super treat

this is jonathan harris.  he was sent to us as a special-treat thank-you,

to cook up a meal for us in our kitchen.\

and what  a treat it was.

his food ethics are locavore,

and he has trained under some pretty well established chefs along his route.

he was kind enough to share his local hikes for fiddleheads and morels,

and served up a gorgeous healthy feast with beets as the central theme.

(root veg, grains, arctic char and chocolate helped out also.)

he works out of http://www.hintonburgpublichouse.ca/ at the moment,

but will certainly soon be heading his own snack movement locally.

thank you, baji, for sending such a personable and talented chef our way.

egg-centric

 we were in toronto for easter, where aunt pat thoughtfully provided some egg-decorating

kits and inspiration for the gang.

watching the colour-pellets dissolve was half the fun!

next, the challenge of converting a perfect ovoid form of creamy white

into a work of art.

edgar's designs leaned toward elegant simplicity,

while esther's sported extra flair

(and often hair!)

the cracked rejects served as daddy's high protein pre-hockey breakfast

of (almost!) champions.



strange bedfellows

the fresh country air really tuckered david out...

he succumbed to an afternoon nap.

the girls then decided that his undulating form was the perfect canvas for

their "masterpiece".

(an installation piece composed of this managerie of stuffies)

yes, he is actually snoozing under all that cuteness.

farm fresh

we finally managed to co-ordinate a trip to our friend's acreage near calabogie.

(somehow, this has taken years to accomplish)

although we live in a great city, with lots of urban greenspace,

therre is nothing like the expanse of new green to put the spring in ones' Spring.

we all enjoyed the vistas and the blue sky, while the kids collected pinecones, juniper berries,

and other treasures they found along the way.

children's music?

we often throw on a kid's CD after school...

it pre-empts any TV begging, has lately spurred some interesting conversations. 

one of the favourite compilations boasts over 3 hours of music, and it certainly does have a lot of variety...

after the usual little "bo peeps", "itsy bitsy spiders", and "twinkle twinkles", the mode changes to old standards with catchy tunes...fabulous! 

i find myself discussing/explaining the rocky relationship of "bill bailey" and his lady friend, the charming poverty of a "bicycle built for two", love-at-first-sight during the "merry merry month of may", and the fate of poor ol' "clemintine".  

i have not yet been able to successfully decipher "waltzing matilda", but i did manage to explain waltz. 

as for the civil war anthem "dixie", i prefer the girl's version, which includes lyrics like:

"in pixieland where i was born..." and

"oh i wish i were a pixie, hooray!  hooray!"