Two tours of the Tour Eiffel

I've been contemplating the order in which I share my travel adventures, and it makes sense that I go chronologically. Now having made that decision, I will break the rule this one time because we ended up revisiting the Eiffel Tower in the middle of our trip.

From France

The first day we were in Paris, we did the touristy cruise along the Seine River. We took the cruise at night because we were told that the Eiffel Tower is lit with beautiful lights. I had trouble getting my camera to take a nice picture (I blame the moving boat) but we did enjoy an amazing cruise. There were so many people just sitting along the river with (several) bottles of wine, laughing, chatting, and embracing.

After the 3 days at Dustin's conference we returned to the heart of Pairs for one last day of the beautiful city; we decided that since the weather had greatly improved, we should visit the Eiffel Tower again, up close. The lineups to climb the Eiffel Tower (by foot or elevator) were horrendous, so we settled for a nap on the grass not far from the base. With exception to the non-stop sales people offering 4 miniature Eiffel Tower key rings for 5 euros, we passed almost the entire afternoon peacefully napping and people watching with one of the world's best views.

From France

From France

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Oh! The places I've gone!

Hello Toronto Heat! What a humid "welcome home" from mother nature... Some of you already know that we recently travelled to France and British Columbia. I'm hoping to focus my next few posts on our trips -- a "travel series", if you will.

To start, I would like to invite you "Chez Papa". This was our first restaurant after landing in Paris. My friend Shiva had recommended it as one of her "usuals" and we happened to stumble on one of the locations en route to the hotel.

The cuisine is Southern French, which I think is more hearty and rich. I ordered an amazing duck breast with a creamy pepper sauce (magret de canard sauce au poivre) and a HUGE serving of fried potatoes. Yes, you guessed it; I enjoyed the meal so much, there was no picture :( My espresso to finish off the lunch (yes, it was a hearty lunch) was my only photo evidence of my Chez Papa experience. It was accompanied by a palette cleansing square of dark chocolate.

From France

Our trip to Paris was slightly unexpected. Dustin's research paper was accepted to a conference that was being held at Euro Disney in Paris: naturally, I *had* to go. Our plan was to spend 3 days in Paris, the 3 days of conference at Euro Disney, and then 3 days to explore a little of the French countryside.

Paris was just the beginning of our adventures; 2010 was an unplanned year for excessive travel (at least for the Dunwells who rarely venture away from the province of Ontario...)

In the words of Dr Seuss:

"...And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along. You’ll start happening too.

Oh! The Places You’ll Go!

You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights..."

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All decked out

I have sad news. Dustin is leaving for 3 months. Yes, I have to learn to take out the garbage. Luckily, Dustin had taken advantage of some good weather in May and refinished the deck. One less thing I have to learn to do this summer. It is now clean and recharged with a sleek waterproof layer!

From garden

From garden

This picture was taken last month, just after we brought back our veggies from the greenhouse. It's amazing how much they've grown since then.

We planted the zucchini, cucumber, and tomatoes in the long planter giving them lots of room to grow.

From garden

And did they ever grow!

From garden

From garden

The basil has tripled in size. We've been enjoying lots of basil-tomato pasta and Margarita pizza.

From garden

Even the peas are nice and fat as they tangle their way up the trellis.

From garden

From garden

When we first planted the chinese veggies (菜心 -- choi sum) they looked so cute all bunched together in the hanging planter. Big mistake. They had no room to grow and before long, they were skinny and tough.

From garden

We tried one more time; spaced them out and offered them lots of fertilizer. Now it resembles something I can enjoy with a drizzle of oyster sauce. Mmmm.

From garden

It's really too bad Dustin won't be around to enjoy all the garden veggies. He'll be in North Carolina eatin' grits and fried chicken, saying "y'all" all the time. Anyone up for a roadtrip? We can bring dustin his 菜心!

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The Anna Tunic

I've been meaning to try one of Amy Butler's clothing patterns for some time now. I've had my eye on the Liverpool Dress pattern, but as fate would have it, the workroom sold out of that pattern when I finally got around to doing it. (I've just found out that the workroom is doing a daytime class series on the Liverpool dress! If only I could quit my day job...)

From sewing

I settled for the Anna Tunic. Still fabulous, and a perfect pattern for the rest of my Amy Butler fabric used in Debbie's Spring Birdie Sling.

I have to admit, the end-to-end project time on this tunic was catastrophic. I cut out the paper patten during the days of the Vancouver Olympics. I pinned and cut the fabric during the first round of NHL playoffs (almost two months later). It wasn't until the Ottawa Senators lost in the first round of NHL playoffs that I decided to finally hunker down and sew this beauty! And now, over a month later, I am finally showing off my glorious work.

