sunday brunch: bubble & squeak.

during the christmas holidays, my boyfriend jamie oliver ran the sweetest series called "jamie's family christmas". from the comfort of his stunning english cottage, he had his family & friends help him make some of his favourite festive meals. his home was perfectly decorated, the series was beautifully filmed, and really inspiring, filled with lots of british comfort food classics. one of the meals that really stood out, was jamie's "boxing day bubble & squeak", first because of how delicious it looked, and second for the name. so i did a little research, and learned that "bubble & squeak" is a traditional english meal, made from leftover vegetables and basically whatever the hell you want. conveniently, we had some friends over for the best roast dinner paulie has ever made the night before, and had everything we needed to give this recipe a whirl. we tweaked jamie's recipe just a wee bit, and voila. enjoy.

how we do: amanda & paul's sunday brunch bubble & squeak

{serves 4. even though there was only 2 of us.}

prep time: 15 minutes

cook time: 45 minutes

eating time: done before your coffee

you will need:

olive oil

1 pound of leftover mixed veg

1 pound of leftover potatoes

8 strips of bacon

8 breakfast sausages

3 medium sized tomatoes

4 large free range eggs

salt & pepper

*throw the 'young the giant'  album on while cooking. good brunch making music i feel.

make yourself a cup of coffee already.

 heat your oven to 450°. in a large oven-safe skillet or frying pan heat up a nice amount of olive oil. add you mixed veg to the pan, and tamp it down with a potato masher. we had carrots, red peppers, asparagus, red onions and mixed shrooms that had been roasted in salt & pepper, and topped with a splash of balsamic vinegar, but you can use whatever blows your hair back. on top of your veg, add the potatoes. we had leftover roasted garlic mash, but roasted or even scalloped potatoes would be equally delicious. tamp the potatoes into your veg, until it's evenly incorporated and your mix is covering your entire pan. the point of this step is to create almost a "hash", that will crisp on the bottom and sides, and give you a crust. let this do it's thing for around 25-30 minutes, pressing it down every once in a while.

while the veg is frying, you can get your sides ready to rock. lay out your bacon and wieners on a non-stick baking sheet, and pop it in the oven for 10 minutes. we had never cooked bacon in the oven like this before, and loved the way it turned out--crispy, less greasy and a lot less messy. once cooked, pull them out and lay them on some paper towel.

with your oven still hot, core and half your tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt & freshly cracked pepper. my favourite part of breakfast or brunch is always having a side of tomatoes. fried with your scrambled eggs or just fresh and seasoned, i like having a lighter side with such a greasy meal. pop these in the oven for 7-9 minutes, or until soft.

at this point your potato and veg mix should be perfect, so tamp it down flat, and use the back of a soup spoon to make 4 little evenly spaced pockets. crack an egg into each one, and put the entire pan in the oven along with your tomatoes. the eggs will take about 10 minutes to cook them sunny side up.

are you so hungry you could eat your pets?! i was. but come on, look at them! especially india. 
she has become quite the full figured girl over the winter.

a little hot sauce, a mug of coffee (or a mimosa. or 2. or 3) and you are bubblin' & squeakin' for the rest of the damn day. 

thanks jaime. you're more than just a pretty face with the cutest speech impediment i have ever laid eyes (and ears) on. 

happy sunday.

happy fuckin' friday: marchstagrammin'.

i have been a busy little instagram bee! trying to stay creative when you are given such a simple task is the hardest yet most fun part of the 'march photo a day challenge'. choosing whether to interpret the item assigned for that day literally, ironically or creatively can change the entire outcome of your photo, and i like that. i think the best shots that have come out of this little challenge are the ones that are taken simply, and in the moment. if you're participating in the challenge too, i hope you are able to step outside of that little square display screen on your iphone or camera, and are looking at the world from a fresh perspective.

keep snappin'.

ps-happy fuckin' friday!

{from left to right} a smile. your neighbourhood. something you wore. window. 5pm. fruit. up. bedside.

first comes love, then comes marriage, then my uterus tries to exit the building.

in the wake of my turning another year older, i have been inundated by a question that seems everyone in my life wants me to answer: when are you and paul having a baby? normally the question is presented in a polite manner: "do you want to have kids right away? are you and paul trying yet?", and as much as i appreciate that it's on the minds of my friends, family and colleagues, translated literally, "are you and paul trying yet?" means "is paul frequently tapping that ass without a one-piece overcoat?". and i don't know how i feel about that. is it appropriate to ask non-newlyweds if they are getting down and dirty on the regular, sans protection? something tells me no. no, it's not.

