A week or two ago

It is August 22 and this is my first entry of the month! Pregnancy sure is all consuming! I'm even getting a little bored talking about it! I can't imagine how everyone else feels listening to me.

Last Saturday night we went to the Square Foot Exhibit reception. It was lovely, although I was more excited about the works last year.



(Hubby in the red hat)




I last about an hour at the show before I had to find a place to sit down. We enjoyed this mango & something cheese cake at a place just south of the gallery. Rich & yummy!



And, yes, I am still riding my bike! I love it! It is SO much easier to ride than to walk. Here we are just about to cycle home:




About a week or two ago I discovered that washing the dishes has become uncomfortable due to my tummy squishing into the counter. Hubby says it isn't because of my pregnant tummy, but because of my shortness 'disability'. Ha ha. Anyway, here's a cute picture of my solution. (Thanks to good friend G for sewing this beautiful dress for me!)




A couple of weeks ago we had a few friends over for a BBQ. Of course we were rained out and had to settle for the living and dining room. Here is my wonderful little friend M showing off her super cool poncho just before going home! Mom, K, is in the background.



I have finished a lovely knitted baby hat, but the pictures I've taken suck. You'll have to wait for another day to see the cutesy hat. I will also have some wool booties finished this weekend to show off. Stay tuned!

Kids in the Hall

Hubby and I got comp tickets to the last Kids in the Hall show in Toronto this week; the last show of their eight week North American tour. We saw their warm up show last summer in Montreal at the Comedy Festival. The Toronto show had a couple of new skits and was unique if only because Kevin McDonald had practically lost his voice. The Kids did a lot of cracking up on stage about that.

Because Mark McKinney is working with Hubby on his show, we got passes to the after-party! Here are some shots:

Hubby and good friends, C & S, enjoying the party!


Me with Dave Foley!


All of us with Mark...


The girls with Mark!


Before the show we ate at Harlem on Richmond. Wonderful! We will go back on a night when we aren't rushing to get to Massey Hall. It was a great night out! I didn't get to bed until close to midnight! That is WAAAAY this past pregnant woman's bedtime!

Good looking pizza

I made this pizza last night and it looked so good I had to take a picture! It tasted almost as good as it looked. It was missing just a little something... garlic? Goat cheese? Just one more ingredient would have made it perfect.

Lots o' stuff

As promised, here is a mish-mash of updates and interesting tidbits.

Here's me cutting a delicious carrot cake I made for a Girls' Night at S's home in November.



Here are some of the carrot cake fans:



And another big fan:



She also likes Scooby-Do books and Spider Man! She's so cool! I dig her!

On a trip to Montreal earlier this year, I started working on creating a baby blanket pattern. I found the Catherine Wheel design in a book of trims and patterns. Here is a shot of the gauge swatch for the blanket.



Here's a picture of Hubby and our friends waiting for our Porter Air flight to Montreal.


I feel like I'm putting my neck out a bit admitting that we took Porter Air. I am only slightly ashamed to admit that it was pure luxury and I would do it again in a second. In the picture above we are sitting in the self-serve kitchenette in the Porter Air lounge with its unlimited and complimentary snacks and bevies. These are no cheapie snacks either - espresso, cappuccino, juices, trail mix, and quite yummy cookies.

They even served lunch on the plane with your choice of wine or beer! I was so excited that I took a couple of pictures! Here is lunch container:



Here is what was inside!



Hubby and I shared our sandwiches for a little variety. It was all delicious!

So, the Catherine Wheel baby blanket was born on our little adventure to Montreal. Here is the finished product and a detail shot:





This lovely green blanket has a happy home in Winnipeg with the scrumptious little daughter of my childhood friend.

Special thanks to my Knitomatic SnB gals for good feedback on this blanket. After searching and thinking and searching and thinking about the border, I took Haley's advice and went with a simple single and double crochets. Leona also gave me good advice about the tension and hook size. The second attempt at this pattern has been crocheted with Hook size I rather than H. (I haven't yet photographed the second blanket).

You may recall the beginnings of my turtle baby project. Here he is!



This critter was just sent to a sweet little Ladybug in Calgary whom I hope to meet someday.

There is more to tell, but my bed beckons. Plumbing stories can wait.

ho hum

I'm not really sure what this post is about. This morning I've been feeling ho hum one minute and optimistic and energetic in the next minute. My weekend seems like it will be nice a mix of chores and socializing, which is good. I like getting domestic things done, but it is so much work. It's good to break up the chores with fun stuff, little rewards.