From sewing

My favourite part is the buttons! (Of course...)

From sewing

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Beets that will pickle your fancy

With our CSA boxes coming to an end, there is a light at the end of the "beet tunnel".

I made more of the delicious beet soup, and with the remaining beets I decided to try pickling them.

From Food

I used Alton's recipe as a starting point, made some minor changes (when do I ever have all the right ingredients?) and waited a patient 2 weeks before trying them. Verdict? Not bad! Not bad at all! There's still a mild beet taste accompanied with a lovely sweet and tangy pickle.

Here is Alton's full recipe for pickled beets. To roast the beets, I just scrubbed the beets and doused them in olive oil before roasting for about 35 minutes. The actual pickling liquid called for:

* 1 large red onion, frenched
* 1 cup tarragon wine vinegar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 cup water

I replaced the red onion with a regular onion, and the tarragon wine vinegar with mostly white vinegar and a big splash of red wine vinegar. I also didn't read the recipe correctly (go figure) and dumped the onions into the pot of boiling pickling liquid. I fished them out with chopsticks. I think I made them better ;)

From Food

When the roasted beets are slightly cooled, remove the skin and slice. If the beet is really big, cut it in half before slicing. Fill your jars with alternating layers of beets and onions. When full, pour in the hot pickling liquid. Tightly lid the jars and wait 3 to 7 days before eating. When eating picked beets, do not wear white, especially if you like to eat the beets straight from the jar with your fingers. Enjoy!

From Food

Tomorrow is our very last CSA box. So sad. Just as I mastered some beet recipes. We did not sign up for the summer because we're vacationing (yay!) and also hopefully growing our very own local organic food! Double Yay! Stay tuned for an update on our greenhouse veggies.

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Holy Guacamole!

My friend is moving to Ireland for 6 months. Exciting for her, sad for us. Her farewell party was a potluck of green or Irish food. Since most of us were Chinese, our dishes of choice were mostly just green.

I decided to whip up a batch of guacamole. So simple, so delicious. And no, I don't have an actual recipe...

From Food

Let's start with the avocado. My favourite is the Hass. (Maybe because Ina's favourite is the Hass, and I want to be like Ina.) When you buy avocados at the store, they're usually 4 days from being ripe. (If you don't plan ahead and you try to get lucky, you'll likely end up with a decoy-ripe avocado: it's just a little bruised.) Store the avocados in a dark, dry place. I put them in the back corner of my pantry; I've heard of storing them in a wok or a pot as well.
If you've only got 2 days before you need the avocados, just buy less green ones but make sure they're still very firm (no bruises!) and then store them in the dark place with a banana. The banana helps speed up the ripening process.

A small batch of guacamole only needs 2 or 3 medium sized avocados. Costco sells them in packs of 5: plenty for a party.

From Food

To dice the avocados for the guacamole, first halve it, then scoop the pit out with a spoon, or do the crazy "hammer the knife into the pit and twist it out" technique (please be careful!!!) Using a small butter knife, cut horizontal and vertical lines into the avocado while still in the skin. The closer the slices are, the smaller the pieces of avocado. Using a spoon, scoop the avocado out of the skin: voila! Pre-diced pieces of avocado! Squeeze the juice of one lemon into the avocado; mix, and set aside.

From Food

Next: red onion and tomatoes. I like a chunky guacamole, so I add lots of tomatoes and onions. Finely dice half a small red onion for every 3 or so avocados. Dice 2 to 3 roma tomatoes. Add to avocados and mix vigorously with a fork. You can always change the recipe to have more or less tomatoes and onions.

The avocados will break down as you mix; mix until you have the consistency you like. Add a generous amount of salt. Taste and adjust.

If you like your guacamole spicy, mince a jalapeño or two and add to the mixture.

That's it! I know! Holy guacamole!

From Food

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Peas, sir. I want some more.

Last year, we planted peas in our balcony garden. We followed the instructions on the back of the packet of seeds. "Sow 10cm apart." My coworker was appalled. He never follows that. Apparently we should have sown the whole darn packet and packed the peas in as much as we could.

This year, we used the rest of the packet of seeds from last year and we also planted a whole other packets. 4 times the seeds as last year!

We'll see how it goes. I feel like there was some method to their madness when they provided a guideline of sowing distances, but I guess there's only one way to tell.

From garden

They started sprouting after the intense rainfall that we received just over a week ago and are about three inches tall now. There doesn't appear to be as many little sprouts as there were seeds, but I'm hoping for lots more in the next few days!

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