Day Three Hundred and Sixty One - The Royal Wedding

Dear all

I blame my obsession with celebrities and/or dress spotting so YES, I did get up at 5AM to celebrate with the THREE BILLION other people around the world and raised a glass to Will and Kate.

I fired up the coffee machine and (sadly without the obligatory Bunting) watched in awe as the events of the day unfolded in glorious Technicolour.

I found the footage quite thrilling; least of all seeing London at its convivial best but the event was a monumental success and I loved it!

Highlights for me included the [186] impeccable horses, graceful and groomed to perfection (apart from the one [televised] incident where the horse bucked off his rider then escaped. Someone got his knuckles rapped for that one).

It was unbelievable to see the crowd of around 500,000 revellers gushing into Pall Mall while we all saluted the military fly-by of seven RAF aircraft including a Lancaster Bomber.

The Royal Kiss was a little cheesy but worth a mention as I was sure that just beforehand, William asked his new wife, 'Can I kiss you now?'

**it's fairly obvious who wears the trousers in that relationship!

The numerous trees that had been bought into Westminster Abbey ( I imagine with great difficulty) seemed rather odd but supposedly bought a 'Spring Like' feel to the proceedings. They reminded me of the plastic trees you might find as part of a model train set ( i.e not convincing) and I would think, fairly annoying if you had to sit behind one:

"No, I didn't get a good photo of the bride because a tree got in the way"....

Not something you would normally hear someone say at a Church Service.

All in all, the whole thing was a joy to watch, all 27 hours of it: Good for them!

Kate appeared confident and poised and looked resplendent in her couture wedding dress. William looked totally besotted and humbled by his beautiful bride.

London embraced the wedding as if it was to celebrate that of a long lost blood relative.

And most importantly... it didn't rain!

Fashion Highlights:

1. Kate:

She looked radiant. This girl has good taste (and/0r a fabulously intuitive stylist). The dress, designed by Sarah Burton for the house of the beloved Alexander McQueen (RIP) was a triumph, combining Kate's simplistic and classic style with years of royal history at this modern day wedding. The bouquet was beautifully crafted using only the best of British including ( rumor has it) Cornish Lily of the Valley and Sweet William ( well at least she didn't marry someone called RedWood). And there was not a meringue in sight!

2. Pippa

Sigh.... the dress of the YEAR! I loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it! I loved everything about it. I did a little research to see what I was up against and looks like I need to find a spare $25,000 before I get my hands on an original..*sigh*.

3. Posh and Becks.

-Becks: He is a beautiful man and he wears beautiful clothes ( ** A Ralph Lauren morning suit, although someone must have quietly mentioned to him that his OBE was on 'the wrong side'

-Posh: Preggers and proud, although not normally seen outdoors if she is a shade over a size 0, Posh made an exception for the Royal Wedding. She wore an original 'Victoria Beckham' design ( bet she gets a discount) in deep navy, paired with terrifying, custom made Louboutin heels (they bought on an attack of sciatica just looking at the pictures). She finished off the outfit with a horrendously expensive 'lizard skin' clutch and {along with everyone else at the wedding} a Philip Treacy 'hat'. She looked great, maybe went a little over board on the smoky eyes for the 11AM service, but all in all, 'dix points' to VB!

4. Eugenie and Beatrice.

A frightening display of a double Fashion Faux-Pas. Did either of them look in the mirror before they left in the morning? Eugenie looked like a 17th century bar maid with a pineapple on her head and Beatrice like she was auditioning for a part in Flash Gordon [or possibly Willi Wonka's Chocolate Factory]. You would think that having access to the finest fabrics, designers ( Vivienne Westwood and Valentino couture respectively *whimper*) and 'stylists' in the World, they might have more success, but no! What were they thinking!!! (and please someone give Eugenie a hair brush!)

5. I am a fan of Zara Philips, she is pretty cool and I thought she looked fabulous today with her flamboyant head piece.

6. My favorite picture of the day. One of the gorgeous bridesmaids clearly 'un-amused' at being told she had to stand on a Royal Balcony in front of billions of fans. So sweet.

So that's it for the next few years ( unless Harry gets his hands on Pippa). Congratulations Will and Kate! Enjoy your Honeymoon wherever it may be!

Day Three Hundred and Sixty - Tenderloin on the BBQ

Dear all,

Today we fired up the BBQ!!! The Weber is in business and I picked up some top notch steak tenderloin from Loblaws to celebrate!

Vince had popped over en route to a meeting, so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to baptize the BBQ. Despite the fact that Vince had already eaten, he reassured us that he always makes room for steak.

Both the boys were pretty transfixed by the Weber in action. Here is a picture of the temperature gauge; apparently it managed to reach quite a phenomenal heat in a very short space of time ( it is a truly the King of BBQs).

We sprinkled the steaks with sea salt and pepper and threw them on the grill. They cooked in a very short space of time and smelt amazing; We were all extremely excited. I hadn't prepared anything else but Darren and Vince both agreed that 'all we need is steak' *yay*.

And here is a picture of the finished plate! It was AMAZING! So tender. The Weber is officially the hero of the hour!

It's going to be a great summer!

And in other news:

1. I was invited to join several of the artists from the Tremont and Bay School of art today for a 'pot luck'. I thought this would be a great opportunity to try something new so I decided to whip up a bowl of 'Tabouli'.

Everyone at the Tremont is extremely health conscious ( Darren looked on with *slight* disdain as I mixed in the various herbs [parsley and thyme] with the buckwheat cous cous grains).

