Quick and Plain Pasta

Cost: $5

Prep: 10 minutes

We went to the grocery store at 4:30 and didn't make it back in time to have a real dinner, so I threw together a quick pasta meal.

This was tortellini with parmesan, light sour cream, and tomatoes. Easy, but not great healthwise. Oh well, a failure once in a while will be fine. We did eat a bunch of mango for dessert.

On another note, look how old Charlie looks. And, if you look at the header, he is wearing the same outfit as last summer.

Better than Fast-food

Cost: $12

Prep: 45 minutes or more

This is a labour intensive meal, but it is the healthier version of "deep fried" because nothing was fried.

My favorite part was the yam chips. These are also the most labour intensive part. A little olive oil, broil, flip, broil. But, because of our oven we can only do 1 tray at a time, and we ate 4 trays (1.5 yams).

I also made turkey strips. A simple egg wash and panko breading + baking. I prefer chicken flavour and cost wise though, but it was something different.

Matt made the salad. Lettuce, tomato, red pepper and cheese. My only problem was I HATED the salad dressing I put on and had to start again. I used Compliments Citrus Poppy Seed and possibly would be okay starving rather than tasting that again.

Charlie seemed to enjoy his meal, especially the part where he ate it with salad tongs.

Creamy Noods

Cost: $8

Prep: 20 minutes

The pork was simply marinated pork from Thrifty's, and the pasta was just Cattelli Smart. The broccoli was simply steamed before being mixed in.

The added flare to this meal was a new product, Philadelphia Cooking Cream. It was on sale for less than $3 at Walmart. I have to say though, I wasn't a fan. It was way too thick. Granted, there were no directions on the package, so I may have prepared it wrong.

5th Street Bar & Grill

Cost: $10 for disaster, $30 for dinner

Prep: 35 minutes + clean-up + drive+wait

We had a dinner disaster last night. Matt chopped up a tonne of veggies for a stirfry. Peppers, broccoli, onion, green onion, carrots, and more. Then, just as he was finished, a can of fruit JUMPED from the cupboard above the veggies, landed on one of the Correll plates, and shattered it. No, not shattered, sharded it.

He was frustrated, the food was all COVERED with shards of glass, the clean up took quite a while (and involved moving the stove), Charlie was pissed that he could help vacuum, and hunger was roaring.

So, we went out for dinner.

We decided to try the Fernwood Inn again, since it was about 5PM on a Monday. However, on our drive over, traffic was heavy, and it was 5:15 by the time we reached Hillside.

We decided, in a split moment, to turn right instead. We haven't been to 5th Street in a while, so we decided to pop in.

The last time we were at 5th Street was almost a year ago, and honestly, it was a bad experience. I had the $20 Prime Rib, as did 5 of the 6 adults at our table. It was terrible. So much fat, about 75% fat, and WAY too much added fake smoke flavour (WHY?). THEN, to top it off, Glee star Corey Monteith had been dining there as well, and Glee is one of our favourite shows (mine especially), and he ran into Matt, who was carrying Charlie, then 6 months, and didn't apologize! It just left a bad taste in my mouth, both food and experience wise.

But, it was not a bad enough experience to cross 5th Street off. (Charlie, Grandma Sharon, and I have been here once since.)

There are things I do and don't like about 5th Street. The first thing I don't like is the parking lot. It is way too small, but at 5:15 on a Monday, it was great. Even when we were leaving at 6:30 there were still a few spots.

The thing I like is the menu, $5/$10/$20 (plus a bit more now). BUT WAIT. Those prices and that style of menu are DONEZO! I couldn't believe it. Overall, the prices really weren't that different, but I still think it is a mistake. One bonus is the kid's menu: $5.55 for any item (and great choices for when we need a meal for Chuck).

I also, generally, like the service. It is usually fairly quick, and the waitstaff is friendly and professional. Last night we had Maia (I think that is her name) who we have had a few times, and she is accommodating even to a baby stealing her pens and devices while she is trying to take orders.

We ordered three appies and a meal to share. It was a bit much, but I think Charlie would have liked a bit more food even though his patience was stretched.

For appies, we had the oysters, fries (the dip is C's fav), and flat bread (our fav). Charlie likes to use 1 fry to eat as much dip as possible, lick that from the fry, and then dip again...and repeat. His most favorite food in the world is anything pickled, so olives, and thereby the flat bread, was also a hit.

As out shared entree, we had the burger with salad. The burger was great, huge patty and perfect for sharing.

