happy birthday Amanda!

Amanda turned 14 today and her Auntie Kendra and I had the priviledge of hosting her birthday bash. Her Mom made the sweet balloon cake. Very fancy.

Happy Birthday Amanda!! Thanks for sharing your special day with us. You can come over anytime :)

Send us a postcard from New York okay?

here's to us

Right around Valentine's Day we like to gather the extended House of Mirth for some serious celebrating. Our usual tradition is to hit the Keg for steaks and toast every beautiful/ brilliant/ sexy man we have even known or ogled on a screen large or small. Needless to say, a good time was had by all. We toasted movie stars and a string physicist, past love and current love. As we like to put it we were just "appreciating the beauty and diversity of God's creation". Here's to good friends, here's to us.
(r-l: Monica, Kendra, Claire, RuthAnn, Ceone & Judy)

one month & also two weeks

Here's Corrina at one month. What a doll. I haven't met her yet but I'm pretty sure I'm in love.

In a just under two weeks I'll be heading to Winnipeg to see for myself and visit with her fabulous parents.

I was talking to a friend of mine today who used to live in Winnipeg. He said that early March is pretty well the coldest time of year. Coldest time of year FOR WINNIPEG. Only a face like this could get me to make a trip like that. I can hardly wait.

happy valentine's day

Happy Valentine's Day I trust everyone is feeling the love. Today I had something very unexpected for Valentine's -- an interview with a radio station! I received a call yesterday from WJBC AM 1230 in Bloomington, IL asking if I'd be willing to come on the air and talk about an article I wrote on How to Write a Love Letter.

I had a great time chatting with hosts Steve Fast and Beth Whisman and even got to judge a worst pick-up line contest. My choice: What's a girl like you doing in a nice place like this? (And no, you didn't read that wrong, it's a burn AND a bad pick-up line. Kindof appropriate that the winner received a prize pack from Budweiser.)

What a funny, funny world. I don't know which part of the day they're going to podcast but if it ends up being mine I'll post the link. And for anyone who's not feeling it today, here's one Valentine quote we can all get behind "Forget love, I'd rather fall in chocolate."

going down to meet the sea

The wind whipped the sea into a frenzy today and I went down to meet it. There's been a storm brewing for a few days and high wind warnings were issued for today. When I woke up this morning I could hear the wind howling and I knew I had to go and see it for myself.

It was incredible. The wind was so strong I had to pay attention to how I was standing to make sure I kept my balance. There were quite a few people down at the beach and almost everyone had a camera. The wind was playing something down there, I think it might have been the hydro wires but whatever it was you could hear it singing over the sound of the storm itself. It kept changing between three or four notes. I can see why sailors believed in sirens.

I am not a storm chaser, but there is a terrific beauty to the rawness of open water caught in a prevailing wind. The whole beach succumbed to it. The seagulls were grounded, all of the drift wood was mobile again. I'll have to head back after the storm clears to see if my favourite spot still exists.

Down by the pier the spray was going right up over the breakwater. I hope that the boats moored there are riding the storm well. Walking along by the old train station the waves were high enough and close enough to drench the boardwalk with each passing. I met a lady who was down there just trying to walk and she looked like she had jumped into the sea itself.

I had my fill and headed home to a hot shower and a latte and a cinnamon bun. As I got in the car I could taste salt water on my lips.

Update Sunday: This should have been posted Saturday but the power was out. Anyone know how to edit the date stamp on a post?

what's for dinner?

I cooked my very first roast tonight and it turned out so well I thought I'd photograph it and share the recipe. It took a little longer than anticipated but it was worth the wait in the end. And there are leftovers. (Even better, Safeway has roasts on for half price right now.)

Here's the recipe, originally from The Joy of Cooking. I've modified it a little.

Garlic-and-Herb-Studded Sirlion Roast

2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
several stalks of fresh rosemary
3lb sirloin roast

Thinly sliver the garlic, bruise the rosemary and combine together with salt and pepper in a small bowl. Make slits in the roast and insert the seasoned garlic slivers. Rub remaining seasonings over the meat, then marinate, covered, for up to 2 hours at room temperature or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 450 F.

After marinating, place the roast fat side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast uncovered for 10 minutes. Do not remove roast from oven but reduce temperature to 250 F and roast until a meat thermometer reads 145 - 155 F for medium. Approx. time 20-30 minutes per lb. (My roast took quite a bit longer to reach the right temperature but that might just be the oven.)

When desired temperature is reached, remove from pan and place on a carving board. Cover with foil and let rest for 15 minutes. Carve and enjoy! Serve with mashed potatoes and steamed veg.

For gravy I started with a package of Knorr's Demi-glace gravy mix. I replaced the water with the water I boiled the potatoes in, added the pan drippings (including rosemary and garlic from the roast) and finished it off with a heavy splash of red wine (I used Red Truck, a nicer wine than I would usually use for cooking, but it's what was open.)

Yummy yummy.