Week 39: Arts & Crafts Time - I Made Soap!

I really love the store "Michaels".  They have one in Dixie Outlet Mall in Mississauga.  Michaels is a store for anyone who's interested in being creative.  They have arts and crafts supplies and ideas for just about anyone.  I've actually purchased several things there for my students in the past.  One of my many things to do on this year off was to attempt a new craft, something I would never really have time to do in the school year.  Now, I'm about as confident in craft-making as I am in cooking.  So my goal was to pick out something designed for a child.  That way I would be setting myself up for success, right?  I found a soap making kit called Soap Making 101 by ArtMinds.  It says it's designed for 15 years and up.  I tried to find something for younger people but to no avail.  I figured it would be a cool thing to try, and if successful, something actually useful too.  I was off to a bad start when I had to ask someone for help since I didn't fully understand the instructions.  Of no fault of my own, it turns out they left out a key step in the leaflet.  Another issue is that it calls for the use of microwave oven to melt the soap.  I don't have a microwave.  I know, I know; I'm probably the only person in the country who doesn't own a microwave.  Anyway, I asked around a little and people seemed to think that my regular oven would work.  The photos below show the box the kit came in and included materials.

The kit offers several different soap-making designs but I started with the basics.  I figured I'd make one single coloured bar of soap initially to make sure I knew what I was doing before attempting some high tech art gallery creation.  However, I accidentally ended up with a two layered, two coloured, one side scented bar of soap.  It turns out that the kit actually comes with two kinds of glycerin soap, white and clear.  All you have to do is cut the amount you'd like, melt it, add the colouring and scented oil, stir, and pour into the mold of choice.  I ended up with two layers of different soap because I misjudged the amount of soap to melt.  This is what my first layer looked like.

They recommend using rubbing alcohol to spray the soap once in the mold to help eliminate any wrinkles or air bubbles.  It really does work.  The soap will begin to cool when you see a kind of film on the surface.  You need to wait awhile before adding another layer of soap.  You also need to spray some rubbing alcohol on the bottom layer right before adding the second layer to help seal them together.  This is the second layer.

Once completely cooled you have to force the soap out of the mold by applying constant pressure at the back of the mold.  They made it sound difficult but I actually found that part quite easy.  This is the final product.  Voila!

I wrapped it up in clear wrap to ensure freshness and finally got to try it out on the weekend.  It turns out to be more aesthetically pleasing than practical since it makes little to no suds.  I was also a bit disappointed that what I thought to be a pungent amount of scented oil had somehow completely dissipated.  Next time I'm going to try a different design and add some scented oil of my own from The Body Shop.  I'll pour half the bottle in if I have to.  I can always give it away as a gift if it turns out badly ;)

Week 38: Attempting a Couple of Weight Watchers Recipes

Up until this year my desire to cook for myself, or anyone else for that matter, was pretty much nil.  However, all my experimentation has really payed off.  I no longer fear the idea of cooking a meal or attempting a new recipe.  In fact, I made dinner for two last night and not only looked forward to it, but enjoyed it to boot!   I definitely think that this year's cooking adventures will be a healthy benefit to my life when I return to work.  There will be less frozen entrees & sandwiches and more variety without the added preservatives and other unfavourable additives.  Remember, I said "less".  It's simply too expensive and impractical for one person to freshly prepare EVERY meal EVERY day.  Come on now; we're not pioneers.

Last week I bought the Weight Watchers 360 kit which included a recipe book.  I found two simple and interesting meals to try.

snappy tex-mex shrimp soup - 7 PointsPlus value

The photo below is taken directly from the book.  I followed it as closely as possible, although it took me about 45 min. to complete when it's advertised to take 15.  I can't really blame the book though.  I'm a novice.

This photo is what mine looked like.  It's similar, I guess.  Regardless, it tasted pretty good.  The only problem is that it stunk up my entire apartment for two days.

eggs & lox scramble - 6 PointsPlus value

To be perfectly honest, I had no clue what lox was before this one.  I guess it's some fancy Yiddish way of saying smoked salmon.  Anyway, I've been told that I'm not consuming enough protein so this meal looked like a perfect breakfast antidote.  Minus the sour cream, I followed the recipe and made it my own.

Comparatively, mine looks quite sad.  Doesn't it?  It was a bit too rich for my liking.  I'm not a big fan of salmon and I sometimes find eggs to be kind of sickening as well.  Now that I think of it, I have no idea why I thought the two together would be good.

