The Teen is Going to Motorcycle School

Last weekend we ventured over into the city and trekked all the way out to the Abbotsford Trade Ex Center for a Motorcycle show.  It always makes for a long day, heading that far into the valley, but John was determined since he missed it last year!

Our bike is currently in storage because it's far too cold out to ride, but it was fun to look at all the accessories and things that we could get.  I'm not up for a pair of leather chaps, thanks.  Or a skull motif ring.  However, I did want one of these:

Scorpion makes a great selection of women's motorcycle gear, and I absolutely love my jacket and pants by them (completely unsponsored statement).   Apparently I have a really weirdly shaped head and the helmet that we initially bought just doesn't fit me well. A seam from the fabric presses into my skull, and after about 45 minutes it literally feels like I have an ice pick being driven into my head - which really isn't the greatest when you are on a long ride! The visor on this one is really appealing, as is the more open air feel to it.

Na, we aren't buying him one of these. Don't worry.

We wandered the Trade Ex among the booths before finally stopping and committing the one thing that I think has cemented us in Kevin's mind as the coolest parents on the planet; we signed him up for motorcycle lessons.

People really are opinionated about giving your teen motorcycle lessons.  Hey, I get it if you've never been on a motorcycle and the only thing you know about it is someone who died riding one.  Perhaps it would seem akin to allowing your child to play with matches and explosives.  However, for us it's a little difficult to tell the kid "No, you CAN'T ride one" when we do all the time.  Besides, he plans to buy himself a bike eventually so we think it's far more responsible to make him take a course and learn how to ride it properly when he's 16 (and easier to influence his habits) than when he's 20 and just does it on his own.

This one's pretty, but I'm happy being a passenger. Honest.

By the end of the summer, we'll have another fully qualified motorcyclist in the family, and I'll be bringing you the details on what learning how to ride is like!

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The Almost Famous Chef Competition and a Giveaway!

Earlier in the week I had the pleasure of interviewing Hans Berg, from the International Culinary School at the Arts Institute of Vancouver.  Coming up next week is the 10th annual San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Canada Regional Competition, and Hans earned a spot to compete in the Canadian regionals for the chance to go all the way to Napa Valley in March for the finals.

This competition is a fantastic opportunity for culinary students, who are paired up with a chef mentor and will have a chance to win prizes, job opportunities, and the chance to meet celebrity chefs.  Hans expressed what an honor it is to even be in the regionals, and how excited he is to compete.

Born and raised in Norway, Hans' original career path was to be an engineer, but he found that his heart just wasn't in it.  The applied math was fine, he expressed, but the theoretical "just wouldn't stick in my head.", which I can relate to wholeheartedly.   Taking some time off from school and doing a little travel, Hans met a girl in Hawaii and followed her to Montreal, where he began working as a dishwasher in a little Italian restaurant. It was there that he became hooked.

"The chef there shaped the way I approach food.  The ingredients speak for themselves."  Hans worked his way out of the dish pit and went on to prepping food, but eventually was laid off.  This is common in the restaurant industry, as tourist seasons slow to a crawl and establishments try to keep ahead by laying off extra staff.  Back home in Norway, he found himself working at a high end contemporary seafood restaurant, with a modern take on traditional recipes.

Soon, Hans's girlfriend got a job in Vancouver and again he followed, this time enrolling at the International Culinary School at the Arts Institute.  "I wanted to learn the why of doing things.  I knew how to do them, but I didn't know why I was doing it."  Hans spoke glowingly of the program-the fantastic instructors, which includes local chefs with restaurants in the city. Graduating this summer from the Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management program, Hans spoke of a possible move to Victoria, BC and has plans to get into butchery.  "I think it's a dying art.  Making sausages, curing, making pates..." Listening to him speak, it's hard not to get caught up in his enthusiasm.

So, what does a chef like to eat when he's cooking for himself?  "If I were to cook for myself, I'd make a simple pasta dish."  Hans is a huge fan of Italian and Mexican food, which he describes as simple, homey, and hearty.  "And you gotta have a baking stone," he interjected when I confessed my love of pizza.  "I picked one up and it was $25!"  Okay Hans, I promise-I will buy one next chance I get.

