Dave and Sabrina

The first baby-related purchase

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:30:30 -0700

Okay, so maybe we would have bought this Canon EOS Rebel T1i DSLR camera anyway, but the baby is a good excuse. After all, we need time to practice before the baby arrives :)

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Recipe: Ron's Easy Potato Salad

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:44:54 -0700

I'm always looking for a great go-to potato salad - cooking the potatoes in chicken broth gives great flavour!

Ron's Easy Potato Salad
Makes about 6 cups (1.5 L)

-- One 900-mL carton low-sodium chicken broth
-- 1 1/2 pounds (680 g) mixed small red and fingerling potatoes
-- 2 tablespoons (25 mL) vinegar
-- 4 radishes, sliced
-- 3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
-- 3 green onions, chopped
-- 4 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves only, chopped
-- 4 leaves fresh sage, chopped
-- 1 stalk celery, chopped
-- 1/2 cup (125 mL) mayonnaise
-- 1 heaping teaspoon (7 mL) Dijon mustard
-- Salt, pepper, to taste

1. In a saucepan, bring chicken broth to boil, add cleaned potatoes and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer potatoes using a slotted spoon to a mixing bowl; splash with vinegar and toss to coat. Cool potatoes completely before refrigerating, covered, until needed.

2. To make the salad, cut cooked potatoes into convenient bite-size pieces, about 1/2- to 3/4-inch (2-cm) dice. Add all remaining ingredients and toss well to mix and coat. Refrigerate, covered, at least two hours before serving to blend flavours.

Source: Omnivore's Ottawa by Ron Eade

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And now for something completely different

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:10:48 -0700

Due date is February 5, 2011. :)

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The Race Card

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 06:32:22 -0700

(from PvPonline)

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One week later...

Sun, 23 May 2010 17:45:45 -0700

Pictured: beets, swiss chard, and maxibel green beans.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Ready... grow!

Thu, 20 May 2010 19:13:29 -0700

Last year we made the mistake of planting our seeds outside too early
and they got all eaten up by the squirrels and birds and rabbits and
duck (one; he's a mallard) of the neighbourhood.

This year, we're starting our seeds inside in the hopes that when
they're nicely sprouted the wildlife will be less interested.

So, we planted our seeds in some 'Jiffy Greenhouses' from Home Depot
last weekend and made a mini-greenhouse of our dining room. It's the
only sunlit spot in the house that we can keep the cat out of.

We'll see how this grows...

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Happy Mother's Day

Sun, 09 May 2010 18:02:06 -0700

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The Facebook litmus test

Fri, 07 May 2010 08:53:55 -0700

Too many 'friends' on Facebook? Here's a simple way to weed them out:

Enable birthday notifications (under Account > Account Settings > Notifications > Has a birthday coming up (weekly email) ).
Each week, see if you care enough to wish your 'friend' a Happy Birthday.

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Starring Roles

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:04:00 -0700

via comixed.com

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And then there was Posterous

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:02:07 -0700

It's shiny and fun and autoposts to all my social sites. Through e-mail, no less.

My internet life is complete.

(as ever, at daveandsabrina.com).

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The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:14:00 -0700

For us, it's literally.

We spent the better part of the weekend wreaking havoc on dandelions - but it's still a sorry sight compared to our neighbour's lawn. When the winter snow melted away, his was the one lawn to emerge green and unscathed.

The secret is to be a semi-retired government worker with a lot of weed killers.

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Best in Ottawa: Club Sandwich Edition

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:41:00 -0700

This is the first of some number of posts on my favourite restaurants in Ottawa. I'm not committing to anything here.

Best Club Sandwich: Elgin Street Diner.

My go-to diner in town is the ESD. I have many fond memories of after high school dance poutines (real cheese curds!) and thick yummy milk shakes. I love the chalkboard menus, the awesome servers, and the speedy service.

In recent years the menu has gotten pricer, the decor has gotten trendier, but the food remains as tasty as ever.

