Supper is working

I am so grateful that my sister and I tried out Supperworks . At first, I must admit, I was a bit skeptical mostly because of the cost added to my grocery budget. Now, having actually eaten three of the meals, I am truly impressed ... not only with the wonderful-tasting and nutritious meals ... but also because it does truly work.


For example: Saturday was another 12-hour day shift in the land of the wee ones where things were going quite smoothly. Back at home, however, our youngest was sick, sick, sick. By 5 PM he had a fever up to 39.7 despite children's ibuprofen. After calling me at work, DD's 1&2 tried to help by placing cool clothes on his forehead and armpits. Thinking more is...well...better...soon the poor sick boy had not one, not two, not three, but 13 cool wash clothes covering most of his body and he was most uncomfortable! His dad rescued him from the "nurses" and managed to cook supper at the same time. I got home as quickly as I could with some Tylenol (more effective) for the now 40 degree fever and was still able to sit down to a nice meal of balsamic pork tenderloin, noodles with sauce, and cooked carrots.



Sick boy is doing better now but still home with a nasty cough that lingers after the fever. I have been very busy training for a new work-from-home job and so yesterday we enjoyed meal #3. This was steak in a tangy rasperry sauce. The picture is of the leftovers and unfortunately doesn't do the dish justice. Believe me though, it was absolutely delicious!

Now a bit about knitting for a change. For fun, have a visit over at Mason-Dixon and place your vote. I couldn't help voting for Babs the Sock Monkey who just has the whole package. Annabelle the Rat is a very close second (would have been a tie but we had to pick only one), and Kermit (#17) is also too cute. Salmon Wrap should get honourable mention here as well for most artistic and best photography.

Who got your vote?

Baked Pasta Florentine

Last night after coming home from working in the land of the wee people (NICU) for 12 hours, I was able to enjoy our first Supperworks meal, Baked Pasta Florentine. It was delicious - a combination of pasta, ham, spinach, ricotta cheese, sprinkled with parmesan and served up easily with a side mixed salad. From fridge to table, 30 minutes.

Best of all, the kids liked it too - hence no pictures - we ate it all!

A "Wilde" family adventure

~The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page~

~Saint Augustine

Recently we learned that friends of ours are going on a year-round travel adventure that will take them across Canada and to many other places in the world. For those of us too chicken, kind of stuck, or secretly planning our own escape, we can live somewhat vicariously through this family as they blog their journey here.

John and Pam, Simon and Danielle, we look forward to reading your book.

Winter continues...

As you can see, winter is still in full force around here. This picture of winter wonderland was taken outside my van window, waiting for my half-decaf/double-double at Tim Hortons.Except for the shoveling, and shoveling, and shoveling, it's not really so bad and there are still plenty of things to do, like:

#1. Adding one gigabyte of RAM to the computer in preparation for another medical transcription job.

As with most things in life, one thing leads to another. The dust bunnies get cleaned out, the wires are all untangled, then plugged back into their respective ports (hopefully) and...

...this looks much better. Best of all, the machine is running just fine. Phew.

#2. Eating.

As I work 12-hour shifts and the kids often have one activity or another in the evenings, meal planning and prepartion can be crazy at our house. Instead of picking up a pizza or throwing some nuggets and fries in the oven for a quick meal, I have been looking for ways to put decent and nutritious meals on the table especially on school nights. I heard on the radio about a place where they provide the recipes and ingredients for make-ahead meals, and they do all the prep work and clean-up. How does baked pasta Florentine, balsamic pork tenderloin, creamy herbed chicken, maple-kissed pork chops, salmon with herbed couscous, or steak with tangy raspberry sauce sound? These were just a few of the dishes on the February menu at Supperworks, so my sister and I had to check it out.

After a brief orientation and a few instructions by our wonderful hostess, Nicole, the two of us set out to make six nutritious meals to take home, freezer ready.

Here's my sister at one of the work stations where the food is freshly prepared and measured, all ingredients and equipment are on hand and clearly labeled, and everything is kept spotlessly clean. Once your meal is prepared, packaged, and labeled, it goes into a bin labeled for you and then refrigerated, as you move along to make the next dish.

"Salmon with Herbed Couscous" ready for my freezer at home...

And a package of ready-to-bake cookies for me ~ or perhaps for dessert one night this week if I'm in a sharing mood.

#. Knitting.

Yes, I have found some time to do a bit of knitting. Here's my foot still on pins and needles, getting ready to finish the toe of a sock made from Patons Kroy. I am going to have to frog back a few rows as the toe is getting too pointy with decreases every other row.

I am also well underway with the Tilted Duster, having finished the fronts, back, and sleeves. I have picked up the stitches for the bottom skirt area and am working my way down to the bottom hem. The Peruvia really does roll at the edges though and I am toying with adding an I-cord or garter stitch edging.

And so, Mr. Winter, throw us some more snow...I can take it....I'm never bored!

~Through our garden gate~

It's still snowing...twelve hours later

Assistant shoveller #1:#2:

There are those who believe we Canadians are all living in igloos...no wonder!

Snow Day

...6:45 AM and the snow is coming down...apparently we are getting it all today: snow, blowing snow, ice pellets, freezing rain, then more snow...


.....7:10 and the phone chain begins: no school today. The kids are all snoozing and I enjoy the quiet time with my coffee and Toaster Strudel...

.....7:30 view from the front door....

....8:30....it's going to be a long day....

.....the snow is now mixed with ice pellets...time to start shoveling...