janice's mash-up

local berries

We are very spoiled here with an abundance of local berry farms. We can walk, ride our bikes or stop by on the side of the road on a drive home to pick up strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. There are u-pick farms around too and lots of blackberries to pick along the railroad tracks and trails near the end of the summer.

I made some raspberry vinegar this week and the boys and their friends helped me make (and enjoy) blueberry creamsicles. Life is good!

This is this week's The Simple Things photo.

Check out other "simple things" photographs on Rebecca's blog...click on The Simple Things button below to link to Rebecca's site to see this week's photos.

  

500th post!

This is my 500th post. I can't believe it. When I started this blog, I knew I would have 365 posts as I was committed to doing Project 365 for 2010 but who knew I wouldn't be able to let it go! I blog for me and for my family but I want to thank all of you that read my blog and are along for the ride!

I decided to celebrate by giving the macarons a second go. A sweet colleague gave me some coveted Valrhona cocoa and so I used that and made chocolate macarons...some with nutella filling and some with marshmallow creme. The marshmallow ones remind me of whoopie pies, which are also on my baking "to do" list!

  
These ones were better than my first attempt but I am still figuring them out. I read a great article explaining how the proteins in the egg bind to the sugar and the importance of adding the sugar to the egg whites at just the right time. I love learning about the chemistry and science around baking.

The macarons all disappeared very quickly...the boys are always happy to celebrate along with me, especially when there is baking involved!

gillian's scones

My friend Gillian has the best scone recipe. She has kindly brought us scones over the years and Adam and Neil in particular really love them...sometimes with raisins, sometimes with currants or dried cranberries and sometimes with fresh berries.

The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a scone-fest around here. 

We've had Okanagan cherry scones with vanilla sugar...

and raspberry and white chocolate scones...

and today we had blueberry lemon scones for brunch after swimming. 

Thanks Gillian for your recipe...it is now a family favourite!

taking any summer day we can get

Today felt like summer. Sunny and hot. Doesn't look like we'll actually get two days in a row of this so best to capitalize on the sun while it's here! The boys had their swimming lesson and then headed into Kits to get Neil's bike tuned up and for burgers at Vera's. They also visited QE park to try out Colin's all-terrain skateboard that he bought in Hawaii. They all had a go and all had crashes but apparently Neil's was the funniest crash according to Colin! Me, well, same old same old in front of the computer but I did take some reading and sat outside for half an hour to take in some sun!

When the boys got home, we tried out our new Zoku machine. Uncle Glenn had given me a gift certificate to Ming Wo for my bday and I finally used it.

We made orange juice and raspberry lemonade pops and then a chocolate and vanilla layered pop and orange juice creamsicles. Those were fun and we have a better plan for next time...they're a little tricky!

Such a sign of summer!

This evening I had a lovely dinner at Blue Canoe and walk around Steveston with Kim. It was so good to catch up as we sat out on the patio with our yummy seafood dinners. We saw so many people we knew out enjoying the sun as well...such a gorgeous evening!

pineapple shrimp fried rice

Yesterday, Neil took the boys golfing with his brother. They had a 5pm tee time (so much less expensive!) so they needed a good snack before they headed out. I decided to make this Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice I saw over on the Make and Takes Spotlight (if you have not visited this site...there is so much inspiration!). It was quick, used brown rice and 3 out of 4 of us liked it! Still struggling to find dinners that all 4 of us really like.

I might try it with chicken next time and see if that goes over better with my one non-seafood eating son. It sure looks pretty though ;)

my first macarons

The boys and I have been enjoying macarons for a few years now. We treat ourselves at the french bakery on Granville Island and the one at Pike Place Market in Seattle. Recently, we've also been enjoying them at the Steveston Farmers' Market. I even ordered some special Canucks ones during the playoffs this year! Our favourite flavour is raspberry and we all love the mixture of crispy outside, soft sweet inside and creamy tart filling. I've been wanting to make them for quite awhile now and had it on my list of fun things to do for this summer. Yesterday, when Colin and I went into the library to find Adam after swimming lessons, this book was on the shelf and I picked it up. It's by a Japanese french pastry chef and is full of beautiful photographs - perfect for a visual girl like me! The boys assumed I was going to make them right away so I decided to make them last night. I followed the recipe for the basic vanilla macaron batter.

