When Hubby is in Charge of Cooking

My mom just left after a weekend of cooking, giggles, and laundry. She came down to help us after I blew out both my knees skiing last weekend. Hubby still isn't fully healed after his broken collarbone so taking care of the three of us girls is a bit much on top of working as well. So mom came down, fixed us up with some great dinners, and put some soup and pyrohy in the freezer.

But before she came down Hubby spent the week cooking.  One night I walked him through a leftover change-up, we enjoyed some meals from the freezer and from friends, and one night Hubby made wiener wraps. Hot dogs, plastic cheese, and the packaged dough in a can. He was in heaven, the girls loved them, and even I ate two. But I did eat most of the carrot sticks I convinced Hubby to prepare. I can't wait to cook again.

A Little Handwork

Ugh, I have spent far too much time sitting on my ass for the last 10 days. Obviously it isn't my choice. But I have to make the most of it, right? After a near choking episode with Smilosaurus that involved EMS, only a few days after I blew out my knees so many of our friends and family asked us how Hubby and I handle all the setbacks (bad luck) life hands us. Well, if we got down after every single bad thing we honestly would never get out of bed. And trust me, we both have those kids of days.

After a couple of days wallowing in my pain my fingers started to itch and my brain started to hurt for a lack of creativity. Making up stories to tell the girls only gets me so far. So I picked up some fabric and started to sew.

Hmm, it's hard to just start sewing by hand than it is by rotary cutter and machine. That whole improv thing isn't as easy when you are working with a tiny hand needle, scissors, and your butt in a chair. I've decided that I am not cut out for hand sewing. Embroidery, maybe. Applique, when appropriate. Hand quilting, definitely. But piecing by hand, hopefully never again.

This is just a little quilt. My mom, in town to lend a hand, watched this come together and asked if it would be a block.  That might be a better use for it, but I did finish it as a mini quilt. I started with embroidery, trimmed the white, added the strip of black and white, and finished the front with the last strip of white.  To be honest. I'd planned to make it bigger, but I grew rather bored of the hand piecing. So I basted it, did a little crooked hand quilting (please don't look too close), and added a bit more embroidery.

It isn't terribly pretty, nor is the quality of work that great, but it will have an honoured spot in time behind the gong that sits above our bed. Yes, we have a gong in our bedroom. Our life is often a gong show, so why not? And this quilt is just another reminder of that.

Sigh

Doesn't that look fantastic? It was the lovely view from our room on the weekend. Hubby and I had a romantic weekend planned, sans kids. A day of skiing, some spa time, a book, a few extravagant meals, and sleeping in. I mentioned that the kids weren't with us, right?

We arrived at Lake Louise, rented our skis, bought our lift tickets, and took a warm-up run. On our second run I had a freakish, lame but spectacular wipeout. It's hard to fully describe, but suffice it to say that it involved my ski edge getting caught on something invisible, the splits, a face plant, and some somersaults. Then it involved a trip to the ER, X-Rays, a knee brace or two, crutches, and lots of ice.

Needless to say, with a handful of torn ligaments, one of which will likely require surgery, there won't be much quilting going on in the coming weeks. There isn't even that much walking going on.

Soup Kind of Days

Nothing particularly bad has happened in our little house lately - unless you count completely forgetting to give my mother-in-law her Christmas present. Thankfully she's forgiven us and we've promised her a CSA membership. And just in time because she offered us a weekend sans kids for skiing and relaxing as our Christmas present. Hubby and I are escaping to Banff this weekend while Grandma and her girls have some serious bonding time.

Sadly, she won't be serving soup. Well, she can grab some but good luck trying to get the girls to eat it. No Borscht, no Chicken Noodle, not even Mama's Tomato Soup. I have no idea what their issue is with soup. From 9 months on they've insisted on feeding themselves and even The Monster hasn't mastered her knife or spoon skills. That might be it, but heaven forbid you try to feed them!

Soup is my go-to meal for a bad day, for providing a meal to a sad friend or new mom, for bread day from Aviv, and for the days that I feel fat or cold. Maybe because toddlers and preschoolers don't have days like those that's why they don't like soup.

Tomato, Bacon, and Blue Soup

Makes 7-8 cups

4 slices bacon (not maple flavoured)

1 small onion

1 garlic clove

2 28 ounce cans whole tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)

2 cups water or stock

1 bay leaf

3 ounces blue cheese

1/4 cup heavy cream or whole milk

1. Chop bacon cross-wise. Saute in pan on medium-high heat until just starting to crisp up. Remove 2 tablespoons cooked bacon and reserve for garnish. Pour off almost all the grease left in the pan.

2. While bacon is cooking finely chop onion and garlic. When bacon is cooked add the onion and garlic to the pan. Saute until the onions are soft.

3. Add tomatoes with liquid. Stir in water or stock and bay leaf. Turn heat down to medium and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

4. Puree with an immersion blender, food processor, or in a blender. Be careful when blending hot liquids.

5. Stir in blue cheese and cream/milk. Season well.

6. Garnish with reserved bacon and crumbled blue cheese, if desired.