Saturday, May 14, 2011

Saturday's Email of the Week: A Smorgasbord


I have to say that it was a bit of a slow week for interesting emails. A gazillion recipes, lots of comment stream on Linked In, a few cutesy emails, but nothing that made me roll on the ground laughing or inhale sharply at the shock of it. Oh well, they can't all be banner weeks I guess. Perhaps I will just present you with a smorgasbord of images and snippets from my week via my life-line to the outer world - email. I hope you have a fabulous Saturday!

So on Thursday the kids and I went for dinner, then hit Canadian Tire to pick up a new inner tube for T's bike. We wandered around and as we were in the exercise-type aisles, I also picked up a step-counter.  The kids were gung-ho to buy some hand weights as well, but I managed to convince them out of them.




Why a step counter, you ask? Well, I have to admit that I fear all of this writing stuff might be a bit of a detriment to my waistline. I missed my weekly yoga class and didn't feel like I managed to squeeze in quite enough activity to make up for it. All the surfing I do just doesn't amount to quite enough calories burned I suspect.


So on Friday I strapped on the step counter, left my laptop behind and hit my gardens for a little fresh air and slugging of mulch. My shoulders got a mite rosy from my exertions, but my mood was elevated. By the time the kids came home I had burned off 150 calories, according to my new toy! While the girls ran naked through the sprinkler (first time this year!), I lovingly planted a few new specimens that we picked up from the garden centre on the way home. Yes, I love my gardens!

The forecast now calls for rain for the near future, so I stayed late into the evening to feel the grass between my toes. A discovery that our rhubarb was coming ready was cause to celebrate, so a bundle was picked. I think that perhaps tomorrow I can make use of one of those recipes that came in last week;

Aunt Norma's Rhubarb Muffins

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 tablespoon melted butter
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 12 cup muffin pans or line with paper cups.
  2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the brown sugar, oil, egg, vanilla and buttermilk with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour in the dry ingredients and mix by hand just until blended. Stir in the rhubarb and walnuts. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, filling almost to the top. In a small bowl, stir together the melted butter, white sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of this mixture on top of each muffin.
  3. Bake in the preheated oven until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly pressed, about 25 minutes. Cool in the pans for at least 10 minutes before removing.


I will let you know how they turn out! 

For now I will leave you with a cute little poem that resonated with me from the week. I am sure I have read it before, and probably you have too, but it made me smile to re-read. Maybe I will vacuum and work on that sticky floor tomorrow after the muffins go into the oven...

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche;
They don't have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils
Are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,
Filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough
Doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what
The vacuum just sucked up...

Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'
And get their answer when a little
Voice says, 'Because I love you best.'

10 comments:

  1. that is a cute poem....love grass between my toes...and yes writing will do in your waistline....ha

    ReplyDelete
  2. ha yes - i agree with you...real mothers are strange but most valuable creatures...smiles
    and now i want some rhubarb muffins...

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Brian: I have vacuumed up far more than I care to identify, and definitely know that when playdough dries, it holds better than crazy glue.

    Got lots of grass tickles yesterday & today though, as the rain held off till tonight. I can now boast a clean vehicle too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Claudia: We are, aren't we? Who in their right mind puts up with nonsense like that? Aside from Mothers that is? Silly creatures.

    The muffins didn't get made today, as we got heavy into puzzling this am, then went out to enjoy the warmth in the yard in the afternoon. With rain forecast for the week, I suspect those muffins will fill some hours tomorrow am though!

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Mama Zen: Yup, my excuse is that I am a Mom. My house might be a disaster most days, but my kids are usually pretty happy little monsters. That's what it is all about, right!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Those step counters really work. They have a way of making you feel guilty if you don't hit your 10,000 steps each day. Then it becomes an obsession. On my best day (21,000 steps), the only thing that got me off the treadmill at the 7-mile mark was the fact that I had to go to the bathroom. Badly.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Fun post about your week. I am anxious to hear how the muffins turn out. Oh, yes, all of the quotes are from the same book. I'm glad you like them.
    Cheers,
    Shanae

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Pattiken: How do you hit 10,000 steps a day Patti? Better question, how did you hit 21,000?! That is amazing and so far from where I am at. I am still in the monitoring phase though, so will work on activiely getting those steps up soon. You are right though, that it could quite easily be an obsessive thing. Exercise, here I come!

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Shanae: OMG, those muffins were DELICIOUS! I made half the muffins in a mini muffin pan without nuts, thinking that the kids could take them to school. We were all eating them by 2 and 3 muffins at a time! I have to say as well that while I love nuts, I preferred the muffins without the nuts in this instance.

    Thanks for promoting me on your blog as well! Thrilled you were interested in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete

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