Category — Food

I’m a day late with this post, but after I explain why, you’ll understand…

I got braces again yesterday!

Yes, you read that correctly. Almost 20 years ago to the month that I had them the first time around, I got some orthodontic braces put on my bottom teeth. My first go around was when I was 14, and my teeth were all straightened out. But as we age our teeth do move, plus I tend to clench my teeth when I’m stressed, so you can imagine what happened 20 years later. I would have actually just left them if it was only the bottom that was getting all crooked again. But since one tooth was now affecting an upper tooth (my front tooth, if you must know), I was getting annoyed at having them go all cock-eyed. So about 18 months ago I asked my dentist about it, and he said that he could definitely put some on there to fix it all up again.

Since most insurance plans only cover dependents under 18 years of age for orthodontic work, I started saving my beer money…and after 14 months, finally had enough for partial payment. My dentist requests one-third up front, and the rest monthly, so I was all set! I went in on Monday to have them put on.

And wow, was he fast! He did it in 35 minutes, which I thought was impressive. Of course as a teenager I had them on both top & bottom, and with the perspective of a teenager, it seemed like it took all day to put them on. In reality it was probably only about 2-2.5 hours, but you know how things seem to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r when you’re 14. But this went super-quick, and I was in and out in 45 minutes. Already within 10 minutes I felt my teeth starting to move, and by this morning (24+ hours later) I must say I am definitely having second thoughts.

My teeth HURT. It’s that dull ache that you can’t really do anything about, you know? Plus everything I eat is too hard. So I stopped off at the grocery store tonight and picked up $34 worth of liquid-y type of food stuffs. And no, before you ask, none of that was alcohol. I got:

• yogurt
• yogurt drink
• breakfast shake mix (on sale, no less!)
• 6 cartons of ready-made soup
• another package of perogies (they’re mushy, so I figured they were good.)
• crackers for the soup
• mini-shots of V8 (those are the teeny tiny cans)

I would have just made my own soup, however these were on sale, so I went with those instead. Especially because I’m not in the mood to do any cooking this week. But I wanted to make sure that while I’m not eating as much as I normally eat, that I get all my vitamins n’ such, you know?

One other good thing about these braces, aside from the eventual straight teeth, and the fact that I’ll only have these one for 6-7 months, is the fact that I’ll only have to go in for an adjustment every 6 weeks, which is great! That means that I’ll only be in pain like this for 3-4 days every 6 weeks, which is good.

In a couple of months I’m going to go back and get the retainer for my upper teeth, to shove that one back in. Thankfully I don’t have to get braces up top as well, but just the retainer.

So right now I’m having serious flashbacks to life as a 14-year old, and keep thinking that I’m wearing a mouth guard or something. My bottom lip is starting to get all sore from the brackets (thank god they’re not as huge or sharp as they used to be!) and I’m already getting better at talking funny.

There you have it, Retro Mondays: the Return of Braceface! hahahahaha

Look, it’s the first true sign of winter! Clementines! Okay,  maybe that’s not the first true sign, but it my mind it is. It’s one of those things that just signal winter, Christmas and good food. As I always hate the descent into winter, a sunny clementine is a great thing to brighten up any day. I peeled into my first ones just this afternoon, and my hands now smell all citrus-y. Mmm…

For months I have been pondering the issue of why coffee I make in my little imported Italian espresso machine tastes vaguely burnt. It’s not bad, just a little off. I even asked my zia Lelia in Italy to see if she had any suggestions, which she did, but I had already tried those, to  no avail.

Last week there was some Kicking Horse coffee on sale at the grocery store, and feeling in a “fair trade” kind of mood, I bought it.  I had rescued my dad’s old coffee grinder when we closed the house all those years ago, so I pulled it out and tried grinding the coffee. Except the blades had gotten dull over the years, and so it was just ‘chunking’ the coffee as opposed to grinding it. Being in a frugal mode, I wanted to purchase a new grinder, but didn’t want to spend more than $20, since I can squeeze that into my budget ($40 for a swanky Krupps one, not so much.)

Yesterday I ran across a nice Black & Decker one for $14.95 at Canadian Tire, which was just the price point I was looking for, so I snagged it immediately.

This morning I pulled out the Kootenay Crossing beans, which is a medium roast, and the coffee grinder, and bizzed up the beans as required. (For an espresso machine, they need a fine grind, so I bizzed them up for about 25 seconds or so.) The smell in my kitchen was just wonderful. I’ve always loved the smell of ground coffee, even when I didn’t drink it. Growing up I would always grab the can of coffee away from my mother when she was making the morning espresso for her & my dad, and just stick my face right in it. Inhaling deeply, I was in heaven. My kitchen now smells like that right now, and it’s just bliss!

