining in my future posts, I'm new and I'm fragile and scared alright!

Peace
Have a good night.