farm stuff

I have been lacking on some farm/cattle posts lately. Here are a few that I snapped last time I was home.

Pen of 2yr old cows

Calves off the 2yr olds. This pen is almost all black

Calf on the left is Elle's, on the right is Dream Date's

One of my favorite Revolution bull calves

One of my favorite cows, Queen of the Nile

Pad Thai Cooking

I really enjoy cooking. The problem is when you get home at 5:45PM your lack of motivation does not help. I decided that I was going to crack open my Thai cookbook and make some good food this week. First dish- Pad Thai

When I was in Thailand we took a cooking class one night. The school was called the Thai Orchid Cooking School. As part of the class we all got a little cook book to take home with us.

Pad Thai is really easy to make. The hardest part is just finding all of the ingredients needed. I have had luck at Wal-Mart, but there is also a Chinese grocery store in the city that has helped me out a few times as well.

I will post the full receipe below, but here is a quick play by play of what you need to do. Before you begin you must soak the rice noodles over night.  This allows them to soften and be ready to go the next day.

I like to lay out all of my ingredients before I begin. This dish does not take a long time to make so it makes things easier to have everything close by. For this you will need sugar, vegetable oil, chili's or chili spice, chives, peanuts, bean sprouts, fish sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar, eggs, vegetable or chicken stock and some chicken.

In a wok combine the chicken, rice noodles, vegetable oil, chili's, your sause and stock. Cook on a low to medium tempture as you do not want the noodles to stick together.

While this is cooking get your peanutes, bean sprouts and chives ready. When all of the stock has evaporated combine into the noodle mixture and let the sprouts get warm.

True Thailand Pad Thai has eggs in it although most North American places has removed them. This is optional, but I love it with. Push all your ingredients to one side of the wok. On the other side crack 2 beaten eggs and let them cook. No not mix with the pasta misture.

One the egg is cooked serve! Try to get the egg on top of your noodle mixture. I placed it on the side so you can see what the Pad Thai actually looks like. You can make it your own serving with Tofu, or in this case I chose some chicken.

Ingredients:

200g Rice Noodles

3.5 tablespoons cooking oil

1 tablespoon dried shrimps (optional)

40g of tofu or chicken

2 eggs

1 cup stock or water

20g chives

100g bean sprouts

2 tablespoons peanuts

1 teaspoon reserved radish (optional)

20g shallot (optional)

Sauce:

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoon tamarind paste (or can use viniger)

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon chilies or chili powder

Instructions:

- Heat cooking coil int he wok over low heat, add meat/tofu and shallots fri until turned golden brown

- Put preserved radish and dried shripm in and fry for a few seconds

- Add rice noodles and water/stock. Add sauce. Fry until noodles are wilted and ingredients mixed well

- Add chives, bean sprouts, and peanuts. Fry quickly until sprouts are warm. 

- Make room for egg by pushing all noodles to the side of walk

- Add 1/2 teaspoon cooking oil into the wok, and add beatten eggs to wok and let cook.

- Serve!

Times are a Changing!

We have been having a lot of changes happening around the house lately. Yes the snow is finally starting to melt, and spring cleaning has been happening, but we have also been seeing some new faces around the place.

Last May we had a 3rd roommate move into the house. I grew up with Kristen and danced with her for years, and Brett knew her through mutual friends (crazy how small this world is). We have had lots of fun having Kristen in the house. She is in her last month of medical school, and will be a full doctor in just a couple of weeks! It has been great having a resident doctor (literally) as both Brett and I are not so fond of hospitals....

As we spend the last month with Kristen in the house, we have welcomed a new roommate into our ever growing house. Brett's younger sister Jenna was selected to be part of the 2011 Edmonton Eskimos Cheer Team! Jenna is just finishing up her schooling in Red Deer, and is moving stuff into the house each week. Our basement is officially being transformed into a livable space not just storage...

Brett and I have been living vicariously through Jenna as she is pretty much a rock star now. The stories that she has from the cheer team already are pretty cool. Yesterday she had her first official photo shoot as an Esks girl!


Looking hot Jenna!

Home Sense

A few weekends ago I stayed in the city to do some catching up. I got a little bored one afternoon and decided to head out to one of my favorite stores Home Sense.

I try to stay away from this place as usually I come home with a thing or two. It seems like it is really hit or miss with things. This time I found some fun items, and while I did not come home with them, they are still fun to look at!

My sister would love this!

March Madness Update

Now that the Sweet 16 teams have been decided in March Madness I thought that I would show an update of my bracket.

I started the tournament doing really well. My first real upset came with Pittsburgh losing so soon, and then it all kinda fell apart from there. I still have a chance to get a few more points, but its not a winning bracket by any means. Oh well there is always next year!

Let the Madness Begin

Yesterday marked the opening day of March Madness. I am not a huge basketball fan, but there is something about this tournament that makes it really fun and exciting to watch.

I think the draw for me is that anyone can play along. Teams all have a ranking, so you can just pick your favorite teams, highest ranked, or whatever strategy you have. There are always an upset or 2, and usually a Cinderella team that comes through, so anyone can really be a winner!

I had a great day yesterday with my bracket. I went 14/16 on the day. Of the 2 upsets that I had nothing is really going to hurt me that bad.

Obviously I am cheering for K-State to do well again this year. They had a great run last year, and lets hope for a repeat. They ended up in a tough side, and may have to play the #1 team in the country is all goes as I hope.

Lets hope for another great day for me. The next 3 days will be filled with some great basketball!

