Inspired by a wonderful recent post by Dina, a fellow blogger and close personal friend in real life, I decided to share two super easy mac and cheese recipes.


Homemade Macaroni and Cheese - the perfect comfort food. It's not the most figure friendly dish, but man, is it yummy! I serve it with a mixed green salad.

Ingredients:

• about 2 cups of elbow macaroni
• 2 cups shredded of sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup grated of Parmesan cheese
• 3 cups of milk
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons of butter (optional)
  
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs (optional)
  
• 1 pinch paprika (optional)
  
• 1 pinch of oregano (optional)
  

Directions:

1. Cook macaroni according to the package directions. Drain.
2. In a saucepan, melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Stir in enough flour to make a roux. Add milk to roux slowly, stirring constantly. Stir in cheeses, and cook over low heat until cheese is melted and the sauce is a little thick. Put macaroni in large casserole dish, and pour sauce over macaroni. Stir well.
3. Melt butter or margarine in a skillet over medium heat. Add breadcrumbs and brown. Spread over the macaroni and cheese to cover. Sprinkle with a little paprika and oregano.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve. If you like things a little spicy, you can add a few drops of Tabasco Sauce or any other spicy red pepper sauce.

Tuna Mac and Cheese - another family favourite when time is of the essence. This dish is incredibly easy, and can be ready in minutes!

Ingredients:

• about 2 cups of elbow macaroni
• 2 cups shredded of sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup grated of Parmesan cheese
• 3 cups of milk
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 1 green pepper, cubed into small pieces
• 1 red pepper, cubed into small pieces
  
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 can of tuna (if you want more tuna, you can add another can)

Directions:

1. Cook macaroni according to the package directions. Drain.
2. In a saucepan, melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Stir in enough flour to make a roux. Add milk to roux slowly, stirring constantly. Stir in cheeses, and cook over low heat until cheese is melted and the sauce is a little thick. Put macaroni in large casserole dish, and pour sauce over macaroni. Stir well.
3. Add red and green pepper, onion, and tuna. Mix together well. Serve. (This dish isn't a casserole dish, so you don't have to bake it in the oven)

One last thing:

Baby Bro is going to kill me if he sees this! On the weekend, Baby Bro's girlfriend and I were talking about Baby Bro's TV, film and commercial work since the start of his acting career at the age of seven. Of course, there were bit parts and being cast as an extra in a few Hollywood and made-for-TV movies. There were also the cheesy commercials. I'm not kidding. He was once in a "Cheese Strings" commercial. There were also the Kids' TV shows that he was on. For example, Are You Afraid of the Dark and Judy and David's Boom Box. Baby Bro sure is going to freak when he finds out that I've discovered this long lost gem! Baby Bro was one of the kids dancing in the "Be a Snake" video.

Not quite, but I have been MIA for a few days. It's been really crazy busy lately and BabyBro and his girlfriend drove up to the Island from K-town on Friday. They left five hours ago and I already miss them. I really miss my BabyBro. His visits are always too short.

He makes me so proud. Not only is he finishing up university (only to further his university career even more), he works at one of K-town's busiest eateries (to help pay for his school, rent, living expenses)and is involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities.

BabyBro was telling me about his university's TV program (run entirely by the students). There's a student at the university (Meagan Taylor) whose father had given her a million dollars to make her own music video, Rojo Caliente. Now, a lot of people (mostly her peers) have criticized her, so I checked out her music video on YouTube to see what all the fuss was about. BabyBro says that she's Queen's TV's most popular hit (Most popular hit as in generating the most hits on the internet and not in reference to how much people love her).


I was reading some of the comments people wrote. Some people can be so mean! I wasn't wowed by her music or the video, but wouldn't say anything mean about the girl. I love reggaeton and think that my cousin is a million times better than Rojo. Some have said that she (Meagan aka Rojo Caliente) could have done a lot more with the million dollars than use it to make a video. I can think of a lot of things I'd do with a million dollars.