I added some fresh tomato and spring onions to spruce up the salad as a generous slurp of olive oil.

I then added in a cup or so of hot water and immediately felt grave concern for what now resembled a bowl of pond water.

An hour or so in the fridge seemed to turn the dish around; the cous cous had absorbed all the water and as a result, had started to 'fluff up'. I felt happy that I could present it to the group ( and Darren was keen for me to take it away) and to my surprise, they greeted my tabouli salad with jubilation ( everyone at the Tremont likes tabouli; who'd have thought it!)

Day Three Hundred and Fifty Nine - Kelseys

Dear all

The Volley Ball season is finally over; it's been a steep learning curve filled with pain, triumph and bruised fingers. We celebrated the grand finale with a few drinks at the famous Kelsey's on First Street in Collingwood. http://www.kelseys.ca

Darren worked at various Kelsey's throughout his University career and spoke very highly of his experience, but we were yet to visit our local drinking hole and I was excited to give it a try. They are a well known family style restaurant serving good food at very affordable prices and the great thing about a franchise such as Kelsey's is that you always know what you are going to get.

After the final point was called, everyone shook hands and made their way to Kelsey's which, luckily for us, is now a stone throw from home.

Erin and Lindsey had organized apps and drinks on arrival and we were allocated a huge table upstairs at the restaurant which was perfect for the troop and people got stuck in immediately.

They served a great range of apps; wings, pizza, nachos and there were pitchers of beer ( with frosted glasses *glug glug*) lining the table.

Darren was extremely generous and threw in more pitchers and nachos towards the end of the evening as we all chatted away. I caused a raucous when I asked the group 'why is Wayne Gretzky so famous'. This comment alone sparked a major [and very animated] discussion.

And that was that; Volley Ball is over for another year and everyone is looking forward to the summer and * hurray * Beach Volleyball at Sunset Point!

And in other news:

1. Here is my finished nude..

and a couple of tulips.

2. I have started watching 'Prison Break' on Netflix as a form of comforting 'background noise' while I am painting and now I am addicted

** There are EIGHTY ONE *one hour long* episodes!!!

Day Three Hundred and Fifty Eight - Eggs Benny Pancake

Dear all,

Today, Kerry cooked up an amazing feast for breakfast; she found a fantastic recipe in the Food and Drink Magazine that the LCBO offer to all its punters.

It is a fabulous read (http://www.lcbo.com/fooddrink/index.shtml) and always has a feast of new recipes to try.

Kerry had spotted the Eggs Benedict-Pancakes so thought she would experiment and I gladly stepped in as sous chef as I had never made pancakes before and thought it would be the perfect blog entry.

We heated the oil in the pan while Kerry mixed up the batter (Flour, eggs, butter, milk and salt). We knew our first attempt would probably not end up making the cut but it was great to have a trial run before we started churning out the stella pancakes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/8366615/How-to-make-a-basic-pancake-batter.html

Enough for 8 pancakes

1 large egg or 1 egg and one yolk

½ pint/280ml milk

4oz/110g plain flour (4 heaped dessertspoons)

1 tbsp melted butter

* By hand: sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Break in the egg (and yolk, if using) and add a pinch of salt and a splash of the milk. Whisk the egg, gradually incorporating the flour, to make a smooth cream. Whisk in the rest of the milk and the melted butter.

* With a blender: put all the ingredients in a blender jug with a pinch of salt. Whizz until smooth. It should be no thicker than single cream.

We learned from Take 1 that we had poured the batter in too thick and hadn't evened it out in order that it covered the bottom of the pan.

Take 2 was much more successful and Kerry continued to fire through the remaining pancake batter until we had enough for breakfast. I decided not to attempt the iconic 'pancake flipping' as it was still quiet early.. maybe next time.

And here is the finished dish! A pancake full of shredded pea-meal bacon, poached egg and onions and then smothered in Hollandaise.It was quiet delicious, very light and a perfect post Easter Dinner breakfast!

And in other news:

1. Here are a couple of paintings I worked on today; My nude needs an arm..

But the Picasso Copy is finished..

Day Three Hundred and Fifty Seven - 3D Puzzle

Dear all,

The holiday weekend is upon us and Kerry and Vince once again took the helm being as party hosts extraordinaire and hosted another epic Easter Bonanza

Within minutes of arriving we were invited to help Olivia in her latest venture: A 3D Puzzle!

Despite looking horrifically difficult, Darren and I became sucked in immediately and before we knew it, I was sorting pieces according to colour and Darren was studying the 'castle plans' in an attempt to get to grips with the task in hand.

It was pretty challenging and our productivity ranged between 1-10 pieces per hour; the difficulty arising not only due to the similarity of the pieces, but also the 3D nature of the structure.

I come from a family of puzzle-lovers but even this solid grounding in 'puzzle assembly' didn't really help me with the 3 D beast. Darren was extremely dedicated to his work spending around 8 hour solid on the puzzle. I was there with him apart from a brief nap part way through (puzzles are exhausting!).

And here are the fruits of our labor! It was tough, but hopefully it was enough incentive for Olivia, Payton and Vince ( We managed to get everyone involved towards the end; as Vince himself proclaimed: 'It's addictive!'.

Ahhhhh and then time for an epic Easter supper! Here is the Huge Ham that Kerry and Vince cooked up as well as a roast lamb and ton of fabulous veggies. It was delicious!

Another incredible holiday feast with the Duwyn-Wilkinson clan, we had an amazing time and ate and drank all day and all night. It was fabulous. Thanks you again so much Vince and Kerry!