Good news, Bad news

Good news: Gabe slept through the night.
Bad news: I did not.
I did not sleep at all last night. I kept laying there thinking "I really need to fall asleep soon or I won't get enough sleep" but I just never fell asleep, period. I kept hearing noises too, just when I was about to fall asleep and it would wake me up completely. Oh, and thanks alot to the guy on the sports bike who decided to make the cop chase him... that wasn't loud at 3 a.m. at all!
Good news: I got to see the sunrise
Bad news: I saw it from the wrong side of the night
More Bad news: I didn't get to see the partial lunar eclipse.
That's right, there was a partial lunar eclipse at 4:15 last night and I was on the verge of making Matt set the alarm for it but I thought I'd be more responsible than that. Since I was still awake at 4 a.m. I thought that maybe I would just go see it but I was right in the middle of trying to fall asleep again so I just stayed in bed. However, as I told a friend earlier this week, 5:30 a.m. is my favorite time of day so when I finally got up at 4:45 and went and sat down on our bench seat in our bay window it was gorgeous watching the sun come up and seeing the world in my favorite hour.
Bad news: I won't be going to Calgary
Good news: n/a
Consolation prize: Maybe we'll invite people over since I have so much food in my house.
If you remember, today is the day of my cousin's bridal shower in Calgary, which I was scheduled to prepare some food for. The plan was for me to drive down to Calgary this morning, make the food, have fun at the party and drive home right after. As of 4:45 this morning, that plan has been cancelled. My head is aching already and I know that by 9 a.m. it will be a full-fledged migraine. There ain't no way or no how that I am going to risk my baby's safety by driving when I've had zero sleep and my head is throbbing. So, as soon as it is a reasonable hour to do so I will unfortunately have to phone my sister and tell her that I will not be coming. I feel really bad about this though. I was really looking forward to the shower and I know my sister was counting on my help, however, she's had a number of people volunteer to make more food so I am not the sole food provider, and in fact, everything that I am providing can be pretty much done without. I did however buy all of the food to make italian sodas, Mini #5 Crostinis and fruit pyramids, so perhaps tonight Matt and I will have people over to help reduce the amount of produce in our house.
Now on to strictly good news. I made bread! That's always good news :) I just punched it down and in half an hour I will be putting it into pans to rise and about 45 minutes after that it will be baking! So it'll be done just in time for Matt's breakfast (that is, unless I can coax him into taking me out for breakfast because my poor little head hurts so bad). Now that I'm staying in town Matt and I will probably go to the car dealership and check out minivans - something we've been meaning to do for sometime now but haven't had a good spot in our schedule to do so.
Oh, and other good news? There's leftover Waldorf Salad from last night and now Matt won't get to eat it all himself; I'll get some too!
Oh, I've got a bit of a serious aside for this post too. We were watching the news last night and there was obviously some coverage on the G20 happenings. The big thing they were reporting on last night was the "Red Zone": a barrier around the G20 location that if anyone approaches they must produce identification and can be searched. Well, the report last night was accusing the government and the police force of wrongful action in assuming the "War-Time Act", as one overly indignant bypasser called it. There's complaints about human rights violations and since it wasn't actually voted on by the people (it was passed in cabinet) there are complaints about it being "undemocratic".
Huh.
Might I suggest some people get the sticks out of their bums?
First off, from a strictly legal and strictly business perspective, when someone is entering your property (house, office, land, etc.) for the purpose of business, you are responsible for more than due care. That means, if some crazy whacked out accident happens to them while they are on your property, they can sue you. Even Acts of God need to be prepared for. How much more care ought our government take for business which involves peace-talks and which brings in dignitaries from the 20 leading nations of the world? 20 of the most important people in the world are at this summit (more than 20, but let's use that number for arguement's sake), there have already been two explosive-related arrests made that have been directly linked to the summit, and people are fussing because they can't stand within 5 meters of a fence without a policeman politely coming up to them and asking to see some ID? Really?
Secondly, I hope people grow up. If you do anything which might impede somebody's happiness, or anything which might make one feel the least bit constrained, there's always someone who will claim it to be a human-rights violation. Big picture, people. Let's worry about security and then being able to walk wherever we like.
I really think we all ought to pray for the whole G20 goings-on. Pray for the world leaders, pray for the discussions, pray for the policemen who are working overtime and are busting their butts to make sure that the conference center remains a secure location, and pray that the protests and demonstrations will be peaceful.
Anyway, I'd best go check on my bread and see if I can put it into pans yet!
Good morning!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Waldorf Salad

