SpawnPoint

I didn't win 1st, but I was only 3 points behind, and came in 2nd :)

 I got a sexy wood hand-carved salad bowl, and a shit load of salad dressings lol. I'll be eating lots of salad this year XD

It was like, the fastest 40 minutes of my life. I was so nervous! Haha funny embarrassing moment when I got there; I arrived like an hour an a half ahead of time, because I didn't want to lose myself, being lost already. Anyways, the guy at the door guided me to the place of the event. There were already about 7-8 people there, sitting around a cooking station, with chef Marino Tavares (the celebrity chef) who was cooking and talking to them. Someone offered me some wine, I sat down with the others. The woman next to me introduced herself and asked who I was. I was like "I'm Veronick Roy, one of the contestants". She's like " Oh! haha, you're not supposed to be here right now, it's the judges' dinner"... LOL... I was like "oops! haha they told me to come here. Well, thanks for the wine! Cheers!" and went to the waiting room. I thought I was gonna die XD at least they laughed with me... or at me... lol

Here we are, the 5 finalists at the Montreal Pure Kraft contest:

from left to right: Eileen McKenzie (Winnipeg, Manitoba), Rodolphe Denault and his wife Mme Denault (Montreal, Quebec), Veronick Roy (Moncton, NB) and Nicole *can't remember her last name* (Moncton, NB) lol


But yeah, then the contest happened, and it was like Iron Chef all the way. We had a secret ingredient (scallops), and we had 40 minutes to improvise something using one of the 4 salad dressings. I made a warm seafood salad, using fish , red peppers, mushrooms, garlic, herbs, sundried tomatoes and black olives. It was delicious, looked pretty, and I was the only one who cooked the scallops right. BUT, I lost 3 points for using fish, wich took over my scallops and killed the taste. They wanted the scallops to be the main ingredient (which they didn't specify at the begging). Oh well, I had a blast, and the other contestants were super nice and fun.

Here's a group pic with the judges after the contest:



for the Quebecois in here, you should reconize Soeur Angele at the right ; she was a judge at the event.


The next day, I spent time with some family members from the area, then went shopping in Chinatown till I had to leave for the airport around supper time. I wish I had an extra day , but I couldn't get my babysitter for that long.  I had fun, but I was so tired when i got home, cuz I didn't stop the whole time I was out there. Next time, I'll go for longer, and bring my kid with me. LoL. easier that way XD

So, Kraft was having a contest to launch their new Signature Olive Oil salad dressings, where they invited people to invent a recipe using one of their new flavors. I thought, hey what the hell, I'll give it a go just for fun. So , I made this salad posted below and subitted it to the contest here : http://purekraft.ca/pure_flavour_recipe_challenge.php .
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Bacon Wrapped Scallops on Baby Arugula Salad

1 lb fresh sea scallops
6 thick smoked bacon slices, cut in half
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and fresh ground pepper
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 lime
4 cups baby arugula leaves
1/2 orange bell pepper, julienned
2 green onions, sliced on the bias
about 2-4 tbsp Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Aged Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing
Fresh parmesan cheese, for garnish

In a bowl, season the scallops with the xxxxes, and about 1/2 of each the lemon and lime zeste.
Using toothpicks, wrap a piece of bacon around all the biggest scallops. Place with the remaining scallops on a cookie sheet, sprayed with cooking oil. Broil for 7 min on each side.

In a bowl, assemble baby arugula, pepper, remaining zest, green onions, and salad dressing. Mix well until lightly, evenly coated. Divide in 2, and serve topped with 6 bacon scallops each plate, and a few extras.
Garnish with parmesan and enjoy!
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To my great surprise, I got a message on my voicemail, aswell as an email, telling me that my recipe was chosen as one of the 10 finalists that will be competing in Montreal, for the chance to win a free trip for 2 to Italy! I will be going there on the week of the 16th, and there will be a challenge between the finalists, where they show us a secret ingredient and we have to improvise a recipe on the spot , using one of their vinegrettes too. And whoever makes the best thing wins the trip!

I am sooooooooooooooooooooo excited!!!! Wish me luck, I'll need it!