To sum it all up, I've not only increased my confidence and abilities in cooking but also learned a new shrimp soup recipe.  Oh and let's not forget I've added a new word to my vocabulary - lox.  Impressive?  I'm going with--yes!

Week 37: Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park

Last week on the news they were showcasing a new Toronto attraction called Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park.  I thought it sounded like a great idea and looked it up on line.  I couldn't find any info. on the Toronto location but I did find one in Mississauga.  They're open Tuesday to Sunday and jump times start on the half hour.  That means that you can choose your time in 30 minute intervals and pay accordingly.  I chose to go for an hour which is $12.50 plus tax.  You need to arrive about 30 min. early in order to check in or pay, sign the waiver, and get shoes they supply you with.  There are actually several different areas or rooms in the park for various activities and groups.  I went to the adult area and never left it until my hour was up.  Although, I did see and hear people nearby doing different activities like dodgeball and the foam pit for flips.  It's an entire room filled with trampolines, even on the walls.  You can bounce in one area, from square to square, or even off the walls.  What was it like? It was incredibly fun, invigorating, and like no workout I've ever had.  In less than 10 minutes I didn't know whether I'd make it or not.  But, the key for me was to keep changing it up.  I started in one square with simple bounces.  I slowly added different movements as I became more and more comfortable, like knee bounces, sitting to standing bounces, turns, wall bounces, and bouncing from one square to another.  I had one little mishap when a little kid escaped from the kiddie zone and headed for my square.  I ended up in a face plant but thankfully no one was hurt.  The real pain came afterwards and today even.  I have sore body parts all over!  It was so totally worth it though.  I will definitely go back to Sky Zone.  What a great idea!  Below are some pics and a video link from the internet.  I did not take any pictures or videos while I was there.  Enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL2B37F34EA98DAE69&feature=player_embedded&v=pZRRasEf7Fc

Week 36: Pink Pancakes & Chicken

Last month I got the idea of cooking something new with a seasonal theme.  You could say that I had a need for cuisine.  I was shopping at Winners when I came across the cutest Valentine's Day pancake mix and thought it would be perfect for me.  I've never made pancakes before.  This was festive and easy--just add water.  Unfortunately, because I was out of town during Valentine's Day and busy thereafter, I couldn't make my pink love pancakes until last week.  Instead of having the traditional breakfast pancakes I decided to make them for dinner.  You can't have JUST pancakes for dinner so we planned to have chicken with them.  Why chicken with pancakes?  Well, on many episodes of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" they've showcased waffles with fried chicken; so I figured why not pancakes and rotisserie chicken?  It's the same idea, really.  This is a picture of the Winners pancake mix package.

I followed the directions as stated and it was as easy as predicted.  However, I should mention that the pancake batter had a cat food odour.  Does it ever look as pretty as the picture on the box?

The chicken came from Loblaws, by the way.  Of course I did not make it.

It may look and sound like an odd combination, but I have to tell you that it was good!  The pancakes had chocolate chips and the chicken tasted heavenly with a hint of syrup.  Altogether, I rate this as a successful culinary escapade.  One step closer to Top Chef Canada ;)

Week 35: My New Mini Crock-Pot

I've been getting off track from the cooking thing for awhile now and it was time to revisit it.  Like many people, I've always liked the idea of throwing some food in a pot and having it ready to eat at supper time.  In theory it sounds pretty great.  However, the slow cookers I've commonly seen are large and expensive.  I'm one person and have no need for 5 quarts of food to torture me for weeks.  On the weekend I discovered a 1 person Crock-Pot designed for lunches ($19.99).  I was concerned that it would not cook meat since it is designed to heat up leftovers and canned meals.  That's why I chose to use beef as my meat choice instead of chicken; beef can be eaten rare and won't kill you.  This was my process.  At lunchtime I put a cubed steak followed by enough frozen peas, corn, and carrots to the fill line in the pot.  Then I poured in chicken broth (they didn't have any beef broth at the grocery store) to cover the food.  I plugged in my new Crock-Pot and left it till suppertime checking it every hour to see if the meat was cooking.  I admit I was quite surprised to see the beef was cooked after only 2 hours.  This little pot is ingeniously deceptive.  You can actually put your finger in the soupy water and it resembles the temperature of bathwater.  The real shocker for me was putting a big ol' spoonful in my mouth and nearly burning my mouth off.  My tongue is still sore.  I have to include that I added some pesto to my soup concoction about a half an hour before eating it.  Why?  Because I like pesto and thought it might taste good.  I was feeling especially experimental.  Anyway, it tasted pretty good for my first time with no recipe.  I actually predicted it would be a colossal failure since the odds were stacked against me.  All in all, this is only the beginning for me and my little Crock-Pot.  I can see a bright future for us ahead.  Stay tuned; you might be invited to join us in our crocked up pot adventures.