Diesel and some of the witty members of the Humor-Blogs gang have launched a weekly online humor magazine. Gah! It feels weird to write "humor" and not "humour". I think these guys (and gals) are hilarious. Check them out ;)

It belongs to him...

and also to him!
Poor Chance. I don't know if you can see it in this photo, but his bottom lip was bleeding. I think he was playing with the snow and ice and got a little frozen :(

These are from Hubby. Though I love lilies, orchids and other flowers that are not so easy to find on the Island, I'm also quite traditional when it comes to flowers. I know roses and carnations are very cliché, but there's something so refreshing about the simplicity of the carnation. The carnation has become to me, a symbol of something that is not pretentious and a reminder of Hubby's love. It's simple (as in uncomplicated), strong, reliable, and sincere.

The pretty purple and white carnations are for me from Hubby. Hubby also got a bouquet of red ones for his mom and a bouquet of red for my mom :)

I saw this on Jimmy's blog a few weeks ago and thought it was so interesting. I ended up e-mailing it to friends and family. It's amazing to actually see what we consume each week and how much we consume! What's also pretty sobering is how much (or how little) people in other countries eat in a week.

I wanted to take a picture of what our grocery haul looks like, but I kept forgetting about it. Curiosity Killer beat me to the punch and posted her one week grocery expenditure for a family of two in Hong Kong.

Since today was grocery day (and I remembered to take a photo for you), here it is! We just got the essentials this time. Today we got baby spinach for $5/ 2 packages. We usually get Clementines, cantaloupe, kiwis, bananas, berries, etc. I wanted strawberries and pineapple, but they were expensive this week. We've got raspberries from our farm in our freezer. We need to top up our calcium and vitamin D intake (hence all the dairy products and the vit-D fortified orange juice). As for meat, it was just salmon, tuna, etc. I married a beef farmer, so we have beef in the freezer throughout the year and don't need to buy much in the way of meat. I was going to get chicken, but couldn't believe how expensive it was. Maybe next week. Gosh! I must sound super cheap, right?? Hubby says I'm "frugal". I wasn't always this way...especially when I lived in the city.

*Note: This is for when it's just Hubby and myself. When we have students, our groceries double or even triple!*

Canada: The Hubby & C Family of two- on an island somewhere in the province of Ontario
Food Expenditure for one week: $63.87 CAD or $64.87 US
Favourite foods: Baked butternut squash with greens, fresh fruit salad, baked salmon with dill, Clementines, cheese lasagna, cream of broccoli soup and baby spinach/mixed greens salad with homemade Balsamic vinaigrette.

Germany : The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week : 375.39 Euros or $500.07
Favorite foods : fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring, fried noodles with eggs and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding

United States : The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week : $341.98
Favorite foods : spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken

Japan : The Ukita family of Kodaira City
Food expenditure for one week : 37,699 Yen or $317.25
Favorite foods : sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips

Italy : The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week : 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Favorite foods: fish, pasta with ragu, hot dogs, frozen fish sticks

Great Britain : The Bainton family of Cllingbourne Ducis
Food expenditure for one week : 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15
Favorite foods : avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake with cream

Kuwait : The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City
Food expenditure for one wee k : 63.63 dinar or $221.45
Family recipe : Chicken biryani with basmati rice

Mexico : The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week : 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Favorite foods : pizza, crab, pasta, chicken

China : The Dong family of Beijing
Food expenditure for one week : 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce

Poland : The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week : 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
Family recipe : Pig’s knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips

United States : The Caven family of California
Food expenditure for one week : $159.18
Favoit foods : beef stew, berry yogurt sundae, clam chowder, ice cream

Egypt : The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week : 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Family recipe : Okra and mutton

Mongolia : The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar
Food expenditure for one week : 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02
Family recipe : Mutton dumplings

Ecuador : The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week : $31.55
Family ripe : Potato soup with cabbage

Bhutan : The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week : 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork

Chad : The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week : 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
Favorite foods : soup with fresh mutton

Because I'm such a nerd, I find myself drawn to word games. Yes, I'm addicted to Scrabble and Scrabulous. Friends and family hate playing with me. I admit, my love for words is sometimes a bit frightening. Some people like Sudoku...and then there are people like me who are no good at solving math problems. I suppose this is why I became an English teacher. I'm not saying that English teachers aren't good at math. I'm not good at math! My ten-year old niece keeps trying to teach me how to solve Sudoku problems. I just can't wrap my brain around it. To me, it's like trying to solve that Rubik's Cube puzzle! Thank you, but I'll stick to my word problems.

