Farm Life

This summer, I visited an old friend of my Mom's.. My Mom would only leave her cows to be milked by this lady when we went on Holidays to Ontario the first week in July, which was a short break between busy farm seasons, planting and haying than all the summer busyness followed by harvest

As I spoke to her, all my memories of farm life and my parents came rushing in and tears filled my eyes.
What an experience to visit with her and relive farm life that I had experienced as a child.

These turkey are all promised for  Thanksgiving in mid October.

I left with 2 dozen fresh eggs, jars of fresh cream, so thick and a yellow cream colour that you could see the fat content and fresh cottage cheese!  I also left with many warm memories of farm life and my parents! What a treasure!

Fish Taco

One of my favourite foods and fits well into the menu of dairy less and meatless meal for the First Day of Great Lent

 The fish I used was Basa, unthawed, dried well and dipped into seasoned flour, in this case, William Sonoma  seasoning.. The fish was fried to a golden brown in Olive Oil!

I love the versatility of Cabbage as vegetables such as carrots, peppers, daikon radish etc as well as fruit such as pineapple, apples, strawberries go so well with cabbage, as do nuts.  Yesterday,  I used apples and red peppers with a hot garlicky dressing

I also made  guacamole  using Avocado, red onion, lime, jalapeños and fresh cilantro. I prefer chunky to smooth, so my avocado is smashed with a fork!

Delicious

Beginning of Great Lent, 2012

My coffee latte was especially delicious today, as yesterday was the first day of Great Lent and I observe this first day of lent day as my parents had by eating a dairy less and meatless diet!
This abstaining from certain food, heightens my spiritually awareness and is a positive feeling of reflections of past days and of self awareness.

Toast with peanut butter, banana , gooseberry jam and almond with black coffee started my morning

For lunch we went to Kinjo for Sushi 

The prepared sushi comes past you pulled on little boats, so cute!

This place is very generous, the above samples were free to taste.

Vegetable  tempura, with sweet potato, broccoli, red peppers and asparagus. A free sample of Tempura shrimp was also given to us.

We ordered  the Lobster roll which is 8 huge pieces,  so delicious but difficult to eat as the rolls are huge

Christmas Card 2011

Joyful Joyful Holiday Card

Shutterfly always has unique designs for our holiday cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

T'was the Night!

Last night, I attended 

DOWNTOWN CALGARY’S BIGGEST PRIVATE SHOPPING NIGHT

which Benefitted United Way’s “BeCause” initiative and the National Music Centre

There was a Red Carpet hosted by Lainey Lui of LaineyGoosip.com.  At first we were not too sure who everyone  was having pictures with, but hear her saying Thanks for reading my Blog!!  Apparently, our pictures of us with her will be featured on Facebook! 

                       

It was a very stylish affair, with the unveiling of The CORE"s 45 foot illuminated Christmas tree.  Along with fireworks that flashed back forth on the glass covered ceiling.  There was entertainment all night , with the feature of singer Chantal Kreviazuk.  

 At first the highlight was sampling holiday-inspired beverages and cuisine..   they had set up food and beverage  stations all through the mall on all three levels.  It amazed me how attractive the samples were, but I shuttered at the waste of all the plastic dishes used for samples.

Bite size desserts where decorated in a delightful way with fruit and chocolate.

 Pan seared Scallops with herbed rice fritters on a bed of fresh tomato salsa.  The arrangement was so cute, the scallops had been cut into small disks and the size of the fritter was the same size.. The fresh salsa as the base was difficult to eat with the picks..  I wondered if it would have looked more colourful and easier to eat if salsa was used a garnish.  It was tasty although scallops were over cooked.

Stuffed turkey Roulade 

This was a very attractive appetizers served in a bass wood boat.. My friends thought at first it was a dessert and to their disappointment found that it was a Yorkshire pudding with slices of turkey, topped with a pinwheel cracker with no particular flavour.   Certainly a great interpretation of Roulade   The word originates from the French word " to roll" and usually meat is rolled with a filling in it.

Two appetizers: Bruschetta and the other a topping with goat cheese that was applied in  pressurized container.

Slices of Bison strip loin served on citrus aioli on crositini , topped with a pecorino cheese and a dollop of apple compote..   This was a very generous serving and tasty.

At the very end we stumbled on the Italian Spiced Duck Breast served on Barley risotto with arugula on a parmesan cheese cracker.. The slices of duck were delicious!  The arugula tied in the flavours of the cracker with the risotto to the duck very nicely.   Some discussion as to this not being risotto as not made with rice.. my understanding of the defination of risotto is the method of preparing different grains by cooking in  liquid to a creamy consistency.  Although I enjoyed this dish, the left over risotto and cracker suggested others didn't!

Then we turned to  shopping!  The sales varied in different stores, we found a place that had 50% on all it's merchandize!!

  All ticket sales will support two local charities working to revitalize Calgary's downtown: BeCause, a next generation initiative of the United Way of Calgary and the National Music Centre Project.

Wedding dresses from 1942

My Mom and Aunt married within the same week and had a Family reception in the same town as my Aunt was my Dad's sister.


My Aunt and Mom went shopping together in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, but since it was during war years, there were a shortage of white dresses in Canada, so they settled for pastel coloured dresses.


I remember my mom's dress very well as I used to play dress up in it and stand on pail so that I would not trip on the dress.  I remember all the covered buttons with little loops that fastened the back of the dress and the little bolero with a Peter Pan collar and puffed sleeves with a button cuff.  My Mom choose a pastel pink dress where as my Aunt choose a blue dress.. My Aunt's dress was made by the same designer but not a two piece outfit as was my Mom's. The painted wedding photos show her dress as a powder blue dress but from the pictures below, the colour is more a teal blue.. My Mom's dress was destroyed in a house fire so I was most anxious to get copies of my Aunt's dress.

my cousin wrote the following


My mother's wedding dress wasn't kept in storage; therefore is torn and actually in bad shape.  I guess mom never thought of putting it away for future generations (smile).      I photo'd the back of the dress...the front has buttons, however the collar is missing some material; the fabric is also ripped; missing..not sure why.    You probably have an actual wedding photo to show what the front looked like.    

She also had a slip for under the dress which I sent a picture as well.

1940 Bridal Gown

Jul 1, 1940 12:00 am

The white wedding dress virtually disappeared during the war years. Clothes rationing was introduced in 1941, when fashion almost ceased to exist. A few made brave efforts with parachute silk, whilst others wore gowns borrowed from relatives, but most brides wore uniform.

In a recent article in the Globe and Mail, a wedding picture during in 1944 was of both the Bride and Groom in uniform.  The interesting part is Sonia d'Artois as a secret agent posed as Suzanne Bonvie, a representative of the Parisian fashion company Louis Vuitton. 

Wild Blueberry Pennsylvanian Dutch Pancake

 This morning I wanted a Pennsylvanian Dutch pancake.. I used to make this for my teenage boys, but could not keep up with their appetite! So stopped making them !

You pour hot batter into a hot cast iron pan!  The base is cooked apples, but since I only had one apple, I decided on wild blue berries from Ontario.. actually our major superstore packages these berries.. And yes, they are small, not the usual berries sold in our groceries as blueberries, that look like they have been on steroids!!

 I heated the cast iron pan in the 425 degree oven , then added blueberries, butter and sugar!
As soon as this was hot, I poured in the batter, but as soon I poured in the batter and the blueberries floated, I thought "oh no!!! Now, I know why you only see recipes for Apple Pancakes!!

But it did cook and parts puffed up and with maple syrup added, it was delicious