Either/Or

I’ve been reading these Either/Or interviews over at Rich Inner Life and loved them so much, that I figured I would snag one for my own. Side note: This isn’t my writing, I grabbed a copy of the interview here.

A few explanations:

TV vs. Radio: Lately, I’ve been favoring TV because I’m not a fan of the local radio stations. If I listen to the radio too long, I hear the same song repeated an infinite amount of times. I also quickly tire of the incessant talking in between songs. Truthfully, I prefer CDs, but haven’t bought a new one in ages. I wish I could access Pandora here.

Morning vs. Evening: I love both times of the day, but I can’t ever seem to make myself get all that much done in the mornings (when I’m not working). I’m much more productive in the evening.

Pencil vs. Pen: I’m picky about the pens I use, and will hoard good ones.

Introvert vs. Extrovert: I’m an introvert, but sometimes I surprise myself by going and doing things like inviting a blogger over to decorate cupcakes!

Mountain and Beach: A beach surrounded by mountains is the only way to go.

Neat vs. Messy: I prefer things to be neat, but I’m messy by nature.

Eat In and Take Out: I prefer eating in when Stephen takes the time to cook a lovely meal, but I love going out to eat just as much. I’m not talking about fast food, I’m talking about real food in a nice restaurant.

If you look on the right side of my blog, I've added a poll. I want you guys to decide what I'm going to bake next! The poll will stay open until May 6th, and I'll bake what you choose that weekend. The recipe will be posted the following Thursday, May 13th.

Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies

8 times out of 10, I don’t like picking up cookies at the grocery store. I usually prefer eating home baked ones, but I do make certain exceptions. Funnily enough, that exception isn’t even for Oreos. If someone else buys them and offers them to me, then I’m all over them. If I have to pick out grocery store cookies, I’m usually picking out something from the bakery. I can’t help it, it’s just who I am. Stephen claims to only like one or two Oreo’s, once in a blue moon, so I was rather surprised when he said that this recipe looked interesting. When I saw the recipe, it just looked so natural to me. Oreo pieces inside of a chocolate chip cookie, what’s not to love? My verdict? Yum!

Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies
First seen on Lovin’ From the Oven, Adapted from Picky Palate

The recipe on Picky Palate is for a half batch of cookies, but half batches just don’t cut it around here. I like to throw about half of all the cookies I bake in the freezer to eat during times when I haven’t baked in a while.

(Printable Recipe)

1 cup Softened butter
3/4 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
20 Broken Oreos (I may actually up this and decrease the chocolate chips next time I make it.)
1 cup Chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cream butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla, mix until fully combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir in Oreos and chocolate chips, stirring just until combined.
4. Form into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 7-9 minutes, or until done.
Trust me, you’ll want to make these as soon as possible.

Apartment Living

I've always known that I'd live in an apartment at some point in my life, but I never really thought about all of the things that that would entail. I love it for the most part, but there are some aspects of it that I could do without. Care to read a few?

The male neighbor (whose door is several inches to the left of mine) does everything in his power to avoid us. As in, he sees me coming and doesn't hold the elevator door open for me, even though I'm close enough for it not to be an inconvenience. I always had grand dreams of being friends with some people in my building, but I guess that's not happening with him. But then again, I don't have to worry, because Leah and I met for the first time. I could always entice her to come over with fresh out of the oven cookies!

Normally, I can't hear the people who live above me. It does happen occasionally, and of course it only happens when I'm trying to get to sleep. I usually hear people out in the hallway, and on some weekends, it seems like the people on my floor have decided to just have their party out in the hallway. To each his own, I suppose.

