Not having a mom on Mother’s Day is like being newly single on Valentine’s Day.
You don’t want to be that bitter person… but you are.
You don’t want to resent other women for having a mom to love… but you do.
You wish you could stop feeling sorry for yourself … but you can’t.
Ask almost anyone what their favourite food was when they were a child, and chances are, they can give you an immediate answer. Because I love food and am indecisive, my answer would probably be a mixture of foods Momma DS used to make for me- grilled cheese, banana slices in milk for breakfast, Kraft Dinner, sliced cucumbers soaked in salt and vinegar, Chocolate chip cookies made so many times mom and I no longer needed to look at the recipe… and Mushroom Chicken Rice.
Of all the foods mom made for us, this one has remained both my brother’s and my favourite food that reminds us of our childhood. As well, this recipe is my go-to meal when I want plenty of leftovers for work lunches. (Ok, breakfast too. I love leftovers for breakfast!) Mom’s recipe was simpler than the 0ne I now use, but no less delicious. I’ve modified it over the years through trial and error, before finally settling upon this particular method.
I tend to eye-ball it when making recipes, but I will do my best to break everything down into measurable quantities.
Ingredients:
1 big-ass casserole dish. Mine is big enough to bake a chicken in. I don’t know the actual dimensions.
3 cups of Minute Rice (I never said this was fancy food!)
6 (or so) cans of Campbells Mushroom soup (I’ve tried no name brands, but don’t like the taste. If you have a canned version you prefer over mine, go nuts.)
A package of chicken thighs (6 or so?). My mom used chicken breasts, but I find then too dry for my tastes. Again, if you prefer white meat, feel free to substitute it in.
Salt, Pepper, Cayenne Pepper for a bit of heat.
Oven temperature: 350 or so.
Lets get cooking!
First of all, I was a dunce and bought chicken thighs with the bone in. If you did too, go ahead and carve those suckers out. 
Next, you’ll want to cook the rice. I usually make about 3 cups of Minute Rice.
(3 cups of rice, 3 cups of water, dash of salt and a little bit of margarine in the water.) I tend to add more rice than water so it comes out firm- that way, it will absorb some of the mushroom soup while baking. I usually add an extra handful, or about 3/4 cup.
While I am waiting for the rice to absorb it’s water, I cook the chicken. This was the first time I used chicken thighs, and I was pleased with how they turned out. It doesn’t matter if the skins are left on or off. I left them on just to experiment, but to make the dish a bit healthier I would remove them next time. Season the raw meat with a bit of salt n’ pepper, and fry then up in a hot pan greased with a bit of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) till they are cooked through. Remove from pan and set side.
To save doing extra dishes, I empty out the cooked rice into the casserole dish I plan to bake the food in, Using the now empty pot, I empty my cans of mushroom soup into it and heat the soup over medium until it starts to become hot and runny, stirring often so the bottom doesn’t burn. I don’t add water or milk because it isn’t necessary, and would only dilute the flavour. I season the soup-goop mixture with a dash of salt (1/2 a teaspoon maybe?), a bunch of black pepper and a generous shake of cayenne pepper to give the recipe a bit of kick, without being spicy.
Now is the time to add the rice back into the soup. I cook the mixture for a few minutes, just so it’s all mixed together.
I spray my empty baking dish with a light coating of cooking spray, and spoon in a small layer of the rice mixture till the bottom is covered.
Next, I layer the cooked chicken pieces around the dish, and cover it with the remaining soup/rice mixture. Sometimes I’ll add an extra can of mushroom soup to the top of the casserole to make it extra delicious- the soup looses some of it’s moisture while baking and turns into a nice, creamy sauce.
I put the cover on the dish and bake it at around 350 F for about 45 minutes- just long enough for
The rice to absorb some of the soup, but not so long that the edges begin to get crispy and dehydrated. You never want to cook it so long that the layer of soup on top evaporates- that top layer of soup is my favourite part.
Now it’s time to eat! This dish is so easy to make as a side or vegetarian- just reduce the proportions and leave out the chicken.
Enjoy!
We all asked it when we were children, or we really, really wanted to: How are babies made?
How does it work? He sticks what where?!?!
As a child I was fascinated by it all, and to my mother’s dismay, asked endless questions about peepee’s and weewee’s and whozits and whatzits galore (I also liked The Little Mermaid.)
My mother was conservative, but also a nurse and therefore believed it was better to answer the questions in a straightforward manner, lest I seek other more embarrassing sources for the questions that kept popping into my little head. Rather than describing things for my more visual-oriented mind, mom sat me down with a book instead. “Where Did I Come From” By Peter Mayle along with it’s companion, “What’s Happening To Me” became frequent sources of information for me growing up- I would read the descriptions of sex, ( One page reading, “By this time, the man wants to get as close to the woman as he can, because he’s feeling very loving to her. And to get really close the best thing he can do is lie on top of her and put his penis inside her, into her vagina.” left little to the imagination.) and look at the diagrams showing the stages of puberty in awe, feeling very enlightened for a 7 year old. Being let in on the big secret of the adult world opened the floodgates of my inquisitive mind. Did the man always lay on top? Did it always feel like “scratching an itch, but a lot nicer”? What happened after? How often did it happen? Did my parents do that? I never had “THE TALK” because the topic of sex and puberty was always open for discussion (In privacy, of course) with my mother.
