Chicken chicken

This week was Italian week at our house. The first Italian meal we prepared was a stuffed chicken. But not any stuffed chicken; a completely deboned chicken, exept for the wings. So we bought two little chickens and had a deboning workshop. As you can see Julia was much quicker than me. Her already stuffed chicken looks plump and juicy next to my pile of boneless flesh. I made a stuffing out of last week's leftover pitta bread and mushrooms. Julia's stuffing was the extra stuffing from the grape vine leaves we made last week, with rice, pinenuts, raisins, and herbs. Truly these chickens have no backbone.

A thing of beauty

On February 28 we cracked open the first beer of the first batch that we have ever made. One word: Delicious. It's a Munich Dark Lager (not a
Guiness-type stout), and as you can see it's beautifully dark and frothy. I was afraid that it would be flat like other homemade beer I have had in the past. This picture is from last night, Friday, 10 March, just before we went to the theatre to see Tempting Providence with the festival vouchers we got from Baba for Christmas (thank-you). The play was about a nurse, Myra Bennett, that had gone to Newfoundland after the first World War to help in remote areas. It was a very good play. To accompany our beer, we had supper: oxtail stew, homemade pitta bread, ajvar (roasted eggplant and red pepper middle eastern salad), and baked hummus. This week was Middle Eastern week in our kitchen. Next week, Italian.


We are in the process of making a few preparations for when Marie comes in April. This picture is our present brewing efforts. From front to back we have a carboy full of Australian Shiraz, a batch of Winterfest Ale and a batch of Honey Blonde Ale. Should be good.



Finally this is a picture of the homemade pitta bread that I (Jeremi) made for supper, flat and fluffy with a well-defined pocket. Julia was very impressed.

Who let the cat out of the bag?

Here you can see the cat camping out next to her kitty fort (colourful tube and blanket draped over chair). This bag held the wonderful chocolates on their long journey from the Marshall's to our bellies and is now the cat's best friend. She loves to play with it! Do you have any comments about the cat's cuteness? Feel free to add your comments.

Cat in the box

We would like to thank Joy and Bill for the Valentine's day chocolates and the cat toys for Aeris. As you can see, she was quite taken by the tanning box and the cat tent (pictures in next blog). She spent hours trying to tan the whitest belly in the world - unfortunately, to no avail. I can relate.