Eclairs anyone?

On Dec 6, 2010 my dad and I baked eclairs aka cream puffs. Let me tell you the whole story.

During Nov & Dec, when dad came home for a few days between trips, him and I picked out a dessert recipe and baked. I assisted while he attempted the majority of the baking. The first time we baked chocolate souffle. That was interesting. When the final product came out of the oven, it fell. The dish didn't fall, the souffle fell in the dish. We don't really know what the final product was supposed to feel/taste like but it was edible.

The second time we baked coffee cake. That turned out good. Who knew the batter would be sooooo thick that when dad was putting it into the pan, he was able to hold the spoon of batter about 24" above the pan and it wouldn't fall into it.....had to shake it a bit for it to let go of the spoon....super thick batter.

The third time was chocolate eclairs. They turned out scrumptious!! They were the most work. Before we attempted these, dad found a 'how to' video on YouTube which helped to understand the instructions better. I did the hard part of mixing the dough....ended up with a blister on my finger from the spoon too. Anyways, we added some green food colouring to the whip cream that we squirted into the puff. They were awesome!

During each baking session, a video was taken via my camera. We didn't take any pics (except for eclairs), just made videos. I tried to upload onto YouTube and Facebook but failed all times. Wonder why? Oh well...I enjoyed baking with my dad. Kinda like 'father-daughter' bonding time. Although there were no personal conversations involved, we baked together and my dad gained some new experience.

Killing Time

My first post of 2011.  I'm at work, it's 3:35pm and I'm done work in 25 min (yay).  On this computer I am able to post pics as the 'insert image' function works so I deduced that it's my computer that's having issues.

Since 2010 is done, I will start to put together my next blog book that will contain 2009 & 2010.  I also expect to not have to pay for it as I have a credit to Picaboo still.  A nice quiet day would be prime for starting the book.

I'd also like to put together a blog entry about "2010 in Review".  It may contain stories from around the world as just Canadian stories aren't enough to describe 2010.  Gonna need another day of quiet to research those stories.

I don't have any resolutions this year....then again I never made any in the past....I think they're made to be broken anyways.  If I had one it would be to lose weight and continue on with making/taking adventures on a yearly basis. 

I don't have an adventure planned for this year, but since bungee jumping didn't happen last year because of the 'job changes' maybe it will happen this year?  We'll see.  I would do it in Whistler and I would hope one or two of my 'southern' buds would join me.  Any other adventures? Hmmmm....  Sky diving is done, river rafting is done, ziplining is done (2x).....IDEAS PLEASE!

Well that's the end of my first blog entry....18 more min till I'm done work.

