Fall Tea in my Favourite Mug

I shared my love for tea in this post. One of my favourite things about fall is definitely the flavours. I picked up the Pumpkin Chai and Mom's Apple Pie teas from David's Tea a few weeks ago, and I'm loving them!

Ps- of all my mugs, this cracked one is my favourite. I took it from my parents place when I moved over 7 years ago, and it always reminds me of home. My Grammy has them too, so it is always a nice memory!

Goodbye Fruit Flies; Hello Pies

Last Saturday was a very wet, rainy dreary day, so the mister and I decided to stay in. While he occupied himself with a video game (do they ever grow out of these???); I played chef and baker. I had a ton of stuff from my farm basket that I wanted to use up. I ended up making fresh tomato sauce, potato and leek soup, these yummy pear streusel bars and a peach pie.


I had some much peaches and pears, that the cats were starting to double as fruit fly swatters. I knew I didn't want the fruit to go to waste, so I looked for a couple of recipes for yummy baked goods that I might be able to freeze (hoping to bring them to Thanksgiving dinner).

This pear streusel bar recipe is excellent. Very easy to make, and tastes delicious. The sugar glaze is definitely optional. One of the reviews I read suggested substituting the cinnamon chips with chocolate chips...not sure that would be my first choice. Caramel or butterscotch would be my go-to if I couldn't get the cinnamon chips.

Then I made this peach pie. I loved the recipe because it was so easy, no peeling the peaches, no top crust, the fruit is mixed with sugar only. I haven't tasted it because it got froze for a special occasion, but after reading the reviews, I'm pretty sure it's going to be delicious!

PS- I am loving the Brown Eyed Baker Blog (say that 5 times fast), she has tons of recipes, they are easy to follow and she likes to keep things simple (a woman after my own heart).

Time of our Lives

When our photographer suggested we attempt the lift from Dirty Dancing, I have to be honest...I had my doubts. I am not the most coordinated person on the face of the earth, so I imagined face planting would be the end result. After a few attempts, we got the money shot, and it took centre stage in our photo guest book.

When she asked the day of the wedding, I thought she was joking. I mean, jeans and a t-shirt are one thing, wedding gown and tuxedo are a whole other ball game. After a little encouragement from our bridal party and our Best Man playing DJ on his cell phone, we got it done!

For all those girls that memorized the lines of Dirty Dancing growing up, I have to admit playing this out in real life was pretty darn cool. Gotta love a man that can do the lift!

Local Flavour: Newmarket Farmers Market

Last weekend I visited the Newmarket Farmers Market for the first time, and I loved it! I am pretty picky when it comes to Farmers Markets because the one I left behind in Fredericton NB is awesome. Newmarket did not disappoint. They have a great mix of farmers stands, food stands, crafts  and entertainment. The location is awesome, and although parking is slow going, there is tons of it around once you get to the lot! All in all I had a great morning at the market.

Distressed Door DIY

When we first moved into our sweet cottage home, the door to our basement was painted brown. I didn't really know why...was it to match the beams because i'm pretty sure they're stained. I knew I had to do something once the kitchen was painted gray (it was so hideous I refused to take a good before picture).

Chris pulled the door off its hinges and I gave it three coats of paint after one coat of primer. Once it was perfectly painted, I realized it wasn't perfect. It was missing something...patina, so I preceded to sand all the edges, bumps and dents to create a distressed effect. What is even more amazing is that somehow I carried this very solid wooden door into the house and hung it back up on the hinges all by myself. This had nothing to do with priority or help not being available, but everything to do with impatience (Chris was away for the weekend) paired with intense stubbornness of a woman who hates asking for help. 

Wedding Recap: Favours and Flowers (or why my Mom's a Machine)

My mom is a superstar. I have known this for a long time, but now the world knows too...especially the 80 people that attended our wedding and have already devoured at least one jar of jam. Growing up my mom was the kind of mom that let you eat dirt because every kid needs to eat a little dirt every now and then, and it's not going to hurt anything.

As soon as Chris and I got engaged, my mom started working. Even though we live far apart, we talked almost every day on the phone, and mom did what she does best- creates. She volunteered to make jars of jam as the favours, and I loved the idea. Because our original guest list was 165, my mom made over 100 jars of jam from scratch and in some cases she grew the fruit in her garden too! She bought fabric from Value Village to put on the tops, and she tied the tags I bought from a myownlabels groupon on each jar. It was definitely a labour of love.

Carefully Tying on the Tags

The Finished Product

I bet you thought my mom's talents stopped there didn't you? Turns out, my wedding was the second wedding that she and my grandmother played florist for. Because I'm incredibly thrifty and my mom's green-thumb is incredibly vibrant, it was determined that all of the flowers for our centerpieces would come from my mom's garden, and then my grandmother and mother would arrange everything in my mason jar collection.

The Growing Phase

My mother prayed all summer long that the flowers would survive the crazy maritime weather. She picked all the flowers bright and early the Thursday before the wedding. Sure enough Thursday night there was a crazy thunder and lightening storm followed by a massive downpour. What was most impressive was the fact that my mom and grammy arranged all the flowers in the time it took Caitlin and I to drive into town for a pedicure! Seriously, if you didn't believe the machine like qualities of my mom before, you must now.

The Arranging Phase

The final product was absolutely gorgeous, far beyond what I could have ever pictured or pinned on pinterest. The colours were gorgeous, playing up all the other colours around the room. From the start, when people asked me what my wedding colours were, I said "multi-coloured". Nobody got this...but my mom. That's what moms are for.

The Final Product

How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Batch of Chili

It's almost fall, the days are getting cooler and my chili-loving husband came home from a week-long business trip. These are the reasons why chili was on my list of weekend meals. I have a great recipe; I use this one as a base and then add a few of my own ingredients: pinch of cayenne, sprinkle of chili flakes and 2 Tbsp brown sugar. 

Did you catch that last ingredient? Well turns out my tablespoon was dirty with chili power, and I didn't want to dirty another spoon...so I did what every non-perfectionist would...I started to shake my brown sugar bowl to eyeball 2 tablespoons. Well, gravity was not on my side and the entire bowl of brown sugar ended up in the chili. I tried as best as possible to scoop out my mistake, but the result was still very sweet. I added about 1/4 cup red wine vinegar to offset the sweetness and the result was still sweet but certainly edible (especially if you like things a little sweet like I do)! The morale of the story is, you can always dirty another spoon and always keep your pantry stocked with vinegar!

Time to Breathe

We got home on Saturday night from a very relaxing trip to Hawaii. While things appear to have started to normalize themselves (i.e. back to work, housework, cooking, baking, etc)...I don't think my head or creativity has quite caught up.  I have so much I want to share in this space, but I really don't know where to start. I am hoping the weekend will provide me with some much needed clarity, and next week will be full of DIY Details. Until then, I leave you with the artwork from one of the best restaurants we checked out on Mauii and a wish for a wonderful weekend.