Summer Food Goals

July is already more than half over!!  I thought that I would make a list of some summer foods that I want to make sure we make/try before September arrives.  We've already made ribs and strawberry pie.  Some more things that I want to make sure we cross off our food list:

Homemade Popsicles - Shay made these greek yoghurt popsicles that I want to try.  They look amazing and there are so many possibilities.

Sangria - you don't really need a recipe for sangria because any combination of wine and fresh juice is tasty, but here is my recipe:

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
3 1/2 cups white or rose wine (can use red too, but I prefer a lighter sangria)
1 cup sparkling water
1 lime, thinly sliced, cut into rounds and in half
1 orange, thinly sliced, cut into rounds and in half
1 lemon, thinly sliced cut in rounds and in half
Fresh mint sprigs for garnish

Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Continue to boil until the sugar has dissolved and the syrup is clear, about 10 minutes.  Allow to cool.
In a large container combine juices and sugar syrup.  Mix well.  Add wine and sliced fruit.  Add sparkling water about 10 minutes before you're ready to serve.  Serve in wine glasses with ice and garnish with mint sprigs.

Peach Pie - I love peach pie but it is one of the harder pies to make.  Peeling and pitting the peaches can be an onerous task and usually I just end up with a mushy mess of peaches rather than beautiful uniform slices.  I may try to find one at a bakery or farmer's market instead.

Lamb Burgers and Kebabs - I really like lamb, as long as it comes from Ontario (sorry New Zealand), but for some reason I prefer to make it in the summer over the grill.  My recipes for these come from this cookbook that I got at Winners many years ago, and we use it all summer long.

(sorry for the weird angle)

Grilled Vegetable Salad - I discovered this easy way to make a salad a couple of years ago, but I haven't had the opportunity to make it yet this year.  Cut different coloured bell peppers into chunks (add a red onion too if you want), drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper.  Mix around so they are covered.  Let marinate for at least an hour, then grill in a BBQ grill basket until soft.  Then put them on some salad greens alongside whatever else you were cooking on the grill.

This is pretty much the one we have.  Also great for potatoes. 

Strawberries and Milk - This is a simple thing that I used to eat all the time when I was growing up.  I would just slice up strawberries, pour milk over them, and sprinkle with white sugar.  No cream, no cereal, just simple fruit and milk.  I could eat just this for breakfast and be happy.  

As we work through this list I'll take a few more photos to show you.

Weekend Recap

We had such a nice weekend on the shores of Lake Huron.  We were invited to a friends' cottage which was so great.  We don't have our own cottage, and the land that is in Dave's family is in Cape Breton so not somewhere we get to a lot.  Our friends have two children and one of them is E's age so the boys had a good time playing together all weekend. I love hearing their little conversations.

We got up on Saturday morning and hit the road.  We needed to go off the main highway to get to where we are going so we saw lots of farm fields, silos, and barns.  We had E look out for mailboxes, Canada flags, cows, and tractors as an impromptu game of car bingo.  We got to the cottage in time for lunch and some beers on the deck.  It was a hot weekend so it was nice to be out of the city.  Plus the cottage had central air conditioning so we were spoiled with that too.

Homemade popsicles

Love this view of the lake!  Such a beautiful day.

 The boys were pretty tired out so we fed them a simple supper and then they went to bed.  Dave put E to bed, and so I sat on the couch with my beer and watched Leave it to Bryan.  It was nice to relax even for a short time.  We had a yummy dinner of local steaks, potatoes, mushrooms, and roasted vegetables.

I ran outside for this sunset photo.

The next morning we went down to the beach for a bit.  We went for a walk and the boys collected rocks.  Then we headed into Bayfield for lunch, a visit to the splash pad and an ice cream cone.  After lunch we went back down to the beach for a swim.

Bonfire after supper.  

Another gorgeous sunset

The next day I guess I didn't take any photos.  We spent some more time at the beach, and then I went to The Whole Pig and picked up some ribs for supper.  I love buying stuff right from the farm.  I half expected them to bring to pig out and butcher it right there!  I made the ribs this way and we all enjoyed them.

We left yesterday morning and Dave and E dropped me off at a golf tournament and they continued home (and then I got a ride home from one of my teammates, in case you thought I might be stranded there).  I won the women's longest drive competition!  

