Day Ninety Five - Bread

Dear all,

Left to my own devices in the kitchen after a lovely eve of 'Karate Kid' and a quick drink in the Beaver and Bulldog, while Darren went he went back to work ( he is amazing ), I was feeling quite activated so decided to pull of a double off a double-whammy and make bread AND a cobbler.


The bread was of course a massive mile stone in my domestic goddess training. Even the concept of 'leaving something to rise' is very alien to me especially as I appear to have a slight aversion to following recipes. I knew however to the sage advice of loved ones, that baking is not something to be taken lightly.. so I bit the bullet and followed the recipe to the last dotted 'i' and it worked. HURRAY.

I also managed to slip a sneaky cobbler into the oven using the plethora of fruits that I had stuffed into the fridge.

Everything went to plan apart from a slight incident involving the ignition of the loaf ( charred bread is so trendy right now) but fortunately I was on hand to put out the flames without any major damage or life loss.

The result was magnificent! The loaf decided to rise exponentially until it resembled something out of a horror movie and the cobbler was a complete triumph; the fruit bubbling gently away with a sugary crust and lightly browned topping. When Darren came home at around 1pm after a stint at work we had a bite and it was delicious. I am well on the way to becoming a bone fide domestic goddess!

And in other news:
1. Giovanni the Brave left the inn ( for the second time) today. He will be missed but promises to be back again in September. We will miss you Giovanni!


2. I ramped up my stakes in becoming a Domestic Goddess by today, 'freezing some fresh asparagus', because, 'I didn't want to waste it'. Not that I am into waste by any means, but the freezing of the veg has never been high on my priority list. And I think Darren is a little perturbed by the volume of food stuffs that are accumulating in the homestead... for just two people.

Day Ninety Four - Pork Tenderloin

Dear all

We are dipping our toes into the holiday season at the inn and after a very busy day ( and on the advice of the King of Food Shopping, Paul ) I left work at high speed to gather up my wears to feed Darren and his wonderful friend Jeff who were out all day on the golf course and would be ready, I imagined, to eat the equivalent of a horse between them. I stopped off at my new favorite spot, Meesters to pick up a 'block' of asparagus and some strawberries.

I found myself racing home with a couple of slabs of Pork Tenderloin, pre-marinaded in sweet chilli and lime, on the sage advice of Big Paul who insisted that the boys would love it.

I got them home in record time and started to whip up dinner. As always, I prepared enough for around 10 people and as Darren and Jeff got home, happy from the golf, but tired from the sun, the first round of food was ready for them.


The tenderloin was a great success. I also cooked up potatoes and corn and chucked in a variety of fresh herbs from the garden.


My cooking skills are advancing, I love it! Now I need to seriously monitor my portion control or our home is going to become a nothing but a food storage unit!

Day Ninety Three - Peach Doughnut

Dear all,

Today was the day I discovered the 'Peach Doughnut'. Now, who'd have thought there would be such a thing... but the wonderful 'Metro' had them displayed in pride of place in the front entrance and I couldn't resist.


I bought two and bought them home where I discovered it is best to eat them like a doughnut ( funny that) but they taste a million times better and are surely very good for you.



I then decided to whip together a Peach Cobbler from Darren's Mum's Recipe Bible and as D was working very late I thought what better way to spend an evening than pottering around baking and watching Star Trek.

Despite me not having 'all' the correct ingredients and still not owning a weighing scale ( Mum, Jo and Karla, please forgive me) I thought I would give it a shot and it actually turned out quite well. There were no explosions in the oven and the cobbler crisped up with all the excess sugar I had sprinkled on top so it tasted delicious. D came home at around 3am and we had late night cobbler and ice cream. Delicious!

Day Ninety Two - Lottery Machine

Dear all,

Amidst the rampant fever that is resonating throughout Canada due to the 'Lotto Max' sensation, Darren and I have collected a 'few' lottery tickets over the last couple of years. Today was officially an admin day for me as I wanted to catch up on all the lose strings that seem to get unraveled in day to day life.



