Gold!

Last night I was at a concert and the host was Shaun Majumder from This Hour Has 22 Minutes. He went on for about 5 minutes about Sidney Crosby and this twisted numerology that he came up with. I found it on youtube and you can watch it here. It is hilarious and surprisingly makes sense by the end. It was even funnier standing in a crowd of people who roared and cheered with the outcome!

Have a great day!

Yes, I am alive! Busy, tired, happy, and very much alive. I will be back in PEI in a little more than a week. It's has gone by insanely fast. The weather for the past days has been gorgeous, sunny and at least +8 everyday. I have got to do lots of exploring and eaten many delicious things...like giant cream puffs from a Japanese franchise called "Beard Papas".

I am looking forward to uploading pictures when I get back and showing you all about the adventure!

Update!

Hi Ya'll! I am popping in just to say I made it to Vancouver, it's amazing, and it's a lot of work. This is the first time I've gotten internet since getting here and I have a feeling it won't happen often! It may be like Michigan where most of the pictures happen when I get back to PEI...but I'll try and make an effort to upload a few!

My first TV spot!

I was on the "Live at 5" CTV news show tonight!! It was a completely last minute thing...I was called and asked how soon I could be at school and to meet the interviewer in the lobby in my uniform. Not really knowing what I was getting into I met him and had a little interview...I was really nervous, mostly afraid I was going to get overexcited and burst into hysterical laughter. Thank goodness I didn't!
I videotaped it so you could all see, sorry for the shaky camera and the laughing, oh and the 'awwws' when we realized it was over!

I leave early tomorrow morning for the west coast and had a surprise celebration with Tracy and two friends from school They brought me a mini cake!

I was ecstatic. A perfect send off!

Next post will be from Vancouver!

More of your pictures!

I received another email today that had photos attached of Brenda, Isabelle, and Duncan making pizza and eating chocolate oatmeal!

Looks like they had fun!! And that pizza looks delicious!

Thank you all for sending me pictures...they are definitely a highlight of my day and I'll keep posting them if you keep sending them!

Ah, Sunday!

Sometimes all a Sunday needs is a nest of blankets on the floor and a good movie to watch...
Hope you're all having a good one!

A Good Day.

It's Friday. Thank goodness. I just had my last day of school till March 22nd. Oh my. I kicked butt today at school in my kitchen practical. Oh yeah. You could say it was the perfect ending to a rotation.
For the practical we had to cook a comfort meal, a main and a dessert, that would be able to sell for $35.00. It took some thinking to come up with my comfort meal...I realized that what was comforting for me was to have someone cook me a meal! And that I don't really have a favorite dessert or one that comforts me because what I love doing is making a dessert and feeding it to people I love. But, after some contemplation and help from Tracy I decided to do a carbonara pasta and mini pavlovas. I do love carbonara (bacon, parmesan, eggs, and homemade fettuccine...try and resist it) and I love making pavlovas. I was set.
Things went smoothly until my meringue nests for the pavlovas didn't cook properly and while they didn't burn they did turn an awful shade of brown. I panicked slightly, we only had 4 hours and I did not have time to make some more and bake them for 1 1/2 hours. Thankfully Tracy was there and helped me come up with a solution. French Macarons. Something I have been obsessing about for the past few months. Nothing like our coconut macaroons, these macarons (note the spelling) are two almond meringue discs sandwiched with the filling of your fancy, chocolate ganache or buttercream are the most popular choices. They are simply breathtaking. They melt in your mouth but are crunchy and chewy at the same time. I made them for the first time on Thursday for our snack time (yes, we culinary students require a snack time) and they turned out incredibly well, considering they are finicky things. So that is the solution Tracy gave me, make the french macarons that you know will work and plate it a little differently than the pavlova but with the some components. And I have to say it turned out better than any pavlova I've ever made.
Without further ado here is the macaron/pavlova with lemon cream, fresh berries, and mango coulis.

I am very happy with it and beyond pleased that while it was a rough start with the meringues it worked out perfectly in the end.

The carbonara came together with no fuss and was very fun to make.

That face, by the way, is my "Oh my, it Friday and this plate is really hot!" face.

It was a great day and I am happy to announce that Tracy (who made an amazing meatloaf and chocolate peanut butter pie!) and I tied for highest mark in the class. Let's just say there were a few high fives!

Chocolate Oatmeal Part 2

I received an email last night from my cousin Nathalie who had made the chocolate oatmeal I had posted yesterday for breakfast. And she took pictures! I'm really liking this guys, I love getting pictures of you cooking food!

Here is Nate with her chocolate oatmeal...

Isn't she purty? And that chocolate oatmeal only adds to it!

Something to perk up your morning!

Today was a PD Day at school so there was none! Except I had to go in anyway for four hours to help out with preparation for Vancouver. So, you could say I need some pep this morning. And when I need pep in the morning I turn to chocolate as I did with the chocolate granola months ago. This time though I went hot...yup, that's right chocolate OATMEAL! More specifically mocha oatmeal with walnuts and chocolate chips. Trust me, it's health food...anything that makes you smile as much as I did this morning has got to be good for you!
I thought I'd share the recipe in case you were needing to brighten up your morning!

Mocha Oatmeal

~adapted from thekitchen.com~

Two notes about the recipe. First, I made the recipe with steel cut oats (which is an oat before it's squished flat, it's the oat that takes the longest to cook) but you can use Scottish oats or old fashioned oats, although cooking times may vary. Second, the recipe originally called for instant espresso powder, I didn't have any so I just substituted brewed coffee for 1/2 of water, or you could use instant coffee, or if you're not so crazy about caffeine in you oatmeal then just leave it out.

3 cups water

1 cup steel cut oats

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup brewed coffee or 2 teaspoons instant espresso

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoon sweetener (honey, maple syrup, sugar)

Chopped nuts (any ones that tickle your fancy)
Chocolate chips

Bring water to a boil.

Stir in oats, salt, coffee, and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

While the oatmeal is simmering, toast nuts.

Remove from heat and stir in sweetener. Transfer to bowls and sprinkle with nuts and chips and drizzle with milk.

Enjoy!

Serves 2-4

Proof...

Tonight was a quick dinner night...a clean out the fridge night. Or what I like to call a 'junk in your trunk' supper. Usually these dinners never look very appetizing but they do tend to be quite satisfying!

So, here's the proof that not everything needs to look good to taste delicious...

And in case you still aren't convinced:

I do love a good mish-mash! This one is greens, vegetarian chili, salsa, crushed tacos, hot sauce, edamame beans, and yogurt. Wow. Definitely not as nice on paper!

Happy eating!