Ma! The meatloaf!

Lily is a pretty good eater, and it's amazing how much she consumes. It took me some time to figure out some good homemade food that she enjoys. For a while, I just couldn't figure out why she preferred the jarred green beans to homemade green beans. I borrowed books from the library, scoured the internet for recipes, and asked all of my friends what foods worked for their babies. I've been so consumed by making food for Lily that I have been neglecting my own meals. We've been getting by on throw-together meals that are still satisfying, but not very adventurous or blog-worthy.

Until now.

We made a quick stop at Costco on the weekend to pick up some essentials -- at least that was our intention. Why is it that a trip to Costco always ends up in $200 worth of random stuff? This time, included in the plethora of random stuff was Ina Garten's new cookbook: Barfoot Contessa Foolproof.

You likely already know about my crush on Ina Garten. I was in awe and deeply envious of Joy Wilson (from Joy the Baker) and her cookie swap hosted by Ina herself. My favourite go-to cookbook is Barefoot Contessa at Home and not just because it's the pink one. It was as if Ina knew I was in a culinary funk and needed a little inspiration. Her new "foolproof" cookbook looks great. I've already dog-eared several recipes to try, including marinated artichoke hearts, lamb shanks with orzo, amelia's jambalaya, and chocolate chunk blondies.

My brother's birthday was this week, so I used this as my opportunity to debut a recipe from the book. Inspired by my brother's love for meat and ketchup, I bring you: 1770 House Meatloaf.

It was fantastic, but I must confess to my abundant ingredient substitutions... I nixed the chives and parsley and stuck to thyme, no panko breadcrumbs so just the regular variety, skim milk instead of whole, fennel instead of celery, and rather than the garlic sauce that is supposed to be what takes this recipe to a whole new level, I made a mushroom onion gravy.

I have a problem following recipes. I need help. I definitely plan to try the garlic gravy next time.


Nevertheless, the meatloaf turned out delicious. My brother even told me it didn't need ketchup, but proceded to add copious amounts to his plate anyway. Lily approved as well! I love when we make food that Lily can also enjoy.  She is a demanding girl, making noises, gestures, and faces to make you understand that she wants the meatloaf NOW. "Ma! The meatloaf!"

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Puppy safety

I just witnessed a really awful accident involving a neighbourhood dog named Hannah. I'm still a little shaken. I watched the dog run into the street (she had a leash on, so I imagine she got away from her owner) and collide badly with an oncoming car.

I regret the words I shouted to the driver of the car. She obviously couldn't have done anything differently and yelling to her that she just hit a dog was probably the worst thing I could have done. Stupid me. Foot in my mouth again.

Everyone was shocked; Hannah's owner was devastated. I jumped into crisis mode and managed to get a vet from our nearby animal hospital (Westside Animal Hospital) to walk to us and she took it from there.

They were in the process of getting someone to drive Hannah to the emergency clinic when I left. Both Lily and Mackenzie were so patient through the entire process. I had quite an upsetting walk home.

It would be an understatement to say that Mackenzie has taken a bit of a backseat in our lives since we had Lily. I get annoyed with having a dog around. Mackenzie gets in the way, she leaves hair everywhere for Lily to grab and eat, she makes me pick up her poop when I've got Lily in the baby carrier.

But she's still our girl, too. I love her as much as ever. Today's events reminded me how she is equally important in our family, and just as we baby proofed our house for Lily, we have to keep our leash on Mackenzie when we're out on the street. Forget the squirrel chasing: safety first.

My thoughts go out to beautiful Hannah and her family. A big shout out to Westside Animal Hospital for taking the time to walk to us and take Hannah to emerg.

circa 2007. Our first year with Mackenzie

After a trip to Ottawa filled with squirrel chases

Kisses for Lily

Play safe with all your loved ones!

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Baby mittens

Autumn is my absolute favourite season. This year in particular because I get to enjoy it with Lily. I think it's safe to say that Lily is in love with the outdoors. She craves the fresh air, the buzz of traffic, the kids running around the park. We would go on 2, 3, 4 walks a day sometimes -- even during this past sauna of a summer. Thank goodness for the crisp weather change.