Happy New Year

The End of 2010

So I haven't blogged in a while because the 'insert image' STILL doesn't work.  I'd been thinking and hoping that the feature would work so I could post this last 2010 entry with pics.  Oh well. 
It's 5:49pm right now on Dec 31.  I'm sitting in the front room with the laptop on my lap while my niece and nephew are playing and watching Barney.  My parents are watching Barney as well.  Caitlin & Brad went out for New Years' Eve dinner so we have the kids.  Mom made homemade pizza with breadmaker crust and it turned out really good....but ohhhh soooo full right now.
So what has happened in the last 12 days since my last post?  On Dec 17th, at work, we had a Secret Santa gift exchange and potluck.  There was way too much food and I had just gotten over the "24 hr flu" the day before so didn't eat much.  I received a scrapbook album and I gave a homemade recipe box and recipe book to my person.  I still don't know who gave me the book....I've been asking around.  The GE went well even though not everyone took part.
On Dec 22nd, I went to Vanderhoof after work for a small get together at the Reid with my Vanderhoof pharmacy co-workers. I had a fun dish of natchos and caesar salad.  We did a mexican gift exchange and I got a 'costco' style pack of 3 big Starbucks mugs with coffee and biscotti.  I gave the extra bold one to Brad.  I had 2 absolut vanilla cokes and they were yummy.  We visited for about 3.5 hrs and left at 8:30pm.   I spent the night at Jean's so I didn't have to drive 1 hr in the dark back home.  Jean and I chatted for about an hour or so, drank some tea and hoped our dinner would digest before trying to sleep.  I left the next morning around 8am.  I didn't have to work on the 23rd & 24th.
On Dec 24th, a large production at church called "Imagine Christmas" was performed at 4:30 and 6:30pm.  Rebecca K and I sat upstairs while mom, dad and Saibry and Corbin sat downstairs.  Brad and Caitlin were both performing in it.  Brad was an angel but not with white wings....just a fleece jacket, jeans and huge snow boots.  Caitlin was a dancer.  It was well done...a couple technical blips at the beginning but all good otherwise.  I even got good pics taken with NO flash...maybe I actually mastered the dark room pics.
After the play, we all went to Caitlin & Brad's place to open stockings, eat some goodies and hang out for a few hours.  We had a good time opening gifts and got some good pics too.  Silly me thought I had recharged my camera but didn't so used Caitlin's camera the most.  Over 100 pics were probably taken of the kidlets opening stuff.
On Dec 25th I had to work from 8-4pm.  Such an odd feeling to work on this particular day. Before going to work I opened one gift of 4 bottles of nail polish and mom and dad each opened a gift from me.  I gave dad a DVD of converted 8mm film from approx 1977-1984.  there's no sound and it looks just like you're watching it via a projector onto a wall.  I know he really liked it.  I gave mom 1 of 2 knife blocks.  One of them ended up being short one knife and a few days later I returned both blocks and bought a nice set from Costco instead.  I then went to work from 8-4pm.  The shift went alright, non-eventful and in pharmacyland that's a good thing.  The first part of the shift went slowly but the last 2 hours sped by, so happy about that!  Afterwork I headed back home to clean up and headed to Tenille & Dave's place for a gift opening and roast beef dinner.  T & D gave me the Xyron sticker maker, super cool.....that was one item on my list too.  Alicia and Cassidy were there too but Cassidy felt ill so she hung out in her room for the first part of the evening.  After dinner she came out and opened her gifts and was able to eat a bit of dinner.  Afterwards, we just chatted until about 9pm-ish.  Good nite.On Dec 26th, which I was supposed to work but gladly gave away, another gift opening was happening here.  Around 8:30am, Caitlin, Brad and kids came over and we opened the gifts we exchanged.  Saibry and Corbin behaved rather well and Saibry liked to help open the presents too.  Corbin wasn't having the best day, was cranky and cried but he did enjoy opening his gifts.  Brad and I were taking the most pictures of all of us opening gifts.  (I wonder if I was any of them.) This year we all down-sized the spending, unfortunately.  It was hard to not spend too much on others.  Maybe next year we'll all be able to spend more, who knows.  I was happy with all the gifts I received and only exchanged one.  In the afternoon, Tenille, Dave and girls arrived and they opened some gifts that were given by Caitlin & Brad.  Dad received the new Wii Golden Eye game and started to play that downstairs with the girls and Dave watching then he let the girls play the old Super Mario 2 game that he downloaded.  They had a riot playing.   Then Tenille & Caitlin played, probably for a couple hrs too.  One of Tenille's gifts to Dave was the downloaded 3 seasons of "Big Bang Theory", that I downloaded.  I had to finish d/l the 3rd season and then transferred all shows to his new 2TB external harddrive that he just purchased at Staples for $100...good deal.  So I guess the effort was from me and the idea from Tenille.We had a turkey dinner with brussel sprouts, corn, peas, buns, mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.  Unfortunatley Saibry wasn't eating or wanting to eat any of her dinner so time outs were had by her.  Not sure why she didn't want to eat.  Could tell it was frustrating Caitlin & Brad.  Corbin has no problems with eating.  We had some cookies etc for dessert.  I had given Caitlin Balderdash as a gift so dad, Brad, Caitlin, Alicia and I played.  What a riot that game is!!  I think Caitlin won but man, did we laugh.....especially dad.  Here's an example of a 'weird word' that needed to be defined: drumlin.  Dad's definition was "the uncertain distance between the distance of raindrops".  Dad was laughing as he was writing it....man was he laughing.  He laughs occassionally but during this game he was letting loose!  Was fun to see.  The evening lasted till about 8ish (I think) as the little kids had to get to bed.  Having Christmas over 3 days was fun and less stressful.  It was unfortunate I had to work on the 25th but earning 2.5 x my hourly rate isn't too shabby either.  It also didn't see as overwhelming for the little kids too, compared to last year.On Dec 27th, dad took Caitlin, Tenille and I out for our annual 'boxing' day breakfast.  We went to White Spot this time. I had the waffle with strawberries and whipped cream...mmmmmm.  Tenille had to work so she didn't come with Caitlin, dad and I to Rogers Video to check out if there were any deals.  No deals were to be had.  We went to Blockbuster and I bought 3 dvds.  I'll watch them oneday....not much of a TV/movie watcher.It sucks I can't post any pics but I'd be here all nite loading them up anyways and I need to get this blog post done before 10:30pm, preferably.  I work tomorrow (Jan 1st) at 8am so no watching fireworks tonight.  When was the last time I stayed up till midnight on New Years' eve anyways? Well Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and let's behave in the 2011.....well legally behave.  Bring on the adventures!!  What will mine be in 2011?  Still thinking about it.p.s. This is the last post of 2010 and in the new year I will be making another blog book.  It will have 2009 & 2010 in the next one....main reason why I had to get this last blog in before midnight.

