DUN DUN the first chocolate chip cookie!

Ok... I will say it. I Confess. I....Angie....Am a COOKIEHOLIC.

So i was watching an amazing movies i've watched like 10x over Stranger Than Fiction... And there is a baker in it who makes Will Ferrel chocolate chip cookies because he's never had a cookie that wasn't store bought before.

So i realized...I have made cookies before. Sugar cookies and gingerbread and such during the holidays. Most of my cookies are from a pre mix! But I have never, i repeat NEVER made the classic. Chocolate Chip cookies from scratch. Sure i've made the cut it off a loaf or just set the pre moulded out. But come on. Is it really the same? Does it have the same love?...well im sure it does have the same love cause you still took some time to make something special. So here we go. I looked up the most classic recipe I've heard of. The NESTLE TOLLHOUSE chocolate chip cookie...FROM SCRATCH!
You can thanks Phoebe Buffet for that one.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Directions: PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. I was so excited makin these that I didn't take any pictures of any of the mixture with the flower and chips or even a presentation shot! MY BAD!

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

I even made a big cookie i just patted down and shaped with the dough that was left after 2 sheets of cookies.

These were a little bumpy but MAN they were YUMMY! My girlfriend Holly and I made them together and ate them with milk during the scene from Stranger Than Fiction. Sometimes, its just fun to be a kid.

Bridesmaids News: First Edition

Well I'm ending a small week long wave of wedding fever! Boy that was a hard one hahaha.Anyways I've been meeting up with a few of my bridesmaids and also haven't seen one or two in a wee while. I was reading the ever fabulous and best magazine out there, Martha Stewart Weddings where I read a tip that suggested creating a Newsletter you would send to your bridesmaids every couple of months updating them on the progress. I thought this was a great idea for me to do (naturally with my own spin on it) and it helps buffer the time between now and when I can do the heavier planning. So I thought in today's blog I would introduce my wedding party and another fun thing or two.

My Leading Ladies

Big Sis!

Nikki is my big sister and my Maid of Honour. I was her maid of honour too and since she is married we have to call her the Matron of honour. This lady is going to have one easy ride!

Good Golly Miss Holly!

Holly is one of my best friends from college. She was also my college roomie and the very first person I talked to in class when i was the next chick who joined the program late. Yay Holly!

Holly is also a paramedic so I know im in good hands at my bachelorette !!!

The Other Sister!

Andrea is my other sister as we've known each other forever. Our moms were best friends in highschool and our dads went to college together. We consider each other family even though we have no blood relation. Andrea will be crafty help during the wedding countdown as she's just finishing school to be a teacher and knows all the fun stuff!

My Personal Papparazzi

Kristin is another of my best friends. We never went to school together but we did work at shoppers and superstore together. Kristin works in photography and is never without her camera! I know she'll be giving me albums worth of great pictures through the whole process! She can't control herself! :P

That's Choreography

Cassie is my 3rd cousin. But on my dads side I don't have any first cousins and so i just think of everyone as my first cousins. Cassie is also my Godsister so she was just meant to be in the party! Cassie is a sassy dancer so I'm hoping she'll show me how to pop a slide or sumn like that. haha

Flying Free Tenacious Lee

Melody is another of my best friends from college. Shes spunky! We were never roomies but we practically lived together for a little while there. Melody is my laptop buddy and she's always more than happy to see what i'm cooking for dinner. hee hee

The Tan Queen

Emily and I go all the way back to grade 9 which is going on 9 years now crazy! If you get us going we can quote most of high fidelity and dirty dancing in very weird voices. Emily is the Tanning queen and she best be helping me with my colour! lol.

I read a poem my mom wrote when she invited her bridesmaids over to work on wedding stuff in the 70's. I thought it was cute and so I wrote my own as a startup to the newsletter! So to end, I leave you with this...

