I’ve been using Instagram a lot lately, and decided to go without my big camera when I went home for a couple of days this weekend.

We took advantage of the long weekend for a well needed break from work and Toronto, and went to visit my family in Ottawa. The weather was gorgeous with blue skies and a light breeze the whole time we were there (even if it was just 2 days)

We took in a movie at the Museum of Civilizations. Arctic 3D – it was good!

And we walked around the Byward Market. I wish we had one of these in Toronto (As extensive and colourful!)

And then there was brunch – we always have one big meal or another while I’m home. So delicious.Coffee once back in Toronto with Jason – the weather still so beautiful.

And I made the yummiest chickpea, potato, and carrot curry on Monday evening. I’ll be posting the recipe in the next couple of days.

How was your weekend?  Did you take advantage of the long weekend?

xx!

My friends! I come to you just a day late and a few photos short of a real weekend post. Hope you all had a beautiful few days; the weather was stunning here, if not a tad hot. It’s been a great end of August so far.

We spent our time away at a friend’s wedding. It was a really great party with people I don’t see often enough.

Saturday morning I spent enjoying the early morning sun, and did some cleaning up around the apartment.

I also made egg soufflés, that unfortunately flattened out before I could get a shot of their full ballooned glory.

Have you heard of mache lettuce (corn salad)?  That’s what’s in the plate below – not sure if I love it (the roots are still attached?)  for some reason I didn’t love the texture.

My eggs were great though.
And here’s a shot of the tent that held Saturday evening’s festivities.

So much fun.

Sunday was spent getting over a hangover with a steak breakfast and a pizza dinner.

Good thing I’m running again.

xx

I had such a great weekend, albeit quite indulgent.

I woke up quite early on Friday morning – for no reason at all but noticed this incredible sky.  I quickly took a few photos and climbed back into bed.  Check out that moon.My niece came down to visit while on a work trip and we took her to Peter Pan – the weather was perfect and we sat outside on their patio.

I’ve been there a few times, and it’s not perfect in any way but I love it. On Saturday I had brunch with friends at Swan.  We were originally suppose to try Beast but they were closed for a private affair. Ah well – Swan was just as I remembered it from my university days.Elizabeth had the Huevos Rancheros and Sammi had the Hangtown Fry. I had the special of the day – an egg sandwich.We walked so much – from Queen and Spadina to Queen and Roncesvalles, and then down the waterfront all the way back to Strachan up to Queen West and Spadina. Such a gorgeous day of walking.

We stopped by the water for a break.  The water sparkled.And then had ice cream and coffee at White Squirrel.  I had the Malt Ball Crunch. yum.There were bees and flowers on my walk home.

And then on Sunday we started over again with brunch at Weslodge for a my friend Mariel‘s birthday. That place was a bit intense in the sense that it was super commercial and contrived but you had to respect the work that was put into a place like that. Everything is custom and beautiful but definitely not your typical charming hole in the wall.

We had biscuits with jam, an organic turkey club, and some bison pastrami sandwiches.

Yes, bison. Mariel‘s friend does nails. She got her nails did for her birthday.And I decided it was good time to plant a few of my more mature succulent babies into little planters.  I’ll let them get accustomed to their pots and hand them out to friends.

I apologize for the terrible paint job.

And that was it! Supper on Sunday consisted of a bibb salad with chicken and avocado, and some yellow beans. It was delicious.

How was your weekend friends?  Did anyone get to the Ex?

xx!

This was a really great weekend.  I’ve been having a few weird weeks lately, and these past few days helped put a few things back into perspective and/or back on the table.

I spent friday evening eating cheese and olives and salami and drinking summer beer, while semi-watching the olympics.  It was well needed and I woke up on Saturday feeling really productive, which of course resulted in cleaning our whole apartment, pruning and picking fruit off my balcony plants, clipping my succulents and prepping them for cloning (some were far overdue!), going to the post office, and bringing a dress I purchased in New York to have it hemmed.

My succulents have been doing really well, and a few have outgrown their original planters so I chopped clipped them and used the extra bits for cloning. I haven’t done too much cloning (or propagation as they like to call it.)  I’m going to try to do it without rooting hormones first, so we’ll see how they do.

