George’s curried beef recipe

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By popular demand (*wave*) here is George’s curried beef recipe. It’s also very delicious with cubed chicken breast, we just happened to have beef this week. We usually alternate depending on what’s on sale at the time.

– 1 lb ground beef (lean is best)
– 1 large green pepper, chopped
– 1 medium onion, diced
– Garlic cloves to taste, minced
– 1 can chick peas, drained
– 1 can kidney beans, drained
– Curry powder (we use a Jamaican curry powder, nice and zingy)
– Cooked rice (I love it on brown rice but it’s also good on basmati which is George’s favourite)

In a large pan or wok, heat a bit of oil then toss in the onions, beef, pepper, and garlic cloves. Sprinkle with about a tsp of curry powder. Cook them all right through, then drain any leftover fat. Return pan to burner and add in chick peas, kidney beans, and more curry powder, at least another tsp worth, if not more. We really like curry here.

Let simmer for a bit while you cook the rice. Serve the curried beef over the rice with or without hot sauce. George always adds hot sauce from Barbados to his, I like mine without (I save the hot sauce for chili).

Nom nom nom

(Shown with potatoes instead of rice, which is also really good too!)

It is delicious, it really is, but as is often the case with spice-driven meals, it tastes even better as leftovers once the seasonings have really sunk in overnight in the fridge.

Enjoy and let me know if you try it!

Making me smile

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Here are things that have brought a smile to my face today in no particular order:

1. Coming home from work and finding that three hours after supper, the whole main floor still smells like George’s delicious curried beef.

2. Knowing I have a huge container of the aforementioned curried beef for lunch tomorrow.

3. A glass of wine post-work.

4. While taking the bus home with my friend after work, I closed my eyes “for a moment” and promptly fell asleep; I then nearly jumped out of my seat when my cell phone rang, scaring the crap out of me, which brought her and I to convulsion-esque laughter.

5. Stopping by a clinic at 11:45 today and being back out less than 20 minutes later – with no appointment. What speed!

6. Having been working (properly working, as opposed to the weeks and weeks of training we had) only one month, possibly a little less than that, and already getting a customer commendation, where the client spoke to my manager to tell her how awesome I am. THAT felt good.

What made you smile today?

Passions

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I’m a bit brain-fried tonight because I had a crazy busy day at work today, so I can’t think of a darn thing to write about. As a result I decided to check for a prompt on the official NaBloPoMo site, and settled on the one that asked, “What is your secret (or not-so-secret) passion?” I have more than one passion, so I’ll give you a few.

1. My family. Obviously this has been a passion of mine for years now but now that I work during the hours that my kids are home from school, I try to focus on a lot of fun things during the times that we are together. I read to them in the mornings before school, and on weekends we try to do things like playing at the park, visiting interesting places, or even just watching movies as a family.

2. Photography. My interest in photography has shifted a bit due to time constraints. I have less time now to play with post-processing so I tend to just go more for the stories and worry a little less about playing around. I’ll still use some post-processing filters and actions to have fun with my pictures, but I fiddle less with each individual shot. Still, I love creating lasting memories and telling stories from photos.

3. Yoga. This a big “no kidding!” thing to anyone who has been reading for more than three seconds, but it just really is. Fitness in general can get me going (lately I’ve been really interested in Tabata) but yoga in particular is what I love. I love the way it makes me feel physically, and I love the way it makes me feel emotionally too. It has helped me with aches and pains and it’s helped to tame (not eradicate, but tame nonetheless) anxiety issues. I do a little bit almost every day whether I have time for an hour or whether all I can squeeze in is ten or fifteen minutes. I can’t imagine not doing it.

What are your passions?

Great three-day weekend

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As I already mentioned, on Friday the 11th I was off but I did crazy things outside in the rain all in the name of good fun and a healthy little challenge. Then, as implied yesterday, our Saturday included a nice family movie and some good times with family and friends when George’s cousin and his girlfriend came over.