Onto the looming competition-how did Hans get  himself chosen for this great honor?  In mid December, seven or eight chefs were thrust into competing in a "black box" situation where you are given 3 or 4 unknown ingredients and 30 minutes to do as much as you can, the best you can.  "It really tests you.  It's all about creativity because you keep it simple, but not so simple it doesn't impress."  As soon as Hans won the competition, he began developing his dish for the Canadian regionals.  "I thought about food from home, and what they would be eating about now, and went from there.  Food should have substance, be comforting.  Uncomplicated.  A meal should be real. I like to keep food simple but still impressive." This chef is a guy after my own food-loving heart, as we talked about a mutual admiration for John Bishop's work and I expressed how "Fresh" is one of my favorite cookbooks.  Co-incidentally, Hans had just been cooking some of John Bishop's recipes that very day!

The dish in production for the competition is cod and potatoes, but not just any cod and potatoes.  As Hans described it I couldn't keep writing and instead just stopped and let my imagination take over.  Simple, yet still sophisticated, the dish sounds amazing and I can't wait to see how it fares in the competition.  When asked about the challenges to competing, Hans listed that being watched to see if he's using proper technique, working in a new kitchen, and not being able to deviate from the recipe pose some challenges.  On the other hand, "it's and exciting opportunity to have the top people in the industry rate your dishes!"  Oh, indeed.  I'm not sure I'd be up for that!

Hans' signature dish for the competition

Drop by the Almost Famous website for more details about the competition, to see live streaming video and to find recipes from past year's winners!  Once the winner is announced, there will be more recipes of the chef's signature dishes.

Does all that talk of food make your mouth water? Well, you are in luck-I've paired up with the Almost Famous competition to offer a gift certificate to one lucky reader for a dinner for two, and this time I have a fantastic local twist!  The winner, chosen at random,  will have their choice of a $125 gift certificate to The Painted Boat located right here on the Sunshine Coast, OR a $125 gift certificate to Cardero's in Vancouver.  It's not often that I have the opportunity to provide a prize local to the Sunshine Coast!

To enter:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)

• Tweet the following about this giveaway (1 entry):   

RT to enter to Win $125 gift certificate for dinner #AFChef frm @scatteredmom

I'll draw a winner on Saturday, February 4th after 8am PST.  Check out the Almost Famous Chef Competition site for more information about the competition, or take a look at their Facebook page. You can even follow on Twitter!

Good luck!

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Video Fun: Featuring Gregory Miller

After days of enduring what felt like the never ending plague (also known as the most miserable cold/flu I've experienced in years), I finally felt well enough to surf the Internets a bit and found some videos by these hugely talented boys.  Their beautiful video tribute to their Mom, who was killed in a Ford Explorer roll over crash, has gone viral and was on the front page of Yahoo this morning.  Make sure to go watch it with some tissues handy.  This video features Gregory cooking an omelet, and I swear this boy has better technique than I do! Way to go!  Now if I could make an omelet without it falling apart....

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Food Revolution Friday: For Paula Deen on Diabetes

Paula, I have to admit, I had never looked at your site or seen you on TV until I heard you have type 2 diabetes.  I’m sorry about that, by the way – diabetes is rough.  My husband was diagnosed awhile ago and while we didn’t have to make that many changes in our eating habits, judging from your site, you’ve likely had to give yours a complete overhaul.   I mean really, you can’t possibly be eating deep fried cheese cake, butter, or that macaroni and cheese you whip up.  I hear that you are cutting back on sweet tea, getting more active, and starting on medication.

I don’t begrudge you, honestly.  I know it’s a tough world out there, and you’ve done a good job carving out a niche for yourself and made a lot of money doing it.  Celebrity chefs these days all need a ‘thing’, and yours seems to be the queen of indulgence.  Shock value food sadly has a place these days, so your deep fried lasagna or butter really isn’t any different than things featured on shows like “Man vs Food” or “Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives.”  Besides television, there’s no shortage of deep fried kool-aid balls at any county fair, and I haven’t forgotten KFC’s Double Down.  There’s a market.  You’ve helped fill it – because honestly, if there was no demand for your kind of food, you wouldn’t be selling it, right?

