Valentine's and Meeting the Family

Sorry! Nice Guy flew home with me the friday after Valentine's Day so I haven't had any time to blog.
But on to the good stuff!

Valentine's Day
Nice Guy sent flowers to my work and when I got home he had left gifts on the table. He got me my favourite perfume (Euphoria by Calvin Klein) and a necklace and earrings made of Amber, the DNA gem. And if you knew me, that's very sweet. I love genetics. Then we went out to dinner at this little bistro. And he had ordered truffles from a chocolate shop in my home town and had them sent but there was an issue with delivering to a Post Office Box so I haven't gotten them yet. He made chocolate dipped strawberries instead to make up for them not coming in time. It was the best valentine's day I've ever had.

Meeting the Parents
So we took a week and flew to where I grew up. We were surprising my mom for her sixtieth birthday. Everyone really, really liked him. He cooked a dinner for my family and my sister-in-law, who's a chef and was sick early in the week, said it was the only appetizing thing she ate in days. He met my high school friends. The guys took him aside and told him I had become a shadow but since I've been with him I'm really shining again and they wanted to thank him. I have really great friends. He was really good with my niece and nephew. We got some pictures taken by a photographer my family has been going to for years. We'll get sent the photos in about a week. Before we left my mom told me he was really nice and I made a good choice. And when my dad dropped us off at the airport he said "Don't let her tell you what to do". Thanks dad...

Flavour Tripping!!!

So I finally had the flavour tripping party. I had ordered the miracle frooties from http://www.sour2sweet.com/CANADA/ and I must say that even though they got stopped at customs for a few days, the site had great customer service and I got exactly the product that I wanted.

On to the party! For some people the effects only lasted about 20 minutes, one of my friends kept going for an hour and a half, trying different combinations of flavours. For me it lasted about 45 minutes. I also tried it the night before just to make sure it worked before I invited a whole bunch of people over to my house and have nothing happen. Both times strawberries were friggin Aahhh-mazing! Other good things to try:

Grapefruit - tastes like it was dipped in sugar. Normally I can stay grapefruit but I think I ate at least half of one that night. Delicious!
Lemons - tasted like lemonade
Limes - were sweeter but pretty much just limes
Guinness - we read online it was suppose to taste like a chocolate milkshake. I don't know what kind of milkshakes those people were having but I did get a hint of rootbeer and kaluha.
Blueberries - were gross, they tasted mushy
White Vinegar - was weird and sweet. Try it because it's weird
Mango - normally i think mangoes have an earthy taste and this time they were amazingly good. Just sweet juicy mango flavour.
Raspberries - had a stronger raspberry flavour
Feta Cheese - tasted like a chunk of salt
Cranberry Juice - took the bitterness away, made it way nicer to drink
Green Apples - I didn't taste much difference but other said they were sweeter
Sour Keys and Cherry Blasters - totally took the sour away, made it like regular candy.

Things to try next time - tea, watermelon, pineapple

I originally wanted to try this because my Nutritionist friend told me that she had done this on the best first date she ever had. And since she was a Nutritionist I trusted that it was safe, plus this version is made according to HACCP - ISO 9001 standards. 


On a side note, tomorrow is Valentine's day and I think this may be the first time in my life that I'm actually excited for it!

Heaven For Breakfast

I haven't even finished making them and I had to post this. I ate the first one so quickly I don't think I even really tasted it, and it was still THAT good! I have discovered cinnamon roll pancakes and I think this may be my new special morning breakfast.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Ingredients:

PANCAKES:

I just used Aunt Jemima, just follow the recipe on the box or make your favourite pancake batter.

CINNAMON FILLING: 

1/2 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed


1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:


4 Tablespoons butter

2 ounces cream cheese

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Prepare pancake batter in one bowl.

2. In a medium bowl, mix butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. 

3. In a medium, microwave-safe bowl- heat butter and cream cheese until melted. Whisk together until smooth; whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla extract; set aside. 

4. Heat large skillet over medium-low heat. Spray with nonstick spray. Scoop about 3/4 cup batter onto the skillet. When pancake has started to cook a little, swirl in the cinnamon filling. When bubbles begin to appear on the surface, flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet or platter and keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.

5. When ready to serve, spoon warmed glaze onto the top of each pancake.

I'm not a very good chef so the recipe I was following had way nicer pictures. I'm sure if you used an icing bag or something for the cinnamon part they would come out perfect but mine still tasted divine! 

On a side note: flavour tripping party is tonight! Hope it works!