It’s not often that one see such a huge and old lobster – this one is so huge – I’m guessing it must be like 100 Ibs!

Normal lobsters are like 5Ibs – can you imagine eating 100 Ibs of lobster?  i love lobsters but I don’t think I would eat that humongous lobster – would you?

I don’t know if it is just foodie and food bloggers who loved anything to do with food – but I do and whenever I see kitchen gadgets that I can use and they are lovely in color – I go ga-ga over them.  I saw these at our local supermarket and fell in loved with them – they are great for making single portion of lasagne or even baked spaghetti.  They come in oval shaped and round shaped – the round ones can probably be used to make Tiramisu or one can attempt to make baked onion soup in them.

Endless food and dishes I can think of to use these stoneware.

Baked rice anyone?  They are very cheap too at Sobeys – less than $4 I think – love the colors.

Kong Hei Fatt Choy !!!   Everyone Fatt, Fatt big big this year!!  lots of “kum” coming into your home and businesses.   May the dragon year bring everyone good luck, good health, good eats and good money!  And the box of “kum” is for the Zhu’s who’ve always been so kind to us.

These days there should be no reason why one cannot cook at home – in fact, I loved home cook food.  I think I try to cook more now that I have Chloe to think of – and her health.  Which parents wants to feed their kids fast food or junk food right?  Whenever I cook for Chloe – it’s no salt, less sugar and less oil and we use olive oil for cooking.

With frozen veggies – cooking is so much easier – and so much more colorful.

Frozen veggies are not expensive either – and you don’t need to defrost them to cook them – you just have to dump them into a frying pan and start frying or into a pot for beef stew or spaghetti sauce.  I never used to like frozen veggies but some frozen veggies is better than none.  So if you can seems to cook or get fresh ones you like for cooking try some frozen veggies – works like a charm for me.

I loved to use the oven to bake my food – from fish to garlic bread but you and I know that heating the oven up and then baking something for 10 -20mins is really a lot of electricity used.  So I try to use the steamer instead more often – because the charges for our electric bills during the winter are very expensive.  Unlike a friend who lives in NJ – they have nj electricity that promises savings for those signed up with them.   Here, we don’t have a competitive rate – therefore, I have no choice but to use my oven efficiently.

So you asked how do I do that?  well, if I wanted to use the oven that evening – I make sure that it’s not just one thing that I am going to bake.  I will bake my chicken wings or cookies or whatever I need for the next few days  – so that I don’t have to turn on my oven for just a 12 mins baking of a fish and then shut it right off.  These days, you really have to save as much as you can – when it’s over the roof when it comes to electric bills.  So like all others, we always asked ourselves – to keep the family warm or eat?  I say keeping warm is very important – wished we had a competitor here for Scotia Powers.

Sundays are usually days when we go out to eat as a family – but like most restaurants in Canada – the portions are really huge – we never ever managed to finish our food.   So what do we do?  we doggy bag the leftover and eat them for dinner (most times) or the next day.  We’ve always taught Chloe from young that food must not be wasted – so we always finish our leftovers – what about you guys?  what is your take with leftover food from restaurants and at home?  do you eat them all another day – or do you not doggy bag them for fear of looking cheap?

Many years ago before coming to Canada – I would never dream of packing up leftovers at the restaurants.  When I eat with my bosses or travel for work with them – I always felt like it’s so cheap to wanna doggy bag the food home – so why the 360 degree change?  Firstly, my current food is not paid by my bosses – who always eat extravagantly and being expatriates – they never like to pack food back to the hotel but now that I have a kid – I have to teach her good values and because of all the charitable organization I’ve joined after coming to Canada  – I’m made aware of the many people who are less fortunate than us  – therefore, I try never to waste food.

My htc buy must be the smartest investment as a food blogger.  Why?  you know how we food bloggers loved to take pictures of any kind of food we buy, eat or see right?  but what if you had forgotten to bring your camera along with you and/or if your camera doesn’t have enough battery juice for you to take that special food picture you found and needed to share it with your friends/fans.  That’s when you whip out your 8 MP camera phone with high definition with an LCD screen and take the picture you need for your next blog post.

Yes!  this was the crab meat I wanted to buy to make crab cake – but didn’t know if this was good enough – since they were frozen.  So I took a picture of it to show it to my friend – the one who taught me how to make crab cake and she replied instantly after seeing the picture.  So for those who don’t have a camera handy the next time – trust your HTC smartphone to give you the picture you need.