When the news of your illness first broke, I thought the critics were being unreasonable.  Chefs are not role models, they are artists in a way – using food as materials to create new flavors and to discover methods, so why should they be restricted by what may be deemed healthy?  I myself love to play with ingredients and come up with things that are delicious, but not necessarily good for you. I wanted to give you a pass, really I did, until I went to your site.

There, you talk about cutting back on sweet tea and now your sons have a TV show with conveniently lighter food, you hock medication, but that’s not what caught my eye, Paula.  Nope, it was the ‘kid – friendly’ section of recipes.  After all, providing parents with recipes to feed their children are, in some way, a responsibility.  If the parents are looking to those of us who can cook to show them what is good for their kids, we need to take that seriously and try to give them food that is reasonably nutritious. Of the 85 recipes listed, half of them are desserts.  Many are ridiculously high in fat and use processed ingredients, and as I flipped through them, I began to feel sad. 

It’s really hard to take someone seriously when their kid friendly food features things like chocolate fudge made with processed cheese or crackers topped with cheese and wrapped in bacon. Seriously, Paula?  Between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents in the USA are obese, and these are the snacks you are offering?   

The time for shock value food is over.  You have a platform to create real change, if not for you, at the very least, for them.  Diabetes type 2 is serious, and one can’t take care of it just by cutting back on the amount of chocolate cheese fudge they eat and pop some pills. Right now, you are looking pretty opportunistic and not credible in the least, in my eyes.

You can do better. 

If not for yourself, at least for the parents who are making your recipes for their children. 

(I purposely didn't link to the recipes, because I don't want to give them more traffic.)

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Cooking for a Food Blog without Breaking the Bank

As I was reading over at Yummy Mummy Club Food, I found this post by Sharon talking about getting to see all the great recipes coming into the site.  She suggested that someone cook along and try them because that would be so much fun!

"Yes, it would," I'm thinking on one hand, but then the other part of me is thinking, "OH MY LORD the pressure to make sure they are all amazing! GAH!"

That's just because I'm a perfectionist when it comes to food, I think.  A comment really caught my attention-someone said that if they had the grocery budget, they'd really have fun with that. So, let me let you in on a few things here.  Firstly, I don't have a huge grocery budget.  Or rather, I don't think it's huge-I try to keep our weekly groceries, including all our household cleaners and toiletries, to around $200-$250 a week.  Meal planning, buying some things in bulk and having a deep freeze help, too.  I've become really good at taking bits of things left over from other recipes and incorporating them into new ones, so nothing gets wasted, too.  Over the last few years I've learned this because at first, I was spending more money on groceries than I was making writing, which was ridiculous.

How does it work?  What am I making this week? And how do I find the TIME?

Monday: Chicken/Bacon arugula sandwiches, home made coleslaw, roasted yam bites

The bacon was on sale-I'll portion it out for a recipe next week, the cabbage left over from the week before, and I'll use arugula in salads.

Tuesday:  Tomato Chick pea sauce with feta and fried eggs, salad from the night before, home made pitas.  (Fast-I'm going out that night!)

Sounds weird, I know-but really very good.  I have leftover feta from a week or so ago that will fit nicely with this. Plus the canned beans, tomatoes, and eggs are super cheap.  If you make your own pitas it's really cheap as well.

Wednesday:  Turkey Shepherd's Pie and salad (a little longer time commitment)


I've been planning to blog this one forever, but it always gets thwarted somehow.  It's a family favorite and I'm always happy to make it.  Lots of veggies! It's pretty inexpensive, except the ground turkey can be a bit costly.  The rest, however, is all veggies so it's inexpensive that way.

Thursday: Chicken in Vinegar (braised chicken dish) with bread and salad (This one needs to be slow braised, so I need to prep ahead and it won't be done until 6pm)


Cut up whole chickens were on sale, and I happened to have most of the other ingredients so this was a no-brainer.  Plus it will give us leftovers for Friday!  I bought a bottle of wine to use in this, and I may have a glass, but I'll also freeze some for another week.