We've gotten engaged and the wedding's next year
I'm told to look out, it'll quickly be here!
Will this year come and go so fast?
Already three quick months have passed
The ring i've got, and a date indeed
And now my dear friends help i'll need
To get this wedding on the go,
To marry Matt, I love him so!
I love so much and love is heaven
How many maids? Why, I've got seven!
The groom has surely followed suit
He's picked out his own seven brutes
Some you may know and some you will soon
You'll all be old friends by next coming june
My big sister Nikki can help with my dress
Will Kristin take pictures of all of the mess?
I've got Cassie to show me a dance move or two
And Holly? For freak outs, im counting on you!
With Andrea's help i'll be done in a jiffy
And Emily's tan smarts will help me look spiffy!
And last but not least, im hoping that Mel,
will help with the secrets and SHH please don't tell!
Thank you all for accepting our favour of you
you'll be in my heart always, it's really quite true!

mmm legumes

wow long time no blog! BLAME BLOGGER! talk about having tantrums! haha it took me weeks to get anything going! the lost drafts! the tragedy! i can hardly bare to think!



so todays recipe comes from my family. We heartily enjoy our thick italian soups (thick enough so lets call it a stew) and so thus par, here it is. My favourite winter night stew, our family recipe,

PASTA FAGIOLE!

This stew/soup is great for a winter night, a vegetarian day in your weekly healthy eating schedule, or hey, just a sweet ass comfort food packed with superfood goodness!


we always seem to serve it with homemade plain tomatoe pizza or bread. its easy, its done in an hour and its filling.

INGREDIENTS

1 tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 lg clove garlic, minced
1 large scoop of tomato paste (i put mine in spoonfuls in a container and freeze it)
1 can 3 bean medley, drained
1 can white kidney beans, drained (you can do 2 kidney if you dont like the mix)
6 cups hot water
2 tbs beef bouillion powder (bulk barn)
3/4 cup small elbow or shell pasta (flour or whole wheat)
salt
pepper
grated parmigiano or romano cheese


DIRECTIONS

turn water on to boil in tea kettle.

In a medium-large stock pot, saute onions in olive oil until just tender, about 5 minutes. add garlic and cook another minute.


Add tomato paste and stir until blended with onion, then add all beans. Stir for a minute.

Pour in all 6 cups of water (if it hasnt quite boiled yet, its not a real issue) and beef bouillion.


Cover and reduce heat to medium low and stir more than occasionally for 30 minutes or until water reduces and stew thickens.


Stir in the pasta and stir continually until the pasta is cooked through, about 8 minutes. **careful! i find my pasta sinks and sticks to the bottom if i dont stir lots! annoying but tasty!**


Serve with parmigiano and a bread or pizza you like to dip, ENJOY!

Be My Valentine

HEY ALL!

Been a while! I feel like such a bad blogger mommy. Tisk Tisk! I havent blogged any food in a wee while and don't worry! They are just around the corner!

This blog however comes with a little Romantic Spice! sssssizzle.

This is my VALENTINES DAY BLOG!

Now, Matt and I both work until 9 on wednesdays and since valentines day falls on a wednesday this year, we celebrated early.

A run down! This was our 4th Valentines together, and we dont really do presents much on this date. Or flowers or that jazz. We tend to just do something we dont do too often.

One year we were in London (ON) and Matt took me to see RENT. Another year we ordered a pizza and holed up in a hotel and watched cable. Another year we just went to a movie and i made dinner. THIS YEAR we had loads of fun!

We drove down to VAUGHAN and stayed in the COURTYARD MARRIOTT.

The sweet thing about the Hotel's location is that it sits in the middle of a busy busy fun zone! We were walking distance (and i mean just across the parking lot) to IKEA and places like DAVE N BUSTERS and boston pizza, mini putt and more.

A run through. We went out for the day and grabbed some falafel and chicken wraps at Extreme Pita. As you can see im content and excited for our journey! Matt, jack bauer resembled, is pumped! WE DONT HAVE TIME!

We hung out in the hotel, and i was very excited about the cool tub! I even took a picture of it so that you could see how fun it was to watch fill up! Its like a little waterfall!

After much lazing we worked our way out into the cold and walked over to IKEA, conveniently, a 3 minute walk across the parking lot. We did the usual walk through, discussing different ideas for the apartment we are building and getting really excited looking at all the different set ups. We bought our spice jars that i have been eyeing and oggling for over 2 years. I promised i wouldnt buy them until we were engaged if they still had them. They do still have them and thus far! HURRAH! hahaha.

After our jaunt through the furniture wonderland we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner reservations. We headed out to IL FORNELLO, an italian restaurant in richmond hill where they make stone baked pizzas and such. It was rather tasty!

I had an Amaretto Sour and Matt kept to the sober lane with a coke.

Bruschetta With Cheese, as a shared appetizer (which we found was 4 tiny crostinis but oh well)

Matt had the Spaghettini Primavera with grilled chicken and I had the Veal Marsala with fettucine.