Like all diabetics – we are always hungry – and we are always looking for something to munch – something that wouldn’t make our blood sugar go crazy on us.  So when I saw these baked cheetos – I knew I had to try it – with only 1 gram of sugar and 100 calories, now that has got to be a winner right?  These cheetos are baked and not fried like the regular ones.  A box of 5 packs was like $3.50 or something around that price – and I tasted it – and liked it.  So there you have it – the winner snack and junk food of the week for diabetics.  Baked cheetos!  Diabetics around the world – should give this snack a try ! i know you all want to munch on something that you wouldn’t have to worry about your blood sugar.

As a diabetic it’s quite a feat to eat out and even if we found something that we liked – it’s important to know how much sugar is in your food.  I loved this dish very much – it’s with chicken meat and a little rice – and I loved the thai sweet and spicy chilli sauce – so guess what I did – I went out to M & M’ meat shop to get some.  But hold it!  I found out that 2 tablespoons of this yummilicious thai chilli has 16 grams of sugar.  Now that’s not good at all – and even though I don’t eat a lot of the sweet chilli sauce – still 2 tablespoon is very easy to dip and finish.  So diabetics out there – if you are having side sauce like I do when I eat out – make sure you check out the sugar in them.  Luckily for me – I found out – so the next time I eat my chicken and rice dish – I would dip sparingly.

Ever since coming to Canada – I’ve to learned to cook for myself – but one thing awesome about cooking here is I never have to cook for PB – why?  because he likes his own kinda food – like potatoes, carrots, some chicken – not a lot of beef or sandwiches.  So I never have to worry about cooking for him – he can eat a sandwich in the morning, sandwich for lunch and another sandwich for dinner.  Yup!  he isn’t adventurous at all with his food – but every Sunday – he will cook potatoes, carrots – some sort of meat for supper – for the entire family – so I can’t really complained right?  Sure it is monotonous but better than my dad – having only cooked for his children once in our entire life – so I count my blessings.

I loved a good garlic bread – and found one that I liked very much here – so sometimes we also have garlic bread but not every weekend.  And for lunch we dine out on Sundays – although PB doesn’t really like eating out either.   So yes, for someone who lovesssssssssssss food like myself and being with a man who eats to live – well -  quite bizarre right?  but he has improved over the years – and he makes it a point to bring me and Chloe out to eat every week – although there are limited restaurants that he likes.

Have you ever wonder why we can’t make our croissant look like that?  whenever I make my own croissant back home – they are not crunchy nor looking so fluffy at all.   So what kinda magic does these girls have that I don’t, pray tell?   I had a egg and chicken salad sandwich today and it was yummy – loved the girls at Tim’s because they always remember me when they have my favorite mushroom soup.  One day – I’m gonna ask the girls how they make my sandwich/croissant look so yummy and not all flatten and crushed like mine when I do it at home.

We had bought some Christmas cookies to be baked at home on Christmas eve – but alas – as you can see here – it was left too long in the oven.   What a bummer!  PB and Chloe was disappointed because they were the ones who wanted the cookies.

They were so burnt they can’t even be saved!  guess our oven is hotter than we thought it was. While chloe was whining about it and PB ranting about the oven – what did mama do?  just ignored the burnt cookies and showed everyone to the tv room. muahahhah!  that’s what mummy’s are good for right?

While other people get diamond rings or a piece of new jewellry – I wanted a KitchenAid Cast Iron Pot for my Christmas this year – that  I’ve been eyeing on it for years now but since it’s on sale I quickly rushed out to get one from Canadian Tire.  Trust a food blogger to ask for an cast iron pot – instead of jewelry.

Yup they had the red color ones but I wanted the purple one – coz’ I’m that special – muahahhaha!!!

So PB paid for it – and we went on our merry way – on Christmas eve!

We are truly blessed by good and true friends from around here – not only does Chloe and I get gifts all the time – we also get specially made cookies from Kim every year.  I think it is a priceless gesture and wished I had the time to do the same for all my friends too – alas, being so busy with my own work and work at the store – and of course Chloe – it doesn’t leave me a lot of time.  But my friends are steadfast and they understand it and never hold it against me.

And every year we received fruit baskets from friends as well – this one is from Lynette and Josh.  They are so thoughtful – even when they were just getting over their illness – they came by with gifts for Chloe for her birthday and Christmas and a fruit basket for us.  In everyone’s life – we have  lots of friends but those who are with you throughout the good and the bad times and never jealous of your achievements – those are hard to come by.  I’m glad I have friends who are never envy or jealous of our successes and celebrate them with us.  Thank you for your friendship Kim and Lynette.

A gourmet fruit basket from a customer.

