The Emerald Isle- coming soon!

I know I have been pretty silent the last 6 months but I am back and ready to start again…. It has been almost a year since I started this blog.

I have been busy lately and I am officially on a countdown! For what you ask…. A trip to the emerald isle!!!

I am heading to Ireland on Sunday for 10 days! I will be going with my family and the Burlington Teen Tour Band supporters.

The BTTB is heading to Dublin for the St. Patrick’s day parade and we will be right there marching as well!

I have checked and our hotels have wifi so I will be blogging as often as I can.

Make sure to stay tuned for my adventures abroad!

Comment if you have any pictures you would like to see!

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

The Supper Club

Once a month I meet with a great group of girls, we all work together in the Insurance industry and have a love for food and food shows.  Let me introduce you to the girls:

April- is the Mom of our group!  She is a mother of two and an avid baseball player.  She keeps us grounded and teaches us all about sports and stuff!

Sarah- is the talker and the planner of the group!  Sarah seems to know all the great restaurants and makes some great suggestions.  Sarah is funny and makes sure that we always have something to talk about.  She is also our moderator….she makes that we keep the work talk to a minimum!  A common statement during our ‘meeting’-  “Guy’s lets not talk about work anymore”….it usually lasts for five minutes and then we end up back on work talk!

Erin- is the picky one….you know it is a great restaurant if it gets Erin’s stamp of approval.  She keeps us up to date with all things glamour and provides the punch line exactly when it is needed!

We call ourselves the Supper Club because we meet once a month and enjoy a nice dinner at a restaurant.

It all started last year when April and Sarah realized that Erin and I had never been to Lone Star.  It is a great Tex-mex restaurant that serves Tortilla chips as the starter on the table (I now know I can seriously just eat those, they are amazing!)  We made plans to go and ended up talking for hours and having a really great time.

It was right around that time that the TV show came out on the Food Network called You Gotta Eat Here.   The best part about the show is that it is Canadian and there are actually places from our neighborhoods!

Our second meeting of the Supper Club happened in March of the following year and we went to the Harbour Diner.  We chose this place because it is near where we work and it was on the show!  We walked in there and it was the smallest place I have ever been to. I think there were only 8 or 9 tables in all.  The food was delicious and again the conversation never seemed to end.

We have been meeting faithfully for the last four months and have been to many great places.   The August meeting, things were switched up a bit.  We ordered in and went to Sarah’s house for the meal.

It was a nice summer day so we were able to sit and relax on the patio and enjoy a drink (or two)

The restaurant choice this time was Chicago Style Pizza.  It was amazing!  We ordered a medium pizza with 6 slices  and couldn’t finish!  We also added wings to our order, the wings came from Erin’s favourite Red Rockets.  The food was amazing and it was a nice evening out….we even introduced a new member to the club.  Kristina, she is the newest member and is happy to try the next place.

Our spread for dinner….can you believe this is just a medium!?!?

 

My slice of pizza for dinner…I couldn’t believe how deep dish it was!

 

Our Mild wings from Red Rockets

 

I am pretty sure the September meeting is going to be great!   

The Slacker and Rainbows!

Hi Everyone,

I apologize for the lack of posts this week.  I promise there is lots to come and I will be busy working on the weekend to update the chronicles!

Here is a small sneak peek of what’s ‘on deck’

The Supper Club

MMMMMM…..Ribs

A Day at the Beach

First Day of School!

This week is the first week back to reality and that means the first week back at my band, The Tophats! Practice was good…but I did realize I probably should have practiced at least once during the break!

This week also means that traffic is actually kind of heavy in the mornings.  Luckily I am on the early shift so I don’t see too much of that….but one thing I did see on the early shift….the stars!  We are back to having darkness longer and that means on the early shift I see the sunrise from my office window.

I will leave you today with a fun picture: 

Yes- that is the right resolution….those are rainbow carrots! So cool, I saw them and just had to have them!

