The dwarfs’ cottage (and Rapunzel’s tower in the background?)

Hello Food Lovers,
This is a long recipe to make but it’s totally worth it. Change it up with some thyme or chives. Add different veggies. If you have left over rutabaga (never happens in our house), add that too.

Combine first 4 ingredients and mix with Lard until the consistency of large meal.
Mix Egg and vinegar mixture together and add to the rest and work with a fork until it's the right consistency.
Chill if wanted.
In large pan or wok, Cook Bacon and put to the side with chopped turkey and peas.
In bacon grease fry the garlic, once slightly brown add the onions and jalapenos.
Once the onions are translucent add carrots and broccoli. Cook on medium for 5-10 minutes.
Once the carrots and broccoli are a little soft, add the rest of the veggies. Cook another 5 minutes.
Add bacon, turkey, peas, salt, and pepper.
Add milk and gravy, stir thoroughly.
Add flour and stir until there are no lumps and sauce has thickened.
Let cool for 10-20 minutes.
Roll out dough into a large square and put it in an 8×8 square pan. Fill with half the cooled filling and cut a cover.
Repeat for second pie. There should be just enough dough for 2.
Use 1 egg yolk with a little milk as a wash for golden brown top.
Cook for 30 minutes at 425°F.
You can freeze the pie for up to a month. Defrost it in the fridge the day before and cook for 30 minutes at 350°F.
Enjoy,
Éric
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Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2020 film A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting.

A by the numbers spy/secret society/urban fantasy first episode. This is an example of not just playing into the tropes but embracing them fully.
The story isn’t new, but it is well executed with extremely good set up. Predictable but fun.
Score: 0.5
The main genre team tropes are all there: the science nerd, the tech nerd, the bad-ass with a tragic backstory, and of course the special kid who was destined to be the hero with a special power. (I like that the power is math.)
Overall, these characters should be flat and boring, copies of copies, but somehow through writing and acting the characters are likeable and unique.
Tom Felton chewed up the scenery, relishing the role, as a weird cross between Jude Law as Pitch in Rise of the Guardians and Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice.
Score: 1
The dialogue was standard YA and with the exception of Tom Felton and the kidnapped kid there wasn’t much good dialogue. Nothing cringe, just bland.
Score: 0.5
Surprisingly pretty and wonderfully shot. The movie uses every horror trick except the expanding corridor and uses them well. When the movie wasn’t in full horror mode it was bright colours and beautiful sets.
The music was subtle but effective. A lot of half used pop songs but they were effective and pushed the urban fantasy feel.
Score: 1
I think this was just the perfect scary level for my daughter but she’s a horror fan. It was a little scary for my Mother In-Law though. I found it a lot of fun but it did suffer from the need to set everything up for this movie and the next 2. (Assuming they’re doing all 3 books.)
It was definitely handled better than Society for Second born Royals but not as well as Enola Holmes. That being said, I look forward to re-watching this one.
Score: 1
A fun movie with a few flaws. Easily a new favourite Halloween movie and I’m excited for the next ones in the series. Not perfect, but a lot of fun.
Final Score: 4 stars out of 5
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Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2009 film Monsters vs. Aliens.

An interesting mash-up (monster mash-up?) of typical monster and alien invasion tropes from both the classic movies and the newer ones. Although they revel in the tropes of the genre, the movie isn’t an alien invasion or monster movie, it’s a superhero origin story.
Score: 0.5
The characters were funny but not particularly interesting. They balanced their roles well and were likeable but nothing special.
Score: 0.5
The movie was filled with quotes, references, and jokes about other monster or invasion movies and TV shows. I’m sure I missed a few but greatly enjoyed those that I caught.
As far as original dialogue, each character had a few great moments.
Score: 1
The movie was colourful and the monsters were okay, but the humans and Susan were really off. The mouths and eyes were just off enough to make it disconcerting.
The music was a beautiful homage to classic monster and alien movies.
Score: 0.5
Lots of action, jokes, and fun moments. It was fun from start to finish. I’m sure the genre references and jokes help me a lot.
Score: 1
This is a movie that squeezes monsters, aliens, and superhero tropes all together. It’s what happens when you make a loving parody. It was exciting for the kids and a had lots of little Easter eggs for the adults.
Final Score: 3.5 Stars out of 5
Hello Book and Coffee Lovers,
Éric Desmarais Author and JenEric Coffee & Crochet will be in attendance for the second Renaissance Virtual Conference.