This behavior on her part came from growing up in the 60’s with a cold-as-stone mother. Think Betty Draper, but instead of being the pampered wife of a New York Ad Executive, being the poor wife of an alcoholic farmer in the middle of nowhere. When my mom asked my Baba (Grandmother in Ukrainian) how she would know if she had gotten her period, Baba replied curtly, “You just will.” And the discussion was never to be brought up again. My mother never wanted her children to grow up distressed with unanswered questions and feeling shameful for having them in the first place, like she was made to feel.
Now I ask, how did you learn about the birds and the bees? And if you have children of your own, how have you dealt with their questions?
The Lovely MissLinda just posted a link to access to old version of Crosstalk- not only can you see it, but it actually works! Continue reading
… on Lifehacker . How appropriate.
There isn’t really anything new here that most of us have not already learned throughout the day, but it’s better than nothing.
Update: It looks like things are back to normal. But it was fun while it lasted in that, getting-drunk-and-saying-things-you-would-never-say-in-the-light-if-day way.
- Hey.
- I’m not a lumberjack, or a fur trader, and I don’t live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dog sled, and I don’t know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada, although I’m certain they’re really, really nice.
- I have a Prime Minister, not a President. I speak English and French, not American, and I pronounce it ‘about’, not ‘a boot’.
- I can proudly sew my country’s flag on my backpack. I believe in peacekeeping, not policing; diversity, not assimilation; and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.
- A tuque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch, and it is pronounced zed: not zee – zed!!
- Canada is the second largest land mass! The first nation of hockey! And the best part of North America!
- My name is Joe!! And I am Canadian!
- … Thank you.
If this left you confused, or angry, you probably aren’t Canadian.
This was part of a series of Commercials released in the late 1990’s by Molson, the beer company. It prompted many spoofs and spin offs- it’s been a long running joke up here that Americans don’t know much about their neighbours to the north, a fact that both irritates and amuses. On one hand, as seen above, it can be fun to play up the stereotypes. There’s this understated sense of entitlement among Canadians that since we know more about you than you know about us, we’re just a little bit better. However, we would almost never admit it- that would be rude. As Canadians we seek our southern partner’s approval with almost an embarrassing eagerness (We’re just like you, honestly!), yet at the same time cast aside the idea that we are the same. We’re like the little sibling desperately wanting to be included with the older one, yet not wanting the fact to be pointed out.
I’ve been struggling with ideas for posts, trying to think of topics that I know quite a bit about. Then it struck me like a hockey puck to the side of my toque-covered head- I am among a select few Canucks here. Why not write about that?
So just like SiS asks for topics about science and then writes stories on that, I am asking this of you: What is something about Canada that you would like to know about? Politics, beer, our East vs. West mentality, marijuana, shopping, sports, culture, tv personalities, healthcare, differences between the American way and the Canadian way of doing thigns, how we survive 6 months of winter… you name it, I will do my best to talk about it. If I have no clue, I’ll try to figure it out. I can’t speak for the whole country, just my little neck of the woods.
(Disclaimer: I love you guys, I really do. I mean no offence to anyone and I am sincerely sorry if any has been taken.)
Made you look, didn’t I? 
I think we’re all suckers for spoilers, whether we’ll admit it or not. Deep down, we all love to learn new gossip, see sneak peeks and when video of a highly anticipated movie gets leaked, some of us immediately perk up (What? Where?!?!) and clickity-clack-clack (That’s the sound my keyboard makes, what about yours?) our way through the interwebs in search of the said juicy information.
I will shamelessly admit that I love spoilers. Love them. Can’t get enough. I also live in a country that does not prohibit downloading, though it is frowned upon.
Entire length of the Wolverine movie, sans some special effects, leaked? Watched it.
First 13 chapters of the 4’th Twilight book, Breaking Dawn, appears online? Read it.
So when the first 36 minutes of the Part 1 of the culmination of a series that has defined my generation gets posted, I do not hesitate to go in search of this video. Being a member of an exclusive and highly reliable site that provides these very things makes such quests easier to accomplish. The internet has allowed us to blur the line between right and wrong and get away with it, under the guise of anonymity.
Why? I have always been of the thought that if I was going to download and watch a leaked video, or read a leaked book, then I would then pay for the real thing when it became available. I went to see Wolverine a few weeks later with my friends, and I was at the midnight release of the Stephenie Meyer book to pick up my pre-ordered copy (I know, for shame!)… Just as I will go next week with my best friend, and pay to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in theatres. The first half hour was poor quality, but did little to quell my excitement- in fact, it made that much more excited. It started out with Harry and Voldemort… well, if you really want to know, I guess you’ll have to do some clickity-clack-clacking of your own or wait to see it in theaters- I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you.
(Besides, any true HP fan would have already re-read the book in anticipation of the movie, and would have a general idea of how it begins.)
What is your stance on all things leaked?
When one thinks of milestones in life, they may think of graduting college or getting married, perhaps buying a house or having kids.
I’ve accomplished one of those events, and while it was a significant event in my life, I find that the smaller, less momentous occasions are the ones that stick with me, and end up being just as defining in in shaping who I am.
One of those such small things is buying winter tires.
I have never bought winter tires before. I have not…
EDIT: WHAT THE HELL? I got part way through and decided I didn’t like how this was going, so I decided to delete it. Clearly that didn’t happen. Sorry guys….
So anyways, anyone have any winter tire suggestions? I’m buying some, and I don’t want to die on my wretched Canadian roads, so I need to get good ones.
