Our House in the Middle of Our Street

across the water is YVR airport in Richmond, behind me is Terra Nova natural playground I have made a yearly list for at least the past few years* and I enjoy seeing the outcomes, or what one or two morphed into, and what just didn't interest me enough to continue. Now that it's mid-February, I need to get that 2017 list out in the open. A lot of these have to do with trips I'll be taking in 2017 and I'm super excited to check some fun things off my bucket list! What do you want to do this year?! 1) Learn to make veggie pakora and crock-pot butter chicken 2) go to Portland with the family?  3) visit Burnaby Village and ride the carousel! 4) hike in Joshua Tree National Park 5) go to the San Diego zoo 6) bike the kettle valley railway (Kelowna) 7) us GF tempura to make onion rings 8) buy a better swimsuit! 9) go to the summer Seattle Renegade Craft Fair 10) visit the Brittania Mine with the kids 11) see La La ...

As the kids start to get older I'm putting a lot of energy into finding excellent resources to teach my kids that are affordable and interesting outside of picture books. Cooked , a 4-part series by Michael Pollan on Netflix, is one of those resources.  As an American in Canada, I sometimes feel a bit snobbish turning my nose down at the options found here. My pitiful, first-world-problem attitude of 'there's nothing on this Netflix'! led me to this series, which I'd never pick in a million years if I could watch Parenthood, Nashville, and New Girl back to back. Such is life, and I'm glad, because watching this--a show I was only marginally interested in--became a full supply of conversation between myself and my kids when we watched all four parts together.  I own one of Michael Pollan's foodie books , but I haven't read it yet. This documentary series is four parts named after elements used in or with cooking: Fire, Air, Water, and Ear...

Andie's cookbook, Eating in the Middle , open to the Banana Bread donuts with maple cinnamin cream cheese frosting I don't often do single-book reviews because I save them for a monthly series, but this cookbook, Andie Mitchell's Eating in the Middle, deserves a spotlight. I first heard about Andie via my friend Meg and her blog , and I promptly read Andie's memoir (the cover grabbed me) and then placed her cookbook on hold at the library. I'm so glad I did, and I'm already in line again because there were a number of recipes I just didn't have time for in the blip of two weeks that I had it in my kitchen. I made a number of her recipes, including the delicious donuts (seriously, read that description), a flavorful Asian chicken salad, some breakfast muffins that had pineapple, carrot, raisins, and coconut in them, and a batch of different brussel sprouts. The only 'dud' for our family was the Brussel sprouts, and only because of the ch...

 The 30 ft. pool at Lynn Canyon The list that I've tried to come up with has been a little harder than in years past but as I let it sit and brew for a bit, I had plenty of fresh ideas. The yearly lists (you can see 15 in 2015 , my 29 before 30  birthday list here , and 28 before 29 here ) help me focus on small/big, personal/family/friend, and creative/mental goals I have in any given year. Sometimes they are silly and sometimes I get them done before even writing them down, as you'll see below. They are just things I want to try, things I want to do, or things I want to enjoy with others. Some are big Bucket/Lifetime goals (1 below!) but most are pretty small things that niggle the back of my mind and writing them down helps me attain them quicker than forgetting about it 3 times.  16 in 2016 1) get a dog! (this didn't happen for various reasons last year, this year we're still considering it) 2) make ' sweet treat ' hair clips for the gir...

this picture does not show the crazy! A few weekends ago, Ft. Langley celebrated the 1st Annual Food Truck Festival, and we decided to go and see what the hubbub was about. Hubbub, indeed, it was nuts! So many of the food trucks--in a very tight spot with hundreds of people--sold completely out around the half-way point in the day, and many had wait times that a normal restaraunt would be embarrassed by.  The day was perfect for it, and I think they'll do it again, but there were a lot of unhappy festival goers on facebook, letting the venue know that the spot was way too tight, not enough vendors, and a space with shade was needed. I was very surprised by a 35 minute wait for a simple vegan burrito, but I wasn't disappointed by the great flavor of the GYPSY trunk vegan food . It was a $12 burrito, so, there's that (ouch!) but the taste was very good, and I'd buy from them again, when I didn't have to share it... In all, I would say next year if we de...

these buns just need a plop of gooey cream-cheese frosting I don't know about you, but I tend to cook seasonally. I don't make many soups in the summer, and I don't eat nearly as much hummus, tomatoes, and cucumber dips in the winter. I think it has a lot to do with budget-buying seasonal  produce is often the cheapest option because there is an abundance of it, and the price goes down. I eat salad after salad in the summer but I find that I sometimes have to force a salad here and there through late Fall and winter...until the tail end of winter when I'm longing for some fresh greens! When there's about four weeks left of summer, I start to get a hankering for Fall soups. Sure, I want the heat to end, and my favorite temperature (about 65 degrees F) to come back, but mostly, I just want to start nearly every dinner with onion and garlic cooked in oil or butter. A few weeks back-still summer--I had a really good opportunity to make some friends chili and ...

