Homemade Hamburgers

We used to buy boxed hamburgers, but we realized we get more bang for our buck (and our taste buds) if we make them ourselves. We either use ground turkey or ground beef, as they both make an equally amazing burger. 1lb of either meat usually makes 6 burgers, with each patty being about 3 oz. I make homemade buns to go with them, and I love the smell of hamburgers frying and buns baking at the same time. Smells like joy.

John is the patty maker in our house, so all credit for these yummy bugers goes to him.

First, break up the meat into a large bowl. Add some chopped onions.

Next add spices: garlic powder, chives, pepper, and Montreal steak spice.

Add some bread crumbs.

Mix with your hands to get to proper burger patty consistency.

Press into six patties.

Fry in pan, flipping once, until juices run clear.

Cook some burger toppings if so inclined. We fried up some onions and mushrooms.

Dress burger to taste and enjoy! I added feta to mine and it was burger bliss.

2013 Blog Milestones

2013 has been a big year around here for the blog.

I changed my template in March, joined some social networks (Google+ and Twitter), and started blogging more often.

I set myself some blogging goals and blogged more times in one month than I ever had previously (June: 30 times). I also successfully cleaned out my drafts folder (I deleted, posted, or archived over 20 posts). I reached my 300th blog post too.  It has been a very active year on the blog and I couldn't be happier.

I hit another milestone yesterday, by reaching my 113th post of the year. Not normally a significant number, but in this case, 113 posts is the most I've ever blogged in one year. Until now, of course.

Not since 2010 have I posted this often, and with this current post I'm surpassing my 2010 stat. With my 114th post, 2013 is now the record holder of the most blogging I've ever done in one year. The best part is that there is more to come. YAY! Thanks for being awesome, 2013!

Also, thank you for being part of such a fantastic year so far. :)

Jun's Roll Sushi Combo No. 5 #FoodPicFriday

The person I most often go out for lunch with is my Mom. We have lunched at many different places over the years, but we have our trusted favourites. Mom's favourite is Chinese food and my favourite is sushi. We found a place in Barrie where we can both get what we want: Jun's Roll. On this day, Mom got a breaded shrimp combination plate, and I got Sushi Combo No. 5: spicy crab roll (8 pieces), spicy salmon roll (6 pieces), with a spring roll on the side. The spicy salmon rolls had thick pieces of avocado in them that were so fresh and tasted amazing. This was my third visit to Jun's and I will definitely be back.

Jun's is in downtown Barrie, so when picking up lunch I got to fail at parallel parking twice, drove really far away from the restaurant, turned around, drove back, and then (thankfully) found a pull in space across the street. In my head I can parallel park. In real life, not so much. 

Mud Pies of the Future

We went to the beach with friends recently and I was reminded that there are so many new kids toys available now.

I'm sure every generation at some point thinks "we never had that as kids" and I found myself thinking that as the kids played with these mud pie accessories.

Back in the 80s, my childhood mud pies were made using pebbles, sticks, and leaves, and I was forced to use my imagination to see the mud pie beauty. What do you think about these mud pies of the future? They added some nice colour to the beach and the kids had fun playing with them. Maybe I'm just jealous, but it makes me wonder if there is a level of creativity that gets lost with a pre-made set like this. What do you think? Does it matter if a mud pie is decorated with pebbles or plastic roses? I know one thing for sure, I got some adorable photos. :)

Icing the cake...with mud

Blow out the candles!

Everything is a Photo Opportunity #14

We just got home from a fun beach tour. The beach we like had no parking, so we checked out another beach heading toward Wasaga. The water was pretty rocky so not perfect for swimming, but it still looked beautiful and relaxing. On our way home there was parking at our beach, so we got a nice swim in. We are having a mini-heat wave up here, so spending time in the water was wonderfully refreshing.