April 2010 – ketchupface.com

What was I thinking?

Ok, I’ll come clean. I actually remember what I was thinking. It went something like this, “Crap, Valentine’s Day is tomorrow” and “Double crap, he’s expecting me to bake him something like previous years”. I dug deep and decided to make pink, heart-shaped rice krispie treats with words on them (aka those candy hearts). My husband loves rice krispie squares and I can make them in a heartbeat so I decided that would be perfect.

I applied the tiniest amount of red food colouring to the melted marshmallow mixture and created a ghastly Pepto-bismol pink. Yikes! After studying the colour, and convincing myself that it wasn’t so bad, I decided to proceed. I pressed the mixture into a greased cookie sheet and punched out hearts using a large, heart-shaped cookie cutter. Then, I cut the left over bits into diamonds and “iced” them.

They still looked gross. I melted “Wilton red candy melts” (that’s what they’re called) and piped words on the hearts which improved the look . Unfortunately, they were still unappetizing. I know this for a fact as I took some to work and they lasted until the afternoon. A very bad sign.

That day I learned a valuable lesson (besides don’t leave things to the last minute) that I can now put in to practice with my own family. Original, unadulterated Rice Krispie Squares are best…period. There are some things in this world that you just can’t improve upon. This is one of them.

Original Rice Krispie Squares

Ingredients
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1 pkg (about 40) regular marshmallows or 5 cups miniature (250 g)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
6 cups RICE KRISPIES cereal

Directions

Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
Stir in vanilla. Stir in RICE KRISPIES cereal until well coated. Using lightly buttered spatula, press into buttered 3.5 L (13 x 9″) pan.
Allow mixture to cool. Cut into bars. Best if served same day.

Note:
For chewier bars, use an extra cup of miniature marshmallows or about 8 regular marshmallows.

Courtesy of Kellogg‘s Rice Krispies.ca

I just got back from the sample sale at the GX Building complex. Two neighbouring buildings are holding sample sales; one contains children’s clothes, the other adult clothes. There are over 50 showrooms selling brand names such as Mexx Kidds, Misco Girl, Lovely Girl, Point Zero, Stephen Joseph and more. These are great little buildings to stroll around. I bumped into a lot of other Mommies at 10:00am this morning.

Baby clothes (onesies, sleeping sacks, socks, sleepers, hats etc…) make up the real deals at this sale. If you have a newborn or are a regular guest at baby showers, this is the place for you. If you are on a budget and have a boy around 2-3 years old there isn’t much selection. As you already know (if you have a boy), girls clothes usually make up most of the store and boys clothes can be found on one or two racks.

If you’re looking for dirt cheap clothing, go to a Kids Swap. The clothing here is mostly designer, priced at cost or just below cost. Even so, I couldn’t resist getting a few things. A hilarious toque and collared shirt ($20) and an army-style hat ($3).

It was a fun little outting and I’ll probably go again next time…and yes, I’ll probably take Grampa again too…it makes shopping so much easier when he can walk Daemian around and dole out the cheese fish.

The sample sale continues until May 1st.

GX Building Sample Sale (April 28 -May 1)
1868 Glen Drive, Vancouver (behind Home Depot off Terminal)
Hours:
Wed to Fri 10am – 7pm
Sat 10am-5pm (Note: Some stores may be closed on Saturday)

Rice Krispie Squares, perfect just the way they are

Sample sale great for “Baby Fashionistas”

Easy Coconut Cream Compliments Cake