Orchard Bloom

vintage stamps!

2014-03-02T15:10:00.003-05:00

I opened an Etsy shop to sell some of the vintage stamps i've started collecting. Go check it out!

Stair Master

2013-04-18T16:49:00.000-04:00

Finley learned how to climb down stairs a few weeks ago. He wasn't too sure about it at first, but now he's climbing like a pro!

herb garden

2013-04-11T23:16:00.001-04:00

There's a winter storm underway right now, but a few days ago it was sunny and warm. It was a perfect day for some afternoon gardening. I potted up some herbs and enjoyed making a huge mess in our high rise sunroom/greenhouse.

spring flowers

2013-04-10T17:19:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned how much I love ranunculus? Obsessed, I tell you! Even Finley thinks they are pretty awesome.

Finley

2013-03-18T22:09:00.000-04:00

This is Finley. He's a 4.5 month old Wheaten Terrier and the newest member of our family! We got him about 3 weeks ago and things have been nonstop ever since. In a good way, of course.

After the Storm

2013-02-10T21:16:00.000-05:00

After near blizzard conditions on Friday, the weekend turned out to be gorgeous and sunny. This photo says it all!

It's a Snow Day

2013-02-08T16:28:00.000-05:00

A big snow storm has been upon us all day. Luckily I don't have to work so I've spent my day puttering around the apartment de-cluttering, listening to music and drinking tea. I took a moment to enjoy the pink bougainvillea that has been slowly growing and flowering for months now. The flowers look even more beautiful when contrasted with the white haze outside.

Wine Colours

2013-02-04T11:25:00.000-05:00

My obsession with flowers has continued into winter.

{hypericum berries + peonies}

Summer Flowers

2012-09-18T09:59:00.002-04:00

I went a little crazy for flowers this summer...

{craspedia's + a garden rose}

{dahlia's}

{echinacea}

Monarch

2012-09-12T09:57:00.001-04:00

Caught this the other day while walking to work!

Harvest

2012-09-10T13:50:00.000-04:00

We've been enjoying the harvest from our indoor garden this summer. Unfortunately, our carrots didn't grow much. They still look pretty, though.

I Love American Cheese

2012-09-03T14:14:00.000-04:00

There I said it and I'm not ashamed.

I really love american cheese and I don't care who knows it.

I stopped eating it the last few years because of all the strange chemically sounding names on the ingredient list. A little while ago though, I started to wonder if I could just make it at home. A quick google search later and sure enough, I had a pretty simple recipe in my hands. And guess what? Homemade american cheese is even better than the store bought stuff. I'll never buy a package of Kraft singles again!

Here's the recipe I followed. The only modification was that I used Cheddar instead of Colby.

I also cured some jalapeño's and made a jalapeño grilled cheese, which is an awesome combo is you've never tried it.

Salty, spicy and delicious!

Camp

2012-08-26T20:06:00.000-04:00

Best weekend of the summer. Maybe even the year. Hands down.

A Plethora of Orchids

2012-06-24T11:47:00.000-04:00

I never finished posting the pictures that I wanted to share from Colombia (too much work stuff!). So here's the next batch; some of my grandmother's gorgeous orchids!

View from the Hammock

2012-05-22T22:33:00.003-04:00

I spent a good amount of time in the hammock while I was away. It was delightful. Here are a few of the many views I enjoyed.

I Took A Little Trip

2012-05-21T22:19:00.000-04:00

You might have noticed that I've been a little MIA lately. A combination of busy times at work, blogging fatigue and a recent trip have kept me occupied. I just got back early early this morning from Medellin, Colombia where I was visiting my grandparents for a week. It was pretty wonderful and I'm a bit sad to be home. I'll be sharing photos, so stay tuned. First up...getting there.

- Destination...Medellin via Panama
- Somewhere over the Caribbean. I like to think it was the Eastern tip of Cuba, but who knows?
- View from my seat on the tarmac in Medellin
- Air traffic control, Jose Maria Cordova

Toronto in Bloom

2012-05-07T20:19:00.000-04:00

Spring has finally decided to show its face in Toronto! I did a lot of walking on on the weekend and I couldn't stop snapping pictures of all the beautiful blooming trees I saw. These are some of my favourites.

This Week...

2012-04-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

- I started making the occasional raspberry smoothie for breakfast

- I treated myself to a dainty piece of jewelry

- I continued to notice flowers everywhere I went

- I ate some delicious homemade french toast with mascarpone cream and berry sauce

- I painted my nails a bright coral

- I still enjoyed my tried and true breakfast of hard boiled egg with za'atar

- I discovered strawberry crush

- I snacked on sandwiches with home grown alfalfa sprouts

- I decided that Thursday called for a Banh Mi lunch. It seems to have been a very food centric week.

Spinach Strata

2012-04-26T00:01:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I was craving something a little fancier for breakfast than my standard open-faced egg sandwich. It was the morning after finishing my American taxes and I felt mildly celebratory. There were also several left over pretzels from the prior evening that had gone completely stale. I wasn't sure what to do with them so I went off to my cookbooks looking for inspiration. After flipping pages for a while, I landed on a spinach strata recipe form Heidi Swanson's most recent book, Super Natural Every Day. All I can say is that these delicious things were well worth the two hours I spent deciding what to make.