I found this site called Free Rice. According to the site, for each word you get correct, 20 grains of rice will be donated through the United Nations to help end world hunger. Anyway, I was curious and tried my hand at the the quiz. I'm always curious to see just how good (or bad) my knowledge of vocabulary is.

On Free Rice you are given words and you must choose the proper meaning. You will be given a list of four words or phrases and you just click on the one you think is correct. For example:
deign means:
lower oneself
fail
relax
caress

If you chose "lower oneself" then you answered correctly and you will be given another question. It's pretty neat and if you remember your root words or have some knowledge of Latin, French, Spanish (and other similar languages), it makes it easier to choose the correct answer.

Apparently, I "donated" 9040 grains of rice. My vocab level was 40 and my best level was 40. I don't know how vocabulary is scored, but it was an interesting quiz. I was going to continue, but work kind of cuts into internet time. Phooey!

Just so you know just how much of a nerd I am, I used some of the skills I teach my ESL students. For the words I wasn't sure of, I broke them down, found the roots, prefixes, suffixes, origins (Latin, French, etc) and then tried to put them together. For example, with the word pilosity I remembered that pil is related to hair or fur and the -osity part signified the quantity of something or an abundance of something. I guessed that it meant hairiness and that was the correct answer. The same went for the word bonhomie. In French, bon means good. The -homie sounded a lot like ami/amie (friend), so I guessed that bonhomie meant good-fellowship.

For lack of anything interesting to post for you today, here are a few photos.
A few years ago, one of my Swiss students did his presentation on "the health benefits of chocolate". He went on to say that pure cocoa is good for your health, so you should have a piece of chocolate every day! Nice!

Of course, he talked about how it's the milk chocolate and white chocolate that aren't that great for you. Darn! I don't like dark chocolate!

Anyway, Hubby likes hot drinks in the winter and we were looking for alternatives to hot apple cider, coffee and hot chocolate. The hot apple cider has LOTS of sugar. The hot chocolate also has lots of sugar. Coffee? Well, if you've been reading my blog for a while, you already know about the weird adverse effect coffee has on me.
My truly amazing sister-in-law brought us some goodies over the holidays. In the above photo, you will see some cinnamon sticks, cinnamon leaves and some chocolate (cocoa) balls. These ingredients are used to make 'chocolate tea'...or as Hubby and my uncle call it, 'real' hot chocolate! My uncle is a hot cocoa connoisseur and he only drinks the 'good' stuff. When we were in Montreal, he showed us how to make this hot drink. This should be a good alternative. Pure cocoa is supposed to be better for your health. Right?

You will need:
3 cups of water
1 cinnamon stick
1 cinnamon leaf
1 ball of cocoa

Bring all ingredients to a boil. Strain and put into coffee mugs. You can add sugar, nutmeg and/or milk if you wish. I forgot to strain my chocolate tea and I didn't add anything to it. For all you dark chocolate lovers out there, I don't know how you do it. That stuff is STRONG! I ended up putting just a wee bit of sugar and milk and it was delicious.

Check out how dark that drink is! I don't know if I'm a loyal fan of this drink yet. Perhaps it's an acquired taste. I don't really want to put sugar in my drinks and dark chocolate is so strong. Maybe this will teach me a lesson. Forget trying to find the perfect hot drink and just drink more water.

I looked out our living room window to see two foxes scampering across the field and heading toward the barn. The dog went to the front door and started barking like crazy. I let him out and followed him across the property. Through the snow we trudged and up the little hill. I spotted animal tracks in the snow. They were smaller than the dog's and larger than the cats'.
Chance led me into the barn, where the footprints were leading. Those pesky foxes were in the barn! Somewhere nestled amongst the bails of hay, they hid. How do I get rid of foxes? I never had to deal with this in the city. The odd raccoon or skunk would find its way to our garbage in the city. The Island is different. Here, you can spot more than just skunks and raccoons. Here you can find deer, black bear, foxes and wolves...just to name a few.

Oh, what did I do next, you ask? Well, I ran out of the barn and went back home! I told Hubby about the foxes when he got in from feeding the cattle! I just wouldn't want foxes living in there! We've got our barn cats, and hay and straw bales in there!

For Jimmy:
Here's a photo of Chance all tuckered out from running after wild animals. I don't know why he insists on sleeping in that old crate. He's free to roam around, but he prefers being in there. Note how he sleeps? On his back with all paws up in the air!