Update: December 21st 2007

On Thursday Dec. 13th, at 7:30 in the morning, I woke up and my water broke :). I woke Mike up, called my dad, and on our way to the hospital. We got there at 8:10am.  I only started getting labor contractions once I got there. It took me till 9:10pm to be fully dilated and started pushing the baby out. It was a painful experience, but thank God, I had the epidural (needle in the back to numb my back and legs) to make things more bareable, and later on had the laughing gas. The laughing gas was funny, cuz it made me right high up my tree while I was breathing it (completely harmless for the baby btw).  So, after 2 hours and 2 minutes of pushing, out came the baby at 11:12pm.

We have a beautiful baby boy, with golden hair. His name is Gabriel Stéphane Rooney (yes, we finally agreed on a name lol).



This is Gabriel, only a couple of hours old. He weights 8 lbs 5 ounces.



Mommy and baby time:



Daddy's little man:



I ended up staying at the hospital for a whole week, because baby ended up with jaundism :(. When I was in labor, I started a fever, and we both ended up on IV's with antibiotics, just in case there was an infection. Because of this, I wasn't able to breastfeed for a couple of days, and the IV was feeding him. He was a bit dehydrated and it caused the jaundism. They put him under an UV light incubator for a couple of days to help him get better. Finally, after being in the hospital 8 days, we were able to go home.

Gabriel dressed and ready to go home:


In the car seat:


He looks sooooo much like his father! lol it's like if some crazy scientist shrunk Mike into a baby, and there's Gabriel. I love his little blond hair. It's so rare for babies to come out blond at birth, they usually start dark, and eventually turn light. Everyone's so in love with him. He's doing good, he's not too fussy or anything. It's hard getting used to only sleeping 3 hours at a time to feed him, but I don't mind at all. I couldn't be happier :). There's so much love and it feels so special holding him and having him in my life. It was worth all the pains and aches. <3

oh yeah, I ended up having him naturally: no c-sections lol

Just a little update from Mommy-to-be :)

I'm now allready 8 months pregnant (36 weeks), so that means i only have 1 month left (or less). My belly's gotten huge, and I've stopped working because it's too hard on my back to stand for long periods of time. Everything is ready for the baby... well, almost lol. We've made the room, got the crib, changing table, dresser and a few articles. My baby shower is this sunday, so once I know what things I got, I'll get what I still need afterwards.

I'm so excited and can't wait to be over with it. It's gonna be so cool being a mom! I'll be staying home for a year, maybe two (depending on a few personal things such as finances). It's great because that gives me the chance to really bond with my child and bring it up properly. It's gonna be so different, but I'm really looking forward to it. I'm still not over it lol.

Right now, I'm more anxious than anything, because I know it could happen at any given time now.  My hospital bag is all ready, I rest as much as I can because I will need my energy for the labor part. I'm so scared when I go out that my water's gonna break or something lol. I'm not worried or anything, but it's just that it would kinda suck, that's all. I hope everything goes smoothly when the time comes. I try not to stress out too much about it, as much as I can.

I will have pictures and will keep you all up to date with the baby stuff once everything starts happening.  I'm gonna ask Mike to take a picture of my big belly this weekend to show you guys how huge I got lol. It's really scary XD

<3 to you all!

Sapphire

Hey everyone! Sorry for having been away the last two weeks without warning or anything. Something important came up and I lost my computer for 2 weeks. I just got it back again, and I'll be around as usual.

I have to say that not having my computer for 2 weeks straight was the longest 2 weeks of my life! lol... I never realized how attached I really am to my daily online routine, until I lost it. It's crazy how computers are becoming so important to people these days eh? it's like , we can't live normally without them.

Watching TV to kill free time has proven to me that there's so much garbage being broadcasted, it's no wonder kids are starting to act up all weird. At least with the internet, you can research whatever you want, and keep within your boundaries of interests and morals. Plus, there are parental controls for the moms and dads out there who want to keep their kids in safe grounds.

But yeah, I'm glad I have cool channels like the National Geographic channel, food channel (cook shows all day yay! lol) and movies... but still, there's only so much TV one can intake per day. I had withdrawls from not being able to check my emails, or play CS:S... is that a bad thing? lol

-Sapphire