Fish and Chips.

Let's face it. If you deep fry something, it will taste good. I've only deep fried twice in my life and I'm not really a fan. Mostly because I HATE smelling like food when I go somewhere and if you deep fry, you smell like McDonald's for a minimum of 24 hours. Gross. In making my way through Tyler's books, I must not have really noticed the deep fry chapter. But it still tastes good even if you smell like a donut after. I'll just stick to the eating part of deep frying.

Side note: I'm glad we (as in Canadians) say "deep fry" instead of the American "deep fat fry". It tricks me into thinking it's more healthy. Maybe that's not a good thing? Still. Maybe we leave it out because we know it's unhealthy and are just ignoring the fact? I don't know. I'll ask my American mother. She's smart about those kinds of things.

Anywho. Back to my deep fat frying. I decided to make Fish and Chips.


Fish and Chips with Homemade Tartar
page 130 of Stirring The Pot
My kids LOVE Spongebob Squarepants. Let's be honest, I do too. It's just pure silliness. When they heard we were having Tartar Sauce they all laughed their heads off. If you don't watch Spongebob, (which I know you do so don't lie) they all say "tartar sauce" as a sort of cuss word. Stub your toe? Tartar sauce. Crash your car? Tartar sauce. Blow up the whole town of Bikini Bottom? Tartar sauce. Thanks Saturday Morning Cartoons! You helped my kids try something new!

My brother-in-law and his kids were over when we ate this and they really enjoyed it as well. Taylor doesn't really like fish but she ate it and liked it! The fries were the star of the show though. Oh sorry, the "chips" were the star of the show. Tyler said to bake the potatoes whole and then cut them into wedges and deep fry them. Basically they're already cooked through and you're just crisping them up on the outside. They were delicious.

Ryan lived in England for two years so he's obviously an expert on English dining. Even he said it was comparable.

Speaking of Taylor, she got a new haircut recently. With thick bangs. Emily thinks Taylor is just the coolest thing ever so it wasn't a big surprise when she decided shortly after Taylor unveiled her new 'do that she needed one too. Actually it was a big surprise because Emily is a princess through and through. One day she informed me that "princesses don't have short hair ever." She's had long hair ever since she started growing hair (so since age 2....) and this is a really big deal for her.

BEFORE

AFTER

Isn't she the cutest? RJ didn't think so. He was offended because she looks like she's 16 now. Which doesn't really help matters because she already thinks she's 16. Parenting is fun!

You know what else is fun? The OLYMPICS! I must admit, I'm not usually a fan of the Olympics. Does that make me a bad Canadian? I had a really hard time getting excited for this because I knew it was going to cut into my regular TV schedule. Since they started though, I've definitely changed my tune. I love the Olympics now! Watching that one guy win the first gold on Canadian soil was super exciting. And watching that girl win another gold in that other sport was amazing too. I'm super into the Olympics.

Just in case you were wondering, here's how Ruby is doing:

Isn't she just so super cute? She is totally cute. Funny story though. Last week we had a dinner party and I made Prime Rib Roast (which was super yummy and not from Tyler's cookbook, that's why I didn't blog about it). There were some rib bones left over so we decided to give one to Ruby. Bad decision. She went completely nuts. We tried to take the bone away and she was growling and snapping at everyone. I thought, no big deal, she'll let me take it away. Nope. She lunged at me too. She ran away to a back corner and me and our friend Julie went back to deal with her. Julie reached for the bone and Ruby seriously jumped at her face! What a bad baby! Julie's husband Randy came over to see what was going on. Let me just tell you about Randy. He is a large man. He's super tall and if I was Ruby I would have been seriously re-thinking my tantrum. Randy just walked up to her and held her down and showed her who was boss. The thing is, Randy is a gentle giant. He just talked her down as calmly as could be. Thanks for teaching me how to control my savage beast Randy! PS, you should work for the police as a negotiator. You could totally talk criminals down. Needless to say, Ruby won't be getting any bones for a while. The thing is, she is the sweetest puppy ever and I have NEVER seen this side of her! Let's just hope we don't see that side ever again. Or else Ruby. Or else....