I'm still recovering from that wonderful Greek dinner last night. The turn out was great and it was for a good cause. The ten course meal included:I discovered that if you ever have a ten course meal, just have a few bites of each dish and you won't feel like you're going to explode! I was already full by the time the mousaka was served! That was only the fourth dish!

Chef Theo did an amazing job as usual! There were a lot of very satisfied people there last night!

For Jeanna:
These were given to us (along with several other Swiss Delice sweets). We tried them today and I thought of you. All the talk of chocolate on your blog had me craving some! These are called Brasilia. They're meringue biscuits with chocolate and delicious hazelnut filling. They're the cutest little things ever! They're about the size of a quarter and about an inch thick. I bit into one just to show you what the inside looks like. They're not overly sweet, and they're extremely flavourful. Just one or two will satisfy that need for something just a tad sweet.

Last but not least...
A Strawberry Banana Smoothie
I'm bad for forgetting to eat breakfast. I know it's the most important meal of the day. Hubby's good and eats his cereal in the morning, but sometimes I just don't feel like eating anything that early. Here's something easy and tasty. Don't forget to share!

Into your blender, put in a banana or two, a handful of strawberries, some milk and a spoonful or two of honey (I use local honey). Blend, pour into glasses, and there you go. LOL! I told you that I don't measure things. Feel free to alter the recipe and tailor it to your liking.

(Smoothie photo found on Google Images)

Even before we were wed, Hubby and I vowed that we would always love, honour and respect each other. We shared similar beliefs and felt the same way about how our lives would be conducted. We were in agreement with all of the fundamentals in life. Love, honesty, support, understanding, compassion...We seemed the perfect match.

My ideal partner would be intelligent and funny. He'd also be someone who has strong moral beliefs, loves animals and most importantly, he'd be someone who wants to have a household filled with children.

Together we overcame many minor differences. In fact, those differences were something that we cherished and loved about each other. I grew up devout Roman Catholic and he was raised United Church of Canada. I was a city girl and he was a country boy. I traveled extensively all over the world and he was tied to the farm. I come from a cultural background that includes Spanish-Filipino-Caribbean-Chinese roots, and while his lineage includes primarily Scottish and English roots. We reveled in our differences and our differences made us love and appreciate each other even more.

Hubby turned out to be all of the above and more. I was sure that we would live a happy life together. Until...

I discovered that Hubby was a Leafs' fan! Oh, the horror! How could this be???Having been raised in Montreal, where hockey is part of the culture (okay, to some it is like a religion), I am a Habs fan through and through. The only time Hubby and I ever disagree with each other is when the Leafs and the Habs play against each other. Last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens 4 to 2.
Sorry, Hubs. I love you, but I don't think I could ever convert. Even though the Canadiens lost, once a Habs fan, always a Habs fan. xoxo

On a completely different note, I found this on one of the blogs I was checking out. So sorry! I can't remember which one! I read soooo many blogs that I sometimes lose track of where I find things.

My results read:
You type 328 characters per minute
You have 63 correct words and you have 0 incorrect words.

I thought I'd get over 70 words per minute :( How many words can you type per minute?

63 words

free Touch typing

Because I'm so anal, I took the test again and this time I came up with the following results:

66 words

Touch Typing

You type 362 characters per minute
You have 66 correct words and you have 0 wrong words.

This week's Throwback Thursday installment brings us back to 1992-1993.

1993 marked a very important year in my young adolescent life. It was the year I graduated from high school. It was an exciting year, yet at the same time it marked an end to many things. I know it was supposed to be a year of new beginnings, since we were on our way to college and then after that we were to go on to university. For me it signified an end of freedom. Long gone would be the days of just having fun with friends. College was serious business (I later found out that college was not all work and no play though). Many of my friends would be going to different colleges than the one I applied to. They called my college the "West Island Country Club". It wasn't really like that. I can think of some other places that were snobbier! In fact, I don't think my college was snooty at all!

One of our class trips in my last year of high school was a trip to Stratford, Ontario. I can't remember if we took the train or chartered a bus from Montreal.