What a fun day! I've got to admit, it was fairly boring to begin... I cleaned some, fed Gabe ALOT of food and gave him a bath - at which time I got completely drenched. I finally got an email back from that realtor about the second cafe and it is located in town. However, that's all he would tell me until I sign a bunch of forms. Mostly it's just confidentiality stuff and general information but it turns out that he wants to be both the buying and selling realtor if the deal works. I don't even know how that would work legally... So, instead of filling out those forms I am going to call our normal realtor - the guy we used to buy our house. He's an awesome guy, goes to our church and is totally straight up. He pointed out a crack in the foundation of one house, talked us out of a more expensive house and found us a house for the same price as the first one but without the crack in the foundation. So, we totally trust him, whereas this other realtor we don't know at all and we're kinda getting weird vibes from him. Therefore, as of Monday we will be dealing solely through our own realtor. Oh, and I think I know which cafe it is, but it's a total assumption. If I am right, however, it would be an awesome location and the building is fairly new and in really good condition. I can't help but do menu planning and I have ideas for a whole bunch of fun things for the place including original artwork from friends of mine and I can hand out business cards for them too. Oh, and I could finally sell my syrups. I'd have complete access to a licensed, commercial kitchen. It would be sweet.
Anyway, Onwards and upwards. After that Matt phoned to tell me how much he loves his job and won't be changing it any time soon, which is always a nice conversation to have. I love hearing that what my husband has to do 9 or 10 hours a day, 5 days a week is actually enjoyable for him as well as a good way of paying the bills.
During that conversation Matt let me know that he wanted a summery-type meal for dinner. I was just bracing myself to go to the grocery store when Matt's sister called from Edmonton to say that they were driving in to town to have dinner with us and then driving back tonight! So, Gabe and I ran to the grocery store, where I picked up the groceries I needed for the shower tomorrow as well as stuff for dinner. We ended up having Waldorf Chicken Salad Croissants and pretzels and lots of fun, summery drinks. I'll post that recipe for the Waldorf Salad at the bottom of this blog post because it really is fantastic. And it's perfectly summery :) Matt loved it!
Well, tomorrow morning I'm packing Gabe up, filling up on gas and coffee and hitting the road. As soon as I get to Calgary I'll stack the fruit pyramids and get the Italian Soda station ready. About an hour before the party I'll start making the crostini and then topping them: honey-mustard sauce (which I prepared tonight), lettuce, ham, tomatoes and cheese. Yummy! Once the shower is done I'll be packing right up and driving home to spend the evening with my husband. We've had a pretty busy week so we haven't even had an evening at home really since Saturday.
Well, that's about all that I can post about today. I really want to post all my ideas for my cafe, but in the business world that's a really dumb move! So I'll settle for posting that Waldorf Salad recipe!
Waldorf Chicken Salad:
3 chicken breasts, cubed and cooked
1/2 golden delicious apple, cubed
1/2 c. grapes, chopped small
1 stalk celery, chopped small
1/4 c. mayo
1/4 c. plain yogurt
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Mix altogether and serve cold on a buttered croissant with lettuce!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Surprise good day!

