I remember being at a get together at a friend's home when I was younger. The mother had brought out tarts and some other chocolate desserts and we were so excited. My friend squealed with delight "I love these!" as she pointed to the butter pecan tarts. I had never seen or eaten a butter pecan tart at that point so I wondered whether I should go with the chocolate or try the tart. The tray was making it's rounds around the room, with her mother saying "you only get to choose one!"

Being swayed with my friends pure delight about the tarts, I nervously chose the tart over the chocolate dessert. I assumed it was chocolate tasting since the center was dark. I was imagining a sweet, warm chocolate center surrounded by yummy pastry. Boy, was I wrong.

I bit in and it was sugary sweet but not chocolate tasting at all. I didn't even know what caramel was at that time. I was disappointed. And then I felt the hardness of the pecans between my teeth. I hated nuts when I was younger. I tried hard to swallow down the bite I had taken, saddened that I didn't go for the chocolate dessert and now it was too late since we were only able to have one dessert.


And since that day, everything is second to chocolate. I will almost always pick a chocolate dessert or nothing at all. Over the years, I've grown to like fruit desserts (it helps when you have 2 apple trees in your yard) but you likely will never see my reach for anything caramel-like or otherwise. Especially butter pecan pie.

My husband enjoys his caramel-like desserts and made this butter pecan pie, and he replaced most of the sugar with splenda (I don't like complete substitution because I can really tell the difference in taste - you can use all sugar, if you wish). He made jokes of "more for me" when I tried to deter him from making it, swaying him to more of a chocolate-like dessert.

However, my tastes are slowly changing again. It was a tasty dessert. The four of us all ate our slices without a complaint. But, in the back of my mind, I had that thought, like when I was a little kid, that I wish it was a chocolate dessert.

Some things never really change I guess.

...

butter pecan pie

*1/2 cup brown sugar
*1 cup splenda
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp maple extract
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup milk

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup pecans

Combine the first 8 ingredients into a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and whisk until everything is dissolved. Take off heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes..

Mix the eggs. Slowly pour milk/cream mixture into beaten eggs.

Put pecans in pie shell. Pour mixture into a homemade or store bought pie shell.

Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes. Place on rack to cool for 30 minutes. Serve.

* You can use 1.5 cups of sugar instead, if you prefer not to use sugar substitute.

It's snowing here.

I can't believe it.

The orchids on my dining room table are looking saddened too. Thought I'd share them with you, if you are unfortunate enough to be also looking outside at falling snow.

A friend brought me this orchid for my birthday some weeks ago and they are still alive and bright. It's funny, it's the only potted plants/flowers we have in our house. We have 2-3 of them. They are very easy to take care of, not needing to be watered often at all. Good thing, since we seem to kill everything else. Except for herbs. I have a windowsill of herbs and they mostly manage to survive but that's because I see them several times a day, and I snip them when I need them in my cooking so it reminds me to take care of them.



Next week I'll take some pictures of my herbs. I have oregano and sage on my windowsill already but we also started some basil and mint, alongside some other vegetable seeds. I'm hoping they will come out of the soil soon.

Not that we can plant them in the garden anytime soon though.

sigh.

We had an abundance of cranberry and grapefruit juices, so I looked around for a drink that might incorporate each. Couldn't exactly find one but this one came close. Though I'm not a big cooler fan, this wasn't too bad. A bit sweet for me but it goes down easy enough. I'd make it again. It would be really great on a hot summer day, hanging out with friends in the back yard. If that day ever comes...

...which leads me to this...


Yes, it's the first day of spring. While others in the world have flower buds coming in, I've got icicles. It's getting there but I really wish spring would hurry up!

I took my kids to the Science World today and was wondering why the heck there seemed to be so many kids wearing green.  I finally figured it out.

We got into Banff and I was flat out on my back. I have an old work injury that gets re-hurt every couple of years and it results in me being pretty much bed-ridden. What joy I tell you.

Rotating advil and tylenol, to ease the pain, I am bored of watching tv and am getting hungry. I peruse the Rocky Mountain Room Service and find a menu for pizza from a place called The Smashed Tomato.

I instantly laugh. The thing is, my daughter often runs after her brother, saying "I'm going to smash you like a tomato". Isn't that strange? AND she had asked me for pineapple pizza the other day. This was a no brainer, I HAD to order from them.

We've been away, enjoying the beautiful scenery of Banff. Unfortunately, we ended up with really cold weather. We left Edmonton with frigid -32 celsius and it slowly warmed up in the week. slowly.

This week we celebrated my birthday and I woke up to this!!  Crepes suzette, with nutella inside each crepe. Chocolate and oranges go so well together. You'll find the recipe after the jump.

We also went out to dinner to the The Lingnan. I was craving some "crack chicken". You know what that is if you actually eat out at  Chicken for Lunch or watch the Family Restauraunt: The Quons on the Food Network channel. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take pictures of the food. I was so hungry when it came, I just dug in. I'm lucky I got leftovers too.  Instead, I leave you pictures of the funny looking fish in their aquarium, me and the kiddos were mesmerized by them...