» Tina

A lotta taco

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Choose your own adventure books were a favourite of mine as a child. Every time Ginger and I went to the library you could find me scouring the rows of books in search of a new one to take home. I would read the books over and over again, reading all the different stories and endings that I could create. That being said, it should come as no surprise that I love dinners that allow for a certain about of customization. Tacos are on the top of my, choose your own dinner, adventure list. All you need is a shell, from there the option are limitless.

As the weather warms, I prefer a fresh and spicy fish taco. They always start off with a soft corn shell and white fish coated in a spicy, sweet rub. Extra toppings depend greatly on what is in the kitchen but I usually like to get a few special additions. Some of my favourite toppings are pickled red onions, lime white sauce, guacamole and lime soaked shredded cabbage.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Other influences on your ability for tadalafil 40mg getting or sustaining a penile erection, or ability for achieving ejaculation. The tokens can be a lot of things from praises to stickers and charts. thought about that viagra on line It is not only viagra sale uk check these guys out the right solution to your problem. Complications of infertility treatments may include bleeding, infection, low birth weight or Check This Out pfizer viagra for sale even birth defects.
But my most favourite topping of all is hot sauce. I often arrange a small army of hot sauce bottles in the middle of the table and experiment with different mixes, two dashes of Cholua and one lazy pour of Lizano. Frank’s and its vinegary tang is often the winner of the taste wars.

And that’s how I roll my summer time taco. Oh, but how could I forget about the margarita on the side?

*On a side note Ginger and I are so honoured to have been included on Instagrams suggested user page. Check us out @thealbrecht, we would love to have you follow along!

Full Story »

The open road

Two cars, eight friends, one road, endless adventures to be had. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I don’t have much experience with road trips. I have been on all of about two in my lifetime. Neither of which took more than a few days. When I found out a few weeks ago that I would be going on a road trip with 7 other people I really wasn’t sure how the whole thing would play out, but we had an amazing time exploring and taking photos.

Here are a few excerpts from my eight-day road trip through Alberta.

P1100250
P1100248
P1100261
P1100290
P1100298
buying cialis in canada For centuries, men want to know the right dosage and safety tips. Active herbal composition present in herbal enhancement products eliminates the risk of health problems like hypertension, back pain and vision problems. cheapest viagra As a matter of fact, this dysfunction is not harmful but yes it needs to be cured off from the early passionate relationship. viagra 100 mg official storefront The online levitra view this link is Tadalafil. levitra is an expensive but extremely effective medicine which has made it a sure shot cure for erectile dysfunction or impotency in men. P1100347
P1100301
P1100372
P1100420
P1100436
P1100433
P1100388
P1100391

Full Story »

Take it outside

P1100197

Not all picnics are created equal, and that’s a good thing. My personal philosophy around picnics is that anything not eaten around the primary table in my house classifies as a picnic. This means that winters are filled with couch picnics and the summer with patio picnics.

I am totally and completely into picnics. The change of scenery offers such a retreat from the everyday. Picnics allow you to slow down, enjoy your dinner and the company you are with. And thus they need to be celebrated. Over the next few weeks here at The Albrecht we are going to share with you all that we know about picnics and today I’m going to start with the patio picnic.

This herb should not be taken with buy viagra for cheap the nitrate-containing drugs. A healthy lunch might look like: A peanut butter sandwich with a banana A tuna fish sandwich with some almonds (see generic viagra sildenafil libido boosting foods below) If you must fast-food it, order a burger without the mayo, and ask for more pickles, tomato, mustard and lettuce. generic cialis These nutrients have capability to bring erectile functions back on the way. It may be one consequence of emotional or relationship turmoil that may need to be addressed by a professional. women viagra australia

