Snowed In

After a week of mild winter weather in which the snow melted into dirty piles of brown slush, we got dumped with a massive snowfall. D and I looked at each other warily as we wondered whether or not we'd be able to get the car out. Being the hero that he is, D dug his car out and proceeded to clear the parking lot of our apartment complex. After about 2 hours of digging, shoveling, and talking to other tenants, we were ready to get on with our day of errands.

 

The building owner has apparently scheduled a clearing of the lot for this Tuesday or Wednesday, but meanwhile we tenants have had to repeatedly shovel our way out of the parking spots we pay for.Ourselves. And that doesn't make us happy. Neither does the fact that the once we manage to get out of our parking lot, the alley we need to use to get onto main streets will never get plowed by the City of Edmonton. Long-term tenants tell us that our alley simply never gets plowed. At all. Curious thing, considering the fact that the alley a few blocks down from our apartment gets plowed...Anyone getting as upset as I am??

With the roads being so gross and difficult to get around, we hastily got our errands done and stayed in for the entire weekend. Really too bad about the weather because we missed a co-worker of mine perform with his band at the Deep Freeze Festival  AND we missed seeing Crispin Glover at Metro.("Get your damn hands off her....Biff!")

Nonetheless, D and I have been snug at home, cooking away to our hearts' content. Last year we constantly went out to restaurants. A LOT. This year, we're determined not to dine out as much and to actually cook together. Using the awesome cookbook Ben and Heather gifted to us for Christmas (Thanks again!), we've made quite a few things that have turned out deliciously.

Although D and I have never been to this restaurant (which has been in operation since 1988 in Victoria, BC), we've been recreating dishes from this popular place right in our own kitchen! 

Dishes made this week:

• Shiitake brown rice pilaf with brown basmati, leeks, and roasted pecans
• Eggplant and tofu satay with lemon miso glaze (note: we omitted the eggplants and just made a stirfry. Actually turned out really well!)
• Quinoa corn salad with cilantro, chives, and lemon-lime dressing
• Falafel burger with taratour sauce (note: we just made falafel pita wraps instead. And we actually cheated by buying a box of falafel mix because we were both too hungry to make the burgers, heh heh. So I guess what we did make was the taratour sauce!)
• D's own special tofu scramble. Sorry Cafe Mosaics, but you won't be seeing us around very much anymore :)

Next up: Fajitas with all the fixins' (Avocado tomatillo salsa and fresh -cut tomato salsa). Yum!

In addition, I've been baking as well. I don't know what's been happening to me, but I think I've finally pulled myself out of the Failure in Baking category. In the past few months I've made numerous varieties of cupcakes, cookies, granola, and last night, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies which turned out fantastically fluffy and moist. Good to know that even without eggs or dairy we can enjoy quality food and desserts!