PLAYDATE: High park fun

  Today we had a fun playdate at my most favourite of parks, High Park.  We met up with our little friends at Castle park (Jamie Bell Playground)  after a round of the duck pond.  Im very proud of my two little tykes, they walked carefully around the whole pond staying nice and quiet so as not to disturb the ducks or the photographers trying to get some good shots of the birds.  

It was a stellar shorts and T-shirt sort of day. The only problem with shorts weather is the inevitable scraped knees and elbows. Both boys are fully covered in scrapes and bruises, its how I know they have been having fun.

 One of the many features of the park is the cherry blossoms, they aren't in full bloom yet but they will be in a few days.  We had a picnic by them and finished our journey taking our kiddos home through the grove.  Last year when I walked through there and they were in full bloom, the petals were falling down like a gentle pink rain.

If you get a chance to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom I fully recommend it.

WHAT I COOK: Braised Cabbage and Pork Chops

I made a coleslaw last week and had half a cabbage left over (I dont like using the whole thing, I find its too much slaw for our little family).  So I found a recipe for a sticky braised cabbage I figured I would give it a try.  It was SO. GOOD.  I paired it with pork chops fried with maple syrup on top and Broccoli.

I overcooked the broccoli a little because I was baying too much attention to the cabbage (and computer :( )

This I would say is the first time anyone has really gone for seconds for just the cabbage.  It has a great pickled taste due to the amount of balsamic vinegar in with it.

heres the recipe folks!

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/must-try-red-cabbage-braised-with-apple-bacon-and-balsamic-vinegar

Summertime Tagliarini

It was only appropriate that with this summery weather (FINALLY) we had a summery dinner.  Summertime Tagliarini from my Cook with Jamie cook book.  It turned out just as I had hoped. It was amazingly fragrant and wonderfully light.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/summertime-tagliarini

This picture isnt mine, but it turned out just like it.  I was too busy eating to remember to take a photo.

A Tested Til Perfect Recipe: Roasted Salmon Bacon and Spinach Salad.

   

  Another great recipe.  I usually make our salmon with maple or brown sugar giving it a nice glaze but I thought it was time to try out a new way of making it.  Another shout out to Canadian Living I pulled this recipe off of the net http://www.canadianliving.com/food/roasted_salmon_bacon_and_spinach_salad.php  It was super easy and took no time to make.  The vinagrette  had a nice kick and even appealed to Thomas who ate his first spinach leaf today and liked it.  The boys didnt fully embrace the salmon (it wasnt as sweet as I usually make it) but they loved that there was bacon on top.

Rainy Wednesday Craft

It was a super lame day out yesterday so we inevitably got into the craft drawer.

 The boys decided what we should all wear and added the googly eyes.  Left to right:  Daniel, Thomas, Daddy, Mummy, Auntie Niska.

The sun and the moon

What do you craft for a rainy day?

Our first attempt at growing our own food

My brother and sister and I had our own little garden plots growing up I dont ever remember actually getting much out of them either from kid memory or because we likely stopped caring for them and they all withered up and died.  Either way I figure growing some fruit and veg is a great way for me to financially contribute (through savings), teach the boys a few good values as well as improve our diet with our own non pesticide food.  To start our little endeavor i went to one of the little dollar stores on our strip and bought some large popsicle sticks.  We spent part of an afternoon painting the sticks and planting a few seeds in our old egg cartons and yogurt containers.  

 
 Daniel was very focused during this craft and very carefully painted both sides of the sticks completely.

                    My guys with their pile of popsicle sticks and paint we had in the craft drawers

Finished project.  They also pulled out a plaster dinosaur kit that we had so we made those to paint another day.

Our phase 1 little garden, there are zuchinnis three types of beans, bell peppers and strawberries in the egg cartons.

our little painted tags

It didnt take long for the beans to start growing!  The boys are so excited to see how its changed every morning.

Little Free Library

                     

          As I have discovered, this little free library is made to promote literacy by having these book exchange libraries speckled about the world. This one I couldn't find on the Little Free Library site when I looked it up.  I found it by chance :)  what a fun little gem to discover!

This one is on Ridley Gardens 

http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/

Lego Ville

So this is what I spent my evening working on monday night. In an attempt to clean up I started to organize the lego...then build with the lego...

