Visits

Yesterday morning I met my lovely friend Jocelyn (and her sweet little baby) for coffee just down the street from home.  It was really nice. 

Then yesterday evening we stopped by Christopher's parent's house.  It's his mom's birthday today!  Happy birthday mom - we love you!

She had some delicious snacks for us to eat while we visited:

She always makes snacks.  She's pretty fantastic.

We brought bevvies to share out on the patio.  We had some good laughs!

This morning I met my friend Bonnie at a newer breakfast restaurant called Breakfast Bistro. 

I was impressed with their menu selection.  They also have good coffee, and reasonable prices.  Also, it's nice to have another option for a non-chain breakfast restaurant that is open very early if need be. 

I ordered the sriracha benedict, and I thought it was really good.

I'll definitely visit this restaurant again.

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Tonight Christopher and I are meeting up with another couple for dinner and a visit, and then tomorrow we're staying in to cook and relax all day.  On Sunday afternoon we have a birthday party to attend.  It should be a fun-filled weekend.  Actually, we have a lot of busy (but fun) weekends coming up :-)

Dinner Last Night & Tips for Cream Pies

Yesterday afternoon we sat out in the backyard and enjoyed the heat wave we're having.  Eventually dinner rolled around, and we BBQd some curried potatoes, portobello mushrooms, and mini farmers' sausages.

Dessert was the chocolate cream pie that I had baked up that morning.

When baking cream pies, you have to blind-bake the crust, which just means that you bake it before you put the filling in.  In order to prevent shrinkage, and the crust falling down from the sides of the pie pan, you need to put something heavy in the middle while it bakes.  If you don't have pie weights, which I don't, you could use dried beans, rice, etc..  I used buckwheat that had been in the pantry forever. 

Just roll the dough out and place it in the pie pan, trim, and pierce with a fork along the bottom and sides.  Line with the shiny side of tinfoil (you could give the tin foil a quick spray to ensure it doesn't stick), and then fill with something heavy to hold it down.

You could also line the pie dough with tin foil, then put another pie plate on top to hold it down.

Once the crust is done, and cooled, you can cook up the filling on the stove and pour it in.  You'll refrigerate it for a couple hours to set the filling.  If you want to prevent a nasty "skin" from forming on the top of your cream pie, cover it with plastic wrap, pressing it down to touch the filling:

This will keep it nicely until it's chilled and you cover it with whipped cream.

Perfection.

How is your week going so far?  

Are you having a heat wave where you are?

I'm currently running two giveaways for my Canadian readers. 
- You can enter to win a journal here.
- If you visit Menchie's before the end of the month, Tweet or Instagram a photo of your creation with the message/hashtags you can find here.  You could win 7 free Menchie's treats!

Beautiful Weekend

We were very much looking forward to this past weekend.  The two previous weekends were spent in Saskatoon, and before that, we were just getting home from Vegas, and unpacking, etc..  We were so excited for a weekend of relaxing in our own backyard.

On Friday evening it was a bit rainy, so we made bee bim bop and put on a movie.

Comforting and cozy!

We slept in a bit on Saturday morning, which was so nice, and then cooked up eggs in a hole and bacon.

We then spent the rest of the day in the backyard.  We listened to all sorts of music from Miles Davis to DeadMau5.   

We snacked ...

Admired our homegrown peas ...

And saw something very frightening ...

For dinner we BBQd some tasty homemade burgers.

Christopher loaded his with blue cheese ... and I ... didn't.

We loved it outside so much, that the next morning we were right back out there cooking our breakfast.

I found the bacon stand thing at Home Sense recently and thought it was genius!  It catches the grease on both sides, so that it doesn't drip into the BBQ.  It worked perfectly.

It was such a beautiful morning, and so nice to eat outside.

Later in the day we made a big bowl of pico de gallo and snacked on that, and then used it to top our hotdogs.

We had a pretty great weekend - just the two of us, in the backyard.

We ended it off with some beetniks from the farmers' market.

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  Do you ever cook breakfast outside?

Coffee for the Crazy People

This coffee has become a thing.  I had heard of it, but I didn't see the recipe until Pioneer Woman posted it.  As soon as I saw it, I knew we had to try the crazy concoction.  We're not people who shy away from much when it comes to food/drink.  We'll try almost anything once.

You throw 1 tablespoon of good quality coconut oil (unrefined) into a blender.

Then you add a pat of butter.

Have I lost you yet!?  Haha!

Pour in 12 ounces of strong, very hot, brewed coffee.

And then blend until it's frothy and beautiful, and emulsified.

Then enjoy the creamy, slightly "coconuty" coffee.  It's not oily at all.

Christopher and I thought that it was good, but not as deserving of the rave reviews it's been getting.  It was similar to coffee with a couple creamers, but it had the slight coconut taste.  Although, we are well aware of the incredible health benefits of coconut oil, so if we want to incorporate more into our diet, this might be a good way to do so.

Also, we've heard of restaurants serving coffee with a pat of butter instead of cream.  Hmmmm, maybe we'll have to try that next.

So, would you try this crazy coffee?  Have you tried it already?

(I really want to try kopi luwak, and I will as soon as I can find it; Christopher thinks I'm crazy)

Happy Canada Day!!

What a wonderful Canada day!  We started the day with maple waffles.

We made a lightly-maple flavoured batter, then topped the waffles with butter, and Canadian pure maple syrup. 

Christopher made Canadian lattes to go with - he's so cute!

 

The afternoon was spent making dessert for this evening's family potluck dinner.  Because we love our country, we made some festive cookies.

And for some more red, a nice strawberry, rhubarb pie.

In the afternoon we headed over to Christopher's parent's house for a potluck dinner.   We sat in the backyard all evening.

 We enjoyed some snacks, and giggled at our adorable niece. 

Dinner was fantastic!  We had wings, lasagna, ravioli, garlic bread, and caesar salad.

The meal was followed by the pie and cookies that we brought.

What a nice way to spend Canada day!

How was your Canada day?

If you're not Canadian, have you ever been to Canada?