It just occurred to me that perhaps my ho hum feeling comes from only having had a cup of coffee so far this morning. My cook, my favourite person, my Hubby is out of town for many months. I have to rely on my Self getting me fed now. If I don't eat regularly, I develop ho hum-ness.

[pause for nourishment break]

I just realized that I may have started choosing my meals based on what concoction uses the least amount of dishes. You see, we don't have a dishwasher. Dishes, dishes, dishes, every day, even after a simple snack. This everyday chore starts becoming a bore, especially when more than half of your house is still waiting to be cleaned up from the insulation installation that happened over a week ago. (Some clean up already has taken place, only to become covered in insulation dust all over again - sigh.) I feel sometimes I can barely keep up with the everyday chores, never mind the big jobs like cleaning up after a renovation type project.

On a brighter note, another baby has arrived in the world and I'll be packaging up a handmade blanket and card to send off to my friend, the new mother! I know she will love it and that her little ladybug will look gorgeous wrapped up nice in Italian cotton. I chose the catherine wheel design from a book and developed the pattern for the blanket myself (thanks to some Stitch N' Bitch women for their ideas and tips). I'm already working on a second blanket and getting the kinks out of the pattern. Sorry no picture just yet. It's too early on a Saturday morning to figure that out!

Progress has been made on the turtle baby; the tummy and shell are complete and the first little leg is started. Not sure if it will be together for next weekend, but I'll try.

Old recipe is good comfort food

I felt a little blue off and on today. If I don't feed myself properly, my blues always get the best of me for a few hours. So, before leaving work today I put my food-thinking cap on and focused myself on nourishing myself tonight.

Great Hubby usually does the cooking around here. He had lots of practice making delicious food from almost nothing in fridge in his previous incarnation as a starving artist and short order cook. Since his television show has taken off, Hubby has had less and less time for nourishing the Good Wife. I am not complaining, just admitting that I am out of practice and a wee bit lazy in the food department.

I thought I would make a simple shrimp salad that I found on Epicurious.com. On my way to the fish monger it occurred to me that I used to have quite a few delicious and easy recipes that I prepared for myself all those years ago. A specific recipe jumped into my mind - White Bean Pasta Sauce. Incredibly, the ingredients came to mind right away and I was able to pick up a few required items at the No Frills.

I am now a happy gal with a tummy full of yummy pasta with white bean sauce. I'm not blue and I'm not hungry.

August fun

I am serenading Summer goodbye. It has been a lovely season.

Here's a re-cap of my August.

Peach preserves with my lovely co-worker and friend. Chutney and relish.





Hubby and I had dinner and drinks with Joe, in town on his way to St. Lucia. Here's my delicious Pear Martini from The Drake:



And here is Hubby and Joe on the rooftop patio at The Drake. Hubby likes to pretend he's having a horrible time because he doesn't like getting his photo taken.



I was lucky to catch the reception for AWOL Gallery's Square Foot exhibit with my friend Mary who had three pieces in the show. What a great show! The reception was fabulous! Funky music, cold beer, and tons of hip art lovers. Hubby and I bought a piece and I can't wait to get it home!

Here's Mary, in town for a holiday and this show. Check out the square foot pieces behind her and then imagine a huge room with each wall covered in columns and rows of these paintings!




Here's me and Mary enjoying our hanging out time:



What else did I do in August?

A ferry ride back to the main land after a lovely wedding on Algonquin Island. Here's the beautiful view:



Alley Jaunt the day after the wedding. It doesn't look like much in this photo, but there is really interesting art to see and people to meet. My favourite was the poet Simla Civelek in the VW Van. Check it out next August!



An added bonus on the Jaunt - a bath tub of basil! I could smell it before I could see it. It was incredibly fragrant!



Half way through the Jaunt we stopped for nourishment at the funky, yummy Get Real on Ossington. Check out the grape in my water - delicious! (There's my guide and Alley Jaunt passport. I have my passport at work with all its cool stamps and marks. A nice reminder of a lovely month.)



Another lovely August event was a wee bridal shower at La Tea Da on Queen East. Here's the High Tea tray that we enjoyed. (Can you tell I like food?)

toooooooo hot

It is just toooooooo bloody hot to come up with anything interesting to write!

I have settled on a list to you all informed.

* Making peach preserves with lovely co-worker/friend this Saturday. This idea was inspired by my small success with pears last weekend.

* Getting the Volkswagon Bug from Mom & Dad on Sunday while they go off to England and Scotland.

