25 and Feelin’ So Alive
This past week was my 25th birthday and I must say, it was a pretty awesome birthday! Despite being in another lockdown in Winnipeg, I definitely felt the love from all my friends and family.
Turning 25 sort of felt like a big deal, and even though I wasn’t able to do a lot of in-person celebrating, I got so many amazing birthday messages, gifts, and deliveries during my birthday week.
Now, we all know I love to spend time cooking so it’s only fitting that a lot of my birthday gifts have to do with food and cooking! I wanted to share a few of my cool new gifts that I know I’ll be getting lots of use out of in the kitchen!
First up: a popcorn maker! In 2021, I’ve been making a LOT of popcorn! I’ve always loved popcorn, but lately I REALLY love popcorn. As a kid, I always just had microwave popcorn, but have recently branched out, making popcorn on the stove. Given how often I was opting to go for this delicious snack, I decided I wanted an air popper popcorn maker, so this gift definitely did not disappoint. All you have to do is put the kernels in and switch it to “on”, it takes 2-3 minutes to pop, and then you turn it off. It also leaves no mess which is amazing, and you can just add whatever additional seasoning you desire after the kernels are popped. My go-to popcorn seasoning is just a bit of melted butter and some sprinkled on sea salt, but I’ve also dabbled in popcorn seasonings like dill pickle.
Next, I got a BBQ basket for grilling vegetables. This is something I’ve wanted for a while, and is perfect for the summer! It’s such an easy way to cook lots of veggies at once, and also convenient because you can cook veggies on the BBQ at the same time as your protein of choice. I’m looking forward to cooking up sweet potato, mushrooms, zucchini, onions, and more with this awesome BBQ grilling basket.
Third, a cast iron skillet! Lately I’ve made a few recipes where I had to fry ingredients in a pan and then put the pan into the oven, but because I didn’t have a cast iron skillet, I used a frying pan on the stove, then poured the ingredients into a corningware dish to go in the oven. Not the end of the world, but I felt like a cast iron skillet could have come in handy. This gadget is something I may not use often, but it will definitely come in handy for specific recipes. I think I’d like to try a frittata in the cast iron skillet soon. I’ll let you know how it goes.
I also got this set of bamboo mixing bowls, which are soooo cute! I can’t wait to whip up some new creations in these. They’re so aesthetically pleasing and I love that there are multiple sizes. A summery salad will be awesome in these bowls, although I think I’ll be filling the biggest one with popcorn! ;)
This set of plastic stemless wine glasses is going to be perfect for using outside this summer, not to mention the beautiful bamboo tray to go with them. I never like to bring glass outside to the patio, so having a plastic option is definitely ideal. Because they are stemless, they are super versatile so definitely don’t just need to be used for wine - water, juice, lemonade, iced tea, sangria.. you name it!
Needless to say, it was quite a week of celebration, complete with great food, plenty of time spent outdoors, and most of all, a whole lot of fun! Check out some more birthday week highlights below!