Week 34: Barbados!

Blue Horizon Hotel, Rockley Beach

Barbados has been on my list of places to visit for some time now.  I had only heard good things about it and to be quite honest, I was getting sick and tired of the cheaper Caribbean getaways that make me sick and tired.  It's the costly price tag that's been holding me back.  Now that I'm off I can totally take advantage of traveling during low season which has been amazing.  In addition, I never would have been able to see Europe, Asia and Africa in October.  I specifically chose to travel in February because it was a milestone birthday for me, 40!  I've been getting weepy about losing my thirties for the past 2 years so I wanted to do something very special for my fortieth.  I shopped on line and decided to go with an Air Canada Vacations package for 1 week.  The price was around $1250 and included the airfare, transfers, hotel and continental breakfast.  I went with the cheapest hotel, only 2 stars, called the Blue Horizon in Rockley Beach, Christ Church Parish.  I don't really care much about how many stars a hotel has.  I've been to them all and there's advantages and disadvantages to both.  Our hotel, the Blue Horizon, was just fine.  It was a fairly small and modest hotel with one pool and a restaurant.  Neither mattered much to me because we only entered the pool for about 10 minutes on the last day, and used the restaurant for the included continental breakfast.

This picture is a view from inside the restaurant at breakfast time.  Breakfast included cereal, fruit, toast, juice, and coffee or tea.  It was pretty good for continental and saved money on one meal a day, but got really tiring after awhile.  As you can see below, the birds were a pretty big nuisance as well.

The room was standard with a fridge, kettle, full bathroom, and balcony.  I liked the room, actually.  It was comfortable and homey.

This is the view of the water from our balcony if you strain your neck and zoom in about 10 times on your camera.  I've actually had much worse views so I'll take it with a smile.


The best part about this hotel is the location.  It's directly across the street from a great beach called Rockley Beach or Accra Beach.  The sand is perfect and the water is dreamy.  There's also a pretty good Tiki Bar on location for your cocktails and edibles.  We spent time every day at this beach, either playing in the waves, soaking up the rays, or wading in search of pretty shells and interesting fish and crabs.  The location was also great for nearby restaurants and mini-malls.

Look at all the crabs! 

This is the boardwalk that connected our beach to Coconut Court Hotel.  It was a fairly good walk and quite pretty.

Island Safari

Whenever I travel to a new place I always look into optional excursions.  I'm not the type of person to just sit around and relax on the beach.  I can't even do that when I'm at home.  So I find that the best way to see and experience a location is by its offered tours.  The first excursion we did was a tour of the island offered by "Island Safari".  It's the most unique tour of the island because you are seated in the back of a converted 4x4 truck, safari-style, and driven to some of the most beautiful areas on the island including some off-roading.  The cost?  I believe it was around $90 US and included lunch.  Here's what I saw:

Bottom Bay, Saint Michael Parish (southeast coast)

Bathsheba, Saint Joseph Parish (east coast)

Cove Bay, (north coast)

Overall, the Island Safari was a neat experience and we did see some pretty places.  However, lunch was much too late and made the entire tour very long and boring.  Also, our guide, although a competent and safe driver, could have made it more exciting and fun during the off-roading parts.


Atlantis Submarine

The second excursion booked was one I had seen offered in other tropical destinations such as Hawaii and Mexico.  Atlantis Submarine is an actual passenger sub that takes you approximately 144 feet under water with views of various fish, coral, plant life, and even a shipwreck.  It was the most costly tour I did, at about $97 US.  They take you out on a small boat to meet up with the sub which you can actually watch return to the surface of the water.  Then you transfer from the boat to the sub and climb down the ladder/hole into the sub.  It's kind of cramped in there and got quite uncomfortable for me after awhile.  Every two people share a window.  The ride lasts about 45 min. before returning to the surface and back to the taxi boat.