I had traveled extensively around the globe and often felt guilty of not having visited more places in my own country. Stratford is one of my favourite places in Canada. Stratford is such a beautiful, quaint place. As you may have guessed, it was named after Stratford-upon-Avon, England.
These Throwback Thursday photos are from the time my friends and I went to Stratford for the Shakespeare Festival. The plays were not limited to only the works of Shakespeare. We also had the chance of seeing Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore. I'm a huge G&S fan, so this was such a treat!
The Shakespeare plays we saw were The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and I can't remember if the last one we saw was Hamlet or Macbeth! It was so long ago!
Here we are in a restaurant (I can't remember the name) in downtown Stratford. It was here that we sat almost next to the late Mordecai Richler, who was also in Stratford to see a few plays! I wish I had mustered up the courage to ask him for his autograph! I was starstruck! I really enjoyed reading The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Soloman Gursky Was Here, Joshua Then and Now, and the Jacob Two-Two books.

I didn't get his autograph because I thought I'd let the man enjoy his meal without a bunch of groupies harassing him.

This last photo is my high school grad photo. Icky! I've never liked this photo! The big hair, fire engine red lipstick and the ungroomed eyebrows...What were we thinking back then? ;p
**I couldn't find a video for production of HMS Pinafore that we saw in Stratford. Instead, I've found one on YouTube for you to view.**

1) I have the terrible habit of resting my fingers on the keys while thinking of what I'm going to write next. This is bad because I end up activating the Filter Keys function. This makes me end up writing in CAPS and it makes all the letters, numbers and punctuation marks screwy. I usually just get really annoyed and frustrated...and end up pressing every single key on the keyboard until the Filter Key function miraculously disables itself!

I just spent twenty minutes looking for solutions for this problem by visiting a number of web boards on how to turn off filter keys. I tried the standard go to Control Panel, double click on Accessibility Options, go under Filter Keys, click Settings, go under Keyboard Shortcut and click to clear the Use Shortcut check box. I tried doing this several times. It didn't work!!!! Out of sheer frustration, I held both SHIFT keys down at the same time...and voila! Problem solved! Thank goodness I accidentally figured out how to fix the problem. I almost threw the keyboard out the window! Hubby, I hope you're not reading this!!

2) I bought tickets to Community Living Manitoulin's fundraiser this weekend. It's a 10 course Greek Valentine Dinner. Yes, you read correctly...TEN courses!! My mom loves Greek food, so she's going to enjoy it. Hubby loves food, so I know he'll enjoy it too. I love Greek food, but am worried about the ten courses! I have been very diligent with food portions and this is a ten course meal!! Nonetheless, I am looking forward to the event. Chef Theo is amazing! During the summer months, I buy a loaf of his olive bread every Saturday at the Farmers' Market in Mindemoya. It's delicious! I sometimes pick up a loaf of his olive bread for my parents too, since they absolutely love it! I've had Greek food prepared by Theo before. Absolutely wonderful. Remind me to wear something with an elastic waist? Darn! I don't have anything with an elastic waist! Okay, remind me to wear a tent! If you're in the area, please come! You won't be disappointed! Yum!
**If you're on the Island and are interested in going, tickets are $30/person. Proceeds go to the Replacement Home presently under construction. Tickets can be purchased by contacting the number listed here.**

3) Gung Hey Fat Choy, everyone! Wishing everyone a Happy (Chinese/Lunar) New Year! Happy Year of the Rat to you all! Since there aren't any Chinese New Year festivities on the Island, we won't be celebrating Chinese New Year as I would normally celebrate it in Toronto or Montreal. Since we aren't celebrating with any of the dragon dancing, elaborate costumes, lanterns, and traditional food, I have no photos to share with you. Someone who is celebrating the lunar new year in style is CuriosityKiller! She did the graphics for this all by herself! She's a talented one, our CK!

4) The wonderful, talented, intelligent, and totally amazing Jane from Pinks & Blues was on CNN.com! Check her out here. I also won a wonderful prize from P&B! Thank you to Audrey, Sharon and Jane! You just made my day!!!

5) Speaking of articles, I also made it in the local newspaper this week. For all my ESL students who read this blog to keep up to date with all the happenings in my neck of the woods, this one's for you! :) *Mary, *Thomas, *Arnold, and *Melissa, since you were in the article, would you like me to send you a copy to keep with you in Korea? Family and friends all over the globe, you may be interested in taking a peek as well! xoxo