Oscars night, sort of...

Jane loves the Oscars. Jane loves them so much that last year – separated from all her friends – it fell to me to drink Champagne and talk about the merits, or otherwise, of the many shoes and frocks parading down the red carpet. It took a lot of Champagne.

This year, I played it smart. This year, I secretly invited a number of locals, some Canucks and some Aussies from the High Commission, to come over on Oscar night. I figured the ladies could enjoy Champagne and smack-talk the frocks, while the guys have some manly beers and play board games (Catan & Betrayal at the House on the Hill) in the next room. It would be perfect. I would be close enough to duck in and admire Anne Hathaway's ample talent and dress, but not actually need to engage with the rest of the *cough* glamour of the event.

When all was in place, I revealed my plan to a most appreciative wife. And all was going perfectly, until just over a week ago when Jane’s work decided she was needed overseas, for a week. This week in fact. Yeah. 

So tonight, everybody is still coming over for booze, board games and, of course, the Oscars. All will proceed as planned, minus the guest of honour. And that is totally OK, because cunningly I only invited people I like.  So as far as I am concerned, tonight is friends with beers and board games. Meanwhile, the TV will be on in the background and Jane will be swaning about the Sub-continent on DFAIT’s dime.

A Season of Birthdays : Part 2

 Tom’s birthday is usually a little problematic because it falls so soon after Xmas. In this case, having just returned from Xmas in Australia, jetlag was a much larger problem. We decided to postpone his party , but still had a small family celebration on the day. We even used his birthday as a lever to help get everybody out of bed early despite jetlag. A tactic which I believe can be seen reflected in the eyes of all the pics taken that morning.

The excitement of new birthday toys struggles with jet-lag.

Super-cool castle acquired with the help of Gramper

After a long day of being the birthday boy at school, its nice to come home to CAKE!

The video is of Tom's other favourite present, a giant glossy book of dinosaurs. For every dino it provides a big picture, a pronunciation guide, map of where the dino lived and a small piccy showing their size in comparison to humans. Cool book.

BTW – getting over jetlag in the middle of a Northern winter is rather hard. It’s so cold you really just want to stay inside all day, and there is bugger all sun during the day anyway. 

A couple weeks later, it was party time! Having looked at the options, we decided to enlist the services of Little Ray’s Reptiles as birthday entertainment.  Worth. Every. Penny. For about an hour, during which Jane was nowhere to be seen, Kevin produced about a dozen different reptiles and insects, almost all of which the kids were allowed to touch while he talked about the creature in question.  One of the nicest parts of being on posting is that we are in a position to give the kids such a terrific experience. Next year, it’s going to be cake from a box and a public park. Unlike this year, the appearance of a snake will most unwelcome (and not just by Jane).

 

This reticulated python was the grand finale. The kids *loved* it.

Another batch of prezzies.

More cake is good cake, especially when it comes with a mammoth.

The Season of Birthdays: Part 1

It begins with Lillian in December and finally draws to a close in April with Jane. Everything between is chaos and cake.

The mighty Lilli-zilla had her 3rd birthday in early December. The whole thing started with dignity. Lilli and Mummy made a special trip downtown to buy the twirliest party dress and shoes to be found, and they were successful. On the day however, it was a mad and sugar-crazed mass of under threes fuelled by Elmo and the Wiggles. There was much twirling and wiggling. There was also much scoffing of cake and chips. In finest girlie fashion, she even managed to fit in a change of wardrobe part way through the day, in the middle of opening presents as it happens, when she was given an especially frilly pink princess dress. Eventually, it and Lillian, all came crashing down. It had been a very fine day.

The best possible start to the day. Dinosaur pjs and presents.

The pre-party crowd

 

DJ Tom lays down some Wiggly party tracks for the dancers.

Lillian the cupcake fairy works her magic

Party over, time for a bath and bed

My Chili - Part Two

For the 2nd stage you will need...

1 large tin (can) of crushed tomatoes (796ml)

1 large tin of diced tomatoes

1 large tin of red kidney beans

1 small tin of black beans (540ml)

Meat mix from stage 1

Optional – 1 small tin of red beans and/or tinned diced tomatoes.

Drain and rinse the beans before use. Empty all of the (non-optional) beans and tomatoes into a large pot on low heat. Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan and brown the meat mix, apx 1.5 cups at a time. Due to the sausage, should not need to add oil after the first batch. As each batch finishes browning, add it to the large pot and give it a little stir.

Once all the meat mix has been added, increase the heat to medium low for about 15mins while everything heats through and you adjust the amounts of tomatoes and beans to your own taste. I typically add another small tin of red beans and more tomatoes (no more than a small tin), using diced fresh tomatoes if I have any on hand.

When you are happy with the meat/tomatoes/beans ratio, cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. You want the covered chili to bubble gently for about 3 hours with occasional stirring. Afterward, remove the cover and increase the heat slightly so that it will continue to bubble gentle while uncovered. Continue to stir occasionally for about an hour, or until enough moisture has cooked off and you are happy with the consistency.