We had some chocolate lava cake and tea for dessert! It was like eating harder pudding cake...twas delightfully sinful!

After that we headed back to the hotel with the intentions to go to Dave N Busters (the adult chuck e cheese) and found that the parking lot was very full and there was a lot of people cramming in. Instead we sat on our porch and watched people screw up driving their fancy cars in the parking lot.

We had ourselves a wee bath with some cherry strawberry wine (shhh secrets) and settled ourselves to sleep with a hotel ordered movie...the uber romantic...always funny, never boring, TENACIOUS D AND THE PICK OF DESTINY. hahaha.

The next day we sat in bed and watched OBAMA make his presidential candidate announcement, which was the first time in my life i was interested. If i was american i wouldn't hesitate to vote Obama for president. He said everything i have waited to hear a candidate say and he brought tears to my eyes!

We packed up, checked out and headed over to Dave n Busters where we had lunch. Now, I have been to Dave N Busters but matt never has. So that was fun!

Here is matt waiting at our table for his lunch, uber excited by his environment!

Here i am, also uber excited!

We played a bunch of games and had a blast being young adults! lol. It was tons of fun and we kept a card with our points on them for next time!

This Valentines Day gets a rating of 10 stars of 10!

I love you matty, thanks for a great weekend!

a stroll through our future home

Matt and I took a walk along the 3 acre property we will be moving onto when we get married next year. It was really quite pretty and we found there was even more forest and trail on the property than we originally realized. One of the best things we found was a wooden gazeebo and a fire pit. I had my camera with me so we snapped some shots. Since i rolled out of bed and got in my car i wasnt all primped.




Matt however looks hot all the time so... his pictures are better.

I was bored so i played around with the focus and stuff...I dont care if you dont think its cool, cause i do lol. lol. lol.

bridemaid dress ideas

ok ladies here it is. my number one running dress. i love the shade of green, i love the dress pattern. Very close to what i was originally working toward! Basically, i would kill for this exact dress and shade...did i save the clipping properly...no...did i lose the info on where to get these dresses....yes...so...lets see if i can or cant convince my aunt to do them for me...
I've always liked green, never LOVED IT...i dont need to over accessorize the green...though slowly i have been finding i have a green phone, fluke...green purse..fluke...and a favourite green sweater...also fluke. 2/3 of those bought and chosen for me.
But now i loveeee it...non caps...cause its up there with purple, pink and blue. So green has moved into my "i like it so much that i still cant pick a favourite colour" catergory! yay yay!

Take that ladies!

It's Set!

Well...im in the end of my second week as a fiance and i am tired! hee hee hee. I am pleased to say that we set a date!!!!

JUNE 7th, 2008!

I am feeling nostalgicly bride like so my movie choice of the week for feeling warm and cozy is...

FATHER OF THE BRIDE!

I booked my hall, The Renaissance Parque. My dad went to high school with the owner and they have mutual friends a business partners, so i know i can trust them to do a good job. I feel like Matt and I are getting a little bit of Royal Treatment and i can't say i don't mind :P He gave us a total deluxe open bar and a room for 500 people as long as give him 280 ppl. Most people would ask for like 400...so yes...great guy!

We also got first choice at Saint John's Crystostom RCC, and the priest marrying us also baptised Matty. So that is nice! And the man is sooo nice and reallly funny. The good old fashioned funny. They were very nice to meet with and lucky us they aren't too strict on how often we come to church. We have to go often enough but we dont need numbered envelopes they keep track of. My sister had that unfortunate situation where her angry irish catholic priest made them go every week and donate 20 bucks each time and then gave them no choice in their ceremony type. We got the choice of old or new, and hands down we chose THE OLD WAY. Because the church is trying to shed their reputation for treating women like commodities in the old days, they have instated a new ceremony. The Bride and Groom walk down the isle first, hand in hand. Then the mothers follow, then the fathers, then the maid of honour and then the following party. So my father had to watch his first child walk down the isle...from behind!

Well it pissed me off so..i refused to do it. Luckily this church let us choose. There is no pressure to be any certain way and its making me feel more comfortable with rejoining the church. God knows I've had my issues with it! The church itself is pretty too! In an effort to pass the next year as fast as possible I am thinking about even joining fundraisers and stuff the church may have... I loved doing that stuff in school so it may be nice to do once in a while. We missed our Childrens Aid Christmas Gift deliveries this year and I need my dose of community service!

