What friends say:

Awww, Kyle's dad Max just told me that Kyle told him (telephone game!) that our wedding was one of the best he's ever been to. Warm fuzzies!

Update: Kyle at the beginning of the night with his girlfriend Tash:

And then Kyle at the end of night with my cousin's Canadian Club:

Success!

Our Wedding Food (plus recipe links!)

While most girls probably focus on the dress or the decorations or the guest list for their wedding (not that those weren't all heavily discussed in our household over the past eight months), for me, it was all about the food!

I was frequently asked, "So who is doing your catering?" Every single time, everything inside of me was yelling in response, "Me! Me-me-me!! I'm catering my own wedding!!" (I'm a bit of a control freak sometimes.)

Unfortunately, everyone around me thought (and was probably right) that that was a terrible idea, so I was slowly reigned in. We wound up hiring Tim's friend Carlos to do the ribs and chicken at $10 a head. He was incredible. The chicken was roasted, while the ribs were slow-cooked and then finished off on the grill. He also made three sauces that people could choose from to sauce their own meats. One was a hot and sour sauce, there was a traditional BBQ sauce, and then a honey-garlic sauce. We chose to do the sauces separately because of a serious garlic allergy among our guests, and it worked out SO well. People could have no sauce, tons of sauce, one sauce, all the sauces. Loved it. Carlos and his wife Andrea were also so crucial to keeping the whole dinner running smoothly. They were there to answer any questions, refill everything, and direct the other two kitchen helpers, Marie and Renee, that Wendy had hired.

Wendy contributed to the buffet as well. She made the caprese salad with mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil. I know there was a last minute panic on Thursday to find the perfect local tomatoes, and she bought a ridiculously good $30 bottle of balsamic from Chasing the Cheese for people who wanted extra drizzle. She also catered in the potato salad from BE Catering in Peterborough. It had heirloom potatoes, red peppers, celery, green onions, red onions, grainy Dijon mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper, parsley, dill, and a little bit of Miracle Whip. (Miracle Whip? Really? I would have used mayonnaise.) Both salads were delicious.

Wendy's friend Betty-Ann added a kale salad and my Mom made two different types of green salads. I think Dean picked up buns at Costco.

Photo by Ree Drummond (a.k.a The Pioneer Woman)

Even though I was downgraded from my original plans of doing everything, I still made the pasta salad. I'm so glad I wasn't allowed to do more, because it's amazing how much of a mess that was! We had about six containers left over, but this is how much I originally made for 140 people:

• 5 x 900 g bags of pasta
• 2 kgs of Bothwell smoked cheddar cheese from Chasing the Cheese
• 6 quarts of currant tomatoes from McLean's Berry Farm
• Leaves from 18 stems of basil from Twin Pine Farm
• 6-1/2 cups of mayonnaise
• 3-1/4 cups of whole milk
• 3-1/4 cups of white vinegar
• 6-1/2 tsps salt
• Lots of freshly cracked black pepper

I don't know how I would have done this without my Kitchenaid stand mixer and Shannon's big canning pot to cook the pasta and mix everything in. I just used my hands to mix it all together. None of my spoons were long enough. It fit PERFECTLY into 20 of the extra-large Foodland deli containers, which they sold me for 10 cents each. The currant tomatoes were PERFECT because they're so teeny-tiny! I didn't have to cut them, which saved tons of time.

Here's the recipe, in semi-normal proportions: Spicy Pasta Salad with Smoked Gouda, Tomatoes, and Basil. 

Photo courtesy of Lisa Soltermann

For dessert, Shannon busted her butt making miniature cupcakes all week, half chocolate and half vanilla. Angel, Blaire, Sarah, and even Owen helped to ice them at the rehearsal dinner at Dean and Wendy's. Uncle Bob performed quality control by eating any that didn't look up to his standards. The cupcakes were more of an addendum to dessert, though, since I knew all along that what I really wanted for the wedding dessert was trifle! For nine years now we've been making a gigantic trifle in honour of my birthday. For the wedding, we just moved them into individual mini champagne glasses from Costco. Angel, Sarah, Shannon, and Owen worked their way through half of them on the day before the wedding, until we realized there just wasn't enough time to finish 150 of them. Luckily Kendra, Teri, Kristy, and Jess stepped in the morning of the wedding and finished the rest of them off. Everyone loved them!! They were so adorable! I was so excited to get to share the trifles with everyone. The trifle has a bit of folklore status with my friends after being made every year ONLY on my birthday for so long.