Along with this cooler weather is a need for some warmer gear. I haven't been able to sew much for Lily; mostly because there hasn't been the need since we got so many great hand-me-downs from friends and family. But with our numerous walks a day, rain or shine, Lily was in need of some mittens. Her cute little fingers were icicles by the end of our walks.


I pulled out some flannel from my stash, grabbed some ribbing material that never turned into a cardigan for myself, and after two attempts (with some guidance from this tutorial), Lily hands now stay warm in a cute little pair of infant mittens! I made sure to make the ribbed cuff extra long so they stay on better.

Raise your hand if you love them.

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Double date with Richard and Oscar

My awesome friend Jenn invited me out to a magical evening listening to the music of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, all performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

These days when it's so hard to tear myself away from my life with Lily, Dustin insisted that I accept Jenn's invitation and enjoy the night out. Although I didn't manage to "get dressed up" as originally planned, I did manage to wear a clean shirt and put on earrings.

The performance was so wonderful. I had chills. I was in near tears. Both Jenn and I had commented that our mothers would have thoroughly loved to the show.

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra was accompanied by soloists and a choir; they performed selections from Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and of course, The Sound of Music. I think I may have enjoyed the selections from Oklahoma the best, and I thoroughly enjoyed singing along to Edelweiss when they asked the audience to join in, but I was completely floored by their finale piece from The Sound of Music. I had just leaned over to Jenn and whispered a snotty "I think Climb Ev'ry Mountain is probably one of my least favourites from this musical" and then was blown away by the arrangement that they sang. All three soloists (the soprano, tenor, and baritone), along with the bellowing choir, came together to sing this beautifully grand finale.

This concert was part of the "POP" series. I guess compared to the performances of the baroque and renaissance era, this was an evening of "popular music". I wonder, what they will call it in a decade or so when I take Lily out for a magical night at the orchestra?

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Deleeecious quiches!

I'm going through a quiche phase. It may have started when my friend Magda made me a delicious chantrelle mushroom quiche for my birthday. It was my first chantrelle mushroom experience: delish.

Shortly after, I visited my friend Jess and her new baby girl Danika. I threw together a quick pie crust and made a quiche filling with whatever I had in my fridge. I think I used onions and mushrooms (maybe some cheese? I don't even remember.) Quiches are just so versatile.

This past Friday, I had a playdate at Magda's again and we had a gourmet lunch with two types of quiche, a green salad, a sweet potato salad, strawberry banana smoothies and apple butter cookies for dessert. That's what you get when 5 women come together for lunch!


Both quiches at the playdate were so delicious: spinach-mushroom-goat cheese and ham-red pepper-onion. I don't think I've had a quiche I didn't like. So much so that I decided to make a quiche with the can of smoked salmon pate that my mom gave me last year.

I honestly have no problems making a pie crust from scratch. It seems like it would be a hassle but I feel like it's less of a hassle than having a pie crust take up space in my freezer. I never have one on hand and whenever I take the time to make one, I find it was so easy I would do it again.

I decided to reward such domestic thinking with a new French rolling pin from Crate and Barrel. I paired it with a new deep pie dish with pretty ruffles. (Thanks to my brother and sister for the Yorkdale gift card for my birthday!) For some reason, an actual quiche dish (the one with the removable bottom) is very shallow. If I had to eat a shallow quiche for dinner I think I'd eat the whole darn thing. I like my quiches nice and deep: a higher filling-to-crust ratio and, let's be honest, more quiche fits on a plate... This ruffled pie dish was perfect.


These days I use Michael Smith's recipe for pie crusts but using the food processor. I think the last time I blogged about a quiche (wow, that was a long time ago) I used Ina's recipe which calls for both butter and shortening. Michael Smith's recipe has been just as flaky and tasty and lately I try to keep things simple.

Also, I think I've changed my mind on the idea of blind baking the pie crust first. Again, out of laziness and the need to get the quiche done before Lily wakes up from her nap, I've just poured the quiche filling straight into the unbaked pie crust (I always chill the crust while I'm assembling the filling), then straight into the oven. I think it turns out pretty great!