Bringing home groceries is a pain. Here's what it's like for Stephen and I after a large grocery shop: Unload groceries from the trunk and set them just inside the door. Move them from the door to the elevator. Sure, we could just move them to the elevator in the first place, but since we don't know what the people in our building are like, we decide to play it safe. (I try to think the best of people, but when hundreds of dollars of groceries are at stake, we play it safe). Then we have to load them all into the elevator. One person has to stand inside the elevator, and we have to work quickly, because our elevators get angry if you keep them open too long; they close incredibly slowly (and you have to throw your whole weight up against them to keep from shutting) while making an annoying beeping sound. Once we get to our floor, we repeat what just happened, but in reverse. Then we've got to take them all the way down the hallway to our apartment, because of course are apartment isn't by the elevator. By the time we get all the groceries inside, we're too tired to put them away!

My balcony faces a relatively busy street, and since we're only on the first floor (actually, it's technically the second, but the elevator says we live on the first...), people can see me sitting on my balcony. Right across the street is a bus stop, and I've noticed people staring at me while I'm out reading. I have to look presentable so that I can lounge on my balcony. It makes me miss the old apartment, because we used to live on the 6th floor, and no one could see us up there! I'd often sit out there in my pj's!

Laundry is also a pain. I have to round up all of our dirty clothes and drag them down to the basement. I have to make sure that I look presentable because other people are most likely going to see me in the elevator! If I haven't remembered to fill my laundry card (at the gas station a block away), then I'm screwed. Doing laundry requires 3 trips down to the basement, and costs too dang much.

This next one is just particular to my building: Taking out the garbage can be inconvenient. You have to take it to a little building in the back, and if you've lost your key...then you can't throw out your garbage.

Ten on Tuesday

28

1.  Think back a decade, do you remember what your first cellphone was? Was it as cool as Zack Morris’s phone?
10 years ago, I was 14, so I didn't have a cell phone. In fact, I didn't get my first cell phone until sometime after high school.

2. What is the first children’s book you remember being read to you? 
The first one I can remember is The Velveteen Rabbit. It'll always hold a special place in my heart.

3. What was your first car? Did you love it or hate it? 
I still haven't had my first car. Crazy, I know.

4. Who was your hero growing up?
My parents, seriously.

5. Think back to your first kiss. Was it everything you dreamed of?
Thanks to Disney and other movies, I had unrealistic expectations. It wasn't quite what I thought it would be, since I was entirely too nervous for my own good.

6.  What was your first BAD hairstyle choice? (Extra points for embarrassing photos) 
Letting my Mom decide that we needed SHORT hair. I looked like a boy. I'm still scarred from that.

7. What was your first realistic dream? (One where you had to think “Oh dang, was that a dream?”)
It's the recurring one I had about everybody in my neighborhood turning into zombies and coming after me. Ridiculous.

8. What was the first phobia you remember developing?
I don't think I ever had any phobias as a kid. I certainly don't have any now (that I know of!)

9. Which character on Sesame Street do you most identify with?
It's been so long since I've watched Sesame Street that I couldn't even answer this question. We'll just go with my fave character...Zoe.

10. What was the hardest goal you ever accomplished?
I think my hardest goals are yet to come.

My Guilty Pleasures

I’ve got a lot of guilty pleasures. When I’m having a bad day, I like to indulge in a few of them to make me feel better. However, some of them are definitely every day kind of guilty pleasures. Here’s a few, in no particular order:Image via We Heart It

Starbucks: White Mochas, Peppermint Mochas at Christmastime, Iced Coffees and Passion Tea Lemonades in the summer. I love Starbucks. Buying me a drink will land you in my good graces.

Chocolate: What girl doesn’t love indulging in chocolate? Lindor is my favorite.

Ice Cream: I’m not sure if I’ve talked about my love for ice cream on here before, but oh my, do I ever love ice cream. I’m always trying to convince Stephen to go out for ice cream with me.

When I’m having a particularly bad day, I love to get in my pajamas, drink some Starbucks and eat some chocolate and ice cream. It’s the perfect cure to just about anything.