The recipe can be found here: Joy's Prizewinning Trifle. I usually mix the pudding mix with enough milk to make it smooth before adding in the sour cream and Cool Whip.

Our Wedding Venue: The Stewart Barn

For most of our big-ticket planning items for the wedding, Tim and I already had an idea of what we wanted. This was very helpful considering we only had an eight month timeline. The venue we had in mind was the Stewart barn at 400 Stewart Line outside of Cavan. Tim had been to two weddings there already - his cousin's in 2010, and Evan and Kristy's in 2012. After having been to Allie and Eric's gorgeous barn wedding in summer 2012, I was completely behind the barn wedding idea. 

The main doors leading into the reception area.

The owners Susan and Dave were glad to meet with us and had big plans for improvements to the barn before our chosen wedding date of August 24th. We were also reassured by the fact that their own daughter's wedding was happening there on August 17th - I doubt there is any bigger motivation to get things done than that. They talked about new landscaping, replacing more of the flooring, adding a bridal suite under the existing loft, adding a bathroom inside for the bridal party and older, less mobile guests, new chairs, adding a commercial fridge, and redoing the lighting. Tim and I were really excited - until they told us that the rental cost for 2013 was $3,800. Maybe if we hadn't come in with any expectations, that wouldn't have been so shocking. But we knew that in 2010 they had charged $1,200 and in 2012 it was $2,000 - $3,800 was a HUGE jump from there! I was really glad to have Allie as a resource then, because I contacted her to ask what her barn rental had been at South Pond Farms in Pontypool. Notably, the venues were very different. South Pond is a wedding venue. It was built to hold functions of this type. The Stewart barn, while they had made a lot of improvements in the past few years and obviously had more planned, was still just a well-dressed farmer's barn. However, after crying to my mom and mother-in-law, we decided to bite the bullet and just book.

The ceremony area beside the barn. 

A number of features sold us. We liked that the ceremony and reception and photos could all be done on location. We loved that they offer a cleared field just down from the barn where our guests could camp for free. We were excited about the bonfire pit. It was also really important to us to be able to do our own food and drinks. The improvements that they were planning to make before our wedding also helped sway us. 

The head table and some guests already checking out the seating arrangements.

Out of those ideas, Dave and Susan actually managed to complete quite a few projects. The floor of the barn was completely redone - you don't have to be worried about gaps. It's not completely even or anything and I caught my dress on splinters a few times, but it is after all a barn. The bridal suite was really lovely. Full walls of silvered mirrors, antique dressing tables, a queen-sized brass bed that we actually stayed in after the wedding, and a beautiful nursing area for people with young children. The floors in the main area were my favourite - old extremely wide refinished barn boards. The washroom attached to the bridal suite was also really helpful. I have no idea how I could have gone to the outhouses in my wedding dress. They completely redid all the lighting, which is now absolutely GORGEOUS. The fixture over the head table was an old farming yoke with spherical crystal lights and then there was another birdcage fixture full of lights over the centre of the barn. They completed a ton of new landscaping as well that looks beautiful. They repainted all of the plywood chairs they had white to use for the ceremony and bought much nicer reception chairs and off-white chair covers for inside. They also added a bunch of furniture to the loft area and entranceway of the barn - couches, chairs, an old sideboard, end tables. I think the only thing they didn't accomplish was putting in a commercial fridge. But after they painted the two existing fridges with chalkboard paint, I didn't even care. They looked great.

People mingling under the romantic lights!

We were so pleased with how the barn and grounds turned out, especially once we had set up all of our tables and decorated inside. My problem - although I don't think this would have swayed me from booking here, to be clear - was more with Dave and Susan's planning and timing. Two weeks before the wedding we went for a final site tour, only to find out that they had purchased a ton of new tables and didn't let us know. We had already rented a pile of tables and had to redo part of the rental. They now have rectangular tables with chairs to seat 150. We were told we could have the barn on the Wednesday before the wedding to start getting things decorated and set up. When we got there, the barn was still set up from the prior wedding and there was still stuff from that wedding everywhere. We had to take down a big portion of their stuff, including tables and chairs, before we could start setting up for ours. They hadn't even cleaned it up by Thursday evening. They had sent chair covers out for washing and we didn't get the full number until Friday afternoon because they had also miscalculated how many they had set aside for us. 