What was going to be a crappy, lazy day actually turned into a reasonably good, very productive day. I had started writing a post this morning that talked about how I was feeling crappy, how I've had migraines for the past couple days and how I could hardly eat I was so ucky. I didn't have much more to write than that so I never published the post. I'm glad I didn't. After I deleted that I decided to pack up my baby and head downtown. I went to City Hall and paid our property taxes and then I went to the library to find a book (which they didn't have and a creepy guy was following me to the elevator until I stared him down). I then went to City Roast to pick up some ground coffee (Tanzanian peaberry - a very smooth and sweet medium roast). Since we were only a couple of blocks away we stopped in at my dad's work and said hi (he loved that). I came home and threw some of my lasagna that I froze in the oven and cleaned my kitchen. Matt had to work late but my mom and I were going shopping tonight so she came over for dinner. We then went to Fabricland, Walmart, Petsmart and Homesense and I only spent $30! That's totally a record for me! I took my mom to Dairy Queen and got her some ice cream as a thanks for hanging out with me and while I was there I grabbed one for Matt too hoping it wouldn't have melted completely before he got home from coffee with a friend.
Matt got home just after I did and we spent the evening just kicking around. I posted some pictures on Facebook (ones from a few months ago since I haven't done it in a long time) and now we're watching an episode of Friends before bed.
My legs hurt from the walking and the weather change (stupid arthiritis) but my house is clean(er), I got a lot done and I can now rest easy knowing that I wasn't completely useless today.
I took Gabe to the park yesterday but unfortunately the mosquitoes were out in full force. For those of you who don't know, I am allergic to mosquito bites. It's not a severe allergy but whenever I get bit, the bites swell up to about two inches across. When I get a bite on my face, that half of my face goes numb. Fantastic, eh? Well, I lasted about 10 minutes and then I had to pack poor Gabe up (he had so much fun on the swings). I had four bites down one arm and each one was huge. And itchy. Stupid bugs. However, that experience was enough to ascertain that Gabe did not inherit my stupid allergy. So now he's safe from the rubber allergy (thus far, I did grow into that one though) and the stupid mosquito allergy. He had one tiny little bite of his forehead and didn't seem to bother him at all.
You know what I love about summer? The fruit :) Well, I suppose that is one of many things, but it's certainly a big one. Between Gabe and I, today we had cherries, canteloupe, grapes, bananas and plums. I've got blueberries, strawberries and peaches in the fridge too! How awesome is that?!
Well, I'd best go get an ice pack for my legs. Sigh... what a good day!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Cafe

I am experiencing a bash-your-head-against-the-table moment. Matt and I have been toying with the idea of buying a commercial revenue property. I looked up some listings tonight and figured I'd hop over to the Businesses for Sale listings just because. I recognized one of the ads on there as the cafe that I worked at through high school and college... I love that place. It's fantastic! It roasts its own coffee, makes the best bread and the most fabulous honey mustard sauce. It has been offered to me a couple of times but due to my financial situation, and then my life situation, I had to turn it down. Well, the price has been lowered, it's still there and I still want it :( If I bought this cafe I would be so happy and so tired, and so exhausted, but really so freaking happy. I've always wanted it (and its recipes). I'd take Gabe into work with me and hire some really good help, then Matt would be able to finish his business degree and go on to seminary without us being entirely broke.
The big issue is money still. Banks don't give loans for cafes. Even CIBC's Small Business Loan has a little disclaimer saying that it's not available for restaurants or cafes. We would need to get investors. Now, we know a couple that would be interested in investing but we never talked to them about it because, quite honestly, we're too independant. We'd want to run it all and not share the authority.
The other thing is, for some reason or another, Matt and I have already decided not to buy this place - twice. But it's there and it makes me want it! ARGH!
There are other options... there was another cafe listed for significantly less. It'd be more of a ground-up situation, but hey, that's my thing. I love a good challenge. I'd make up a whole new business, new menu, new everything. But I'd be even more tired, more exhausted and not necessarily more happy.
Oh, and we'd be broke for the next three years.
Well, I just needed to rant a bit. Matt was too tired to talk about it tonight so I didn't get the chance to get it off my chest.