Reality TV: I watch an absurd amount of reality shows. I could probably dedicate an entire post to my love of them!
My Cell Phone: Two Christmases ago, Stephen bought me the HTC Touch Dual. I love this dang thing a little too much. I’m rarely without it, and when I am, I feel kind of lost.

Magazines (of any kind): I rarely buy magazines any more, but I love them all. My Mom buys all of the gossip magazines I love reading but would never buy. Once she’s done reading them, she drops them off for me! Me newest love? Martha Stewart. When did I grow up?

Blogs: Does this count as a guilty pleasure? The first thing I think about doing when I get home from a long day at work is laying on the couch to catch up on my Google Reader. Baking blogs are my biggest guilty pleasure!

Random Thoughts Friday

First off, last week, the lovely Christy over at 25 Before 25 gave me the Beautiful Blogger Award. I’m supposed to list 7 things about myself and then pass it on to 7 other bloggers.

1. The thought of shaving icks me out; it’s akin to nails on a chalkboard. The weird thing is, I have no problem actually shaving my legs and such, it’s just the thought that gives me the heebies.
2. Cleaning out the lint trap in the dryer makes me feel the same way. I hate the feeling of the actual trap against my fingertips.
3. I’ve recently rediscovered my love for pudding. I’m on a mission to find a good pudding recipe so I can make my own.
4. The thought of cooking dinner for myself makes me crazy. I’ve always hated cooking, but have recently discovered that I don’t mind all that much finding recipes and cooking for Stephen and I. Because of the hours that Stephen works, I eat alone most nights. The worst time to cook for me is when I come home from work. I usually get home around 7 and would rather die than cook myself a meal. I’m currently searching for new recipes that are quick and easy. Preferably something that I could toss in the oven with little preparation. Any suggestions?
5. I’ve recently discovered that I’m allergic to my guinea pigs. Whenever I hold them for more than a few minutes, I get itchy and will beak out into hives. This makes me feel awful, but doesn’t stop me from loving on them.
6. I’m dying to start a garden, and I don’t know where this sudden passion for gardening came from. Since I live in an apartment, I have to do container gardening. I’d love to grow veggies.
7. I have serious puppy fever. Whenever I see a dog, my heart aches. Since we live in a teeny apartment, Stephen and I feel we should wait on getting a dog. It doesn’t help that my Vulcan Sister has 3 dogs.

Now for the 7 lovely bloggers that I’m passing this along to:
1. Miranda at Imperfectly Candid
2. Andi at Fuegita Bonita
3. Holly at Her Southern Heart
4. Kimberley at Blair’s Girls
5. Sue at Simon’s Sista Saw
6. Chanel at Stilettos and Coffee
7. Allie at Learning To Live Lean
**********
As for my other random thoughts:

-It rained last night. I’ve been waiting for this for ages, because I’m simply sick of Calgary being so brown! I can’t wait to see green grass and everyone’s gorgeous gardens.

-I need to organize my whole apartment. I wish I had someone who I could call over to help me out. It would make it more fun!

-Stephen and I bought new pillows on Tuesday night. I normally sleep with two pillows, but these ones are so nice and fluffy that I only need one! And get this: They were buy one get one free, so we got 4 for $20. They’re pretty amazing for cheap pillows. Now we just need to get a new bedspread and we’d be set.

-I’m actually going to stop here before this turns into a novel. Enjoy your weekend friends! I know that if it’s warm and sunny, you’ll be able to find me on my balcony with an iced coffee.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

When my nanny kids were younger, I’d have a hard time keeping my drinks away from them. Every time I turned around, one of them were trying to steal a sip, hoping that it would be better than the milk I was making them drink. More often than not, I was drinking water, which they didn’t get any excitement from. When I started drinking coffee at work, I had to make sure to tell them that coffee is a grownup drink, and they shouldn’t drink it. Since then, every time they see me filling up my coffee mug, they take it upon themselves to remind me that coffee is still a grownup drink. When looking for things to bake the other day, I decided I was really in the mood for a coffee cake, so I suggested it to the kids. “But Ang! Coffee is a grownup drink!!” Try explaining to a 5 and 7 year old that coffee cakes don’t actually contain any coffee. Yeah, it took me a while. Once they realized that it was ok for kids to eat, they pretty much devoured it. I’d call that a successful coffee cake!
(I didn’t get too many good pictures this time, the kitchen was rather dark that day.)