For this deeper dish, I used 6 eggs and 1.5 cups of milk, whisked in the smoked salmon pate, added some chopped green onions, and blanched broccoli.

I love eating quiches with an arugula salad. I find the peppery leaf cuts the richness of the quiche really well, but any leafy salad with a nice tangy dressing would go great.


While the quiche was baking in the oven, my dear friend Rebecca called me from Ireland. "Write more blog posts!" she begged. So instead of watching another episode of Top Chef Masters, here you have another blog post in less than a week!

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Pickled peppers, train trips, nursing strikes and more!

Inspired by Barney's one-minute recap of his relationship with Robin, I have decided to do a speed recap to update you all on the goings on in the Dunwell house!

Ready? *big breath*

We went raspberry picking with Emily and Lucas. Also got some hot peppers. Used Michael Symon's method/recipe to pickle them. mmmm. Highly recommended.

We rented a cottage in the 1000 islands and went on our first vacation with Lily. Lily played on the dock. She didn't fall in the gross green water, but Mackenzie did -- 4 times.



Lily is getting bigger, loving her solid foods, has two bottom teeth and a couple more cutting through on the top. She still doesn't like being on her tummy. It is unlikely she will learn to crawl.




She took her first train trip to Ottawa where she caught her first cold. *sniff* (Literally.)

A week ago, Lily went on a nursing strike. I cried a lot. She cried a lot. We forced her to drink milk from a sippy cup. The strike finally ended yesterday. Phew. 6-day strike. Not fun. Probably one of the hardest things I've ever gone through.

Dustin started his first job last week. 12 years of university. Big milestone. Next on the list: new car. Our poor '95 Corolla deserves a retirement.

Dustin is on a purge. He tried to donate my rollerblades to Goodwill. I fought to keep them. I won. He tried to donate my wedding dress. I fought to keep it. He won. Hopefully it helps raise some money for cancer research.

My goals for the next month: sew some fall/winter gear for Lily, finish a quilt, go to the theatre to watch Pitch Perfect, celebrate our 5 year anniversary (I know! 5 years! crazy!), bake a pie, eat a pie, and maybe I should really get started on finding Lily a daycare...

*exhale*

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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Wee Urban sleep sacks

Great customer service is just so hard to find these days.

All I want is for someone to pick up the phone. Someone to return an email. Someone who knows their product and stands behind it.

I find it so frustrating that a certain giant baby-toy store (that I won't be so unprofessional as to name) has such terrible service, product, and return policy. My friend actually had to argue about returning a baby mirror for the car after realizing that it makes you look like you're at the county fair where you pay $1 to look like you have a fat nose and one eye bigger than the other. They told her it had been opened and used. The fact that the product was terrible and that it was going to cost *unnamed giant baby store* pennies to make the customer happy was irrelevant. The teenage girl working the boring Wednesday afternoon shift didn't care and just wanted to get on with her day.

Enter Diaper Eez: a cute little baby shop in Bloor West Village where Dustin and I chose to get our cloth diapers for Lily. We tried to do our cloth diaper research online but it was actually mind blowing how confusing everything was. We stopped by Diaper Eez and got the low down from an incredibly knowledgeable sales lady. They always answer their phone. They answered my emails when I complicated our baby registry. Best of all, they stock their shop with products that they love and recommend.

Lily has always been a feisty baby, even in the womb. She quickly learned how to wriggle her way out of swaddles and kick off any blankets. I was in need of a sleep sack. With leftover gift cards at *unnamed ridiculous baby store* I figured I'd look there first. The selection was dismal: polyester polar fleece, made in China, no special features, overpriced. And I was scared to open it and try it out since they would likely never accept a return or exchange.

At Diaper Eez they had not one, but two Toronto-designed, Canadian-made sleep sacks to choose from. I was debating between a multi-layered cotton sleep sack with front zip and extra breathability, and the Wee Urban sleep sack made with extra soft sweatshirt material. I decided to opt for the Wee Urban because of the shoulder snaps and side zipper that made getting our super-wriggly Lily into and out of the sack much easier.

