The Christmas season

This season was filled with parties galore!

We went to the city to visit with Brian's old friend, Wojtek, who was visiting from Iceland with his fiancé

I was so stoked to spend Christmas in Chicago.  We spent the season with friends and family and got to see people that we hadn't seen in a long time.  

Gift exchange at Rocky and Lucille's place

 We started new traditions and got to hang stockings with Xander for the first time

We spent Christmas Eve with the Schmid's

4 generations : Great Grandma & Grandpa Schmid, Grandpa Larry, Brian and Xander

My first attempt at making creamed spinach, and it was a HIT! 

Christmas Day
Headed over to my in-laws house for an over-the-top breakfast, and gift opening

wait... we need SNOW to be able to use this!

Mama got her pro series mixer!!!

Since the only thing missing this Christmas, was Xierra, we FaceTimed with her and watched her open all of her gifts from us and from all of the Schmid's.

 We headed over to our aunt's place for a delicious italian dinner in the evening

Like father, like son

Although much of our time was spent EATING, fortunately, I managed to survive having gained zero pounds over the holidays :)

Getting into the swing of things

I've been in Mississauga for 4 days now, and things seem to be going pretty well (for the most part).  On my second day here, I went grocery shopping and grabbed a bunch of healthy food to stock the fridge with.  I chose to eff off on my diet during my last week in Winnipeg and it really affected me -- I felt guilty for eating such crap, and my body was making me pay for it.  So eating healthy again, was my first priority once I got settled here.

Spending Halloween here was a little different -- I'm used to really cold Halloween's back in Winnipeg, so when I saw that the forecast was supposed to be 7 degrees with light showers, I was stoked that we wouldn't have to trick-or-treat in the SNOW!

During the day, my sis baked some cookies and we (err.. I mean, the KIDS) decorated them with coloured icing and candies..

Once it started to get dark, we got the kids dressed and ready to go door to door, asking for pure sugar candy.  This was Xander's first 'real' Halloween, so it was pretty fun

Woody, from Toy Story

Waiting nicely for his turn

It's sad that Xierra was in Winnipeg, we were in Mississauga and Brian was in Milwaukee this Halloween :(  I liked getting dressed up as a family -- we did it last year and I can't wait to do it again!

Schmid Family 2011

I'm happy to report that I was able to hit up the gym here at my sister's condo!  I love the accessibility to it -- I'm hoping to go at least 3-4 times a week.

Yesterday, for the first time, I attempted taking the stairs both down to the gym and up from the gym -- I must add that my sister lives on the 35th floor of a high rise condo [It's actually a TRUE 30 floor condo, as it doesn't have any floors containing the #4, nor does it have a 13th floor].

I'll admit that I almost died coming up -- but I made it!  My legs were sore all day today, but it felt reeeeally good.

Not sure what the next few days have in store, but hopefully something somewhat productive. 

I'm going to try to venture out to downtown Toronto next week with just Xander and I (via public transporation) -- I'll be sure to blog about the experience.

a Grilled Cheese Party

With this new fitness regimen I'm on, I only allow myself to have 1 cheat day a week - Sunday.  

I was never really a supporter of trying to pack a whole lotta' bad food into a 24 hour window, but after 6 days of eating clean, I realized that a cheat day was a really good opportunity for me to calm any cravings that I had throughout the week.

Also, I have made an effort to eat clean for most of the day, and just go 'overboard' for 1 meal (2 at best).

My first Sunday, I admit I went a little nuts.  I had dim sum with friends in the afternoon, and then had a grilled cheese party with them at night -- but not just any grilled cheese, I pulled out the big guns and went FANCY.

Here are the 3 kinds of sandwiches I made:

1) French bread, sliced pear and brie cheese - sprinkled w/ ground pepper

2) Multigrain bread, bacon and havarti cheese

3) Rye bread, apple butter, sliced apple, Bothwell cheddar cheese

Go big or go home

I slathered the bread with good old fashioned butter (no healthy stuff here) and pan fried them.  The pear/brie sandwiches were baked in the oven until the cheese got gooey and delicious.

Thankfully, my bread and cheese cravings were satisfied after this little get-together!

Stuffed French toast = heaven

Father's day was pretty chill this year.  We had just come off a really busy week, with Xander's 1st birthday, Brian's parents leaving, my dad's 65th birthday party and my sister and her family visiting from Mississauga. 
I wanted to make sure that I still did something semi-memorable for Brian, as he really deserved it for being a great dad.  And how better can I express my love, than with FOOD.