* Wonderful Hubby is planning wonderful brunch as a nice send off for Mom & Dad.

* Hair trim took place last night. My hair dresser told me that if someone had bet him that he'd ever see my hair this long, he would have lost the bet. I would have lost the bet too. For years I forced Joe to keep my hair in a funky, butchy short cut. Hubby inspired me to let it grow. THANKS, HUB!

* I'm all about thick yogurt these days. Yogurt cheese that I eat with fruit and honey or my pear preserves. I just keeping buying containers of yogurt and letting it sit in the fridge in cheese cloth and a sieve.

* It is Friday of a long weekend and I am thankful.

* Going to hang out with a friend on Sunday who has access to a fancy house in Guelph this weekend. A/C and swimming pool, here we come!

Oh! I almost forgot this:

* I ate ice cream from Madeleines for lunch yesterday (the hottest day of the summer so far)! Watermelon sherbert with chocolate covered toasted oats that looked like watermelon seeds. It was heaven!

Last weekend of July in Toronto

Look what we were gifted this weekend! My mom and dad brought us their old bbq, all reconditioned and freshened up! We've already given it a couple of test drives. Above is a picture of lovely bok choy that hit the grill first. Shortly followed by:



Burgers! Yummy! We tried a simple recipe from Foodtv.ca. Delicious!

On Sundays when we have access to a car, we get ourselves to the Beaches (I know the area is officially known as the Beach, but it doesn't roll off my tongue or fingertips as easily as Beaches does) to enjoy Konditor. Our favourite pastry place in Toronto. There is a lot more to Konditor than their pastries; they have quiches, salads and sandwiches that are all amazing. The house coffee is to die for! We partake in little bit of everything, plus the Sunday New York Times.

Here is a picture of Hubby and our friend who also worships the Viennese pastries:



The last few times we've gone to Konditor, we've headed to the Liberty Village Farmers' Market before going home. We discovered some kick ass pickled garlic here. We've had the regular and the spicy pickled garlic, as well as the garlic relish. Incredible! I served the pickled garlic at my sister's party earlier this month and it was big hit.

Today we kept to our ritual and headed to Liberty Village. Lucky thing, too, since the garlic people won't be back in Toronto until the Cabbagetown festival. I loaded up with two kinds of relish and pickled garlic ends (they are not called ends, but I don't want to go downstairs to look at the jar right now).

A kind merchant pointed me in the right direction for pears. I've been waiting for the Ontario pears to be ready so that I could make some pear reserves. One of the farmers had lovely little sugar pears. I bought about five pounds.

Here's me after working for three hours on Gingered Pear Preserves:



A labour of love. My feet are aching and my back hurts, but I yielded eleven 250ml jars and a few taste tests to share with Hubby and friend. Not bad for being without most of my fancy canning equipment. I improvised and did quite well - no burns or scalds, only delicious preserves.

Lots of nice things

I've had a luxurious life recently. I've been able to do a lot of things I enjoy.

A dear, dear friend from BC stayed with us for two days. She's smart, funny, open, adventurous, and so easy to be around. I just love her! She wanted to learn crochet, so we parked ourselves at Knitomatic on Friday and I did a little teaching. She's off and running with Haley's grocery bag pattern and some Super 10 cotton!

We went to The Paper Place and I managed to spend only $5! That's a first! I bought a mini grab bag of paper ends. Can't wait to make some new collage cards!

Just down the street, we popped into Fresh Collective to pick up a T-shirt that Mandy was repairing for me. See Vacation Friday entry for more on Mandy and my love of her designs. I am now coveting one of her belts.

We had a lovely Mexican dinner on Baldwin Street at Margaritas with BC friend and two Toronto friends. The sangria and margaritas were flowing and the tacos were super messy! Not a good first date meal. Thank goodness I'm off the market. But, I digress. Baldwin Street is just such a lovely little piece of Toronto, especially on a warm summer night. It makes everything in life seem perfect. So, perfect that you don't want the evening to end. This led us to College Street for Big Chill ice cream - yum!

Hubby and I watched Pan's Labyrinth on Saturday night. Such a good movie! Last night we caught up on Entourage and watched this week's episode this morning. Thank you Roger's On Demand.

Sunday morning we brunched with our Sunday New York Times and tv writer friend at Cucina. It was pure Sunday morning luxury that lasted 4 hours.

I checked out Cafe Taste for the first time last night with some new friends. I like new friends and I like Cafe Taste.

I'm speeding right along on the Spiderweb Cardigan. Photo later this week - stay tuned!

