Happy Halloween!

*Halloween featuring "carrots of doom" from this year's garden*

From our house to yours. Because this is the first year we've had a house and been around to give out candy so I was more than a little excited.

Gord carved a mean pumpkin.

We had popcorn and candy and chips and chocolate and playdough galore to hand out to the kiddies.

Hope you enjoyed your Halloween as much as we enjoyed ours!

Hey Daddy-O

Last weekend Gord and I and our friend Kim were involved in a 50's style soiree. You see, our friends Janet and Pete got married and decided to throw a little 50's shindig so we cats could all get down.

Here is the hep couple.

Gord and I getting ready to go: (Gord's really just goofing)

The party was held at the Aerospace museum which made for lots of interesting photo ops.

The bride, me and my friend Kim. Girls, your style really fractures me.

Some of you might be wondering if we already had these delightful ensembles in our closets. The answer is no. I ordered my dress off of Ebay for $30 and then altered it. I made my own crinoline (about 8 hours later - which almost made me blow my top) with a total savings of approximately $5 from retail costs which, trust me, wasn't worth it. The shawl and hand crocheted gloves were my Grandmother's. The accessories got put in the mix from my gracious Aunt Wendy and the shoes I had lurking in my closet from my high school theatre days. For Gord we mostly hunted at thrift stores. I must admit that he did have a choice of six different skinny ties all thanks to my Dad and my parents' inability to throw anything away. (It's okay Dad, I'm booted to how you rocked the skinny ties). The lid we had to buy brand new so you better believe Gord will be getting much use out of that in the years to come.

All in all, we had 18 karat fun until we had to cut which was a real drag - you dig?

18 karat - All the way, full out

blow your top - a phrase which expresses enthusiasm or exasperation

cats - folks who play jazz music

cut - To leave or depart

dig - to know or understand completely

drag - a person or thing which depresses

fracture - to move or inspire someone

get down - to play or dance superlatively, with abandon

goofing - failing to carry out a responsibility or wandering in attention

hep - someone who knows or understands

I'm booted - I'm hip or I understand

lid - hat

put in the mix - put it together, make it happen

glimpses of a Bowness summer day

I love my life here. I love that on any given day we have people stopping by to chat - to shoot the breeze or to ask about the bike shop.

People ask about our garden and they have bike/unicycle races with Gord.

Sometimes Atticus gets in on the race as well.

People ask if we're going away for a vacation this summer. I tell them "Vacation? Why would I want to leave this. This is the life". I love my little house and I love the view from my front window.

I'm so thankful for Canada Day long weekends!

Just heard from the races: Gord vs 6 yr old

Gord: Hey! I won!

6 y.o.: Yeah, but you got a head start

Gord: Yeah . . . but I still won

(this after Gord lost about 15 races in a row - a unicycle has only one slow speed you know)

LifeCycle

This post is bit of an ode to Gord. Which is fitting seeing as how it is our 7th anniversary this weekend.

When we were in the market for a home and stumbled upon this one, Gord was very excited because of this.

It wasn't too long before Gord put this on the roof.

And we painted these signs.

All so people would come to this.

To experience this.

Community. At it's roots. LifeCycle community bike shop is a place where people can come and use our tools and get free advice for how to fix and maintain their bikes. Which, in the community we're a part of, can be a pretty huge deal. You see Gord loves cycling. And he loves seeing other people cycle. So when he saw the potential in the oversized garage on our property, he ran with it. And with the help of some wonderful friends and the brothers and sisters at our church, Awaken, LifeCycle became a reality. So not only is LifeCycle meeting a practical need in our community (we hope) we are also slowly becoming a touchstone for individual members of the community. A place to be heard and accepted and loved. And maybe clean your chain while you're at it ;)

Tracks in the Snow

Hers and His snowshoes

crazy florescent lichen

We got a great deal to go to Banff for 2 nights and to go snowshoeing last weekend. I had only ever been snowshoeing with the crazy old time snowshoes and let me tell you - these new snowshoes are SOOOOOO much easier to use. We hiked out to the paint pots in BC which are these ochre tainted pools, which the natives used to dye things red. Very cool. The snow was over a metre thick where we were, but the temperature was 5 C. Pure bliss. Once we got to our destination there was hot chocolate, crazy carpeting . . .

and maple taffy.

Can you tell how much I love maple taffy?

Couldn't be happier . . .

Dinner, Dessert and the Fonz

I thought this recipe sounded a little weird combining pasta with potatoes, but it was actually quite good. Although, it's always better when you don't have to cook, and I didn't. Gord did. I love those nights. They are few and

far between, but the odd time I can convince Gord he's capable of following a recipe. And he always does a marvelous job.

I made these cupcakes as a trial. A friend is having a birthday and I'd love to make her cupcakes, but she's on a gluten free diet. So I bought a gluten free cake-mix and these Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting were born. I thought they were not bad for gluten free. I loved the cake mix because I wasn't daring enough to try adding xanthan gum and the like on my own. Especially since no one in our household is gluten free.
A few weeks ago I went to an ultrasound conference in Milwaukee with a co-worker. We had a great time and managed to make some new friends who agreed to show us around. This pic is of me, my impromptu tour guide and a beloved statue of the Fonz. What more could you want from Milwaukee?

Happy 60th Mom!