Blueberry Coffee Cake

(Printable Recipe)

2 cups Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
3 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1/4 Cooking oil
3/4 cup Milk
1 cup Blueberries, fresh or frozen
Topping:
1/3 cup Flour
1/3 cup Packed brown sugar
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. In another bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Mix in cooking oil and milk. Pour into dry ingredients; mix.
4. Fold in blueberries. Scrape into Bundt pan.
Topping: Mix flour, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of batter.

Bake for 50-6o minutes, or until it begins to shrink away from sides of pan.
Alternatives: Cranberries and raspberries would taste wonderful!

Enjoy with a nice big mug of grown up coffee!

Things Will Get Better

Stephen and I have had a lot on our plates lately. It seems like one problem after another kept presenting itself, and before we knew it, we were completely overwhelmed. After tweeting a few times pleas to the Universe to help a girl out, two amazing blog friends emailed me to make sure I was alright. Thanks girls, your kind words mean more to me than you may realize.

(Image via The Notebook Doodles)

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across The Notebook Doodles, a cute blog filled with images that all spoke to me. After clicking back through goodness knows how many pages, I found this image and immediately made it my background. I needed this little reminder that everything would indeed get better.

In order for things to get better, Stephen and I had to be proactive about it. I haven’t been getting nearly enough hours at work, so I started searching out other families to help me make up those hours. Since then, I’ve added two families, with the promise of a May Long Weekend job and was recommended to one of the new family’s friend’s. I’m slowly building up my client base again. It feels good.

We’ve also decided to cut unnecessary expenses where we can, so cable is the first to go. We also caught wind of an offer that Telus was offering to entice new users to sign with them. First time customers would get a free laptop! On top of that, the first few months are half price. Thanks to these things, we’re getting back on track and not feeling nearly as stressed as we had been the past couple of weeks. We’re even doing research and starting to save up to get a new camera!

Ten on Tuesday

#27

1.  What two cities should be moved closer together?
St. John, NB and Calgary, AB, so that I could see my best friend more often.

2. What was the first plane ride you took? 
I believe the first plane ride I took was when I was in grade 7, when we moved from Toronto to Calgary.

3. What continent would you most like to visit? 
Europe.

4. What’s your favorite place to window-shop?
Any place along 17th Ave. There’s all kinds of cute little stores and restaurants there.

5. What’s the least fun you’ve ever had at a place specifically tailored for fun?
The last time I went to the water park at West Edmonton Mall, I was pretty sick. I had absolutely no desire to be there, but we were on the trip to attend a concert, so none of our planned activities could be postponed. I wish I had stood up for myself and said that I didn’t want to go to the water park.

6.  You’re stuck on an island with plenty of food, a companion, and a relatively stress-free lifestyle. What do you say when the rescue ship comes? 
I don’t need to be rescued! In fact, I’m happier here than I ever thought I could be!

7. Which day of the week do you look forward to most? 
The first day I have off, which varies week to week. Some days it’s Thursdays, some days it’s Fridays.

8. What’s your favorite place to enjoy the great outdoors? 
I love escaping to the mountains. I live close enough that we can make a day trip to go hiking or sightseeing. Perfect way to get away for a little bit.

9. What’s on your “to do” list this summer? 
Fun Fact: I make a “Summer List” every year, and fill it up with things that I want to accomplish during June, July and August. It’s usually filled with things like camping, seeing fireworks and having a BBQ. I haven’t made it yet this year, but you can bet that gardening will be included now that I live in a place where my balcony gets full sun!

