blossoms and balloons

the scent of flowers fills the air, 

as does the joy of water balloons... 

watch out.  :)

spring forward

I have neglected lemon cake for a VERY long time.

the immediacy of Facebook, Instagram and texting have, over time, 

changed the way I document things 

without me even realizing.  

not unlike how this blog slowly took over my little hand written books.

spring is always a good time for a fresh start.

winter warmth

downhill from here

the snowy weather returned after a mushy January thaw,

leaving an inviting layer of white over 

slick-icy surfaces.

PERFECT for a little lawlessness.

the downhills were exhilarating, and the back-up-the-hills were grounding.

not only is it lunar new year,

and celebration of our friend John's birthday, 

but also serves as the anniversary of our hard working wooden toboggan. 

 it was gifted to us, by John, 4 years ago.

I don't know how many years of service it provided to his family before then...

but we have certainly put it to good use!

cheers to John,

to more adventures at the arboretum

and to the year of the cockerel!

pizza day

since we live a block from an Italian deli, 

 one of the quickest and most satisfying last minute meals is literally right around the corner.

I just need to head to tony's, pick up two balls of pre-made dough, roll 'em out, throw on sauce and cheese, into a 500 degree oven and, BINGO!

I mean, PIZZA!

sometimes, though, I am too darn lazy, 

so I leave the legwork to the bread machine.

spruce street pizza dough,

bread machine version.

place ingredients in machine like so:

1 1/4 C warm water

3 T olive oil

3 C all-purpose or 00 flour

(this batch is 2 C all-purpose, 1 C whole wheat)

1 t salt

1 T quick rise yeast

hit dough function.

in the meantime

grate some cheese,

pop open some sauce,

dig around in the fridge for random toppings,

preheat oven to 500

roll, top, and bake for 10-12 minutes.

mmmmmmm.

(of course this dough can also be made by hand,

just mix the instant yeast well with the flour before combining with the wet stuff,

and allow it a nice cosy rising time.)

tracks

welcome, winter.

etiquette et bricolage

,

the girl was invited to a special tea party play-date recently.

 



 

it was hostessed by one of her favourite friends,

so she took her preparations very seriously

and even posed for a quick souvenir photoshoot.

 

we offered to entertain the tea party hostesses' brother at our place,

which tuned out to be a very good plan. 

the young ladies would certainly have been distracted by the building of Hamster Haven. 



cake day # 6

seems like the boy has been 6 forever...

 i guess it has been a couple of months since his birthday.

i finally found some shots from the celebration; it is after all, primarily about the cake!

grandma killed with her cake prowess once again,

this time featuring, as requested,  the teenage mutant ninja turtles.

she staged them in a chocolate training facility.

the guests were truly awed.

 and, in true little kid style, odd.
by that, i mean they were so immature!
(there were many toilet humour and barf stories volleyed around the table.)

the girl held court and organized the games that followed.

the cake and games were followed by much goofiness outside,

and as it was still early in the season, no-one was tired of the snow yet.
  frost turned into steam, which was blown off in no time.

happy (belated) birthday, edgar.
you will always be the king of my snow hill.

marshmallow world

 

 

the snow sifted down one windless night last week.

we awoke to the frosting of real winter, and the kids were out of bed

and into snowsuits in a flash! 

(I would have just tossed them some muffins and carried on to school from there, but under all that insulation, they were still sporting their pyjamas...)

 

 

 

 



presto, pesto

the final garden harvest saw us toting home a great deal of kale, and owing to the hardy nature of this veggie, I have procrastinated on 'putting it by'.  i had every intention of freezing, canning, drying, chipping and otherwise preparing vast amounts of kale for the winter.  instead, i have been giving it away, (a pleasure of the gardener) or eating it outright, cooked and in salads.  this morning, however, I tackled the last stalks of kale by whizzing together a pesto.   this reduced my huge pile of greens into five small vacpacs, destined for the freezer.

kale pesto:

Into the bowl of food processor, place lots of washed kale, 

torn from its ribs.

Whirr it down to fine confettii, then dump contents into a large bowl.

Repeat with more kale, but also add 2-3 cloves of garlic,
and about 1/2 cup natural almonds.

