yesterday was a great day...

Yesterday was beautiful! The sun was out, there was a chill in the air, and my boyfriend and I went to the zoo! We both had a day off and felt like spending it outside. During the fall and winter months we have found that the zoo is quite, you have time to yourself watching the animals do what they do. With some of them the cool weather makes them more active. The otters are my favourite, and to my excitement they have a new one at the zoo, yippeee! James likes to watch the polar bears and during the cool months they are really active and playful. Here are some of the pictures from our lovely day.


We started in the new polar bear domain, they have really done a great job fixing it up and adding more animals and bigger habitats for them.


Then off we went to the otters where we found this great flower, I am pretty sure I could hear the tiny voices of "Whoville". (I am not really hearing tiny voices, but this flower did remind me of one of my favourite Dr. Seuss stories)


Also, the gorilla's were full of vim, and they seemed to really like fewer people. The little baby gorilla that was born there was perfect, so little and tiny and curious.


That was my pretty awesome day and after 4 hours of walking we still didn't get to see all the beasties in the zoo. The Toronto Zoo does so much great work, the re-population of the black footed feret's to name one. So, if you are at a loss for things to do this winter try out going to the zoo it is really great with snow on the ground too.

super fun....

So my "boyfriend" (aka James, my husband) found a super great cartoon online. It brought a smile to my face so I thought I would post it here for you to enjoy as well. Hope you like it! Happy chilly Thursday...which really feels like Friday, even though there is still one more day of work this week!

Salesman Pete from Salesman Pete on Vimeo.

Here is a great video I found as well, super funny!!

Short Film 'The Black Hole' from PHOTOPLAY FILMS on Vimeo.

Just goes to show you crime never pays.

mmm chocolate....

We have to attend a mass tomorrow for my Nanny, really not looking forward to church, it is always so heavy and tiring. I thought I would post a couple more of my Nanny's yummy and simple recipes, since I am an addict for anything chocolate, here you go.

One Bowl Chocolate Cake (yes literally one bowl)
1 1/2 cup white sugar (I cut by half!!)
1/2 cup shortening (everything is better with butter!)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

There were no instructions with this recipe, so I just sort of winged it. I creamed the sugar and butter and then added the rest. When it came to adding the flour and the wet ingredients I added them in batches. Since it is "one bowl" I am sure this was just me channeling Martha Stewart. Now, you can eat the cake as is, ooorrrr, you can use Nanny's chocolate glaze. Pretty much anything chocolate she put this glaze on top and in between when it called for layers of chocolatey goodness.

Icing Glaze for Choc-Cake - Bownies ETC. (that was her title...it needs some work)

In a microwave safe bowl, melt together the following
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup choc. chips
Melt at medium power (2 minutes, depends on microwave). Mix well. Add 1 cup icing sugar. Blend well. Let cool awhile, spread on cake etc.

Well that is the recipe, I had to wing this one to. So instead of the microwave because we don't have one in the kitchen, I used the double broiler method. Steel bowl over slightly boiling water...I think it's called a double broiler...I melted everything together took it off the heat and sifted in the icing sugar, I always have trouble with icing sugar clumping. It came out pretty good, be prepared it is very sweet! If you let it cool a bit you can use it like a ganache and just pour it right over the "one bowl" cake, less skill involved with icing a cake. Or let it cool a bit and you can slice and ice a cake. We had a lot left over so it went into the fridge for storage, with all the little bits I cut off the cake to flatten out the layers. MMMMMMM, just to yummy, the cake gets better with age and the icing firms up almost like fudge...mmmmm, did I say mmmm, enough?

Keep in mind that east coasters like there salt and LOVE there sugar in these old recipes, so I usually always cut sugar. I will try to do that in the icing a bit, and use a better quality chocolate. Hope you enjoy this, if you love chocolate, you will over dose with this recipe.


On another note, my very favourite season is starting, FALL! I had my first signs peek at me from the garden yesterday. I love the crisp clean feeling air and the lovely rich colours and you cant forget the perfect apple picking days, I just cant wait. I also started a new quilt, a dresden plate block. I have been wanting to try this for a couple of years now, but I am admittedly afraid of all the piecing and hand sewing. I will post some pics soon, I tried chain stitching the little blades, it was very fun and faster that stopping and starting.

Enjoy the chilly weekend...just think you get to pull out all of those great scarves, hats and jackets.

remember...

A year already...

Tomorrow will mark the first year without my Nanny. I really miss her, everything happened so fast in those few days. So much emotion packed into a few short, yet long days, and then we had to say goodbye. My Nanny left us September 28th, 2010...it feels like just yesterday. We all miss her so much that it feels like a bit of the family is missing. Some days it feels like I have misplaced something and just cant put my finger on what or where that thing is.

Over the next day and a half I will remember...I will remember the light that she brought with her as she touched everyone she knew in her own special way. I will remember popping in for tea after work for a quick visit, and always having a new recipe to try out...always something sweet. I will remember, "oh, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph" being exclaimed every time she was startled or a joke was made, or someone was just pulling her leg. I remember...her, and the kindness in her heart, thinking of others before herself, the long greeting card mailing list. No matter where you were, you always got a card for your birthday and anniversary. How she was ever able to find an address in her tiny little book I have no idea, but she always knew where to look. Curlers, bobby pins, homemade bread...Nanny buns! Leaving for church two hours before it started, prayers, and always making the sign of the cross when we drove by a church or graveyard.

