Escargot en Choux at the cottage and the new landscaping, just in time for snow! :-(

We live in a small area into Toronto called Bloor West Village. It is still considered part of the city, but it’s not down town! We are about a 10 minute drive to downtown, or 20 minute subway ride, or 30 minute bike ride…you get where I’m going with this — we are very much [...]

Read Full Post »

Spinach and feta individual fritatta

A lovely, flavourful breakfast at the cottage are these individual ramekins of spinach and feta fritatta. One egg, 1 tbsp of feta, 1 small finely chopped shallot, 1 tsp finely sliced chives, pinch of basil or oregano and 1/4 cup chopped spinach per person – a little brunch! Pre-heat oven or BBQ to 350F. Prepare [...]

Read Full Post »

The new windows really brighten things up – not at all food related

We finally bit-the-bullet and had new windows installed in our 1928 Craftsman-style home. We had intended on doing it with the Reno 4+ years ago, but then we reached our saturation point of spending; not exactly a budget, we just got sick and tired of spending money! Glad we waited though, because it seems that [...]

Read Full Post »

The New Mini Deck for the Shed

We accumulated quite a bit of left-over lumber from our deck-building project – even over and above what we’d given away already. I had a plan. I’d always hated stepping onto the dirt in front of our shed in the back 40, so I convinced JT to build a mini deck so that the dirt [...]

Read Full Post »

Build Day 7 – The Finale

As an add-on to last night’s post: On the front lawn I put out all the decent sized lumber pieces left over from our project (minimum size 3′ maximum size 5′) hoping that someone with a smaller project would pick them up. Well, during cocktails, a guy pulled up in his sedan and did just [...]

Read Full Post »

Build Day 6 – The Home StretchMo

Today is Canada Day, therefore everthing is closed (thank goodness we stocked up from The Depot, the LCBO and Metro!).  We got off to a great start and skirted the back of the deck. By 12:30ish we had the arbour up and capped. Lunch was a tasty wrap and a tower of tomatoes and buffalo [...]

Read Full Post »

Build Day 5 – Will it ever stop?

The morning started out to be quite sunny. But clouds did manage to float in and we had a few minor showers, which didn’t stop us from working. We got most of the uprights put up, ready for the lattice and we got the bottom box made for the steps from the sliding doors off [...]

Read Full Post »

Build Day 4 – Rain, rain go away…

Paul and T are on vacation and they are in Hawaii. What the heck was I thinking that on MY vacation I would build a deck? There is not one muscle in my whole entire being that is not screeming and writhing with pain. Hawaii? Pain? Hawaii? Pain? Oh ma goh! Today we got off [...]

Read Full Post »

Build Day 3 – Mother Nature Hates Us

We started off OK at 9ish, but very overcast. We made a rookie error which cost about an hour and $20 but really 5.5 hours because it started teaming rain! And, of course, Trip #3 to Home Depot. Rain, rain and more rain. At around 2:30 the rain stopped and we immediately got back into [...]

Read Full Post »

Build Day 2 – The House Fights Back

I am just getting too old for this type of sillyness! OHHHH my aching back. To say Build Day 2 got off to a slow start is an understatement. Not for a lack to trying. One challenge after another. I won’t bore you with them, but suffice to say that we made our 2nd run [...]

Read Full Post »