I’ve been trying to enjoy the odd warm day we get every so often, even if they are few and far between.

But really,  isn’t it spring yet?  I stare at the sky everytime it’s sunny, as though it might never happen again. This is the life of a Canadian at her wits end with a very drawn out winter.I have a soft spot for lilies now – whether in tall vases or in short drinking glasses, or even in San pelligrino bottles like some would do.  That and a good bunch of tulips.  These were 4 dollars for the bunch and I bought them after a few hours drinking coffee from Voodoo on College. I can’t help but think that spring is coming soon when I look at them.

I’m still not over taking photos of my random little pots. The one above is a favourite of mine… for obvious reasons ♥  Please ignore the dying plant inside.
I’ve made my way back to Delux for their Cuban Sandwich. It’s just so good. And of course I’ll have to have another avocado salad next time because this was the prettiest one I’ve had in a long time. Citrus and Avocado, who knew?I made Salsa with a can of diced tomatoes. It was desperate but turned into a really tasty treat.  Black beans and avocado, some onion and cilantro and a good squeeze of lime juice and it’s love. I wasn’t going to include these photos of my brunch at the Drake a few weekends ago, more or less because I don’t like how harsh the sun is in them, but it was a delicious meal.  So there. Elizabeth has the chicken and waffles and I had the eggs benni with Salmon. This is probably the weekend I started to get side tracked on this “healthier lifestyle shtick” I’ve been doing since September.  Oops.Of course a ten degree day means summer is just around the corner, right?  I can justify this matt orange lipstick right?  Bought it at Bicyclette and now want the sun to come out so my freckles get darker and matt orange lipstick isn’t as scary.

xox

Guys, how about a bit of inspiration for your end of week?

I was lucky enough to get a heads up (Thanks Nada!) on a new video series from Etsy featuring some ridiculously talented folk.  I love seeing this stuff; the talent, the entrepreneurial spirit, the work ethic – all to make some dreams come true.  The Make Your Living video series was launched yesterday  and profiles Canadian artists who currently sell on Etsy. Their aim is to encourage artists to take the leap by featuring artists who’ve used Etsy to start their small businesses:

To kick off the series we began in our own backyard, in Kensington Market to the studio of Victory Patterns, where Kristiann Boos invited us into her pattern making digs, where she designs vintage-inspired wears for the every woman. We then travelled north to Caledon, ON to the studio of husband and wife duo, Patrick and Mara who run Studio liscious, creating one of a kind, modern furniture and paintings. Both artists make their living using Etsy.

I thought it might be best to get a happy post up, seeing as life is good, even with a bit of my mojo being out of wack.  Annnnd it’s been a while since I posted any good food! And there is lots of good food in Toronto (even if I’m not eating as much of it as I used to! Sad Face!)

It’s been a while, yes, so bear with me as I post everything I haven’t posted these past few months.   There were weekends I didn’t even take out my camera – which sometimes resulted in missing out on sharing but sometimes I like to give my shoulder a break and sometimes it’s just nice to eat something that isn’t all that remarkable but familiar and comforting and the cold months of January and February have been good for that.

First up? North of Brooklyn!  We’ve been wanting to try this itty bitty place since forevs and finally on a cold and drizzly day in December we did. It was good. The crust was crispy and chewy and charred just so.  I’d eat there again, even with Jason who would eat 6 slices to my one and make me a very jealous girl.

Elizabeth had been wanting to try Universal Grill for a bit until we did last month.  Empty when we walked in but extra busy as we left, it showed potential for being a great local place to eat (It’s a bit awkward to get to if you don’t live near by.)  The food was exactly what we wanted – even if it was just granola and fruit for me.

Oh look, this was the weekend where it reached 14? 16? Crazy really. And really beautiful. How about a repeat please?

What better way to celebrate a birthday than with nails by Pinky’s ?!  Very cute, Very affordable. 