JenEric Coffee & Crochet will be in the vendors room for the show.
Éric will have 2 panels:
4 PM – 5 PM EDT: THE END (Saturday October 24 2020): This panel discusses how to write a satisfying ending and why it’s so important.
10 AM – 11 AM : I know that place! (Sunday October 25 2020):This panel discusses the challenge of using real places in fiction. How do you avoid problems? How to futurize a location? What are common pitfalls in using real locations?
Go register now (It’s a free conference)
Hope to see you there!
Advent deadline in only 2ish weeks.
Get them while you can.
You have until Friday November 9th to order your advent calendars for shipping in mid to late November.
Here are the options for this year:




This is a pre-order for our Advent Calendars. Flavours will be picked from our current selection and a few experimental flavours.
These are pre-orders.
Deadline to order second wave November 9th – Orders will ship mid-November.ALLERGY If you have allergies please email us at JenEricDesigns(AT)gmail.com to let us know your specific allergy.
Thank you,
Éric

Yet another movie that I did not watch in childhood. This one is a tad bit scarier for younger kids, and lots of fun for adults.
Here is the link for the downloadable materials. (Again, please let me know if you have any problems so I can fix it!)
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Watch movie | elephant toothpaste | pumpkin carving | Learn about Samhain | Flex |
Daily details:
Ballet and martial arts on alternate days
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano
The project she is working on (currently she is making herself a poncho)
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Download materials
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type – in download materials
Count pumpkin seeds after cleaning them
Count candy packages and group them (do some subtraction)
Experiment: elephant toothpaste (link to experiment) ingredient list[JD1]
Pumpkin carving: pick stencil and draw it on pumpkin, help scoop seeds (adult do carving)
Learn about Samhain (link to worksheets)
Next week: Coco

This Tuesday at virtual school, she was able to turn on and off her microphone (although it took a bit of time sometimes). The small groups were a bit chaotic, as it was the first time trying to do them. Hopefully they’ll be worked out by next Tuesday (although when this post goes live, it will have been yesterday…). Dragon raised her hand to talk three times – to sing the “Bonjour song”, to recite the days of the week, and to answer a question about trees. All of which she did in French! I’m so very proud of how well she’s doing. I’m very impressed by her teachers. She loves them. The homeschool portion of the week was short by one day, because of Thanksgiving, but that’s why we have a flex day worked into the schedule every week, to give us some wiggle room.
No martial arts this week, but she did ballet 2-3 times this week.

I forgot to get her to practice with the letters, so we did it verbally just now as I’m writing this post. I’d say she’s doing pretty well.
She had another piano lesson on Saturday. They reviewed whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes, and tried clapping their rhythms. She was introduced to whole and half rests and how not to clap them. She played the piece from last week, as half notes, and had no trouble at all. She is holding her wrists properly. They’ve started learning “Chopsticks”.
We listened to a bunch of French music. Coeur de Pirate was the favourite yet again and I am thrilled because it is a beautiful album.
We managed to get a few more stitches in on Friday.
Rather than pull out the papers, we did these verbally this week. She can now recite the days of the week in French without prompting. I took my thought about 12 being too many and shrank it down to only the first three, which we started learning on Friday. I think she’s remembering them by sound, but that’s okay for now. We’ll work on the first three months until she can say them with minor assistance before adding the next three months. I think this is working. *fingers crossed*
Tracing the letters went better this week than printing them. I think she was having an off day today.


She’s still forgetting that sept comes after six. I’ll need to figure out a game or something to help her remember (note to self…)



We didn’t read any French books together this week.
Film script in stop-motion (2 days: taking the pictures + putting them together on computer, find music to go with it) – She directed me in how to move the toys (and I showed her how to make the basket look fuller than it actually was – movie magic!) and followed her script and storyboard extremely well. She told Éric how long to make each frame and where to put the text. Then we recorded her playing her xylophone to make the music. Éric put it all together because the technical ability to do that was a bit beyond a 4 yo’s ability, especially since she can’t read yet!




The completed movie!
Make a shoebox diorama – we looked at the provided example, and then I asked her what she wanted in hers to make it Halloween-y. We searched google for the objects, put them in a word document, and added blocks underneath them (or on top) to be able to stick them to the inside of the box. Then we made the background very simply – just black with a yellow moon. She had fun using the “big-kid” glue.





Hello,
So far we have filled 15 of the maximum 30 spots for the Holiday Shopping list and it’s a fantastic mix of stuff. That means we still have some room if you’re interested in joining us.
JenEric Designs and Creative Ottawa Nerds (CON) have teamed up to create a list of 30 Canadian artists and artisans that have something to offer for the holiday season.
Beyond the list, we will create a post each day in November that highlights one of the vendors.
For those of you that need holiday shopping ideas, keep an eye on this blog. The list will be up November 1st.

For those of you that would like to participate please email us at JenEricDesigns (at) gmail.com Subject: Holiday Shopping List with the following information.
This will be first come first serve. We will accept a maximum of 30 vendors. No resellers.
There will be a $5 fee for being listed. All money collected will be used to boost a post on CON’s Facebook page promoting the list.
Thank you and I hope you have a happy and profitable holiday season!
JenEric Designs and CON