Pay it forward!!

Yay.....I got in on Pay it Forward through Carrie over at The House of Simon, So the first person to comment on this post will receive a "package" my neck of the woods within the next 365 days!!! Pay it Forward is also a great movie that starring Kevin Spacey (whom I love), Helen Hunt, and the kid from The Sixth Sense it's definately a feel good movie (although a wee bit sad)!!!

mmm matzoh.....

I love soup.....as anybody that knows me very well aware of. I could eat soup for breakfast lunch and dinner every day....Summer, winter....soup! One of my favourites happens to be matzoh ball soup. So delicious, and on a cold day (we've had a lot of them lately......could it be because it's winter in Canada?? hmm....possibly!) it warms and fills tummies with yum!!!

From what I've been told matzoh ball soup is supposed to be broth with balls (matzohs), but I improvise because I can't stick to the norm. Everything from carrots, celery, onion, parsnips, peas, oh yeah and hot pepper flakes all go and mingle with the broth. The matzoh's have dill in them too. All makes for deliciousness on a cold cold day.

Coming up......what happened to the most perfect pumpkin???

Praise Seitan.....

What is a girl to do on her day off, while it's snowing outside? Well I'll be.....makin' seitan that is!!!

To those of you who've never had seitan , or had the priviledge of making/eating home made seitan, shame on you!!! mmm delicious, unless you've got sensitivities to gluten, in which case avoid it like a rabid hippo. yeah!!! Anyhow, I love seitan (aka wheat meat) and unfortunately here in lovely Canada it is very hard to find the already prepared stuff, or even the just add water kind. Kinda jealous of my Yankee friends.....But one day we decided to take matters into our capable little hands and Pappi and made our very own!!! I believe it was Chick'n wingz....and yes we ate the whole batch in one sitting....and oh, was there flatulence ( well not all of us... ). It was a delicious experiment that I know. Once you get the hang of it it is pretty easy, and there is lots of room for experimenting, and it can be frozen! Bonus...

Today however, is a first for me.....and it feels weird because....I didn't have to knead a thing. Thank you breadmaker for doing all the hard work for me....I think breadmakers are the new can openers.....what would I ever do without it? Now if only it did laundry, and picked up doggie doo, my life would be complete!! But I will settle for what it actually does...save me from tedious kneading!

I will post the recipe once I can decipher what I actually wrote. But it's a chick'nish style seitan...they were going to be "steak"like in shape....however I am not sure how well that worked out.....they are all different and individual just all the people of the world (seitan has feelings too you know!)....I swear I need to stop getting disctracted by things while I have shizz going on in the kitchen....

The cutlets swimming in the broth.

The strips all fried up and simmered in some bbq sauce!!!

Served up with some vegetable rice and glazed steamed carrots...

With a enough seitan in the freezer now to last a while, we be happy!!!

Mansfield Reformatory

I've never been to jail...well now I've been....to an abandoned, haunted jail! Mansfield Reformatory (Ohio State Reformatory) in Mansfield Ohio. Many people may be familiar with this location, since it's been in many movies and music videos, such as The Shawshank Redemption, Tango and Cash and Air Force One. If you've seen Shawshank, you've seen the reformatory.

Pappi and I on the bus.....he was so not expecting that sneaky pic.....muah ha ha....

OSR was built between in 1886-1910, and shut down in 1990 now it is a historic site and extremely haunted. To this day it has world's largest free standing cell block at six tiers high. Well we went on a haunted bus trip, overnight might I add, to check it out! The trip was organized by Haunted Hamilton, a Hamilton, Ontario group that runs haunted trips/investigations. We were fortunate to be part of this extremely rare trip. This was the first time that a Canadian tour group was allowed access into OSR.

This is the floor to ceiling wall of steel bars that cover the 6 tiers of cells in the east wing.

And let me tell you, spooky it is! OSR is known as one of the most haunted sites in America, and I believe it. From cell doors opening and closing on their own, to sounds that you should not be hearing in an abandoned building, it is downright creepy. And of course it was snowing, and bloody freezing, they say that inside the building it is about 10 degrees colder than it is outside. Gravy!! No lights, chipping lead paint, that lovely musky borderline sewer smell all added to experience. But it was still pretty damn awesome.

This is the "lesser criminal" housing...mostly for the short stays.

For all those that have seen Shawshank Redemption, this may be an interesting reminder of the movie. Now this is a replica, since somebody broke in and ripped out the original beam. Funny that somebody broke into a prison to steal...

All in all it was an amazing experience....and I wanna do it again!!! However next time.....it will be summer!!! And a very very special Thank You to the in-laws (momma R and poppa R) for a. somehow hearing about this, and b. bringing us to jail!!

More pics to follow some other day!!!

Pappi's pierogi feast....

Mmm pierogies....That happens to be Pappi's specialty (pappi is my darling other half, and that's how he shall be known from now on!). We don't make the actual pierogies, however I am sure that one of these days we actually will. After they are cooked/boiled they get sauteed with onions, mushrooms, and cajun seasoning, served with a chickn'esque gravy, and of course green onions. All I can say is that I will never make them, they have officially become pappi's specialty and only he has the right to make them!!!

Pierogies make for a quick and satisfying meal.

Here they be in all their glory!!

And again!!!

Coming up next is something rather exciting.....We went on a trip to Ohio, Mansfield to be precise. To a very spooky and famous location.......

mmm bean curd

One of the best places to go shopping if you are a veg*n is an asian market or indian/punjabi markets. Not only is it so much cheaper but the selection of goods is phenomenal. Whether is be noodles, sauces, dried beans etc, it is well worth the trip! We are fortunate to live in a city that's pretty much got all nationalities covered. Ont his particular trip to the asian market I found something I have only heard of.....Dried Bean Curd.

The bag costs $1.99, which is amazing, and you get a ton in there as well. It comes in 5 or 6 different shapes and sizes (they only had 3 at the store) and yes, I bought one of each! Following the directions you just have to rehydrate in water/broth, unless using in a soup. I decided to make a sort of shepherd's pie like concoction thatwas so delicious I wanted to cry. Ok maybe I didn't want to cry but it was delicious....

Here they are rehydrated and delicious! I made some "chicken" flavoured veggie broth with a veg "chicken" boullion cube, garlic, onion, chilli flakes, a bay leaf, and pepper corns. When they are ready drain and they are ready. The texture is amazing and they keep their shape.

The finished product, apparently I made it a little too saucy and it started oozing all over the oven, which in the grand scheme of things not a big deal.....just a wee bit messy.

And served with some tomato and fresh home made bread. Yes, I got a bread maker for my birthday from hubby so I had to make bread, quite possibly the most agonizing 4 hours and 35 minutes of my life.....the smell of fresh bread....mmm...I'll be 500 lbs by Christmas....at least it will be a delicious 500 lbs.

And the bread in all its glory.....

Ok, that's enough for now....King Bean is wanting attention now.....he is known to be a bit of an attention whore so.....I, as his slave must go.....Next up hubby's specialty perogies....

Here we go....

I have gone and joined bloggerland.....For years I have been reading (creeping) people's blogs and wished that I could join the masses but never did ( I guess it's the procrastinator in me). Until now....So here we go....There will be food, there will be bitching, venting and there will be pugs (that would be Bean). Sounds like a party already!

That would be His Royal Highness- Bean looking over his kingdom!

Back soon with some yummy food pics!!!