This was the other birthday cake that we’ve ordered for Chloe’s birthday celebration in school.  This one is from Sobey’s – a lot cheaper and they provided us with candles for free.  The cake was just as good, not as much frosting but who needs more frosting than this right.  So the next time, i will order from Sobeys instead.  But Chloe is a lucky girl, 2 birthday cakes for her birthday and 1 more home made by Aunt Helena.

We were invited to a Christmas tea and a gift exchange amongst friends and the turned out was bigger than I had expected.  There were  lots of food as usual but most importantly, friends gathering and chatting and rekindling our friendship.  We also had a gift exchange and some gave out military coin  to our kids because their spouses’ are still in the army serving the country.  In this part of the world, serving your country whether here at home or in Afghanistan as a peace maker, it’s a highly respected profession, and most of us who received the military coin felt very grateful for these men who ware there to keep us safe.

Some of the food here are home made as you can see but they were absolutely delcious!

Lots of cupcakes for the tea party and if you want to knwo where it’s all pinkish – because we had a lot more ladies than men that day.

Yummy chocolate cupcakes for the children.

It is the spouse’s birthday today and I had totally forgotten about it.  Thanks to Facebook – hahahaha!!  which reminded me when i woke up.  Oh yes! i’m a bad wife ! what can I say – hahah!!  This year also marks the first that the spouse isn’t spending with his mother – my mother-in-law passed away suddenly this year and it’s the first of a lot of things with us.  Thank God for Aunts – for Aunt Helena baked him a cake and cooked a huge meal for him. To the people closest to me now – are these 3 – and I hope to spend more time with all of them.  For those of you – who have loved ones – make sure you make time for them.

If you are ever in Yarmouth on Saturday, you have to drop in at the Farmer’s Market here – at Mama Jo’s bakery – you will find all sorts of home made goodies that even I – a diabetic cannot resist.  Mama Jo’s bakery actually helped us out because of their chocolate chip peanut butter cookie – for it was the cookie that Chloe and Grammie made together every Saturday.  Now that Grammie is gone – and no one to bake that cookie with her – Mama Jo’s bakery came to our rescue just when Chloe was missing her Grammie so much.  Now every Saturday, we head out to the Farmer’s Market if not for anything else – but the chocolate chip peanut butter cookies.

But of course, they have more than just chocolate chip peanut butter cookies that we liked.  They have all kinds of bread – that we called cake at home – I’ve tried the banana bread – and liked them – not too sweet – just the way I liked them but some more bananas would be awesome.

All kinds of home made cookies.

Marshmallow chocolate cubes that PB loved and buys them every week.

Biscuits and jellied cookies.

Cinnamon rolls and dates squares and a coconut dessert – all too yummy!  so you know where to get your desserts if you are in town.  Mama Jo’s bakery is always opened late – and the owner is always sweet and friendly – go chat him up the next time you are there.

I love anything banana – to tell you the truth – but the banana bread I’m used to – usually have a good strong taste of banana – and the best ones were those that had banana slices on top of it.  Now those were super yummy.  I bought this from the Farmer’s market – and they were really sweet – not really a lot of banana taste – but nevertheless good.  I may even try and make some myself with banana slices on top soon.

Yes, I had a cake party on my birthday – some home made like this lemon meringue by Aunt Helena – which by the way was yummilicious.

A very awesome carrot cake from George and John with real butter cream.

And this absolutely fabulous chocolate cake with chocolate glace – and easter chocolate eggs also made by Aunt Helena.

And a customary birthday cake bought at Sobeys by PB.   Now isn’t it awesome to have your birthday on the same day of Easter?  double celebration.   This year grammie didn’t bake me a cake like she used to – this is the first year in many years that I’ve not had a celebration without grammie.  It’s kinda sad to be honest and even though my birthday is usually quiet I kinda missed having her bring me the cake with lighted candles and Chloe all excited and wanted to blow the candles.  We all missed her.

I had gone to Sobeys to order a special cake for a special kid’s birthday and came across a new cupcake made by the brand compliments and since they do look a lot like Goodies cupcakes – I figured we should try it out.   At $1.15 a piece it wasn’t a bad price at all.

They had a few kind to choose from – the chocolate chip, vanilla, red velvet and a lemon flavored one.

Surprising, the cupcakes were pretty good – we tried the vanilla ones and the chocolate.

Everyone that we offered the cupcakes too – were impressed with how soft the cupcakes were.

So if you are craving for cupcakes – check out Sobeys for their home made Compliments brand.

Like us Asians – the french people are very hospitable and they loved having friends over – and like us – they liked to bring something with them when they visit.  So when I visit any of PB’s relative I try to bring some donuts as well – plus the donuts are cheap if you buy them by the dozen and the varieties are a lot too to choose from.

The box is pretty as well – and so presentable – so if I wanted to thank the doctor’s or nurses or just about anyone – I can bring a box of tim’s donuts.  Everyone loves Tim’s donuts and coffee.

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.

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?

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?

We always celebrate Chloe’s birthday early – to avoid the bad weather, so after that year – we always do it earlier – so the kid won’t be disappointed if her friends don’t show up due to bad weather.  But this year, we decided to let Grammie do the birthday party – afterall, she is the only grand daughter right?

So Chloe is turning 8 yrs old in another 10 days – we cannot be more proud of her – and yeas! grammie made the cake and we had bought her a toy – to make it look like a real birthday cake.