KR was right & other updates

My friend, KR, told me weeks ago that the only way to really get your boxes unpacked after a move is to set a date for a party. I've been beating myself up for the never-ending mess in the house: boxes, tools, clothing not put away, baseboards missing. The list goes on and on. I've struggled with feeling incredibly lazy and just trying to keep up with our regular life - eating, laundry, making a lunch for work.

My nephews are coming to stay with us on the first weekend in June. I want them to have a room to sleep in. Finally I have a deadline to get that second bedroom organized. I made a really good dent in it this weekend. I think I got rid of about 7 more boxes. I can probably do three more before we eat dinner.

KR was right; you need a deadline to force yourself to face the boxes.

I'm already feeling a lot better about the house than I did last week. It gets depressing living in clutter and disorganization. I just have to keep doing a little bit every chance I get.

Other updates:

I'm making good progress on a secret crochet project. I can't tell you anymore than that, hence the name 'secret crochet project'.

I'm almost done with the purse kit that Haley 'donated' to my crochet cause. Once all the crochet is done Haley will finish it up with a bit of sewing that I don't have the patience for. I think the finished project will be really nice.

I've picked out 5 skeins of Berry Red Cotton Fleece to make a camisole/T-shirt for myself. I'll start this once the secret project is done. It's going to look great!

I went to a very sexy wedding reception on the weekend at The Sultan's Tent on Front Street. The food and wine were fantastic! The decor is beautiful, red, golds, and dark wood (set up as Moroccan tents). The belly dancing was the sexiest wedding entertainment I've ever seen! It was really very nice.

Fate:

Hubby and I have been together for over four years now. In all those years. We have not had one summer vacation together. His work tends to pick up right around March or April and is going strong by June, July and August. I need to take a summer vacation every year to cope with burn out symptoms.

This year Hubby started a gig in April and told me that there would be a hiatus in June. My vacation was booked for the last two weeks of June; the hiatus, of course, was scheduled for the first two weeks. I was actually successful in getting one of my weeks rescheduled so that Hubby and I could take a week together. I made him promise to get out of town with me for a night or two. I even started researching some road trip ideas.

Happily, a week or so ago, Hubby found out that his television project is going to make it to camera! He gave notice at his job and started to have meetings about his own project. It only took me a couple of days to figure out that our vacation plans were mostly down the toilet. It seems like Hubby will actually be in Winnipeg the week that we planned to go on a little road trip.

Fate is against us. Shall I go to Winnipeg? Shall I crash the business trip, be the tag-along wife? I have mixed feelings. I can hang with Hubby's sister, whom I like very much. I'll get to go to my favourite breakfast joint The Falafel Place on Corydon Avenue and my favourite steak house Rae and Jerry's (50s flashback extraordinaire). The major problem would be the 'industry talk'. I am not exaggerating when I say that the industry talk will likely be 24-7. There's only so much a girl can take.

(If you are ever in Winnipeg, you MUST get to Rae and Jerry's. The waitresses still wear red polyester dresses and serve tomato juice in a glass on a saucer. The decor is new, but reminiscent of the original - wood paneling and red vinyl, with carpet throughout.)

Great hubby handles PMS like a pro!

Before I cuddle up to my Hubby in bed, I want to tell you again how great he is.

Tonight I met up with Hubby at Smokeless Joe's on John Street, after I had my fill at Body Blitz. Usually Body Blitz cures all that ails me, but tonight it just didn't. It wasn't that the soothing Blitz waters were lacking. My PMS neediness arrived today, started hanging around and wouldn't take the hint to SHOVE OFF. I am thankful that I could identify this and explain to Hubby. He pulled my bar chair right next to his, put his manly man arm around me and the world started to seem right again.

Sigh. I'm lucky.

Sushi Hubby cure

I had a bad day. Crying episodes involved.

My hubby took me out for sushi.

I love sushi.

I love Hubby.

Sushi and Hubby make bad day better.

Seriously yummy blog

If you like food and lovely writing, check out Oswego Tea.

I am now living vicariously through this gal.

(Check out all the other food blogs she lists.)

AND, she lists a knitting blog! Me like.

Hikes & Chips

I had a lovely day. We went for a hike at Spencer Gorge near Dundas. The fall colours were not brilliant, but it was nice to be in nature, especially to be close to water.

This is Webster's Falls.



Beside the water on the Bruce Trail. The sunlight coming through the trees was lovely, the sound of the water so soothing.





Detail of some flowers and leaves right beside the water.






Sporty Me with Hubby's finger pointing out that, without a doubt, it is me.





