Pause

Okay, everyone needs to stop talking about the endless winter.

Let's instead turn moments into celebrations.

What was I celebrating?

Not burning the candle at both ends and waking up under the world's best-loved duvet.

How did I celebrate?

Breakfast in bed. Topped with figs. In a martini glass.

In an hour, I'll light all the candles, turn off the electrics, and day dream through Earth Hour.

My Big Fat Cake Project 2014

It was cake time again this week! Wondering what I"m blethering about? Check out the cakes we've done in the past at this blog post and - for more detail on how each came together - throughout this blog.

This time, I proposed to the team a pattern based on red. I've had a bit of a red obsession the last couple of years. We settled on William Morris's iconic Strawberry Thief pattern (see left), available as wall paper and fabric, and - er - featured on my newest handbag. It comes in different colourways, but red it was.

The first challenge was deciding what elements of this very dense pattern were going to be rendered, and how. Then, what other elements might be alluded to. Then we split up to do the pieces of icing decoration that could be created ahead of time. The last two weekends were spent on that.

Items like the birds and larger flowery/leafy elements were made with the colour flow technique. A royal icing outline is then flooded with a softer royal icing. More royal icing work is painted or piped on. The colours were tricky but we finally found a Wedgewoody sort of blue and green which were pleasing to our eyes. The green was moss green food colouring gel with a hint of black. The blue was cornflower blue, again with a hint of black.

On Thursday night, I stayed up and baked layers of chocolate cake, three layers at 18 inches square. My place smelt like heaven. On Friday morning, Laura and James showed up with their stuff and we began to assemble. The previous week James (the strong man of the group) had covered the cake board with lightly tinted fondant (so it wasn't glaringly white). We put a chocolately frosting between each layer, trimmed the edges, and then spread a thin coat over the entire cake to help the red rolled fondant stick to it. That was a big job, trying to manouveur the layers around without cracking them, and ditto for the large piece of fondant.

With our more complicated patterns in the past, we've used buttercream as a background which is like a frosting, soft and spreadable. But with fondant, which is pliable and which you roll out, we were able to place all the pieces gradually, and when we were pleased with the layout, to stick them down with dots of royal icing underneath, working like cement. We made fondant leaves and piped more royal icing to make stems, birds' legs, leaves, etc. Small three-dimensional fondant strawberries were placed at each corner, and a twisted rope of green and red fondant finished off the bottom of the cake. We waited till we were at the venue to apply the dark green ribbon around the base of the cake board. That Friday we worked from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

And once again, it was a calm and relaxed process. There's never any worries or tension. Thank you Laura and James for your collaboration once more! Eleven cakes later, we're pondering taking a break. Perhaps waiting for retirement to take on another? Who knows. What this space! Oh, and by the way - it tasted great! Moist and very, very chocolatey.

  

 

Winter Get-Away, Part Two

The last three days of my much-needed winter break was a far cry from the gourmet weekend in Elora. This time I was with my parents celebrating my mother's birthday.

My mother is the world's easiest going person. She takes so much pleasure from everything in life that she doesn't have need for a bucket list or some such. Except for one particular dream.

However... a little back story first...

My mother's father was born in Italy but spent several years in the States as a young man, working in Alaska among other places. This was during Prohibition. When he headed back to Italy he met my grandmother and started his family. He brought back with him not only a New York-accented English, but also a love of Robert Service poems and the novels of Jack London, including Zanna Bianca (known in English as White Fang).

So my mother grew up with these influences and developed a love for and fascination with husky dogs. Dog sledding was something she dreamed of doing, and so this year, for her birthday, we surprised her with a trip to Haliburton. Now, when I say we surprised her, we gave her three weeks notice... because a girl needs to know she's properly outfitted!

Winterdance provides a fantastic dogsledding experience. They have 150 Siberian huskies and they love their dogs. The safety and well being of their dogs is paramount and this is evident in all they do and how happy and vigorous the dogs are. Haliburton is three hours north of Toronto, and Winterdance's trail is about half an hour further north. The guides could not have been more helpful and professional. Their very obvious love of the dogs and the care they took of us, the novice clients, was so impressive. Kevin, our fantastic main guide for the day, is also an artist, and you can see his remarkable work in wood here.

