Plaintain Sandwich

Today I went to the grocery store and stocked up on fruits and veggies and nuts.

 See that thing that looks like a banana? It's NOT a banana, it's a plantain.

I cut it up into long slices and fried it in a pan.

And I had some pork and fried that up too.

Then I added some spicy hot mango chutney and made plantain sandwiches.

Spicy sweet tropical piggy bites?

They are nameless thus far (maybe you can think of something good) and they are truly tasty!

They remind me of being in tropical places where all I ate was mango and papaya and melon...

and played in the sand, and made friends, and drank nasty gross mamajuana...

MAN do I ever need a vacation. 

 The last one I had was the Pool Party in Dominican.

I miss that week. It was fun. 

I was surrounded by awesome positive crazy mo' fo's!!!

Derek Heisler and Joey Camacho started

Studio Coalition, based out of Calgary. 

Check out their SUPER HOT vid from their photoshoots in the Dominican!!
Three cheers for all of our girls too! xxoo

I would just like to take this moment to say (looking up, with one hand on my chest)

"Canadians are SO TALENTED..." and so sexy!! 

Dominican Republic Teaser Video from Studio Coalition on Vimeo.

www.Facebook.com/studiocoalition and www.twitter.com/studiocoalition

Back to work for me. Have a great evening guys!

Love, Andy

Ants on a Log

Ants on a Log!

Ants on a Log!

every day it's Ants on a Log!

Peanuts on a log would have been better.

But since there were no peanuts to be had, I had to satisfy myself with ants.

Grocery Day

Grocery Day is nice.

Other people dislike grocery day,

but I really love obtaining all my ingredients, bringing them home, and prepping the ingredients for the coming week. Then I put them into containers in the fridge. This is useful because the work is already done (pre-wash and chop celery, peppers, carrots, etc). I also like making most of the week's meals ahead of time.

 

What's on the menu for this week?

Veggie Soup

My soups often turn out like stews because they are so hearty.

I add the beans at the end so they don't turn to mush. You can also add small pasta noodles.

Roasted Vegetables

I could eat roasted veggies all day long and never get tired of them.

Today I sliced and roasted fennel, zucchini, eggplant, and acorn squash. 

The squash was SO HARD TO CUT!

Baked Sweet Potato 

So delicious. I was tempted to make sweet potato pie but that's a project for another day.

Hard-boiled eggs

Eggs are nice. They're great in a lunch, and are portable! 

I mark them with pencil to tell them apart from raw eggs.

Salmon Salad 

I've used hummus as a substitute for mayonnaise and I added hot sliced peppers in oil.

It tastes amazing spread on romaine lettuce leaves.

Chai Tea and Coffee with Almond Milk

I've started using almond milk in my coffee and tea which is really nice. And I've developed a new affinity for chai tea. Yesterday I had some chai and some coffee so I mixed them and added the almond milk and sprinkled some cinnamon on top.

Pumpkin Bread

Today I'm experimenting with this new recipe. 

This is the batter in the pan, and I'm heading out now for coffee with my friend and fellow blogger Aret! 

When I'm back I'll take another pic, and then everyone can drool and gaze in awe at the deliciousness!!

I'm back after a fun coffee and tons of chatting with Aret.
Man, do we ever talk!
And here is the finished pumpkin bread (who are we kidding, this is a cake!)

It's absolutely delicious, but I can imagine it being even better, so I'll make it again with some changes.

ALSO
To make it crazy good I'll use cream cheese icing and top it with walnuts!!

At the grocery store I love exploring and finding new things. Actually, when ever I'm having a terrible day or if I have a big decision ahead of me I go to the grocery store to zone out and think.

Back in the Swing

My internet is fixed.

My IPhone has arrived.
The lights of heaven have shone down on me and the angels sang.

And although I'm super happy, I also approach this situation with a little apprehension.

You see, I have to catch up on about 3 weeks (or more) of e-mails and messages!!

Looks like I have a lot of coffee to brew!

First things first. Something beautiful and inspiring:

This is a quote by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, an American author and poet. 

It is from a flag stone in Jack Kerouak Alley in San Francisco.

 {photo found via Le Love}

Valentine's Day just passed.
I hope everyone had an awesome Valentine's Day weekend!

{photo by Vasko Photography, model + make-up + hair ME!!}

My Valentine's weekend was awesome!


Starting with the Overexxxposed show on Saturday night:

{photo by AJ Lam, black and white photo of ME by Ward}

Sunday, one of the most relaxing days ever...

Historical documentaries, warm slippers, mugs of tea, the tasty chip crumbs at the bottom of the bag, and basically sleeping in and bumming around...

This PBS documentary about the Medici family from Florence was interesting, but really slow moving.
Here it is if you want to watch it too!



