Meanwhile, Across Town

You know it’s true that children can pick up things about a million times easier than adults can. Sidney has been in the french immersion program since junior kindergarten and her grasp of a second language is really starting to show. Last year I thought that perhaps her English skills were suffering but it all seems to have evened out. Miss Olivia is much farther ahead now than Sidney was at her age through a combination of having that older sister to learn from and an iron will which allows her to learn pretty much anything you tell her she isn’t ready for yet. It is quite something to see. Since it seems this post is simply me bragging about the girls lets continue in that vein and talk about Sidney’s new hobby. Knitting. I know it is gaining popularity with young and old alike but she is just seven and although we put the needles in her hand there weren’t any expectations of her to catching on quite so quickly. She is already casting on and off by herself an recently finished a scarf for her sister. I think everyone has a couple scarves in their future as she gains confidence and before long she’ll be knitting and purling up a storm.

That said the hunt is now on for a piano. We have room for one so that puts us one step ahead and Corrie’s Grandma has one in her basement that really isn’t in use anymore which is another plus. I guess this could have been included in the ten things you didn’t know about me list but I actually have passed my grade two piano exam from the Royal Conservatory of Music. Although it’s been a long, long time since I tickled the ivories I’m pretty sure I could bang out something with a little bit of practice. I think with the girls new found love of classic (not classical) music it could be something they really enjoy. The girls and their music is a post for another day though and in the meantime the hunt is on.

Perhaps that isn’t entirely true as we have attempted pies and tarts several times before with very limited success. In fact it was a thorn in the side of both our baking prides as we can both Corrie and I can swing for the fences on pretty much any recipe we attempt but the pie was always just out of our grasp. Not yesterday though as we put off the doughnuts and opted for a much needed batch of bread and one more attempt at that perfect flaky pie crust filled with delicious apples and cinnamon. Well let me tell you it was a rousing success due to the secret ingredient. LARD. That’s right, you know all those recipes you see that ask for shortening or lard and you have a little laugh and think man people used to be crazy cooking with all those crazy not so good for you ingredients. One of the reasons they did cook with these is that it works! I swear the old lard pie crust came together in mere minutes and did exactly what it was supposed to do. There is some sympathy for my lovely wife who was the one standing in the checkout line of the bulk grocery store with four giant tubs of lard. Nice. Not that it won’t get used between pie crusts and doughnuts but man that is far more lard than most people have sitting on their pantry shelf. Now is the time to push all the images of tubs of unhealthy ingredients from your mind and focus only on the delicious aftermath. PIE!

Reading is a popular pastime around these parts although we all have different favorite genres. Corrie opts for large complicated works of fiction whereas I’m more into biographies and works of the non-fiction ilk. We recently took advantage of a special subscription price on a years worth of National Geographic magazine. I remember vividly the decades worth all lined up on the shelf of my parents house, each one in chronological order and bursting with picture after picture of mind blowing images. I must say it is nice to know that some things never change and since the arrival of the first issues both Sidney and Olivia have been mesmerized by the content. Be it be pictures of robotic arms or images beamed through millions of years to the Hubble Telescope or even the uncomfortable images shown in the article on illegal wildlife sales each one has conjured up a multitude of questions and opinions. As their reading gets better and better I’m sure they will delve past the pictures into the text as well. So far we are only a couple issues into the year and already it seems like it has been money well spent as both the older girls have been through all the pages at least three or four times in the last couple days. I look forward to many years of dog eared copies of this wonderful magazine so if you are in the market for a magazine for your little ones I can’t recommend this one enough.

It’s hard to believe that just a few short days ago we had pretty much no snow at all left and now there is a whole big bunch. It has been snowing pretty much non-stop for the last three days now and accumulating at an alarming rate. Just when I thought spring was right around the corning mother nature decides to jolt us back to the reality that it is still February and we very well may have lots more snow ahead of us. I’m hoping that this is just winters farewell snowstorm and that soon there will be blue skies and green grass. That isn’t to say that the girls haven’t been enjoying the snow since there really hasn’t been too much to speak of this year.

The next month is looking to be pretty busy starting with some visitors tomorrow that we are really looking forward too after not seeing them for quite some time. Then there is conventions and training seminars to get ready for the golf season which hopefully is right around the corner. It has been a long time since I’ve attended any training days but I’m looking forward to learning some new tricks for the upcoming season. If this is indeed winters last hurrah it is Molly in her ever so cute oopa-loompa hat that I will miss the most!

A new trick in our home baking repertoire is Great Grandma’s homemade doughnuts. Not those things that they pass off at Tim Hortons as doughnuts but the real deal lovingly cooking in lard for extra goodness. We’ve had the recipe for years now but it has just been in the last few months that we have actually dove in and gave them a try. Our first effort had mixed results as cooking doughnuts in hot lard in a frying pan on the stove is not an exact science. Of course Great Grandma heard about our attempt an asked if we were trying to burn the house down. Apparently not even old school Grandmas cook them on the stove top anymore. Of course she gifted us with a deep fryer for Christmas and after a couple trial runs we have them pretty much figured out. Corrie makes the dough on Saturday night as it must chill overnight in the refrigerator and come Sunday morning she rolls the dough and cut them out and I man the deep fryer. Once they have cooled off sufficiently they are shaken with cinnamon and sugar or dusted with icing sugar. With two people working together we can knock out a batch pretty quickly and I swear once you indulge yourself with one or two you’ll never want a store bought doughnut again. I did plan to provide you all with a mouth watering picture of them but getting a picture of the full batch is akin to trying to get a shot of the ever elusive Sasquatch. Take a peek below and I think you’ll understand why!

Speaking of cooking I can’t believe that I forgot to post a picture of Corrie’s wonderful heart shaped pancakes on Valentines day. I should also mention that they weren’t cut out hearts made with a cookie cutter but actually poured out into the shapes right onto the griddle. Personally I’m not exactly sure what difference the shape of the pancake makes but for the kids it made breakfast that day all the more exciting.