My dad rode with Kevin, and my mother rode in another sled with me as driver (she's a brave woman!). Seven more sleds of visitors and two more guide sleds made up the party. Nothing could have prepared me for how special this would be. I suppose I had a more dreamy idea of dog sledding, when in fact it was a vigorous and exciting activity. The sudden pull of the dogs took some getting used to, as they bounded forward excitedly every time we took off. Finding my feet on the narrow runners and learning how to use the all-important brake was a bit of a learning curve too. And for the driver, dog sledding is a work out. As we rode, Kevin told us that in the first month alone of sledding this winter, he lost 15 pounds, and it's not like he needs to. I found myself doffing layers. However the passengers got quite cold. If you plan to dogsled and just ride in the sled, you cannot wrap yourself up too warmly!

We had booked the half-day trip (by far the most popular) and it was perfect. The trails are stunning, sometimes dipping up into Algonquin Park. The land is totally remote, untouched, beautiful, haunting... we crossed a frozen lake, and drove through tree-covered ravines that soared up beside us. The snow had started to fall as we took off, and then began to fall in earnest in great, fat flakes. It was like something out of a film in my imagination - just a little more visceral.

When you drive a sled, you are part of the team, and it makes sense that when you come to inclines, you get off to walk with the dogs, and sometimes help push the sled up. It's invigorating to say the least! When the slope goes downwards, you must use the brake, to make the dogs pull the sled down, ensuring that the sled doesn't run forwards and risk hurting the team.

The dogs are remarkable. They love to pull. When they were getting into harness, one dog named Lily, identified as the queen of the kennel, began to howl. Within moments all 55 dogs were howling, the sound reverberating around the clearing and ringning in my ears. As soon as they had started the run, all was silence. We just heard the slight jingle of harness, the soft rush of the sled, and all else was silence.

Our lead dog was Willow, a small female. She was patient with me, just occasionally looking back as if to say, "Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Kevin warned us that if we didn't do our bit for the team, like getting off to push when the going got tough, they would just stop, sit down and look over their shoulders at you with the Stare of Death. Each dog was such an individual character. Willow's running mate was Albus, a big boy, unfixed, so I was warned to push him off her if he got amorous, but this was unexpected as she wasn't in heat. No kidding - he acted like she wasn't even there. Rainy, the middle dog, is Willow's sister, and apparently they're mortal enemies. They seem to harbour a powerful hate for each other but all the dogs are gentle and patient with people. After the first burst of energy was out of their system and we'd reached the halfway point, they took interest in us and wanted cuddles. I never learned the names of our two wheel dogs at the back. As they were being harnessed, such was the racket of howling, I couldn't hear what the guides said. But they did tell us that once we were on the trail, we only had to speak to the dogs in a conversational tone, as their ears were pointed back to pick up our sounds.

Here's handsome Albus, the big male dog who ran with our lead dog, Willow. Such a beautiful face... two beautiful faces (the other being my mum's). Secret surprise: I got a print made of this picture of her and Albus today and framed it so she'll open it on her actual birthday (tomorrow).

Pausing on the trail. The scenery took my breath away. My mother's lower legs are there, covered in a blanket.

The privy, tipi, and sign-in hut at the trailhead. In the picture beside it, you can almost make out Willow looking back to check on me!

Sisters and enemies: beautiful, blue-eyed Rainy, and Willow, our lead dog, with the softest fur ever. Look at her wonderful ears!

 A half-way break for hot chocolate with marshmallows and home-made danishes (plus treats for the dogs) saw the sun come out... a bit blinding but very welcome. To the left are our wheel dogs, who were such good boys. They loved to pull so much! The one on the left had snow on his nose. During stops on the run, many dogs would push their faces into the snowbanks to cool off. Kevin told us that they're happiest running when it's minus 20 Celsius. This particular day was a bit too warm for them. On the right are the two lead dogs for the sled behind us. The sleepy guy on the left took the advantage of a stop to push his head between my legs and keep it wedged there. Oh haaaaaaiiiii.

The sun started to fade, it got colder, but no less beautiful.

We stayed two nights at a nearby resort, with the world's most comfortable beds. They were needed. I was zonked by about 8:30 on the evening after the dog sledding. A beautiful experience, and one that I wouldn't have wanted to miss.

I'm Pinning!

Just saying... well, I'm not really pinning myself, although I've set up an account. But my images are now pinnable from my blog. Just hover your mouse over each image to see the Pinterest icon show up!