Overlooking the hills of Cavan behind the ceremony area.

Most annoyingly, we were told we could stay in the bridal suite at the barn and that we didn't need to have everything cleaned up and people off the site until the Sunday afternoon. At 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning I woke up to the sound of the barn doors being opened and furniture moved around. When I went out (thinking it was probably a drunken guest looking for something), it was Susan. I was not polite about asking her what she was doing, only to be told that she had someone coming to view the barn at 9:00 a.m. and she had thought we would have left it much cleaner. I am still so not impressed by this. She said that she had told Tim that they were planning on showing it, but they had originally told Tim it was being shown at 1:00. Then they got an offer to go out on a boat with friends, so they moved the viewing up to 9:00 a.m. Of course the barn isn't going to be cleaned up by then! We had 140 guests, some of whom partied with us until 7:30 a.m.! If you're going to show the venue the same weekend you have a wedding, show it the morning of the wedding, or after your current guests have vacated the premises. We wound up cleaning the barn at that point because I was so unimpressed there was no way I could have gone back to sleep anyways. And while they were giving the tour, they took the prospective clients into the bridal suite - which had my underwear still on the floor and our stuff everywhere, and then had a good half hour conversation with them in there, so I couldn't go in and get any of my stuff!! 

Ugh. Deep breaths. Enough ranting. We really had an amazing day and LOVED the venue. But I could have done with a little more professionalism and sensitivity from the owners on our day.

Another interior shot to make myself feel better. It was so gorgeous!

We'll be right back!

Sorry about the hiatus - we moved to Lakefield and got married in the last ten days!! Yay, officially Stephwagens now! I'll be back with new posts and LOTS of wedding commentary in the next few days!

Wedding Project: Buffet service

While the barn where we're holding our wedding already has a bar area, the bar top is long but relatively narrow. It's maybe 12" deep. Because our wedding will be buffet-style, we wanted something much larger to hold all of the food. I found this picture on Pinterest for inspiration:

Our friend Nate knows someone with a winery, so he arranged for us to borrow six wine barrels. Two of them we're going to use to support the buffet. Tim thought that he could figure out something for the top, since he volunteers at the Hope Mill. The Hope Mill is a working heritage water mill that processes local lumber. So getting the wood wasn't a problem. On Tuesday he brought the wood home and put it all together. It is MASSIVE. No word of a lie, it is three feet deep and over ten feet long. It is made from two inch thick pine, so we're estimating it weighs over 300 pounds.

Yesterday he spent the morning sanding the top down. The wood is too wide to put through a planer, so he had to rip it down as much as possible with a belt sander before switching to a palm sander. In the afternoon he stained it with Minwax Wood Finish stain in English Chestnut. It's actually quite a bit more red than it shows in my cell phone pictures.

This morning he finished it with teak oil. Now he just needs to call in a couple strong men to get it on top of the car and out to the barn. 

Our wedding: brought to you by Rustic Woods. 

What friends say:

Blaire: I don't think you give your pinhead enough credit.

Me: It fits really easily through banisters?

Blaire: For safety purposes!

Products I've Used Up

Before we move on the weekend, I needed to clear out the big bag of products that I have finished in the past couple of months from beneath my desk. 

First of all, to get it out of the way, a few of the items here are actually Tim's. Two of them are the Head & Shoulders Pyrithione Zinc Dandruff Shampoo for Men in Active Sport and the Old Spice Matterhorn Body Wash. Tim has really sensitive skin and a really dry scalp. So he has to use a dandruff shampoo that isn't too harsh. The Head & Shoulders ones all seem to do a good job, but he likes the manly smelling ones best. I've already repurchased another bottle, but I bought the collaboration Head & Shoulders has done with Old Spice. My Dad used Old Spice aftershave for years, and while they've significantly modernized the different smells, I just get nostalgic over Old Spice stuff in general. I bought Tim the body wash because of it and I'm so glad I did. The Matterhorn scent is so good. Every time he showered with this I wanted to seduce him. Too much info? Sorry! It just really smells that good. I couldn't find it to repurchase, so I bought him the Old Spice Champion one instead, but it doesn't smell as good or linger as long. The Matterhorn scent is still listed on their website, so I'll just have to look around for it a bit more. I bought both of these products originally at Shoppers Drug Mart.