P1100207
Patio picnics could be called deck picnics, yard picnics or garden picnics, whatever you like and they are held anywhere outside of the four walls that you call home. Because I have no yard, my only option is my patio, unless you would like to count the front steps, which I have actually picnicked on before as well. When you are arranging a patio picnic comfort is king. Don’t get held up on the notion that you need to eat at a table. Throw down a blanket, or a couple of pillows and you’re set. Our patio only has a coffee table so l like to lay out a few fluffy pillows for people to sit or kneel on. A cozy throw can also be the difference between rushing through dinner to get back inside to warm up (since we really aren’t even in summer yet) and an evening spent enjoying the sunset. The other delightful thing about a patio picnic is that you can put a little more thought and attention into the mood. Bring out a few lanterns, candles or even a string or two of white Christmas lights.
P1100221
With the close proximity to your kitchen you don’t have to rely on traditional picnic food or serving dishes for that matter. That isn’t to say that I would say no to having baguette, wine and cheese at my patio picnics, it just means that I might go to a little more trouble for one or two items. Maybe try a warm dish or maybe something cooked on the grill. If you are looking for a little inspiration try these Artichokes Basted with Anchovy Butter. You will thank me! Now get out there and eat dinner outside tonight.
P1100203

Full Story »

All for cake

IMG_5667

I have had cake on my brain for some time now. The craving goes back to early summer of last year. You see, the summer months around here tend to be birthday ladened months filled with one cake after another starting in April and not ending until September or October. Usually not a year will go by without a slice of cake in May for my Dad, two slices in June, one for Ginger and one for Scott, another slice for me in July and one for my Mom in August… you get the picture.

Perhaps there was some sort of sugar or flour shortage last year but I’m pretty sure that I didn’t get a single slice of cake all summer long and that has left me with a serious cake depletion. To make maters worse, it seems like everyone on the internet is making the most amazing looking layer cakes. I have been saving a list of all the cakes that look totally amazing that I NEED to make and of course eat. Below is a collection of some of my top picks and links to the original photos and recipes.

cakes

Its regular levitra uk intake flushes out the stomach and are very low in calorie content. This lowers the patient’s testosterone levels prescription cialis usa much more quickly than most medications. Low Libido in Women Libido is a ‘Latin’ word which means lust and price viagra refers to the person’s stimulation. Even when the cialis sale drugs work, patients can only have children through sperm bank.

Photos & recipes from left to right, top to bottom: Bonappetit, The Kitchn, Adventures in CookingCall Me Cupcake

One of the cakes that I have had my eye on is the Banana Cake with Penuche Frosting from Food 52. It has layers, which is a must for me and it is of course cholk-full of banana which would help to put a dent in my ever growing collection of bananas in the freezer.

P1090863 Last week I put on my baking hat and got down to business! In hindsight I probably could have chosen a cake that was a little springier, one that pulled its inspiration from all the lovely flowers and fresh leaves that are popping up around the house. But if you are desperate for cake, sometimes it is easier to start baking with ingredients that you readily have on hand.
P1090867

P1090895Got any favourite cake recipes? I want to hear about them!!

 

Full Story »

Weekend away

P1080977

Winter can be long. And for those of us who are blessed with non snowy winters, the damp grey months seem to drag on forever. This fall and winter started out spectacularly. We had more sun and less rain than I have seen in the fourteen odd years that I have called Vancouver home.  But the Farmers Alimac warned that when winter finally hit us it was going to be a cold one. For most of the country that has been true, here in Vancouver it hasn’t been particularly cold, but it sure has felt dark and dreary. To top it all off, I have just been too busy to have much down time and any notion of a extended vacation is months away.

About a year ago Scott and I had made a 45 minute trek just outside of Vancouver to the small community of Point Roberts. While there we learned that the small village was a quant little spot filled with vacation rentals. It seemed like the perfect spot to return for a little winter weekend away. Right smack in the middle of my winter dulldrams we decided it was time to cash in our trip to Point Roberts. We found the perfect little cottage, booked it and a couple of weeks later we were all packed up in the car and heading for America.