10. Which natural disaster freaks you out the most?
There’s no way I could pick  just one. Tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes and the like are all pretty nerve wracking if you ask me.

Getting Out of Calgary

Saturday before last, Stephen had a rare Saturday off, as did my parents and sister. We decided to all pile into the car and head to Vulcan to visit my sister and her new puppies!

Vulcan is known as The Official Star Trek Capital of Canada, so we stopped off at the Starship to get Stephen better acquainted.

Stephen wasn’t into the whole touristy thing though, so we quickly abandoned that idea and headed over to Tracy’s place. Earlier in the week, she and her boyfriend picked up two new puppies (they’re boxers crossed with something else, although I can’t remember what). Lily and Jaybo are adorable and are keeping their other dog Iggy (Maltese/Chihuahua) great company.

Lily wasn’t feeling very photogenic, so I was only able to get pictures of Jaybo. I was so in love with these little rascals that I seriously considered sticking them in my purse and taking them home! The only thing holding me back was the fact that they’d outgrow my teeny apartment in no time.

We barbecued some burgers and hot dogs, I watched my first ever UFC fight (and actually liked it!) and I walked with Tracy over to the tiny dollar store. It was a great visit. On the way home, we decided to take a detour and headed to Kananaskis to get our mountain fix.
We even got to see some hang gliders in action!
After all was said and done, it was the perfect escape out of the city.

Kids Say The Darndest Things Part 2

Keeping it short and sweet for Friday. Hope you all have an amazing weekend. I’ll be busy working with some new kids, so let’s hope they come up with some gems for another round of this!
**********

J: I know what sour cream is made of!
Me: What?
J: Clouds!

**********

J: 100 isn’t that much.
Me: I suppose you’re right.
J: Ten Hundred is more than 100.
Me: That’s right, good job!
J: How do you know?
Me: I learned about these things.
J: No you didn’t. You’re not in school, I am.

**********

J: My teacher is smart, she’s really tall.
S (J’s friend): My Mom is tall too.
J: Ang isn’t very tall. I guess she’s not smart.

Chunky Monkey Muffins

The first time I made these muffins, they were pulled out of a newspaper and tested at work. Everyone loved them and they quickly turned into a way to use up leftover bananas. After seeing how much my nanny family loved the muffins, I started making them at home. I made these on Sunday, and my family conveniently dropped by as I was pulling them out of the oven. How’s that for a good hostess?

Can we talk about my love of these silicups? Mine are from Williams-Sonoma, and are a dream. Muffins fall out of them. And the colors always make baking more fun!

The recipe calls for a cup of bran, but since I didn’t have any on hand, I substituted 1 1/4 cups of oats.
You throw it in a food processor and pulse until almost powdery. Works just fine!

Round up your ingredients, pulse your oats and mash your bananas.
Side note: I was out of walnuts.
Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in one bowl. In another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients, minus the bananas.
Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Fold in the coconut, bran, chocolate chips, and bananas.
Fill your muffin pan. If you’re lazy like me and don’t want to grease it, line it with cupcake liners.
I like to use a large cookie scoop to get the batter into the muffin pan. Some people use a Ziploc bag with one corner cut off, some use a small measuring cup or even a spoon. I find cookie scoops to be the easiest, mess-free option.

Chunky Monkey Muffins

(Printable Recipe)

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
3/4 cups milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup melted and cooled butter
2 cups mashed bananas (I used 5)
1 cup bran
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In large mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, milk, vanilla and butter.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients, then pour egg mixture and mix just until combined. Don’t over mix.
5. Gently fold in mashed bananas, bran, walnuts, coconut and chocolate chips.
6. Pour batter into greased muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.
This made 33 muffins for me.

20SB Blog Swap

My post (over at http://greekphysique.xanga.com) will be up this evening. Be sure to stop by and check it out!