What makes the ESD club sandwich awesome:

Real chicken.
Mayo.
Fresh tomatoes.
Served with way too many crispy, potato-skin-still-on fries.

I'll admit - this award is based on part nostalgia, and part because I can't remember any club sandwich I've had anywhere else. The Elgin Street Diner club sandwich annihilated competition on the memorable scale. Annihilated!

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It's all true

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 20:17:00 -0700

Dave's cousins Michael and Barbara invited us over to visit their new baby daughter this weekend. Alora just turned 3 months old. Here's what we learned:

1) Babies have really small heads.

2) Babies have the cutest eyes.

3) Babies are sleepy all the time.

4) Girl guide cookies are addictive and the best reason to have a girl instead of a boy.

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Apple Pie

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:24:00 -0700

My mom requested pies for her birthday last weekend - I guess the pie-love is genetic! We obliged by making her several individually portioned mini-pies. It turns out, pie doesn't have to be hard to be delicious, and it's easy to split up the crust and filling duties. Note I resisted the temptation to make a bad pie pun. You're welcome.

Put 3 cups of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl and stir them together with your fingers. Drop in 1 cup of shortening (or lard... lard is flaky), and break it into several pieces as you push it around in the flour. Now put both hands in the bowl, and rub the fingers of each hand against the thumbs, lightly blending the shortening and flour together into smaller lumps and flake-shaped pieces. The mixture is blended enough when you don't see any lumps of shortening and you have a mixture of particles the size of coarse and fine bread crumbs.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of water over the dough and stir it briskly with a fork. Continue adding water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition.

When the dough forms a rough, cohesive mass, reach into the bowl and press the dough together into a roundish dough. The total amount of water needed can vary. Rub some flour on your hands and pat the dough into 2 cakes about 1 inch thick and 3 to 4 inches across. Make one cake slightly larger than the other.

Sprinkle your rolling surface lightly with flour, to about a 12-inch diameter. Put the dough in the center and sprinkle it lightly with flour. Flatten the dough a little with your hands and begin rolling it into a circle. Do most of the rolling from the center out to the edges of the dough. Keep the shape as round as possible, but don't worry about it being perfect.

I need stainless steel countertops.

For the filling, you need 6 to 7 Golden Delicious apples (less here, since we made mini pies).

Peel, core, and slice - all done with a knife because I don't have any fancy apple tools.

Put the apple slices in a large bow, and add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 3/4 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Mix it all up with your hands.

Pie making is a very hands-on process.

Fit half of the pie crust into the pie pan and pile in the apples - don't be afraid to mound it high! Next, dot the apples with 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces. More sugar! More fat! Pie is not good for you. Just a disclaimer.

Put on the top crust, then trim and flute the edges. Cut several vents at the top for the steam to escape.

Bake the pie at 425F for 25 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F and continue baking for about 45 minutes longer, until the crust is browned, the juices are bubbling, and the apples are tender when pierced with a knife inserted through one of the vents.

Serve the pie at warm, or at room temperature, preferably with some vanilla ice cream and a hot mug of tea. nom.

Apple Pie

The Crust (for a 9-inch two-crust pie):

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable shortening
7 to 8 tablespoons cold water

Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and stir them together with your fingers. Drop in the shortening and rub it in until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix the dough with your hands until it forms a cohesive ball.

Split the dough into 2 cakes, one slightly larger than the other, about 1 inch thick and 3 to 4 inches across. Sprinkle your rolling surface lightly with flour, and roll out the dough into a circle about 11 to 12 inches across.

The Filling:

3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 to 7 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, halved, cored, and sliced about 1/4 inch thick
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 425F. Roll out half of the dough for the bottom crust and fit it into a 9-inch pie pan. Roll out the remaining dough for the top crust and set aside on a sheet of waxed paper.

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.

Put the apple slices in a large bowl, add the lemon juice, and toss with your hands to coat the apples with the juice. Add the sugar mixture and continue tossing until the apples are evenly coated. Pile the apples into the dough-lined pan, mounding them slightly in the center. Scatter the butter over the apples. Put on the top crust, then trim and flute the edges. With the sharp point of a knife, cut several vents in the top for steam to escape.