Winter Get-Away, Part One

The long, cold, snowy winter continues, although the days are lengthening. We cling to the hope of spring. But in the meantime, a winter break was needed. So I tacked on some days and put together a five-day weekend. The first two days were spent in Elora, where the gang of four went to stay at Drew House. This is a B&B and offers gourmet weekends with cooking demonstrations by owner/chef/author Roger Dufau. We went for the works, as one of the party is an old friend of the Dufaus.

It was cold and sunny, and the heavy snowfall squeaked underfoot. Elora, famous for its stone buildings, its summer music festival and its real charm, was a haven of serenity for us out-of-towners.

Roger produced a Valentine's Day menu which, to be honest, I thought was impossible in three hours or so.

Beetroots and blue potatoes
Asparagus mimosa
Caesar salad
Chicken lasagne
Roasted steelhead with shrimps and scallops
Beef Bourgignon
Beefl Wellington
Vegetables
Black Forest Cake

Readers, he did it, unflappably and charmingly in his Basque French accent and assisted by his sous-chef François, a young culinary student. What a relief fron the overexcitable self-importance of most television chefs.

The 30-or-so crowd enjoyed the demonstration with wine they had brought and Roger's indescribably good sausage rolls. He made them in front of us as part of the demo and then, thank God, they only took ten minutes to cook in a roaring oven. It was, and this is saying something, the best part of the weekend. My friend Laura turned me and said, "We're making those."

"Yeah."

We start work on this year's big cake project very soon, and she suggested that at our first get together, when we start the colour-flow decorations, that we set aside a bit of time to try making the sausage rolls.

"Yeah."

The demonstration took place in the large coachhouse building of Drew House. Afterwards the food was set up on a buffet table we all sat together en famille and ate. So good. SO. GOOD. And such an interesting table of people! Later, after a bit of shopping in the little main street of Elora (I had bought raw chocolate there last fall and had to stock up again), we had cocktails at a beautiful farmhouse. This belongs to a friend of one of our gang of four, and Chef Roger and his charming wife Kathleen were of the party. Our hosts are avid collectors of photography and there were some stunning pieces of serious historical value. We then returned to the main house, where we had run of the place, and sat by the fire chatting and making new friends. I slept like a log in the pumpkin-hued bedroom, and then, in the morning, there was more lengthy discussion over breakfast, which featured eggs benedict. It seemed most of the previous day's demo participants had stayed overnight as well. It was hard to push our chairs back from the table as the conversation flew fast and furious. Finally we groaned our way back to the car and came home. I slept... more. That's pretty much all I had done all weekend: eat and sleep. Really wonderful time.

Roger and Kathleen create a very special atmosphere, deeply relaxing and friendly, warm and irresistible. Needless to say, we'll be back. Needless to say I took some pictures.

Beautiful Blossom

(I think Bruce the Bat has a crush... appropriate for the day).

Christmas 2013

Christmas was lovely. It was white.

It started, as usual, with sausage rolls and buttered panettone for breakfast as we opened presents. I will never get too old to lose the joy of giving and receiving presents... I mean - come on! The day ended with a different sort of Christmas dinner. I was bored with turkey and the other usuals, so after the soup, I served a festive Italian salad with arugula, goat cheese, pomegranates, and Soma's delicious lightly candied pecans chopped into it. The main course was a wild boar bolognese sauce over pasta. Gooooooood. For dessert, my mother made her traditional killer trifle. Mmmmm. I'd also made a big Christmas fruitcake a couple of weeks previously and my mother and I had a scream making little fondant figures for the top. The donkey looked like a giant rabbit originally. Joseph looked like Genghis Khan, so fierce he looked like he'd rather eat Baby Jesus than, you know, take care of him, and hide him from Herod, etc. Actually, he could have been Herod in disguise.






I bought this little wooden tree for my desk at work a couple of years ago. The yellow wooden star on the top disappeared quickly. I didn't want to use the tree with out it, so this year I looked for - and found - a lovely German-made, unpainted wooden star at Flatirons, the fantastic gift store on Jarvis, just north of the St. Lawrence Market. I painted it white and put it on the top, and it's much prettier and more delicate than the original. Score! And... it's staying at home.