Spinach Strata
slightly adapted from Super Natural Every Day

Ingredients

zest of one lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp honey Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cups milk
6 large eggs
3 cups day old soft rye pretzels, ripped into small pieces
2 cups finely chopped baby spinach
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Prepare your baking dish. I chose to use muffin tins and lined them with parchment paper (inspired by Smitten Kitchen). You could also use a greased 9-inch pan.
Whisk together olive oil, mustard, salt, pepper and milk. Then add the eggs and whisk some more.
In another large bowl toss together the pretzel pieces, spinach, lemon zest and half the feta.
Now put some of the bread mixture into each muffin tin. You can pack it in pretty tightly, just make sure it's level.
Now slowly drizzle in the liquid mixture until it reaches the top of each individual muffin tin.
Sprinkle with the remaining feta.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Check to make sure that the egg is set.
Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

NOTE: This should make 12-14 strata muffins.

Tuki

2012-04-25T00:01:00.000-04:00

This is Tuki, my grandparents German Shepherd. She likes to chew on rock hard avocados and prefers guavas fresh off the tree. She can't stand the sound of thunder and enjoys a good game of soccer. She'll also do anything for a peeled mandarin orange.

Soft Rye Pretzels

2012-04-24T00:01:00.001-04:00

A couple weeks ago I shared some photos of my newly acquired book Good to the Grain. I've finally gotten around to making a couple things and first up are soft rye pretzels. These don't exactly look super pretty, but they are super delicious!

I first started baking with rye about a year ago when I found this recipe over on smitten kitchen. I promptly started making a rye loaf a week and I've been a fan ever since.

Soft Rye Pretzels
slightly adapted from Good to the Grain

Ingredients

1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups water, lukewarm
1 tbsp amber honey
1 cup rye flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 cup baking soda
coarse sea salt
olive oil

Instructions

Stir together lukewarm water and honey in a large bowl. Then add the yeast and stir again.
Let the yeast sit for 15 minutes until it starts to grow and foam.
Once yeast has grown, add the flours and salt. Stir everything together. Once you have a sticky ball of dough, start adding up to 1/2 cup of flour and kneading as you go along until the dough is tacky, but not sticky. I use a really large bowl and kneed right in the bowl, which I put in the sink. This cuts way back on mess and clean up. Kneed for about 12 minutes until the dough is soft and supple.
Arrange the dough in a smooth ball and coat the top with a bit of olive oil. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise for about 2 hours or until doubled. I usually put rising dough in the oven with the lamp turned on. It generates enough warmth to help the rising process.
Once the dough has doubled, roll it out onto a floured surface and cut it into 12 pieces. Take each piece and roll it into a snake about 17 inches long and then form the dough into a pretzel shape.
Place the pretzel onto a baking sheet that has been lightly greased with olive oil. Let the pretzels rise for 15-20 minutes.
In the meantime, fill a large pot with about 10 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Add the baking soda to the water.
Poach each pretzel in the baking soda bath, boiling each side for about 30 seconds. Remove with a strainer and pat away any excess water.
Transfer the pretzels back to the oiled the baking sheet and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
Bake for 15-18 minutes in an oven preheated to 450 degrees.
Let cool and then eat them all because they go stale pretty quick.

Since I couldn't eat them all, check back on Thursday to see what I did with the leftovers that went stale!

Garden

2012-04-22T21:23:00.000-04:00

Our indoor garden is well underway. My boyfriend has been taking the lead on this one, so I can't take any of the credit for it. He's got lots of different things growing; almost too many things. But it's fun to have so much fresh green around.

Here's what we've got growing: lettuce, cabbage, carrots, artichoke, peppers, eggplant, melon, chives, black beans, chickpeas, thyme, basil, rosemary, mint, tomatoes, beets, jade, bougainvillea and ranunculus. Some things will need to get moved outside once they get too big. Case in point, the artichokes. They definitely aren't for apartment living! And the black beans and chickpeas are purely experimental, but if it works out I sure wouldn't mind having some fresh garbanzos to work with.

This Week...

2012-04-20T00:01:00.000-04:00

- I decided it was time for another roti and beer; this time it was butter chicken

- I satisfied my sweet tooth with a salted caramel cupcake

- I caught up on my stash of Vogue's and this photo caught my eye

- I picked up some bright pink ranunculus at the market on the weekend

- I painted my nails a bright tomato red

- I enjoyed a weekend omelette with toast

- I finally got around to doing my taxes. This is what my living room looked like half way through.

- I snacked on balkan style yogurt with my mom's delicious plum sauce

- I treated myself to more tulips. Clearly I'm currently flower obsessed.

Garam Masala Hummus

2012-04-19T00:01:00.000-04:00

I was at the grocery store a couple weeks ago and saw a tub of garam masala hummus on sale. It seemed interesting, so I bought it. Of course it was delicious and I ate it up within a few days. Rather than purchase more, my boyfriend and I decided that the only was solution was to make it ourselves. After some experimenting we came up with this recipe, which I think tastes even better than the store bought version!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsps lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp garam masala
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp ginger
1 garlic clove

Directions

In a food processor puree the chickpeas with the water, lemon juice, garlic and tahini.
Continue to puree while slowly adding the olive oil until everything is nice and smooth.
Once your chickpeas are smooth add the honey, spices and salt.
Blend until well combined and the colour from the spices is evenly distributed.
Then eat it all.

Tulips

2012-04-18T00:01:00.000-04:00

I bought some tulips and took a photo of them everyday to see how they opened up. At one point they were opening so fast it felt like you could almost see it with the naked eye. It was kind of fun to see how they changed day-to-day.