This was probably the highlight of January – Rose and Sons. Amazing food, and amazing service (not usually a combo seen in Toronto.)  It’s small, and cramped, and I’m sure they’d give you a smack if you got picky with your food but guys, why would you!   We had the following:

• Griddled Brie Cornbread; brisket, fried egg, maple syrup, chili sauce
• PLB Special Melt; bacon, sausage, pickle, fried onions, cherry jam
• Eggs-3; schmaltz hash, toast, bacon or sausage or pork chop

We wanted ramen last week but that fell through when the restaurant we aimed for couldn’t seat us.  So we walked over and found us a gem in Elle M’a Dit on Baldwin.  It’s quiet and unassuming the food was really lovely. Go there for a quiet place to catch up where they’ll let you sit for hours over french pressed coffee.

Now I’ll sign off before my stomach starts to grumble ;)

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!

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!

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

Friends! I hope you’ve had a great weekend!  Mine started with a meal at Harbord Room on Friday.  Their burger is indeed one of the best I’ve had in Toronto.

Saturday was relaxed with Brunch at The Federal  (Mighty good!!) – Elizabeth had the Cubano Sandwich and a Homemade Cola, and I had the Cob Salad and a Homemade Lemon Ginger Ale. So good. We finished the whole thing off with a salted caramel donut from Bake Lab, which was just enough sweet to settle the meal.  They’ve only been around for under a month, and I feel like they’ll just get crazy popular so get your bum out there ASAP.

The rest of my Saturday was spent buying some summer dresses and some nude natural leather sandals (because you know, two days of 26+ degrees got me excited! HA.)

Sunday was gorgeous with 19 degrees and sun. Jason and I started with some coffee and breakfast at Ezra’s and then loads of errands were done. It was actually an amazing day… We managed to visit The Paper Place, Three Value Villages, and a Micheal‘s and I still got home by 4pm. 

Look at all the goodies I found thrifting! Lots of different metals and some nice glass containers for our wedding table arrangements.  We still have three months until the wedding so I’ve got a bit more time to find some more ;)

I’ve been lurking the net for ideas and have so far fallen in love with Amy Merrick‘s arrangements, as well as those from Saipua.  Rachel also had some wonderful arrangements that I loved here.

Oh, and I found this head vase, which creeps the bejesus out of Jason, but I love it/her.  She reminds me of these, and with some ivy she looks quite lovely.

And finally, these are some branches I bought three weeks ago. They’ve been cut and in water the entire time, and have been budding like crazy. Both weird and awesome?!

Hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend lovelies!

xx

We had brunch on Saturday at The County General.

I’d heard enough reviews to know it was proabbly going to be good, and Patricia of Baby Hedgehogs wrote a generous post about it so we decided to give it a go.  The food is indeed delicious and we left happy and full bellied. We had the chicken thigh sandwich ($14) and the croque madame ($14), and I’d recommend both 100%.  Just a suggestion: get there before 11:30, or you’ll be waiting quite a while – seats are limited.

Happy eating!

xx

Oh weekend, how are you over already? It was a good one, but I could have used another day off for sure. I had supper at Beast on Friday (good food, although uber tiny portions and uninspired atmosphere).

We also had another all-you-can eat Saturday, (not vegas style, but you know, with macarons and cupcakes… classy-like.)

I swear I’m good for the most part Mondays through Fridays but Saturdays are my days to indulge.  And who could resist these neon macarons from Nadege?! They were toasted marshmallow flavoured but I would have bought them had they been any flavour.

We also shared a cupcake from Dlish and guys, it was so good;  chocolate with ganache icing and marshmallow in the middle ( we weren’t trying to go for a theme or anything but ya know, I guess marshmallow is trending?)  Check out their other flavours here. yum.

I also went through some of the little purchases I made in New York last weekend. Here are a few:

Diptyque L’Eau des Hesperides - so so lovely, and perhaps best summed up by my mom, “It smells like love”

If that Diptyque cologne smells like love, this NARS blush in Desire certainly makes you looks like you’re in love. I love putting on a little bit too much on the apples of my cheeks, kinda like this but more real-life.

I love this Themis mobile that I bought at Future Perfect. It was super affordable and will look nice hanging above my desk at home. It’s a bit of a DIY project, and the colours are pretty fantastic too – fun!

I walked away with some Pinon incense as well – haven’t tried them but will be soon.

Happy Monday lovers,

xx!