I rarely set up field trips as intentional, often they'd be more categorically listed as "accidental" (happily!), and this would be one of those. The morning we went out to Willow View Farms in Abbotsford  was a gorgeous Fall day. It was chilly and sunny-just like apple picking should be. By mid-morning our jackets were off and we were noisily chomping our fresh honeycrisps. With moving into the lowermainland of British Columbia last year near the end of September, I felt I really missed apple season, because as much as we travel back and forth between borders, we can't take fruit or seeded vegetables across with us. I was also schooling the kids, packing up our apartment in Blaine, WA, finding housing, and doing all sorts of other necessary and tiring things, and I unfortuantely missed one of my favorite seasons in the year-apple pickin' time.  Growing up near Nebraska City, which is the home of Arbor Day , apples are THE Autumn seasonal marker for ...

the cookies as dough balls before baking  It's the last day of August as I type this and lately I've been feeling the push to get a few more of the 15 in 2015 things done before the next four (four!!) months slip by with school starting, traveling, and holiday seasons start in. This 'thing', was a simple one: bake the Vanilla Bean Confetti Cookies from Joy the Baker's Homemade Decadance cookbook before the year was out.  These cookies are just as beautiful as they look in the book, though mine were (ahem) slightly less uniform. Thankfully for YOU, Joy has those pretty cookies on her website for free. Her cookbook, well, bakebook, as she is a full-time baker, is fantastic. I've made now 5 items out of it since I bought it around March or April, and I've loved everything. There is a picture on every page which is a must for me when I buy a cookbook. This book includes not only baked goods like cookies, but cakes, cocktails, breakfast items, ice crea...

 The huge bridge connecting the West and East banks of Kelowna, BC Two weekends ago we went for our annual visit up to the Oakanagan area, where Stefan's paternal grandparents live. It's a beautiful part of B.C. with a massive body of water, hills, seasons, and fruit orchards everywhere. Imagine me telling you--forcefully-- these photos just do not do the area justice. I haven't met a person who doesn't like going up to the Oakanagan. It's beautiful.  The first few photos are of the Oakangan lake (it's huge and spans many large cities) and crossing it on the Kelowna bridge that separates the East and West banks. Peachland, where we spend our time, is about a 30 minute drive to the 'big city' part of Kelowna.    The view behind on the bridge The kids enjoy the trip up to see their great-grandparents, stay in their own room together (oy, the nights), though this time driving up was a trial. It was incredibly hot the day we drove up, (43...

view of Bellingham Bay from Boulevard Park Last week the kids and I spent an entire day in  Bellingham, WA, and mostly, we spent it at the beach near Boulevard Park . The sun was shining and there was blue blue blue everywhere! It was a warm day, but not horribly hot that you had to stay in the water. A cool breeze was blowing through and after we got our three or four errands done, I parked myself with a book on a bench, a picnic table, and then in the grass on my blanket while the kids played at the park, in the sand, and rested quietly while listening to me read aloud.  new sunnies! It was one of the best days we've had in awhile. I took them to Chipotle for lunch (a rare treat for us now that we don't live by one!), we had plenty of food and water for the entire afternoon, and aside from a bit of grumbling about sunscreen application, these kids had an absolute ball playing on the rocks, in the sand, and just enjoying the gorgeous view of the bay nearby. I...

enjoying a peanut-butter chocolate bar from Wendel's in Ft. Langley My 29 Before 30 list still has another two months on it, but I've really slacked this year. One item I knew would make it was "take my girl out for a gluten-free cupcake date". Out here there are enough gluten-free bakeries and shops to find and explore, and it just so happened I found one that I'd first heard of at the Vancouver Gluten-Free Expo , right near where we had to drop Lukka off for a class. Perfect! They didn't have cupcakes, so we got the next best thing: a chocolate peanut butter bar. This gluten-free bakery shared space with a bookstore in a historic part of the lower mainland that had beautiful scenery and adorable little store fronts along the main street. We visited Wendel's around 1:45 and it was still packed with the lunch crowd. The cafe is very tight quarters but all the employees shuffling around us were apologetic and very nice. We found a great spot ou...

