White snow, brown butter

What a winter! Growing up in Ottawa really teaches you to embrace the snow in Toronto. This snow has not slowed us down at all; Lily and I are as adventurous as ever with the outdoors.

During our winter promenades, we have witnessed some odd behaviour in our Toronto neighbours. I think they need a crash course in snowy winters.

Brushing the snow off ones vehicle is apparently limited to the windshield and the side windows. I see ridiculous cars with piles of snow on their hood and roof; perhaps they enjoy leaving a cloud of white behind them? Like a cartoon?

There are several neighbours that insist on using a broom to clear their walkways and driveways. Not the heavy duty brooms you might see a janitor use; the brooms you see witches ride. in movies. kid movies.

Even when I see a proper shovel being used, most of the time the snow is being shovelled directly onto the street. Yesterday, I wanted to tell a man that if he was going to shovel onto the road (which he shouldn't, but that's besides the point), he should at least shovel to his right and not his left. Everyone in Ottawa knows that the plow is just going to push it right back onto your driveway in the form of solid, icy, igloo chunks.

But it all just adds to the entertainment this snowy weather brings.

Lily is really loving this weather. When she isn't outside enjoying the brisk, fresh air, she stares longingly out the window.




For those who don't share Lily's enthusiasm of the cold outdoors, my suggestion to you is to go and brown some butter. That's right. Melt better in a pot, then keep warming until it gets golden brown and fragrantly caramelly and nutty.

My sister in law baked us up some delicious brown butter and sea salt chocolate chip cookies a few weeks back. They were so delicious I decided to try one of Joy's recipes from her new cookbook that I got for Christmas.

The cookbook is pretty great. Her blog is fantastic, but sometimes you just want to flip through a physical book. I have dog eared several recipes and this browned butter blueberry muffin recipe shot to the top of the list.

Look at that golden-brown butter. Delish.


As usual, I mixed it up a bit. I substituted 1/2 cup of all purpose flour with 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup of quick cook oats. I also used frozen blueberries. In her book, she recommends that if using frozen blueberries, you should thaw and drain the liquid. Who has time for that? I threw it in frozen and it turned out great (I never seem to mind the purple hue that engulfs the muffin when using frozen berries). I realize that fresh blueberries work best, but in the middle of winter, I prefer frozen Canadian blueberries (PC has a great product) over berries picked and flown in from Chile.

I also opted to skip the streusel topping, much to my husband's disappointment, but purely out of laziness, not concern for the size of my waist/hips/bottom/cheeks. Next time, I promise him some sugary, crumbly topping.


The muffins are quite magical -- even with my substitutions and instruction disobedience. The inside is light and fluffy, the outside crisp. And standing over the stove, browning the butter will warm any cold hands and windburned face. Promise.

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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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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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Kensington sweethearts

Jenn was my Kengsington sweetheart yesterday as we perused Toronto's Kensington market in search of desserts and other baked goods to satisfy our sweet-tooth.

I never used to be big on sweets. I always preferred a bowl of chips over a double chocolate brownie with double churned French vanilla ice cream. But this pregnancy has definitely heightened my sugar cravings. I will actually pass on the calamari appetizer to try and save room for some dessert now.

Jenn and I created our own little tour of dessert stops in the Kensington Market, sneaking in a little savoury refreshment here and there.

It's amazing how quickly we filled up on baked goods.

We started at the Moonbeam Coffee Company and started with a savoury light and flaky spinach and feta pastry called a boreka, coffee and mini chocolate croissant to finish.  All of their pastries looked divine, and there was that lovely homey Kensington Market feel that made me wish I lived nearby.

Our second stop was probably my favourite. Much smaller than Moonbeam Coffee Company, Miss Cora's Kitchen was filled with baked goods made from local market ingredients. There were options for any vegan, gluten-free, or all-the-works patron; we definitely had trouble narrowing down our choice selections for this leg of our sweets tour. Although Miss Cora was not present that day, Miss Carmel made some suggestions and we settled on a flourless chocolate cupcake, a vegan peanut butter cupcake, and my favourite: a jam-filled strawberry cupcake.  All fantastic.

Stop number three was at Panchos Bakery where we, naturally, ordered churros and hot chocolate. The churros were a little heavier than expected, perhaps even a little bland although covered in sugar. I would recommend asking for extra caramel sauce.

We made a quick stop at the Chocolate Addict and chose 6 truffles to bring with us to our last stop: Krepesz.  The Chocolate Addict is a tiny shop with a decent selection of truffle flavours. We settled on (clockwise from top left) jasmine, green tea, pomegranate, caramel sea salt, chili, and chai.  The chocolates were delicious, but I'm not sure if it was my tired palate or perhaps my under-appreciation for simple chocolate bonbons, I didn't think the chocolates were anything extraordinary.

Krepesz was our last stop.  The sit-down area was quite a bit more upscale than the average Kensington Market venue, so it was nice way to end the afternoon.  Krepesz is a Hungarian crepe shop; they also have on their menu a "chimney cake" that looked rather interesting. The afternoon of sweets (and the heavy churro) left us with little appetite, but we decided to share a savoury crepe filled with spinach, tomatoes and feta. A friend joined us and ordered a strawberry and nutella crepe. The crepe itself was delightfully light (thank goodness.)  I would definitely return and order one of the heavier dessert crepes next time (and save room for a chimney cake).

Our tour of sweet shops in Kensington Market was great. We knew there were official tours you could sign up to take with a group of people and an official guide, but doing it ourselves, and in a small party of 2, let us go at our own pace and not feel rushed (or too cramped.) I'm not sure if my sweet-tooth will remain after my pregnancy, so the timing for this sugary adventure was perfect.

I hope you've enjoyed the vicarious sweets tour of Kensington Market. Let me know if you have any Kensington Market sweet secrets you'd like to share!

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