Whizz until there are no weird chunks remaining.
 Dump this into the mixing bowl.

Shred up one more batch of kale, this time adding the oil and flavourings

(I used cilantro olive oil and homemade pepper vinegar, but any acid/oil and flavour booster would work well, I think.  Some fresh basil and lemon would be nice,
or cilantro and lime, or maybe simply balsamic vinegar and olive oil.)
Whirr the kale, herb (if using),  about 1/3 C vinegar and a spoon of salt,
then add the oil while the processor is running.
( enough oil to make a good saucy mix.)

dump this into the bowl also.
mix well, take a few nibbles, adjust oil and seasonings.
 i like the bitterness of kale, but a hint of something sweet could be added at this time if desired.
~
cook up your favourite pasta, dollop on some pesto,
 top with fresh pepper and grated parmesan or peccorino to taste!

Potions and toast

A rainy day brings out the sorcerer in some people...

 

 

 so i opened up the pantry, and brought out the eye of newt, toe of toad, and powdered zombie teeth.

(as well as several plates of cinnamon toast!)

 

 

 

 the apprentices went wild,

mixing, grinding, and smelling until each concoction was perfected.

 

The resulting delights were labeled and admired:

parfum

turns you into a werewolf

zombie potion

good potion

frog potion

and one simply marked with a

skull and crossbones.

 

(overheard during the production: 'this one turns anything into a frog...'

'anything?  even santa claus?  even a FROG?')

 

very powerful stuff.

toi et moi, malgre tous.

 

a couple of months ago, david was approached by a 'locations' guy,

asking if he would be interested in renting out his studio for taping a few scenes of

an upcoming Quebec prime-time romantic comedy.

why ever not!!?

day one of taping saw 40 men and women sporting earpiece communication devices swarm our backyard, filling the space with flight-cases, tables, lights, cameras and action!

 

the editing van was parked right outside of, and butted right up to, our front/side window. 

 (with a metre between us, the techie and I politely ignored each other through the two panes of glass the entire evening.)

 

 

esther was up to the excitement, though. days before she had devised a plan that would keep her right in the soup of things;  the tried and true Lemonade Stand! 
we have done a few lemonade based activities in the past,  so right after school she took to the kitchen, and with total confidence proceeded to direct the citrus squeezing.
I was in charge of simple syrup and ice.

she was unphased by the hustle, set up her station right outside of the studio entrance,

 served ice cold, fresh squeezed lemonade to any comer,

and got a good gander at the proceedings. 
at one point I glanced out of the window to see her pink hoodied self loping in step behind a tall thin grey hoodied gaffer, like she'd rented the place.

 

she proved to be a very dedicated entrepreneur, and even placed a 'back in 10 minutes' sign on the

table when I called her in to dinner.

and although she made a few $$$,

 her real reward was jotted upon the corner of her shingle at the end of the evening. 

 the whole gang comes back to tape another episode in November...

perhaps a hot cocoa shack next time.

go fly a kite

 



the wind was windy.

 

 

what can I say?

 

 



sometimes a little thing can seem miraculous.



 





bursting with fun

I spy with my little eye:

 

 

 

trouble!!!

 

there are times when I LOVE the children's conspiracies.

this? 

 one of those times.

 

 



because after all...

summer is for ambushes.

fire pit passion

the cottage is the perfect place to try out less conventional cooking methods:

 

 

 

the manly art of digging a fire pit.

there was much debate on how deep, how wide, how much fire, depth of coals...

but it doesn't seem to be an exact science in any case.

 

fire pretty.

 





 we eventually threw in the foil/newspaper/foil wrapped chickens,

laid down some lovely sweet fern for additional protection, and buried the lot.



six hours later, we dug for our supper.

 

proud cave man bringing home the chickens, trailer park boys' style.

the-non exact science outcome?

the poultry still had to finish on the bbq...but it was very fun endeavour.

 

next time, deeper pit, more coals, longer time cookin'.

'cause the WILL be a next time.

 



Garden file, #2

A small haul from my morning garden visit.

valentine's, christmas AND easter in july?

the blackboard looks like this....

 

the table looks like this,

 

the egg looks like this,

 

and the kid looks like this.

'guess-the-theme' theme day