Cooking and an outfit post!

The heat and humidity has returned. At least it's making me drink a crap ton of water :).

Yesterday was miserable though, Marc got sick because of the heat and because I realized he hadn't really drank any water :P. Once I got some water in him he felt better. But because of the heat we didn't really feel like cooking, much less eating what we cooked. But we did anyways because I found this recipe online and it sounded yummy.

I forgot to cut the chicken breasts in half so I ended up cooking two big chicken breasts but it gave Marc some left overs to bring to work :).

I wrapped a sprig of rosemary in and then wrapped two pieces of bacon around the chicken (wondering why one piece wasn't big enough until Marc informed me the chicken needed to be smaller :P). Anyways, I then realized I forgot to add the garlic so I sprinkled some garlic salt on top.

Looks good!

Then I stuck 'em on the bbq! Because of the size of the chicken it took a lot longer than the recipe says- 8 minutes per side. I had them on the bbq for at least 30min or so. Maybe my bbq doesn't heat up as fast.

BBQ Goodness

In the mean time we boiled some veggies. When we cut them up to start eating they were soooo juicy. The bacon added a great taste (but bacon adds a great taste to anything!) and the rosemary was a nice touch. The chicken and veggies were the only thing we cooked, we just didn't really feel like eating much in the heat. But it was a nice meal for a hot day, it did not feel heavy in my stomach afterwards.

Yummy!

Today I made a spaghetti sauce but didn't document it because it was hot and I just wanted to get it over with ;). Tomorrow we are heading out to pick up Marcs sister and our niece! It will be nice to see them.


O and I got this dress yesterday:

My hair is a mess and my makeup is trying to escape my face, it is that hot :P

And here are some glamour shots of my babies :):

The car is out to get us

I was going to do an outfit post buuuuuut that will have to wait till this weekend or next week. Unfortunately my strapless bra is dead and a lot of my summer clothes require a strapless bra. And I am not of the no bra wearing variety, so some outfits look stupid with my bra straps showing :P

Besides that it is so hot here! I hate it. I need the cold weather back *falls to ground crying*

Marc bought a coupon yesterday for half off at a Chinese restaurant in the area. We have never been to this place but the reviews seem good. I am nervous though. I am not a fan of Chinese, Thai, Japanese....Asian style food, in general (except sushi). But I am picky about Chinese food, I had some bad experiences and only one good one. The one good place is downtown and pretty expensive so that's a no. I guess I have to be brave and try it. I'll let you know how that goes.

Next week I think Marcs sister is coming up with her daughter. It will be nice to see them. We are then having a party or something for Marcs parents but I'm not sure if I will be sticking around for that. What we might do is go down to their place early, and then I will leave to go see my mom and come back when Marc is ready to leave. I'll need to check what my moms doing first but I think that is what I will do. I haven't been to my moms in awhile and since I am in the area it makes sense to take the little detour.

This weekend Marc and I had a spat, we have been really stressed and then the stupid car decided to be an ass. All of it at once was too much for us. We found out though, at least I figured it out, that we have not been communicating much (talking about how we feel, the stress, being on what I have called "death watch"). With my dad gone and now Marcs dad in and out of the hospital we have been pulled all over the place and it got to be too much. We did though end the spat in a good way. We agreed on some things and he realized that I have not been able to see my family in awhile (that's why he's fully supporting me in not attending the party next week).

The car. That stupid car. It pisses us off so much, but I kinda love it in a way. It's our first car and I think 10 years from now we will laugh about it. Anyways, Friday night Marc had a GURPS game. It ended at around 11:30 or so and on his way home he stopped to grab some milk. When he went to leave the car would not switch out of park. So there he is in Ile-Perrot at a Couche-Tard close to midnight. He tried and tried but the car would not move out of park. We are both freaking because it must have something to do with the transmission, and it may not be covered and that could cost a lot of money we do not have at the moment. He calls CAA but when he's on the line he decides to try it one more time and of course the car works! He heads home and then the spat starts.

Saturday we drive around a bit and the car behaves but we are still nervous about potentially spending a lot of money. So more stress on more stress. Marc checks online for issues with our make of car and he comes across something about an issue with people not being able to switch out of park. It is not a recall, just an announcement. BUT the issue is not serious at all. It's just an annoyance. PHEW! Also it should be covered under our warranty so we only pay the deductible (which is totally doable). When we have more time we're going to take it in, but in the meantime it is nothing to worry about :).





Stupid car

Vacation! Well Marcs vacation, I need a job to claim vacation status.

I was going to get my blood test tomorrow but I decided to wait. I reaallllllyyyy do not want to wake up early, go sit in a doctors office and then a few hours later drive the hour to Hawksbury and back. No thanks. I will sleep in. Blood test can happen next week. The grumpy doctor can wait a little longer.

Marc starts his two week vacation tonight. At 4pm to be exact. We are really happy about that, lots of sleeping in, I can get him to help clean some things and we might head off to Granby Zoo next Tuesday. It's a little expensive so we'll see how rich we are feeling.

So when Marc gets home we are making some Pina Coladas and then he is dyeing me hair and I am cutting his :). Yes, he dyes my hair. My hairdresser has even complimented him on his work. I'm trying to get my hair to a copper blond. A month ago I dyed it copper blond, but my hair was still too red so only my roots showed the box colour. My red is slowly leaving so I think this time it will be a little more copper. I hope when  finally get to the colour on the box it will look good. I'm worried my skin is too pale for the colour but I guess I can just go back to my dark red.