Friday:  For me and Kev: Vegetarian Curry with rice.  For Hubs: Leftover Chicken (Lazy Friday, a.k.a no time commitment. I just need to pull from the freezer)


I had the vegetables leftover from last week, so I used them to make the curry on the weekend and tucked it into the freezer.


Weekend:  Leftovers and freezer meals


Baked Goods:  Cranberry squares, Sunflower Whole Wheat Baguettes,  and toffee cookies
The cranberries were picked up on sale after Christmas, as well as the toffee bits. If you have a well stocked baking pantry it's never really that expensive to whip up a batch of cookies.

Time is a whole different issue.  I admit, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  Tonight I wasn't that well organized and dinner seemed to take forever.  I know I can do better, and Tomorrow night I will.  In fact, I have to because I need to be out at an event at 6pm.  Often I get off work at 3pm, I'm home by 3:30, and I start cooking by 3:45 to get dinner on the table by 5:00 or 5:30.  I often prep things ahead of time, or have things in the freezer that help me out, or will choose recipes that don't require a long time commitment.  It's a balancing act!

PS.  And yes, they are all going to be blogged at some point, don't worry.

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Food is Love

A blast of warm air hit me in the face as I removed a pan of cookies from the oven, and took a deep breath of the butter and chocolate filled air.  Baking cookies has been a weekend ritual almost as long as our 19 year marriage.

I love the smell of fresh cookies.  John was soon beside me, hovering over the counter, his hand poised to pick the perfect one.

"You know, honey I should teach you how to bake these.  Or at the very least, write the recipe down so that if anything ever happened so that I couldn't bake or something happened to me, you'd still have your cookies."

John shook his head.

"No. I just wouldn't have them again. "

"Oh, come on. Someone else could make those.  Even Kevin could, they are so easy!"

He finally chose a cookie, cradling it gingerly in his hands,  and met my gaze.

"No.  I wouldn't eat them.  Nobody makes cookies like you." He licked chocolate off a finger and smiled.

"Nobody."

John's Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

Before John was diagnosed with Diabetes type 2, he enjoyed these on a regular basis. After the diagnosis I made it my mission to perfect them using brown sugar Splenda. Splenda changes their texture to a drier, more crumbly cookie, but he can still enjoy them! I included the instructions for both ways.

2 cups flour
3 cups quick oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar Splenda and 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (or 2 cups of brown sugar)
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Set aside. In a bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter until fluffy.  Add the Splenda and blend well. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the applesauce and eggs.  Blend somewhat, but only until it's combined. It will look rough and chunky but that's okay.  When Splenda is in a recipe, it doesn't blend together like it would if there was actual sugar in the mixture.  If you use regular brown sugar, it will all blend up beautifully like regular cookie batters do.

Add the oatmeal/flour mixture, stirring on low until the batter comes together.  Turn out into a large bowl and stir in 1 3/4 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Spoon the cookies out in heaped tablespoons onto a cookie sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart, shaping with your fingers into roundish disks and pressing down slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes until lightly golden and set in the middle.  Remove immediately to a wire rack to cool.  Store in an airtight container for a few days or freeze them up to a few weeks.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen

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I May Just Be Completely Insane

Photo credit: DaniMU

So, just to keep life really interesting, I applied for a job.  Not another one on top of the one that I already do, but a change in the one I already do.  A move, if you will, to a different school.  The third one in 8 months.  In a job that is completely different from anything I've ever done.

As a special ed teaching assistant, I've worked in kindergartens, singing "Old MacDonald" to 5 year olds and helping zip coats.  I've taught teenagers how to cook, fourteen year olds the life cycle of stars, grade fours about dragons, and kids in self contained special needs rooms how to recycle cans.  There has been everything from sign language to wheelchairs, and much more.  This job will be completely different from anything I've ever done.

This job will be working in three PE classes, from grades 8 to 10.  PE classes that do runs every day, that I would be required to go on, rain or shine.  Or snow, even.  With three classes it could mean that some days I'd have to do TWO runs.   TWO.  Long, long runs.

