Sunday, November 30, 2008

eastlake

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our church held a worship night this evening that included baptisms and baby dedications, and it also marked the launch of their new cd, two. i took a walk around the church for the first time since they moved to the new building, and i realized that the kids' rooms have ski ball, guitar hero, arcade games, and chuck-e-cheese style basketball hoops! wow, who ever said sunday school was boring?
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2 &1/2 boxes of penne....

...boiled itself into far too much volume for my very large serving bowl, and far too much food for 11 people irregardless of the crepes, rice (to which bao said: where's the meat?), and 5 bowls of spinach salad. meet jeff's cute new maltese, toby, and our game of cranium.
toby

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hacky sack

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lumberjack

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Saturday, November 29, 2008

look, ma jenn, no eggs....

...or milk. or butter. i made surprisingly tasty vegan cupcakes that rival my go-to betty crocker mix. and thank you kindly for the pretty stand, dear.
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so after spending 5 hours in the kitchen yesterday, i somehow took it upon myself to host a non-potluck dinner party tomorrow at 7pm, and pick up an extra shift and actually work my day job till 6pm. so i spent the night whipping up a bunch of crepes and filling when i got home at nine....and, remembering jenna's husband is vegan, decided to pull out the vegan cupcakes take over the world book that thanh got me for a shower gift. my only complaint is, despite greasing the tray, the bottoms stick to the point that the tops come off by themselves, and i'm left with something like a seinfeld-inspired "muffin-top" product....to the point where i'm tempted to fuse them back on with frosting to form a muffin sandwich.

Friday, November 28, 2008

thanksgiving

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thanksgiving is a huge deal in the states, almost on the level of christmas. i've been asked several times why it's celebrated a full month earlier in canada, or even at all since we don't have fond images of "pilgrims" in our history books, and why monday, and now that i've looked it up, i've found there is no succinct answer. there is an amusing blog article that documents the origins and permutations of the canadian thanksgiving.

canadians give thanks for a successful harvest, and due to the colder climate, this happens a month earlier than their southern counterpart's. however, canadian thanksgiving underwent a tumultuous history of dates. a Martin Frobisher, trying to find a passage to the orient, happened upon the canadian continent and celebrated one of the first thanksgivings in 1578. in 1872, a date in april marked the first post-confederation thanksgiving to celebrate the recovery of King Edward VII from a serious illness.

thanksgiving was observed every year after 1879, but the date was proclaimed annually and changed year to year on a thursday in november, till 1899, when it became a thursday in october, with a few variations here and there. after World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11 occurred. ten years later, the two days became separate holidays, and Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day and thankgiving became the second monday in october, which means it currently falls on the same day as America's Columbus Day.

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i have three american thanksgivings under my belt, and with it being such a huge deal here, all of our friends have very family-oriented celebrations, so i take it upon myself to band together with a fellow canadian or two. jason park came from nothern BC our first year, and laurie has stopped by two years in a row.... except this year we didn't really have turkey because i filled us up with butternut squash soup and spinach salad with pears, avocados, and fennel. and then there was spaghetti squash with spicy sausages, sugary molasses yams topped with pecans, and my mom's stuffing recipe, which i foolishly added walnuts to. that, and the turkey finally made its way out of the oven at about 8 o'clock. i also had a truckload of pears from costco so i made a pear crisp.

best butternut squash soup ever. my first year i used a different recipe and it was overwhelmingly full of cumin.

Gingered Butternut Squash Soup

1 onion, chopped fine
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled butternut squash
2 1/2 cups water
2 garlic cloves, mined and mashed to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon grated peeled fresh gingerroot
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

In a heavy saucepan cook the onion in the oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until it is softened, add the squash and 2 cups of the water, and simmer the mixture for 15 minutes, or until the squash is very tender. Stir in the garlic paste and the gingerroot and simmer the soup for 1 minute. In a blender purée the soup with the remaining 1/2 cup water and stir in the parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

favorites

our slideshow can be seen here, and i'm sure my photographers, casey and danielle, will be curious to see my favorites:
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6a

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15

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15a

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Sunday, November 16, 2008

happy birthday, dad

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DSC_0126we went to anthony's restaurant for brunch and they boasted some good bacon. perhaps next time i need not to order and just live off the fresh blueberry coffee cake and fruit platter they serve before the meal like other restaurants serve bread. i've been known to eat the equivalent of eight peoples' share of the bread basket.

my mom said the first thing jason park said to her at the wedding was, "are you just as crazy as ever?" she also said that vanessa had said i'd warned her about her. happy early birthday to my dad who said "yessssssssssss" and raised his arms in the air like a child on christmas day when he opened up the box to his lightweight cordless drill.
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