  Space needle on a clear day in late October One of my best friends came up two weeks ago to spend time with me for 6 days. We did a couple fun things; I took her to Crescent Beach , we went to Stanley Park later in the week, but the majority of the time we just spent catching up on the past year and a half and had a non-stop verbal stream for about 72 hours minus the time we were sleeping and taking bathroom breaks. Towards the end of the week another friend flew up for the weekend, and we took off to spend three days together in Seattle. Aside from my Malibu trip over a year ago, this was the first time I'd been gone from the kids for any long period of time. I needed this trip so badly . With grandparents still living back in Nebraska, it's been over 2 years since Stefan and I have been able to go somewhere together by ourselves since moving, and we are going to be getting creative next year with this because we realize what a detriment missing out on that actual...

I barely remembered to snap a photo before I devoured it We don't eat out much, but when Stefan's in the mood (which is not often, he has more will-power than I do), for a burger, he usually wants to eat at Red Robin. We probably haven't eaten there but three or so times since moving out to Blaine, but I crave their Crispy Chicken Salad something fierce. If you want a salad that is a meal, and you love stuff in your salad, take my word for it and make this at some point this week. You will not be disappointed!  This serving size is enough for 1 person's salad, with chicken 'strips' leftover for 3 other people, at 2 a piece. You'll need: *3 skinless chicken breasts, thawed and cut into 3 strips a piece *6 cherry tomatoes * 1 medium carrot, chopped *2 cups of your favorite lettuce (I like curly leaf, and romaine) *2 eggs *1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese *homemade honey mustard (1/2 cup each of honey, yellow mustard and then 1TBSP...

photocredit After years of putting it off, I've finally become a member of the instagram community. I must say, you people are beautiful photographers. It's amazing what a quick capture and a few great filters can do nowadays. I'm a really visual person and seeing lovely arrangements, crisp landscapes, and different color palette-mixing is quite an inspiration. I'm especially in love with all the foodie photos on instagram. I rarely have a cookbook in my cupboard that does not boast a picture-a-page, and it's for good reason. If I see it and it looks healthy and delicious, I want to make it, simple as that. Instagram is a great place for me to follow some amazing cooks, and although I follow most of these cooks and bakers on their blogs, I thought I'd share a quick list of my favorite {foodie} instagrammers, so you might take a peek, too, and find a new idea for dinner. * Aimee Bourque from SimpleBites.net has by far the best spreads. Her photo usuall...

 Our church's community garden is growing like crazy right now. Out here in the Pacific Northwest, we've had a hot spell for at least the past week. Thankfully, our secret beach is a short distance away and a free ocean water cool-off is always easy to get to. The heat has been amazing for the garden, though, and now it's my turn to water. A friend of mine watered the first month for the summer, and now she's headed out on vacation and I'm up for the next month. It needs near-daily watering, and I know by week three I am going to squeal if there's a day of rain, but honestly, it's a small price to pay (around 30 minutes of work, more if I weed) for delicious organic vegetables for free.  The bird houses on the fence posts are new this year, and so far I have yet to see any birds flying in and out of them. The paths--aside from the mulched parts--are completely overgrown with clover, weeds, and grass. Once the mulch gets put down everywhere it will lo...

An annual activity our family enjoys is strawberry picking. Nebraska strawberries can be a finicky thing, and the last couple of years we were living there a late frost or crazy storms destroyed the crop. We got a few, but not as many as years past. Last year, we came home with so many strawberries from Barbie's Berries out in Lynden, that they lasted until last month in the freezer! For every corn or cattle farm in Nebraska, is a berry farm in Washington. They're everywhere. Strawberries, raspberries, then blueberries, in that order, over the span of about 6 weeks or so.  We took our opportunity to pick a 10-lb bucket full of strawberries yesterday morning with some friends. They are so ripe, the juice stains the fingers within minutes. Ani, who loves strawberries more than any other fruit, had juice on her hands, shirt, pants, and backside! Every year she manages to get a stomach-ache from her indulgence! The strawberries were at their peak and probably had ...

not shown: grilled onions Stefan is the master meat-chef in our house. There is no hiding that I hate holding raw meat, and although I'll do it, I much prefer to pass that job off to him. Aside from bacon frying in a skillet, he makes the most tender, juicy meat dishes. I'll stay humbly at the table, doing the side dish. It's no secret, also, that our family loves Chipotle . When I say love, I mean " luuuuuuurrrvvvve " Chipotle . Like, love as in we asked about opening up a restaurant, until we found out they don't franchise.  Now that we live in an area where the closest Chipotle is an hour away (gasp! They are putting one near us in Bellingham, WA, of course right after we move), we have tried to recreate our beloved chicken burritos, rice bowls, and pico de gallo from the restaurant. What we've come up with is something with the basic building blocks of the healthy meal we enjoyed weekly, but with an entirely unique and amazing flavor, also ...