Oh that Sweet Smell . . .

I got to spend a little time today holding a 2 week old baby.

It was lovely.

I mostly spent my time inhaling that intoxicating aroma of New Baby.

It's hard to believe that something so tiny grows into this after about 12 years.

I never knew it was possible to love someone more and more with every passing year.

~b~

Photo Assignment

There is a house in Saskatoon that is hidden behind a brick wall.

Last week while I was driving past I noticed that the graffiti had been changed to scenes from Where The Wild Things are.  

Here are some of the scenes it depicts:

~b~

Fire Burning

Know that song by Sean Kingston called Fire Burning?

I just popped a bit of leftover blackened chicken into my mouth and my tastebuds started screaming the lyrics: fire burning fire burning

Careful, the blackened chicken's a bit spicy, or so my tastebuds tell me.  

This has been a public service announcement.

~b~

Blackened Chicken on Delicious Pizza Dough

My recipe debut on Tasty Kitchen is going well - I already have two reviews and two ratings of 5 oven mitts out of 5!

Last week I made Fettucini Alfredo and added blackened chicken on top.  The blackened chicken turned out great so I thought I'd make a pizza out of it.

First I made the pizza dough.  You can find my recipe on Tasty Kitchen.

Then I made the Blackened Chicken.

Here's the recipe:

1 Tbsp Paprika

2 Tbsp Sugar

1 1/2 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Thyme

1 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper

1 Tbsp Black Peper

1 Tbsp Garlic Powder

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbsp Water

1 Tbsp Cider Vinegar

2 chicken breast, halved

Combine the paprika, sugar, thyme, cayenne pepper, black pepper and garlic powder and rub into chicken breast.  In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, water and vinegar.  Place the chicken under the broiler for 2 minutes on each side.  Continue broiling and baste the chicken merrily as you go (about 4 - 6 minutes).  Slice the chicken diagonally and its ready for serving. 

I also made some bacon by cutting 6 pieces of bacon into 1/2 inch strips and frying them up, I drained off the fat to appease my conscience.

When the pizza dough was ready to go I smeared onion bbq sauce all over that dough.  

I then added diced tomatoes, red and green pepper slices, minced garlic and sliced sweet onion. And then it was time for the blackened chicken and the bacon.  I topped the whole thing with feta cheese.

 

Doesn't that look good?

After a little cooking in the oven I was left with this:

And it was fantastic.

~b~

Anonymity

Since I'm back in my city I've realized that how freeing anonymity is.

For me this translates into my photography.  While on vacation I think its natural to play the tourist and snap happily away.  My son started to call me a shutterbug.  But for some reason, here in the city I have more reservations about taking pictures.  

But I love taking pictures and I want to get better so I've given myself an assignment.  And it involves this children's story, which I have always loved to read:

So if all goes well I'm getting up near to crack of dawn and will have something to share with you later this week.  On the other hand, I may:  A) sleep in,  B) get hit by a car, or C) chicken out, and then I will have nothing to share with you later this week. 

 Let's hope its not "B".

Tasty Kitchen

The great Queen of the Blog-o-sphere, The Pioneer Woman has just started a new website called Tasty Kitchen.  Tonight I submitted my first recipe called Delicious Pizza Dough.  I got the recipe from a coworker and its probably the only recipe that I will use yeast.

Why?

Because yeast is so picky and Diva-esque.  

You have to mix it up a bit and then leave it alone to relax for at least 15 minutes.  Then you have to give it a massage until it feels just right.  And then you cover it up and let it relax in a quiet place.  And if your lucky and do it just right, it will rise and allow you to bake it.  

Anyway, if your are interested in cooking, blogging, kneading, or good recipes check out the website: Tasty Kitchen. You can also rate my recipe.  5 mitts out of 5 please!

I hope to make this recipe this weekend and I will definitely post a photo when I do.

Things I know about Maui and All Things Related

Today I'd thought I'd impart some of my useless knowledge with you.  Here goes:

Maui is an island.  The second largest in Hawaii, in fact.  Betcha didn't know that.  I didn't until I started writing this post, so I'm letting you know now.

The state fish of Hawaii is the:  humuhumunukunukuapua'a  Say that 5 times fast!  

humuhumunukunukuapua'a

humuhumunukunukuapua'a

humuhumunukunukuapua'a

oh, I quit.

Maui is a leading whale-watching center to watch the likes of our friends the humpback whale.

Maui is the birthplace of Sugar in the Raw (cane sugar) which seals the addiction to my daily dose of caffeine with a fine sweet kiss.

Maui is a cat.

Well, just a kitten still.  A small, cute, playful kitten.

~b~

Back in the City

I spent Saturday shopping at the Farmer's Market for some fresh produce for the upcoming weeks lunches.   The highlight was eating freshly picked peas, straight from the pod.  Yum!

After spending two weeks on the road I am looking forward to using a real kitchen and making my own food.  However, that didn't stop me from trying a few new things along the way.

Enzomada.  Some kind of Spanish sweet roll.  It makes an excellent breakfast.

Checking out Taste of Saskatchewan.

• Sweet Potato Fries and Chili Lime Dip (Picknic's)
  
• Pad Thai with Chicken (Spicy Garden)
  
• Buttertart Flambe (The Victorian)
  

~b~

Hairstyles of the Big and Brawny

Buffalo.

I learnt a thing or two about Buffalo that they don't teach you at school.

Mainly that those boys really like their hair.

While there were some more traditional hairstyles in the group, there were lots of individuals who stuck out.

