Cookbooks and Coffee

For Christmas, my sister bought me a Jamie Oliver cookbook. I've been wanting one of his cookbooks for years and was super excited about this one. I cannot say how much I like this cookbook. The premise is that everyone can cook. The food is reasonably simple and amazingly delicious. Plus, it's Jamie, so the writing is a bit quirky. Shortly after, I bought another of his cookbooks. I've been having great fun playing around with the recipes.

On Sunday, I made a beet salad. I was a wee bit concerned about this would go over, but it had rave reviews. Beets and pears are chopped into matchsticks and then tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, feta and sunflower seeds. Next time, I think i'll add my citrus grapeseed oil instead. But it was good. Tonight I made a beef roast, gravy, mashed potatoes and asian style broccoli. The roast was cooked on a bed of carrots, celery, onions, garlic and rosemary. After it was done, the veggies were mashed up and turned into the gravy. Although thin, the gravy was quite flavourful. For the broccoli, I grated ginger and garlic, mixed it with sesame oil, olive oil, soya sauce, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar and then tossed it with the steamed veggies. Delicious! Cooking(and eating) makes me very happy!

My sister, Marlene, showed up as we were finishing dinner. Steve had just made rootbeer floats with crispy crunch ice cream(different, but delicious) so we offered her some as well. While I put Aris to bed, she helped clean up my kitchen. Yay! Then we went off to see her new apartment. I don't get to hang out with her very much anymore. For those who don't know the story, Mar has been my best friend since we were 11. When we were 19, she moved in with my family and my parents "adopted" her. Both my biological sister and I consider her our sister.

Unfortunately, life is crazy and we don't get to see each other much. I miss her a lot! It's challenging to go from the life of a teen where we see our friends daily, to the life of an adult, especially a parent, where friends are on the periphery. Lying on her bed and chatting tonight was good. It brought back old times, especially when she pulled out some pictures from my very early twenties. Wow! I knew that was me, but wow! Am I ever different now!

I feel peaceful and happy right now. I've had a good couple days of cooking and baking with another project lined up for tomorrow. Aris and I are going to make cupcakes for her class. I found a very cool recipe for multicoloured cupcakes. This should be fun. :) Hopefully I will remember to take pics and post them. Good night! :)