Chloe being silly for her birthday party – which consisted all her aunts and uncles – we didn’t invite any children because I just want her to be with family and loved.

Ti’s’ that time of the year again and loads of treats and baking goods like these cupcakes are on sale at the local supermarket/grocery stores.    They are all very sweet – luckily, I don’t like sweet stuff like these – else I would faint due to sugar overdose.  I don’t like buying stuff like that to eat – but PB – well he’s another story – he loveeeeesss his sweets alright!  Thank God – his blood sugar is good even after eating loads of them.  I try not to feed Chloe a lot of junk either – she gets to eat one of them but not more.  What about you ?  do you let your kids eat cupcakes everyday?

Yes! it’s that time of year again – Christmas presents and ginger bread making and cookies and other treats for Christmas.  Have you put up your Christmas decoration yet?  or are you waiting for the eve of Christmas?   We’ve already started shopping for Christmas presents already – especially those we need to send overseas.  I bought some black & mild cigars that my ex-boss likes online and will be mailing it directly to him by the end of the month.   I also ordered popcorn for my favorite advertisers for Christmas – and of course presents for my princess but I don’t know what to get for her teachers.  Should I get spa tickets or a ticket for lunch?   I wished they were as easy to buy for as my ex-boss – for Mr Hernandez – he loves his cigars every year – and no matter what kind of cigar – he enjoys them as much – I’m just lucky with him.   But yes!  Christmas goodies are all over the place – and this year they have GingerBread Tree – something different but definitely just as good.

I don’t usually buy Sausage roll pastry even though i loved them – especially during cocktails or party – but I never really baked them at home – but since they were on sale at $6.99 at Sobeys – I decided to try a box of it.

The puff pastry looks like that before cooking – but don’t be deceived by its tiny looking pastry – because once baked at 20 – 25 mins – it is quite filling.

Depending on how hot your oven is – it varies from oven to oven – it can turned out really beautiful.  And 40 pieces will take a long time to finish – especially after eating like 5 pieces can really fill you up.  It taste awesome – but the sausage inside – don’t look so awesome – but who looks at the sausage right ?  unless you eat like I do – and eat the pastry first – hahah!  Anyhow – it’s worth buying and eating – and great for Christmas parties and housewarming – very easy to bake for sure.

Did I mentioned that our new Farmer’s Market in our town is opened all year round?   yup!!  and yippeeee!!!   this week PB went to the Farmer’s market with us – so I can buy more stuff – but alas, he left to open the store – what a bummer – but that’s alright – he gave me money to buy more stuff – muahahhaa!!!

Macaroons are my favorite – so when I saw this new stall at the Farmer’s market – I had to try some.  So I bought a chocolate one for PB and a lemony one for me.   Chloe didn’t want any – silly girl!  and they were yummy too!

Some chocolate cookies with raisins I think.

More macaroons.

Pretty sugary cookies.

And biscotti !!  woohoo!!  i haven’t had one of those for so long – because we don’t have a Starbucks here.  But these biscotti are really good in fact – better than the ones from Starbucks.

Chocolate and almond ones – and they are not as hard as the ones from Starbucks.

And this beautiful girl is from a mixed marriage – mom is from Philippines and dad is a Canadian.  Pretty right? and very sweet too! and very nice.

And there were some craft work children and chloe made something at the Farmer’s market.  But without her daddy there – she didn’t want to stay long.

A tortoise – pretty right?  made by Chloe herself – pretty good right?

I’ve tried many frozen garlic bread that you can warm up in the oven but Dempster’s is by far the best.  For years – I would try just about everything and anything – but Home Bakery Garlic slices had the most authentic garlic bread taste.  Heat up in your oven for 7 mins and that’s all it takes – at $3.59 – it’s great for an appetizer with soup – or just on its own.  Garlic and butter never tasted this good.  So if you want some good authentic and yummy garlic slices – this is the brand I vouch for.

One has gotta love all the cakes and desserts you can get here in Canada.  At our local grocery store – we have many talented bakers and Patissiere, there are just so much one can choose from – so this weekend – make sure you get a treat or two for the entire family.

Rich and yummy right?

Drooling!  I am !

Bought this from the local supermarket – Sobeys and baked it for 12 mins – pretty cheap and pretty awesome !  I wished Chloe and PB would loved  fish as  much as I do – it’s so healthy and they can’t seems to like it.  I eat fish at least twice a week – yet I’m putting on weight like nobody’s business!  arrrghhhh!!

We all love our spouse – but how many of you out there who have spouse who cannot remember those special dates and anniversary?  Mine almost forgot my birthday one year – till his mother called to wish me “Happy birthday!”  – outta be shot right?  but seriously, won’t you be kinda disappointed?  in fact, in many years to come – when you disagree on something – all these forgotten anniversary and special dates are going to come out and blown outta proportion – so men ! out there !!   listen up – there is such thing as overnight anniversary gift option and if you had really forgotten – mannnn!! you better use this option – because spending a little money is going to save you lots of  nagging in the years to come.  Trust me – I’m one of those who loved nagging and remembering those days – hahaha!   And yes – it’s the thoughts that counts – you don’t need to buy the spouse a diamond ring – some cupcakes or chocolates and flowers would be sufficient – surely, that special woman in your life deserved at least a box of chocolates or cupcakes or flowers if not all 3?  if the answer is yes!  well – you know what to do – but if you think you love the nagging – then go ahead and not send anything but if you do – I bet you will be getting a lovely surprised when you get home.