We loved it. The giraffes were an extra bonus.


Then disaster struck.

After using it for about 2 months, the snap on the left shoulder ripped. Is this common? If I buy another one will it just happen again? The other 2 snaps looked to be in great shape... Dare I try and ask for them to repair it?

I went to the Wee Urban website and wrote them a quick email. Hours later (not days -- hours) I received the kindest email from Wee Urban apologizing for the defect and offering to send me a new one as soon as possible. You see, they wanted to ensure that Lily's sleep was disrupted as little as possible.

I was beyond shocked. What kindness. What fantastic service. What confidence in their product. All they asked in return was for me to send the defective sleep sack back to them so they could see what went wrong.

I wish more businesses were like this. I can't tell you how many times Dustin and I have called companies looking to give them business: window repair, driveway snow removal, physiotherapy, and they just don't call us back, let alone offer customer satisfaction in guaranteeing their product.

Good customer service is so important to me. Since discovering Diaper Eez, three of our friends have gone there to purchase their cloth diapering systems. I'm pretty sure the next few baby gifts I give will be the Wee Urban sleep sack. The next time you think about going to buy a baby-something from the store that rhymes with Shmoys R Us, try visiting a local baby shop. You will be pleasantly surprised!

Here is Lily modelling her GroVia pink peacock diapers from Diaper Eez.

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Rollin' with the homies

Lily turned 6 months old on Thursday and she has hit some major milestones!

As with most things in life, her wonderful achievements have not come without hardships.

1. She has learned to roll over! Lily has never been much of a "lie down and play" baby, but now that she can roll, she seems to enjoy it more. She will roll and roll until she reaches the end of the quilt, then we pick her up and start her back at the beginning. You see, much like Derek Zoolander, she is not an ambiturner: she can only roll in one direction. So the one downside to all this rolling excitement is that she has been getting stuck in her crib, unable to unwedge herself from the edge. We are hoping this is a short phase and she will quickly learn to rectify this problem. The sobs are unbearable.

2. She has started solids! She is loving it (she has the Fong gene in her!) and could not get enough of it in the early days! She has since gotten over the initial excitement but is still a relatively good eater. The downside is that she has always been a finger sucker, eye rubber, and ear puller. Solid food is a messy art and by the end of our meal she will have baby cereal in all nooks and crannies of her face.

Along with these two major milestones, she is very close to sitting up on her own and we also think that she may be getting some teeth. She is chewing on anything and everything she can get her hands on -- including her own feet.

It is really incredible how much Lily is maturing. It wasn't long ago that I would spend all day sitting on the couch trying to stop her from crying. Now she's eating solids, pooping like a Dunwell, singing along to my silly songs, and rollin' with the homies!

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Oh bring back my bonnet to me

I lost it. The brand new bonnet that I sewed for Lily. Yes, the one I just posted about.

In a chaotic kerfuffle at the park, the bonnet was misplaced. We returned to the park a couple hours later, scoured the area, even checked if it was not atop another cute child's head, but alas, we have declared it officially gone.

I don't know if I was more heartbroken or more relieved that I had made the bonnet. All that hard work, gone, but at least I can sew her another.

To mourn the loss of the truck-bonnet, I did a one-eighty and sewed her new bonnet out of the leftover elephant fabric from her houndstooth quilt. A pink bonnet with lace ties. Sorry Dustin, pretty much as girly as it gets.

Lily was nice enough to model the new bonnet on my birthday picnic!

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Baby Sunbonnet: Success!

After a little encouragement from the peanut gallery, I have successfully sewn Lily a sunhat that is functional and fashionable!

My first attempt at a baby sunhat back in March was embarrassing. I had decided to create my own design with little to no research or hat-sewing-experience; after all, how hard could a hat be? I was very wrong. Not only did it not fit, but I realized it was not well designed. Children's hats need a tie so they can't swat the hat off. I also realized that Lily would benefit more from a bonnet rather than a sunhat whose brim went all around the head. With a full brim, she had trouble lying back in her stroller or carseat.

