I had a small problem...

As anyone who has indoor plants (or who has brought outdoor plants indoors for the winter) will know... sometimes bugs happen.

Last winter I ripped the top off a pineapple and planted it in a pot (seriously, it was pretty much that simple). The thick green leaves are flourishing a year later... but somehow that little bugger has attracted (or brought in) a bunch of what I can only guess are some version of white flies. I didn't notice them much last winter but since this fall I've seen a number of the thinner-than-fruit-fly little buggers in my room.

You know things are bad when they start flying up your nose when you're trying to sleep.

Something had to be done. 

So I borrowed from my mother a pack of Safer's Sticky Sticks, and within a few days I'd caught several dozen little flies! I couldn't believe it! I knew there were a few of them but I ever imagined that many!

Sticky Sticks! (The name doesn't lie, don't get them on your fingers!!)

Conclusion: Great product, highly recommended!

Happy Family Day!

I hope everyone had a great Valentines (/ Singles Awareness) Day and are now enjoying their long weekend courtesy of Family day (or whatever it's called where you are today)(unless you don't get a holiday today then I'm sorry)!

My V-day was spent in Kenora (a beautiful little tourist town an hour west of home) with my honey. He bought me lunch at the Cornerstone, a great little pub which came highly recommended and did not disappoint, entertained my whim to visit a winter farmer's market and sampled tea with me at Spirit Oak Tea Company.

Maple Sugar, Raspberry Tartlet and Kenora Sunset

The farmer's market was small but considering the population of the area, it had a good variety (but you should see the summer market!!). There were a couple of different local meat suppliers, a few tables of baked goods, some handmade jewelery and some jam. We bought some pomegranate and some crab apple jam.

Temperatures were pretty bloody frigid (in the -40s with the windchill!) which made coming home to a nice warm cup of loose leaf tea so much more enjoyable! I just got in from watering the horses (only the -20s today!) but I'm in love with this Maple Sugar tea!

Frosty ponies! (nice tongue Max!)

Happy Family Day!

Baking Pies and Planting Herbs

This weekend the weather gods sure weren't looking out for us poor fundraisers, that much I know. Between 10 and 20cm fell Saturday (the day of the benefit dinner and dance), but that didn't slow our locals down! Over 200 people turned out to join in supporting the affected family and I was reminded again why I love living where I do. My pies were well received and I enjoyed mingling with locals (incidentally I ended up sitting with some Quibell residents and the man who's 120 acres I helped mow this past August!) and trying my hand at a penny auction (and the losing streak continues!).

Pecan (at the back) and Chocolate Pecan Pies ready for a good cause!

But of course my heart is still aching for some soil so Saturday morning while the pies were in the oven I hauled out the bed sheet and did some February gardening. I helped my mum transplant a couple houseplants to bigger pots and moved some herbs into pots from their peat plugs.

Mum's houseplants, my herbs

My dill has fluffy little dills!! (well ok, you know what I mean)

My little garden experiment is taking up a lot of room on that sill...

My current inventory is (starting with the pot at the bottom of that last photo, working my way up): Dill, Basil, Catnip, half a pot of Parsley (the Thyme is taking its time (har, har, har...) and is spending a couple more days in the peat plug before joining the parsley), a whole pot of Spinach and in that last pot I have five different kinds of lettuce!! But I didn't label them so it'll be a surprise to everyone if they sprout!

And of course what would indoor gardening be without the watchful eye of our guard dog (read snoozer)?

Really, Chihuahuas are best left in warm chairs when there's soil on the floor nearby.

I fully intended on leaving you hanging for a couple of days before sharing my stellar pie crust recipe (I don't want anyone thinking this is one of those recipe blogs) but a great recipe like this is meant to be shared! So here goes, help yourself and please share with your friends, family and favourites! (and if you actually read this, please do put a little hello in the comments! I see those hits but no one's been brave enough to introduce themselves yet!)

I like using vanilla (or in this case, cinnamon sugar) flavoured vodka

Pie Crust
Makes enough for a 9" pie tin and a lid (or bake the extra and eat dusted with cinnamon sugar!!)
(adapted from Food52)

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 to 2 cup Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 9 tablespoon cold butter (1/2 cup +1 tbsp)
• 1/3 cup cold vegetable shortening
• 3 tablespoon water
• 3 tablespoon vodka

Instructions

1. Combine shortening and butter and place in fridge for a couple of hours until cold and solid
2. Combine vodka and water in a measuring cup and place in fridge or freezer to cool while combining remaining ingredients.
3. In a food processor combine 1 cup flour with sugar and salt (a couple of quick pulses) 
4. Add cold fats and process for approximately 10 seconds or until a dough begins to collect in uneven clumps.
5. Add remaining 3/4 to 1 cup flour (depending on how dry or humid your kitchen is) and pulse approximately 5 quick pulses until dough is broken up and flour is distributed. Empty into a mixing bowl.
6. Sprinkle chilled liquid over flour mixture and mix until just combined.
7. Turn dough out onto plastic wrap, flatten into a disc and chill for a couple hours or overnight. 
8. Roll dough out on a floured surface.
9. Line dish and chill until ready to use.
10. Fill and bake according to your pie recipe.

