Jam-Jam and Jian Ghomeshi

Jian Ghomeshi! Wouldn't they make pretty babies? She already failed me by not throwing herself on Kurt Russell's son when she had the chance!

"I gave my friend worms"

That is what my good friend wrote on my quote board and she did, in fact, give me worms. Happily they are red wigglers and they are happily eating scraps right now!

Every time I hear 'red wigglers' I can't help but think about WKRP in Cincinnati. :-)

So I had a nightmare...

I fell asleep on the floor- you know- because I have no couch. Anyway... I was drifting off to sleep when I was suddenly gripped by a very real dream image of Sir Sanford Fleming. It wasn't the younger, spry Sanford or the elderly, distinguished Sanford. It was the middle aged, bushy, greying beard half way down his chest, looking like he just walked out of the bush Sanford. He was holding an enormous pocket watch and pinned me with a steely gaze. Then he said in a heavy Scottish brogue, "It's very important not to be late!"

And that is when I woke up in a puddle of my own drool... :-\ I don't know what to tell you. It freaked me out. That was two days ago and I'm still freaked out.

In praise of plantains

At the company picnic I took an African co-worker aside and said - plantains... what do I *DO* with them?

Peel them, slice and fry. That's it! Plantains taste like a very tasty banana with a yam-like flavour. Just fry it in a tablespoon of the fat of your choice. We often use coconut oil because we think it is tasty.

One of the things that we miss from our GF/CF diet is caramel. Put a couple tablespoons of vegan margarine in the frying pan and cook with a couple tablespoons of brown sugar. Add 1/2 cup-1 cup of non-dairy milk and cook until you have caramel (ish. It won't be the SAME) Be careful because it burns.

And speaking of burning- plantains are high in sugar so watch them. They only need a couple minutes each side if they are ripe. If they aren't ripe just fry them longer. :-)

Nutrition information for one cup of plantains:

232 calories
5 grams of fibre
36% of your vitamins A and C

Oh and it is *highly recommended* that you eat it with a tablespoon of non-dairy ice cream, too.

Boy - July has gone whizzing by!

This is the first month that I have less hours at work (9 daytime hours instead of 15 and no weekend nights)- it is wonderful and relaxing, but now I'm doing the same job in 9 hours that I used to do in 15. I have six more hours to get month end done... it might happen... :-) That is the part that is not wonderful and relaxing.

I'm still asking the family what they want for supper only now they say the same thing every day - French fries and moose burgers...

We settled on yam and black bean burritos. Schmidt has requested these vegan burritos *with* ground moose and without yams. Funny boy! Of course they are going to have yams. One cup of raw yams gives you almost half of your requirement of vitamin C and 6 grams of fibre.

I was at the grocery store today- well actually I was at the pharmacy, but it is at the grocery store- and noticing all the packaging. I was kind of sickened by the foil wrapping and lurid colours. I didn't think that would happen. It hasn't been that long since just about everything we bought came out of a package of some kind. Since gluten and dairy are in everything it makes shopping harder, but in a way it makes shopping easier.

We are committed to eating whole food and lower on the food chain. We are eating fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and wild meat. It is cheaper, healthier and we are only making about one large bag/ week of garbage.

I'm having the laziest summer EVER!

I only work until 10 am three days a week and get off at 7 am on Friday morning. I have weekends off for the summer. I have a nice chunk of time over the weekend where I can get some things done like cooking ahead or mending or laundry... NICE!

You would think that my house would be cleaner than it is ... anyway! :-)

Brown Bear is adjusting to new epilepsy meds and that always puts a wrinkle in the day. I hope that we can have a bit of a work party today.

We've been taking turns picking supper so it's been a variety and we are using up things out of the pantry. We plan to eat all the grains that are in there before we do another bulk order.

And the other thing we are thinking about is getting a worm bin. We can't compost outside so we are thinking about Red Wigglers- the composting worms. They aren't cheap, though, my friends! They are worms... just WORMS! =8-o

So that is my Monday- Laundry hanging on the rack, recycling going to the blue bins, cleaning my room and for supper- home made tortilla chips made from home made tortillas with beans, salsa and vegan sour cream. Yumm-o!

Dark insights into what makes Kim tick

We've suspended satellite for the summer. True confession- I love television... sometimes even reality television. No, really! I love watching Chef Ramsey yell at people. I've been a fan of his shows for many years.

It all started when I got a card in the mail for a hospital lottery prize- a shopping trip WITH Chef Ramsey then Chef Ramsey cooks supper for you and the 7 people that will *owe* you for the rest of your life. That was when my Inner Chef Ramsey woke up and began to regularly critique my cooking. Most of the time he likes my food and I get a fairly favourable grade. Last night, however, I made a glazed carrot thing.

They were okay. Everyone in the family agreed they were OKAY, tasty even. I just don't ever put anything on carrots. It came as a little bit of a shock, I'm sure, when they found carrots swimming in a sweet, ginger-chicken sauce. It's just that I bought 15 pounds of carrots for $4.47 so I had about 12 lbs extra...

Anyway- The Inner Chef said... "Hmmm...." thoughtfully formulating his words while he spit the food into a napkin. "It's just a little boring isn't it?! It's not very interesting! It reminds me of the 1980's" I tried to defend myself by pointing out that I had used the *perfect* amount of ginger.

He scoffs and asks, "Can't you do better? Have you given up? Have you GIVEN UP?"

I haven't given up... but I still have 2 unopened 5 lb bags of carrots... and no will to cook or eat anything orange. :-)