Point Roberts is a little tiny piece of America that is surrounded by water on three sides and attached directly to Canada on the fourth. Children living in The Point have to board a bus and take a 40 minute ride through Canada and then cross back into mainland America to attend school. Additionally most of Point Roberts emergency services are provided by local Canadian services. So as you can imagine it is an interesting little spot to visit.

P1080952

Our plan for the weekend was to eat, sleep, getup, drink coffee, eat a little more, explore the area a little, eat some more, sleep… and so on. We had cooking on our minds and stocked our tiny cabin full of groceries so we could eat in all weekend long. We had planned a hearty warm soup, pancake breakfast and most excitingly a Raclette dinner paired with some bubbly.
DOSAGE PATTERN The dosage which is generally advised to buy cheap sildenafil have these pills 1 hour prior to the intimate sessions as this drug takes some time for reacting. One of the most effective possibilities is to use a website based outside the viagra 100mg prices visit these guys now US there is nothing the FDA or FTC can do to police them. In addition, excessive fat is one of viagra sildenafil canada the main causes of relationships breaking apart. A common ingredient in good products is that levitra online sales of gingko biloba helps improve sexual drive in men and women.
P1080993

As you may have guessed, eating was one of the main goals for the weekend, but once we had eaten our fill we bundled up in our toques and gloves and headed to the beach. I had really been looking forward to wandering the beach as somehow even though it is so close to home the beach is just a little different than our Vancouver beaches. The mountains are further away, the trees where littered with Bald Eagles and for some strange reason the shore line was sprinkled with rusted out car parts. All of which made for exciting exploring!

P1080927P1080974P1080940P1080945

After just a few short days away we returned home relaxed, well feed and ready to face another week of grey drizzle.

P1080987

Full Story »

More. Pomelo. Please!

Have you ever considered what type of food you would eat if you could only eat one for the rest of your life? This is a really tough call for me. There are so many different things that I love to eat, I really can’t imagine going without all the lovely fruit options, dark chocolate and who knows what else, that I don’t think that I could live without. But if for some reason we were in a MMA fight and you had me pinned to the ground with my arm stuck in some sort of an arm bar and you demand that I choose a cuisine, I think that I would say Vietnamese.

P1080891

“Vietnamese?” you might ask, why would you choose soup when you could eat Italian or French for the rest of your life. The French with their bread and pastries really are up there on my list but, there is just something so flavourful and fresh about Vietnamese food. Maybe it has to do with the touch of French influence in Vietnamese cuisine! One of my favourite things about Vietnamese food is the contrast and balance that is features. Sweet, salty, sour, spicy and then the additional ultra fresh and crisp vegetables, yum. One of my favourite memories of Vietnamese food is one that Ginger wrote about last May. We had had a bit of a mentally tough morning and by early afternoon were starving. We decided to try out the little family run Vietnamese kitchen down the street. We ordered takeout and went home with a couple of the most delicious salads and salad rolls that I have ever had. IN. MY. WHOLE. LIFE.

Every so often I remember those salads and think that I need to eat them again. When the pomelos starting showing up in droves at my local grocery this month, I decided it was time to try and make a little pomelo salad of my own. It has been basically a year since Ginger and I ate the original salad, so my version really is just an approximation. But I was delighted with the results at any rate. The salad comes together rather quickly, with the trickiest part being  the peeling of the pomelo. You can also turn this salad into a light main by serving the salad a-top a bed of rice or glass noodles.

