Year Two Day Two Hundred and Eight - Ele and Meleese

Dear all, 

What a treat today- lovely lovely Eleanor, her gorgeous daughter Meleese and lovely friend Aisha were in town! We managed to meet up at the Huron Club http://www.thehuronclub.ca/

We had a wonderful catch up over a fabulous dip selection (bring on the baba ghanoush!). 

 Meleese truly won the hearts of everyone on the patio - she is adorable! It was wonderful to see everyone and we will certainly be planning another get together soon - this time with the Toronto JET crew too, hurray! (we all taught English out in Japan together - amazing amazing times).

Year Two Day Two Hundred and Seven - New Coffe Machine

Dear all, 

We've got a new coffee machine! oh and she's a beauty... Darren loves his coffee, as do I, but D loves coffee on a level that is fairly advanced. We already have quite a fabulous coffee maker (aka - The Princess), but now poor princess is being relegated to the cottage ( if you can call that relegation.. really it's a perma-holiday). 

So here's the Prince. In all his shiny glory - he is literally spectacular! Not only does he make E V E R Y type of coffee you could ever wish for, both D and I can register our fingerprints into the machine - it can tell what we want 'from our fingerprint'. Now that's superb. 

Here is D putting in beans, water and other goodies - you can see the 'milk flask' at the front. Cappuccino, machiatto, latte, americano, 'speciality' ( we haven't even really explored this button yet), everything. Hurray!!!

Bring on the cappucinos!!!

Year Two Day Two Hundred and Six - Mad and Noisy Gallery

Dear all,

Today Darren and I made a trip to Creemore to go see a wonderful new exhibition at The Mad and Noisy Gallery in Creemore! http://www.madandnoisy.com/

Peter Adams (who I am sharing a studio with at The Tremont), was exhibiting at the show. Also, Darren's very old friend, Jill Price would be there (she is a curator at the gallery). The show is fantastic, i would definitely recommend anyone local to the area to pop in and have a look - I have attached the flyer above!

Year Two Day Two Hundred and Five - Peaches and Cream Crumble

Dear all,

Today I thought I would try something a little different.... we had some peaches in the fridge so I decided to try a 'peaches and cream' crumble... *very advanced*. I put the peaches in a bowl..

I then added (the secret ingredient...hold your breath): vanilla pudding!

and some cream.... doesn't that look a treat *gulp*. 

For the crumble, I added brown sugar, oats and pecans in a bowl..

and then a good quantity of butter. I 'crumbled' the butter into the dry mixture. 

After mixing the cream and peaches together, I poured the crumble on top and popped in the oven for 25 minutes at 350oC. Lovely! It was an interesting flavour ( I guess I am used to apple crumble) - but D loved it, hurray! 

Year Two Day One Hundred and Four - the Beaches

Dear all, 

More lovely family fun down at The Beaches!  Here are some pictures from the gorgeous boardwalk down by the Beach. 

And me! Deidre insisted I get a picture too

The girls in the water... the lake is warm after all the hot weather we are getting - just amazing. 

Once we got home Deidre and Vince hosted a FANTASTIC BBQ - here are Deidre's gorgeous potatoes: quickly sent in the microwave for a power-bake, cut in slices, add butter, salt, pepper, seasoned salt... anything really. And then put on the grill - delicious!!

And check these out! Bella WON this amazing box of cupcakes - she read the most books in her class, congratulations Bella!!!

It was such a lovely evening and a perfect day - thank you Deidre and Vince for hosting! So lovely to see everyone. 

Year Two Day Two Hundred and Three - Toronto Jazz Festival

Dear all, 

Today we had a wonderful family reunion in Toronto! Deneen, Jim and the kids came up from PA and we all met at Deidre and Vince's gorgeous house where the boys were immediately shipped of the The Blue Jays came at the Roger's centre. http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=tor&sv=1

All the girls set off on a wonderful adventure in the Beaches of Toronto. We stopped off at a local park and a few lovely boutiques en route of course....

The lovely girls!!

Here they are again!

We ended up at the Beaches Jazz Festival - I LOVE live music and LOVE a good music festival so this was a treat! http://www.beachesjazz.com/

It was yet another fabulous day, with stall, people and music booming out through the park. 

We sampled hot sauce.... looked at jewelry, hats, lovely things... it was wonderful

The main stage was positioned in the centre of the park playing famous jazz tracks as we pottered through the park.

And here is the big band stage down on the lake side - how great! I love it! We had a fabulous day, thank you so much to Deidre for organising it! Amazing as always x

Year Two Day Two Hundred and Two - Buffalo Steaks

Dear all, 

Today we decided to try something a little different on the BBQ.... Buffalo steaks! Purchased from Nicolyn farms http://www.nicholyn.com/ , the two steaks looked fresh and tantalisingly tasty...  

As we now have a serious distraction in the form of 'the Olympics', I forgot to take photos on the way (Synchronised Diving and Gymnastics seemed ultimately more compelling at the time). Here, however are the cooked steaks..as you can see, they look like Beef steaks, and really taste very similar - they seemed a little less fatty but that could have just been the cut. All in all, very delicious! 

We also experimented with some crazy grill recipes - here are some delicious potatoes... part-boil, and wrap in kitchen foil, adding a *large* dollop of butter, onions, and BBQ rub of choice. Delish!!!!

 I love summer!!! Now, back to the Olympics... *yay*