Long Weekend Food Summary

Hello readers, and welcome to my long weekend summary celebrating delicious food. On Saturday, I traveled to Gander for a hair appointment and stayed the night with my friend Carrie. I don't know what it is, but there's something about going to Gander that makes me snack obsessively. Maybe it's a leftover from mine and my siblings Christmas food benders (the highlight of which would have to be our midnight double Sunrise burgers the night before Pamela left) or maybe it's just because I'm surrounded by new foods I don't normally keep stocked at home. Either way, I got to Gander and dug into the Laura Secord mints and Quality Street chocolates. Drool. Once I got back from my hair appointment, I was famished and hadn't had lunch (at this point, it was 2:30 p.m.). I wasn't in the mood to cook anything or wait long for food so I popped some Bagel Bites in the oven. I'm pretty sure I recall an episode of 'X-Weighted' where Paul Plakas goes in someone's home, hauls out the Bagel Bites, and comments on how it isn't real food. Well, real food or not, they are darn tasty.

As I mentioned before, Mom and Dad treated us to barbecue steak. Kudos to Grant for pulling on the winter coat and tackling the BBQ in a semi-snowstorm and less than warm temperatures. We also had caesar salad and baked potatoes.

My delicious cow

It was such a treat to have barbecue. I haven't had it in forever, and really appreciated it. I'm also not a huge steak person (I avoid ordering it at restaurants) but love having steaks made at home. Not pictured is the 'Summer Pie' Mom had made for dessert. I'm not sure what's in it but it's light and yummy and was a nice sweet thing to have afterwards.

Quite possibly the food highlight of my trip to Gander was knowing that Mom (who had just come back from visiting my sister in Ottawa) had gone to Sugar Mountain and brought me back some candy. When I say 'Sugar Mountain', I am, of course, referring to the candy store by the same name. Although were there a mountain of sugar, I'd probably be equally as excited. Sugar Mountain is basically like a big Sweet Shop (remember that old train that used to be in the Avalon Mall that sold all kinds of candy?) where all the candy is the same price so you don't have to shag around with putting all the candy you want in separate bags. So you can imagine my glee when I walked into my old bedroom and was greeted by this lovely smorgasbord:

Mom didn't seem to understand my excitement as she commented that it's expensive and you can get the same kind of candy at Wal-Mart. As for the first, yes it's expensive, but damnit, a bag full of assorted candy is worth its weight in gold. And yes, some of it you can probably find at Wal-Mart, but it won't have the same magical experience as going into a candy store and you'd likely have to wedge your way past an angry fat woman from the bay just to get some candy that has a 50/50 success rate (either it's delicious, or it's falsely gummy and hard as a rock).

It's been two days since I got this bag of deliciousness and I currently have a couple jellybeans left and little else. I think I hear diabetes calling my name.

The night in Gander was capped off by a couple trips to the deepfreeze for some frozen leftover Christmas cookies (because naturally, I needed more sugar) and a satisfying bowl of Party Mix.

Last night, Randy cooked Shepherd's Pie which again gave me a break from cooking. The two of us actually have quite a nice cooking relationship - he cooks the basics (such as turkey, which I don't have a sweet clue how to make) and I focus on trying out new recipes. His Shepherd's Pie was great - he put a bit of cajun powder in the ground beef to give it a nice kick and the poatoes on top were really creamy and delicious.

Shepherd's Pie - pre plate

 I had mine with bread and butter because some meals are just bread meals. This is Randy's:

After my Party Mix adventure Saturday night, I was really in the mood for it again. Randy and I went to the convenience store and picked up a dozen beer and another bag of Party Mix. Tonight, of course, we're having leftover Shepherd's Pie because there was so much of it. Tomorrow I am using the leftover proscuitto and salami (from the Spaghetti Pie of my first entry) and making pizza dough and sauce from scratch (which I have never done before).

Shoutouts from the weekend include Party Mix (obviously), Sour and gummy candies, Nanaimo bars, and Cream of Wheat.