Over Christmas break, I had some cosy nights in my big wing chair. Next you see the table setting for Christmas day. The snowball candles came from that same fabulous gift store in Apsley. And they burn really well. And there's a new shot of me trying out a new lipstick shade, Clinique's Plushest Punch. That sounds Christmassy! It's odd, I used to avoid red in makeup or clothing; now I embrace it in all things.

One Wacky Week

December went by in a bit of a blur, and I realized how blurry it was when I noticed I hadn't posted once in my favourite month of the year, the one that features that little event called Christmas, when I get all weak-kneed and over-excitable.

The month started with a week that featured a whirlwhind trip to Boston and London via Iceland. Bruce the Bat and I put in five flights in five days. This was for my work and - even though I got very few pictures - as my friends know, there's always time to take pictures of Bruce. Obviously.

 Monday morning started at 4 a.m. with a 7 a.m. flight to Boston for a photo shoot. Bruce hung out in the photographer's studio, one of his favourite things to do. That evening we flew to London with a three-hour wait in Iceland in the middle of the night. We got to London in the afternoon and I crashed for two hours because... you know.... SLEEP. That Bruce met my aunt and cousins and was a big hit. It was so fantastic to see them again - what a great and gorgeous family I have! They brought champagne which we drank on a picnic bench overlooking the Thames before gorging on excellent dim sum. My cousin Richard took the shot of Bruce with the empty bottle.


One insane day later, we were back in Iceland, but we were delayed due to storms over Britain. Big storms. Turbulence... you will never by my friend. We had to wait overnight for our next flight but the good folks at Keflavik Airport put us up in a hotel and fed us lots of Icelandic-type food. It was too overcast to see the northern lights and too bitterly cold to do anything but run down to the ocean, lose all possible ability to think straight as my brain froze, and run back to the hotel past some interestingly painted little houses. Back in my warm room, I finished reading the next Jane Austen book club book and perused the Icelandic bible. I lay in bed amusing myself by reading it out loud between mouthfuls of duty-free chocolate. I'm easily entertained.

Guess what? Bruce brought back a great souvenir for himself from Keflavik. Meet his new pal Olaf!

We landed in Toronto late on Friday evening.

Saturday was almost the craziest day of the week. In the morning I hightailed it to the St. Lawrence Market to buy my Christmas tree.. I had been aching for this moment, because... well... Christmas tree! And, as usual, I bought it from Jeff the Christmas tree guy, who was featured here. Thanks Jeff! Then it was off to St. Paul's for the big Toronto Star Carol Concert with a friend and the lovely Armenians. Then it was back to L'Espresso Bar Mercurio for the One-Off, Six Meeting, Limited Edition Jane Austen Book Club. But, the previous night, while disembarking the plane, someone had wetly sneezed on my neck and I woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat and a morning voice-over recording. At the studio I guzzled gallons of peppermint tea and tried to rise above my own voice. It seemed to go ok. Home again I unpacked, caught up on Coronation Street AND performed my cold-fighting ritual. The next day, Monday, I went into work feeling totally normal. Well... as normal as I ever can... heh heh. Weirdly, I had no jet lag. Bonus!

Oh Haiiiiii

I woke up this morning under the newish, beloved duck-down duvet, slightly disoriented to discover there was nothing I had to do, and nowhere I had to be. It was almost disconcerting. ALMOST.

A couple of hours later and I lolled on the sofa, as the pot simmered with organic chicken, leeks, mushroom, marjoram, etc... My stomach grumbled in anticipation. I could hear it because I had no music on. I was relishing the quiet and the nothing.

Then I thought... da blog! It's a little behind. A LOT BEHIND. So, er, I'll go and type up some blog posts and resize a bajillion pictures.

Happy New Year!

We will talk about this winter a different way from the last few. I've been slightly creeped out by how mild the last few years have been - be creeped out no more BPG!

Some of you may have heard of our ice storm that happened just before Christmas. It left many in our city without power for days, some over a week. Some wit tweeting online as "God" thundered (as much as anyone can in a tweet), "Toronto, do I even have to tell you why you're being punished?" Ha ha. Yes, our dreadful mayor is still around, but stripped of many of his powers, thank God for that at least.

I don't have a great mind for matching years to events, but I do recall thinking as 2012 wrapped up that it had been an excellent year, and I hoped 2013 would be as least as good. It was better, and so all I can do now is hope that 2014 is as good as either of those years. I will bring as much of my energy to play as I can to make it happen.