By June, I still had not sewn Lily a new hat. With this unending sunny weather, I desperately needed to purchase one to tide us over. I found a really great bonnet at Diaper-eez in Bloor West Village and it fit Lily for a full 2 weeks before it was barely shielding the sun from her eyes. Here was my chance to redeem myself (and finally be worthy of Jenn's praise) and make her a bonnet that was the right size -- and with room to grow so it would last into the autumn.

I took some pointers from the bonnet we had bought and reworked it a bit. A bonnet is essentially three pieces: the back of the head, the brim of the hat, and the piece in the middle that joins the two.

With some basic pattern drafting skills that I picked up from (none other than) the workroom, I created a cute little sun bonnet with a nice large brim for Lily. I chose a lightweight cotton with blue trucks, a boyish touch to an otherwise girly hat!

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Pistachio pound cake

What happened to the pistachio when he walked down the dark alley?

He was a-salted.

He would have preferred being baked into a delicious, dense, crumby pound cake.

Molly Wizenberg shared a recipe a couple months ago starring the pistachio, with supporting roles from the orange, lemon, and lime. A pistachio pound cake with bright citrus notes, rich dense crumby cake topped with crunchy nuts.


I made it for a friend's birthday in April and recently repeated it to bring home to my parents on the weekend of my brother's wedding.

The recipe calls for zest from orange and lime, and juice from orange and lemon. I think that's a little silly. I just went with whatever citrus fruit I had, and used the zest and juice from the same fruit. The first time I only used lemon, the second time I used lime and orange. Both were fantastic.


When I showed up in Ottawa and presented my mother with the pound cake, she immediately told me that she was not going to share it at the post-wedding brunch on Sunday. She put it in the freezer and planned to save it for her and my dad to savour and enjoy after all the hoopla of the wedding was over. She hadn't even tasted it and knew it was good. It's rare that a pound cake isn't fantastic, what with all the butter, sugar, and eggs.

I'm not sure if they've cracked into it yet, but the one that I ate was divine. Since pound cakes take so long to bake, I like to make two smaller loaves and cut the bake time slightly; it makes it easier to share when you get one to yourself as well!

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Wedding wheel quilt

I just don't know how they do it. "They" meaning all those blogging mothers out there. They are super-moms. I love reading Made (www.danamadeit.com) where there are such great sewing ideas and inspirations by mother-of-three, Dana. And oddly enough, Dana's most recent addition to the family, Clara, was born on the same day as Lily! And it hasn't slowed her down one bit! Definitely a super-mom.

Maybe my blog has suffered a little, but I'm still so impressed by the little bit of sewing, crafting, and baking I get done these days. A different level of super-mom, but super nonetheless.

My most recent project was a quilt for my brother and my new sister-in-law (congrats Karl and Joelle!). I had been following the 100 days of Modern Quilting hosted by themodernquiltguild.com/ and came across a fabulous "Ring Quilt" by Isobel Piper. It was the perfect design for a wedding quilt that was a billion times easier than the double wedding ring quilt I made my parents, but still had the "infinite circle" motif to represent their eternal marriage.

The wedding colours were teal, silver, and lime green, with an emphasis on the teal. It was great fun going through my fabric scraps to pull out colours for the wheel segments of the quilt. I used a Kona solid in "natural" as the background and then echoed the colour wheel with an ornate circle fabric from the Karavan collection by Valori Wells (the same collection as the pink elephants from Lily's houndstooth quilt) for the back of the quilt.

The pattern originally comes from the book Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts which I borrowed from the library. I remembered to trace the wheel segment template but neglected to copy anything else, so there was a lot of guess-work that went into this quilt. I had to do lots of trimming so that everything fit together in the end and created a circle rather than an oval.


I loved how Isobel Piper used concentric circles for her quilt, so I decided to do the same, although I used an entirely different technique. She took the time to draw the circles on the quilt -- I am far too lazy for that. Instead, I taped a quilting pin (since it is longer than the average pin) to my walking foot and using the head of the pin as a guide so my circles were the same distance apart. Genius, I know.


The quilting got progressively more difficult as I got closer to the center, so for the very middle of the quilt, I personalized a K and J with the wedding date.