For years and years, I had wanted to make stuffed French toast, after seeing it being made on a show on the Food Network.  The recipe called for brioche bread -- something that I was NEVER able to find...anywhere.  Until finally, I found some here as mentioned in this previous post.


Anyway, since I had never really ever written the recipe down (nor did I bother to research it), I went along and made it, the way I thought it should be made...in other words, like all of the food I make, I winged it.


So here it is, for anyone interested in making it themselves, or for an awesome significant other -- cuz let's face it, something like this NEEDS to be shared. It's way too good to keep it to yourself :)




What you'll need:
1 loaf of brioche
3 peaches
1/4 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
3 tbsp of butter
fresh berries for topping

1. Cut up your peaches into slices (with or without skin) and place into a saucepan with sugar.  Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer until peaches become soft and sugar becomes syrup-like.  Allow to cool slightly and set aside.


2. In a shallow bowl (I used a glass pie plate), whisk together egg, milk, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.


3. With a bread knife, cut brioche into 1 1/4" slices.

4. From top of slice, cut slit  down into bread to create a pocket

5. Using a slotted spoon, remove peaches from saucepan, allowing syrup to stay in pan.  Stuff pocket with peaches.

6. Dunk stuffed bread into egg/milk mixture.  Allow bread to soak in mixture a few seconds on each side.

7. Over medium heat, melt butter and coat bottom of pan before placing bread down.

8. Cook on each side until golden brown, approximately 1-2 minutes on each side.


9. Place toast onto plate and use any leftover peaches and syrup to pour over  toast.  Top with berries and ENJOY!

Playing catch-up

Wow, what a crazy month it's been.  I've been on blogging-hiatus for the past month -- I went back to work after a year long maternity leave, and have come to realize that there isn't a whole lot of time to do much of anything anymore.  The transition back to work was fairly smooth.  Everyone was so welcoming and patient with me, and now that I've been back for a little less than a month, I feel like I never left.  


So much has happened since my last post -- visits from out-of-towners, my dad celebrated his 65th birthday and retirement, we celebrated Brian's 2nd official father's day, Xierra finished up her year at H.S. Paul school, Xander started daycare full time, and I started back at work.  Oh and of course, summer is in full swing and the weather is nothing short of gorgeous.


I'll try to follow this post with some detailed posts, but for now, here are some photos and short blurbs on what the last month of my life has looked like:




It's always tough when Grandma Jan and Grandpa Larry leave Winnipeg to go back home to Wheeling, IL -- their visit was short but sweet but they got to spend some quality time with the kids and were able to celebrate Xander's first birthday -- best present this little guy could ask for!

l-r: Brian, Xander and Grandpa Larry

l-r: Grandma Jan, Xierra, Me



We had the pleasure of visiting the newly renovated Manitoba Children's Museum before G'ma and G'pa headed back home.  What a great time!

How lucky am I to have a dad with an awesome sense of humour!  I made these centre pieces for his 65th birthday party that me and my siblings held for him at Marigold restaurant.  He was so amused by them and was letting everyone take pics of him posing with them.  Happy 65th dad!

It's rare to have all of us siblings together, considering one sister lives out in Mississauga and another sister lives out in Vancouver.  It was great to hang out with them and with the rest of the Cuevas family. 

Here's a pic of the little ones:

I love that Xierra's probably the only one that's going to remember taking this pic.  The rest of them are gonna see it 10 years from now and be like "who ARE these people?!"

This was breakfast for Brian on Father's Day.  I'll post more about this delicious recipe later:

Xierra had her last day at her school.  To ensure that she can keep in touch with all of her awesome friends, I sent her to school with these little 'cards'.  They were supposed to mimic little books:

"Xierra's New Chapter"

Library cards on the inside, with hand written notes by Xierra

As a little 'good-bye' and 'thank you' gift, I made this Candy Cake for her class on the last day of school:

Packaged and ready to go!

This was just a random day that we decided to take Xander to the nature park at Assiniboine Park.  Happened to be the same day as the 'paws in motion' walk -- bonus!  We got to play AND see doggies!

This was the day that Xander's fever started....it would be one week later that we would discover that he had a case of BABY MEASLES! :(

Our Canada Day weekend was pretty awesome.  We watched the Forks fireworks from Brian's office building with the kids.  That weekend, we made our first trip out to Grand Beach with my cousin and her family.  What a beautiful day to spend bumming around on the sand!

The next day, we enjoyed lunch at Kum Koon with the family for my little cousin's 7th birthday. 

 

Here's a photo of daddy and baby Beckam...I mean, Xander.

Well that was just a quick rundown of what's been going on around here in the last month.

I'll be sure to add details on some of the projects above, for anyone that might be interested.

Have a great weekend!