1) create template on backside of parchment paper 2) mix 2/3 cup ground almonds and 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar  3) whip 3 egg white until foamy and slowly add 5T of granulated sugar 4) beat on high until gloss and medium peaks, slowly mix in 1 tsp vanilla 5) fold 1/2 of dry mixture into egg whites 6) stir in rest of dry mixture and stir/fold briskly about 15x 7) pipe onto parchment 8) bang baking sheet to get out air bubbles and let macarons set for 15 minutes before baking at 375 for about 15 minutes.

I thought the batter seemed a bit thin but I hoped the macarons would magically puff up in the oven. They didn't. I was disappointed. I'll have to look for some online videos to see what consistency the batter is supposed to be or try a different recipe. I was happy that I got the little "pieds" (feet) on my first macarons. Apparently, that is the tricky part.

The first batch we filled with the cherry jam we made last summer. Neil and I liked these the best.

Colin thought of using Nutella as a filling and he and Adam quite liked these!

The boys were very kind and did comment that the macarons were a little flat but that they otherwise tasted just like the french bakery ones. 

my summer balancing act

I was thinking of participating in Ali Edward's A Week in the Life project which started this week as I usually do this once a year and love my mini-books that result from this. Alas, when I really thought about it, this summer probably wouldn't be the most interesting to capture. There would be a lot of this...

and this...

which just isn't very exciting! This is pretty much what my days look like right now. The boys go off to their swimming lessons with Neil (I went today because Neil took his dad out for the morning and lunch),

   
and then sometimes I join them for lunch and other days I keep working. The boys occupy themselves for the afternoon (listening to Harry Potter, biking, adapting their nerf guns, etc) or do something with Neil and then I take a break for dinner and to do things with the family for the early evening. Last week we went to go see the new Harry Potter movie - I think I was more excited than the boys. We loved it. On Friday night we went to the BC Lions game. The boys had never been to one before and the tickets were a Father's Day gift for Neil. We had great seats at Empire on a sunny evening. A fun night out.

On Saturday night we watched the first HP movie together...boy were the characters so young! Both the boys commented on how much the special effects and green-screening had improved over time. We've also (me mostly) been enjoying oven smores in the evenings as a treat, using the new stacker marshmallows. Yum-o!

After another productive day on Sunday, we all went to the Summer Night Market for dinner. Meat skewers, chow mein, other Asian treats and of course some hurricane potatoes. Love these!

I put in a few more hours of work before I go to bed and so my days go! I am feeling positive and productive and still feeling like I am having time with my family...my summer balancing act!

time for breakfast

During the school year we are scrambling to get out of the door in the morning and all grab breakfast on the fly. Summer schedules allow for more leisurely breakfasts. The boys are in swimming lessons in the mornings and one day this week while Neil took Adam off for his lesson, I had time to sit down and have breakfast with Colin before I took him to his. It was so nice to sit at the table together and talk about things while eating our chocolate cheerios!

 This is this week's The Simple Things photo.

Check out other "simple things" photographs on Rebecca's blog...click on The Simple Things button below to link to Rebecca's site to see this week's photos.

 

 

colour your summer

I'm taking part in the Colour Your Summer project sponsored by Snapfish. If you submit at least one photo for each colour (colour is revealed each week) you receive a 5x7 photobook and I love photobooks! Can you guess what colours I have submitted for so far?

If pink and purple come up, that might be a bit of a problem around here!

quick summer scrapbooks

Because of my "big summer project" I am having to spend less time on some of the things I love to do. One of those things is scrapbooking...no time for elaborate projects! For my nephew's visit with us, I put together a little mini-album to send to him in Philly. Just two covers and a collection of photos and memorabilia (science world ticket, hotel keycard, Sonic mint wrapper, my airport security pass) all bound together with my BIA. I didn't even back the photos with anything ;)

 

I also put together four quick albums for us, my sisters and my parents of the recent cousins' trip to the Okanagan. I just ordered multiples of photos and slid them into to little 4x6 albums I found at London Drugs. I did the same little journaling block for everyone as well as the little title block on the cover. Easy peasy, quick and easy!

Five little albums done in less than two hours.