                                             winnie the pooh and friends, picnicing and fishing

                            A looks way less impressive shot from above of the whole scene

                       The supermarket, complete with scale, food display and cash register inside

                                                               Police station

                                 Farm, complete with exotic animals like a lion cub, elephant and giraffe

                                                   
                                                      Campers around a camp fire.

My genius use of the train to use up the last of the lego blocks hehehe.

I would like to say that the kids were bowled over but truth is Danny didnt care too much, he just drove one of the cars around and Thomas thought it was cool, played for a few minutes then procceded to make one of the vehicles fly and crash into everything.  Totally worth it though because i love lego :) 

First time making Duck.

A big thanks to Jamie Oliver for making my life a lot easier and richer in food.  Last night I attempted my first Roast Duck.  I have always been scared to try to make it I guess because you always hear that its hard to do and always turns out so fatty greasy.  Not mine last night!  while I had a few issues with the gravy, which was totally my fault in not following the recipe/getting the timing right, the meal was a big hit with JM and Daniel.

                              Heres the recipe that I used, also an advert for a really cool oven!
                                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTQMtQ1USAM

Easter Egg hunting!

    So, we have an amazing store on Roncy called Scooter Girl Toys. They sell all of the best and cutest toys you can imagine and are one of the boys favourite stops in the hood (obviously, toys.)  Last year they did an Easter Egg hunt around our area giving out clues on their facebook page until they are found (four eggs, clues every day or so)  Last year we were big winners and were able to get a little wooden BBQ floor model which has been rediculously loved by kids and adults alike.  This year things are a little more hectic for us but we have still found the time to go on the hunt. I think it is awesome to have a store that wants to inject fun into the neighbourhood creating a more family friendly city.  We were a mere few feet away from egg number one when we went on the hunt only to have it found a few hours after we gave up the search.  Today however we were triumphant. We were hot on the trail of this egg from the first clue and scoured the area with the following few clues. They must have gotten tired of this egg because the last clue all but said "look by the Emus!!   well thats just what we did, and little Danny was the lucky egg finder :)

                    My lucky boys watching the Emu at High Park Zoo make its freaky grunting noises at them.

                                                 Our little green egg hidden in the tree

                      Victorious! (they were excited really, it was just the Emu freaking them out)

The best part of an Easter egg hunt is the spoils after its all over.  Inside the egg was a ticket to return to the store and get a $25 gift card.  Thomas of course wanted the big Bruder trucks but once he came to terms with them being a little more than the gift card was for settled on his $5 airplane (which is totally awesome)  leaving Danny with the big pot to get a Duplo supermarket set (it has Duplo bananas and apples and cake with it making Danny a happy little 2 year old)     A big thanks to Scooter Girl for being super awesome and fun.  Always a nice reminder to why we try to buy all of our kids gifts from there :)

http://www.scootergirl.net/

High park Zoo

Who doesnt like a zoo in the middle of the city?!  High Park Zoo is a place my mum remembers being taken to as a kid. This march break they did special activities like feed the Llamas, colouring pages, where you could buy a peacock feather etc.  all in the hopes of saving the zoo for yet another year.  We went on a saturday and enjoyed ourselves looking at all of the animals.  I couldnt tell you how many times weve been in the 3 short years weve lived in the city but I dont think that we will ever get bored of it.

                         JM and the boys on our way to the Zoo.  We took the mucky way there.

Hockey Hall of fame!

I hadn't been since I was a kid going on a school trip but because its been cold outside  I was hoping to take the boys somewhere new (indoors) for a little entertainment. Anyone else with two little kids taking transit knows that getting there is fun, getting home after a day out is exhausting.  My solution to this was Grandparents.  We met up with my parents at Union Station and made our way through the path.  The boys had a blast and I think my Dad had just as much fun.

                                              Little Dan going past the origional Stanley Cup

This was possibly one of their favourite parts of the whole day. The boys were hopping from one metal grate to the next counting and then stopping to look at the stained glass skylight above them.  Thomas remarked on the skylights pictures that it was like a story.