now if i would have been asked even a year ago if i wanted to have kids, i would have told you that there was a better chance of throwing myself down the stairs before getting knocked up. i actually can't remember ever wanting to be a mom. even when i was little, i can remember 'playing house', and never wanting to be the mom-i preferred being the kid, or the student, even the pet cat. but over the last year, specifically the last six months, i have changed my tune. it's like my hormones have shifted and it sparked my maternal clock to stark ticking. at first i could shut it up with a glass of wine, but the wine now has reverse effects...the more drunk i get, the more i find myself talking about having a baby. i've even caught myself asking paul the same questions everyone is asking me "well, are you going to tap my ass or what?". just last week paul came downstairs to find me bawling my eyes out in front of the tv, watching tori spelling (who i love) give birth to their third baby:

paul: "um. are you crying?"
me: "wahhhh! i want one"
paul: "you're fucked"

these conversations make paulie an awkward little boy, even more so than he already is, if you can believe it. he doesn't ever seem to say when he wants to start a family, he just says "when it happens, it happens". the truth is, we could get pregnant today, and he would be happier than if the jays won the world series--and  for paul, that is really fucking happy. i see how he interacts with kids and animals...and i like the way they are drawn to him and his kind, sweet nature. if he's in a room with either, you can bet your ass, they are all over him. i want to be the mama to his babies, i want to see him hold a wee paulie in his arms (we're only having boys. 3 of them).

so why the hesitation to get off the bench and onto the field? because i'm scurred! shitless! 

we can't be the only friends in our group avec baby! there's only a handful of us who are married, never mind being two steps ahead of the game. i know, i know, what a pathetic excuse to put my life the next step on hold, but i really want to enjoy that part of my life surrounded by the people i love. have kids that are the same age, that can grow up together and develop the kind of friendship i have with my friends. i want more "paul and amanda" time to do our thing. shallow? maybe. selfish? sure.  the truth? 100%.

for now i have come up with a list of things i will say when asked "are you trying yet?". 

so if i pull any of these out on you, don't be alarmed.

"unfortunately, paul has no testicles."

"kids are in our 15 year plan."

"i'm allergic."

"can't. i'm totally barren."
 

side note: when i do get knocked up, i will own this t-shirt.

pretty birthday things.

i think i said "i'm spoiled" about 84 times this weekend. make that 85.

the birthday festivities started off with a thoughtful little gift from paulie; a macro lens for my camera, saying "i thought you might want it so you can take nice close up pictures for your blog. i know you like doing that". this melted me. i don't know why, it just did. i don't need expensive jewelry (although i'd take it) or fancy perfume (i'd take that too) to make me feel like i'm spoiled rotten, my man knows the shit that's gonna turn my crank. on top of the lens, he signed me up for a 'canon camera' workshop at a local camera shop. it's only for a few hours, but i think it will help me learn some of the terminology and functions that i have avoided learning since we got the camera over a year ago. 

i just want to be able to pick it up and do my thing, but i guess a little education never hurt anyone.

he also took me to east for sushi, where i was able to cross off another item on my 30 by 30 list. i was a little apprehensive about trying it, but once i smashed the first piece in my mouth, i couldn't stop. from shrimp tempura to salmon sashimi, i was loving all of it. my favourite was their 'king of fish' roll, which was avocado and asparagus with salmon. because we had never tried sushi before, i didn't want to lead on that we were newbies, so we watched how everyone else ordered and ate their dishes. the couple next to us mixed their wasabi right into their soya sauce, which absolutely blew my brains. of course i copied and could not get enough of it. i could put that little combo on anything. steak? sure. pasta? fuck yes. i'm drooling. once we were stuffed to the point we had become "rolls" ourselves, we headed to "the office" for some after dinner drinks--including a dirty martini with a fly in it. hell, i asked for it dirty.

 now, you know how you have that one friend who always seems to top the last present they bought you? whether it was for christmas, or your birthday...or just because they saw it and it made them think of you, they always manage to find a gift that makes you say "this is so me. this is perfect". it just so happens that all of my friends are that kind of friend. for reals. and it was never more true than on this birthday. with a house full of my favourites, we busted out a 'dance central' pre-party, a couple of cocktails, the yummiest homemade cake pops and a few of the prettiest gifts. bottles of wine (my fave), sticky notes for listing (also my fave), a beautiful book of crochet gift ideas "so you can cross off #9 on your 30 by 30 list and make us all gifts" and a mirror made up of hand mirrors for my dining room. i said i was spoiled. 

we ended the night with a quick trip to the casino for some gambling and dancing. which both ended quickly as no one hit the jackpot, and the cougars at the bar in the casino were burning holes through us with their skeeving eyes. come on ladies, we aren't all after your prospective man meat. if all my birthdays could be this special, i wouldn't hate every minute of getting older. 

but we all know what they say about "ifs": if!? if!? if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.

happy fuckin' friday: i'm the birthday guuurrrl.

today i turn 28. there, i said it. yes, it hurts.

i want to be 5 again.

i want to run around naked.

i want to take naps in the middle of the afternoon.

i want to say whatever i like and not get in trouble for it.

i want a sippy cup of my favourite juice permanently in my little hand.

paul would tell you i still do all of these things on the regular, only my sippy cup is now a wine glass of "grape juice".

and when i run from upstairs to the laundry room downstairs naked, with no blinds on any of our windows, it makes him a crazy person.

now that i think about it, 28 ain't all that bad.

where's my sippy cup?