Are you aching for some bacon?

Lion King Quote!
Anyways...
It was Mike's 25th birthday this week. What better way to celebrate a milestone than with a supper completely wrapped in bacon!
We had potato-bacon-cheese tart (chef at home recipe). It was a masterpiece!

Can't you hear the bacon angels singing?
I also made prosciutto wrapped Asparagus and prosciutto wrapped steak bites!

It seemed like such a good idea at the time, however 20 minutes later we were sweating bacon. Sooooo much salt!! Probably worth it though.
For dessert I made pineapple delight because what better way to wash down a bacon wrapped meal than with layers of whipped cream and whipped butter. Ahh regrets; delicious regrets.

St. Patty's Day!

A little late, but here are the cookies we made for a St Patrick's Day party!

We made some chocolate oreos with cream cheese filling and green shortbread with 'golden' sprinkles (okay fine they were yellow). Now I have way too much green food colouring left over. Hopefully it keeps until next year or everything featured on this blog will be green for a long while.

Is this pesto molding?

On Saturday we decided to have a quick pasta of pesto spaghetti. We roasted all  the veggies that we had been neglecting in the bottom of our fridge. The pasta had been boiling for about 5 minutes when I pulled the jar of pesto from the fridge.
Is this pesto molding? Mike and I deliberated. The part on the sides of the jar, near the lid, looked white. I assumed this was because the oil was slightly frozen. Further down the sides it got much darker. Was it just dry? Did the rest look fine? What if we just stirred it? Maybe we should try a bit before we ruin the pasta? Mike dipped a finger in and decided it was fine. I decided that if it took longer to conclude than a UN debate on the definition of 'gender' then we probably shouldn't eat it.
Good thing everything is ready and we have no sauce. To the mini food processor! I wheeled around the kitchen grabbing things that could be in a pesto. One clove of raw garlic, few spoonfuls of sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil), parmesan (mine comes from a can, sadly), fresh basil (okay fine, I only have dry basil. It`s March!), pine nuts (yeah I didn`t have any of those either), few tablespoons of olive oil. Blend. Add lots more olive oil when you realize you`ve made a paste, not a pesto.
Tah da!

It looks gross here. I probably should have taken a picture of it on the spaghetti, all glistening and such. Oh well. Also I would like to take this time to formally apologize to Mike for waiting for him to eat the jar pesto before declaring it unfit. Will you forgive me NOW? Yesh. Holds a grudge.

The Book

Once upon a time, all the recipes that I printed off the internet or wrote on scrap paper were folded up and stuffed between books on my bookshelf. Stellar organization. Not to mention, the only recipes that made it to the bookshelf were the boring ones. Any of the good recipes were destroyed in the process of cooking them. Either covered in batter or soaked in milk, they would be become paper mache that I would then scrape off the kitchen table. Enter-the recipe binder.

About a year ago I found a stash of old school supplies including a binder, dividers and plastic covers. The plastic covers are perhaps the most integral part, otherwise I would never be able to keep the recipes.
 The binder is still a work in progress. I need a bigger binder very soon but I want a cute one. The categories grow whenever I have a recipe that doesn't fit one of the existing categories.
I try to add all of the recipes that we have gotten from the internet, thought that doesn't always happen. I have a very bad memory for where I find recipes so if it's not printed, we're likely never to find it again.
We often add notes to each of the recipes. We include changes we have made and what we would do differently next time. This not only helps us improve the recipe but it also helps me remember eating it to. Comments like *Cauliflower-never again.* really help take me back to that soup. Live and learn I guess.