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Friday 29 November 2013

Deviled Eggs

The day is finally here!
Tonight my roommate and I are hosting a Christmas party at our apartment for all our friends (all twenty plus of them!).It's going to be a crazy amount of crazy people...but that's what Christmas is for :)
For an appetizer tonight I'm making Deviled Eggs - it's one of my favourites I used to love as little kid when mom would make them. They're also super easy to make, so no excuses to not try them!!!

You'll need:

A dozen hard boiled eggs
3/4 cup mayo
1 and 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
A pinch of salt
Paprika for garnish


Boil the eggs for about 15 minutes, and when cool to the touch, peel (it speeds up the process if you run them under cold water). 


Cut each egg in half, placing the yolks in a bowl and the hardened whites on a plate.



Mash up the yolks with a fork until they are nice and crumbled.


And then add the mayo, mustard and salt and mix together until relatively smooth to get rid of any big chunks.


Then arrange nicely on a platter and sprinkle with paprika for garnish! 



There you have it...Deviled Eggs. There's carrots on the platter for the sole reason my platter was too big and it looked kinda awkward. This is Christmas time. There's no need to worry about eating a balanced meal all the time.

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Late Nights

If you don't hear from me until Saturday, it'll be because two papers and a final lab exam have got me locked into my bedroom and avoiding all contact with people. BUT, there's a very special Christmas post coming up, so something to look forward to!


Sunday 24 November 2013

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

 The last weekend of November has come and gone - how does this even happen?!?! My parents came down for the weekend, and because it was Mom's birthday we had a big ham dinner to celebrate.




They also played delivery man/woman for me and brought down some of my Christmas decorations I had squirreled away at home.

 

We aren't allowed real trees in our apartment, so we needed a plan B. And let's be honest here, fake trees that are attempting to look remotely like a real tree are lame. 


So we settled for a mini garland type tree and threw some lights on it!



Just waiting for the beginning of December to start the countdown.



Santa is behind the ball and didn't have any candy canes in his sack, so some good ole' chocolate bars were thrown in instead.


I don't know about you, but I am UNBELIEVABLY excited for Christmas!

Friday 22 November 2013

Zesty Shrimp and Avocado Salad

Awhile back I had started a blog focusing solely on food...but it wasn't really my thing. It's not that I don't adore food (which if you haven't figured out yet, you will very quickly), I just wasn't feeling the whole blog thing yet.  

But I wasn't looking back through it, getting ready to delete all of it's existence, when I stumbled across this recipe. Although my balcony is now covered in a good few inches of snow,if you're like me and want to enjoy a spritz of the summer that once was, this is the recipe to do it! 


...Zesty Shrimp and Avocado Salad!!!

To make this fabulous little dish you will need:

1/2 of a chopped red onion
the juices of 2 limes
2 tbsp (approx.) extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp chopped cilantro 
1 diced avocado
2 diced medium tomatoes
1/2 kilogram of cooked and peeled shrimp
salt and pepper to taste


In small bowl, combine red onion, juice of limes, olive oil, salt and pepper.




Let sit for AT LEAST five minutes (this is especially important if you aren't a huge fan of red onions in the first place, like me), this takes the bite out of the onions and really let's all the flavours marinate together.

In a larger bowl, combine shrimp, avocado and tomato.  Top with chopped cilantro.



Pour contents of smaller bowl in with the shrimp mixture, and toss gently.

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Et voila!!!

Garnish with cilantro if you're looking to go all classy on all of us.



For maximum enjoyment, serve on a balcony, preferably while basking in the evening sun (or if you happen to be in a snowbound city, then inside, wrapped up in a blanket, dreaming of the sunshine).

This probably serves around four people, depending on if you use it as a full meal or as a side.  If you're not a fan of cilantro, try cutting it down by half...it still gives you a bit of flavour but it's not as "in your face". 

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Big Boots

I've been waiting the past few weeks for my new Gore-Tex Kangaroo Upland Boots from L.L. Bean to get in. Finally, the other day I was able to bus downtown and pick up my early Christmas present from mom and dad.


Don't you love that exciting moment as you're unwrapping a gift?!



So far it's love at first sight!! They've only been strapped onto my big flippers for a couple of days, but they've kept the ole tootsies toasty warm through the -20 degree weather we've been struck with.  Go out and get yourselves a pair!!!

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Two Down

There's simply no better way to unwind from a whirlwind day of two finals (early, I know!) than a homemade dinner of BBQ chicken, baked potato, and spaghetti squash. 


 

And a little high class wine.
Because everyone deserves some Baby Duck. 


(also, this TV dinner thing is becoming a little too common in my life..I need to change this situation).

Cheers...to paper writing?

 Here's just a quick snippet from the weekend.  What started out as a night of paper writing turned into grabbing a bottle of wine with my friend Britt and heading downtown to the Genny for a night of dancing...





...as you can tell, it was a very successful wine time!! (sorry for the crappy pictures, my actual camera doesn't get pulled out for drinking occasions ;))

Saturday 16 November 2013

Welcome to The Leaky Cauldron

The night we've all been waiting for has arrived.
Harry Potter Pub Night.
I know what you're thinking - why have I never been to such an awesomely themed night?  That's exactly what I was wondering too. Jare, Jas, Caroline, Kyla and I donned our best Ravenclaw outfits and headed to The Thirsty Moose Pub.





***Correction: The Leaky Cauldron.






The Moose had magically transformed itself into the famed Leaky Cauldron/Great Hall, complete with house tables, floating candles, banners and themed drinks! 




Clearly, we had to sample all of the themed drinks that were offered - you can't pass up something like that! We started off with Butterbeer (butterscotch schnapps, whipped cream flavoured vodka, cream soda)...



 ...and continued on to the Dementor's Kiss (eggnog, rum, cinnamon?) and Amortentia (sourpuss and grenadine).




We were pretty disappointed to find out they didn't have any Polyjuice Potion.


So we conjured up some of our own (basically just a strawberry mojito minus the mint - which the pub had run out of for some strange reason). 





 After a couple hours of good drinks and food the games began.  It started with three rounds of trivia. Slytherin cheated during the first two rounds (typical) and they won the spell casting contest.


Also with some less than honest tactics.  


Ravenclaw swept 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the costume contest, which propelled us into 2nd place. 


But once the Golden Snitch was found, we dropped back down to third, and in a classic Harry Potter moment, Gryffindor won, Slytherin was stuck in second, and Hufflepuff was far behind in fourth. Gryffindor, being the kind people that they are, bought our table a pitcher of beer so we were slightly less bitter about losing to them.


It's safe to say this was one of the best pub nights I've been to so far. We're all keeping our fingers crossed that they plan one for next year too!!!