The Buzz Cut

This edgy Buffalo was inspired by the rockin roll look of Dave Navarro, he even got his ear tagged, much to the dismay of his traditional and conservative parents.

The Conservative Parents.

His younger brother showed me where he wants to get his ear tagged, I guess its the thing to do if you are a young buffalo, living in the wild range of Custer National Park.

The Goatee.

You talkin to me??

The Mohawk.

The big shy guy in the back is sporting a pretty nice Afro, if you ask me.

The hairstylists are very popular and its hard to get an appointment.

In fact, some have even resorted to trying to budge in line and need to be put in their place, back at the end of the line.

I even managed to capture a picture of the elusive hairstylists, they are in hot demand around these parts.

~b~

Needles Highway

This is Needles Highway.  It's windy and twisty, has lots of tunnels and has lots of rock spires sticking out all over the place.  I didn't know this when I set out on my drive that morning.  I just thought the map had some interesting "markings".  This turned out to be tunnels.  and many signs that said things like "Falling Rocks" and "Sound Horn" as you enter into these one lane tunnels.  

We ended up stopping at the Needle Eye and spent some time wandering around.

The rocks above the needles eye reach 30 to 40 feet up, so we spend some time climbing about.  That is, until I realized how far up we were, and I immediately insisted my son quit climbing all those rocks. 

It was a hot day and the towering rocks blocked out the sun.  I felt like I was on another planet.

Driving through the needle.  It's only 3 feet wide.

~b~

Pronghorn Peril

The wildlife is a little different in the mountains than here on the Prairies.  I thought these cute animals were tail-less white tail deer.  

I was wrong.  They were pronghorns.

If I were to describe these seemingly docile creatures in three words that start with the letter P, I would say that these pronghorns are: petite, plentiful, and pretty cute.  ok, ok, four words, and one doesn't start with P, but it's my blog so I can do what I want.  It's the reason why I love blogging so much.

I love their petite bodies and spindly legs.

I love how their eyes bug out from the sides of their tiny heads, and look back at you with those long, long lashes.

I long how their long ears elegantly point upwards in an alert sort of way.

Even the boys were compact and held a nice small set of antlers atop of their tiny heads.

I laughed when I saw their funny rears, which don't really have a tail at all, but a nice patch of fur to round out their rumps.

Most of them looked curiously at me, politely wondering why I was so rudely interrupting their early morning grazing.

All was well as I happily took pictures of these beautiful creatures with my camera.

But . . . 

Then three troublemakers quickly emerged from the ditch.

They were the nefarious and notorious pronghorn sisters from the famous NNP gang.

They were lead by their equally nefarious and equally notorious leader, who is known as the ENENL.

Under the watchful eye of their leader, the ENENL, the dastardly pronghorn sisters quickly set out to create a road block.

And block it they did, only letting us go on our merry way after a lengthy negotiation process which involved the outrageous demands of the finest chewing grass South Dakota has ever known, along with an obsene amount of chewing gum, for some odd reason.

~b~

The Granary

I spent my first day back in Saskatoon and the last day of my vacation visiting many of my friends. 

In the evening I met up with a group of wonderful ladies at The Granary.  I thoroughly enjoyed their company, it has been a long time since we have all gotten together as a group.

We spent the evening catching up on each other's lives and reminicing about the past.

6 delicious ounces of sirloin steak with a half a pound of Alaskan King Crab.  

Need I say more?

It was the perfect evening to end the perfect vacation.

~b~

The Last Leg

This is how we spend the last leg of our road trip.  Where ever did the term "last leg" come from? I surely hope that when I get back home I return intact with both legs.  Well, and both arms and hands and feet for that matter.

Our fine home for 4 nights:

The Rafter J Bar Ranch.  Shady and quiet.  Fellow campers were in bed by 11 pm and up at the crack of dawn.  Quite the opposite than the loudness and lateness of Cornerstone, but the peaceful, serene surroundings were well needed.

 

Our backyard:

Exploring the backyard:

The big attraction, Mount Rushmore: 

What a gloomy day.  Little did I know that the gloom was foreshadowing things to come.

More to come, I'll try to spare you endless pictures of landscape scenes of rocks and mountains.  Perhaps I'll include my video: Bellowing Buffalo Blocks Road (or Bellowing Bison Blocks Road, as some of you know them as Bison).

Looking forward to returning home,

Becky

Sioux Falls

After a full day of driving we stopped at Sioux Falls for the night.

We managed to get a hotel with free Wi-Fi and a free continental breakfast, what more could  a girl want?  On top of this, we also got air-conditioning  ooh, electricity -ahhh, and even our very own bathroom with real plumbing and running water wow.  After roughing it for the last few days, I was in paradise.

There was a huge mall across the street from us, and a a Barnes and Noble close by.  The Starbucks down the street for me, and the Taco Bell across the street for my son was icing on the cake.  Sweet, sweet icing.

Did I mention the nice bed I slept in?  

We stayed for two days.

One of things Sioux Falls has is a little park downtown.  It reminded me a lot of Saskatoon's riverbank.  Except it was a lot cooler . . . 

because .  . . 

get this . . . 

Sioux Falls . . . 

has . . . 

. . .

WATER FALLS

wow - wasn't expecting that, were you?

Taking this  last picture atop the observation tower will always hold a special place in my heart.  The trip up to the top was very memorable.  You see, I kindly, or graciously, or stupidly indulged my son into taking the stairs all the way up to the top.  The many many stairs that never seemed to end and snaked their way around the elevator until we reached the top. 

pant, pant.  

Yep.  Very memorable, indeed.

~b~