There were other things this weekend though, and having three days just made it all the more awesome. Saturday was chilly but sunny and so we headed out to Sanford Fleming Park, also known as The Dingle. It was spectacular out there and I’m not surprised to learn that houses out there cost roughly half a million, if not more.

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This would be one of the extremely expensive rich-people houses. I don’t even like it, the architecture just isn’t me:

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It was really beautiful there though. Lots of trails, plenty of people walking dogs, a couple of small beaches, and a play park for the kids.

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We were pretty cold by the time we left to come home but we had a great time and would like to go back again. Preferably in warm weather.

Today, Sunday, I took the kids to the park where I did some more Tabata (outdoors is even more fun!) and then I played with then on the slides and climbing structures. This is one good reason to exercise – having energy to just play!

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How was your weekend?

Things that make a Saturday awesome

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1. Sleeping in until 9 am.

2. Thinking it’s Sunday but then realizing that it’s only Saturday and the weekend is really only just beginning.

3. Some good Tabata workouts followed by a bit of yoga.

4. Having cold temps but sunny weather and therefore enjoying a day out at the Dingle by the water.

5. Going to Bulk Barn and getting healthy stuff like organic red quinoa (which was delicious with our steak and salad dinner), flax seeds, and maca powder.

6. Spending the evening watching a movie as a family.

7. Having family/friends over for some seriously good hard laughs that night.

8. Knowing that you can still lay low tomorrow.

What I do during tropical storms

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Today Halifax was whomped by the tail end of Tropical Storm Sean which brought sheets of monsoon-like rain and gust of wind up to 90 km/hr. Seeing as how it was also Remembrance Day it was a bit disappointing since I’m sure a lot of people missed out on the various ceremonies around the city. On the other hand, it was especially heavy rain right at the time I would have been leaving for work on a normal day so I must say I was relieved that I didn’t have to go out in it.

Except that I did go out in it! Willingly! I’m somewhat of a competitive person (and by somewhat I mean borderline maniacal) and so when I saw that one of my favorite fitness people was doing a special giveaway I had to take part. The challenge was to film a video doing plank, and after the contest is over she’ll pick her four favourites and give them each a prize. I want that prize, let me tell you, so I was in. And I figured if I had to make my plank video stand out from the other contenders then I needed to step up my game just a bit.

Which is how I ended up filming three segments of plank pose variations out on my back deck in a heavy downpour.

As a bonus, enough water blew in thanks to the wind that my kitchen floor got a good mopping!

I needed a hot shower and some dry clothes afterwards but it was so silly that I couldn’t stop laughing afterwards. Fitness routines can help boost your energy and mood but when they’re as goofy as this they will DEFINITELY improve your mood!

Things I love about our new school

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I’m going to open this with a very important disclosure: I miss our old school. I miss it terribly. I miss the people I got to know, the PPO, being on the Governing Board, volunteering, a lot of the great kids, and some of the rules. One of the rules I miss is the healthy food guideline. Our old school was pretty strict on insisting on no junk and our current school is much more lenient. In the end it doesn’t matter I suppose because it doesn’t change what I pack for my own kids (sandwiches, cheese, yogurt, vegetables, fruit) but it does mean I sometimes have to listen to complaints about what everyone else brings from home. Meh. If everyone jumps off a bridge, etc etc.

So anyway yes, I miss the school back home quite a lot and I still check in regularly for new pictures and I took a peek to see who had replaced me as PPO secretary and Vice-Chair of the Governing Board. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. There are some AMAZING things about the new school. For instance:

1. Art taught by a trained art teacher. Instead of just doing some basic artwork with the homeroom teacher, they’re taught by someone who teaches nothing but art, period. At Breanna’s level it’s just stuff in the classroom with her regular teacher because they’re still really young but Hayley has a teacher who graduated with an art degree and not only teaches them new techniques but also teaches art theory and history to them so they understand what and why they’re doing something. I really love that.

