November 28, 2013

Thanks Chicken Dinner

Happy Thanksgiving, Americans!

We (your neighbors up north) celebrated our Thanksgiving in October, but who says you can't have an inspired meal? It's always a good time for poultry and sides of mashed potatoes, dressing, homemade cranberry sauce and luscious gravy. At least at my house it is. I mean, c'mon. DOUBLE CARBS!

By the way, I've moved my rosemary plant into the mudroom to overwinter along side my basil, but the latter doesn't seem to be doing so well. It must be a combination of minor neglect on my part and their poor delicate leaves not being able to withstand negative degree weather here in Toronto. It's snowing and that means it's time to set my Christmas tree up! But that's for another post.  


Keep on scrolling for more food things. 

The chicken breasts were salt and peppered, rubbed with both chopped basil, rosemary and olive oil. They were then seared in a pan and finished off in the oven, on a rack with a little water in the pan underneath to keep everything nice, steamy and moist.Gravy was made from de-glazing the pan with stock and whatever juices were thrown in as well along side a buttery roux.

While that was cooking away, a simple bread dressing was made with stale bread and whatever was in the fridge. Potatoes were peeled, boiled, buttered and mashed and there was cranberry sauce simmering away on the stove top. I didn't even bother with fresh cranberries. I cheated by using Craisins, sugar, water and a little orange zest. Then I Magic Bullet-ed the life out of half the mixture and voila.  




I served a salad on the side to you know, make it a complete meal. 

Now I've got to plan Christmas dinner. Hopefully it all works out and I'll be hosting again this year!

November 26, 2013

Skull Heads, Kitten Lola and Halloween

On Halloween night, Rich and I headed over to his brother's place (armed with home made caramel corn, by the way) to enjoy spooky festivities with his family! But to really get into the Halloween spirit, I did a little face painting on us. 40 minutes for my face and a brisk 15 on his- I think they turned out pretty decent! 

"I'm smiling and really happy right now! Can you tell?"


Their family adopted a new fur baby named Lola and she is just the cutest, tiniest little bundle of energy! So curious and knows no boundaries. #kittenlyfe


Dark came upon us and so we lit the candles in the pumpkin and signaled for all the trick-or-treaters to visit. 




Lola wanted to join us outside. What a little rascal. <3
Rich's nephew J dressed up as a leprechaun, despite what his Bubbie initially thought! (A pickle, hehe)


I'm glad I wore my rain boots, as it was raining on and off throughout the night. I got to walk into puddles, muck and leaves! It was a little chilly, butwe still walked around the neighborhood for an hour or so. There apparently weren't a lot of kids out, but J was able to get more than enough goodies. Even Lola was a little jelly. Check out his stash!


Can't wait for next year!

Carving Pumpkins

If you've been following my blog, you'll notice that I had taken a small hiatus from blogging. I have good reason though; I have been busy learning to crochet. I'm working on my granny-ness, so instead of picking up my camera, taking lots of photos and sharing them with you here...I've been buying a gazillion skeins of yarn and making lots of super cozy, over sized, chunky knit infinity scarves. 

I am obsessed and I promise to show you what I've been up to soon. :) 

But for now, I'm going to play a little catch up! 

Rich and I carved our Halloween pumpkins on Devil's Night and his pumpkin just couldn't wait any longer. It started to fuzz and become rabid hunk of fruit. The more disgusting the better, right? Initially we just thought to chuck it in the composter, but upon further inspection I suggested we just lop it's head off and so we did!



The only sad part about the pumkpin being moldy was that I couldn't harvest, roast and consume the seeds. I love roasted pumpkin seeds! 


I cut a little notch in the opening in mine, because I wanted something different. I felt fancy fancy.


This was the stencil that I chose and fixed up in Photoshop. Below is what Rich chose to carve- a scary jack-o-lantern face.




Three hours later...





So babe-ly.


All I was missing was my little bear!

November 23, 2013

My Favourite Korean Dish

I always order this dish when I dine out at Korean restaurants. It's my all time favourite and as much as I'd like to branch out and try other options, I always find myself craving for Korean spicy stir fried pork, Dwaeji/Jeyuk Bokkeum. It's made with thinly sliced Korean pork belly, and cooked with a sweet, savory and spicy sauce.

Having known how obsessed I was/am, my long time friend Miriam had her mom make me an entire container packed full of authentic marinated deliciousness! Seriously, best gift ever and I was so excited to dig in as soon as the Tupperware had reached my hands. That is, until I realized it still needed to be cooked. Whoops!

Not a problem, because a day or two later the entire thing was stir fried in a wok and served with sticky rice and bok choy. It was a flavour rave in my mouth. Not only did it taste just like the restaurants, it was better actually- I was able to eat it while wearing sweats. Glorious. 

Thanks to Miriam and Mrs. Kim for keeping me well fed!


November 02, 2013

Elle Beauty Box, Fall 2013


Not too long ago I signed up to receive this complimentary beauty box from Elle Canada and four to six weeks later, this cute little packaged arrived at my doorstep! Take a peek at what was inside.

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Hi, I'm Janetta from Toronto. I cook, bake and often veganize recipes. I photograph nearly everything and those photos will most likely end up being posted here. I've got a little black cat named Tank, who's really cute and a little bit nosy. You'll see a lot of photos of her too!

Contact me at: jubesandtank@gmail.com

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