divided

This is simply a must see documentary. It's only up until September, but check it out while you can. More info can be found on the official website.

But really...watch this.

Official Divided the Movie (HD Version) from NCFIC on Vimeo.

taste of fall (in the summer)

Two of my favorite things combined into one: cupcakes and chai. I'm not much of a baker (honestly, I prefer cooking, making entire meals instead of a carb-laden treat) but cupcakes are my exception to the rule. I simply adore this little bundles of deliciousness. And when combined with one of the greatest flavor combinations EVER (thank you, India), you literally have a recipe for one of the best desserts I have tasted.

I found the original recipe online, as I do for most of my culinary experiments. My first batch was good, but the cupcake itself was extremely dense and started drying out within a day or so. Not my ideal cupcake. I like the more buoyant kind, the lighter-than-air, melt-in-your-mouth sort of texture. So today, I looked for a recipe that was supposedly more like that. So here's my combination: an altered vanilla cupcake recipe with the extra spices (although I halved the ingredients...don't need that many cupcakes) and the original frosting recipe (white chocolate? cream cheese? cardamom? together? oh my goodness...) and boy, did it work! Om nom nom....

3-1/2 cups AP flour
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 ¼ teaspoons ground ginger

1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon ground cloves (I've used nutmeg instead, since I rarely have ground cloves)
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, unsalted
2 cups sugar

6 eggs
3 tbsp canola oil
2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.

In a large bowl, sift to combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, fitted with a flat beater, cream the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until light. Add eggs, one at a time. (Don’t worry if the batter looks curdled.) Add oil and buttermilk. Slowly add flour mixture in 3 additions and mix until just combined. Try not to overmix!

Fill cupcake liners about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake about 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

And then you frost it with this amazingness:

White Chocolate Cardamom Frosting

From “Enlightened Cakes’’ by Camilla V. Saulsbury, Cumberland House 2008.

(makes 1 ¾ cup, enough to frost 18 cupcakes)

4 ounces (1/2 of an 8-ounce package) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, room temperature]

3 tablespoons fat-free milk

3 (1-ounce) squares white chocolate, melted

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla1 ¼ teaspoons ground cardamom

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and milk with an electric mixer at medium speed until just blended and smooth. Beat in melted white chocolate until blended. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Beat in vanilla and cardamom, until blended.

Oh my. Heaven in a paper wrapper.

33 km off the highway...

Our mission: to go on a roomie camping trip. Success? Eh....almost. We got there in one piece. It was a beautiful campsite: big clear lake, huge green trees, quiet neighbours...really, it had all the makings of a wonderful bonding/tanning/swimming experience.


See? Ain't that a purty sight!

And we even took full advantage of the nearby playground. Or at least, Linda and Joanne did.



But then (horror of horrors!) the campsite threw us lemons. And I mean buckets of them. It rained all night, which was about the worst thing that could happen to people in tents. Slightly leaky tents. And tents that were at a slightly lower elevation than the rest of the campground. At any rate, we woke up pretty much floating and unable to make a fire (which, as you might know, is the whole point of camping...to cook over the open flame).
But despite our dampened spirits (har har), we made the best lemonade we could. We set up a makeshift awning with a tarp, some rope, and some strategically arranged trees (which was entirely God's doing). Some friends had lent us a small propane camp stove so we were able to make coffee, eggs and bacon. And then we pretty much gave up. I wouldn't say that we're quitters, but really...there was no sign of the rain letting up and I know I wasn't about to try and sleep in soaking wet blankets. Despite the setbacks, we did have a great time...hopefully the next time we venture out, we'll borrow a holiday trailer.

even more birthdays

My mom decided that this year might be a nice one to throw a joint birthday party for my grandma and my aunt Ester (who actually isn't my aunt...she's my mom's cousin, but really, it's easier to refer to her as Auntie). So she prepared a bunch of food, invited all the relatives, managed to keep it as a surprise for Grandma, and ta-da! We had a party! It was actually a lot of fun. I probably have bought into the whole "beware of the family reunion" idea to a certain extent, so I came with a slight bit of trepidation, but overall, it went over extremely well. The food was delicious, the company was fun, the kids were adorable. The only downside was that some people were unable to attend. But never fear -- the afternoon was such a big hit that the relatives want to go for Round 2...so who knows? Maybe there's another party in my future... :)

The birthday girl herself (also known as "The one who was actually surprised by this event").


Her sister (mother of the other birthday girl).


The other birthday girl (also known as "The one who hides behind trees all sneaky-like").


Cousin Alex with nephews Logan and Malachi.


Destiny...always a big smile!



The kids ran around our very wet yard and found lots of little mushrooms. Needless to say, the mushrooms provided a lot of amusement.


Cleo, just posing.


Dear ol' Uncle Greg, manning the burger station.

Kailyn showing off her hula-hooping skills.

happy birthday, michelle!

Hope it was fun, ol' buddy ol' pal! Except for the movie choice. As a future warning, do NOT under any circumstances watch "Beastly." Worst. Movie. Ever. The only redeemable part about it was Neil Patrick Harris and even his role was completely unnecessary.

food, volleyball, and a 50mm lens

The Fourth of July was a holiday for me...for no other reason than I always have Mondays off...hehehe. But it was extra special since I have lunch with friends and then played several rousing games of volleyball. I haven't played for years, it feels like, so I was a little rusty...and also quite competitive. And there is truly nothing worse than a competitive and rusty volleyball player... And I had more opportunities to try out the ol' (scratch that....the NEW) 50 mm lens. Whee!

And because I'm lazy and don't feel like fighting with Blogger, these photos are kind of in reverse order. Oh well. There really isn't much of a story line with them, so you're not missing out on anything :).

what a day to be canadian

Linda and I went to the parade yesterday. Overall, I'd give it 2.5 maple leaves out of 5...in other words, not that interesting. I can only remain mildly amused by people waving to us in trucks for only so long. Then it gets boring. And slightly insulting. I mean, really...did I come all this way to be pelted by candy, thrown by teenagers wearing facepaint and colourful clown wigs? NO.

Although, to be fair, "all this way" isn't really that far. Less than five minutes by car. And this is the Grande Prairie Canada Day parade, not Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, so I guess I can live with trailers covered in balloons and featuring old people in lawn chairs, waving to us like people who have been waving at people for hours. Which they probably had.

But on the bright side (quite literally), I got to try out my new 50mm lens. Being a fixed lens, I must employ a more natural "zoom" if I want to get closeups, but that's okay.

Happy Dominion Day, ya'll.