People of all ages were out with family and friends enjoying themselves. Very close to the falls it was quite crowded. Once we hiked away from the falls, we were alone for lengths of time.

After hiking we found our way to a local country market. We bought a few apples, a delicious apple pie, some corn and some garlic jelly.

A highlight of the day was finding ourselves in a rather seedy area of Hamilton and happening upon a chip truck. I wish I had taken a picture of it. Hubby had a craving and the aroma of deep fried delights wafted into our car as we drove by. We doubled back and ordered a large fries. It was HUGE! An entire meal take-out container filled with yummy, salted fingers of deep fried potatoe heaven! We laughed and laughed at how big the order was. They were delicious!

Crochet report:

I have given up, for now, on crocheting hemp dishcloths. I was uninspired. I'm going to start on baby booties to match the infant sweater I made on my vacation.

My mom found some old crochet and knit pattern booklets of baby sweaters & hats and afghans. I love, love, love the ripple pattern afghan. I recently bought a book of crocheted scarves and it was the ripple scarf that caught my eye immediately. I'm planning on geting the wool for it on Wednesday.

A little more inspired today

My friend sent me a link to this cool retro foodie blog. I like it. There are quite a few references to Jell-O and cake mixes. Now, I don't cook or bake that way, but I dig most things retro and I like the way Jell-O mold desserts and salads look. I sometimes even like the way they taste. I understand, from Hubby, that this is a goy thing.

From retro-food.com I found my way to a reluctant housewife's archived list for shopping. (See my previous post with a tidbit about my list habit). Her blog has a lot of things to peruse. I love these pictures of herbs and flowers at her Farmers' Market - gorgeous!

I like to bake and make other homemade goodies. I make salsa, jams, amaretto cherries, scones, cakes (from scratch), banana bread, granola, tamari almonds and various cookies. I get a little thrill from spreading my homemade joys around. When I bake I always set aside enough to share. Sometimes our neighbour is the happy recipient. The gals at work often luck out on Mondays, after an inspired Sunday afternoon in the kitchen.

Here's a picture from a Farmers' Market in Winnipeg. I wish now I had captured one of the stalls with little bunches of beautiful fall flowers.

me tonight

This is my third attempt at writing something tonight. I'm uninspired. I wrote something about my list making habit. No one is as interested in my lists as I am. I deleted it.

Then I wrote something about feeling out of touch with getting my life organized (sort of a segue from the list habit topic). I don't think anyone would find my disorganized linen cupboard very intriguing. I deleted it.

Me right now: I'm frustrated about my crochet dishcloth project. I'm enjoying my Neustadt 10W30 beer tonight. We first tried it at Rodney's Oyster House last December on my birthday. On Sunday, we are planning to go hiking in Hamilton. I can't wait to see the Fall colours and smell the crisp air.

Anyway, that's me tonight.

The Worst Ever

I have so many little tid-bits to fill you in on. I've just been SO busy studying for my first grammar test that I could not put finger tips to laptop.

Firstly, THE WORST EVER chinese fast food that I have ever tasted; it was phenomenally bad! Over cooked fried rice, gray tasteless chow mein and over breaded processed chicken balls. Really, really, really bad.

I bought this culinary misadventure at a local city college, just before my last grammar class. I wasn't hungry right at that moment, but I knew I would crash and burn within an hour, making it difficult to learn about prepositional phrases. My choices for nourishment were limp salads, day old sandwiches and pizza, and fast food chinese. It was a lost cause from the beginning.

Can you see this?

I was walking home from Stitch 'n Bitch last Wednesday when I came upon these two little critters right in front of Hubby's old building. Actually, they're more like adolescent raccoons than little babes. When I stopped to get a better look at them, these two scurried behind a five inch diameter tree trunk in a comical effort to hide. They hunched there for a couple of moments, peaking out at me.

There was a little raccoon discussion. Something like this:

'What the hell are we doing?'

'I don't know, but this is ridiculous.'

'Aw, forget it. Let's eat.'

With that they sauntered back to the garbage bag. Big city raccoons are so nonchalant, so unconcerned. I love it!

Third tid-bit:

I'm digging this Belgian beer, Delirium Tremens. Hubby and I have it when we go to a favourite restaurant. It's fruity, sweet, golden goodness. Disappointing that it's not available in stores.

Last tid-bit:

I am really struggling with prepositions and some adverbs. They're tricky little buggers, some of them. Hopefully, I will get unstuck before Tuesday night's test.

Wish me luck.