Perfect Food Weekend - Day One

Got to the market and felt a wee bit peckish so I treated myself to a chocolate cherry muffin from the french bakery. Oh yes, you know it was good. Once I returned home with all my yummy purchases I enjoyed a toasted St. Urban sesame see bagel with their cream cheese. Dinner though, was the BEST. Pre-dinner snacks of Wilshire cheese with mango and ginger while dinner was grilled fish kabobs (salmon, tuna and sea bass) with fresh Ontario asparagus grilled with olive oil and kosher salt. Dessert ... a Delish Cupcakes macaroon cupcake. I can't wait for tomorrow.

Soon to be a perfect food weekend

It's a long weekend up here. In my effort to embrace lusciousness and happiness ( I am reading the Happiness Project) I am heading to the St. Lawrence Market to buy delectable delights to be consumed this weekend. I will post later today to share with you my yummy treats.

New Laptop carryall

I needed a laptop bag to carry my mac. Mine is slightly larger than most (due to my bad vision) so I need to have one made. I went to my friends at Echoes in the Attic, for their spring sale, and while I was there we picked some very Lottie like fabric I luscious pale green that looks like a Japanese print) and measured me up so it actually fits me AND the mac. Life is Good. Echoes in the Attic is one of my favourite things. Check out their website http://www.echoesintheattic.com/.

Me and Mrs. Fisher Tea Shoppe

I know they are in the UK but in the spirit of sharing, have you EVER seen anything as delightful as this???? It was part of the Easter cupcake workshop and the most precious little girl make this. I found it on their FB page (I don't really know HOW I found their FB page but that is another story for another day). I have made a decision though, and that is, it is far better for me to spend my time surfing the next for cupcakes and cupcake recipes that to search for say English Spring Spaniel puppies (those make me want one badly) or worse, English Springer Spaniel Rescue websites (they make we weepy and believing that those poor babies desperately need me). There is a Springer coming into rescue in Ontario shortly and her name is .... wait for it ..... Lulu. No picture posted or anything but somehow I just know that I should take it as a sign and she needs Hershey and I. Murray doesn't see it in the same light and prefers that I surf for cupcakes, wedding cakes, cookies, pies, butter tarts and anything that can be grilled on the BBQ. I also need to slow down on surfing mls listings for homes on the Gulf Coast Islands in BC. The little blue house with the fish pond AND Lottie sized separate little, also blue, studio was sold this past weekend. This can only mean there is another even better house out there. Right!!

Reducing my sugar consumption

Doing something new, say exercising, is not like giving something up. It's easy to add something but much more difficult to removed something that you really really enjoy. Thus my sugar dilemia. I really need to cut back (I can feel it in my system when I indulge) but my problem is I LOVE SUGAR AND ALL SUGAR RELATED PRODUCTS. Sigh......................

In the plan to go out with a bang I got this for my husband yesterday. I got is at a french patisserie in Queen East and when I walked in it said "HELLO, OVER HERE .... YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO TAKE ME HOME".. So I did. It is (was) the size of a cupcake and look at all those tiny, dainty, yummy, macaroons????? I just had a taste, as that was all I wanted, but from here on in I am going to reduce my sugar consumption. Please notice I said reduce not eliminate. That would just be ridiculious.

Celebration Cupcakes

Last night Pam and I took a workshop at Longo's call "celebration cupcakes". Of the six we made, these are three of mine that I am prepared to share with you (hahaha). The others can only get better .... Right!!

The top two I obvious I think, but the bottom one is a baby under a blanket, with green booties, and a teddy bear.

It's important to enjoy your food, and we did.

Waging war on Lilly Beetles

It is yet another wet, cool damp day here, and while my garden is starting to grow, the miserable weather has not done anything to the Lilly Beetle population. While I try to take a live and let live approach to life these foul little red bugs eat my ornamental lilies leaving nothing behind but stock of beetle poo covered stock with no leaves and mushy holey petals. Gross. I was once told (by a master gardener no less) that the only means to control them was to squish them between two rocks. Note I said control not eliminate, because I don't think you can eliminate them. This year I am trying Neem oil. This morning, when I saw a few of these scarlet coloured pests, eating tender shoot I whipped up a batch. Wearing my sexy rubber boots, and fleece jacket, a big scarf and work gloves (note to self - get more garden gloves) I set about spritzing the bastards with this concoction that smelt like your green bin in the garage on a let August afternoon (major stink). I have been told I may have to spray this stuff all over my lilies all summer, as they grow, to protect the new growth from the bugs. Damn. The things I do for a luscious garden.