Bake for 25 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F and continue baking for about 45 minutes longer, until the crust is browned, the juices are bubbling, and the apples are tender when pierced with a knife inserted through one of the vents.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe from Pie Pie Pie, by John Phillip Carroll .

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The Great Vegetable Garden Experiment, v2010

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:10:00 -0700

Ever since we've moved into a house with a Real Backyard I've wanted to grow a vegetable garden. We got into the game a bit late last year and the squirrels ate all our seeds. We had a mini-success with our tomato plants last year only because we picked up seedlings from Knippel's.

We're changing the game plan this year, thanks to Beckta's home garden seed kits. The idea is you pay $25 for ten different types of seeds selected that grow well in the local climate, and can't just pick up at the grocery store for 99 cents. The vegetables we will be growing this year are:

Maxibel Beans
Chantenay Carrots
Harris Model Parsnips
Five Colour Swiss Chard
French Breakfast Radishes
Chioggia Beets
Jacob’s Cattle Baking Beans
Laurentian Turnips
Bush Delicata Squash
Fava Beans

Stay posted for what actually comes up!

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Journal10 in Evernote

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:49:00 -0700

I've been keeping a journal on and off, online and offline, since 2001. Recently I heard about the Journal 10. The journal contains 366 pages, with 10 years per date. The idea is to put down a sentence or two everyday, which in theory makes it easier to keep up a daily journal. Not that I've ever had trouble with a shortage of words.

I love this layout idea but I didn't want to abandon my past - plus I'm cheap and currently on the online journal phase - so I decided to make my own 10-year journal using Evernote.

I created a 'Journal' notebook and created notes for each day of the year.

Each note has the format

Year

Entry

--------------

Year

Entry

etc.

Although there are plenty of cringe-inducing entries that make me want to slap my former self, it's fascinating to literally (figuratively?) watch myself change over the years. Also it's awesome realizing that instead of writing exams in April, I'm now writing about gelato and patios.

What will it be next year?

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Signs of Spring

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 18:54:00 -0700

Gelato...

+ Patio...

= bbq season am i rite?

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Hyperbole and a Half: Cake Versus Pie: A Scientific Approach

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:14:00 -0700

Hyperbole and a Half: Cake Versus Pie: A Scientific Approach

Spoiler alert: Pie wins again!

(Thanks Riz.)

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Schwartz's: The final smoked meat destination

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:40:00 -0700

Day One of our Montreal trip. We arrived in Montreal Via Rail at noon thirty on Saturday. We dropped off our bags at our hotel down in Old Montreal and made our way up St. Laurent - through Chinatown, past the Sexotheque and Peep Shows - and found the nondescript Hewbrew delicatessen with a lineup of people down half a block. This was at 2:00pm on a Saturday afternoon.

We got in line and the queue built up quickly behind us. Since there were only two of us, we were rewarded with a seat relatively quickly. Once inside, we were lucky enough to get a table to ourselves, squeezed in at the very end of the restaurants next to the kitchen. No tablecloths on the table: always a good sign. Ordering was easy; we were there for only one thing: Smoked meat. Medium. And a plate of fries. Don't forget the cherry cola.

Consensus: Juicy, tender, and flavourful (I'm still talking about smoked meat here).

Worth it.

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The Big 1-0

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:19:00 -0700

Friday, March 26, 2010 is the Ten Year Anniversary of when we started dating. I still count this one because 10 years sounds way cooler than 'a year and a bit'.

To celebrate our ten years we are going on a short trip to Montreal. We're staying at the same hotel we stayed at when we went on a mini-honeymoon right after our wedding (we went on a real one several months later, to Hong Kong-Australia-New Zealand). The only real plan we have is to visit Schwartz's for some awesome smoked meat. The rest of the time is for wandering and enjoying. I love vacations like this!

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