I pulled out my Bialetti espresso machine, poured in the water, spooned in the coffee and put it on the stove. And I waited. A few minutes later, the coffee percolated up, and I poured it into a cup. The smell was just wonderful, and I took a sip to know if I had to put any sugar in it (no comments from you coffee purists out there. I know I ruin my coffee with sugar & milk, leave me be.)  It tasted pretty good, but is a tad bitter for my taste, so I tossed in a sugar packet and a dollop of milk. While I always put some sugar and milk/cream in my coffee, I am reducing how much I put in. And I took a sip.

Wow, what a sip! Just fabulous! I think I have finally solved my coffee dilemma. The Kicking Horse Kootenay Crossing was just heavenly. I slowly sipped my double espresso and enjoyed it. (My machine is a two-cupper, but I drink all of the coffee that it brews, unlike my sister, who only drinks the single. When I go out and order coffee in Italy, or even at a cafe here in Canada, I only order a single, but at home, I drink the double. I guess I need all the caffeine I can get at 7:30am. )

So there you have it folks, when making coffee in your espresso machine, make sure the coffee grounds are as fresh as you can possibly get them. Otherwise you’re not enjoying your coffee to its fullest.

This weekend has been a busy one for me, as I went out both Friday & Saturday night. Before you say “that’s not a big deal”, remember that I’m not in my 20’s anymore, so it’s a tough thing to do. Friday night I went out with colleagues in Little Italy. We went to a lounge that I hadn’t been to before, and hung out, talking and drinking. I had a few mojitos, which were good, but after two or three, my stomach started protesting. I typically drink beer or wine, so the combo of rum and mint was not agreeing with me. *sigh* Saturday I had to recover enough to run some errands in the morning, but that wasn’t too stressful, so that was okay. I was going to have a nap in the afternoon, but didn’t get around to it. Then I was off to the Toronto Maple Leafs game Saturday night. They were playing the Chicago Blackhawks, which was exciting because I’ve never seen them live before, plus they’ve got a couple of exciting young players on the team. Of course neither of these two teams is MY team, so I didn’t actually care who won, but in case you were wondering, Chicago won 6-3. MY team, the Montreal Canadiens, won last night. heh heh.

After the game, we headed over to a nearby bar to check out the end of the baseball game, as my friend is a baseball fan. We had a few drinks, some bad appetizers, and hung out. That was fun. But again, I was out late, and ended up sleeping in Sunday morning. I slept in till 10:40, which, for anyone who knows me, will know that is late. Normally 8am is late for me, so I was obviously tired.

And now I’m currently making some beef spezzatino, which is Italian for beef stew. Normally this particular recipe is eaten with polenta as well, however it’s a little hard to make small batches of polenta, so I’m going to eat it with some potatoes. Hmm, although as I write this, I realize that I could turn the spezzatino into a carne e piselli spezzatino, which is Italian for meat & peas stew. I do have some frozen peas in the kitchen, so I could definitely toss them in. Hmm, I’ll have to think about that. This recipe is my Nonna Angelina’s recipe, which she taught to my mother, and then also my aunts (who married my mom’s brothers)…gotta make sure that her sons were well-fed! haha. Seriously though, I’m not sure if this is a Failo family recipe, or maybe even a Ratti family recipe…I’ll have to ask my aunts if they know next time I speak to them.

Speaking of my spezzatino, it’s time I go take a look at mine and see how it’s doing. Buon appetito everyone!

I just got back from my sister’s, where I spent a restful and uneventful Thanksgiving, just the way it should be. There was lots of eating, football and baseball watching, and general hanging around. I brought my sister a present though, something she’s always talking about, orange Fanta! Sounds very silly, but the thing is, it’s very difficult to find orange Fanta here in Canada. We recently got the grape and cream soda flavours, but no orange. Much to my sister’s chagrin, as the orange one is her favourite. She usually gets her fill whenever we go to Italy on vacation, as they have it there. But living in the Big Smoke, I managed to find some for her, imported all the way from Poland. That just slays me, orange Fanta from Poland, oh, and I actually found it in an Italian grocery store, which is even funnier.

As I write this post I believe I might have already talked about the orange Fanta in a previous post, but that’s okay. I’m trying to get back in the swing of posting to my various blogs, so any writing I can do is good, that’s my motto.

Now it’s time to catch up on a bunch of tv shows I PVR’d last week, and then onto this week’s episode of Heroes. Talk to you later!