The first photo is of a baby that had already started rooting while still on his mama plant, so he was an easy target.  There were three just like him on that mama so I clipped them all off.  The second photo is of the extra leaves I pulled off.  The main plant had gotten so long and heavy that it couldn’t support itself anymore and I chopped it in three and we’ll have to see if the leaves amount to any new growth (like in the third photo – mini babies!!!)
Here’s another couple of plants with more babies growing off of them. I’ll let them grow up a bit more and then I’ll transfer them to new planters and give them off as gifts.When I first bought this one, he had more of a grey, taupey colouring to him. He’s since matured to a beautiful copper and looks really proud in his jug.  Take a look at all those babes hanging off him.My strawberries are still crazy wonky, but I love them nonetheless – even if it’s just two or three growing at a time.And guys, look at those tomatoes. Holy molly they are gorgeous.  My herbs are equally handsome and have produced so much that I’m constantly picking at them in order to keep them in tow. I shot a few photos of some flowers in the city, the first from Robert Street, and the roses on Palmerston.I had a pork arepa from Arepa Cafe on Queen – most filling thing I’ve had in a long time. And very delicious.Oh hey, and then I had a super duper adult dinner with friends on Saturday night – read: not really but still pretty perfect.  Mariel was our host and we all brought delicious things, like yummy cheeses and bread, zuchini flat bread, a peach, goat cheese, spinach, and pea and sunflower sprout salad, amazing chicken, and a strawberry and rhubarb pie.  There was wine, a thunder storm, and lots of talking. 

And well, Sunday has been spent making a big breakfast, working on a few projects, and watching new episodes of the Colbert Report and The Daily Show. I don’t have the day off tomorrow, so it’s been all about relaxing enjoying my sunday.

How was your weekend?

Hi friends!

I started the weekend with brunch at L’Ouvrier, where the food is always good and there is never a lineup (I hope it stays that way!)  It was an indulgent meal with a shared plate of scones, and a fried egg sandwich with salad between the two of us.  I had a tough week and wanted something easy and non fuss and L’Ouvrier always delivers. We decided it was warmer than anticipated and stopped for a few of Augie’s popsicles to cool off. I tried the Strawberry Balsamic and guys, it was delicious.My friend Mariel has a great studio in the middle of chinatown and we stopped by for a visit.  She’s the creator behind Isak and Inger and was in the middle of creating beautiful mitts for our upcoming winter (eep – not yet please!)She shares the space with two others and I snapped a few  shots – so many beautiful details.And back at home, I’ve noticed that a few of my succulents have been dropping their leaves and are subsequently sprouting roots and more babies. I’ve set them up on some damp earth and they’ve grown so fast in a matter of days.  Look at that itty bitty baby!!And although my tomato plants look a little rough, they’re producing really beautiful fruit. And remember how I mentioned weird looking strawberries? Well, those are still happening. I’ve looked it up and it looks as though it’s because they haven’t been pollinated properly – no bees makes for some sad strawberries.  At least I’m getting lots of them :)And we found a friend on our balcony this afternoon – a Cicada!  Check out those big eyes!

How was your weekend?!

xx!

Friends!

This was a great weekend full of good food and amazing weather (even with this huge downpour we just had)  Lots of time spent hiding from the sun in some shade in bellwoods park, eating sammies from Porchetta and drinking slushies & gin.  Hello summer, I love you.  It was a great end to a slightly unsatisfying week.

We’ve never tried Porchetta and Co. but I’m glad we did. We both just tried the original with the truffle sauce and parmesan cheese.  Elizabeth also had the hot sauce and mustard, aka the house special. You can also find some tasty potato salads and a ligher than usual coleslaw (no mayo!) – yum!Sitting in the sun tired us out so we walked over to white squirrel for iced coffees… I’ve never had an iced latte and well, I liked it.  It kinda tasted like cereal milk…?  The Paper Place had these amazing floral window displays, and it took me a while to get that they were just envelopes. Amazing!I had seen this receipe for a butternut squash and spinach lasagna online and tried to replicate it. It was delicious.  Oh, and check out my mortar & pestle in action! I bought some pepper from the Spice Trader and crushed them them along with a new salt. (Peruvian Pink Salt, Sichuan Pepper, and Cubeb Pepper)The skies got realllly dark on Sunday and the most rain I’ve seen all summer came down and drenched all of Toronto. Finally. We’ve been waiting for it for a long time!Oh, and check out some of my new skincare goodies I picked up.  My friend Catherine mentioned her new regiment with ethusiasm last week and I couldn’t help but get excited about trying them out too… I’ve only had them for a day so let’s see?  And I picked up some reading material on Saturday – an Apartamento issue I hadn’t read to go along with the Lula Jason bought me in NY but haven’t had the time to finish. With time!