I know, it's been a while

For some reason, I'm not able to post any pics to my blog.  The 'insert image' button is still not working.  I've googled and checked out forums for similar problems but nothing has been posted. 
I even posted to a forum but no replies either.Unfortunately copy and paste doesn't work either.  Since it hasn't been working I haven't felt the need to post anything worthwhile. 
I don't know how many fans I have out there....maybe 1 or 2 and I do feel bad for not keeping up with the postings but unless you can help me, it may still be a while before the next post.
Merry Christmas!
p.s. I can't change the color of the font either on this post.....what is blogger.com coming to??!!

What Does "DIET" Mean?

D.I.E.T.

Disallowing Imperfections Equals Trouble
Dangerously Inadvisable Eating Tactics
Damned Idiots Endorsing Thinness
Deprivation Inevitable Everything Taboo
Don't Imagine Eating Treats
Deceptive Industry Eating Trap
Desperately Impossible Eating Targets
Doomed Investment Every Time
Determined Initially Enthusiasm Temporary
Done In Every Time
Did I Eat Today?
Deny Ingesting Everything Tasty 

My Work will be Published

Via the website Picaboo and my online download, I am putting my blog to paper.  I have a credit to Picaboo so thought I'd do something really different.  So far I have put all of 2005, 2006 and part of 2007 in the book.  It's over 25 pages right now.  In 2007 I posted quite a few blogs....58 I think, so that will take quite a few pages of the book.  Then later on I'm gonna start another book (part 2) with 2008, 2009 and 2010 in it.  I'm quite excited to see the final product.  Picaboo publishes very nice work.  So far I have made 1 book via the site and it turned out almost as good as a professional book.  The colours stand out, the lines are crisp and the design is original.

My blog book has a simple layout of a black cover with a title "The Journey of a Realist" in bright green and possibly I'll use the same flower picture on the cover as I have on my blog.  I love the green, white, and black combo.  Part 2 book will look the same as well....maybe I should put the range of years on the front or back to distinguish which is the first and second book.  We'll see. 

I'm glad I have a 1 year expiry on the credit otherwise I'd feel pressured to get it done.  I can't wait to see the final product.