I was so sad when I finished up this tub of Lush Ocean Salt Face and Body Scrub. For one, it's really expensive. And besides that, I absolutely love this stuff. The sea salt is really coarse and gritty so that you really feel like it's exfoliating. I get lots of ingrown hairs and bumps and I found this helped a lot. Plus it's nice and moisturizing. It doesn't have a strong scent at all. I haven't repurchased this yet because I have a Soap & Glory scrub to get through, but the next time I'm at Lush I'm definitely picking up another one of their scrubs. I bought this one at Lush in Boston.

I (boringly) used up a canister of Gillette Satin Care Passionista Fruit Shave Gel. I have nothing bad to say about this. It smelled okay, it worked well. I've never met a shave gel that really stood out to me. Also finished are canisters of L'Oreal Elnett Satin Extra Strong Hold Volume with Pro-Keratine Hair Spray and Batiste Original Dry Shampoo. The L'Oreal Elnett is a cult product that deserves every bit of praise it's received. It has great hold but doesn't get crunchy. If you comb or brush through it, it doesn't flake. It doesn't smell overly heinous. I just wish someone would explain the difference in all the different strengths and holds to me. I don't understand them. I've already bought another bottle of this. I love the Batiste for keeping my hair looking good without greasiness. I have really, really fine hair and it gets greasy at the roots very quickly. The Batiste also adds in some volume. Because my hair is dark, it can look very white and powdery on, but I just take the time to really massage it in with my fingers and it's usually okay. I HATE the scented versions of this. Especially the Blush or Blossom - the pink one. It's very strong, and very chemical smelling. They didn't have the Original version in stock when I went back to Shoppers to buy this, so I bought the Fat Hair dry shampoo instead. 

I finally used up the tub of my favourite Davines Melu Mellow Anti-Breakage Lustrous Shampoo with Spinach Extract for Long or Damaged Hair. This stuff is the best I can find for long, thin hair. I had such incredible results stopping breakage with this stuff. It's really moisturizing and protective, but it doesn't weigh my hair down at all. It's pricey, but I would absolutely recommend it if you have long and damaged, or long and fine hair. It doesn't take much, so it lasts a long time. I buy it at Catalina Salon. They're currently out, so I'm just waiting for it to come back in stock.

Three more full-sized products I finished are the Soap and Glory Hand Food Hydrating Hand Cream, Bioderma Sensibio H2O Micelle Solution for Sensitive Skin, and Lancome Bi-Facil Double Action Eye Makeup Remover. The Soap and Glory hand cream is my favourite hand cream for work. I'm an accountant and work with paper all day in a dry office environment, so I go through a lot of hand cream. This one smells great, very light and not offensive when you're working in an office. It's nicely hydrating, but not sticky or oily. The Bioderma is another cult product and I completely agree. It's amazing. It's so gentle on your skin. But it's a really good cleanser that even takes off a lot of eye makeup without a lot of work. I've never had any problem with it getting into my eyes and hurting. This is my lazy night solution when I don't want to actually wash my face but I need to take off the day's makeup. It's also what I use first thing in the morning when I don't shower to wipe the sleep and oil off of my face and just prep my skin for moisturizer and serums. For days when I'm wearing a lot of eye makeup or just want something that works a bit faster than the Bioderma, I use the Bi-Facil. It's a double phase cleanser, so some kind of a water based and oil based cleanser in one. You shake it and they mix. The oil is really gentle on your eyes and way better at removing makeup than a water based cleanser. Once it sits for a bit it settles back into the two separate cleansers. I have been using this cleanser for years. I've tried other brands, but keep coming back to this. It's just so good. I've already repurchased all of these items at Shoppers. 