This year my Mom celebrated her 60th birthday, so we made the trek out to Saskatoon for a lovely party. I am so grateful to have my Mom reach this mark after all that she's been through - especially last summer. We all went to her favorite restaurant - the Blue Diamond - which is named the Blue Diamond due to the unfortunate shape and color of the restaurant. Three cheers to Saskatoon and it's crazy buildings! A wonderful time was had by all.

My sister-in-law made this beautiful sugar free cake for Mom!

And we had the opportunity to visit with our dear friends Myr and Luke! *Why do I always forget my camera?* I managed to get bitten by the thrift store bug with Myr and came home with a beautiful vintage flour sifter. You never know when you'll need to sift flour nowadays. And Gord and Luke managed to scale the equivalent of several mountains in their wall climbing expeditions.

My Dad, who is not a game player, decided we should play crokinole. And play we did. I think all of our middle fingers were red the next day. But what a fun time! My family hasn't laughed together that much in a long time. What a wonderful birthday weekend. Thanks Mom!

YES, I still cook

I've just been busy, okay? And if you had internet as slow as I do, you'd put off uploading pictures as well. Here's what I've been up to:

Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Maple Pecan Topping

which tastes as good as it sounds and better than it looks!

Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Tomatoes

This was fabulous and felt very filling for a veggie meal.

In other interesting news, today is the last day for Gord as a plumber! He is more than ecstatic and the fact that today was -30 plus windchill puts him over the moon to quit his job. From now on he will be partnering with his Dad doing contracting work which will include the plumbing work as well. He's very happy to diversify. Gord worked with his Dad for a few months two years ago and enjoyed his time, so we know this new work situation will be great. Congrats Gord - you can flush plumbing in -30 goodbye!

Pizza Primavera Precedes Parsley Pesto Pasta

Yum! I made this veggie pizza after I looked in my fridge and saw some leftovers that needed to be used up. There's zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and the base was some leftover cream cheese and pesto from the pasta recipe! It turned out fabulous (except for the one I forgot about and burnt to a crisp). * This is not from my new veggie cook book and the detectives in you will sleuth out a bit of elk sausage residing on this pizza.*

This is "Artichoke Pesto Linguini" from the new cookbook. It was quite nice and light. Basically, you just make a pesto in the old magic bullet using parsley and artichokes from the jar. Add some water to thin it out and you're done. It was alright if you like artichokes, which I don't mind, but I love pesto for the basil and this didn't have any. Might make it again in summer, as it was a light meal.

In other food news, we've got the dog on a new diet as well, although not vegetarian. He keeps getting ear infections so the vet said that can be related to a food allergy. So now he's on some fancy pants food and we're hoping he doesn't "nickel and dime us to death" as Gord said. Ha! He is a funny one. If you have any suggestions on this one, they would be much appreciated.

More news to come shortly. And no, I'm not pregnant, so don't ask.

Peasant's Soup

which, as the title implies, was actually quite inexpensive - the main ingredients being tomatoes and beans. It was quite good considering that it was just a simple soup recipe. I guess sometimes it comes down to the right combos of veggies and spices.

Calgary is cold right now. Which means this week will be doling out many hearty pasta dishes. That's right people, when it's cold, we live for comfort food.

As I write this I am home while my dear husband has fun adventures with his friend Luke, while we stay home sick. And by we, I mean the dog and me - we're both sick. Who knew dogs got ear infections too? And I must say I feel mighty bad for the poor guy seeing as how I grew up with ear infections and still get them from time to time. Well, maybe some soup will make us better :)

Gardener's Pie

AKA Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie. Basically replaced the beef with lentils and soy crumble and the top added sweet potatoes to the normal potatoes. What a delicious meal! We both loved this one, although it was my very first time cooking with lentils and they seemed to take forever! We'll definitely make this meal again. Also, I made a double recipe which ended up making two 9x13 pans and a little 8x8. I shared one 9x13 with a friend. I knew it would be a recipe with quite a bit of work so it's always good to make extra. Plus, isn't it wonderful sharing food with friends?

This week we were both back to work after more than a week off. Gord was running the company while his boss was off which is a bit of a challenge. We were both glad to be back as we were beginning to go "squirrelly". I managed to finally get around to doing a simple hem of some old curtains I had and managed to make them way too short (picture NOT included). And then I was glad to be back at work doing what I love with the people I love. There sure are times when I get frustrated at work, but I know that I am lucky to have an awesome work environment and an interesting job at which I feel fulfilled.

After Christmas comes resolutions

But I'm not into resolutions, so don't expect to see one here. I did however make a proposal. Which all started with Christmas. Gord and I had a wonderful Christmas. We stuck around Calgary for the first time ever. We had a lovely Christmas Eve and Day with Gord's family including raclette, skating (read:booting - for me in case you didn't know about my winter sport skill deficiencies) and family time. Then after Christmas my family came out for a visit. We had a great time hanging out and going to the Gasoline Alley (the old car museum) at Heritage Park - or at least we had a great time watching my dad watch cars. Here is a picture of the six of us.

Also, for Christmas I got a wonderful cookbook from my parents.

Which leads to my proposal. I'm going to make one of these fabulous new veggie recipes every week. I am not going to "cook my way through" this book, as some of the recipes have ingredients I don't like to cook with, take too much time etc. I would just like to try to make some new recipes. I know it can be hard to find good/easy/delicious vegetarian recipes and I thought this plan might inspire me. I will try to post pics of each recipe and if it looks half decent you can contact me for the recipe. We've been eating very little meat lately and I'm finding vegetarian cooking quite fascinating. I hope you do too (or at least pretend). I'll post my first recipes soon!