Whip-It-Up: Week 6

Here we are at week 6 of the Whip-It-Up. Wow, only two more weeks to go! I'm really happy with what I've done so far and the biggest and best thing about this challenge is that it made me want to cook and make recipes that I've never done before. :)

Ok, onto week 6. This week's theme is appetizers. I've decided to do smoked salmon canapés. With the help of Google (how did we ever live without Google?!), I found this recipe that I quite like.

It is a very easy recipe with only a few steps and ingredients. I didn't mince the onions as I'm not a fan of onions and I got rye crackers instead of bread because I didn't want it too heavy.

I did two versions; one with the crackers as the base, the other with cucumber as the base. Both versions were very pretty and tasted delicious!

I would definitely make this recipe again, especially if I'm having a dinner or cocktail party. :)

Next week it's a recipe from a famous chef. That should be interesting!

Increased interest in physical activities

Laura and I went to the Marble Slab for some ice cream. And let me tell you, this is not just ice cream, it's make-your-own creation with your own flavour of ice cream AND your choice of mixin. There were so many kinds of flavours and toppings that it's hard to choose!

Laura made a fast decision with a white chocolate raspberry Swirl in a waffle cone with dark chocolate. I ended up with a Swiss chocolate ice cream with Butterfinger, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and chocolate fudge in a waffle cone with Oreo cookie crumbs. Oh wow, it was delicious and huge! I think next time, I should share one with someone. :/

We walked down to English Bay to catch up on boy stories and while we were there, a Capoeira group was performing! We went to check them out and they were great! They made me want to take classes, which is something I wanted to do last year but never did. I made a note of their website and checked it out when I got home.

While searching for Capoeira classes, I remembered that Coal Harbour Community Centre had them last summer. They do! But since I missed the summer classes, I'm hoping that they have them in the Fall. From there, I checked out the Roundhouse Community Centre and found out they have fencing and kickboxing classes and I got excited. I've always wanted to try both, so two more things to check out in the Fall.



Hopefully, this increased interest in physical activities continues as I would love to get back into shape and be more fit.

Whip-It-Up: Week 5

Here we are at week 5 of Whip-It-Up. Can you believe it? I’m over half-way done the 8-week challenge! Woo-hoo! :D

So for week 5, the theme is “Spicy”. The first thing that came to my mind was curry, but then I had a spicy meatball at Deuce Bungalow during the Granville Showcase last Saturday and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. I’m going to make spicy meatballs!

Next step was to look for a recipe, so off to Google and I found one here. The recipe has a lot of ingredients, but I think it’s manageable.

As usual I did some substitutions to the ingredients so here there are:
* No sugar
* Oats instead of breadcrumbs
* No flour
* Added chorizo sausages

The changes were not that drastic so I don’t think it will affect the recipe. I want to add chorizo sausages because Nick, a chef from work, suggested it and said it would add more flavour. We’ll see!

The preparation for the sauce and meatballs were straight forward. From all the mincing in this recipe, I should have bought that Good Grip Mini-Chopper I saw in the Bay! That’s the next item on my shopping list. :)

This is also the first time I used the new wet and dry measuring cups that Theresa bought for me! It’s so exciting that I actually can make proper and exact measurements! I can’t wait to make that tuxedo cake again!

Ok back to the meatballs. Everything was going along swimmingly well until the part where I had to puree the sauce in the blender. Well, apparently either there was too much sauce or I was not strong enough. The top popped off and I burned myself! Doh!

After I cleaned up and ran my hands in cold water, I moved onto the meatballs. Once again, the lack of cookware is popping up again. I ended up using the pot to cook the meatball as I don’t have a large pan. It actually wasn’t too bad and worked pretty well.

The end results? Delicious spicy meatballs! Honestly, these were tasty and with just the right kick of spiciness, especially since with the extra meat, which probably took the original level of spiciness down. If you like it more spicy, just add more chilies and cayenne etc. This recipe was quite easy to follow and I would definitely make it again in the future.

I am really enjoying this challenge, more than I had expected. I’m learning more about myself in that I can cook and that I enjoy cooking more that I thought I would! I think I would continue to cook after the challenge is over and that is a good thing. :)

Next week’s theme is appetizers, which means a lot of possibilities. So until then, enjoy the sunshine and keep cool.

Heat Wave

If you live in Vancouver, the "HOT" topic last week was the weather. We had an unbelievable heat wave, with temperatures hitting mid 30s (Celsius), which for Vancouver is just not normal! For us Vancouverites, hitting mid 20s is high so can you imagine mid 30s? Wow!

Now I was born in Singapore, where temperatures in the 30s are normal, so I loved the heat, especially since it was a dry heat, not humid. However, you know it is DEFINITELY too hot when I succumb to the heat, which I did on Thursday. It was crazy because I was fine and loving the heat all week when on Thursday, I felt out-of-sync and like I was going to pass out, so I went home. For the rest of the day and the next day, I had no energy and I had to fight to stay cool. I finally felt better by Friday afternoon.

So the lesson learned here: I need to drink more water and stay cool.

Rant!

You have been warned, this is a rant. So if you don't want to read it, move on! :)

Ok, so I've joined this 4's team on Sundays at Urban Beach. First of all, I thought it was 6's so when I found out it was 4's, I was excited. Then I found out that they're in Pool "A", which is competitive so I was doubly excited. I couldn't wait to play and hopefully improve my skills.

Now, after 3 weeks, I am annoyed because I have yet to play with a full team yet. The last two weeks, the other girl didn't show up!!! Not only does that mean we are short a player, we had to play down 4 points right away.

Let me tell you, playing with only 3 players in a 4's game is difficult! First, there is a lot more open space to cover. Then, because there is more space to cover, it's more difficult to get good passes, good sets, good hits, good rallies, etc, etc. It's a vicious cycle because it's a domino effect. Once we get down on ourselves, it's hell to get it back up.

I was hoping so hard that we will actually get a full team tonight, but alas, it's not meant to be. Not only did the girl not show up, one of the guys didn't either!!!!!! So now we only had TWO players. TWO!!! For a 4's league. WTF??? It is SOOOOO annoying and frustrating and I am bloody pissed off. I did not sign up for this nor did I pay to play on a half-ass team. I want to play and play well, not all this people not showing up crap.

Next week is the long weekend, so no volleyball. Hopefully, in the next two weeks, we can find a full team. Otherwise, you may see another rant. Blah!