Wednesday randoms

So, I was scoping out a location today for a wedding I'm taking some photos at on Friday. I had no idea I'd interrupt someone's meditation. Well actually, I'm not sure I interrupted anything, he didn't seem to notice me. Who knows...

I also saw this little wall today - thought it made it for an interesting photo :)



Sticking to the 'random' theme, we had the first tomatoes out of our garden for dinner tonight. So so good!

Some garlic each day keeps the vampires away!

Our neighbour Jeremy grows his own garlic (700 plants!); he just harvested a bunch of it last weekend and he has some hanging outside on his porch. He told us to help ourselves....he should be careful what he wishes for!
Regardless, this is the first photo I've taken with my new 70-200 f2.8 lens and so far I'm liking what I'm seeing. I only hope I can get used to the weight of it -it's by far the heaviest lens I have.

Sprouts

I've been keeping busy with our flowers and veggies; here a few pics I took tonight. I've been photo-documenting all along but I didn't really think anyone would care!

The fruits of my labour - literally!

Hairy litle buggers aren't they??
I hope this provides lots of butternut squash - for soup!
And because I didn't want the flowers to be left out, here's my pretty hydrangea!

Anniversary Fruit

Our anniversary was June 23 so I'm more than a bit late in making this post but I've finally gotten around to it so I hope Mom will forgive me :)
Not only did we receive many email/phone/facebook/snail mail congratulatory messages, but just as I was arriving home from the lab that day, I was greeted by a delivery guy who was dropping off a lovely edible arrangement from my family - Mom, Dad, Stacie, Barnie, and Flower. In other words, it was from my mom :) :) :)
Those in-the-know will understand the small size of Flower's (Luci-Fleur) name *wink wink* - there is no way she'd ever send a good thought my way!!

Canada Day Custard Cake

Ok, so it's really just a pie but I was trying to keep with the 'C' theme :)

Today I tried out a new recipe for a strawberry (red) custard (white) pie in celebration of Canada Day. The plan was to share with our neighbours but we didn't end up seeing them (too bad for them) so there's that much more for us. With all new recipes I test out on Brannon I always watch for a reaction but today I didn't even need my eyes - he made sounds I've never heard him make before (heads out of the gutter people!!) so I knew it was a hit!
We're both looking forward to 'seconds' later on!

HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE!!

And for the record, I made it all from scratch, even the crust!

Here's a link to the recipe.

Fancy Feast

So, this obviously isn't really a post about photography. It's more me bragging about a really yummy dish Brannon made tonight. He's made it before but it's been a long time so I enjoyed it a lot. He made beef roulade. He pounded out some (marinated) steak, and rolled it up with pickles, peppers, onions and bacon. Then he baked it in the remainder of the marinade. He served it with roasted potatoes and green beans. YUM-O!
This is after I cut it in half...

Minty!

If you're on my facebook then you've already seen this but there's just something about it that I like...fresh mint!

Fondue meat!

So again, I've slipped and have neglected my blog. Feeling a little bad about that I thought I'd post pics of some of the food I prepared for tonight. We're having fondue with Kevin and Tracy who are both fondue virgins!! Can you imagine...never having had fondue!?!?!
Anyway, they're taking care of the veggies and I did the meat. I have plain chicken and sirloin strips, and I also made some meatballs that I dipped in freshly grated parm (should come out of the oil nice and crispy!) and a Korean marinade for some of the beef. In addition, I made 5 dipping sauces so hopefully everyone will be pleased. Mostly I think I'm excited for dessert - we're making banana splits!!

Sugar Shack!

I don't have a lot of time today for posting but I wanted to get at least one photo up. Brannon and I joined his family for brunch at a local sugar shack today. Not only was it nice to see everyone (it's been a while for me) but we had the BEST food! I took a few photos but I won't be able to get to them until tomorrow so for now I thought I'd post a photo of the taffy they make. I'm not really sure where they found the snow though :)

We're off to Brigitte and Craig's house for a BBQ to celebrate the end of winter - can't wait!

Growing Garlic

So, our neighbour grows his own garlic and keeps us well-stocked (yay!). He just brought this over on the weekend and today I noticed it's growing (but I guess that's because it's spring)....I guess we better eat it soon!
You know it's a slow photo day when you post pics of old garlic....

P.S. I can't seem to access picnik tonight so no frame :(

Dirty Thirty

Brigitte's 30th birthday came and went this week and we celebrated last night with a surprise dinner at the Absinthe Cafe, followed by a party afterwards at Tracy and Chris's place.
We decided on a 'polka dot' theme.
We had flowers (as 'round' as possible, athough I'm not sure that party really worked out)...

...balloons....
...favours that included smarties (keeping with the theme of course)...
...oysters to keep it 'dirty'...lol....
...surprise dessert at the restaurant....
...and some absinthe of course (my photos of the drink on fire didn't work out)!!We arranged to have polka dots on the cupcakes (with matching polka dot napkins) and mini eggs too!

