2008's a comin'

Just wanted to say that I hope everyone had a great Chrismahannukwanzaakah and I wish you love, happiness & health in 2008!!!

PS-In case you were wondering...I am, in fact, vivante and the reason I haven't been blogging or reading most of your blogs is because I've been so busy having a blast at home. I'll be back in about a week, though. See you then!

Insert sarcasm here

Here are a few things that have gone through my head recently:

Yes, of course you should go over to the newly open register before me, lady in line behind me at Super U with a basket-full of things and me with three things TOTAL...

Thank you so much for moving out of my way when I'm carrying a huge grocery bag and 9 Liters of water, couple taking up the entire sidewalk...

I heart coughing so hard my throat burns all night long and, therefore, losing tons and tons of sleep, it's my favoritest in the whole wide world...

It's the best EVER when my cat wakes me up at 7 AM in the morning and then once I let her out, scratches to get back in approximately 2 minutes later...

I really, really, REALLY appreciate you leaving my loofah on the shower floor when you knock it over every single time you shower, thanks oodles and bunches...

It is so mind-blowingly amazing how you manage to get spices and oil all over the stovetop after I have just cleaned it and, what's more, you never clean it up yourself, thanks sooooo much....

I also love so, so much how you get bread crumbs behind the sink every morning, it's my favorite to clean that up since you never do, I guess you must not realize that you can cut the bread on a plate or maybe over the sink? It's my favorite cleaning that up...

I'm so glad, as well, to get all this experience in of taking out the trash, recycling and really weightless bag of glass. I also am loving doing the dishes and picking up other people's messes in the living room. What an excellent thing to be able to put on my CV....

Saturday cannot come soon enough (umm, that one actually isn't sarcastic.) I CAN'T WAIT TO BE HOME where people are in good moods, respectful of queues and personal space and at my house, where things are clean and in order!!! Ahhhhhh, sounds heavenly!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Our so-called Christmas tree that Roomie#1 put up this year. Gotta love the fake snow on the fake tree. You can tell how I feel about it, haha. I love the smell of a real tree...Balsam, Douglas Fir, Fraser Fir...doesn't matter, give me a real tree over a fake one any day. You may say, but isn't it wasteful to be cutting down precious trees? Well, those growers part of the National Christmas Tree Association say differently. Let's just say this is a subject close to my heart. So, I urge you, blog reader, if you're debating buying a fake plastic Christmas tree, please don't!

Here is one of the reasons why my sister is the best. Ok, maybe it doesn't look like much from this pic, but my lovely sister sent me a Christmas Tree in a Box!!! Which, of course, made me think of this from Christmas 2006 because I couldn't help myself!

Anyways, I tore open the package and started putting it all together and this is what the final result was...

It's a 3-dimensional(which you can't tell from the pic) paper tree. It is awesome and made my day! I will be saving this xmas tree for years to come and when I am, one day, ready to part with it, every last bit of it will go in the recycling. It's a very green Christmas, indeed.

Quoiiiiii?!?!? moment of the week

I randomly overheard this at the pharmacy the other day, I do not tell a lie:

"Mais les preservatifs ne sont pas faits pour les chiens, mademoiselle."

Quoiiiiii?!?!?

Merry Christmas to me!

I am now the proud owner of a shiny, new carte de sejour. Go me! Magic happened and I got my convocation yesterday in the mail, so I rushed my fesses on over to the evil Prefecture(yes, it is still evil even though it came through for me) and waited in line(because they changed the system and now you have to wait on Tues 14h-16h and Wed 9h-12h and 14h-16h if you're picking up your card) and got my beeeeautiful new carte. And, by beautiful, let me just say the picture is ridiculous amounts of HEINOUS because I look like a very hot(not in the attractive kind of way) deer in the headlights as I had just run to the nearest shop(not very near) to get change and then run back to take pictures because I had forgotten the fact that I had already given one away and so I only had 3. Then, in the photomaton, I managed to close my eyes for the first two takes of a maximum three, so to ensure that my eyes were open, I stared bug-eyed until the flash went off. Result= not so pretty. But, all that aside, I gots me my carte de sejour!!! I'm too excited, yay!

PS-Speaking of exciting things, go ahead and check out Episode 100 from the Katia and Kyliemac Podcast!

Hey good-lookin, what you got cookin?

I really, really like to cook. But, it's not the actual cooking part that is so wonderful, it's the satisfaction of a yummy final product(usually.) I also enjoy cooking for its social aspect, I had a great time this past T-giving for example, chatting and joking around with my fellow cooks. It was a blast. Not everyone is enjoyable to cook with, however, as I have encountered people that get bossy, stressed and/or very serious. For me, I like to be able to take my time(or else I will get stressed) and remain calm by chatting with friends, especially because I can be a bit of a perfectionist sometimes when it comes to presentation and quality(although being po' can easily change that!) , so it helps prevent me getting stressed. For me, I have the same take on cooking as I do on presents, I love to give. I like to keep the meal a surprise and I love for people to love what I have made them. I make a lot of "concoctions" which means I throw things together not knowing exactly what quantities to use and what the taste will be like...sometimes this ends up very interesting to say the least. I also am lazy, so I like recipes with not a ton of ingredients and also, things I usually have on hand or at least are easy to buy anywhere. So, with all this said, I'd love to share with you all a couple recipes of mine as well as some other fellow bloggers. Enjoy!

Tarte au thon courtesy of Emily's food blog
Stuffing from Milk Jam in the Kitchen

Tzatziki
1 cucumber
4 cups plain yogurt
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp. lemon juice
4 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. olive oil
pepper

Peel cucumber, remove seeds, cut into small cubes and place in bowl. Drain yogurt of excess water and combine with cucumber. Add in minced garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir well to mix all ingredients together. Lastly, fold in olive oil and voila, tzatziki!

Chicken Curry
2 tbsp. butter
2 onions
1 red pepper
2 chicken breasts
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. curry spices*(you can use more depending on your tastes)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. flour
1 tbsp. sour cream

Melt butter in large saucepan on low heat. Add chicken, peppers and onions, stirring frequently so as not to brown. Add finely chopped garlic, curry spices, salt, pepper and half of milk. Let this mixture simmer for about 45 minutes-1 hour. Then, add flour and mix constantly to obtain a consistent texture. Lastly, add the rest of the milk and the sour cream. Miam miam!
*I use the Ducros : Cuisinez a l'indienne spice mix for my curry spices

Also, here are some of the Thanksgiving recipes I used for those of you that are interested:
Green Beans
Baked Mac&Cheese
Mashed Potatoes

Bon appetit!