So, armed with my *large* bundle of lottery tickets I set foot for Metro (combining any chore with supermarket shopping is always a personal joy for little me) and what followed was certainly quite amusing.

I arrived at the lottery counter and due to both the volume of tickets that I had in my grasp and also the fact I have an accent ( always exciting bizarrely), I managed to grab the attention of all the nearby staff and a few fellow shoppers.


OLG have a very useful machine that allows you to 'self serve' when checking your tickets and lets you know if you have won ( it sings to you) and lost ( it does nothing ). I started to bleep my tickets through with a crowd starting to form around me.

It turns out that I won one free ticket and $2!!! I put my winnings towards this weeks Lotto Max ( $50,000,000 in the pot once again!) and ran back home to report my victory to Darren who was of course very pleased. I have a very good feeling about this week and a big win!!!!


And in other news:
1. Wednesday night trivia and D bought home the beer round by knowing how many nipples a pig has ( 12 ). Genius.

Day Ninety One - Staging Houses

Dear all

I have had a fabulous day! Linda and Paul are selling one of their properties just down the road in the valley and the real estate agent had arranged for a group of professional 'Stagers' to come in and spruce up the place ready for upcoming viewings. I can't think why... but I was assigned to the team for the whole day (HURRAY).

Duncan was in charge of the tribe and we bonded immediately. He had lived in London, used to own a stables as a professional rider in the Bronx and reminded me of my darling friend James in the UK who I miss dearly.

We set to work and I was the official runner, on site to help in any way I could from bringing endless coffee to moving furniture. Duncan used what we had to completely re-stage the house and the end result was incredible. Here ye some pictures of before and after:

Before:


After:


Before:



After:



Congratulations Duncan on your brilliant work and great advice, it was fascinating!

http://www.homesacrosscanada.com/listing/355152/529648-osprey-blue-mountains-town-line/

Day Ninety - Sobeys

Dear all,

I can't believe that I haven't yet explored this avenue of Collingwood and have actually been talking about it for some time. Today I went to Sobeys for the first time and it was life changing!!

Sobeys appears to be the equivalent of Waitrose in the UK ( i.e. The Supermarket equivalent of utopia). From the outside it resembles a garden centre for all the greenery and wooden framework but once inside, a calm descends as you glide between isles full of delectable foods that have been feng sui'd to perfection.

The range of food they had was impressive and the price tag was not unaffordable. I bought a pound of lychees ( $2 a pound!!! ) and some plums. I was feeling fruity. I also picked up a load of free recipes, all with a summer theme (that I will certainly experiment with on Darren)

It was sublime. I will certainly be returning to Sobeys and its 24 hours!!!! The joys of modern days consumerism!!

And in other news:

1. After a rigorous weekend I was given a slice of planting paradise today when I was let lose on the gardens with around 1000 plants to make it look beautiful. I started with a block of marigolds and am attempting to plant a bed of Dalias ( Slugs: Beware)

2. I found a most interesting Lychee in the tray at Sobeys and had to document. It of course tasted marvelous due to the 'lychee-mutation'.

Day Eighty Nine - Baby Chicks

Dear all,

Chick chick chick chicken! We have chicks! 50 of them. They look gorgeous now.. but in 3 months they will resemble Raptors from the Jurassic Era and be sent away to their 'holiday camp' to return wrapped in foil ( almost like a heat wrap).

They are very cute now however. They arrived this morning with much ado about nothing and were given their own special stall in the barn ( mush to the disdain of the horses ).

They are currently clucking away. I tried to pick one up but they have already cottoned on to the locking mechanism of their cage and all flee on mass when you open it. Obviously got more than a pea-brain these chickens!


And in other news:
1. I had an AMAZING EVENING with D. After a harsh weekend, he took me for a spin on the jet ski and it was AWESOME! We got some good air and it was so exhilarating with me hanging on for dear life and shrieking like a banshee. I loved it!!!! more more more soon!

2. Fabulous Erla and Stefan cooked up a storm for all those at the inn. I missed it sadly but had to give them a shout out as they are so wonderful.