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

Lemon Loaf

I baked today! Yay!! I decided to whip up something that my hubby would like alot and over the past couple of weeks I've been discovering just how much he likes lemon in baking. I took a recipe for a pound cake (yah, I used a recipe, not just a pound of everything) and I turned up my nose to the lemon alternative they had printed. They recommended that I use lemon yogurt instead of sour cream. Great, eh? Who has lemon yogurt? And why not sour cream? Sour cream in a lemon cake is fantastic! So I kept in the sour cream, added lemon extract instead of vanilla and threw in some lemon zest. Since I didn't add any lemon juice I wanted to make sure it was lemony enough for Matt. I also wanted to make it more than just a plain lemon loaf so I greased the loaf pan, sprinkled sugar in it and put really thin slices of lemon across the bottom before I put the batter in. Now that it's done baking, the lemon slices are baked in across the top of the loaf, the rind has become really soft and totally edible and the little bit of sugar has made it much more edible. Now when I serve it for dessert tonight I'll top it with either a lemon glaze or whipped cream and strawberries! Yum!
Today I need to go over to the grocery store (cherries and chicken breasts are on sale) and maybe hop over to fabricland as well. I need to get some fleece to make those baby blankets with. Oh, and if Gabe will allow me to, I really ought to mow the lawn for my husband. I love him so much :) Oh, and I also need to clean out our office for him. Every since we moved in the office has been more or less a dump space for stuff we hadn't unpacked yet, but especially moreso since renos started. We want to have our spare room set up so that we can have guests over and that means people typically need to be able to walk into the room. Currently, they cannot.
Oh, and we talked over menu planning for my cousin's shower yesterday! I have been relieved of a couple duties and the full menu is now set. I am in charge of ice cream sandwiches rolled in lime and coconut, italian sodas and crostini sandwiches! Much easier than I was worried it would be. Well, little bit worried, little bit hoping :) I like a good challenge.
We may end up having company over for dinner this week so I'm thinking roast chicken (I have a whole lot of chickens in the freezer) and maybe Pots de Creme for dessert - that or a fruit lasagna (phyllo for noddles, pureed strawberries, mint in place of basil and brie and asiago) Yummy!
Well, I'd best go feed my little boy some lunch and then run to the store!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

The coming week!

What a nice first day home from vacation! We slept in too long to go out for breakfast before church, but we had time for a Timmy's run and got there before service started (for the first time in a long time). We hung out with Matt's family after church and then went out for dinner this evening! It's been a nice, relaxing day. Oh, and we have groceries now too!
I'm finally ready to start thinking about the coming week. Tomorrow is Auxano and since we haven't been for the past two weeks it's going to be great getting back there. We may even pack a picnic dinner and bring it down there. I'm hoping to get all of my laundry done tomorrow from the trip. Tuesday will be a baking day I hope. I haven't baked in a week and a half! Oh, and Tuesday evening hopefully we'll hit a pond for some fishing. Wednesday may involve a day trip to Calgary! I need to go there for a couple of reasons. For one, my darling cousin is up from Montana for a couple of weeks so I really want to spend some time with her. For two, I need to pick up my sister's ice cream maker. In what may prove to be a moment of weakness, my sister pledged her ice cream maker to me. I forgot to pick it up when I was at her house this weekend and I was really hoping to make a gelato for my cousin's shower on Saturday (I'm thinking either peach/mango, earl grey or pistachio). Now, I've never made anything with an ice cream maker and to honest, my sister has never used the maker so I don't know if it even works. I'm slightly nervous and I definately need to test drive the recipe before I serve it to a dozen people.
Now that I have started on the subject of menu planning I must confess it's hard to stop :) Weather report pending, I'm planning on a very summery menu. If the gelato doesn't work out for some reason I shall be making lime-coconut ice cream sandwiches. Put a bit of vanilla ice cream in between two vanilla cookies and then roll the edges in coconut with lime rinds. Yum! As I mentioned before I'm planning on serving fruit pyramids too. I need a savoury something so I'm thinking it may be in the form of either pita chips and lettuce rolls or crostini something or others. It will be an alcohol free event so I need to figure out a signature mocktail. Maybe we should just set a theme for the party? I think that may be a good idea. I'll chat with the planner about that. Oh, and of course I need to have baking. Petit fours finally perhaps? Or maybe eclairs! Oooh! Oh, by the way, I had an eclair from a bakery in Canmore and I must say I was disappointed. I make much better eclairs. And I wouldn't charge $5 for them either. Okay, so we'll work on a theme for the party and then I'll finalize the menu.
This week I'm also going to make some baby blankets. I found an adorable fabric from a quilt shop in Canmore that was perfect for a little baby boy blanket. We also owe our friends a baby present so I got enough to make one for them too! And, once I block my scarf that I knit last week and finally see how good it is I may decide to give that to them too.
I also plan on having people over to our place to eat all of the baking I will make on Tuesday! So it's looking like it's going to be a pretty fun week!
Now to go to bed so that the week can get started!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

