Saturday, May 02, 2009

The Bon-fire and Bruchettas


Friday night was a perfect night to move the Happy hour to the beach over at Deba nd Ashley's

Here is Mike, roasting his Italian sausage. Everyone else was already done roasting... and they were delicious! Mike and Alissa brought the left over chili from last week's party,so we dined like kings on a beach!

Now here is where it gets serious... Emil brought out the Cohiba cigars that we brought back from Cuba...and you guessed it... we smoked them around the fire! They should have been accompanied with a little scotch, but it seems like wine was just fine. The cigars were a pleasant surprise to us all, as we aren't smokers anymore..and of course, never inhaled...but they somehow were pretty good...aslong as they stayed lit! It was all pretty much funny and a good way to get in the bonfire beach spirit!

Mike and Alissa were yukking it up witht he cigars too... all pretty funny. I thought my mouth would taste like horse poo this morning, but miraculously, Colgate did the trick and all was fine!
I took off early to town to have my Mamos grammed...then did some groceries, ansd walmarted for peat moss and sunshine mix and a rosebush,then set off to Save on for some odd ball things that I was out of...Panko crumbs. You can buy them there. Then I stopped at Safeway and the LCB. That would be two more stops than my normal ability to handle shopping at once. I had the car full, so had to quit shopping at any rate!

When I returned home, a car pulled into the driveway ahead of me and it turned out to be Emil's buddy Wayne, from Cranbrook and his new flame... Sheryl, who took over Emil's job.Weenjoyed the sunshine outside with a few Caronas and then I made some of NAdine and Lynn's bruschetta... so easy. I had found the garlic flavoured ( brushetta style) diced tomatoes in Save-on. They are
by Aylmer and called Accents. (diced tomatoes)

I flavoured them up a little more with more fresh garlic, and a cube of pesto for the nice basil flavour...plus 3 or 4 finely chopped green onions, and a quarter cup of light olive oil. Reserve mixture until you toast the bread slices. I then sliced my baquette on the diagonal, brushed the slices with a light coat of olive oil, and broiled the bread slices on a cookie sheet until they were lightly browned. Watch carefully...or charcoal brickettes will happen!
Top each bread slice with a few tablespoons of the brushetta mixture, (spread across the slice of bread,) then add a sprinkle of parmasean cheese and I added a few sprinkles of grated cheddar cheese. Once they are all topped, just place back under the broiler and watch carefully. toast until the cheese melts a bit and quickly take them out and serve. These are a delicious, easy to make appi, and you can feed a lot of people with it, as one can of diced tomatoes does almost a whole baquette if you are frugal! Five of us inhaled what I cooked on one smaller cookie sheet!

Sheryl and Wayne stayed for BBQ'd smokies and a big salad and fresh strawberries for desert. It was good to touch base with them ,as we hadn't had them over for ages. Sheryl was excited about returning to Victoria tomorrow, as her daughter is due to have baby #3 as we speak. Sheryl hopes her daughter holds out until she arrives, but has a sneaky feeling that the baby will arrive before she does!
well, I think the canucks stunk tonight.. It was such a bad game that I fell asleep on the couch! Now I have to go to real bed. I didn't get to my garden today so have a prayer in for the sun gods at least for the morning!
Love ya all...have a good week-end...



"The Creator"
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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Lynn's Birthday Lunch

We all congregated in Castlegar at the Black Rooster for lunch on Sunday afternoon to clebrate Lynn's big 60! I must say she is looking like a Spring Chick! She is taking after her Aunties, who never have changed over the past however many years.. they keep their youthfulness...and their usefulness..ha-ha.. I thought that was funny.



Lynn with her birthday bouguet!



Lynn and Moi...



Lynn and Joyce


A happy Birthday Crepe!




Blowing out the candle...and making a wish!




Her new bling!







Standing under Big Blackie! Lynn brought along her friend Tommy Lynn, which I realize I don't have a photo of... many because my camera wouldn't turn on. It has been on the fritz since I returned from Victoria... not good at all.

We had a grand lunch, lots of laughs, and lots of stories and then we had to call it a day, because we were all stuffed with birthday crepe!
Happy Belated to you Lynn... we are blessed that you are in our lives! Hope it made your day a bright one! Joyce and I enjoyed getting together with you...it had been a long time!
"The Creator"

Appi Party at Mike and Alisa's


I brought a veggie pizza for my appi. It is a make ahead kind of munchie that feeds a bunch. You'll need about two packages of crescent rolls ( pillsbury). Arrange them like pie pieces on your pizza pan or baking stone so as toform a crust. You can pinch or press the edges together so there are no holes. Bake about 12-15 minutes at 350*. Let cool.
In a bowl mix up a large package of light cream cheese, and a half cup of miracle whip. I added a full package of Dry Uncle Dan's ranch dressing mix, but found it to be overly salty. I'd start with half a package and check for taste after mixing it all up with the beaters. Spread that onto your crust as evenly as possible. Now, here is where I went wrong... I added way to many veggies. It was a trick to slice it when it was that thick with veggies. Soooooo , here is a case where less is better. I used shredded carrots, chopped green onions, a small red pepper diced, some grape tomatoes sliced, celery finely chopped and then I did cauliflower and brocoli. I steamed the brocoli for a minute in the nuker, ( till bright green) then cooled it down and blotted it dry. I also blotted the sliced tomatoes. Same if you were to use cucumbers. Sprinkle it all on and slice into bite sized pieces, then wrap with saran wrap. It can be stored overnight to let the flavours soak in. You can use which ever veggies you like, and even some black sliced olives would be good as well. So ,all in all, you just need a few veggies for a big pizza!

Dick and Emil

Most of the neighbour hood

Alissa and Mike , the hosts with the mosts!
They have moved into their new kitchen , hence the reason for celebrating... It was a fun night and as usual , Dick and Ann provided us with many laughs...especially when the convo led to talks about viagra before they came out to the party... so funny, we were all in stitches...

I have to go to bed a little earlier tonight as Silky seemed to keep me up for the first half of the night, last night, and I was tuckered out when the alarm went off this morning..and don't feel much better now!

My blog is probably going to come to a slowdown or maybe a halt . Seems I don't have the NRG to get on it very often these days. I have taken an interest in completing our family tree on Geneolgy.com. I have new software, not yet loaded in to the computer, with which I can continue my Family tree project. If I sent a request to you for information regarding proper names ,birthdates and birthplaces, I thank sthose that replied, but would still appreciate hearing from those who haven't replied. Otherwise your limb will be lame.

"The Creator"
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