My brother's wedding was simply gorgeous. Everyone (except maybe Lily...) had a wonderful time: an incredible venue (with a fantastic view of the Ottawa canal and the Parliament building), delicious food, breathtaking flower arrangements, and of course, a room full of wonderful friends and family.

[Photo by Kevin Fong]

[Photo by Elizabeth Pagnotta]

It was my absolute pleasure to spend Lily's nap times quilting this wedding wheel quilt for my brother and sister-in-law. May they continue to cuddle for afternoon naps until they are old and grey.

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Two Thirds of an Angel Food Cake

You can buy cartons of egg whites at the store, but you can't buy egg yolks. Whatever the reason, it is quite unfortunate since I often find myself in an "egg white" dilemma. I tend to make foods that use only the egg yolks and I'm at a loss for what to do with the whites.

I fool myself into thinking I will use the reserved egg whites soon to make an omelet, only to have them sit in the fridge for questionably too long (even for me) and I end up throwing them out. Sure, there are always the crispy-chewy meringue recipes that use egg whites, but then I have to bake them for hours and hours. And regular fluffy meringue just doesn't do anything for me: the tart or pie or baked-Alaska was just fine without the meringue layer.

My favourite egg white usage is probably Angel Food Cake. The problem is, it usually calls for a ridiculous 10 or 12 egg whites.

Fortunately, Alton Brown has a recipe, and as always, his incredibly scientific recipes are written with both volume and weight measurements. The recipe calls for 12 egg whites. For 4 egg whites, I can easily divide the recipe by 3 and make a third of an angel food cake; for 6 egg whites, half of a cake; for 8 egg whites, two thirds of a cake. You get the picture.

Dustin's birthday was last week. Although busy and tired with our beautiful newborn, Dustin agreed to watch her for a few extra hours the day before his birthday so I could prepare food for a birthday brunch with a bunch of our friends and their kids.

The brunch menu consisted of all make-ahead food: crepes with fruit and yogurt, low fat blueberry muffins, and my favourite brunch item: Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls. They are made the day before, stored in the fridge until the next morning, then proofed and baked so they are fresh. They are fantastic. Stop what you are doing and go make some. Now.

Oh. Right. Back to the egg whites. The (fantastic) cinnamon bun recipe calls for 4 egg yolks. I doubled the recipe, and was therefore left with 8 egg whites. Time to make a two thirds of a cake!

I love angel food cake. Sugary, light and fluffy, fat-free. Perfect for breakfast, snack, or dessert. For this two thirds of a cake, I decided to grate some lime zest into it. Alton has a version with cloves and cinnamon. Ina has a recipe with grated chocolate. Possibilities are endless. Just gently fold the flavouring into the light fluffy batter!

Here is the recipe in weight, rather than volume. If you don't have a scale, then shame on you. Pick one up at Canadian Tire for $10 and open up your cookbook library to great British recipes!

One third of an Angel Food Cake (adapted from Alton Brown's book, I'm Just Here for More Food)

NOTE: This recipe has been scaled to use 4 egg whites and will make one third of a cake. 12 egg whites make a full sized cake in a regular sized tube pan.


131g sugar
pinch of salt
43g sifted cake flour

4 large egg whites (120g) at room temperature
28g warm water
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine the salt and cake flour with half of the sugar and set aside. If you are adding any additional flavourings (spices or grated zest) combine into the flour mixture.

Using the whisk attachment on an electric mixer, beat the egg whites, water, and cream of tartar until opaque. Slowly sift in the remaining sugar and beat until you get medium to stiff peaks.

Sift in enough of the flour mixture to dust the top of the foam. Fold in gently using a spatula. Repeat until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.

Carefully spoon the mixture into an ungreased tube pan. Bake for 15 - 20 mins for this 1/3 size cake, 25 minutes for 2/3 of a cake (8 egg whites) and 35 minutes for a full sized cake (12 egg whites). Check for doneness with a toothpick (or an uncooked spaghetti noodle).

Cool upside down on a cooling rack for an hour before removing from the pan.

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