It Was Good While It Lasted 

The weather that is. We had such a mild Winter up till last weekend that I guess we shouldn't be surprised that it started snowing heavily for a good 10 hours on Saturday. I shouldn't complain about the cold snap since I have not had to wear my black marshmellow or red sleeping bag coat till now. That I've not had to worry about walking in the cold for about 10 minutes and walk into work with frosted strayed hair exposed to the elements. Or that my breath would fog up my glasses making it hard to see and walk safely at the same time, while contact lenses are not much of an alternative because my eyes would get really dry and irritated. Not to mention that it now takes me more than 10 minutes to get nicely bundled up before walking out the door and out to the frosty bite of temperatures -30s with or without the windchill factor. Oh well. It is only supposed to last till this coming weekend but we'll see how it goes. Can't be too sure with Mother Nature. She might decide that we've had enough fun and that she wants to 'torture' us for a little while longer. Either way, bundle up my fellow Edmontonians.

At least everything is now a blanket of white fluffy snow. It feels somewhat comforting to see such a scene for Winter instead of the icy mucky brown that reminded me too much of Spring.

I know Christmas is way over but once I woke to this the next day I couldn't help but hum the tune of "Winter Wonderland". Much to my Hubbie's dismay.

For a brief moment, the sun was shining brightly into the living room. Providing some warmth relief for me, considering that everyone has probably jacked up their heat and now the condo's central heating system is very likely overworked and not working properly. I wasn't the only one who welcomed the sun's rays and wanted to busk in it's glorious warmth.

My baby boy is so adorable.... 

Pineapple Tarts

Before                                                                                                                                                       After

Well, these little nuggets of golden delicious ... Ok they don't look like the most appetising batch of of pineapple tarts .... And well, they aren't. The filling taste good though with a nice balance of sweetness and tartness. The tart's "shell" on the other hand was bland plain and simple. The melt in your mouth texture (which is superb in my mind) did nothing to save it from the world of Blandness. Ugh! This is why I had hesitated in baking up a batch of these little Chinese New Year goodies. Almost four hours slaving in the kitchen only yielded 36 mini bite-sized pineapple tarts (it was a small pineapple so I got a small amount of pineapple filling). 36 measly, bland-tasting... Ugh! Oh well, at least I tried. 

The whole process that goes into baking the pineapple tarts is tedious one. First, you take a freshly cut and cleaned whole pineapple, with the core removed, and use some brute force to grate the pulp into a fibrous mush. Next, mash the mush in a strainer to drain almost all of the juice out of it. Once that is done, stir fry (without oil or butter) the pulp in a pan until the pulp is dry (oh don't forget to add rock sugar to taste in the process of frying the pulp). This process took me about 1 1/2 hours and it was only a SMALL pineapple(!!). Now that you have prepared the filling for the tart you move on to the "shell". Yes, i call it a "shell" because I prefer to wrap my dough around filling instead of having the filling sit on top of it. The pineapple filling tends to retain more moisture this way. I've been told that once you have the dough ready it's best to refrigerate it for about 30 minutes before using it. While the dough is cooling, I shaped the pineapple filling into mini columns. As you can tell by now, it takes quite a bit of effort to make my mom's version of the pineapple tarts. 

Baking Goodies, 1.

My baking skills, 0.

All I can do now is wait for Hubbie to get back from work and be my guinea pig. Wifey not happy with her efforts.

Update : My bro and sis read my blog and told my mom. Apparently, when my mom said "a pinch of salt" she meant to say "1/2 teaspoon of salt". *groans* No wonder my "shell" is bland. *groan* Mooooommmmmm..........

Goals I Thought I Wouldn't Set

Yep, I'm still alive. Haven't fallen off the deep end. Life just caught up with me. Plain and simple. The older I get the less I find myself being able to multi-task. Also, I blame myself for letting myself go..... physically. Which contributes heavily to my lack of energy. Yet, I was pretty much set on not making a list of goals or resolutions. Why? Simple.  It is almost the same, right down to the letter, year after year for the last few years. However, I was lying to myself. I HAVE been setting goals for myself even before 2011 came to an end.

#Goal #1 - Speak Up and Have More Guts

I am, and have been, a passive aggressive person. I would like to be more outspoken but not be reckless and cruel with my words. I want to be able to speak up and stand up for myself. So this year I am going to ask myself to gain more of a backbone.

#Goal #2 - Stop and Take That Damn Pic

Tonight, while walking home from City Centre after watching "Hugo", I noticed there were many a times I wanted to stop to grab a quick pic of something on my iPhone but..... I didn't. Why? Was preoccupied with not falling on my ass while walking home. So now I am kicking myself for not stopping, take a moment and just shoot. How difficult was that?? *rolls eyes at myself* Not at all. So yeah. I will say this to myself again ... Stop and Take That Damn Pic! First, make sure it is safe. Heh!

I am pretty sure this list will grow. By how much, I am not sure. So stay tuned....