Besides the change in menu, my only real complaint last night was the high-chair. It had no working buckle, which is a problem for parents with an acrobatic toddler and a possible liability for the restaurant. Actually, I do have another complaint, not 100% 5th's fault: there was a smoker smoking just outside the open doors, and the ENTIRE restaurant really stunk before they shut the doors/asked the person to move. THERE ARE LAWS AGAINST SMOKING THAT CLOSE TO DOORS AND WINDOWS YOU GROSS SMOKERS, just saying.

Anyway, I am not against 5th Street. We had a good experience last night and the baby genius like it.

Mother's Day Whoomp Whoomp

Matt made a special effort to make dinner on Mother's Day so that I wouldn't have to. Unfortunately, it didn't go so well. To Matt's credit, I should add that Charlie didn't help at all. He was a total terror, then sat on the couch topless eating socks.

The main dish was a Shepard's Pie (or whatever the beef version is). I saw him making it and I knew it wasn't going to work out. He had onions and raw ground beef going at the same time in a pan, added a can of corn, and raw carrots. I knew the veggies would be under cooked, but the carrots were still hard. To Matt's credit, it really just needed to cook longer, since my mom ate it the next day and said it was great. i did also think the red-skinned mashed potatoes on top and the home-garden grown chives on the side were yummy.

I asked Matt to make a salad on the side, since there were no green veggies going into the pie. I had bought dressing, croutons, and lettuce already. I should have supervised though. It was pretty such a crouton soup with lettuce. He used almost 1/2 a bottle of dressing and an entire box of croutons. It also became one of the most expensive salads we have ever had ($8-9). Charlie like it though, since he sucks the dressing off the lettuce and mostly eat croutons.

For dessert, "Charlie" made me a free cake a Thrify's. The cake was okay, and the decorations were ADORABLE. Good for Thrify's for offering this, as you know I was kind of writing them off and this was good publicity and got me in the store shopping while the boys created, as I am sure it did for many moms. we paired this with strawberries and mango that needed to be eaten.

Dad Chef

Berries

Topless Sock Eater

Beautiful Weather/Beautiful Food

Ah, Victoria! Thanks for bringing us the summer weather in May.  We took Charlie to Cadboro Bay/Gyro Beach. He's an odd duck, and seems to feel no cold, so he kept walking into the water fully clothed. The finale was when he walked into the water, sat down, and started playing.

We had no extra clothes, no extra diapers. Luckily, we were headed to dinner at the in-laws, and Grandma always keeps spares. But he still had to have a naked car ride there!

Once there, he took the opportunity to do some more pantless gardening. Norm, the dog, took the opportunity to do some unhindered baby-bum-sniffing.

Matt's parents made dinner and plenty of it. There were a lot of things to choose from (and I remembered to snap pictures for once).

Matt's dad barbecued some steaks. He remembered I like mine rare! The steak was a little much for me though, probably 10 ounces or so, and I couldn't finish it even though it seemed like a great cut (but what do I know about that?).

The other sides including fresh bread, carrots, mushrooms, green beans. coleslaw, and these potato/sweet potato thing that Matt's dad makes that are really special.

For dessert, Matt's mom made strawberry shortcake--as in, actually made the cake, not just bought those cup things. It was awesome! If I hadn't had eaten so much steak, I may have had more!

Charlie also ate some of the chocolate cake he brought Grandma. But what happens at Grandma's, stays at Grandma's.

I've been a naughty blogger

I've been a naughty blogger this week. I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures, but I realize there has been no text for a week.

It was a long week. I've been working lots of hours, and long hours; Charlie cut two new teeth (8 on the top, but still only 4 on the bottom); we ran out of food on Wednesday; I get morning sickness in the 2nd trimester (yes, preggo, let's keep that off facebook); my mom was out sick; etc.

I did make one positive, healthy change this week. I got on the salad plan at school. For $5 a day, Chef makes you a salad in the morning and all you must do is pick it up at lunch. Twice this week, I said that it was the best salad I had ever had. One day was a steak salad, one a grilled shrimp with homemade buttermilk ranch; one a chicken skewers with honey mustard dressing. Yum! I think this is a positive change, even though the gourmet stuff is always more tempting. It will help me avoid the fried food. So, I try to eat my lunch, including my Greek yoghurt and orange, in the approx. 30 minutes. I usually only have time for one side; salad is a very labour intensive food.

Regardless of all this, please scroll down. I will add the text now, as the boy, who fell asleep twice in the car while running errands today, is now snug in his crib.

Happy Mother's Day weekend!