In My Backyard Right Now!

See the bluejay in the lower left?

Thanksgiving Recipes

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

This year we celebrated thanksgiving at home with just the four of us.
Given our small group I decided to roast bone-in turkey breast rather than the whole turkey. And I decided to roast two so that there would be plenty of white meat leftovers and were there! I followed a recipe for roasting turkey breast that I found here and the turkey was so nice and juicy, not dried out at all. I also tucked a few fresh sage leaves under the skin as I've seen Martha do,lol.

Then I decided to try out some new recipes by Bonnie Stern that I read in about in the National Post. I made the bacon carmelized onion stuffing and while it was good I do prefer my more traditional sage and savory stuffing.

For dessert I made the Gingerbread Pear Cobbler with half pears and half apples. It is sooooo good. I will definitely make it again. The topping is quite cake like.




GINGERBREAD PEAR COBBLER

You can use apples instead of pears. Place cobbler on a baking sheet (fruit juices may bubble over). Scoop ice cream ahead of time, for easier serving. If you like, serve this with a caramel sauce.
- 8 ripe pears, peeled, cored and sliced (about 8 cups/2 L)
- 1⁄3 cup (75 mL) brown sugar
- 2 tbsp (30 mL) all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp (2 mL) each of ground cinnamon and ginger
Topping:
- ½ cup (125 mL) butter
- ¾ cup (175 mL) brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp (25 mL) molasses
- ¾ cup (175 mL) buttermilk
- 11⁄3 cups (225 mL) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp (5 mL) each of baking soda, ground ginger and ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp (2 mL) cream of tartar
- ¼ tsp (1 mL) each of salt, ground allspice and ground nutmeg
- 2 tbsp (25 mL) coarse sugar
- 8 scoops vanilla or caramel ice cream
1. Combine pears with brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and ginger. Spoon in the bottom of a buttered 9x13-inch (3.5 L) baking dish.
2. For the topping, beat butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and molasses. Combine or sift flour with baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cream of tartar, salt, allspice and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients in three additions alternately with buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
3. Spoon batter on top of pears, leaving a space around the edge so that fruit juices can bubble up. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.
4. Bake in a preheated 350F (180C) oven until topping is cooked through and browned, about 40 to 45 minutes, or until pears are very tender and a cake tester inserted in the topping comes out dry. Serve with a scoop of ice cream. Makes 8 servings

Enjoy your day!

Highlights from Hawaii - Kona and Kauai

At our second stop on the Big Island we went on a Catamaran sail where we were entertained by dolphins and enjoyed the views.

One of the many beaches.

Dave snorkelling.

Shore edge with water crashing up through a blow hole.

The dolphins.

A view of our ship(with another behind) in the distance.

Our third stop was on the beautiful island of Kauai where enjoyed some more beautiful views some of which in a rather unique way.

Our port of call in Kauai.

We tubed down irrigation ditches and tunnels dug by chineses immigrants in the late 1800's. Originally these were used to irrigate sugar cane fields but with the decline of this industry in Hawaii, Steve Case(founder of AOL) bought the former plantation which has allowed the creation of this unusual tour. The ditch was about 2 miles long through dense, rainforest like vegetation.

A tree fern over the irrigation canal.

Dave and Kathryn near the end of the tube ride.

Beach views in Kauai.

Whoops, Dave got a little wet.

Kathryn on the beach.

Stay tuned for more highlights!

Highlights from Hawaii - Volcanoes National Park

Our first stop after 5 days at sea was at Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. Steve and I were particularly excited about this stop as we were going to visit Volcanoes National Park(we both studied geology in university). I was a little skeptical about how much of the volcano we would actually see but was pleasantly surprised. I think this had to be one of best shore excursions ever.

We met our tour guide Joe(all I could think of was Joe versus the Volcano)who suited us up with rain gear(in case), a walking stick,water and lunch. We then drove about 45 minutes to the park for a first view of where we would actually be hiking.

When we first saw this view of Kilauea Iki Crater, we didn't realize we would actually be hiking down into it but indeed we did! Follow the link for details on what happened when this volcano erupted in 1959 and the details on what we saw on our 4 mile hike.

Crater Views




Some hikers down in the crater.

But before we did that we walked through a lava tube! We didn't get good pictures of the tube but if you follow the link you will see exactly what we saw.

Me at the start of the hike.

A close up crater view and me in the crater with steam vents in the back ground.


The walking stick helped us navigate over the uneven lava. And another view of the steam vents.

Joe was explaining the creation of this crater.


Orchids we saw along the crater edge hiking trail. Seeing orchids in bloom is supposed to be good luck.


After we completed our hike we drove 3 miles to the Kilauea cauldera where we had close up views of the poisonous steam vent. Click the link for more details on this eruption.

Fortunately the winds are very predictable in Hawaii and we were upwind of the vent. Roads were closed downwind of the vent.

Steve and I in front of the vent.


Later that night the ship sailed around the Big Island and although our pictures didn't turn out, this is lava flowing from the cauldera to the ocean.



This was truly the experience of a lifetime!

Thankful For You

I decided to try to get back into the swing of some card challenges tonight and I have to admit it was tough going for a bit. But I perservered and used one of my new cuttlebug folders called Ornamental that I received from the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog. I also dipped into a couple of new PTI stamp sets, Fall Elegance and Vintage Labels. And as per usual I looked through my scraps to find the patterned papers used.



I created the label using a spellbinders label one die then embossed it and stamped it with the border. I then added some swirls, cut out some stamped leaves and added the sentiment. Given the fall theme it fits in perfectly with this weeks Be Inspired at Cuttlebug Challenges. I also added some Martha Stewart ribbon I'd been saving and so it fits the challenge at Caardvarks too.

Then I just had to share the package of goodies I won from Cuttlebug Challenges little while back.



Doesn't everything look yummy? I can't wait to try it all out!

I'm back from Hawaii!!

Hello all!



I'm back from a just over 2 week cruise and stay in Hawaii(we went with Kathryn and Dave who celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary) and thought I'd share some fun photos in the slide show below. (I came up with the jumping idea from the blogosphere!)

I'll highlight some of the things we saw and did in future posts.



PS: Special thanks to my Mom for looking after our daughters while we were gone.

Wedding Layouts and Cards

A little while back, I gave you a sneak peak of some wedding layouts I did for Younique using the Making Memories I Do line.

Heather now has them put together as kit and I'm pleased to show them in their entirety. Some of you may recognize the couple featured in these layouts!

These layouts use Bazzil Tiara which has a gorgeous shine that set off these papers beautifully. And I did liberally use bling as well!


Varnish Brocade layout



Mr and Mrs Layout



Pearls and Eyelet Card



Varnish Brocade Card - outside



And the inside