Weekend Mornings

There really is nothing like a weekend morning. Sleeping in, coffee in bed, some snuggles from Charlie, a yummy breakfast!

Breakfast One: Buttermilk Biscuits

Breakfast Two: Pumpkin Rolls with Brown Sugar Glaze

And Charlie, the bringer of cuddles

Things that make you say Mmmmm!

My Parents stopped by this past weekend to drop of my bike. One of my mom's favorite things about Vancouver if the food. We really are lucky to have so many great places to eat!

While my parents were here we stopped for lunch at one of my favourite lunch spots Nuba and we also tried out a new place Cafeteria which very quickly became a new favourite!

Maybe you can relate to this. You go out to dinner to that chains just down the street. You know, some place like Earls, or Joe's. And you choose it because it is close and easy. But as you are leaving think to yourself "Hmmm, I could have made something that tasted better then that." All and all a disappointing experience.

For those of us who feel this way there is Cafeteria. Everything on the menu is under 20$ (something you can't say about the chains). And more importantly the food is basically to die for. Seriously. My dinner reminded me of why I actually liked going out to eat. Because I can't make food that good at home. And dessert! OMG.

Just go.

The Pie

So Canadian Thanksgiving has long past and I'm just getting this post up now! Good work Tina. Anyway, back to the point.

This year my contribution to dinner was dessert. This was a hard one for me as I love making dessert and I had just about a million ideas. Also adding to the confusion was an ongoing discussion about homemade vs. store bought pie. I will not name names, but apparently some people believe that a store bought pie is just at delicious as a homemade pie! I beg to differ. So to prove a point I made a pie.

And I won with this ever so delicious Citrus Pumpkin Pie with Grand Marnier Cream.

Crust ingredients ready.

Ice water for a super flakey crust.

I think I still need a little work of my pie shaping skills.

Filling ready.

And mix.

Out of the oven and waiting for dinner to be eaten.

It's like a concert tour but with sketchbooks.

This year I have decided to join The Sketchbook Project. I chose my theme and my sketchbook colour and voilà a sketchbook arrive at my door!

Now I have to do is fill it up by January!

The Island

For 3 years I basically lived on Granville Island. I went to school there in the day, I studied there in the evenings and I worked in the public market on the weekends. And I have found that when you tell people that you went to school on Granville Island that standard response is "Oh wow, you're so lucky!"

But it didn't feel that way. It was a constant battle to find a parking spot or to squeeze your waythrough a mob of tourist just grab something to eat before class. The "wow factor" wore off rather quickly. When I finished school I was sure I would never be able to enjoy Granville Island ever again. But that was just about 10 years ago. And it really isn't so bad anymore.

The Best way to get to the island: the ferry.

Good company.

The Bridges

I used to work across the way from the plant store, I often went home with a new addition.

Inside the Public Market.

The cement factory.

Opus: most of my student loan was spent here.

Under the bridge.

The Waterfall building.

Pears from the Market.

Last stop, a new bike seat.

The New Addition

I am the proud co-owner of a new bike!

This is it!

The bike is a lucky bike, as it was saved from some scrap heap! My dad found it took it home. Cleaned it, polished it, painted it, replaced its broken bits and here you have it, better than new. It is a lovely little thing to ride around town on.

So Dinner.

So dinner.

Ever come home from work and wonder what to make? Here is the answer.

Linguine with Tomato-almond pesto

As it turns out, it is just about the quickest thing to make, EVER and it is totally delicious.

I would suggest that you give it a go!

Clutter Removal

Perhaps you are like me, when you move into a new house you mind is full of grand ideas that at the time seem like they will change the world. Or at least change your world.

This was my thinking when I moved 6 months ago. I had plans and ideas! My first plan was to strategically placed a nice tray on the edge of the island in the kitchen. It was a convenient place to put keys, mail, receipts, you know, thing of that nature. But some how instead of putting the mail there and then cleaning it up and putting it away, the lovely catch-all tray just turned into a mass of clutter. Everything was throw in and just left for weeks on end. So it was time to abandon my genius plan and make a change. And the new solution WILL not encourage the collection of clutter.

Charlie, my partner in crime wasn't all that helpful. He spent most of his time lounging. He did however giving me a few encouraging meows now and again.

Ta-da! The final arrangement. No more massive pile of clutter. Now all I have to do is keep the fruit bowl stocked and the cat out of the fruit bowl. As is happens I have a cat the enjoys apricots, plums, peaches, and nectarine.

Now on to the next area! The espresso machine.

Who Would Have Thunk It?

According to the article that I just read tuxedo cats (which my lovely cat Charlie happens to be) are 200% smarter than other cats and their owners are way way better looking.

I'm just stating facts, so don't hate on me.

As you can see here Charlie is soooo smart that he will jump into my arms for a treat. Very smart indeed. I probably shouldn't mention that it takes a good 5 minutes of coaxing to get him to agree to expend that much energy.

Yes, I can actually cook.

When I cook I like to cook based on what I actually have around the house. And right now I have lemons. A lot of lemons! This is why I decided I needed to make sticky lemon chicken.

I know I said I was going to make it for dinner on Monday night. But I was to lazy and opted to just go out for Pho. However after dinner I was feeling a little less lazy and did manage to head over to the store and some ingredients. And last night I got down to business and made the sticky lemon chicken.

My clock must have been on fast forward because it took a little longer then the suggested 10 mins of prep time and 25 min of cooking time. But the recipe was easy and the chicken was nothing short of yummy!

If I didn't know better myself…

I would almost say that this is turning into a food blog! Tonight for dinner I think that I'm going to make Sticky Lemon Chicken. We'll see how that goes. Perhaps I will even have some pictures!

Things I want to make

Baked Eggs with Bacon and Spinach

I often find myself trolling the Internet looking at food blogs and recipe. And I usually find something that I would like to make. But unfortunately more often than not I end up forgetting what it way or where I found it before I ever have time to make it. This is one of those things that I would like to make! It look super yummy and pretty easy. Maybe one morning.

Better Late Than Never

I contemplated just deleting everything that I had already posted and just starting fresh but then all the rest of my hard work would go to waste and well to be honest it really would just mean more work me. And it is my blog after all so really I can do as I like.

So here we are, over a year later and I'm going to try again.

Not that long ago it was my birthday and for my birthday. And to celebrate I had a walking photo tour! Following are a few of the sights along the way.

Red Boat

I wish I had a red boat! I would sit on my red boat every night if this was the view I had from my boat.

Friday Evening Bike

You really only need a few things to make a Friday evening bike ride. A book, a towel, something to drink and of course your bike!