Sunday, March 20, 2011

Its Maple Syrup time

Ahh... I love this time of year, means that spring is right around the corner.  As the snow melts and the weather warms, we find ourselves in maple syrup season.  Its a short one, lucky if we can tap for a week.  We've been tapping for the last few days and manage to get enough water to make 2 litres of maple syrup.  My son tapped about 5 trees, we got about 60 litres of water over the last few days.  The weather turned cold yesterday and froze everything, but we managed to get the water thawed out and boiled all day and night.  This morning, we finished the batch and mmmmm..... delicious homemade maple syrup on french toast.  What more can we ask for today.  What I refer to as "Liquid Gold".  Its our family tradition, we've been doing it for over 15 years, ever since an older gentleman in his 80's told us the secrets to making our own.

If you'd like some tips and tricks, let me know.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

PMS Cake Recipe

If your looking for something that the kids will love to help you make at the cottage, try what we refer to as our "PMS" cake.  We made one last night and devoured it, all 7 of us.

First, bake a chocolat cake, I cheat and use the Betty Crocker Devil's Food cake, the kids mix it up and put it in the pan.

When the cake is ready, take it out of the oven, poke holes in it with a butter knife. 

Pour on a can of  Eagle Brand Condensed Milk.

Spread out a bag of chocolat chips on top of the cake.  The heat of the cake will make them melt.

Spread out a bag of Skor's pieces, you can find them in the chocolat chip section in the stores.  If you can't find any, buy 3 Skor's chocolat bars and break them into pieces.

Get 3 boxes of Smarties and break them into pieces, pour them over the cake.

Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes (the kids can't wait much longer than that).

Take a package of Cool Whip and spread it over top.

Enjoy!!!!

It's heavenly and almost like a hot molten lava cake.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

March Break 2011

Sorry, I've been away battling some health issues, but the pain is finally manageable. It's March Break and the boys talked me into taking time off work to spend our traditional week at the cottage. My heart went out to the people of Japan on Friday after hearing and seeing those videos about the tragedy, which is still not over. It made me realize how lucky we are to be spending time with our family, complaining about the little things just doesn't seem very relevant these days. As an example, we all complain about how long winter is but I came across this photo and was reminded about how beautiful mother nature can be at times.