TGIF!

It's Friday and the first of the month so what do I have to say? It's been almost three months since I started working from home and I'm happy to report that I haven't slacked off or didn't give in to the temptation of the warm and sunny days of summer. No matter how many times my deck called out to me, I stood strong and stayed within the confines of my office.

Don't get me wrong, the long days of staring at documents and spreadsheets did lull me into near comas but it's been a great opportunity. I get to walk my son to the bus stop and be there when he steps foot off of it. We now have dinner at a decent hour and I occasionally get the opportunity to wait until the afternoon to take a shower.

Since I've been able to spend more time at home, I've been able to indulge in one of my favourite things...cooking! My TV toggles only between Family Channel, Teletoon and The Food Network (with the weekly exceptions of Modern Family and Vampire Diaries). The Mr. has no arguments to the constant cooking and attempts at baking.

One tried and true goodie that I've been able to make a few times has been Filipino empanadas. Buttery flaky pastry with just a hint of sweetness to offset the mixture of ground beef, peas, potatoes and spices. When I used to make them, I always felt like something was missing - like it needed updating. Rather than changing a good thing, I complemented it with a nice curry mayo dipping sauce that just brought everything together.

So what exactly did I learn? That something familiar like a plain old empanada can be transformed with just a little bit of sauce. I'm not saying I'm going to use this as a metaphor to have some sort of life altering experience. No, that would be lame. Ha! I guess it just means that this plain old me just needed a little mayo and curry powder to get things started.

So, the adventure for tomorrow... I will stop staring at the butternut squash sitting on my counter and make her over into a velvety, golden goddess.