While I may be fairly thin, and I eat healthy, I will admit (albeit somewhat ashamed) that I am not a very active person.  I never go to the gym, I don't attend any sort of exercise classes, and my idea of a workout probably means a walk around the block.  At first when I heard about this job I thought that it would be complete and utter insanity to apply, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought that it might just be the thing for me.  A change of pace that may just be really good for my mental health.  Exercise is good for stress, which I've had in spades, and maybe being able to zone out and get active with groups of kids is exactly what I need.  Being paid to exercise may be just the motivation I need.

Also, the bonus would be I'd be in great shape by summer.  That is, if the first month doesn't completely kill me first. Today I crossed my fingers, and I applied.  I won't find out if I have the job or not for a little while, but here's to taking risks and trying something new.

Either that, or I'm a little insane.

Two runs?  Oy.  Also, I'd need to buy some new workout clothes.

I'm crazy.

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Peaceful. And a Promise.

It is said that people who make resolutions only last for about six weeks at best-even less if you really want to keep track, I suppose.  Gyms are full at the beginning of January and then all those people trying to get rid of their post Christmas paunch eventually fall off the treadmill and slink back to eating a box of cookies at their desk.  Bloggers make grand promises, then don't write again for awhile.

I'll bet you all think that's what I've been doing.  (edited to add:  Oh dear, I only JUST noticed that Christmas photos are in my header, almost as if I still have my treat and stockings up. Yikes!)

Tonight I wrote up a few recipes that I think you'll enjoy for Valentine's Day-besides the fact that they contain Oreos, which I have made no secret that I adore and only have 3 ingredients each, they are incredibly indulgent and hard to keep away from.  Even my own iron clad will power that everyone on Twitter extols when they find out that I only eat a few cookies while I bake is stretched to it's breaking point with these treats.  (recipe for Oreo Cookie Bark and Oreo Truffles)

See what I mean? Melty chocolate and Oreos? Come to Mama

I came over here, realizing that I hadn't written for awhile, and was struck that the last time I had posted anything it was January 3rd. How did that happen? Where did all that time go? It seems as though while I tried to grasp my new routine as we settled into 2012 that the last week or so just slid through my fingers. Really, I was peppering my boards on Pinterest, talking about contests for crazy amazing cookware at Yummy Mummy, getting people to send me photos of things that make them furiously happy over at Kickass 2012, and making things like Meyer Lemon Curd.  So I suppose it hasn't been an entirely unproductive week. 

There have been many stories that have made their way into my head and not to here, yet.  How I found letters written to my teenager that were tucked away for his sixteenth birthday, all with predictions that at the time seemed silly when he was still a babe growing inside me but now are startling accurate.  There's a jar on my window sill with tiny bits of beach glass inside, all gathered by hand from an area not far from my home.  Like tiny promises they sit there in the sun, reminding me of a time when life seemed harder and reminding me of a friend and our walks on the beach now.   Of Kevin, and how he thinks I should become a computer technician because he thinks I have the aptitude for it.

I don't know why they haven't made their way from my head to here, but maybe it's part of being a writer.  I guess we all go through times where the words flow from brain to fingers so easily, and others where it takes a little more perculating.  If you remember our saga from dealing with bullies who falsely accused Kevin of plotting to murder their foster mother last year, just this week we finally heard from the ombudsman regarding the complaint that we filed. 

In small towns when there is much gossip and innuendo, where we both have jobs which place us in the public, it's hard to have much privacy.  Certainly, it can't help to have a blog as well but in our case, my space is going to allow us to tell our story.  I had initially taken down the posts which had the details to the story, but now that time has passed and we have more knowledge about the situation, I am going to re-post them.  The truth is that as of right now, while powers that be agree that things went horribly wrong, that there simply isn't enough information to hold anyone accountable. At least, some people.  We aren't finished.  Another complaint is going to be filed-one that I put off, but have been encouraged to pursue.  One against a group that can be extremely intimidating, and who have a lot of power.

It's pretty disappointing so far, but at least Kevin learned that we will fight tooth and nail for him when there's injustice.  Not that he didn't know that already, but he knows now that we have his back no matter who it is.

2012, so far, has been peaceful.  No worries, just cozy nights by the fire where we chat and laugh together as a family.  This has been a wonderful way to start the year, really.  If it's a precursor to how 2012 will go, I'll take it.

Back soon with stories and the outcome of our dealings with the ombudsman.  Promise.

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