The last two full-sized products I've finished are the OPI Matte Nail Envy Nail Strengthener and L'Oreal Paris MagicLumi Concealer in Light. The OPI Nail Envy is my favourite base coat. It's strong, dries quickly, and protects my nails from discolouration from the coloured polishes I use. I don't know if I actually buy into it improving my nail condition. My nails are still super weak and tend to split easily. I do feel like it extends the length of my manicures. I've already repurchased another base coat from this line from Winners. I love using the MagicLumi concealer to brighten up my undereye area. I do generally use it over my Lise Watier concealer that provides more coverage. I thought that I would try out the Maybelline DreamLumi and I can't wait until it's finished to go back to the L'Oreal one. The Maybelline one just goes on too pink. It's not as brightening.

I have also managed to finish a whole bunch of samples from my stash. I actually gave the Lancome Creme Radiance Clarifying Cream-to-Foam Cleanser for Normal/Combination Skin to Tim because he was breaking out and really oily over the summer. He LOVED it. The foam consistency means he doesn't have to lather it up (so lazy), it doesn't really have any smell to it, and it's really gentle. I've already purchased him the full size of this. 

I used up a little bottle of the La Roche Posay Physiological Foaming Water and didn't like it as much as the Bioderma. I felt like it wasn't quite as cleansing and left a residue on my skin. Plus it had more of a scent to it. 

I did really like the Vichy Capital Soleil Sheer Lotion SPF 60 Bare Skin Feel - even more than my La Roche Posay facial sunscreen I'm using now. It felt like it absorbed into my skin better and was a better base layer for makeup. I'm really fair, so I like to wear a strong sunscreen most days. The Vichy Liftactiv Serum 10 for Eyes and Lashes was a neat product too. I liked that you could spread it completely across your eyes. I used it underneath my regular eye cream. I didn't see a huge difference from using this tiny sample, but I would consider buying a full-size to really give it a good shot.

I've gone through tons of these little bottles of Lancome Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate. I use Lancome foundation and the Bi-Facil, so if you order online you can always time it to get their sample sets, which are really amazing. They generally have a full eyeshadow quad and lipstick, a moisturizer and/or a serum, and are always in gorgeous little makeup bags. I really love their serums. I still have lots of samples, but I would consider buying a full-size bottle eventually. The Murad Rapid Collagen Infusion Serum is the same for me. The sample was too tiny to tell if it had any results, but I really loved the feeling of this serum. I would definitely consider buying a full size, but I don't think Shoppers carries this. I have been super leery of this whole BB cream trend lately. Not because I don't like the skin benefits they claim, but because none of them seem to be light enough for my skin tone. There just aren't enough shades in most lines. But I got a sample of this Garnier Miracle Skin Perfecter for Combination to Oily Skin in Light from a magazine and I really like it. Enough to buy it next time I'm in Shoppers. It doesn't feel like you have any makeup on, but it gives light to medium coverage. It just makes your skin look really good and it is definitely light enough for my pale skin. 

I used a few of my one-time-use fragrance samples. I need to be better about this, since I still have a whole drawer of them. I loved each of the Ralph Lauren The Big Pony Collection for Women 4, Givenchy Play for Her Eau de Parfum Intense, and Givenchy Play for Her Eau de Parfum. I don't need any more perfumes right now, but if anyone wanted to give me a gift, these are all really up my alley.

Such a long post!! Now that I have the blog back up and running, I'll try to do these more frequently so they aren't so overwhelming.

Market morning (plus Chasing the Cheese)!

Saturday morning I was so glad that Tim and I took it easy Friday night. We got up decently early and made it to the market, then to Chasing the Cheese! 

At the market we got pierogies from Taste of Russia - again, we ate them before we got out of the market. So they didn't make it into the market haul shot. We found the squash blossoms right before Taste of Russia at C. Bruni and Sons Farms and were chatting with the vendor about wanting pierogies. Lo and behold, C. Bruni and Sons provides the potatoes for Taste of Russia's pierogies! It was neat to make that local farm connection, and made me even more impressed with Taste of Russia. You could really tell that the woman at C. Bruni and Sons loved that we loved the pierogies. There was a lot of well-deserved pride there.

