a hippie with a minivan

wanting to go back home…

Though I was born in Montreal, I was raised in BC for critical childhood years of my childhood…

Nelson, BC in the late 70’s/early 80’s was a unique place to live… it is still unique.

My mom and I found a great community there… the friends that we made quickly became our family… when we left it broke my heart and I knew that one day I would return… I want to return…
It has always been in the back of my mind but now it is right there, every day…

I want to go back home, I want to return to the family that we made there when I was young… that is still there… I want to raise my kids there…

It is scary move though and with the lack of support that we have here I am not sure how we would do it… finding a job, selling the house, moving our family of five across the country on limited funds…

I just feel that my life is at a standstill at the moment and that I need to do it…

Well see if it is meant to be…

Cabane à Sucre…

We went to the same place as we did last year… it is so hard to find a great Sugar Shack… there are so many here and they are so commercial that often the feeling of being at the Sugar Shack is lost….

Anyway… here is our day… and mostly our food… (all traditional Québécois “Cabane à Sucre” foods!)

I forgot to upload the Animal pics… but first we saw the animals that live there and then we went on a horse and sleigh ride…

Khéna wasn’t too sure….

It was beautiful out… but still cold at about -4

Inside for food…
Cretons (spread made of pork and spices)

Pea Soup

Lunch… Omlette made with maple syrup, small potatoes, sausages, maple bakes beans, and maple smoked ham… with a side of “oreilles de Crisse”….

Sadly there is no sap running yet this year… winter is lasting long… so they have been using last years syrup… and the syrup is put on pretty much everything on the plate…

then dessert…

Maple Syrup Pie and fresh doughnuts

Maple Cake

and my favourite… “Beignets” (fried doughnut) smothered in maple cream sauce….

then the traditional Maple Taffy…

Syrup is heated to a certain temp.. then poured on snow…

then poke….

and roll…

(and then the boys played to work off some of that sugar)

Dense Chocolatey Chocolate cake…

It was Simon’s birthday 2 weeks ago and I wanted to make him happy with chocolate… which is something that he loves…

So I searched for the best chocolate cake recipe and fell on one on this blog…

I did adapt it a bit to make it more dark and gooey…. but omg… it was good!

CAKE
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
3/4 c vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
4 oz unsweetened chocolate squares, melted and slightly cooled

FROSTING
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup whipping (35%) cream
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate squares
2 tsp vanilla
1 package (8 oz) light cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened

CAKE
1. Lightly grease bottom and sides of three 9-inch round or square cake pans. Cut circles/squares of parchment paper to fit bottom of pans and place in pans. Lightly grease paper and set pans aside.

2. Combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

3. In another large bowl, beat eggs for about 3 minutes, until they have thickened slightly and are lemon-coloured. Add buttermilk, coffee, oil, vanilla and melted chocolate. Mix until well blended.

4. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until batter is smooth. Divide batter equally among pans.

5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees F, until a toothpick inserted in centre of cakes comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pans, peel off paper and cool completely before frosting.

FROSTING
1. Whisk together sugar, cocoa, and whipping cream in a medium saucepan. Cook slowly over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to a gentle boil. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until melted. Stir in vanilla. Let cool to room temperature.

2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter on high speed of an electric mixer until smooth. Add cooled chocolate mixture and beat on medium speed until well blended. Refrigerate frosting until desired spreading consistency is reached, about 1 hour. But don’t let it get too firm – you won’t be able to spread it!

3. To frost cake, place one cake layer on a plate. Spread 1 cup frosting over top. Repeat with second layer. Place final layer on top. Ice top and sides with remaining frosting.

Cover and refrigerate, but let cake stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

a little funny…

Colin just came up to me to cuddle… but wanted some sympathy also… so he said…

“Mommy… I am so sad”

so I asked why…

“I hurt myself…” he said…

I asked his where he hurt himself and he said that he hit his head on the fridge…

So I said that I don’t mind cuddling him of course, but that it wasn’t true because he had not been in the kitchen…

so he said… “was that a lie” and I said yes….

he got off of my lap and went away…

then I heard a thump in the kitchen… and he came back and said again… “mommy, I hit my head of the fridge… I am so sad… I want maju”

he now has a red spot on his forehead…

Endo appt…

We had the appointment at the Endo on Monday…

and… as I expected and really just knew all along, everything is completely normal with Khéna….

He is a big healthy boy.

Yes, He is very overweight, and off the charts at a bit over 18 kilos or 40lbs… but everything is normal…

They did mention that if he maintains the weight that he has now, he would come into the 97th percentile on the charts at age three… so they do think that he should not be gaining more… but there is nothing they can recomend for him not to gain weight… and because they could not blame overeating, because he really doesn’t eat much… they did try to hint that my milk might be too rich in calories and that he should be eating more solids… but then didn’t mention it again after they couldn’t explain why that would be when his two big brothers had the same nursing patterns and were/are pretty small..

I also asked if it was OK if ever he lost weight because with the spring and summer on the way and more outdoor play, swimming etc… and they said that there was no problem with that…

So for those IRL, and who read the blog and have been worried about Khéna’s weight… don’t worry… he is a healthy, beautiful and yes… big boy…