Dare me to put my bridemaids in a dress like this? I wont but it gives me a base!

Matt's timing for his proposal worked out well! We realized the big bridal show was being put on in Toronto the week after! (which was last week)

I was very excited to go, but promised myself to remain calm. Kristin, one of my bridemaids and my Aunt Anna came with me and Kristin turned herself into a handy dandy pamplet taker and bag carrier. The woman wouldn't let me carry anything! I LOVE YOU KRISTIN! hee hee. I wasnt overtly impressed with the actual place...it was cool for what it was but i wasnt like WOW! IM IN BRIDAL HEAVEN! I was looking forward to seeing colour ideas and stuff to that effect. Instead i walked around having pamplets handed to me every 30 seconds and i wrote out my name and address and email down like 20 times. The fashion show was fun to watch even though none of the dresses were the type i would get but hey hey! Still fun to watch. They were handing out everything from huge planners to magazines and cheesecake flavoured lubricant! serious! When i got home I emptied out my free william ashley bags like it was halloween candy! The picture doesn't really do the amount of papers i had justice! They look like small piles but most of the piles have at least 20 pamplets!

Soon I will be booking our photographer, scoping out a dj and getting my bridal binder going!

Holy Hannah i cant believe how much i wrote! sorry people!

Now im very sleepy and i think i should go to sleep! Tune in next time for a cheesy yummy throwback mac and cheese!

Going To The Chapel...

Hey Blogger world!

An announcement if i may...though i promised previously that post christmas would bring many a blogs with cookies and presents and fun. Due to facebook, i already uploaded the story...and so thusly i will post at a later date. Something else is new, and it just couldn't wait for me to hold off any more blogging entires!

la...

IM ENGAGED!

yay yay yay yay yayyyyyy!

hee hee hee. so, that being said...perhaps a short synopsis!

Matt and I have been together for 3 1/2 years this month. He's my best friend and my absolute favourite person in the universe. We are with each other every day and have over the years built an incredibly strong relationship!

that is my little super serious blurb!

HOW IT HAPPENED!

Matt and I hated this year, it sucked royal ass. Lots of crazy, (and i use that term fully) and tragedy. When midnight was counting down we were standing in the family room of my home, surrounded by a bunch of our close friends. The count down went off and i yelled a loud, excited goodbye to 2006. I shared a midnight kiss with Matty, and then everyone was giving me new years hugs. The phone rang and matt got on the phone with shane. Once matt got off the phone i was standing in the middle of my kitchen. He took my hands and he asked me

"do you want to start this year right?"

When i said yes, Matt dropped down on one knee and pulled the ring box out of his pocket. He asked, "Angela D******" will you marry me?" to which i let out a slightly drunk but really excited, happy, almost gonna cry "yeeeessssss!", and on the ring went. There was kissing and hugging, and then i realized that the whole party was watching and i couldn't cry anymore cause i was suddenly shy...

the phone rang 2 more times, i had 2 more conversations, called my mom and THEN everyone got to give me hugs and kisses.

Chantilly and Trevor were over, and they too recently got engaged! Here we are excited to be brides!

I have been planning like a nut bar all week...but i am very proud of what a calm little bride i am. I havent fully booked anything but everything is well underway and my hall is reserved!

I am taking it easy, mostly reading magazines and perusing the internet for ideas. Im stretching it out, and doing it well. You only get to do this once! Matt is very involved, coming to the halls and looking at everything online. He's really cute! Aww, Matty.

So yes there will eventually be a christmas post...but heads up. this blog may be BRIDE CENTRAL for a little while..., We are getting married on June 7th, 2008 so that gives me 16 months of blog material on top of my usual endeavours....

SOO IN LOVE!

Broccoli soup, i love you!

Hey all! im back from the small blogger hiatus. (sp?) I willl do a christmas blog pretty soon, but on the future forecast, so many food blog...many many. And perhaps a movie review for "Tenacious D and The Pick of Destiny"!!!!

I am a sucker for broccoli cheddar soup. I LOVVVEEE IT and i really need to cut down on my dairy and fat intake. I've going to try a few new brocooli soup recipes, and i started with this one! The recipe is Michael Smith (Chef @ home) and it was GOOOOOD. There's no cream, not too much cheese or sodiums, its awesome.

On top of that, for christmas i got the RACHAEL RAY 5 Quart CAST IRON DUTCH OVEN and yay yay! I used it for the first time today!

you cant read it well, but thats the rachael ray label on the lid.

