A Small Town Ontario Adventure

Last week we went to visit our dear friend in a little town just north of the city. On our way, we had to make an emergency stop at the side of the road. When I stepped out of my car I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the scene around us.

*thank you to Madisyn for taking this great photo*
Madisyn lives in the loveliest little home and her backyard is simply amazing. While playing in her yard, we found a sweet wee frog.

We were really hungry and decided to go to the nearby town of Alliston to eat at one of our favorite restaurants.

If you are ever in the vicinity of Alliston, Ontario, do yourself a favour and pay a visit to Spring Basil restaurant. The food here is so amazing! Although we had three kids in tow, we managed to have a very civilized lunch :)

Then we drove into downtown Alliston for a coffee and a little thrift shopping.

I picked up just a few little things.

There are so many great little towns in Ontario. I really love exploring new places I've never been before. Especially, with a friend. It's a great bonus that the kids enjoy our small town explorations too! Oh, I just found this list on Trip Advisor of Quaint Small Towns and Villages in Ontario. I've been to many of those towns but not all of them. I think I should make an effort to visit all the recommended places there. And check out this list of Central Ontario Ghost Towns! I've only been to Ball's Falls, which is beautiful. If we get a chance in the next couple of weeks, I'd like to visit a local ghost town.

I hope you're having a great week! I started my new job this week and I really love it! And each day our new house feels more and more like home.

♥ Andrea ♥

A New Life in the City

Slowly but surely we are settling into our new city home. When we first came to see this house, these two little wooden birds were sitting in the front window. These birds seemed to represent the extra specialness of this house. The kids asked if we could live here the day we viewed it, and the house just seemed like it would be such a good fit for our family.

Upon moving in, we found that our house is also home to house sparrows. I think it's really lovely that they are here.

The day after we moved in, two little sparrows were fighting and fell onto the driveway. The driveway here is nice and long and has been getting a whole lot of use as a canvas.

I love this new kitchen. It's bright at any time of the day. I'm looking forward to it being really organized. Every room is out of order right now. Getting everything sorted feels really great. Though last week, by the end of the week, I got really tired of moving.

I was happy to find mint growing through the fence along the driveway.

Our neighbour has the loveliest rose patch. Last night we ate our dinner on the front porch. As the sun was getting low in the sky, these roses looked so incredibly gorgeous.

The number of cats in our neighbourhood is unreal! This handsome fellow keeps coming around. Marvin doesn't like it. Not one little bit.

I feel so blessed to have found a little oasis in the city. We love our new backyard. We have a pear tree and a cherry tree! And we also have what looks to be an old chicken coop. I've always wanted to get some chickens... Sadly, it's illegal to keep chickens in Toronto.

A great thing about moving back to the city is getting to see so many of our friends and cousins! We've been having a whole lot of fun discovering new parks and spending some time (in between unpacking boxes) with people we love.

♥ Andrea ♥

Black & Golden Wild Raspberry Pie

It's raspberry season! And we are thoroughly enjoying it. We have a plethora of black raspberries on the property here in the forest and we even have some golden raspberries too. The rubus occidentalis plant is a member of the rose family and also related to the thimble berry. We have both wild roses and thimble berries growing here in the forest as well. It turns out that golden raspberries are black raspberries that have developed a gene mutation making them pale in colour but the same in taste. The golden raspberries showed up here for the first time a few years ago.

In between packing boxes for our big move (yikes, tomorrow!), we have been trying to make it out each day to pick berries. One of the things we look forward to every year is when dad makes his yearly pie. If either of us is the baker in the relationship, it's me. Though John is a fantastic cook, I'm not sure there is another thing that he bakes. But every year for the last three years, he's made one delicious raspberry pie. We adore this tradition so very much.



Crust
This year, the pie was a bit of a joint effort. I made the crust from this butter crust recipe I've used many times now. It is the perfect crust recipe. And though I didn't refrigerate it for four hours like it says to, it still turned out perfectly. Instead of all purpose flour, I used some cake and pastry flour and some whole wheat because that was all I had on hand.