Anyway... a Happy New Year to all! May you be loved, warmed and delighted in 2014.

Unforgettable Day in NYC

The first day of a two-day flying visit to NY turned into something worthy of a short story.

So I woke on the Tuesday at 4 a.m. to catch an early flight from the island in the company of two colleagues. We arrived in NY around 9 a.m. The hotel kindly had our rooms ready already so we could dump our stuff and head out for a big breakfast. Then we got to the photography studio. Then I got a message that my voice-over agent wanted a demo voice test that I could make on and send from my iPhone. But they needed it by 5:30 p.m. I figured I would be back at the hotel in plenty of time to make the deadline.

And then I got a message that I had a box seat for the opera that night (starting at 7 p.m.), but also that I would be meeting my boss.

I was in jeans...

I hightailed it to Macy's, flinging myself on the mercy of a couple of salespeople who were WONDERFUL. Armed with some new clothes and shoes I exited the store to find myself in rush hour and unable to find a cab. It was 5:10 p.m. My agent was hurrying me. I ducked into a doorway and held up the script, bellowing into my phone, trying to sound well-modulated and irresistible. Of course the script was to do with promoting tourism to the States. I e-mailed the test off, pointing out to the agent in my e-mail that the whistle sounds, car horns and sirens were all perfect ambient noise as I was in fact standing near 34 Street and Fifth Avenue. She found this very entertaining. I ran back to the hotel, got changed, rushed up to Lincoln Center, collapsed in my box seat (back row of the box thank goodness, so no-one could detect my breathlessness), and was swept up in the magnificence of Strauss's Die Frau Ohne Schatten. A totally wacky story line on paper made beautiful sense as it came to life on stage. I momentarily was swayed by sleep and remembered I had been up at 4 a.m. The opera was four hours long and kept me riveted. I collapsed into my bed near midnight.

And after a perfect sleep, I woke to the sound of a cello very sweetly playing. I couldn't make it out at first, but then realized it was an actual cello being played very near by. It turns out some sort of Italian youth orchestra was staying in the same little old hotel near Penn station.

A perfect day in NYC... IMO.

P.S. I got the voice over gig! :)

Quote of the Day (AKA "Nothing Much has Changed")

"'Very true,' said Henry, 'and this is a very nice day; and we are taking a very nice walk; and you are two very nice young ladies. Oh, it is a very nice word, indeed! - it does for everything. Originally, perhaps, it was applied only to express neatness, propriety, delicacy, or refinement; - people were nice in their dresss, in their sentiments, or their choice. But now every commendation on every subject is comprised in that one word.'"

From Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Weather in the 'Hood

 I'm staving off colds and coughs with my should-be-patented-cold-killing-system and great snacks at work.

In the meantime, the weather has been fantastically schizophrenic, with blazing sun some days, as I wondered the Victorian warehouse-lined side streets of my 'hood, and crazily snowy for mere moments in between. The snow shot is from my living room window.

 

Recent Bruce Adventures

At recent photoshoots in Toronto and New York, Bruce was helpful as usual. He even got to go to the opera. Pretty lucky bat!

I like this noirish shot of him on the left.

This is GOOD

I didn't expect this to taste so good. It tastes and smells of two things: chocolate... and Guinness. And the combination is fantastic! Nothing better for a Christmas stocking or two (including mine please!)

This Made me Laugh

Directions for a restaurant in Venice...

Prince Edward County Visit, Part III

We hit the Cheddar and Ale Trail of the Bay of Quinte. Between wineries, breweries, cideries and cheese makers... we covered off most of the necessary food groups. Actually one of the wineries carried locally made chocolate, so... yes, all food groups ticked off. And several Christmas presents too!











The County Cider Company had lovely views across their orchards and the cider was amazing! A nearby apple stall had types of apples I'd never even heard of before. Apples are wonderful.

Vickie's Veggies... definitely worth a visit, and luckily for our host, it's just down the street from his cottage.









Looking up... at winery grapes...



... and lunch at the lovely Waupoos Winery.

The first building is the Gazebo Restaurant, filled with light, olive trees and a view of the lake and the vineyards. The next building is the store, and they had some amazing Belleville chocolate. More on that in a post closer to Christmas!

The bluer the sky got, the colder the weather. Even the short walk from the was chilling. But... we had a delicious lunch and warmed up thoroughly.