2. Music! They have a regular music program as part of their curriculum and each of them gets taught music twice a week. There was no music at the old school and I was always kind of sad about that. It makes me happy to know that they’re learning some age-appropriate music theory and about various instruments.

3. Violin. Seriously. Hayley is taking violin at the school right now. Once a week she goes to violin for one period of her day and every second week she has an extra lunch hour of violin. By the new year, if the kids taking it are still enjoying it they can continue with a bit more practice and will get to start bringing their instruments home to practice. I find this very exciting that something that can cost a fortune to study is being offered for free in the school. Hayley is enjoying it tremendously.

4. Choir. Do you sense a theme? Lots of creativity in this school! Hayley has joined the school choir and practices once a week as part of their music program and today she had her first performance at the school for their in-school Remembrance Day assembly. She told me she did really well and Hayley loves to sing so when she brought the permission slip home I didn’t even hesitate before signing her up. Dressed in black and white for choir:

Hayley dressed for choir in black and white.

5. No homework. No joke! Breanna’s only homework is to read two books with us and keep a reading log. I read with her every morning after breakfast and fill the reading log out and that’s it. That’s something we’d be doing anyway so it’s barely even work. Hayley also has a reading log to hand in once every two weeks and it’s not much work either because Hayley reads a lot all on her own anyway. She’s also had one presentation project to prepare but it didn’t take much time and last year she did presentations once a month on a variety of topics so it wasn’t too tough for her to do.

Other than that, there’s just no homework. No sheets of math to do or verbs to study. They get their work done in class. If they ever goofed off too much and didn’t finish up I think they’d have some extra catch-up to do but that’s it and it hasn’t happened yet. I don’t mind important homework but I hate obligatory busy-work and so I’m loving this school’s approach. It gives kids more time to be, you know, kids.

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Speaking of school, I’d like to take a moment to do the bragging Mom thing. The school had their parent-teacher night on Wednesday and although I couldn’t attend, George went and brought back excellent reports. Breanna’s doing very well, meeting all the expected targets for her grade and age and although she’s a bit shy sometimes she’s adjusted super well.

As for Hayley, she was described as being well above average in her class, very intelligent, and having a lot of talent for different subjects. There was one shock that came out on parent-teacher night about her. A few weeks ago one of her teachers spoke to George about the fact that Hayley is a bit too chatty in class and talks to her friends sometimes instead of paying attention. This isn’t news as this has been something we’ve heard before so we spoke to her about how important it is to really be there and listen and save chatting for outside.

The shock was when the same teacher told George on Wednesday that last week Hayley came up to her – without any prodding or suggestions from us – and said, “Miss, I know that sometimes I talk to much when I should be listening or doing my school work. I just want you to know that I’m going to work on not doing that.”

It blew me away, that was such a grown up thing to do and I had no idea until George told me. I told her I was very proud of her!

So thus far everything is going quite well with both girls in the new school and I’m fully expecting excellent report cards in a couple of weeks.

Picking out talent

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I’ve watched a lot of American Idol over the years but other than the season with Carrie Underwood, George never really got into it at all. One thing I always found with that show was that I often managed to pick either the final winner or someone who got down to the last two or three. The talent always seemed to be a bit skewed.

Since the American season of The X Factor started George and I have been watching although I miss some of the performances because I’m still on my way home. We watch it together each week and have been enjoying it tremendously. The talent on that show is huge and although I definitely have my number one favourite singer, there are so many people that are amazing that the winner could be just about anyone at this point.

I’m pretty partial to Melanie Amaro, Rachel Crowe, Astro, The Stereo Hoggs, Stacy Francis, and well, yeah. I like a lot of people. They’re all so mind-blowingly good. Astro in particular bowls me over with how much stage presence he has and how much he already sounds like an established rapper.