I guess I should provide a back story to this cool and crazy picture!  On the weekend we visited a local farm to get some fresh corn on the cob and while we were in the store I saw the above out of the corner of my eye.  I have honestly never seen a purple carrot.  Purple is my favourite colour so I had to get them.

We went for corn and walked out with corn, peppers, carrots, apples and home made lemon tarts!

I ended up chopping up the carrots and put them into a fresh pasta salad for our family bbq on labour day.  They looked so pretty and tasted just like….carrots!

Happy Friday!

The Swap Meet Car gets a New Home

Yesterday was a big day.  We delivered the finished and completed swap meet car to its new owners….my beautiful nieces Em and Abby!

As you may recall the Swap Meet Car came from rough beginnings.  My dad laboured over recreating the car and it slowly transformed to a newer looking model.

The last time I blogged about the Swap Meet Car it was near completion.  All that was left was a new windshield and to string the bell.

Well over this long weekend the work was finished!  Here are some photos of the finished product!

All Finished and Ready to go to its new home!

Check out the new windshield and the Bell…all ready to be used!

My Dad worked hard on this pedal car and we were quite excited to bring it to its new home.  One thing that is really neat is to see something that was obviously well loved in a previous life, get a new paint job, the bumps hammered out and is already to bring more joy to a new child!

We got it loaded in the back of the car and headed down to my Sister Sandy’s house.  As soon as we got there my mom and I went to the door and had the girls come outside.  While we were at the door my Dad got the firetruck out of the back of the truck and had it sitting on the sidewalk.

It is out of the car and ready for Em and Abby to see!

As soon as Em came out she made a beeline for the truck.

Em loved it!

As soon as she saw it Em wanted to try it out.  She kept saying….”Oh Thank you, Thank you, I love it!”

My Dad (Papa) quickly showed Em how to work the pedals and they were off!

And they are off! Let the races begin!

It is pretty cool how the pedals work.  Basically Em just pushes up and down and the pulley systems spins the wheels.  She is going to be pretty popular.Kids all over the neighbourhood are going to want one of these!

Even though Abby is small….she got to try out the new Firetruck too!

Abby tries out the new Firetruck! (with a little help from Mom!)

Em and Abby love their new AMF Hook and Ladder Firetruck Pedal Car.  It looks and runs great!

My Dad was happy to bring it to its new home where the pedal car will get lots of use!

Dessert and Deep Conversation

On Tuesday night I met a couple of co-workers for coffee.  This was a last minute plan from all of us expressing a desire to eat ice cream and waffles. 

We met at 8:30 at a great place in Burlington, called Caffe Demetre’s.  It is a funky place and the menu is amazing…so huge with so many choices.  It is a little funny, but the one who planned it, Agata ended up not being able to come and we made sure to send her pictures of our desserts to make her jealous.

It was neat because we all come from different towns, different generations and yet we got along so well.  We all arrived at roughly the same time and were seated right away.  We all started talking right away and the server had to come by three times before we were ready to order, I knew right then it was going to be a good night.

I got an Ice Cream Sundae with Peanut Butter and Chocolate.

My dessert A wonderful creation of peanut butter and chocolatey goodness!

Ashley got a Crepe filled with chocolate ice cream, brownie bits and chocolate sauce.

Ashley’s Crepe- it looked so delicious! The picture doesn’t fully catch the appeal!

Patricia got a Crepe filled with Honey Ice Cream, cinnamon, and apples.

Patricia’s Crepe! You could smell the cinnamon and it looked delicious!

The desserts were amazing and huge…we couldn’t finish them all.

Once the desserts arrived we really got talking.  It is neat to me that someone I see everyday at work can be so different outside of that environment.  Patricia had mentioned how happy she was to be out and about and it made me realize how important it is to go out and be social.  The more time you spend in your house the more time you have to think and get caught up in your own world.

Patricia is happily married and she was so excited to not be doing a “couple” thing.  I am single (and have been for a long long time) and I never have to think about what others are doing.  I realize it is really important to have your own interests and activities.  This makes your conversations more interesting and gives you time away from your ‘other’ so that you can miss each other.