**********

For me, the best thing about being a blogger is the opportunity to experiment. In real life, many of the topics I blog about would bore my friends, or I do not know anyone who is fascinated by a given topic. But when I blog, I feel like I am throwing out a fishing line into a vast ocean, filled with many different types of fish. If I just put enough "meat" on the hook, I know some of the fish will bite and interact with me. Then I take my new friends out of their comfortable watery home and eat them, preferably with a bit of lemon and...oops, never mind, the analogy broke down quickly, haha.

But seriously, I love the opportunity to learn and to teach at the same time. If I ever feel I am no longer learning from my readers, I will quit. I love starting a conversation and then watching the amazing ideas and suggestions my readers will have. I have tried to perfect a non-confrontational yet intriguing style that invites people to wrestle with complex topics. And by some miracle, quite a few people have indeed done so, and I appreciate them for it. The best thing about my being a blogger isn't just that I can say what I want; if that was it, I'd write in a journal for myself. No, I love taking risks with my audience, trying new styles, and then being rewarded by the audience as I reward them for their attentiveness. Sure, once in a while a blog will bomb; but then I can just hit the delete key or write the next post and keep on going!

Greek, of http://greekphysique.xanga.com

Ten on Tuesday

#26

1.  What book, movie or song has made you want to travel to a particular place? (eg. I went to Prince Edward Island because I was such a Anne of Green Gables fan)
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin made me want to travel to Pakistan immediately and start building schools. It’s a fantastic book.

2. Aside from your significant other, who would you want to take with you on a dream trip?
My family. They drive me nuts sometimes, but I wouldn’t want to share it with anyone else. Besides Stephen, of course.

3. Where would said dream trip be to?
Paris.

4. If you were hosting guests or providing tips, what three things would you show visitors to your hometown? (be it where you live now or where you grew up)
You know what’s funny? This is the second time today I’ve been asked this question! Kyla Roma is taking a road trip and will be stopping in Calgary. She was looking for recommendations, so I’ve been thinking about this all day. 
My list would probably include all restaurants, because that’s just who I am.
1. Crave Cupcakes
2. 17th Ave (for shopping)
3. Avenue Diner (mine and Stephen’s favorite diner)

5. If you had a long weekend ahead of you, where you head – beach, city or country/mountains?
Ideally, a beach. There’s none close to me though (besides a man made lake and beach, but that doesn’t count), so it will most likely be to the mountains.

6. Do you have a passport? If so, did you get it for a particular trip or just to have, in case?
I don’t have a passport.

7. Are there any travel souvenirs you collect? If not, is there something else you collect?
I don’t have any collections started, but I’m definitely going to start collecting the Starbucks city mugs.

8. If you could name a paint colour, what colour would it be and what would you call it?
It would be a shade of pink, and I’d call it Craving  Cupcakes.
I always think of cupcakes when I see pink.

9. If you were heading away for a weekend city break solo, where would you go? (forget about practicality here and flight times, assume you can get to any city in the world for the weekend)
I don’t  think I could ever travel alone. It’s just not in me.
Putting that aside though, I’d go to Paris. New York would be the weekend after.

10. Is there a song or a smell or something that you strongly associate with a particular holiday/place/time, such that it always takes you back?
The smell of gingerbread always makes me think of Christmas.

A Vacation By The Numbers…

Number of trips made to Tim Horton’s: 4
Number of prizes won from Roll Up The Rim to Win: 1 coffee
Number of donuts consumed by 6 people: 93 (80 of which were Timbits)
Number of new people met: 6
Number of movies watched: 3
Number of books read: 1 1/2
Number of meals eaten out: 3
Number of rounds of Mario Kart that I won against Stephen: 3
Number of visits with Stephen’s grandparents: 2
Number of visits to West Edmonton Mall: 1
Number of nights slept on a deflating air mattress: 2
Number of unexpected snowstorms: 1
Number of times Stephen rearranged his Mom’s apartment to drive her nuts: 2
Number of laughs we both had: 1000 (at least)

101 in 1001 Update

Original list can be found here.