*~ Deliciously blue and oval!~*

So without any more delay, Michael Smith's

Broccoli Potato Soup!

· 3 tbsp olive oil
· 3 onions, peeled and chopped
· 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
· 6 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock or water
· 2 large potatoes, peeled and grated
· 1 head of broccoli, stems cut into chunks and florets reserved
· Salt and pepper
· A large pinch of nutmeg
· 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1. Place a 4 quart pot over medium-high heat and add oil.
2. When it's hot, add onions and sauté until they have softened.

3. Add garlic and continue to sauté for another minute. Add stock, grated potatoes and broccoli stems.

4. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until they are tender and potatoes have broken down.

5. Add nutmeg and adjust seasoning and puree with an immersion blender or in a food processor.

6. Reheat soup prior to serving and add reserved broccoli florets and cheddar cheese.

7. Simmer for about 5 minutes, until cheese has melted and florets are tender and bright green. Serve hot.

IM SORRY

HI BLOGGER WORLD!

I am dropping you a line to let you know i have not blogged much lately... i know....

Its tough keeping up with this blog, my niagara family blog AND facebook! yeah...i will openly admit it here and now...i am a facebook whore....

That is all i really had to say, as i don't have much time. Christmas is fast fast approaching and i have been living in my loft wrapping presents for 2 days already. I will take a picture of the destruction.

Soon there will be so many entries about Christmas you will want to hit me! so for now, enjoy the small break.

I leave you with a cute picture to cheer you up! not that anyone really reads this...

love,

Angie

Hurrah for Drunken cookiedom

MATT SAYS MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hey all! WOW! Christmas is fast approaching and after a KICK ASS saturday evening with some of my closest dearest friends, i am feeling an amount of refresh after a truly shit-tastic month and a half.


We drove down to Trenton for saturday and decided to make our way to PARIS ONTARIO to see my wonderful Niagara Family, Marky, melody, James, Holly, Trevor, Andy, Gigi and Baby Keegan.
We were celebrating Christmas (and thanksgiving...late) at marks house! We got there late in the evening as we were attending Matt's Grandfather's Funeral. (yes...we seriously had another close family member pass away this month)

James, Melody, Holly and Mark

But when we got there it was good times. My arms were stuffed with all my christmas cookies and presents, and Holly prepped a big dish of leftover turkey dinner for us. It was DELICIOUS! Holly was very proud of her Turkey, whom she affectionately named SKELETOR...???...

Keegan is only 2 so after a half hour of cuddles and laughs with him, Gigi and Andy headed home. Also, i got lots of yummy news!

For one, Gigi is expecting their second baby!

CONGRATULATIONS GERALDINE AND ANDREW!

And second, Trevor Proposed to Chantilly! YAY!

CONGRATULATIONS TREVOR AND CHANTILLY!

Cant wait until august, cause thats when the baby is due AND when the wedding is! Talk about one fun end to the summer! (yay barn wedding yay)
Anyways, the night was grand. we ate we drank, we laughed and jumped around. A little present exchange and some extra laughs. I got a new 7" santoku knife from chantilly, my secret santa. I can't wait to quick chop some potatos! And Chicken! HUZZAH! Matt got Rummoli and dirty playing cards with a blond chick dressed up in various outfits. including a carebear, strawberry shortcake, her cherry friend, alice of wonderland, and yes, even RAINBOW BRITE. love em they are so funny.

James and Melody, excited about their presents!

ANYWAYS!


We watched just friends and then decorated a bunch of the cookies i brought with me. It was hilarious, i wont rattle on about it. But it was funny...

Once we were all falling off to dreamland matt and i slept on a couch in the basement. But we moved the coffee table up and covered it in 4 blankets...making a sort of cot. I sletp half on the couch and half on the table...i wont say it was comfortable...but my back doesnt really hurt too much, and i was pretty comfy for MOST of the night. i'de do it again if i had to.





The next morning we all woke up around the same time, and lazed about chit chatting and goofing off until we smelt bacon and his parents called us up for breakfast, SWEET! we discovered a breakfast feast! THANKS YOU GUYS!

After more chilling and laughing and our general goofy selves, matt and i headed home for my mom's family christmas. Thats all. dont know how long i rambled...

Later in the week: The unfortunate gingerbread house and the annual christmas movie and cookie day.