P1080920

Pomelo Salad with Shrimp 
adapted from Andrea Nguyen

1/2 pound large shrimp, cooked
1 medium pomelo
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
1/2 a medium English cucumber, julienned
¼ cup mint leaves, chopped
With work comes great responsibility and with responsibility comes stress cheap brand levitra as well. This can only be achieved when the there is this excellent product by the name of cialis for woman which is been faced by them. Focus on your body’s natural ability to viagra samples uk heal itself. The therapist helps you to discover these unhealthy patterns viagra doctor of thinking and anxiety, that due to their fault. ¼ cup celery leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, leafy tops only
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped unsalted, roasted peanuts

Dressing
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 lime juiced
1 tablespoon water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 generous teaspoon chile garlic sauce

Start by preparing the herbs and vegetables. Julienne the carrots and cucumber, chop the mint, celery leaves and cilantro and finely slice the shallot. Set aside. Cut the top off of a medium-sized pomelo, remove its peel and as much of the white pith as possible. Rip the fruit in half and remove all the skin from each individual segment of the pomelo. Break the segments into bite sized pieces and set aside in a medium-sized serving bowl.

For the dressing mix together fish sauce, lime juice, water, sugar and chile garlic sauce. Stir well to ensure the sugar is fully resolved.

Right before serving mix together the shrimp, pomelo, vegetables and herbs. Toss well to combine, pour over the dressing and mix again to fully dress the salad. Serve immediately.

Full Story »

Blueberry sauce, greek yogurt & crepes

I was really hoping to be sharing a soup recipe with you today. A few days ago I went to the store and picked up all the ingredients I needed, came home and started cooking. As fate would have it, there was a soup tragedy! So, instead of wonderfully warming and hearty soup, let’s talk crepes.

Crepes are fantastic really. Two of their biggest virtues in my books are, that if you don’t really care about absolute perfection, then you don’t need any special equipment to make them and secondly they are ridiculously flexible as a meal. You could eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You can stuff them full of whatever goodness you are inspired by at the moment. And if you are just not that inspired you can melt a few squares of dark chocolate in your crepe and bam! you have a fantastic little treat!

I usually find myself gravitating towards savoury fillings. I love a breakfast crepe stuffed with scrambled eggs, Swiss cheese and caramelized onion or a little ratatouille. Yum. But this particular morning, savoury wasn’t in order. The crepe recipe works well for two but also doubles easily if you are feeding a larger group.

P1080818

Crepes
makes 4

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 cups whole milk
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

But they are most likely to help you super cheap viagra frankkrauseautomotive.com maintain your erection for a longer period of time. Performing exercise has also been demonstrated cialis levitra viagra effectively in enhancing sexual response in men with impotence condition. How Kamagra gives the right solution? The right selection of the viagra prescription strength of this effective medicine has made the treatment quite easier. It will cause regular fermentation in the intestines and produces order viagra levitra a tasty, fizzy orange drink. In a blender combined flour, sugar, salt, milk, eggs and butter. Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Then allow the batter to rest for 30 minutes, if you have the time.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Coat pan lightly with a little oil or butter. Pour 1/3 of a cup of batter into the hot pan and swirl to evenly cover the bottom of the pan with batter. Allow the crepe to cook unturned for 2-3 minutes until the underside is golden brown. Flip the crepe and allow to cook for another minute or so. Remove from pan and fill as you like.

Blueberry Sauce

2 cups frozen blueberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed with 2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Heat a sauce pan over medium heat, add blueberries, water, sugar and lemon juice. Stirring often, bring blueberries to a boil. In a small bowl combine cornstarch and water. Slowly stir the cornstarch mixture into the blueberries. Simmer until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in zest.

This is where the fun part starts! I like to fill my crepe with a little greek yogurt and blueberry sauce and then top it with a little more yogurt and sauce. But you can do what ever feels good to you. If you have an extra crepe left over, make sure to fill it with a little melted chocolate. Enjoy!

 

Full Story »

Pai & I make cake

above_ingre

I bet that if I snuck into your kitchen right now and took a peek in your fridge or maybe even your freezer, I would find a bag of cranberries. That blessed extra bag of cranberries that you bought for the holidays just in case and never ended up needing.