Sad story regarding the squash blossoms, though. I bought them on Saturday expecting to make ricotta-stuffed squash blossoms on Sunday, since we had my friends Carley and Pete's wedding to go to Saturday evening. I put them in water, expecting them to be like any flowers, but by Sunday morning they were a wilted, glued together mess. I had to sulk a little before throwing them out. Oh well, lesson learned. I either need to find a better way to store them, or make them same day.

The assorted plums are from Eadie Fresh Fruit. We were already eyeing the fruit there from about twenty feet away and the one gentleman must have had eagle eyes for a likely sale. He called us in like a veteran car salesman. It was great for us, though, because those purple oblong plums are absolutely amazing. We bought the corn, tomatoes, and ground cherries all from McLean's Berry Farm. 

We also found these ADORABLE currant tomatoes at McLean's. Don't be fooled - the tomatoes to the left are not roma tomatoes. Those are grape tomatoes. The ones we would think of as small. These currant tomatoes are teeny-tiny!! Probably a centimetre or less across. I love them! I've e-mailed McLean's to see if I can source these for the pasta salad for the wedding. Not having to cut the tomatoes would be amazing. If I can get the tomatoes there, I'll get the fruit for the trifles there as well.

After the market, we popped over to see Julie at Chasing the Cheese to figure out the smoked cheese for the pasta salad for the wedding. Chasing the Cheese is doing all of the cheeses for our wine and cheese hour at the wedding and they've been above and beyond fantastic to work with. Plus that shop is one of my most happy places in Peterborough. Oh, the cheese!!

Cheese-cheese-cheese-cheese!

Next time I'm in I want to pick up one of their apple ciders. 

We picked out the Bothwell Smoked Cheddar for the pasta salad, but I also bought a $10 cheese "grab bag". I managed to find one that had three cheeses Tim and I have not tried yet, plus it has three cow's cheeses. While I LOVE really funky, goaty cheeses (try the Grey Owl when you stop in, it's my favourite!!), Tim prefers more main-stream choices. I justified the cheese purchasing by needing to clean out the cheese-related jellies and condiments from our fridge before we move. Tim just shakes his head. I'm a sucker for cheese. I forgot to grab baguette, though, so I need to do that on my way home from work tonight.

I also picked up a Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale by Bruce Cost because Wendy had bought some for Dean last time we were in. This stuff is incredible!! I would drink this every single day if I could. I love ginger, but this isn't a ginger beer - it doesn't punch you in the face with the ginger flavour. It is much stronger than regular ginger ale, though, with a good sweetness and spiciness to it. I love it!

Stand Up Paddleboard Camping in the Kawarthas

I've always loved the outdoors and camping. My parents (well, mainly my mother) are avid fishermen. But in my years of experience, I don't know that I've ever personally met anyone who is as crazy about getting outside and away from things as Tim is. Tim and his brother Matt will seize the slightest chance to go camping. So when Tim was getting frustrated with wedding stuff early this week and called Matt to see if he was available, Matt and his buddy Rob immediately jumped on the idea. They formulated a bare-bones plan to take Tim and Rob's three stand-up paddleboards, find a river or lake somewhere, and paddle out to a campsite. I was skeptical (as always) about the merits of this plan, especially since they would have to take a minimum of gear and the weather stations were all predicting rain and storms. 

Matt and Rob making sure everything necessary is in dry bags. Just in case.

They headed out Tuesday night north of Burleigh Falls to Eel's Creek. Eel's Creek is the river that High Falls is on, where Tim and I had our engagement photos done. After loading everything into dry bags they paddleboarded upstream past the falls until they found a good spot to camp. Tim fell into the water once when his paddleboard rudder hit a log. Matt fell in once as well when he was hit broadside by the current from the falls. Thank God for those dry bags!

Matt, after finding his balance on the paddleboard. A little different when you're carrying a loaded pack.

Tim, extremely happy to not be at home cutting out placecards for the wedding.

It's easier to keep your balance on the SUP with the pack actually on the SUP instead of on your back.

Tarps set up for the first night, had to be revamped after rain managed to leak through the very well worn Rollwagen tarp.

Tuesday night they got quite a bit of rain. Thankfully they had enough rum in their systems that they all got a half-decent sleep, because Wednesday night the mosquitoes were terrible. Tim's ankles look like a very rashy pregnant woman's. The crazy storms we had in Peterborough Wednesday night luckily - from my point of view, not Tim's - slid just south and north of them. 

While we had boiling black clouds, they had these puffy pink ones! Tim refers to these as mammatus clouds; a sign of a very serious storm.

Promo shot of the SUPs by their campsite.

Great shot of Rob and Matt portaging their SUPs - way easier than canoes!! Tim's iPhone is still a little damp from falling in the water. Luckily his Lifeproof case kept it safe!

Tim's SUP is a Starboard from Wild Rock Outfitters in Peterborough. This is the first time he has taken it camping.  His normal adventures are across Little Lake to the Silver Bean Cafe for coffee.

Butter tart for dinner!

Knowing that I had missed him SO MUCH while he was camping, Tim brought me butter tarts when he came home yesterday! They stopped at Swiss Bear Restaurant and Bakery in Apsley for breakfast and he picked up what was probably six butter tarts. There were four left by the time they made it to me, but four is enough. I'm not greedy or anything.

These were great butter tarts. I was worried at first that they were non-raisin ones, but Tim apparently knows that all real butter tarts must have raisins. 

Look at those raisins!! They were all plumped up from baking in the butter tart filling. The filling itself wasn't too sweet and was perfectly set. Not crunchy on top, but there was no drippage at all once they were cut in half. And the pastry was light and soft, but didn't sag at all . . . Can you tell I love butter tarts? I've had quite a few in my life, some of them pretty bad. But these ones from Swiss Bear were really, really good. I thought it was such a nice touch that their bakery labels for takeout said Wandering Bear! Good branding!

Video of the storm

The first section of the video is right at the beginning of the storm, just with the cloud cover starting to come over. The second is when the wind has started to pick up. The third is probably a half hour after the second, where I've already run for cover under the porch. It was raining so hard I couldn't see the lake from the porch, which is only maybe thirty feet away!

Sharknado warning in Peterborough!!

Just a few shots from last night's storm out in front of our house on Little Lake - the photos are only from my phone.

The leading edge of the storm. 

Crazy clouds over the art gallery.

Panning back towards the fountain.

Front moving a bit further east.

The clouds looked like Armageddon.

The sun was setting behind the clouds and the storm.

And then just a couple photos from this morning.

I love the storms, but mornings like this are even better.

Wait, Tim's a track star?

Yesterday Tim was interviewed by Dale Clifford from the Peterborough Examiner about his storm chasing. When they originally had asked him to do this, we were thinking just a little blurb and a photo. But after the reporter was at our place for an hour and took four pages of notes during his conversation with Tim, we were more than a little curious as to exactly how this was going to play out. 

What we weren't expecting was a front-page 500+ word feature of Tim! Tim read out the online title to me this morning in the kitchen - "Local teacher hurtles into the eye of the storm." For some reason I thought 'hurdle' instead of 'hurtle,' which brought on all sorts of funny images of Tim racing maniacally into a thunderstorm, jumping over things. Oh, I'm so lucky, marrying such a famous man. @trollwag - the stormchaser that builds all the wood things. So much love.

If you want to read the full article, it should be up on the Peterborough Examiner's site for at least a week or so at this link: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2013/08/05/local-teacher-hurtles-into-the-eye-of-the-storm. Or you can go whole hog like we did and buy a copy to blackmail Tim with in the future. Pretty exciting stuff!

Sunday supper: Smoked Pepper Striploin, Corn on the Cob, and a Beet, Arugula, Goat Cheese and Pecan Salad

This is one of those quintessential summer meals that tastes so much more amazing than usual because everything is just so fresh!

Beet, Arugula, Goat Cheese and Pecan Salad

Wash four or five small to medium sized beets from your local farmer's market or co-op. Ours are a little of both - some from the Peterborough Farmer's Market and some from our farmer's co-op, By the Bushel. Trim the tops and bottoms off. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil, then roast at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, at least until you can pierce them easily with a fork. Cover with foil and let them sit for at least fifteen minutes to a half an hour - the steam will help loosen the skins. Once they're cool enough to handle, rub the skins off with your fingers or a dish towel that you don't mind becoming irreparably stained. I like to roast off a big batch of beets on a Sunday and then use them throughout the week. 