And another 3 more from friends of the store too.

As a food blogger, we are constantly looking out for good food – and good food at a good price, so when a customer who moved into town from Germany asked me where can I get the best piece of steak – I show them the way to Emin’s Meat Market down on South end.  No one makes meat like Emin’s and you’ve gotta love the friendly and personalized service at the Emin’s.  So we headed to Emin’s but not before we went to check out some beauty stuff that we had read about – eyelash growth product reviews said that we could look out for them at our local pharmacy as well. So after we had done that – we headed to the best meat market in town.

Alas, Fred wasn’t there – but his staff working were just as friendly and knowledgeable – and we bought not only pieces of steak but Slovakia pork, sausages and stuffed pork as well.  My new found customer was really impressed with what Emin’s had to provide and she told me – the steak she bought – melted in her mouth and the apple cinnamon and the maple sausages that she had for breakfast the next morning  – were the best she had ever had.

Asked me anything about food – I’m the expert in it – but we did make out pretty well with the beauty department too – after all – which woman don’t know a bit about beauty products right?  I had a fruitful day !  food and beauty products – I’m a happy girl alright!

For those who’ve supported Chloe in raising funds for her school – thru’ the lobster tickets sale – I’m sorry to say that no one from our group won the 25lbs of lobsters – it was someone else in town that we didn’t the name at all.  But since Chloe won for bringing in the most money for the school – a total of $725  – Chloe won 5 lbs of lobsters that was delivered by her principal to our store.

The zhu’s cooked the lobster for me – and I’m forever grateful because I wouldn’t know how to cook them or how to break them into pieces.   And the Zhu’s stirred fried them with ginger and spring onions for me – it was very yummy!

I haven’t had lobsters for a long time – whole lobsters like that and I’ve almost forgotten how whole lobsters tasted like.  I wished I had some sambal to stir fried it with – but the ginger and spring onion was just as good – yummy!!  thanks to everyone once again!  We are forever grateful!

For those of you who are not aware of this – we’ve put Chloe into horse riding classes since last year – and we get all her equestrian apparel online but when it comes to getting the saddle and tack, we are always try and get them locally if the price is right.  So a few weeks ago, we headed to Shelburne to look for this. This is a FQHB 16 inch Stallion Tack – I loved that it has lots of silver it  – they were asking for $650 and it was a very good price – but alas, it was a little too big for Chloe – so we didn’t end up getting it.  Guess we will continue to look for it online.

It was an hour drive back, so we stopped at Austrain Inn to eat – and it always makes us hungry after sending her for horse riding classes but we get to go out and eat – which is our favorite.

The Austrain Inn looked small from the outside but it has a huge capacity inside as you can see.

It was very spacious and we went late for lunch – therefore, you don’t see many customers at this time.

The service was good and the food was good too.  We had a hard time deciding on what we wanted.

The soup that came with my meal wasn’t something i liked too much – so I didn’t drink it.

Chloe as you can see loved this place a lot.

Her chocolate milk came first.

Chloe had fish and chips – they dont have this in the kid’s menu – I think they don’t have a kid’s menu to be honest. But the next time I have to remember to ask them not to put the green stuff.  I think it was basil if I am not wrong.

I had the most wonderful BBQ schnitzel chicken with some buttered rice and carrots – they were such a healthy combination if you asked me.  By far the best meal I had here in Canada.

PB had the chicken cordon bleu – he likes it  – the chicken is good – but the ham and cheese inside were different from what he likes – but he said the chicken was really tender.  We always have a hearty meal after Chloe horse – riding and she enjoys it so much – we really want to get her the right apparel for classes next year.

So tell me what food would you order if you don’t know what to eat ?  or when you are not too full nor too hungry for you just had breakfast not too, too long ago.  My recommendation is omelet  – you cannot go wrong with that  – and when I am not too hungry I order some omelet – but of course I asked for only 2 omelet instead of 3 and I don’t eat the potatoes they offer and very little bread.  What about you ?  what do you eat when you are out in a restaurant with family and friends but don’t know what to order or too full to eat too much.  Pray tell.

And here we have chloe – her only food when she eats out is fish and chips – as long as they have fish and chips – we are all safe.

I’ve always wanted a cookie jar – but never bought them – because I didn’t really think they were practical.  But this year – I had to buy it because it’s one of the things I had been longing for in my kitchen.  I loved my very first Christmas cookie jar and I want to be able to bake lots of cookies with Chloe and her friends when they come visit.  The cookie jar was a wee bit expensive – but what the heck ! it’s Christmas!  and every home must have a cookie jar right?