#49. Make Proper Cabbage Rolls.

My Mom and Grandma would make us cabbage rolls when we were kids, so I’ve always had fond memories of that particular dinner. Without even noticing it for a while, my Mom stopped making cabbage rolls! When I moved out and became in charge of my own cooking, I was making a mental list of things that I wanted to make. Cabbage rolls made their way back into my mind, and I knew I had to make them. Only problem was, I was a little bit intimidated by them. As someone who doesn’t exactly like to cook, the thought of rolling up all of those cabbage rolls didn’t exactly seem appealing. I then remembered that my nanny family makes “Lazy Cabbage Rolls”, which is basically a cabbage roll casserole. You make the same filling, shred the cabbage and throw it into a casserole dish to bake in the oven. Stephen and I both loved it. But even Stephen wanted proper cabbage rolls, and so he requested them!Several months later, I actually got bored enough to tackle this particular item.

While my cabbage rolls were good, they still weren’t the cabbage rolls of my childhood that I remembered. Stephen and I both agreed that my lazy cabbage rolls were much more successful. I’m still marking this off my list as a success, because technically, there was nothing wrong with them. I’m just too picky for my own good sometimes. It’s hard living up to a memory! I fully intend of getting my Mom to show me how she makes hers.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

My nanny family knows that I bake, and they know that I bake relatively well. They take full advantage of this (which I am happy with), and I bake for them at least once a week. They eat a lot of cookies, therefore I bake a lot of cookies. It’s just how life goes. I like to keep their cookie jar well stocked, with some extra cookies in the freezer as backup for when I’m not around. Because of this, you’ll probably notice a lot of cookie recipes around here. You’ll probably notice that the ingredients and supplies I use vary from week to week. When I’m baking at work, I try to get a few pictures and copy down the recipe to post here. This is one of those weeks!

I bake some Oatmeal Raisin cookies on Tuesday that were ridiculously amazing. They were so good, I easily inhaled 4 of them before stopping myself. Good thing I made them small! The secret ingredient that made them so good? Honey. I’m a sucker for the sweet taste of honey! My nanny family picks up some honey in Saskatchewan, and I believe this kind is what made these cookies so darn good. While I believe that the cookies will still taste amazing with whatever honey you have on hand, I’m going to get some more info on their honey next week. Now onto my new favorite cookies!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

(Printable Recipe)

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup quick oats
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional (I omitted this)

1. Preheat oven to 300F
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt and oats.

3. In a large bowl, blend sugars. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste.

Add honey, vanilla and eggs. Mix until fully combined.

4. Add flour mixture, and raisins. Do not over mix.

5. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until cookies are light golden brown. (My cookies were on the small side, so 15 minutes was long enough)

Getting Away From It All

Stephen and I are heading to Edmonton today. We were offered a free ride (from my Dad, who is attending a conference there), so we decided to take advantage of it. We’ll be staying with Stephen’s Mom until Friday. We’re not even sure what we’re going to be doing while we’re there, since we couldn’t even afford to take a vacation in the first place. We both knew that we just needed to get out of Calgary for a couple of days and leave behind all of our responsibilities. I’ll just be happy to get some extra time with Stephen, which is rare due to his crazy work hours. In the mean time, I’ve still got a couple of posts scheduled, and when I come back, I hope to have a post up about what we actually did!
Enjoy the rest of your week! xo

Ten on Tuesday

#25

1.  If you could travel back in time, would you?  What decade would you visit?
I most definitely would! I have a really random urge to go back to Victorian times, but only if it’s for a short and sweet visit!

2. What was your best Halloween costume?  (fun to make? most creative?)
My favorite was the year that I was a dead prom queen. I found a really awesome blue dress at the thrift store. My neighbor was studying theatre makeup, so she made a really awesome gash across my neck. Best ever.