Finally, I got these crazy cravings for oatmeal cookies and well, made some. They’re actually realllly good for last minute craving cookies. I found the recipe here, give ‘em a try!

Took a few shots of my strawberries and tomatoes. They’re coming along just fine – although the strawberries are a little on the wonky side.

How was your weekend?

xox!

Well this weekend was a scorcher as was the whole week. I don’t think we’re suppose to get much reprieve any time soon either.  I’m glad we acquired an A/C unit last week – has it ever made a difference!

I ended my week with delicious mexican from La Carnita on College, and then went and saw Take This Waltz, which ended being hugely disappointing. Everyone seems to be smitten with it, but along with making me feel slightly uncomfortable, it also felt really forced. Have any of you seen it?

We explored the east end for a bit when we went to Paulette’s in Leslieville. If you haven’t heard of it yet, definitely check it out. That chicken was somethin’ else – crazy juicy with some of the crispiest skin ever.  The dipping salt it comes with is mighty tasty as well – I’d go with that and not the sauce if you’re gonna try it out. We got the Lone Bird combo which comes with enough chicken for two, even though it says it feeds one. It also comes with a dipping salt or sauce, and a side. Yum.

OH, and they make donuts too! A slew of flavours are available every day, although pricier than your average timmies donuts at $2.75 each.  We tried the Oreo flavour.

Hey Elizabeth!

We walked past Te Aro and decided to give them a try, especially since I had heard such nice things about them. The coffee was great – give them a try if you’re in the area.  They’re also really active in the community, offering classes and demos on brewing methods or coffee cuppings  

Sunday was laid back – I had to catch up on my gardening, and on some work I’ve had to push back because of the wedding. I was able to prune back most of my herbs and I’ve frozen all of my extras for winter stews and sauces. The second photo was taken while I was making a minted simple syrup for cocktails with the extra mint I had. I’m looking forward to making some mojitos with it real soon ;)

How was your weekend?

xox

Oh weekends – when you’re good, you’re so good.  Hope you all had a great one – mine was pretty awesome. We had the most beautiful weather, and although the sun had receded behind a few clouds on Saturday it was still so nice.

On Friday it was a good friend’s birthday, and a few of us had dinner at Ursa – where the food is described as contemporary Canadian food.   What was served was way more complex than that; flavours were big and the presentation beautiful. It was a great way to start the weekend and I’ll be going back, hopefully very soon.  Have you been already?Appetizers: Sea Urchin.  Mains: Whey brined Niagara pork loin and apple cider glazed belly,  Georgian Bay Whitefish, and Water Buffalo.  Desert: Yuzu lemon curd, blueberry preserve, meringue, spruce caramel, duck fat sable.

On Thursday I walked over to the flower shops on Avenue and Davenport and put together a few more practice arrangements (I clearly love to use my wedding as an excuse…)  I think they came out nicely.On Saturday we decided to omit Brunch and just go straight for some fish and chips at Chippy’s across from Bellwoods.  I had the scallops… yum.And on our walk on Queen we spotted these gorgeous little arrangements by Sweet Woodruff.  Aren’t those peonies stunning? I love the large petal variety…  They certainly gave me some great ideas for my own wedding arrangements :)That coral Peony is stunning…

Sunday was spent cleaning up the apartment – I took care of laundry and clutter and a few projects on the computer were tackled.

How was your weekend?

xx!

Babes! I know I’m three days late with this weekend post, but sometimes things can’t be helped and I hope you all enjoy this anyways.

It’s been a funny last couple of days – I had a really great family gathering (not allowed to call it a shower) on Sunday, and upon returning home, I found out my site had crashed and there was a very high chance that it was gone forever – gobbled up by nasty internet monsters.

