What's Crackin?

I found myself in a predicament this weekend as I opened the refrigerator only to find that we had a slight surplus of eggs (like four plus dozen) instead of our usual single dozen. Woops - you bought eggs too, honey? Fortunately this is the time of year lends to a few egg surplus solutions.

I decided to try to get a bit of inspiration so that I could perhaps dye some of the eggstra baggage (sorry, the puns stop here, I promise). We often painted or dyed eggs as kids at Easter time but I haven't done it myself for a few years now. Should I stay with the traditional egg dye route we did so many times or should I try something new?

The Graphic Designer in me did a little backflip when I saw these Easter eggs (here). I'm such a sucker for pantone swatch related paraphernalia and I think these are just brilliant. Lets not pretend I'd actually have the patience to do this myself, but still...very cool.

These ones from Martha Stewart are also pretty fun.

But I get that there are lots of different ways to decorate Easter eggs and not everyone gets kicks out of graphic design and print press related eggs the same way as I do.

A little more searching and I found these calligraphed ones which would be cool if I had a steady hand...

Of course I would find some ombre eggs. Call me crazy but I've never been a huge fan of this trend.

Grab your sharpie and have fun with these bold black and white creations. You wouldn't have do deal with the mess of dye but you might have a marker high by the time you were done.

And finally I stumbled across these pinata eggs which just made me crack up because, oh my goodness, could you imagine smacking one of these things if they weren't sufficiently hard boiled first? Surprise!

So maybe I'll put some of those those extra eggs in our fridge to a good use and embrace the Easter spirit, or maybe we'll be eating a lot of omlettes in the next couple weeks. We'll shall see!

Snapping out of it

I don't like leaving things on a sour note and that last post stayed up way too long! Yes, it was a really yucky period, but as is the case with most parts of life, things change.

Pleased to say that we've been feeling much better and haven't gone through nearly as many Kleenex boxes as of late. It's still snowing a lot around these places but we can't be too surprised because we all know that spring doesn't come to Canada until at least May. That being said, I've begun to buy flowers a little more regularly while at the grocery store. Even a small bundle of tulips can brighten up a long string of grey days. Plus it's usually still light out when we eat dinner and that feels good too.

We have lots to look forward to in the coming weeks. Outings with friends and family are becoming a bit more regular, Easter is just a few days away. Plus, we're gearing up for another big move (within city limits, thank goodness) and cannot wait to truly plant our roots so to speak. I was going to post some pictures but am working off my iPad and can't seem to get things syncing properly so it will have to wait.

Plus, Baby is sleeping and i just might take this opportunity to get a little shut-eye myself. Yay for afternoon naps.

So more to come soon!

Hope you're all well!

What a Doozy

Another one bites the dust - and by another one I'm referring to myself and the awful week (err - twelve days) of colds and flus and blizzards that we just faced. It was not pretty. There were some pretty dark hours in there and some days that felt would never. ever. end.

Perhaps I'm being slightly dramatic but that's honestly how I felt. Sick mama + sick baby is never a great combination.

Fortunately this week has been (a bit) better. Less nights where Danny would unexpectedly have to work extra late hours, no weekend of call approaching and taunting us with the 'you'll never get a break, you'll never see your husband' song. We still had days where it snowed so much we couldn't leave the house...the house we're so sick of staring at, hoping something exciting would spontaneously happen to shake us out of our slump.

But today the sheets are in the laundry - the ones that are were full of gross little germies that wouldn't seem to let up. I'm officially ridding this house of those nasty bugs and their foul mood causing agendas. I scraped off as much snow as I could from the driveway in hopes that tomorrow we could take a fun adventure - to anywhere. The sun popped out from behind the thick blanket of grey we've been seeing out our windows.

Its going to get better - it HAS to!

Aloha!

Last week we got back from a wonderful three-week family holiday in Hawaii. The trip was something we had planned and looked forward to for many months. Anyone who lives in a climate where it is winter almost seven months of the year can appreciate this, I'm sure.

Looking back I'm reminded of so many wonderful things; the impressive marine life during our snorkelling adventures, the rhythms of the drums beating at the Polynesian Cultural Centre, the waves crashing against rocky lava beaches, the huge variety of fresh fish and fruits available we enjoyed every night, the fistfuls of sand we dug out of a curious toddler's mouth, the smoke billowing out of a volcanic crater. It was a trip of serious memory-making opportunities.

Of course there were some not so perfect moments too, like my first ever encounter with a cockroach (unfortunately not my last), a ten day cold with plugged ears and then a nice round of gastroenteritis to finish things off - nobody was spared.

But despite all of that my absolute favourite part of the whole trip was the opportunity to spend some serious, un-interrupted quality family time with my boys and my parents. Like most people, I find myself rushing through most regular days trying to accomplish 'abc..' on my to-do list and then all of a sudden the month is over and where did that time go? Luckily household chores and work commitments can't be brought over in a suitcase so the regular distractions of home didn't interfere. 

It was paradise!

Cannot wait to return some day soon!

Sending Our Love

Wishing you all lots of love on Valentine's Day!

Source

Ginger Pear Cake

While I was strolling down the aisles gathering the week's groceries I noticed that Bartlett pears were on sale. I happen to love pears and I happen to love cake so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to try out a new recipe that I found a few weeks ago. I can appreciate that these ingredients aren't exactly seasonal in nature, but who cares? Any time can be cake time, right?

Well as it goes, all the pears were eaten before said cake could be baked. But I couldn't get that recipe out of my mind. So the following week I purchased another bag of beautiful, sweet, juicy pears. There may even had been a conversation along the lines of "Dude, step away, those are my cake pears" when someone's hand was about to grab one from the bowl. I meant business.

This recipe was very simple and took very little time to make. My only regret was how short lived it was. Ah, who am I kidding, I loved every last bite...

GINGER PEAR CAKE:

Ingredients
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 eggs
1/2 c milk
1 1/2 c sugar
2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp fresh ginger - peeled and grated
4 Bartlett pears - cored & sliced lengthwise (I didn't peel mine)
* icing sugar
* semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350'C
- Grease 8in springform pan (I used a 9in cake pan and a 6in cake pan)
- Mix eggs, milk and sugar in a large mixing bowl
- Add flour, baking powder and ginger. Stir well
- Gently fold in pears
- Spoon batter into pan and *top with chocolate chips (optional)
- Bake for 1hr, or until cooked through
- Cool completely and *sprinkle with icing sugar (optional)

Let's Go Sledding

It was cold, cloudy and overcast but we hit the road anyway. I desperately needed to fill my lungs with some crisp mountain air even if I couldn't see much of my beloved Rockies. Fortunately, just as we were arriving, Mother Nature heard my prayer and the clouds began to break apart. 

The boys are all set to go! We did a couple 'test runs' back home earlier in the week to see if our squirmy boy could handle sitting in a sled. Luckily he was all for it.

Tromping through the white stuff. Everybody seemed to be having a pretty good time, cold noses and all.

My mountain boy(s).

Doubling up in the big sled with a sweet family friend. Can't wait to share these photos with the kids when they're thirteen, haha.

Thank you Rockies for providing us with another memorable experience. 

What a great way to cleanse the soul.