I'm Home!!!

I'm home! Yay!!! I'm almost more excited to be home than to have been going on vacation! It was a fantastic week, in spite of it raining almost the entire time we were gone. First up I had my choir reunion concert. It was a great time and it was awesome to see everyone again, and to sing again. As soon as the concert was done (literally - I finished my last note, we walked off stage and right out the door) we hopped in the car and drove to Canmore. On Sunday we had sun and knew that it wasn't going to stick around for long so we went to the beach! Gabe loved the water - a little too much actually. He tried to crawl right into the lake and wanted to try swimming so he kicked out his legs and let go with his arms. Fortunately I caught him before his face hit the water but we had to keep him out of the water after that. Matt and I both got sunburned pretty bad that day. AND that was the end of the sun... It started pouring the next morning. We drove out to Banff and spent the day shopping. We went for lunch out at The Spaghetti Factory which is always yummy. They have the best Spumoni. The next day we did very little more than playing games in the timeshare's rec room. Pool, ping pong, air hockey... we went swimming too. On Wednesday we finally got out fishing and that was a fantastic time! Matt caught 6 fish. Everyone who went caught at least one. They were taking everything we threw at them - bait or no. There were also some herons circling the lake the whole time. We went out for dinner that night to the Trough and it was fantastic as usual! Thursday we went out to Canmore for some more shopping. Matt and I went into this adorable gourmet food market - Moutain Mercato. Shelves of oils, vinegars, salts and other delectables. Matt picked out a couple of cheeses for later. We went and played some pool (I did miserably) and then went for a quick swim before dinner with my aunt and uncle who came out from Calgary for the day. Right after dinner, my dad, Matt and I went out fishing again and had very different results. I got one bite the whole time we were out. My dad caught a fish but had very few bites otherwise. We almost didn't mind though because the first day was so good. On Friday we went out fishing one last time and now it was my turn to have a great day. I caught 7 fish! And all of them were a nice size too! And the best part, I caught them all on a red and white spoon. I hooked 3 others who got off too soon and had tonnes of bites too. We got back around 9 and then packed up and headed out to Lake Louise for a quick "hike". We went for a walk around the lake with the babies. It was nice to get out and the rain stopped just long enough for us to finish the walk. Then today we packed up and checked out by 10:30, went into Canmore for a bit more shopping (we bought some teas!) and then went to Calgary. I had a golf game as part of my cousin's stagette. It was actually really awesome. I played a half decent game and the sun stayed out long enough for the game to finish so I got another burn, but it's okay, it'll be gone by tomorrow. As soon as I was done the game we hopped back in the car and came home. In between all of that I managed to finish reading Mansfield Park and I finished knitting my scarf! It's gorgeous by the way :) We saw lots of wildlife. Moose, deer, tonnes of elk, bighorn sheep and bears!
I am so glad to be home. It's going to be great to sleep in my own bed and it's going to be great to get back into the swing of things. I'm not even planning yet what I'm doing this week. I'm just basking in the delight of being home!

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)