Envelope t-shirts

At first glance, this blog implies that I have been quite successful in keeping up with my crafty and foody hobbies. But if you look closely at the dates of the posts, and look even closer at the dates of the pictures from the posts, you will see that I binge-sew and binge-cook.

The cycle usually begins with a mild depression. Pregnancy and then early motherhood (and then regular being-a-girl) has been a rollercoaster ride of crazy emotions for me. I always tell people (and by "people", I mean Dustin) that what makes me crazy is also what makes me awesome. Boringly sane people are rarely awesome.

My mild depression usually ends in sobs of how I miss doing things for myself. So I cry it out, decide to make time for me, binge out on me-time, and then feel ready to rock it out with Lily again. Until the next depression hits, then we rinse and repeat.

But during the me-time, I get lots of great blog-worthy stuff done, and most importantly, I catch up on many of the things I've been wanting to do.

My dear friend Emily has taken wonderfully to motherhood and she has also been able to keep up with so many of her passions. Her blog leaves me in awe.  She always remembers my birthday, and even shopped for Lily this Christmas. I was determined to return the thoughtfulness by sewing something nice for her darling baby Lucas.

I've had my eye on Dana's 90 minute shirt tutorial for a while now. I find the envelope-style neckline makes it so much easier to get over big baby heads. In early January, I made my first attempt and used one of Dustin's old orange tshirts. I think I got lucky and the tshirt was almost perfect.

I just needed a couple changes to neckline, a little more room in the torso, and I was ready to make one for Lucas!

Wrong. Attempt #2 left me with a neck that was too big, armholes that didn't match up, and an express ticket back to devoting my time to Lily and muttering mean words to my sewing machine.

I slowly worked on a 3rd revision, which quickly led to a 4th. I finally went back to Dana's tutorial and restarted a new pattern from scratch.

The final pattern is definitely for a bigger baby; I'd guess it's in the 12-18 month range, but at least it wasn't too small. And I'm not ready to make a smaller size yet. Lucas will just have to cuff up his sleeves for a while.

I finished off Lucas' tshirt with an 'L' and then continued on my streak and sewed another one for Lily.


Usually when making gifts for friends, I wait until I give them the gift before blogging about it. I thought it would be neat doing it the other way around this time. I had already told Emily of my plan to sew Lucas the shirt and that I was have "trouble". So it's no surprise a tshirt is on its way. Now we can look forward to our next playdate where we may force the kids to wear their shirts so we can take pictures and be "those" moms. Maybe we can get them to hold hands...

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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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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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