I have had those bags of cranberries before. They start out in your crisper drawer and then as time goes by, reality sets in and you realize that you aren’t going to use them in the near future and they silently slip into the depths of the freezer. Then one day, months from now when you open up the freezer, freshly back from a run (or at least this is what happened to me) and in serious need of something to eat, you realize that the blueberries are all gone and no, a cranberry smoothie will not do the trick. So before you let those cranberries sneak up into the freezer, haul them right out and get busy making this delicious Cranberry Orange & Pecan Coffee Cake from Joy the Baker.

icing_action
Each day millions of people irrespective of age and gender are passing through the acidic complications in form of heart burn, indigestion or in generic cialis australia certain other forms. It enhances the viscosity of semen which cialis pills online enables sperms to be lively and healthy for longer periods. Store away from heat, moisture purchase viagra https://www.supplementprofessors.com/levitra-6573.html and light. This unpleasant cheap 25mg viagra complication of hair loss is Finasteride.
Better yet, do what I did and turn your coffee cake baking into an event with a friend! Brew yourself a pot of coffee, we made Irish Coffee and then get a bak’n. All of these ridiculously lovely photos were taken by the ever so talented Joann Pai. Hand modelling by myself.

coffee

slices

Full Story »

The past is behind us and oatcakes are in our future!

P1080153

The past is behind us right? Well in that case perhaps we shan’t waste time talking about how a short summer hiatus some how turned into a full summer break and basically a fall break too. Let’s just say things have been really busy and good times were had all around. Perhaps at some point in the future I will tell you about my unexpected trip to the Caribbean and move to a new house. But we aren’t talking about that now that is for sure.

I am not a big fan of the time change that happened a few weeks ago. I have hardly stood up from my desk at the end of the day and it is already dark out. I have given up my forest trail running in favour of blocks and blocks of uneven kind of lite sidewalks. I have started falling asleep on the couch at about 7:30 most nights and to top it all off I forgot some of my potted plants out on the patio and the frost has killed them! My plants lives are on your head time change!!! This whole time change thing has really thrown me off my game!

P1080113

Such males viagra sales in india ejaculate semen within one or two minutes of penetration into her genital passage, create more contact and friction during lovemaking and offer her enhanced sexual pleasure. And you would want to realize the root cause of problems, viagra pfizer 25mg pinpoint appropriate solutions and implement these solutions in the best possible manner. The device can be worn discreetly under clothing (even at work, if a man has a low-exertion job) and needs to be applied consistently for cialis purchase a course of months. Your get viagra cheap signs of despression symptoms are different as well. The one good thing that the cooler darker days afford me is afternoon tea. Nothing is quite as comforting on a chilly afternoon as a pot of milky tea. But, there is something that can make that afternoon pot of tea even better, Scottish oatcakes. A few days ago I was scanning through Flipbook when I noticed a recipe for oatcakes. A little spot in my heart is dedicated to these lovely little treats but for some reason I have never baked them at home. They have always only been an occasional store-bought treat.

P1080159

The recipe narrative drew me in right away, I too wanted to be walking the Scottish moors with my thermos full of hot tea and a package of oatcakes in my pocket. Honestly now, who could say no to a cookie chock full of oats that can double as breakfast. Certainly not me! Visit Food52 if you find yourself in need of a salty sweet treat to accompany your afternoon tea.

P1080137

Full Story »

Summer vacation

peaches

We are getting set for a little summer vacation around here, so we’ll be away from the blog for a few weeks. We’re looking forward to some good old summertime lounging, Website hacking (cracking) is a widespread phenomenon – cialis for sale australia if you haven’t been a victim yet then it is only a matter of time. Herbal midwayfire.com uk cialis a blend of different herbs, amino acids and some vital nutrients that your body needs to bring these enzymes back into balance cooling the inflammation of your body and brain. Suhagra is essentially an effective anti impotence online viagra no prescription drug. It has been also prepared by using same ingredient, but at the lower the buy cialis prices. picnicking, cycling, drawing, camping and just glorious relaxing while we are away. Check out Instagram to see what we’ve been up to in the meantime (we’ve got some links over here to help you out). See you back here soon!

Full Story »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox

Join other followers: