Good things

These are a few of my favorite things....

Picnics on the beach with my hubby and baby
chocolate peanut butter ice cream
little baby dresses
my mommy Friends
when Stella makes kissy noises
baking new things
blogs about knitting baking and babies
photos that turn out just right
talking about winning the lottary
planning home renos
making food for people I love
knowing that when I go back to work I'll still get to spend 3 days a week with Stella
books about ridiculous conspiracies and anything by Clive cussler.

Apple Raisin French Toast

Tomorrow 2 of my favourite people are coming over for brunch. Ali and Sarah were my roommates at Guelph. I knew Sarah in high school and met Ali in the first couple days. We all lived in the same dorm hallway (coincidentally, four years prior, Jeff lived in that same hallway, and was in the wedding party of the girl who lived in my room, who was my boss at the YMCA, fate much?). The next year we all moved in together in our teeny tiny house down by the river. Teeny tiny was putting it mildly; Ali’s room was smaller than Nelson Mandela’s cell). We’ve been through a darned lot, plenty of boyfriends (well, except Ali, who was lucky enough to find her soul mate in high school, though she had her moments of boyfriend related trauma), homes, calendars with ridiculously cute puppies, degrees, and weddings. We found careers and true loves and after 10 years of friendship we have a rotating brunch date every couple of months. Sometimes the men are invited, but there’s always plenty of food, catching up and gossip.

On the menu tomorrow is pea meal bacon courtesy of Jeff, yogurt and berries and the best part, apple raisin French toast strata. Strata has been our go to brunch dish for the last little bit, we’ve had basic ones, and fancy ones with lobster. This one reminds me of summer camp and applesauce raisin toast sandwiches after early morning swimming. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Ingredients
• 1 (1 pound) loaf cinnamon raisin bread, cubed ( I had already stolen a couple pieces as a snack….)
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, diced
• 1 cup diced peeled apples
• 8 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup maple syrup

Cube the bread and throw half in a big casserole dish. Add the cream cheese in an even layer over the bread, and then the apple. You could also add extra raisins which I just realized I forgot to do. Then top with the rest of the bread. Mix the eggs, cream, butter and maple syrup and pour over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and push down to make sure all the bread is soaked. I put it in the fridge overnight and we’ll cook it up at 350 for 45 minutes.

Tooth and a Hair Cut... Two Cents!

So almost by accident, we discovered a little toother making it's way through Stella's bottem gum (I was holding her upside down on my lap after swimming in her pool drying her off).Jeff came home at that moment and we poked her tongue out of the way to get peek at the little chomper. Two days later we could feel an edge, but she still won't let us get close enough for a good look. But it all makes good sense; everytime I left the room this week she would scream murder. Which is completely unlike her, she's normally a very independant young lady. Anyway, 8 months old and our first tooth is almost there! For weeks I've been saying that I would clean up Stella's hair, her hair has been slowly, and scraggly growing into a little baby mullet. But I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. But with the heat this week, those crazy stray hairs have been giving her a little bit of a heat rash. So this morning out came the scissors and we sat her on her playmats for her first haircut. (Excuse my trailer trash appearance, that's a whole other blog entry).

Isn't our kid the cutest?

Eight, eight, eight is great!

Happy 8 months Stella! It's been a busy month, here's just a few of the things we did.

To start we visited Auntie Alicia and Uncle Urgl (I'm really good at sayinghis last name) in Vancouver, went to visit the baby Belugas, ate sushi and saw the mountains. I patted Fletcher lots, met my long distance friend Lila (and Michelle and Tim)and I had my first time change!



When we got home it was really busy. Nanna and Poppy came back to Canada so me and Mommy went camping in Milton to visit them. Mom bought me these super mats so that I won't bump my head anymore, but I barely ever topple over when I'm sitting now! When they got back to Guelph I had to go and visit their house for the first time for a sleepover. Have baby, will travel!





For Father's Day I gave Daddy some special footprints and a cookbook. I can't wait for him to cook for me. He took me swimming at my Aunt Cheryl's and we had a BBQ.


Daddy got a new job this month, but he had lots of time off this month so we got to go to the park!

My friends Tiffany and Pheobe sent me this awesome hairband that I wore to lot's of parties! I got so many compliments.





My Auntie Erin and Uncle Brad babysat me for the first time when Mommy and Daddy went to a wedding. The next day we all went to a party to celebrate them getting married soon.



This weekend we celebrate 3 big things, my first Canada day, My Nanna and Poppy's 35th wedding anniversary, and them finally being home! Lot's of my family was there, I even got to meet Tom and Shirl, who were Mommy's neighbours when she was first born.



After Canada Day we went to visit my friend Henry for his special day. I stayed overnight at Henry's cottage with lot's of Daddy and Mommy's friends.








We had so much fun and now I'm 8 months old! I'm sitting by myself, playing with lot's of toys and I love standing holding Mommy and Daddy's hands. This month I graduated into the big people bath tub and started staying up later to have dinner with Mom & Dad. I love all kinds of food and even feed myself sometimes. Fruits are my favourites, but I love orange veggies too! I've even eaten some salmon this weekend. I laugh at everything, and love playing with my shape blocks, I can even twirl them around on my fingers. I'm sleeping from 8pm until 5 am when I wake up for a snack and head back to sleep for another couple hours. We've been swimming in my pool in the backyard almost every day!

More adventures in Green boxing

Nothing's tastier than fresh food that's been harvested that morning. Last weekend we discovered beet greens. We sauteed them with olive oil, garlic scabes, pine nuts, onions and a little bit of parmesan cheese. Garlic scabes are the shoots that grow from garlic bulbs and are used just like garlic. Absolutely delicious, Jeff and I both decided we liked beet greens more than spinach, which is saying a lot cause we're big spinach lovers around here.

Fresh peas were also in the box and Jeff added them to a lemony pasta with smokey bacon. There's something to be said for sitting on your front porch shelling peas.

There's been amazing strawberries which taste so sweet and juicy. Stella loves them and ends up with pink juice from ear to ear and finger tips to elbows.



And of course there's been even more rhubarb. Last week I made rhubarb almond cake for Jeff's mom because rhubarb is her favourite. But that hasn't been the end of it! Tasting the rhubarb cake reminded me of my favourite cookie in the whole wide world; the double chocolate cranberry cookie from Cherry Bomb, the sweet chocolate is so perfect with the tartness of cranberries. So I decided to make rhubarb brownies, which were in my opinion, a total success. And they're made with fat free yogurt. I doubled the recipe, but it could definitely be done with half quantities. I wonder what it would be like with cherries instead of rhubarb? I ran out of vanilla yogurt and had to use a bit of raspberry yogurt. I bet mixing up the flavours would be delicious!

2 cups of chopped rhubarb
2 cups melted chocolate (I used a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips)
2 cups non-fat yogurt
1 cup sugar
1.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup cocoa
1 cup water

I melted the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water then added the yogurt and sugar. Then I sifted in the flour, baking soda and cocoa and stirred until blended. Mix in water and rhubarb. Pour into lined baking dishes and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Delicious.

Alone Time

True quality alone time is something that is rare around these parts. Usually if I've got a moment to myself it's to run errands and I'm typically just worrying about Stella. But Jeff has had a bit of time off lately and it has been heaven. Last Thursday he was "working from home" because of the G20 and the protests downtown, we knew that he would be ahead of time so I booked myself a massage with the gift certificate Jeff gave me to my favourite spa (thanks baby!) for mother's day. Pure heaven. 60 minutes of luxury. Then I took a little stroll along Queen St. West in our old neighbourhood. I'm finally starting to feel like there are other aspects to me besides being a mom, the all encompassing fog is starting to lift.

And then another moment on Saturday morning. It was drizzly and damp but I very badly needed a run. Jeff has mastered getting Stella to nap, he seems to be able to get her down for 2 hour stretches where I can usually only get an hour. So I left them with the their vinyl and the breakfast dishes pulled on my marathon shirt and hit the road. The weather was perfect, almost too warm but enough drizzle to keep you cool. I was determined to find some new ground as I've been running the same 30 minute loop for months. Out the railway trail between the GO train tracks and old factories, up along Annette and past numerous houses we looked when we were househunting. The it started pouring, which only made me feel sorry for the people inside who weren't out running. The scent of bacon and eggs coming from windows, happy knowing I was running home for my own "second breakfast". Back through the park, legs spinning down Spring Rd Hill, through the green green wetness. Pure freedom.



This was me 4 and a half years ago when I finished my first (and only) marathon, I was just about to meet Jeff and in my last semester of nursing school. It was the beginning of so many wonderful things to come. I'm not in any shape to run a marathon, or even a half, but I'll get back there again some day. For now I'll enjoy my alone time and my freedom runs.