Back with baguettes

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Well, since I'm off on an exciting trip, I thought I might start up the blog again. 

I'm currently in Montreal, Quebec. I'll be in Quebec (soon in the smaller city of Trois Rivieres, and you'll have to bear with me as I haven't figured out accents on this computer yet) for six weeks, doing an intensive French immersion program. I'll be learning French as well as how to someday teach core French in elementary school.

So, for my first day, here are some baguettes!

Bannock

Friday 9 August 2012

This is one version of bannock, an aboriginal food of Canada. This one is deep fried, which of course is awesome.

Roots

Wednesday 1 August 2012

Raspberry babies

Sunday 8 July 2012

Raspberry picking today - I love Vancouver.

A slice of Canada

Monday 2 July 2012

To celebrate becoming a permanent resident of Canada (as well as Canada Day yesterday) I made a delicious strawberry cake with a certain Canuck flair.

Queen Victoria

Sunday 17 June 2012

We found a book of cocktail recipes, and the Birds have a cabinet full of fancy liquors. Hooray for drinks in the backyard!

Mojito Monday

Monday 14 May 2012

So, our couchsurfers right now are awesome. Not only are they nice, friendly, and interesting people who brought us champagne from France, but it turns out that Yves is also a bartender. He made us all mojitos tonight, and we went up to the 27th floor to watch the sunset.

Jaclyn's cake

Friday 13 April 2012

I made a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing and strawberries on top for a friend's birthday, and it was one of the best cakes I've ever made. Yum!

Those last berries

Sunday 29 January 2012

Boy, Ryan really loves his canned fruit . . .

Cupcakes!

Saturday 28 January 2012

Ryan made these amazing cupcakes today - porter chocolate cake with Bailey's icing. Yum!

Michigan dog

Thursday 12 January 2012

This is the Michigan dog at Dunn's, a famous Montreal smoked meat restaurant here in town. Now, at every poutine and steamies place in town (Quebecois food), they offer a Michigan dog. I finally had to try one out. It seems that it is just a chili dog. I asked why it's called a Michigan dog, and the answer I got was: "Well, Michigan is close to Montreal, and . . . philly cheese steak, things like that." Ha! That made my day, anyway. Canadians can't really point fingers at Americans for having bad geography or cultural understanding, I guess!

Ukranian Christmas

Sunday 8 January 2012

Yesterday was Ukrainian Christmas, and today we had a giant Ukrainian dinner at our friends' house. They made borscht and perogies, and bought cabbage rolls. It was delicious - we stuffed ourselves yet again. Will I ever eat a reasonable amount of perogies? And this, by the way, is some of the best borscht I've ever had.

Cookie trays

Wednesday 14 December 2011

This year's cookie trays, ready to be given to friends. The goodies: sugar cookies, coffee toffee bars, almond snowballs, peppernuts, chocolate-covered pretzels, and sweet 'n spicy nuts.

Gingerbread contest

Sunday 11 December 2011

All the contestants of a gingerbread house contest are displayed at a local hotel. There were bigger, more elaborate, and more realistic ones than this one, but this was my favorite. Simple, elegant, traditional, yet still exquisite.

Japadog!

Thursday 24 November 2011

Finally tried Japadog, a really famous Japanese hot dog place here. They serve high-quality dogs with Asian toppings. This one has mayo, hot sauce, onions, and seaweed. It was amazing.

A dozen twins!

Thursday 17 November 2011

Okay, remember a few days ago when I was so impressed to have gotten two twin eggs in a row? Turns out the whole dozen eggs were twins. Amazing, huh? Luckily, I got a photo of this one!

Cranberries

Monday 14 November 2011

Tons of cranberries are grown here in B.C. Unfortunately, it's hard to get a hold of them, due to the fact that most of them are sold to juice companies like Ocean Spray. Ryan and I managed to get a hold of some while over on Vancouver Island, and have been slowly baking them into delicious things.

Double twin bread!

Saturday 12 November 2011

So, I was making some delicious cranberry bread for a friend's brunch tomorrow. I cracked an egg, and was super excited that it was twins! Okay, took a picture and stirred it into the butter/sugar mixture. Cracked the next egg, and it was twins, too! I wish I hadn't already mixed in the other one, but ah well. I took another picture and decided to practice collages in Picasa.

And yes, the "Double twin bread" was quadrupally excellent.

Latte

Thursday 27 October 2011

I was supposed to be writing a paper in the coffee shop today, but instead I was taking pictures of my latte and thinking up unconnected sentences on my topic.

Anniversary cake!

Friday 14 October 2011

The woman who baked our wedding cake, Julie, was kind enough to give me the recipe. I plan to make us a small wedding cake each year on our anniversary. Since this year's anniversary weekend was a bit crazy, it got put off until Friday, when we took the cake over to share with some friends. I think I need some more practice with the recipe, but it was well-received. Luckily, we've got many years ahead of us in which to perfect this delicious cake!