She was the type of person that was happy with anything...our joke was always that if you gave her a dirty tissue as a gift, she would think that it was the best she ever got. I am hard pressed to sum up who she was and what she meant to so many, all I know is that there are a lot of people that miss her and remember...

I will leave this post with one of her recipes, one that is easy and tasty...and for a bit more maudlin...one that just doesn't taste the same without her hands making them. But...I will bake and remake and try all of her recipes, over and over again so that someday they may just taste a little as they did when she would mix and measure and bake and love.

Currant Butter Tarts

1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup currants

Beat butter - add sugar, egg, vanilla, milk and currants.
Fill tart shells 3/4 full.
Bake 12-15 minutes (at the temperature it says on the tart shells your using)

(as with all her recipes there are little notes scribbled on the cards...this one had one as well)

*I usually add a few more currants to the bottom of the tart shells before I add filling.

Make sure that you tell the people that you love, as often as you can, that you love them, and that you are happy that you have them, that you appreciate them, care about them,and are thankful that you know them.

...and remember, just remember.

its been awhile...

I really have to try and not start every blog post with those three little tiny words! Life has been very busy since getting back from our vacation. I am missing the tiny island very much, and dreaming of next summer already. Three is lots to post about...my first craft show, my birthday was this month, lots of sewing...but I am oh so tired tonight so I will only post some pics I have been meaning to post and tell you to head to the bottom of the page to the music player and listen to my latest obsession "Mumford & Sons". I love em' I quite like the entire disc and we are actually thinking about going to Montreal for there concert...keeping fingers crossed for that one.


I am very intrigued by these hanging gardens...and I am wondering if it is very hard to you yourself. I am very bad at actually keeping potted plants alive though, and I would think you have to be very vigilant about keeping this watered.


Enjoy the blustery night!

down home...

I am sitting in the cottage listening to my favourite 40's music station and just loving it. There is a cool strong breeze blowing, the sun is out, I can hear the horses talking in the field out the back door.

We got here safely on Monday, August 23rd. The first part of our drive was a bit iffy. I took the first shift of driving, being a new driver I wanted to be fresh and rested, and also not have to drive through Montreal. Well, we drove smack into the heaviest rain ever, well at about the third our of me gripping the steering wheel so tight, my fingers were losing feeling, I decided it was the heaviest rain I had ever seen. We switched driving when we pulled over in Cornwall, I was a bit shaky but I did it! This was a very big deal for me. The rest of the drive was uneventful, we did learn not to trust the navigation system...even if it did have a slightly sexy British accent. Fergus started to wig out about an hour away from the bridge to PEI, he always seems to know when we are getting close, it must be the ocean smell. Once we crossed the bridge we were greeted with the island smell, a mix of fresh fields and manure....I love it!

Our time is winding down here, we are starting to get a bit sad about packing up and leaving. We just seem to be happier here, mentally and physically. I have been trying to dream up a way to make it last longer....we have even been looking at the real estate pages...someday maybe....


My old guy is pretty happy here, swimming for a couple of hours at the beach every night. Before we left the vet told us most of his left elbow joint had osteo arthritis in it. So all the limping he was doing is from that, here, we can swim him for hours with minimal limping! We actually have to make him stop, he would go all day. He is still not quite sure what to make of the horses, but they don't seem that bothered by him.


Me in the car mirror on the way back from the beach...I have always loved driving fast with the windows down, my hair flying around...


Mmmmm, sour late summer rhubarb picked fresh from the garden across the way. I was able to find some east coast strawberries at the market so I cooked them down with the rhubarb to make some yummy tart jam. Just some fruit and a little bit of sugar....yummy on buttered toast or even on icecream! James just like to eat it by the spoonful out of the jar. The three horses come to visit often. They hear the screen door snap and they come running sometimes, you can here them coming from a couple fields over. I would like to think they come to just say hi, but I am pretty sure they just come for the carrots.

sigh....

I have been a little busy this past couple of weeks but I did manage to do some preserving. My Mom taught me when I was young the basics to making preserves...we come from good Ukrainian stock so we would always make our own pickles. I digress, so as I was biting into the fresh summer peaches, warm from the car, a light bulb went on and I decided to jump right in and do some jarred peaches.

In progress, the colours were just so fantastic, so rich, they just made your mouth water. The yummy smell filtering through the house and the warm glow from the jars. The first batch was "tested" by James and got a very big thumbs up. So away I went, stocking up on warm summer peaches that we can eat during the winter when we want a bit of warmth.

This evening is that start of our vacation, I cant wait. We will be driving to PEI sunday night, we are going to try driving straight threw. Lets see how that goes...I love the excitement of packing up the car, even the dog starts to feel excited. I will pack a cooler with drinks and sandwhiches and another bag for treats. I love seeing the country, breathing in the cool fresh air. As we get closer and closer to my grandparents little cottage, my heart swells and feels a little lighter. We will have two weeks of being unconnected...even though the farm finally got WIFI...ain't progress grand...actually I am still undecided on that. Long walks on the beach when the tide is out, Fergus will get to swim and dig for his tennis ball, and I will get to dream of a small little shop all of my own in "Victoria by the sea" or what ever other idea I have come up with on the 20 hour car ride.