Monday: poutine, beer, and cards night, home-made blueberry pies and food fights!
The poutine at Cadillac Lounge is HUGE!

Here's the pie I made. I didn't use a recipe so I can't tell you how I made it,
BUT
there is an AMAZING recipe for the other pie I made near the bottom of this post.

Blueberries for Vasko's face.

 This is Cyrus and Boom Boom.

Cyrus wanted to be Boom Boom's friend, so as a test of his friendship he has to perform 3 tasks.

The first task was to get Sima to say "My favorite dinosaur is a Lickalottapuss".

The second task was to draw a face on Vasko's deep fried fish with ketchup.

That's ketchup mastery if I do say so myself!

And the third task was to do a sexy photo shoot with Peter.

Cyrus and Boom Boom.
Such good friends!

Tuesday, flowers and food at Marben!
Shown below (for all the ravenous foodies out there) is
Taylor's Squash Soup with chantilly cream, croutons, and sage oil
and
Zander's Sage and Brown Butter Gnocchi with squash coulis, brussel sprouts, and shallot rings

Not shown are the oysters and the Beef Cheek Ravioli.

There was also a little something called "Devastating Chocolate Fudge Pie"
which tastes heavenly with Vanilla Ice Cream and Dulce De Leche
(recipe below)

"Devastating Chocolate Fudge Pie" 

To make one 9-inch pie:

1 unbaked pie shell, made from 1/2 lb. short-crust dough

3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

8 tbsp butter

4 eggs

3 tbsp light corn syrup

1 + 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

In the top of a double boiler over boiling water, heat the chocolate and butter, stirring until melted and blended; allow the mixture to cool slightly. Beat the eggs; blend in the corn syrup, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Add the chocolate mixture; blend well. Pour the mixture into the pie shell. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 400' F for five minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350' F and continue baking for 30 minutes, or until the pie is almost, but not quite, firm when shaken.  

**Close to the end, I decorated the top of the pie with roasted almonds and marshmallows. Next time, more almonds! They were amazing!**

See what I mean?

AWESOME!!!

Sweets for my Sweet

I really love baking things, and I like rainbows!

Therefore I liked my friend Aret's blog post about his attempt at baking a

Rainbow Sprinkle cake a Party Rainbow Chip cake 

but everything went wrong!

To read the whole entry, click HERE!

And to see my PREVIOUS post about PIE BAKING click HERE!!

Those pies were SO delicious!!

yum!

"Today's blog post shall be about food!" 

proclaimed Andy at 10:30 a.m.

Below is a photo of my plum cake. Half is gone already because it was yummy.

It's best to use Italian Free-Stone Plums because they are smaller and the flavor is more concentrated. 

My Oma has a plum tree in her back yard that makes the BEST plums ever and they're only ready in September...

And here are the Rice Crispies that my friend Barb made for my Kindergarten themed birthday party. She decorated them with marshmallow and Fruit Roll-up ghosts.  

When I was in New York (and blonde, so you know it was a while ago) I had these super cupcakes from Baked By Melissa

And I am SO lucky because my friend Dayna is ALSO a baker and has HER own bakery

called Bite Me Bakery and it is HERE in TORONTO! WHOO HOO!

That's it for now! I hope I've made you all very hungry!

Andy makes pie.

Andy cooks. And bakes. Just like a little grand-mother.
Except I don't wear velcro shoes and pinch your cheeks and watch soap operas in the afternoon.

There was a time when I felt like an aging creature because I saw some photos of myself that I hated, and I started feeling wrinkled, just like one of these dried apple people:

I especially love the surprised looking one with the teeth. That is how I feel in the morning when I am rushed. And the stylish silver haired ladies looking like they just stepped out of a salon.  And the one with the hat is how I feel in the fall time when it's chilly and I'm bundled up waiting for the bus!

Of course, I am not at the Apple Person stage yet physically,
but it prompted me to create an alter-ego named Myrtle:

"Myrtle needs help with yard work, and has a dish filled with hard rock candy, pennywhistles, and moonpies. She likes sardines in a can, Lakota, and watching the telly before bedtime at 8:00. Myrtle makes jam, and pie, and sometimes jam pie. Her fingers are not as nimble as they used to be, and this is all she will type..."

I planned on diving into hilarity with really spontaneous photoshoots, buying turquoise nylon jogging suits,  mall walking at 8:00 am with white runners... Alas, this is not to be because Myrtle is tired and achy right now. But she DID take pics of her food concoctions and here they are:

Blueberry Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Plum Tart

After I took these lovely pictures of pies cooling in the open air, a squirrely squirrel decided to come along and nibble on the plum tart and the pumpkin pie. He stole a heart, that knave of tarts!!  I forgive him though. Animals enjoy being humorously sneaky too, and I've got to give him an A+ for stealth!

 image from simplynaturephotos.com