OK, its done.

Notes...

Not all beans are created equal. Before you buy, compare the nutritional information on the tins. Levels of salt, fibre and iron (among other things) can vary wildly between brands. Last time I bought beans I found a brand that was cheaper, provided more fibre and vitamins and had less salt.

Do not try to brown the whole batch of meat mix at once. You will end up boiling the meat in its own juice instead of browning it.

Keep in mind that the heat required to bring the pot to 'gently bubbling' varies greatly depending on whether the lid is on or off the pot.

Why I like this recipe so much...

Firstly, because its technically easy and doesn't include any especially obscure or specialised ingredients. If you wanted, you could add all the spices found in the Cajun mix separately. If you wanted you could use fresh diced tomatoes instead of tinned. Let your own skills, sense of adventure and degree of free time be your guide. Or just open the tins, that is good too.

Secondly, while it is full of flavours, it is also full of textures. Think about it, the main ingredients are meat (minced and cubes), beans (red and black) and tomatoes (crushed and diced). All of the main ingredients are represented in multiple textures.

And that is it. Please feel free to ask any questions, and enjoy with my blessing.

My Chili – Stage One

When I decided to try my hand at chili, I looked online and found a few recipes that sounded promising. Then I mixed and matched between them based upon the ingredients I had on-hand and my general cooking experience. Now days, my world famous recipe (‘world famous’ being rather easy to achieve when you are married to a diplomat and living in a digital age) is pretty well figured out. So, I thought I would share…

For the 1st stage you will need...
½ kilo of beef mince (hamburger).
½ kilo of hot Italian sausage
½ kilo beef cubes (smallish cubes, around the size you would get cutting a AA battery in half).
2 medium onions, diced
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced or finely sliced/chopped
1 Jalapeno pepper, de-seeded and finely chopped
1 or 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
2 or 3 tablespoons of Cajun spice mix
A ‘pinch’ each of salt and pepper

All of these ingredients are put into a bowl and worked together using the hands. Yep, just get in there with your fingers and squish, squish, squish. Once the ingredients are mixed, cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours. I try to prepare the meat mix in the evening so I can leave it overnight and cook the chili the next day.

Notes:
This recipe makes a lot of chili. Be sure you either have company for dinner or space in your freezer.

You can use less onion and make up the difference with green and/or red capsicum (peppers). I do not use them in deference to Jane.

When I say 'X or X' in the ingredients, use your own judgment and taste to choose between the lessor or larger amount (I typically go with the larger).

With the meats, better quality is better, but it's just chili so don't worry about it too much.

I find one jalapeno gives the chili a taste of spice, but is far from spicy. You may wish to add more chilies for extra heat. I recommend starting with a single birds eye (again, de-seeded and finely chopped) and working up from there in future batches.

When working with chilies, try to minimise your contact with the chili and make sure you keep your hands out of your mouth/eyes. Wash your hands (and the knife & cutting board) thoroughly afterward.

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Stage two (of two) coming soon.

Frosty the snow-lump

Despite the warnings of the snow-sage (yes, me) that the snow was not right, plans were made to visit the GG's park and create in our own image. Our special winter wear was dutifully donned, and a bucket filled with the required materials. To the park!

Lillian and Thomas bring buckets of snow for the cause, before gathering some badly needed sticks.
















































Pat, pat, pat, pat....

Despite many buckets and much patting, as foretold the snow was not right. It was too dry and powdery to stick together and create a proper snowman. And so one last bucket of snow was used to add a fez (complete with twig-tassel) to our creation before adding a carrot for the nose with some sultanas (raisins) for a mouth we had crated our very own snow-lump!

Yep, it's a snow-lump.

We returned the next day, and the squirrels had eaten his face. Ah well.

The coldest morning of our time in Canada

Its cold. Really cold (-37C ) In fact, it was so cold this morning broke a 40 year old Ottawa record. To be honest, I am glad it’s so cold. Last winter was really mild by local standards and if we hadn’t been hit by a few proper winter days this year I would have felt ripped off. Plus, now, whenever the subject of Canadian winters come up we can talk about today and conveniently ignore the rest.

 Getting the kids to school today was also a treat. Jane was convinced they would get frostbite on the way to the car. Layer upon layer was dutifully placed upon them, after which I got a park directly in front of the school (never happens) and we went straight inside. Because of the weather they won't play outside today.

In honour of the undeniable WINTER looming outside the house, here are some pics taken a couple weeks ago when it wasn't so absurdly frigid. One day we headed up to a little hill in  the GG's park with Adrian and his daughter Claire (aka our Kiwi neighbors) for a spot of sledding. Good fun, even if I am Tom and Lillian's sled-dog of choice. Yip Yip Appa-daddies!

And here (top) we have Lillian on the verge of learning an important thing about physics and Tom (bottom) enjoying physics.

BTW - I'll see if I can get some more pics of a snowshoeing expedition and another to make a snowman posted later today.