Hearing Patricia talk about this made me also realize, that I am single and I like being single.  I like having the freedom to do what I want when I want and I also like the fact that I don’t have to answer to anyone.  I find more and more there are not many things that I wish I had a partner in.  Maybe one day I will meet Mr. Perfect, but until then I am content to enjoy my singledom!

To quote Katy Perry….I want it to be just like the movies, with a perfect ending.  I know that means waiting for the right man and I am willing to do that.  Snow White waited for Prince Charming and I can to!

Snow White with Prince Charming- photo credit- http://movietc.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/casting-news/snow-white-and-prince-charming/

Anyways, back to Dessert!  We had a great time and talked non stop for 2 hours.  I left with a smile on my face and was glad that we did this.  We have decided to continue doing this once a month and I can’t wait till the next time!  We are going to make sure that Agata can make it because we want to hear what she has to say as well.

I find the older you get the more difficult it is to make friends.  It was nice to go out with a couple ladies from work and know that we are starting to cross the line of co-worker to friend.  I know that all it takes is a little work and effort.

When was the last time you had an impromptu evening that ended up being incredibly thought provoking?

My New Venture

I have been busy the last couple weeks.  I have started a new business venture with my business partner….my mom!

We have decided to open our very own Etsy shop.  It is called Dinnyknits.   We focus on the small things, knitted washclothes, purse accessories, scarves and hopefully much much more.

A screen shot of our online store! I am proud of the look and can’t wait to reallyget  going.

We decided to open an Etsy shop because I noticed that my mom enjoys knitting as she watches TV.  She is always looking for something to do and my nieces had many knitted sweaters and blankets and really didn’t need any more.  She had picked up some Cotton yarn and started making dishcloths.  They were beautiful and I jokingly said one night, you could sell those online.  Well that thought was planted and after a month of considering we decided to go for it!

We officially opened on August 19th and have had 10 sales so far.  My mom is busy knitting and we are busy brainstorming ways to increase the stock and business. 

Our next venture will be purse scarves…these are the scarves you attach to your designer purse to personalize it.  Right now Coach sells these scarves for $40.00, we are planning on have a much better price!

So, if you are in need of a dish cloth, a purse scarf, or a pillow (as I showcased here).  Feel free to check our our etsy shop or just send me a message through my blog!

Thanks for checking out our new venture!

Summer Oasis

This post is going to be a light one!  I have been enjoying the weekend outside and thought I would show you  what my summer oasis looks like.

Our outdoor living room!

 

 

We have been working on this ‘outdoor living space’ for the past three years.  Would you ever guess that the exact spot where I am sitting used to have a hottub?

The hottub stopped working so we took it out, my Dad redid the deck and we bought our outdoor living room set.  From there is has just been adding accent pieces.

Do you like my pillows…they have mulitplied and I am really pleased with them!

My pillow with our pool in the background, I love summer!

 

My latest purchase is the top right corner…a piece of neutral artwork.  In the winter it will have a home in my bedroom.  I also finally got something to decorate the lattice work.  Two candle holders shaped like tree leaves.  I really think it brings the look together.

My spot! I love my new artwork for the outdoors. It is neutral with a beautiful bird motif. You can also see the new candle on the lattice.

Do you have a summer oasis?  What did you do to make it special?

The large umbrella gives some shade in the afternoon. It makes it so we can spend the whole day outside!

Enjoy the summer day!

Summer Love- Key Lime Pie!

Key Lime Pie

I don’t know if I have mentioned it yet, but in October I will be going to Key West with the Top Hats.  We are taking part in the Fantasy Fair and will be marching in the parade.  I am really looking forward to going as it is my next vacation days!

Yesterday I was looking through my fridge for some inspiration and found some Key Lime Juice I had bought when I was in Florida in March.  I checked the expiry date and it was still good!  I decided then and there to make a Key Lime Pie for dessert.