Lovely long weekend in the country, relaxing but still tiring.  Thank you to our friends for the invitation to the cottage!  

Show and Tell Tuesday

Linking up with Andrea for Show and Tell Tuesday.

Today's topic is a House Tour.  I am cheating a little bit and using some photos of our house that I've used before, along with some current ones.  Our house will be a work in progress for awhile.  Any tips or suggestions for decor ideas are welcome!!  Okay, here we go:

Front porch.  Our felt wreath was plucked from the last vestiges of Target as it left Canada.

Our entry way with open coat closet.

This area is the best in the wintertime when we've all get wet snowy clothing, and great for receiving guests.  In our old house we lived in a townhouse so when you came in the front door, you immediately went up the stairs and then perched on the landing to remove your shoes. Anymore than two people doing that at a time led to a backlog of people and an overflow into the living room.  I love having this extra space when you walk in.

Staircase in the front hall

Living room decorated for spring/summer.  I want to do more with this space, like add more photos and books to the shelves.  We will be redoing the walls and ceiling at some point so I'll wait until then to really change it up.

The other side of the living room.

Looking outside from the living room.  These windows are great, but they are old and the glass is thin.  We need to replace them but we want to keep the old style with the multiple panes of glass.

These pictures are from the winter, but will show you our family room.  Not much as changed since then. 

This vaulted ceiling with windows is one of my favourite things about our house.  It lets in so much light during the day.

Our table in the dining room. Our table was made out of reclaimed barn board by a store in Burlington called Exotic Woods.  We got our chairs at Crate & Barrel.

Our kitchen.  These are old pictures too, from a previous post.  At first I wasn't sure about the black countertops but I really like them now.  We have a grey backsplash and with the white cupboards, I think it is a timeless look.

This is our large island with Crate & Barrel stools.  We eat breakfast here and sometimes lunch.  I love having a place where people can hang out while we are cooking. 

This is our guest room.  It is in need of some paint and some photos.  

This is in our master bedroom.  The dresser and shelf are from Ikea.  Gypsy the dog is on the shelf along with some of my jewelry.  

It is a very bright room in the day, so we have dark curtains.  Right now we have a quilt, but in the winter we like a duvet.

I only have one picture of E's little room.  But this is pretty much it besides a dresser. It is a small room, but just right for him

Let's think of the photos of the basement as the before photos.  This is a wall of shelves and cupboards.  We have some workout stuff down there that we use periodically.  Someday we will redo this room to be an office/library.  It will be a place for Dave to work and where kids can do schoolwork.  I like to keep all of the books I read so I need a place to keep them.

This is our basement.  It is a blank canvas with 10 foot ceilings. It was great this past winter for E to run around and play games inside.  

Our backyard.  It is very private for living in the middle of the city.  We have a hammock now that I have enjoyed a few times. 

Can't wait to check out everyone's houses.  I love seeing different styles and getting ideas for our own home.  

Away

We are away, still enjoying our weekend!! Weekend Recap will be up later this week. Stay tuned.  To tide you over, here are some photos from last summer:

See you soon!

Friday Favourites

Linking up with Andrea, Erika and Narci for Friday Favourites:

1. I made one of Dave's favourite things this week - pie!  We had some rhubarb from his mom's garden, and along with the fresh Ontario strawberries, I made a delicious pie. I shared my recipe for this pie last year. To make it rhubarb, just add chopped rhubarb to the pot along with some strawberries, using more rhubarb than strawberries.

2. Once upon a time, the June birthstone was pearl, now I guess it is alexandrite.  I still prefer pearls.  I wore my Nana's pearls to work this week.  They went well with my blue dress.

3. I am loving the Pan Am Games (#TO2015).  I have never really paid any attention to the Pan Am Games because they weren't the Olympics, but they are great.  I also love seeing our city embrace the Games.  Canada is leading the medal count too, which is fabulous for us.  We aren't usually as good in the summer sports, but we're really investing in our athletes now and it is paying off.

4. One of my favourite things is beating the rainstorms.  On Tuesday night we went for a bike ride after supper.  We could see the dark clouds rolling in behind us as we rode home and as soon as we got home, it started to pour!

Wet from the splash pad

Rainstorm

5. Some of my favourite things I talked about earlier in the week: Family Photos and Coffee.

Happy Friday!