Colourful Summer Food

Steak with roast potatoes, grilled vegetables and sauteed spinach.

Late Night Snack

Peaches baked in honey, with greek yogurt, raspberries, lemon drop cookies and camomile tea.

Buddha Bowls

There is a restaurant in Toronto called Fresh. They have a dish called Buddha bowls and this is my interpretation of it. It's brown rice, spicy peanut sauce, lettuce, tomato, avocado, red peppers, shrimp and cilantro.

Long Weekend Cooking

Pulled beef brisket chilli served with homemade guacamole. Slow cooking on the long weekend.

Day Trip

A couple of weekends ago my boyfriend and I took a day trip to Blackrock because the Makers & Brothers duo, Jonathan and Mark Legge, were having an open house in their shop aka "the shed".

Next to the shed, James Carroll, one of the shop's makers, was doing a carving doing a carving demonstration. He was carving legs for his stools.

The inside of the shed had all of the beautiful objects for sale. I loved the brown paper and string hanging on dowels ready for gift wrapping. There was also delicious lemon cake and elder juice to snack on while admiring the items on the shelves.

My boyfriend took some time to say hello to the Legge family dog.

The swing by Toys Pure was hung up to be tried out. The shed is tucked in a shady corner of the Legge brothers' family property. I love the lights strung up between the trees and the old stone buildings. It feels like a secret garden.


I wasn't able to leave without buying something so I bought an enamel tumbler by Falcon Enamelware in the beige and grey combo. I think I'm going to plant a small succulent or cactus in it.

Memories in Objects

I'm visiting my family in Winnipeg this week and I was able to go to my cottage for the first time all summer. My cottage is my favourite place in the world. Nearly every object in the cottage has a story that goes along with where it came from. When I go to the cottage it's like visiting old friends. Here are some of my favourites.

Many objects are souvenirs from trips people have gone on over the past 70 years or more. These are working bellows that we use actually use to start the fire. They have soft leather sides and wooded top and bottom. 

There are three wooden chairs that are all painted in different colours with different designs. My aunt Marke painted them when she was a teenager. 

This is a stylized New Zealand fish hook. My Opa saw them and liked the shape so he made a large one which now hangs near the fireplace. 

My grandparents found this while they were traveling and bought it because it looked just like their daughter Saskia. I never met Saskia but I always liked this painting. 

Eating and cooking is very important at the lake and the cooking utensils are all kept in the same location that they have always been kept. The drawer is lined with this lovely wall paper. Opening the drawer is like stepping back in time a little bit. 

The rest of the utensils are kept in this lovely ice bucket. One side is a little bit melted from getting too close to the stove but it still does the job. 

Finally there is the big wooden world map which hangs in the living room. It is a little bit inaccurate (some countries appear twice) but nobody really minds. It was made by my great grandfather, my mother's Opa. He also built the cottage for our family and we will always be grateful to him for it.

Afternoon Snack

freshly steeped la-la lemon iced tea and blackberries 

from the market

A Late-Summer Morning

This morning I was having trouble getting out of bed to go to work. School is starting soon and there is an impending busy-ness that comes with that. Today I just wanted to hang out in my apartment and listen to music and read a book.


Two things managed to turn my mood around this morning. One was a delicious mini watermelon that was as tasty as it was colourful. The second was my new tote from Bookhou that I picked up this weekend from the store on Dundas West. While I was in the shop I got to meet Piper and Lliam who I see so often on the bookhou at home blog.


I'm looking forward to fall, the sweaters and scarfs and warm tea all make it my favourite season, but for the first time I can remember I'm also feeling a little bit of sadness at seeing what was a wonderful summer come to an end. I know there are still plenty of hot summer-y days ahead but the evenings have begun to cool off, a sure sign of fall on the way.

Late Night Snack for Two

bowl

boiled potatoes 

 mashed potatoes

tilapia baked in milk and flaked 

lemon zest

lime zest

ground sumac

chilli powder

salt 

pepper

egg 

messy making of patties 

 

hot oil 

resting

meanwhile

red cabbage

sunflower seeds

lemon zest

 mayo

sour cream

red wine vinegar

sugar

salt

tasty fish cakes with dill and garlic dip and red cabbage coleslaw

Treasures from the Sea Side

I'm back in Toronto now but I took this photo of my little souvenirs from my trip. I went to Halifax when I was nine years old and I remember admiring these pewter sea creatures. This time I knew that I had to buy them because I've been remembering them from more than a decade. They are now happily nestled on my bookcase, a happy reminder of my summer holiday.

Lunenburg

Lunenburg is lovely and bright. The buildings are painted in bright colours and the ships have colourful flags on their rigging. All the colours just made me want to do a painting of the harbour front (which is I guess why there are so many paintings of the Lunenburg harbour front available in Nova Scotia). The sun was out so Rob and I just sat in the sun on one of the docks and watched all the people go by.

A lot of people in Halifax told us that if we went to Lunenburg, we had to go to Magnolia's for lunch. Luckily we ended up going for a late lunch because we managed to miss the rush.

Fresh squeezed lemonade

Fish cakes with salad and homemade 

rhubarb jam

The food was delicious and the restaurant was quaint and relaxed. I would agree with those people in Halifax that said it was the place to get lunch in Lunenburg.

A Picnic at Mahone Bay

After going to the farmer's market, we drove out to Mahone Bay. We walked around the town and had a delicious little picnic in a gazebo by the water. We had blueberry scones, raspberries and gouda cheese that we had bought at the market and brought with us. It was a lovely place for our mid-day snack.  

Halifax Farmer's Market

Here are some pictures I took at the farmer's market in Halifax. My boyfriend and I stopped there for breakfast. All the produce was so colourful. The market has a green roof where there were lots of people sitting and having their coffee and pastry from inside and enjoying the weather and the view of the harbour. I had a savoury crepe with cured ham, mozzarella, dried figs, onions, arugula and a honey dressing. It was delicious!