Pies for a Cause

It's basically no secret around here that I have few natural talents. I can't play any musical instruments, I'll never be writing for a Masters and the whole of my artistic abilities extends as far as the realm of stick figures.  But throw me in a kitchen and I'll make a darn good pie.

This past fall I made 120 pies for a good friend's wedding (60 individual apple pies, 59 individual pumpkin pies and one normal sized apple pie). Pies are my standby when I get the itch... I'm sitting at my desk and I can't seem to focus... I need to bake. Don't tell me you don't have a vice like that (maybe not an itch quite like that though).



10/11/14, Congrats Bri & Bren!

This weekend I will be attending a benefit dinner & dance for a local woman who is in hospital having a bit of a hard time. When a member of our tiny town has a hard time its amazing how the community can band together and help out.

A couple years ago tragedy struck the very same household when Scott's iconic Black Magic van burnt. A vehicle burning might not sound like an incident to some people but for Scott - a paraplegic and VERY active member of the local Kinsmen club and other community organizations - this wasn't just his van, this was his liberty.

On that particular occasion the community came together with a weekend of fundraising where the different community groups hosted different functions (as a member of the Waldhof Wranglers I helped out with a spaghetti dinner), culminating with a dance and a pie auction.

You heard that right, a pie auction.

Now not to toot my own horn here, but my Pecan and Chocolate Pecan Pies fetched in the range of $300 each. Which is why I'm baking this weekend. I'm not a rich person (actually the opposite, I'm still working on paying off my student loans and am going to be talking to my financial advisor on Friday about getting myself a bit more debt... more on that later, hopefully) so I can't really donate money... but I can bake. When I was told there would be an auction (a regular one this time, not pie exclusive) I bought butter. I'll be donating a "lot" of pies (probably 2 - 4... I haven't actually started baking yet) and hopefully since winter is getting chilly and long around here... stomachs will be grumbling.

On that particular occasion the turn out was phenomenal and the pocketbooks open and just shy of $30,000 was raised. So stay tuned, I'll (hopefully remember to) take pictures of the pies and let you know how they do at the auction. If we're really lucky, the locals are feeling hungry as well as generous!

Changes in the greenhouse and some baking!

Before I jump right into the changes in the greenhouse, lets get this straight... my bedroom is currently my greenhouse.

Oh come on, who doesn't have a chandelier in their bedroom?

As a girl who doesn't own her own property (yet) but is so dead set on farming, I've got to work with what I've got. So let's take stock of that right now.

I've got: 

• two windows (south and east facing) with a nifty '80s style ledge under them
• A bag of potting soil, some seed packets and some self watering pots
• 2 feet of snow and -32C weather
• One APHA gelding (more on him soon, promise)
• Ambition

As soon as the weather warms up enough and the snow disappears (whichever comes first) I'll be out there with a shovel digging up the parent's yard and building myself one heck of a garden.

But today I spent my lazy sunday transplanting some of my plugs and baking!

The end result of taking apart a couple starter plugs.. here's hoping I didn't make the roots too unhappy!!

The spinach is doing really well already! Only 2 seeds didn't want to take off.

The dill is looking a little spindly but it was getting too tall for the starter container.

The catnip was the first to pop up and is still doing pretty decent (but nothing compared to the spinach)

I only took apart one basil plug, I'm going to give the other a little more time in the tray.

So now we're just waiting for that last basil plug and the thyme to get bigger... parsley is still a no show

 So now you've seen the greenhouse and where my plants are sitting at now... on to the baking!

I made two things this lazy Sunday: pie and cookies. The pie(s) were cherry and cherry raspberry, the cookies: peanut butter and peanut butter with peanut butter cups. A little redundancy never hurt anyone, right?

I'd really like to share the recipe for the peanut butter cookies that I made (adapted from chefsavvy.com) because I (and my parents) was really impressed with the way they turned out. They look like little dense nuggets of peanut butter but they're actually really light and soft. Win!

Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Cookies

(makes approx. 50 cookies. go big or go home.)

 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup room temperature margarine (or unsalted butter)
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3 whole egg
• 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ teaspoon baking soda
• 3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup mini Reese's peanut butter cups

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add butter, peanut butter and brown sugar to a  bowl (or your stand mixer, I prefer a handheld electric egg beater for cookies, less cleanup!) and beat until well combined (about a minute).
3. Mix in eggs and vanilla (another thirty seconds-ish).
4. Combine baking soda and flour in a separate bowl.
5. With a spatula, hand mix the dry ingredients to the wet until just combined.
6. Fold in the peanut butter cups (at this point I divided the dough into two and reserved half the batch for peanut butter cup free cookies, but you could just mix it all in if you prefer).
7. Either use two spoons, wet hands or (my favourite) a 1½ tablespoon cookie scoop to form cookies.
8. Place cookies on a baking sheet with a silicon mat or parchment paper.
9. Bake for approximately 13 minutes.
10. Good luck letting these cool completely before eating them, they make the house smell divine.

 
And just for fun I'll finish off with a picture of the pies but I won't share the recipe (yet... pie crust recipe is for another day).

Time to bundle up, brave the -30C weather and water some horses!

yes, I was multitasking...