However, my choice for who I would like to see win comes down to someone who has an incredible voice but also sings in ways that make me believe I would put her album on my iPod. She’s only 14 years old but she has so much vocal control and personality on stage, and if I were voting I’d be voting for Drew Ryniewicz.

She sounds like a cross between the lead singer of The Cranberries and Sarah McLachlan. I would buy her CD in a heartbeat, she’s amazing.

Are you watching? Who’s your favourite?

Halfway there

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Although it’s only Tuesday night I’m already halfway through my week which is strange. I keep thinking that it must be Wednesday. It’s because we all have a day off on Friday and that’s something that I’m not used to as an ex-Montrealer. Friday, which is the 11th, is Remembrance Day. In the province of Quebec it’s not considered a holiday. We always did the minute of silence at 11 am but that was pretty much it. Kids had school, people worked, and you hoped that you’d remember to stop at 11 and, well, remember.

Here in Nova Scotia and everywhere else across the country it’s a bigger deal. It’s considered a bank holiday and as a result many companies are indeed closed that day so I won’t be at work. All the schools are closed; any Remembrance Day services in the schools are on the 10th because the kids will be at home on Friday.

I like it. I mean, I like it for all the obvious reasons like having a short work week and a longer weekend, but it’s more than that. I like that a day meant to celebrate all of those who have served in wars and to remember their sacrifices is a day that doesn’t require us to cram all of that gratitude into 60 seconds of silence.

I do plan on sleeping in on Friday but I’ll definitely be up in time to pay proper respects.

Complicated eating

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Anyone who knows me even reasonably well knows that I love to eat. I adore food, and lots of it. On my first day of training the instructor asked us what was meant to be an uncomplicated “get to know each other” question by having us say what our favorite food is. Stumped, I said, “well, almost all of it.” After the laughter stopped I clarified by saying I don’t have a favorite because I love (good and authentic) Chinese food, Mexican food, Italian food, seafood, and the list goes on.

One of the complications with my current schedule is that it runs through a couple of meal times. I eat my breakfast at home at 10 am and I can’t really eat it any earlier than that or else I’ll be rooting through my bag for a snack by the time I’m on the bus. I get to work right around what is normally considered lunch time, I have a really early supper time, and then I’m usually starving once I get home.

The solution for me is to pack a ridiculous amount of food each day. I feel like a goof with my bag full of things to eat but it beats hitting the over priced and unhealthy nearby fast food places.

As I said I eat my breakfast at home which is almost always two pieces of toast with peanut butter. Prior to that I drink my coffee around 7:45 while getting the kids fed before school. I pack some form of sandwich for my lunch (usually cold cuts, but today I had leftover pork tenderloin in my sandwich, yum) which I eat after I arrive at work while reading in the lunch room. At some point, usually a half hour in to my shift I pop one of those microwavable Campbell’s soup in a cup things in to heat up and I can then drink that at my desk while I work (I’m partial to the garden tomato flavor). I have to have that or a yogurt at that point because one sandwich just isn’t enough. That usually gets me through to my break at which point I have a yogurt or granola bar.

I usually bring leftovers for my supper, only buying something if there weren’t any leftovers to be had. Today was one of my favorites. On Saturday night we had tacos and there was plenty that didn’t get finished up. I take a container with meat to reheat, a container with chopped lettuce and tomatoes, a container of grated cheese, and a little container with sour cream. After heating the meat in the microwave, I toss in the rest of the ingredients and break up a couple of hard taco shells over the whole thing, mix it up and eat a taco salad.

It’s stupidly delicious. It’s embarrassing how much I’m looking forward to having the last of it tomorrow.

I don’t normally eat anything on my last break, especially since I discovered the amazing massage chair in our lounge (I mean I knew it was there, I just didn’t know how incredibly well it works) which I tend to use at that time. That’s fine but I’m usually really hungry when I get home, at which point I make the kids’ lunches and then root through the kitchen for something to eat.

I feel like all I do all day is eat, but it’s working so far.

What do you like to take to work for your meals?