Spaghetti

Spaghetti is one of the kids' favourite meals. For me it's a quick and healthy meal that's easy for a week night. I cheat with a can of Primo pasta sauce, but I fry up and add about half a pound of ground beef, some onion, green pepper, mushrooms, or what other things might be in my fridge. Of course everyone loves Parmesan cheese with it.

Speaking of spaghetti.... I was at work today and we were discussing a software application and the possibility of re-using some of the code. Someone had commented on the code describing it as spaghetti like. I thought it rather amusing and it certainly helped us make up our mind to start fresh.

Chili and Skiing

Chili in the slow cooker was an awesome way to end a ski day. I make my chili with the typical incredients (ground beef, kidney beans, tomotoe, onions, etc.), but I also add in finely chopped mushrooms and a finely chopped carrot. Shhh... don't tell the kids!

To go with the chili, I made bread in the bread maker. It was a french bread recipe, but I felt like experimenting so I switched out some of the flour for whole wheat flour and programmed it for the whole grains cycle instead of the french bread cycle. It was delicious. I've also been playing with the amount of salt. The recipe I got off the Internet had called for 1.5 tbsp of salt. The first time I made it, I followed the recipe and it was way too salty. This time I used about half the amount of salt, and it's very good. I want to try adding in some flax seed powder next time. I hear it is supposed to be very healthy and good for the digestive system too!

Nadim managed to take a spill on the ski slopes. He twisted his knee quite badly. Hopefully he will be recovered enough to ski next weekend. The kids have been loving their lessons and always want to keep skiing. It's or first year skiing and we're enjoying it immensely, with the exception of Nadim's little accident of course!

Walnuts and Pomegranate

A few nights ago we had a Persian dish, called fessenjoon. It starts with large chunks of chicken breast fried with onion until it is lightly browned. Then you add a walnut paste (grind shelled walnuts in a food processor until you get a smooth paste and then grind some more), you combine this with some pomegranate juice, or pomegranate paste with water. Toss in some cinnamon, salt, and saffron (if you have it) and boil the whole pot for about an hour and a half. It's supposed to have a bit of a sweet and sour taste, so you can add a couple of tablespoons of sugar too. You serve this over basmati rice. It's one of my favourites.


We played cards tonight with some of the neighbours. Nadim and Phil were way behind, but they managed to crawl their way back and beat us! As they won each game, they would claw at the table mimicking their climb to the top. We'll get them next time!

Salmon and the rules

Dinner:
Last night's supper was cedar plank salmon. You soak a cedar board in water for a few hours, brush it with olive oil and BBQ salmon that's been marinated in olive oil, soya sauce, garlic and brown sugar on it. It's one of Nadim's specialties and he did it perfectly. To go with the fish, I had fried potato wedges (skin on), roughly cut onion, and whole garlic cloves in olive oil. When they were done I tossed them with some Parmesan cheese and a little dried basil. The garlic was slightly blackened, but the taste was amazing. With some coaxing, Roya put one in her mouth, and with a sour expression that quickly turned to surprise, exclaimed that they were "awesome". We also had some boring veggies with it that I won't describe.

Doing the right thing:
Roya was recognized as student of the month for "doing the right thing". This doesn't surprise us because Roya is a "follow the rules" kind of girl. Just play a game with her, and you'll see what I mean. Yasmin wanted some recognition too on this, but after some discussion we decided that Yasmin is more like her father and treats rules more as guidelines. Of course I had to use the example of speeding to illustrate. The girls (especially Roya) were shocked and appalled that Nadim breaks the speed limit pretty much every time we go to Toronto, and raked him over the coals for it. Thank God I didn't say every time he gets on the highway, which is closer to the truth!