Christmas is all about ripping open presents, eating far too much and watching endless amounts of TV.
Box of presents from Cam
Once I had ripped them all open, it was over to Cam to play with them!
Jenga Ladders
Play time over, it was time to eat… Read the rest of this entry »
I’m sure with Christmas only 2 ‘sleep nights’ away, you are all far to busy to be reading this.
However, I just wanted to take the opportunity to wish everyone…
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND
A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Lots of love from
Louise and Cameron x
On a regular basis, perhaps once a week, Cameron and I rent a movie from the local store or gas station. This is a result of several factors. 1) My incompetence with the TV remote control (channel changer), why do you need 3 remotes for one television? 2)My impatience! I simply cannot be bothered to search through all 1 million channels to finally find something I want to watch only to be informed that it’s a ‘pay by view’ channel (all channels seem to be ‘pay by view’ here) 3)My absolute refusal to watch more than one episode of Monster Trucks per week – it seems to be the only thing you can watch around the clock for free!
Plus I love going to rent a movie! Growing up in a tiny village in Scotland meant that movie rental wasn’t a common occurrence for me as a child. In fact it wasn’t until I was a teenager that such services were brought to my attention by a now ex boyfriend (who lived in a slightly larger town). He also informed me that you simply could not rent a movie without stocking up on as many sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks as your parents would agree to pay for!
This is a tradition that I carry on (however, I no longer have my parents to pay for it) and I don’t go quite so O.T.T now that the novelty has worn off slightly. Anyway, this is all a long way of getting to the main point of this story! On such trip, we had already selected a movie and picked the sweets when my lovely husband asked if I wished to get some ‘pop’ (pop meaning fizzy juice, liquor here is only sold in the liquor stores, and it was already closed so that was not an option). Not wishing to miss an opportunity, I strolled over to the refrigerator section and selected a red bull, thinking that if would at least help to keep me awake (Cameron had chosen the movie you see). Just as I was about to turn around and head towards the cashier I happened to notice a special offer notice on the side of the refrigerator glass. I felt obliged to seek out what was advertised and was amazed to find non other than…
Beaver Buzz
Beaver Buzz, the all Canadian version of Red Bull. Who could resist purchasing something with such outstanding packaging? And amazingly its a lot tastier too!
It comes in a variety of flavours!
I’m afraid I cannot take all the credit for this recipe – it has been adapted from Jamie Oliver. I have to say though that it is delicious on any kind of sandwich or just with cheese. You can also add it into stews etc. It’s wicked stirred through gravy to accompany sausage and mash! Although, sausages aren’t something you can easily get in Canada, hence, I am really looking forward to some good sausage and mash next time I return home to Scotland. Or why not give it as a gift this Christmas?
All jarred up
Ingredients
•2-4 Red Chillies (depending on how hot you like it)
• 5 red peppers
• 4 ripe tomatoes
• olive oil
• 2 medium red onions, peeled and chopped
a sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• a 5cm piece of cinnamon stick
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 100g brown sugar
• 150ml balsamic vinegar
P.T.O for method
Our weekends are usually taken up with lots of exploring and investigating and this weekend was no exception! On Saturday we headed along to Mahone Bay (stop for Tim Horton’s coffee) then along through Chester to East River where we stopped for a much need pee in the bushes (bloody coffee) and walk along the railway line. After our walk (might I just add it was freezing) we headed back to Chester for a Subway. Following lunch we went back to East River and headed out along Aspotogan Peninsula round to Fox Point near where we stopped for more coffee at Bike and Bean before going to Tantallon (see blue markers on map). After all those back roads it was time to head home along the highway!
Paper Mill next to Railway (East River)
With the arrival of December comes an obvious flurry of excitement and stress as a whole lot of poor mothers, fathers and grandparents engage in battle with each other in order to provide their darling offspring (i.e. brats, who have suddenly become angels under the age old threat of ‘Santa won’t come unless you are good’) with the items requested on their never ending lists.
Thankfully in our household I am the only one who has a list and gets to throw tantrums about which way I want to put the fairy lights and decorations on the christmas tree. However, I also get threated with ‘If you’re not good, Santa won’t come’. Luckily this threat has never been furfilled or I’d probably only ever wake up to lots of coal on christmas day.
This year we decided to be a little creative with our christmas decorations (as afore mentioned). This had several benefits: 1) No battling with old Mrs Bloggs over the last pack of baubles or piece of tinsel 2) not having to listen to endless screaming children, whilst parents confiscate the tenth item they have loaded into the shoppoing trolley 3)Cameron would say it kept me busy and out of his way for atleast a good few hours
After much glueing, sellotaping, blue-tacing and a few ‘f’ and ‘b’ words the final result was ready to be displayed to the world…
Read the rest of this entry »
Returning from the shower the other night, I was a little surprised to discover what was in my bed…
Woofie and Moosie
Take 2
They seem to get their geekyness from my husband. Hopefully they were sorting out my Christmas presents! Although I’m not quite sure what they were doing with my iPod… They don’t look like the kind of guys that would be into Sugababes or Duffy… but you never know!
SCONES
Ingredients:
500g strong white flour
2 medium eggs + 1 for egg wash
75g caster sugar
30g (3 teaspoons) baking powder
75g butter, softened
230ml milk
100g sultanas
Makes 15-18 scones
Preheat oven to 425 oF (roughly 200 oC)
Method:
1) Mix all ingredients except sultanas for 5 mins, until well bound
2) Incoorporate sultanas into the dough
3) Tip out onto floured surface
4) Roll out dough until about 5cm thick then cut out scones
5) Put onto lined baking tray and egg wash (be careful egg wash doesn’t run down the sides of the scones as this will stop them from rising as well)
6) Chill for 30mins before baking at 425 oF for 10-15mins
TEATIME
On Sunday Cameron’s parents treated us to lunch at the Innlet Cafe
The smoked haddock chowder and lobster sandwiches are amazing!
After lunch we headed along into the town to the Christmas festival. All the local shops and business’ place Santa figures outside to make the town look nice and festive…
Santa with friends
This Santa is feeling a little 'fruity'
Just another teuchter in Canada 