That decision resulted in a quick run to the grocery store for condensed milk and limes.  I got my ingredients together and began my ‘Easy Key Lime Pie’

My Key Lime Pie

Easy Key Lime Pie

For this recipe you will need:

4 egg yolks

2 cans of sweetened condensed milk

1 cup of key lime juice

1 can of whipped topping

Limes for garnish

1 graham cracker pie shell

All my stuff is ready to go!

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
   

   The Oven temp is set to 475

2. Separate 4 egg yolks and beat together
   

   Seperate 4 egg yolks and beat them together.

3. Add into a bowl 2 cans of condensed milk
   

   Add two cans of condensed milk

4. Pour 1 cup of lime juice, add lime juice and eggs to the condensed milk
   

   1 cup of lime juice

5. Mix together
   

   Mix it all together

6. Pour mixture into a graham cracker shell
   

   I bought my graham cracker shell premade.

7. Bake for 15 minutes
   

   it is ready for the oven

8. Let Cool
9. Garnish with whipped cream and limes
   

   I added the whip cream in nice swirls with a big one in the middle, you could really do it any way though!

10. Enjoy!

 

My pie is ready to eat!

This was a great recipe because it is so simple and so good.  The pie is VERY sweet but tasty.  It is not meant for large slices.

Sisters, Sisters, Sisters

“ Sisters, Sisters, Sister, There were never such devoted sisters”

White Christmas Movie Soundtrack- by Irving Berlin

Last week was my sister Sandy’s birthday.  My other two sisters and I decided to get her a necklace from Tiffany.  She was turning 30 and it is a pretty special year.  The most exciting part about getting Sandy Tiffany is that we get to go there and buy it!

My sister Trish lives in Toronto so we decided to make a night of it!  I went down after work, we met for dinner and wandered around her neighbourhood.

Trish and I at dinner

She lives in a great neighbourhood and we went to a great place for dinner.  It is called Famoso’s.  Famoso’s is a pizzeria and houses its own wood stove oven.  It is a really neat concept.  You are seated and given your instructions.  Basically menus are at the table along with a pad of paper and pencils.  You peruse the menu for as long as you like.  Using the pencil and paper you write down what you want and make note of your table number.   You then bring your choices to the cash area in the middle of the room and you place your own order.  From there a server takes over and brings everything to your table.

We had an amazing meal!  We started with Fresh Mozzarella Balls wrapped with Prosciutto and served in a Fresh Tomato sauce.  It comes with garlic flatbread.  This tasted so good.  The sauce tasted fresh and original and the mozzarella was great.  Unfortunately we ate this so fast I didn’t get photos.

Next came our drinks.  We each ordered an Italian Soda with Vodka.  They were light and refreshing.

‘Cheers!’- Peach and Raspberry Italian Sodas

The food came surprisingly fast, my dinner was a Pizzetta and salad (it is basically a smaller pizza with a side salad)

I chose a Magherita Pizza and a Caprese Salad.  I was so pleased with my choice.  The salad was fresh and I loved that there was a hint of salt on the tomatoes.  The balsamic reduction was made in house, it was nice and tart.

Trish showing off the amazingly good Caprese salad

My pizza was amazing.  It was hot and gooey and the simple ingredients just melted in your mouth.  The basil and cheese were so good and the tomato sauce was great (I think it was probably the same as the appetizer).

My Dinner- it was so delicious!

Mallory had a Caesar salad with her pizza and she noted that the dressing was also homemade.

Mallory with her dinner

I would HIGHLY recommend this place.  The atmosphere is very modern and laidback and the food is so good.  I love how it is casual and everyone seems to get along so well.  I think the highlight of the evening was the owner coming over to tell us a funny story of how the waitress made a fool of herself! To have this happen in the trendy Bloor St. Neighbourhood was really cool for me.

After our great dinner there was no room for dessert.  We wandered around and saw lots of different shops and people.

I went home exhausted but having enjoyed every minute…..oh and our mission was a success!  We got the Tiffany necklace!

The famous blue bag!

The necklace we chose for Sandy.- photo credit: tiffany.com