Thomas and Daniel out on a Date

This past saturday Thomas was lucky enough to get taken to the ROM by my good friend Auntie Niska.  Danny got a much needed Mummy and Daddy date.  I was a little nervous having Thomas out ALL THE WAY TO THE ROM without me (Im a little attached)  I let them go and they had so much fun!  I got a text about 3 hours later telling me that Thomas was "beside himself" having fun. They even managed to think of us when they reached the gift shop.

Thomas picked out a rubber ball that lights up when it bounces, a marble and a Pteradon eraser for his little brother and a marble for his dad and I.  Auntie Niska picked us out a dinosoar sandwich cutter.  Its nice to know they were thinking of us.

Danny on the other hand was thinking about Thomas and Auntie Niska through out the day, randomly saying "bwa bwa" (his nickname for Thomas) and " Niska".  We decided that we would take Danny out for the day in the neighbourhood since I had to pick up my shades from being repaired.  He wanted to stay in the stroller on the way down since it was still kinda chilly but was more than happy to get out once we got to our lunch destination.  We ended up going to HEY on roncy for brunch.  Danny had pancakes with blueberries and whip cream, JM had their breakfast sandwich and I had a classic breaky plate with toast scrambled eggs, mushrooms and bacon.  They make everything fresh there and it tastes like it too.  We then meandered our way home through a school park then on to one of our favourite parks for the kiddos. Daniel was having fun knocking the icicles off of the equipment and working on his ballancing on the timber walls around the sandbox.

It was so nice to get to spend a little quality time alone with Daniel since hes always with Thomas when he goes out. It was about time he got our full attention.

St Patricks Day

Now that I have kids, St Patricks Day isnt another day to go out with friends and be silly but rather have a little fun with the kids.  I saw this great Pattys day treasure hunt on the blog Love Grows Wild.

  http://www.lovegrowswild.com/2013/03/st-patricks-day-scavenger-hunt-kids-activity-free-printable.html

I didn't use the free printable, instead I made the hunt with my kids during craft time (they cant read anyways)    I saved the finishing touches for when they were in bed.  They turned out great and Thomas at least had fun trying to figure out what a clue is and how to figure it out.

                                     
We opted for new water jugs with a few skittles and gold wrapped chocolates since spring is just around the corner.

                                          Rockey and Eddie even helped out with the first clue!

It was great to see the boys run around and be excited about their little hunt but the best part for JM and I was once they found their treasure.  Daniel asked me to open it and once I did he gave me the first piece of chocolate that he pulled out and he and Thomas continued to share with us and each other :)  such innocent hearts.

I hope you had a great St Pattys Day too!

whats your go to outfit?

We all have at least one. One outfit that makes us feel great that we go to for any special outing with friends or date.  Mine used to be a crisp pair of wideleg jeans and a white blouse that I scored a few years ago at TK Maxx.  Not anymore though.  On a much needed shopping trip to winners I hit up the sale rack and came across this ombre shirt for $15. Score one for me. I love Winners

     
Coat - Calvin Klien  (TK Maxx)
Cardigan-Belldini  (Winners)
Leggings-SWS
Blouse-Stella Tweed   (Winners)
Boots- Frye (gift from husband)

Jamie Oliver is my hero

       When my husband and I got married we decided to be serious about our future goals from the start and like most people realize is that that starts with a budget.  This left us with little money for entertainment and we became homebodies. We both enjoyed cooking before but this left us with food made at home as our entertainment. In enters Jamie Oliver.  I watched his cooking shows and looked up his recipes and came to this conclusion. He is a real guy who knows food. He knows what it means to be on a budget and he knows that your diet doesn't need to be compromised.  If you've ever watched any of his shows you have to agree that he has a passion and a talent and that means a lot these days.   Last year I made his make ahead gravy and turkey with sage and cranberry butter for Christmas and can honestly say I've never tasted better (credit to the recipe not me, sorry mum).  I have a few of his recipes in general rotation for our dinners but I think that my favourite is the Carbonara.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/beautiful-courgette-carbonara





I think my next Jamie recipe to try is going to have to be his Pasta Pepperonata

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/pasta-peperonata

8 out of 10 cats!

8 out of 10 cats, if you haven't seen it I fully recommend. It entertained us for a year and a half abroad and countless references are made to it in our house now. Typical to British humour there are no rules and no topic is out of bounds.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSlR705B0EI