It felt really bizarre to think that this thing I had put so much time into was suddenly gone – and I kept see-sawing between depression and complete resignation (“I’m not meant to have this blog – i.e. Life Priorities: Do I really need it to make me happy?!”)  I woke up the next day to a message from my hosting company telling me they had been able to get it back up, but that I was going to have to clean up some of those bad files (hooooooow?!)  There was definitely a huge sigh of relief, and perhaps even a slight moment of guilt knowing that I was incredibly happy my blog was mine again…  Because to be honest, I did wonder what I was going to do with myself if I didn’t have this blog to keep me busy.

Tell me fellow bloggers, what would you do if your blog had suddenly disappeared? Would you start over?

Anyhoo, I suppose things are back to normal – I’m going a bit crazy making up a list of things I still have to finish for the wedding, which of course still includes purchasing my accessories and gifts for my girls, and designing my wedding programs (amongst 42 other things!)  But I have 6 weeks and it’ll get done, right?

Other than my blog scare, I did have a nice weekend – had brunch at The Fed again, and enjoyed a really delicious Cubano Sandwich.  Elizabeth had the Grilled Cheese.

I bought some silk fabric to make a bow for my hair, and then went to Sussman’s to have it made.   I get it back by the end of May, which means I can cross that off my list!  We stopped by Peter Pan for a beer in the back garden after all of our walking.  It really is one of my favorite places to go to around Queen street 

On Sunday I had my makeup trial with my lovely makeup wonder woman Nicole.  She nailed my makeup and I’m really excited to have her there to get me ready on my wedding day :)

After playing with makeup I went off to our engagement shower Family Gathering and it was really humbling to see J’s family get it all ready for us.  His cousins own Midfield on Dundas and it turned into the perfect place.   It was really nice seeing both my family and his mingling so well, spiced with both our friends, so so nice.

J’s Aunt is also an ammmmazing cake maker – not only did we have a two tier cake covered in candied flowers, but she also made these sweet cupcakes too. Check out the forget-me-nots on the top.

And I can’t get over this salad J’s Aunt brought – it’s from somewhere in Kensington but can’t seem to remember where  (Edit: It’s from Hibiscus! Thanks Jill!).  Check out all of those super foods!!!

How was your weekend?

xx

Oh guys, what an amazing week! Warm weather and even good amounts of sun led me to believe we might actually get a nice spring this year (It was as though it was just waiting for May to arrive!)  Here are a few things that made this a good week:

1. I’ve spoken about my engagement photos before, but we actually got a a bit of a preview on Wednesday – and we are so pleased with them. Can’t wait to get the larger photos to share a few with you (I promise they aren’t all cheese!)
2. I’ve been doing a lot of research (via internet!) and it seems that a Clarisonic must be mine soon. Thoughts? Please discuss.
3. I’m feeling mighty ready for our wedding – even if I still have at least 20 things left on my to-do list. Ah well.
4. I found a wooden planter! And some hooks to hang it over my balcony! And then I found some herbs! I have a herb garden!  (Next up – tomato and strawberry plants)
5. I’ve started watching HBO’s Girls, and ladies, it’s an AMAZING show. And a little fyi: do not watch this with moderately to very conservative people. Just sayin’.

And as for my Finds?

I’ve mentioned Kinfolk before, and I’m sure many of you are already aware of how beautiful their quarterly magazine is. I’m especially smitten with their monthly dinners, and have my fingers crossed to receive the a seat at their Toronto dinner.

The Kinfolk dinner series is about inviting people to gather and take advantage of the rich community that already exists around them, opening up and drawing close to the people that share a common place. We aim to encourage collaboration amidst local artisans and small businesses. Our plan? 12 dinners, 12 cities, once every month.

Have a look at some photos from their latest dinner in San Francisco.  The pictures were shot by Laura Dart (who is oh so amazing in her own right)

Lawrence has released a few new items in their store, and I’m in awe of the model’s hair… What a mermaid!

I’m really enjoying this Colour Blocked Terra Cotta DIY on A Beautiful Mess. Elsie did a great job.Speaking of plants, don’t you love these hanging ones from Mieke Willems?  The crochet hangers are adorable.

I’m really into these watercolours by my friend Mariel – She also has a great line of bags and is working on amazing necklaces. Yeah she’s awesome.

And for a little bit of Toronto love? How about a beautiful blog: Two after Twenty by Janice Lee is full of dreamy photos and features on various (coffee) spots around Toronto and of course, food.  Check it out for loads of inspiration – it’s fun recognizing a few common loved places here in Toronto.

Have a great one guys!!

xx