My little herb garden is growing like crazy! The coriander is taking over a corner of my balcony. We're making butter chicken this weekend so I can go crazy and cut some leaves!

Tomorrow we might get the new results from Marcs post vasectomy test. I hope the doctor has the newest results, we really want it to come back negative for sperm. If it does we are going out to dinner to celebrate! If not.....I guess he gets another test done? We'll see.

The long weekend

Today is the last day of the long weekend, and it has been a very good weekend! Saturday morning I picked up my brother and we headed to moms. Marc and I spent the night, it was great to see my mom and brothers :). Then we headed to see Marcs family on Sunday, because our niece was up!! It was so good to see her, I could hold her and play with her all day. She is absolutely adorable!

We were worried we wouldn't really get a chance to see her and spend some one on one time with her as some family members were coming over but we left my moms early and we had a couple of hours with her. Marc was able to read to her and give her a toy he got her to go with the book (paper bag princess). I am sad we are not able to see more of her for awhile but the few hours we had was really nice. Also seeing that she recognized us from Skype was a nice surprise :) Marc had a lot of fun with her, he even fed her some little tomato pieces. We both look forward to seeing her again!

Today (Monday) we are spending the day being lazy, we are BBQing our first steaks of the summer and watching some Boston Legal.

Nothing else has really happened the last few weeks, it has been quiet (I like it that way). It has been getting hot and humid though. I did give the dehumidifer a test today: Last summer I would do my hair (either curl it or straighten it) and not 5 minutes later it would be a ball of frizz because of the humidity, so I figured today I would see if I could straighten my hair and not sweat and have it frizz. Well, it stayed straight! It was hot in the room, the dehumidifer puts heat out but I can handle that. So we will see when it gets really humid to give it a good test but I think it will work. I miss having an air conditioner but I am not willing to pay for a portable one and we can't have one hanging out the window over cars (totally makes sense, and one of those cars is ours).

This week I will be heading out with a folder of my resumes looking for that summer job. I am not going to be too picky about where I work, it's just to get a little extra cash. I will also go shopping, yes that makes sense!! My mom gave me some spending money and there is a maxi dress I want to try out. Thanks mommy!!

Trip is off but it's not the end of the world

Marc saw the doctor yesterday and she said is what ok...until he told her the length of the bus trip, at which point she seemed unsure and nervous. Also his blood is low and that worries me a bit, it hasn't been low in a long time. Anyways we agreed that if the doctor did not give the ok and sounded 100% sure about it we would not go. She said it might be ok if he wears two stockings but even then it wasn't 100%. We do not, I DO NOT need to have someone else in the hospital. We are a little sad that we can't go, we wanted to see family and our little niece (we couldn't wait to see her! She's at that age, over 6 months, where they are a lot of fun). We were going to bring her some gifts (cause she needs to be spoiled by her aunt and uncle) but now we are going to mail them over. The shipping is not too bad so we just need to agree on what to send her lol.

Maybe in a year his leg will be a little better and traveling for long periods will not be that bad. We could have taken the plane but it was too much, and I have never been out there (never been past Toronto) so taking the bus sounded more appealing. Marc and I also like long road trips together :)

Marc decided he is going to get a dehumidifer (I hope that is spelled right), our place gets really humid in the summer and apparently this can help. We don't mind the heat, it's the humidity that is killer. Thing is they are not cheap and we are hesitant to spend almost 300$ on something that may not work well or break down.

The hunt is on!

Samosas and Chutney

Yesterday and today have been beautiful days. the sun has been shinning, the birds are singing and I bought two glasses reserved only for pina coladas. All is right in the world. In all seriousness though, it has been lovely out. I am finally airing out my apartment, I cleaned windows, and I cleaned my car. My skin is loving this weather too, it's not bundled up in leggings or tights and long sleeve shirts. I also bought two new pairs of flip flops yesterday :)

The husband went out and bought samosas because he wants to make a homemade chutney sauce. I am a little nervous as it requires a lot of tamarind and I don't really like tamarind. But if it doesn't turn out good we have some store bought stuff (well made by the owners and packaged to be bought).

Cooking the chutney made the apartment smell a little nasty but once it was cooked and cooled it smelled pretty good. I gave it a try and compared to some other tamarind chutneys I have tried it was one of the better ones :)

Recipe:

Tamarind Chutney

3.5 oz/100g of tamarind pulp, chopped (we used half that amount in tamarind concentrate, and it basically became a broth)
2 cups of water
half a thai chili or to taste, seeded and chopped (we used a jalapeño pepper)
generous 1/4 cup brown sugar or to taste
1/2 tsp salt


Put the tamarind and water in a pan and bring to a boil. Because we used tamarind paste we kept it at a boil for 25 minutes but if you are using the pulp turn the heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally. 


Tip the pulp into a strainer and use a spoon to push the pulp into the rinsed out pan. We skipped this step obviously.


Stir in chili, sugar, and salt and continue simmering for an additional 10 minutes or until the desired consistency is reached. Let cool slightly then stir in extra sugar or salt, to taste.


Let cool completely, then cover tightly and chill for up to 3 days, or freeze. We used some about an hour after cooking it and it tasted good, i'm sure after 3 days it will be better.

P.S. I finally updated my older entries. The dates may be off a bit though but only by 2-3 days. Also this recipe is from Indian Cooking by Beverly Leblanc ISBN: 978-1-4075-4921-7