Since our dearest birthday girl LOVES games, we played a game of Twister! It all goes downhill from here so this is where the photos end! :)
We finished off the night with a dip in the hot tub!
We hope you had a great night (and end to a great birthday week!)!
Love you lots!

Mason's Birthday

Here are a few random shots that I took yesterday at Brannon's brother's birthday dinner.
Instead of a cake, he got a tray full of yummy holiday treats :)

They had a visitor from a cute little elf (Isaac)!Meet Tazer, their cat. She's tired out from all the excitement!

Lastly, I snapped a shot of their Christmas tree reflected in their front window :)

It's not Christmas without chocolate and mint!

So, this simple recipe is getting me loads of attention :)
I love love love chocolate and mint...but the combination of them both can't be beat so when I came across this recipe I had to try them out. I took them to a gathering on the weekend and they were a big hit.....also, Brannon's having a hard time keeping his mitts off them too!
Don't be naughty and I might share :)

Mint-topped Chocolate Christmas Cookies

Recipe:
Combine a package of devil's food chocolate cake mix with 2 eggs, a 1/2 cup of shortening and a Tbsp of water. Beat with hand mixer, then finish off with some elbow grease because it becomes super-thick. Roll into less-than 1" balls, coat with icing sugar, then place 2" apart on greased baking sheet (this is important because they spread!). Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and top with a thin mint (Haviland, Zachary, etc.). Let stand to cool.
You won't be disappointed!

Tracy and Kevin get hitched!

Our good friends Kevin and Tracy were married in a beautiful ceremony on Saturday; the day went off *almost* perfectly - the limo kinda forgot to pick up the bride so she was a tad late :(
Anyway, we had a really great time but I didn't take many photos because I was too busy enjoying myself :)
Here are few though....

Their cake

I was at the Pink Floyd table; their beloved first-born is named after the band - oh, and I'm talking about their dog :)

Val, one of Tracy's bridesmaids danced with their nieces (and flower girls) before the party really got started. Too cute!
As we expected, the speeches were all really entertaining! Brannon was the Best Man, and he made sure everyone knew he was, in fact, the *best* man :)
I managed to get a kiss shot!

Happy First Blog-iversary!

So, I made my first blog entry one year ago today; who knew I'd last a year?!?!
I grabbed some cheesecake on my way home to celebrate...and so I'd have something to photograph! I'd like to dedicate my one-year anniversary post to Evelin who sent me a message just today telling me she was sad my blog has been so quiet lately. Thanks Hun, and I'll try to get back on track, just for you :)

With a Twist

So this is a rather odd blog entry today. The theme for our contest this week was "Twisted", as chosen by me. I liked the idea when I chose it but then more-or-less forgot about it until today (entries are due tonight). Anyway, in trying to think outside-the-box I came up with an apple peel and a cork screw - somehow they even wound up in the same photo :)

Kinki

Both Evelin and I had accomplishments to celebrate this week so a few of us headed to Kinki for sushi tonight. The food was great and the drinks were yummy ('Juicy Nut' anyone??) - I'm pretty sure a good time was had by all! This first shot is just a random that I took of Leslie's sunglasses sitting on top of her chop sticks wrapper and the second is a very small part of our overall order. I would have posted more but my computer and internet are both working at a snail's pace and I am SO ready for bed. Congrats Evelin on a great seminar today. I hope you sleep well tonight :)

Tonight I put my camera away

Old friends and new popped by tonight to celebrate with me; I was hoping to keep it pretty low-key but we drank lots of wine (etc.) and ate lots of cupcakes; and everyone seemed to have a pretty good time. Usually I'm the one running around with the camera but I spent so much time *trying* to talk to everyone that I totally ignored my usual urge to take pics. I took this *one* shot of the only cupcake I ate tonight - it's a terrible pic really, but I wanted to post something for today.
Thanks to Mel, Tracy H, Katherine, Jenn, Brigitte, Tracy G, Leslie, Evelin, Christina and Ballari; not only for coming over but for your wonderful gifts too! I had a great birthday!

Edible Birthday

I received THE BEST floral arrangement today - an edible one! Chocolate covered apples, pineapple, strawberries, oranges, grapes....YUM-O!
~~Thanks a MILLION to Lindsay Weir - you're the greatest!~~

It was even a day early, my birthday is tomorrow!

Blue and Bailie are totally enthralled with the balloon; they won't leave it alone!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Now trying to 'keep it all to myself' is the hard part....LOL!

Fun Fruit

Another day, another snowstorm here in Ottawa. I couldn't even bring myself to look outside today so I had to resort to something in the house to shoot - so pineapple you get! Light seems to have made a big difference in terms of its appearance in these photos :)