Cut your beets into quarters if they're small, or sixths if they're a bit larger. Arrange on a plate. Top with arugula, pecans (we actually wanted to use walnuts but didn't have any), and goat cheese. Drizzle with walnut oil (or any good quality salad oil) and balsamic vinegar (the one we used is from Oliviers & Co). Season with maldon sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Smoked Pepper Steak

Buy a top quality P.E.I. striploin steak from Primal Cuts. Then buy a tub of smoked black pepper from Firehouse Gourmet. Rub a small amount of black pepper (it's really strong) and some sea salt onto the steak. BBQ until rare/medium rare. Let rest for at least five minutes while you boil the corn.

Corn on the Cob

Pick up some new August peaches and cream corn from a market or roadside stall. Husk it. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add a few tbsps of salt. Add the corn and cook for five minutes or so. When the steam smells like corn, you're done.

Sunday morning brunch: Strawberry Cream Cheese Streudel

I started making this streudel for brunch this morning yesterday afternoon with our market strawberries from McLean's Berry Farm, only to remember that I don't actually own a rolling pin. I sent Tim to his parents' house to get a rolling pin, only to find out that theirs is missing a handle! I made it work. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Streudel

1 brick full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

Cream together the cream cheese and sugar with a beater, or if you're lucky like me, in your KitchenAid stand mixer. Scrape down the sides and bottom into the mix a few times. When it's completely incorporated, add the egg yolks, vanilla, and salt. Let it mix until everything is fully integrated - you'll have to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl a few more times. Chill the cream cheese mix while you do the rest. 

10 (approximately) medium sized strawberries, washed, DRIED, and sliced

Please wash and dry your strawberries really well. Any extra water on them could make the pastry mushy.

1/2 pkg Tenderflake puff pastry, THAWED

Couple tbsps of milk or beaten egg white

 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Rip off a piece of parchment paper big enough to cover your baking sheet. Lightly flour your rolling pin and the parchment paper. Roll out the puff pastry to approximately a 9x12" rectangle on the parchment paper. Arrange it so that the shorter side is facing towards you. Spread the cream cheese mix down the middle about 3" wide. Yes, use it all. Tim thought it was too much, but it isn't. Arrange the strawberries on top. Cut the side edges into horizontal strips up to the filling that are about 1 cm wide. Alternate folding those edges over the filling so that you have something of a braid. Use a little dab of milk or egg wash on each piece to help it stick to the next one. We used milk because I stupidly threw out the egg whites left over from the yolks for the custard. 

Transfer the pastry on the parchment paper to the baking sheet. Bake for 35-40 minutes. It should be lightly brown. Remove from oven and cool completely. A completely cool streudel will allow the glaze to actually stay on the surface instead of soaking into the pastry and becoming soggy.

1 cup icing sugar

Few tbsps of milk/table cream/heavy cream

Whisk little bits of milk into the icing sugar until you have a thick glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the streudel once it's completely cooled.

Market morning!

Start of a long weekend, beautiful Saturday morning - time for the market!

Tim always has to stop at Kyoto Coffee first to fuel his market trip.

The mushrooms from Waymac Farms were looking especially good this week. 

From the front of the very long Taste of the Russia line . . . 

. . . and from where we started out. While we were waiting, this line actually went back three stalls. Before you ask - Yes. The pierogies are REALLY worth this wait.

We wound up buying market corn from Johnston Farms, strawberries from McLean's Berry Farm, portobello mushrooms from Waymac farms, foccacia bread but I forget where it's from, and then the aforementioned pierogies, which didn't make it to a camera shot. They were eaten immediately.

The foccacia we're eating for lunch as I write this, while the strawberries will go into a danish for Sunday morning brunch at Tim's parents' house, and the corn and mushrooms are for grilling for Sunday supper. We thought we should probably grab some meat to grill with that, so of course we had to head to our favourite butcher, Primal Cuts!

Tim trying to narrow down our choices. 

We decided to go with the P.E.I. striploin. 

Next time I'm going to pick up some of this red wine jus to make gravy for poutine. I have duck fat from Primal Cuts already to use to make the fries!

Looks like it's going to be a delicious weekend!