Manic Monday

After a busy Monday lets just have a quick reflection on the more relaxing aspects of my weekend...long, lazy, delicious dinners.

Not only did I celebrate Thanksgiving on behalf of my American heritage and fully enjoyed all the usual dishes that accompany the holiday, but I also had a wonderful fall meal with some of my best amis.

Sirloin with red wine and shallot sauce, cheesy risotto and roasted vegetables, with Chocolate Apple Rum cake for dessert. After all that gluttony I am feeling rather sleepy today, and to think, it is only the start of the holiday season! I'm in trouble!

Flying Solo - Week Seventeen

Happy Friday mes amis!

This week I thought I'd wrap things up with a visual display of how I've been spending my Wednesdays. For the past 3 weeks my parents and I have been baking cookies... LOTS of cookies.

Admittedly one of the best parts of not working a regular 9-5 job is the freedom to do stuff like this. We've made some great headway on the "Fill the Freezer with Cookies 2010" campaign. It may look like a lot (and ok it is) but guaranteed they will be gone before New Year's Eve! Here's some of the highlights so far:

Taralli with their sugar dusting

Pizelle in the iron

Fruits of Patience

Taralli's yummy filling - grape reduction, chocolate and nuts

Fill that Freezer!

Nallah's full just thinking about all these cookies

Have a great weekend everyone!
Spend some quality time with the people you love!
xo

Holiday Couch Favorites

November has just flown by and usually I don't allow myself to get in to full Christmas mode until Devember 1st, but the extra chill in the air and all those white flakes comind down from the sky here in Vancouver has me thinking of all the things I love during the holidays. From all the food to the decorating, the festive gatherings and the classic carols, and not to mention those holiday films that year after year never fail to put a smile on your face. What are your go-to holiday movies?

In no particular order, here are some of mine....

Love Actually - ask any woman and it is probably on their list, it is just so good in so many ways

The Family Stone - I have always liked big ensemble casts, and this has a great one, it reminds me of all those big family gatherings and the chaos that ensues.

The Muppet Christmas Carol - So I have a confession to make, I love the Muppets! Always have and always will. Their take on this classic story is priceless.

The Lord of the Rings - Yeah, not a choice you would be expecting, but my brother and I use to spend the time on Christmas Day between opening presents in the morning and dinner in the evening just laying on the couch watching endlees hours of action, so now I always have a nostalgia for these movies around Christmas.

Home Alone - Do I even need to explain why?!

Holiday Wish List

A couple people (i.e. my sister) have been bugging me for ideas for birthday and holiday gifts for me. Apparently I'm "hard to shop for". Do you get that too?

Firstly let me state openly and truly - no gifts are necessary! But if you feel super compelled, and just to make it easier on the people I love - I declare this year The Year of the Gift Cards!

I could use some pretty tops - but instead of fretting over the shelves a g.c. to Aritizia or Plenty would hit the spot! (Pictured tops above are all from Aritizia)

My must read book list is growing too - again a g.c. to Chapters or Amazon.com is another simple winner that I'd put to good use.

Gifts are fun but mostly I love the time we all get to spend together around the holidays. Don't fret, keep it simple and thanks for the thought!

PS What's on your wish list this year?

Scotch, scotchy, scotch, scotch…Hopscotch!

So turns out, I really don’t love scotchy, scotch, scotch…but at least I gave it a try! And luckily there were a lot of other things to taste at the 2010 Hopscotch Festival that took place this past weekend at the Rocky Mountaineer Station. Hopscotch is the annual Scotch, Whisky and Beer festival in Vancouver and has proven to be the largest combined Whisky and Beer festival across all of Canada.

There is so much to taste from 300 year old Scotch, organic Vodka and fruit flavoured beer. My personal favorites were two Belgium beers. Fruli , a Belgian White Strawberry Beer, a gold medal winner of Britain’s Food and Drink Expo 2004, is a light, all – natural white beer if a truly delicious Strawberry flavor. Also, Delirium Tremens, elected as the best beer in the world! A light beer with a kick being 8.5% alcohol. Plus, the pink elephant icon is too cute.

Jen Being Random & Flying Solo Week Sixteen!

Hi Everybody, 

It's the weekend & I'm happy to share another video post with you. Hope you enjoy it! The amis and I are heading to "HopScotch" tonight - a beer and spirits tasting festival. Mmm yummy and dangerous. We'll tell you more about it next week.

Bon Weekend!

xo

Dream a little dream

Ummmm….so….yeaaaaah… I am in love! With these little dream retreats. You know I like to read a lot right, how perfect would it be if I could curl up in this ah-mazing renovated cottage (Sandra Foster did it all herself for $3,000) and these Rest Nests with a pile of my favorite reads and make them my own secret escape. I mean I am speechless and incredibly jealous.

Sigh…a girl can dream.

Images via Dedon and New York Times