A new contest for you!

Alright, now that I have you here, I have a challenge for you. The person who comes up with the best caption for this picture will get an autographed postcard from me mailed directly to your house. Get your thinking caps on and tickle your funny bone for this one folks!

Like I don't have enough to do in a run of a day....

I've started canning. I LOVE having canned veggies in the winter. Unfortunately our community garden has been overtaken by weeds, due to a lack of follow through by the organizers. It has certainly helped me develop a green thumb, and I plan to have a garden in my backyard next year. Through the amazing generosity of people in this town, I was given approximately 20lbs (yep, you read that right) of green tomatoes, beets the size of turnips and pickling cukes. The beets will be cooked today (as soon as Rob comes home with more jars) and more Nova Scotia Chow will be made tomorrow. Many people have asked me for the recipe for the Nova Scotia Chow, so here it is.

Nova Scotia Chow Chow (green tomato relish)

This is served with the Saturday night Baked Beans that many Maritimers love.

16 cups finely sliced green tomatoes

8 cups sliced onions

Sprinkle well with pickling salt, and let sit overnight.

In the morning drain and put in a large pot, add 3 Cups vinegar, 6 Cups sugar, and 1/2 cup pickling spices (in a bag)

Cook ,stirring often, until soft and thickened somewhat.

Seal in hot sterile jars. Makes about 6 pints.

Camping in Glaslyn, Sk

Our home away from home.

A few forgotten pictures from vacation to Drumheller

Cinnamon Pull aparts

Over the past few days I have been doing a lot of baking. I find baking is a big stress reliever for me, but since I am constantly trying to lose weight having a large amount of baked goods on hand is never a good idea. I put the word out that I was having a mini bake sale and these were a huge hit. Many people have been asking me how I make them, so when I was making them yesterday I decided to have my sous chef (Joey) document for me.

Use your favorite bread recipe.

Cut the bread into little balls about this big, anywhere from 18-24 of them depending on the size. They don't have to all be exact, just around the same size. Dip them in melted butter, and then give them a roll in brown sugar and cinnamon (no exact measurements, just use as much or as little cinnamon as you like, and enough brown sugar to roll in)

Toss them into a greased bundt ban. Bake for 45-50 minutes, and as soon as they're out of the oven turn them out immediately on a plate big enough. Be careful! There will be lots of syrupy goodness dripping down the size and that shit is H-O-T!

And voila! Cinnamon pull aparts. When cooled, I put Philidephia Cream Cheese icing on top (super easy recipe, just google it) and that keeps the tops soft. And they're like Pringles, you can't eat just one, which is why I don't keep them in the house. :)

Why I have been ignoring you my blogger family

This is where all my spare time has been. I have been working daily on this wedding. I try not to do too many per day, to keep myself sharp for each picture. Thankfully to my wonderful friend who introduced me to Photoshop and has recently showed me some fantastic tricks with photoshop (Hello Burn tool and Gaussian Blur) and showed me how to blend pictures together so I always have everyone smiling with open eyes (one picture I changed 3 people but Rob couldn't tell who). I am super proud of these pictures, but I am trying to get them done before this weekend when I am doing another wedding. It is a couple here in town where the bride is just stunning and the groom isn't hard on the eyes either. I had a small meeting with them yesterday and we planned some fun and original pictures for them, so I can't wait for the weekend.

My beautiful boy

*note* this was not taken by my big camera, but by a point and shoot canon that I always carry. Had I known Nipawin was so scenic, I would have definately brought the big one!

Nipawin, Saskatchewan

Our maiden voyage in "Coach" was to Nipawin Regional Park. Friends of ours from here were posted there (he is RCMP) and we decided to head in their direction (and truth be told, if you haven't booked a serviced site in January for any of the provincial parks here you're shit out of luck). So off we went to Nipawin. It's so beautiful there that we have decided to book there again in 2 weeks time to say for a mini 4 day vacation. Here's hoping Rob can get the time off.

I keep a journal in the trailer of our "camping adventures", and I will be typing those later here to the blog. It's easier to type that, so I will have a digital copy should anything happen, and you can have a better idea of how the vacation was, since I write as we go along. Here's a few pics just to show, and when I add the journal entry later tonight I'll add more pics.

"Green Kitt"

Mini golf was a huge hit.

We bought Pebbles a new harness.

So excited to get there!