New Herdsire- Sure Fire

This spring we were looking for a red bull that we could still use on heifers. The definition of a heifer bull has changed over the years. It used to be a bull that was not as performance driven, usually a poorer bull, but you would get a calf that was alive.

Now, a heifer bull is one that will give lower birthweights and will calf easy, but they do not lack the performance and growth that they have in the past. Good heifer bulls are a hot commodity. They seem tougher to find each year, but luckily we did find one!

DDDS Red Sure Fire 449X will be our newest herdsire, and the bull that most of our heifers get bred to. We love our Revolution calves, but we need something to breed his daughters to.

We are really excited about Sure Fire. He got the the farm on Monday, and will start breeding as early as next week. He comes from some very good friends of ours at 3D Simmentals in Saskatchewan.

Stay tuned for some bred heifers with service to Sure Fire later this fall!

Breeding Season 2011

This weekend will mark the start of breeding season for us. It seems like we get started earlier each year, however, the first ones will only be bred to Revolution as he is a longer gestation bull.

Revolution will be the backbone of our breeding program again this year. He has been as stud the last few months drawing semen so that both us, and our partners Beechinor Bros Simmentals, can have use of him during the breeding season.


IPU Revolution 172U

We have also sold serveral packages of semen on Revolution to breeders across Canada. The reports of the calves have been great so far. The first progeny sold at Barry Labatte's bull sale, and the next set will sell next Monday for Beechinors. Unfortunetly, we did not get any bull calves the first calf crop, but things have changed this year, and we are really excited about the bulls we will have to offer next year.


Revolution bull calf

What to Wear: Running Errands

Lets face it running errands are not always the funnest job. It usually consumes a perfectly good afternoon on the weekend, or stopping to do some on the way home from work.

Just because errands are not fun, does not mean we cannot look fabulous doing them! This does not mean you have to be wearing your Sunday best, and no comfort does not have to be compromised.

A few things to keep in mind when putting your outfit together:

• Comfort is priority
• Flats or nice runners are a must, makes things much easier and faster
• Bring a well organized purse with a little bit of storage. Will make not losing your lists easier!
• Dress in layers. Bring a jacket along, but depending where you are going, it might be better off left in the car for the day.

Sweater-  Isabella Oliver
Jeans- 7 for All Mankind
Scarf- Le Chateau
Sunglasses- Mykita
Purse- Marc by Marc Jacobs
Shoes- BC Footwear

Fashion Week: Paris Fall 2011- Part 3

Here are some of the other designs that I really loved during Paris Fall 2011 Fashion Week!

Fashion Week: Paris Fall 2011- Part 2

Elie Saab may have taken the top spot for my favorite collection at Paris Fall 2011 Fashion Week, but there was one other collection that really grabbed my attention.

Andrew Gn may not have the name recognition as some of the other designers, but he has been around for a while, and he does amazing work. His namesake are his amazing coats, which this collection featured plenty of, but his separates and gowns were also amazing!

Fashion Week: Paris Fall 2011- Part 1

Today Paris Fashion Week Fall 2011 officially wrapped up. Paris is my second favorite fashion week after New York. It is where all the big shots come out and show off their work. We see so many amazing shows, as well as the best models come out for this event.

I have broken Paris into 3 posts: Favorite Collection, Runner-Up Favorite Collection, and then some of my favorite pieces.

So sit back and relax and enjoy my favorite collection of Paris Fall 2011 Fashion Week presented by Elie Saab!

No one makes a dress like this man, and that is why he is the go to person for red carpet gowns. I love the mix of short day dresses and showstopping gowns. The red is such a beautiful color, and really has become the "it" color of the year. Can't wait for the months to come to see these dresses come to life!

My Vegas Purchase

While in Vegas I hinted that I had made my annual big purchase. In the past this has been designer scarves and expensive shoes. This year I knew that I either wanted a purse or another pair of shoes. Being a shoe lover, the shoes easily won the battle, and I can say that I never lean looked at a designer purse while there.

I had some some searching online to see what shoes I loved. I am a huge fan of Loubioutin's, but wanted to give all shoes a chance. After all, there are so many beautiful shoes to chose from.

I had found these Fendi shoes a few weeks before we left. However, I could not find out where to buy them, or how much they are. We did find them while in Vegas as Saks Fifth Ave. They were about $700 a pair. I was a little dissapointed in the shoes, the wood soles were much darker, and the heel was all in bronze. Not what I was looking for.

The first pair of shoes that I tried on was this pair of Louboutins. The ones I tried on were more teal then blue, and each pair is different in color as they are made out of watersnake skin. They are the most beautiful shoes that I have ever seen. I really fell in love with them. These shoes are super comfortable, felt like velvet when you touched them, just were amazing. The price was a little more then I wanted to spend, but for these shoes I would have paid it. The downfall.... they are open toe. I really do not like open toe shoes, and I also cannot wear them to work. That was the deal breaker.

The next pair of shoes I tried on really intreged me. I knew that I did not want black or tan shoes, and that really cuts down on the selection. I love purple, and did not have a pair of purple shoes yet. The part that I loved the most about these shoes were the zippers on the back of the heels. Although they do not actually work they are a really cool detail that make them more then just a purple heel. Of course they have the classic red Loubioutin sole that makes them recognizable anywhere. And at about $300 less then the other heels these were a clear winner!

The shoes seen a night out in Vegas already, and have been patiently awaiting a time to wear them out in Edmonton. After all you don't wear fabulous heels like this just anywhere!