Not in a Million Years

I haven't posted in a million years. So sorry.
There is so much to share and so many brilliant pictures to post. Let's see what we can get through in this limited time between writing the last few questions for my students' exam tomorrow and continuing to mark my papers (argh, there are so many this year....why oh why do they have to write papers? Can they not act out their understanding? Can they not write me fiction? Can they not sing me sweet songs about Hills Like White Elephants? It isn't that I don't want to mark them, I just feel that they don't want to do them any more than I want to spend the rest of my days drawing animation (because I can't) so why put them through this...I don't agree).

I have made some final decisions about next year. Toronto - look out.

The recipes I have been dying to add are from a couple of weekends ago actually. The darling Brenda and her love Mike found themselves in Toronto for a dinner with The Sultan - giving me the chance to spend the entire evening with my two favourite ladies: KATE AND SARAH! We started the afternoon with a bowl of fruit left out by their dynamite mom/vet extraordinaire. While enjoying fruit, which was complete with tooth picks, we managed to get through a couple of short stories. The girls have been writing like crazy...and it was great fun. Some about monsters and boys from Kate (I understand that connection) and a great one about Odysseia (a relative of our famous not-so-hero) that Sarah and I have been working on for about a year now....

We than decided that we needed to make some dinner to be followed by cookie baking! Dinner was Frogs and Snakes in Sauce and the cookies were just hilarious. No other word fits them best - they were hilarious. We took a really basic cookie recipe and the girls just 'added'. I managed to find a wet/dry balance but it was mostly them digging through the fridge/cupboards and finding the things that they liked to eat and throwing it all together into one tasty mess of a batter. We even managed to personalize a couple of cookies for their dog Ryker - adding dog food to the top right before the baking.

You will find the recipes below, but the fun and laughter was all ours - we would love to share!!! You will have to join us sometime.

Kids are really the most amazing version of the human species. Their belief in goodness and their cuddle capabilities can make even the worst year in one's life seem filled with a load of sunshine and cookies....After baking we headed for the HUGE bed in M and B's room, where we huddled under the covers and enjoyed Harry Potter (you know Kev, it really wasn't as bad as we had thought...remember that trip home from the theatre last december...it was so cold....thank god for TTC), and the girls past out - one on each side.
Auntie Lyndsay tucked them into bed and headed for the hot tub.

Frogs and Snakes in Sauce

1 box of whole wheat pasta
1 cup of veggie ground round (italian)
1 onion
1 green pepper
tomato sauce (canned if you like - the girls prefer it to my 'fru fru' fancy homemade sauce)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Green food colouring


Add your oil to a warmed up pot (medium sized), and add your onion. The girls aren't crazy about garlic so the onion was just fine. Add your green pepper as soon as the onions are translucent. Give it a stir and let it sit for about three minutes, stirring occasionally. Add your tomato sauce, ground round and a wee bit of pepper. Simmer.

While you are making your sauce be sure to start the pasta water. When you have a rolling bubble going on throw in your noodles. I love my noodles over done - so go to town if you like, otherwise about 7 minutes should do it.
Strain, rinse and add the sauce to the larger noodle pot.
Ask the kids to add the food colouring and you have yourself some snakes/frogs in sauce. They loved it! Screams abounding.

The cookies are another story. Which I might get to tonight, but these exams may just be the death of me. We will see.