For the filling, John used the Fresh Berry Pie recipe from Joy of Cooking

Filling
5 cups fresh black and golden raspberries
1.5 Tbsp. lemon juice

Combine in a separate bowl:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp arrow root flour

Directions
Sprinkle the dry mixture over your berries, combine gently and let stand for 15 minutes
Preheat oven at 450F
Pour filling into crust and dot with 1 - 2 Tbsp of butter
Make strips of the left over dough from the crust and lay on top in a lattice formation
Bake for 10 minutes
Reduce heat to 350F and until golden brown (35-40 minutes)



♥ Andrea ♥

Orchid Macro Photos

I received some orchids from my thoughtful father-in-law for Mother's Day this year. I took some photos of them recently that I wanted to share with you.








I think orchids are so beautiful. Each one looks like a little flying angel, don't you think?

♥ Andrea ♥

Nivram: The Cat From The Forest

This cat is not our cat. But he looks surprisingly like our, Marvin. This cat came out of the forest one day and has been visiting ever since. We call him, Nivram. I think he is lovely and I want to be able to show him a bit of love but Marvin doesn't make friends easily. In fact, I don't think Marvin has ever had an animal friend. He loves people. He doesn't like other animals.

One day, I looked out the back door and saw Marvin and Nivram sitting close to each other on the back porch. I couldn't believe it- maybe Marvin can make a friend after all! I set some bowls of cream out for them and I put them fairly close together in hopes of the two of them getting used to each other. It worked! They both drank their cream and got close to each other and seemed to not be bothered by one another in the least. The next day, Nivram and Marvin were on the back porch again together. I opened the door to give some more cream to them and the kids asked if Nivram could come in. I was explaining to them that it wasn't a good idea for us to invite him in, and as I did, Nivram took one step towards the door. Marvin went ballistic! Marvin attacked poor Nivram and chased him deep into the forest. Our daughter was crying her eyes out.

The scuffle hasn't deterred him from coming by. But now I fear for his safety. I do try to keep Marvin indoors whenever I see Nivram. Hopefully once we move, someone will be kind to this sweet cat and give him a bit of love. I can't figure out if he has a home or if he just lives in the forest. Isn't he so handsome?

♥ Andrea ♥

What I've Been Up To Lately...

We may have ended up back in Niagara Falls again.


This time we went to the Guinness World Record Museum. Have you been? I do love Guinness World Records but the museum in Niagara Falls is completely lackluster. I liked this big image of some world records that was at the exit of the museum though. It makes me think of The Twilight Zone.


I made these Johnny Cakes (posted by my friend, Christina) for the family as a special brunch treat last weekend for Canada Day. They were particularly delicious. I kind of love anything with cornmeal and I couldn't resist making Johnny Cakes for my Johnny Cakes :)


I spent two hours putting together this cardboard skeleton for Eamon last weekend. He tried to do it himself but this thing was complicated. It didn't help that the pieces were all numbered on the sheets they were attached to but they all got punched out and scattered before the assembly got started. I took photos because I knew this wouldn't last long. It didn't make it through the day! But it was well played with and even went to bed with him that night.


Here's Elycia's new baby, Milo! Isn't he so little and sweet! The kids and I were delighted to meet him this week and to visit with the happy new family! I am just so happy for them.


I made up an herbal sitz bath for Elyica last week. You can see the post partum herbal sitz bath recipe on my homeopathy and natural remedies blog if you like.


I also made a few little cats for Milo to play with.


Finally, I learned how to make my own amazingly delicious raw chocolate. I think this could prove to be very, very, very, very, very dangerous.

Have a wonderful weekend!

♥ Andrea ♥

Raccoon

This guy lives in a tree in the backyard. We don't see him very often but he came down the other day so I sneaked out and took a couple of photos of him before he climbed back up into his tree to hide. This is either the baby raccoon we saw a couple of years ago or his brother. I know that many people think raccoons are a nuisance and they certainly can be. My mother had raccoons come into her roof and made a huge mess that was difficult and costly to clean up. But as long as we find a way to live together amicably, I think raccoons are totally adorable and extremely clever. I like them a lot. Have you ever seen, Pom Poko? Best raccoon movie ever.

♥ Andrea ♥