As the sub rises from beneath the water

View from the top of the sub during the loading of passengers

From inside the submarine

Green moray eel

Ahoy -A Shipwreck!

Jolly Roger Snorkel & Feed

The third and final excursion booked was one I had picked especially for my special day.  I figured that if I had to get a year older why not spend my birthday doing something absolutely amazing like snorkeling with sea turtles and over shipwrecks.  This company also offers the Black Pearl Party Cruises.  That sounded fun and all but what we actually got was a private excursion.  Our guide, nicknamed Bambi, took us out in a small boat to two sites, one for sea turtles and the other for the shipwrecks.  He lured the turtles nearby with tuna.  It was really cool and a first for me.  

The dark blob is the turtle.

  

These fish completely surrounded me because Bambi was throwing bread to them.  It was very neat but kinda scary too.

After snorkeling he took us back to their office and we had lunch (included in the fee).  This excursion was the highlight of my entire trip and I doubt that I will ever forget it.  The cost was, in my opinion, inexpensive at about $70 US.


Food

A major advantage of staying at a non-all inclusive hotel is that you get to try the local cuisine.  I love food!  Who doesn't, right?  When I lived in New Brunswick my diet consisted of meat and potatoes.  Gradually, over the years I've fallen in love with ethnic foods from around the world.  Living in a big multicultural city can really broaden your appetite.  I have to admit that I was kind of disappointed with the food choices in Barbados.  We really only needed to eat out once a day, since breakfast was included and we bought some items for lunches/snacks at the grocery store.


Chefette

Directly adjacent to our hotel was a restaurant called "Chefette".  Chefette is a fast food chain found all over the island.  Well, Chefette reminds me of a McDonald's in appearance but Dixie Lee or KFC for menu items, excluding the roti.  Have you ever heard of chicken that is "broasted"?  That's how the menu describes their chicken.  After eating it I learned that it's their way of saying deep fried.  When you bite into chicken and the grease drips down your arm and onto the table you know it's not going to be fun times when tallying up your Weight Watchers points for the day.  I didn't like it.  We also shared a chicken and potato roti but couldn't find much chicken inside.  It tasted OK but the curry was more bitter than I'm used to.  I've had better roti at home.

These are the pics of the chicken and potato roti.

  

Sweet Potatoes

One day we walked to the St. Lawrence Gap and decided to have dinner at a restaurant that boasts "Good old Bajan cooking."  The food in Barbados is expensive so we shared an appetizer and entree.  The appetizer was a sampler plate of various Bajan foods, mostly deep fried consisting of fish or chicken.  It was mainly tasty, but in my opinion you could deep fry cardboard and it would taste great.  Here's a picture of it:

The entree was a grilled chicken breast with a sweet mango sauce, island veggies, and rice.  I'm always a fan of sweet sauces so I enjoyed it.

Overall, Sweet Potatoes is situated in a beautiful location overseeing the picturesque St. Lawrence Gap.  The food is expensive and fine.  I've had better and worse.  I think the meal cost about $50 US for those two items.  Crazy eh?

Bert's

Bert's is a sports bar and restaurant.  We were told that Bert's is owned by the same gentleman who owns the Ottawa Senators hockey team.  I thought that was pretty cool.

Their menu is your typical pub food.  We ordered a pizza and pork chop with mashed potatoes & veggies.  They were both fine.  I chose the pizza but found the pork chop to be more palatable.

Just Grillin'

At a nearby strip mall I found Just Grillin'.  Many eateries in Barbados are outside with just a roof covering.  This, like Sweet Potatoes, is one of those places.  We ordered two grilled platters, the catch of the day (they called it dolphin but I don't think it was actually Flipper) and jerk chicken.  You can choose two sides to go with your platter so we picked one of everything:  potatoes, coleslaw, veggies, and rice.  The food was decent and more feasible than many of the other choices.

We ate at other places throughout the week but nothing overly interesting.  To be perfectly honest, my favourite meals were at the 3 different Chinese restaurants we tried.  What can I say?  I'm in love with Asian food.  

To sum up this entire trip, I'd have to say that Barbados was everything I had hoped for (excluding the food), and totally stood up to its good reputation.  It's a beautiful place and I would recommend it over Cuba or the Dominican Republic.  Go in the off season and book it in advance.  I got my money's worth and hopefully a lifetime of warm and sunny memories.  I wonder if the sea turtles remember me?