3. Do you like your name?  If you weren’t called by your name, what would you want to be called?
I like my name for the simple fact that I don’t know a lot of Angela’s. I couldn’t even imagine being called by another name!

4. In the past year, what is the BEST recipe you made.  Please share it!
Best recipe was Bobby Flay’s German Chocolate cake. It’s a bit of work, but worth every minute of it. I wanted to bake it again to include with my Thursday recipes, but the truth is it’s expensive to make, because it’s full of things I don’t keep around on a regular basis. Even still, if you want to impress someone and are willing to dish out a little bit of extra money, make this!

5. Look around – what is the nearest object or picture hanging on the wall?
This picture of Paris, from Ikea.

(I Google Image Searched and found it on this blog)

6. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?  Would you recommend it?
I went and saw Law Abiding Citizen in the cheap theatres. I thought it was really great and definitely recommend it!

7. Did you go to summer camp?  Will you/do you send your kids to camp?
I went to a few church camps when I was a teenager and loved them. I think I’ll look into summer camps when I have kids, and send them if they’re up for it. No whole summer long camps though.

8. What kind of ringtone do you have?
Some random song that came with my phone. I tried downloading ringtones, but for some reason my phone wouldn’t let me. Saves me money though!

9. Where is the farthest away from home you have ever been?
I’ve been 2126 miles away.

10. Has anyone ever written a song or a poem for or about you?
Nope!

Maybe I Love It here After All.

I had the past week off work, and while that really couldn’t have come at a worst time, I decided to make the best of it. I loaded my laptop up with movies, borrowed the Wii from my parents and made plans to do lots of reading.

The week flew by, and I didn’t start getting bored until last night, which is a new record for me. I watched 6 movies (!), finished off a book and went for some walks. I don’t usually like going for walks by myself, unless I have a final destination/purpose in mind. Thursday, I walked downtown to go to the library. On the way there, I walked the quickest path, since I was just too excited to get some new books. I wasn’t as successful as I had hoped I would be, but I did walk away with three new books. When I left, I realized just how gorgeous and sunny it was out. I couldn’t just walk straight home with my head down, I had to explore a little. So, with that in mind, I zigzagged my entire way home. It took me a bit longer than normal, but each new street held the promise of being even better than the last one.
I actually stopped for once and admired the Calgary Tower. I don’t normally pay attention to it, since it’s not even the tallest building in Calgary, I never found it to be very impressive. That day however, it made me nostalgic for The CN Tower in Toronto. I appreciated the Calgary a little bit more.

When I got closer to home, I discovered a gorgeous library a mere 9 blocks from my apartment. I had been passing by it every day without realizing it, because I pass by on the street behind it. I didn’t stop in this time (my bag of hard cover books were starting to get heavy), but I now have plans to check it out next time. There’s benches all around, so I can just tell that I’ll be reading out front at least one time this summer. (Hello, summer list!)

Friday, Stephen asked me to go run an errand for him. I honestly had no desire to walk to his bank, but this needed to get done. I decided that I was going to take a different route this time, and explore some more.

This bench full of frogs isn’t anything new to me (it’s up the street from me), but I just felt the need to get a picture. I’ve never understood it.

I wandered down side streets and past gorgeous homes and apartments that I could never afford. I found tree lined streets that are going to be just gorgeous once the trees start blooming. I even wandered past a house that has a cow on their top balcony.

Go ahead, click on the picture to make it bigger. I just can’t understand why anyone would want a cow on their balcony. I also love the color of this house!

I got so into wandering, admiring the houses and side streets that what should have been a half hour walk at the most turned into an hour long walk. It was wonderful.

My mission for the next walk? Walk the opposite direction and head for the river! I’ve lived in this apartment for 4 months now, and still haven’t walked over to the river that is a mere few blocks away.