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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