Garden Fun, Peach Oven Pancake and Quiet Nights

Not too long ago, Alex and I had the habit of grazing all day on snacks and having a big dinner. We cut that out recently though in favour of having brunch and dinner without snacking. We haven't been able to figure out what we enjoy snacking on that isn't processed so we're pretty much giving that up altogether. This means I am getting lots of experience with my Breakfast Comforts cookbook! This morning I made a Peach and Almond Oven Pancake. It was SO DELICIOUS!!! The pancake itself is cooked in the oven and the peaches are cooked in a pan with brown sugar and butter. The pancake reminds me a bit of Yorkshire pudding, it's quite eggy and it was a new experience for us. I think the next one I'll make will be with pecans and strawberries. It looks small but it's quite big, 4 hardy slices, so we have some for tomorrow's brunch too.

I had some fun in my garden today. As you can see, "tomato land" was turning into a jungle. With two pots of garden peas, there were 12 containers in there. I took them out to prune, cage and separate, so they should do a bit better now.

Now they are in two separate areas. I put the Romas and peas next to the pumpkin patch, the regular tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are still in tomato land. I also put my lemon tree in tomato land, it's doing quite well with 4 big lemons that will hopefully turn yellow this season!

Speaking of the pumpkin patch...this is my experiment so I won't be upset if nothing happens. Having said that, I'm happy to report that the plants in the foreground are already flowering! Those are the ones I transplanted. The seeds I planted directly into the hills aren't doing so well. Only one of them grew (the little plant in the background). Funny huh? Everywhere I read and every video I watched said that pumpkins do not like being transplanted, yet they are thriving!

My "garbage bin" potatoes are thriving too. I added more earth to keep them growing well and plentiful. I'll add as much as I can as they grow, but the bins are nearly full at this point!

Despite the hot/cold weather this month, everything else is doing well. My second pot of lettuce is nearly ready to be picked and I planted 4 more pots. We realize that the Buttercrunch lettuce is our favourite crop, so I want to make sure we'll always have a good supply from now on. Every week I'll plant a new pot. I'm finding it very difficult making myself buy grocery store lettuce at this point!

My flowers are taking forever to grow though, they definitely need more sunny days like today. Our house guest Pavlov (running from Charlie) is having a ball. It's like he's on vacation up north! Why does Jack always look so sad in my photos? The other dogs are running around having fun and he's always focused on me and what I'm doing...aww, he's my little mama's boy lol...I can't even express how much these dogs mean to us!

Alex threw the ball into the little kiddie doggie pool and Jack sunk his face under to get it. I counted and he kept his face under there a good ten seconds! He's a water dog by ancestry, part pointer, part hound! :) At least that's what we think from looking at photos. He hates to get wet though, go figure.

These are my green beans, yellow beans and cukes...doing well also. I took advantage of the sunny morning to do my gardening and plant more herbs and lettuce. Now Alex and I are hibernating indoors because today is Quebec's national holiday and it's getting loud out there with tourists and bad french cover bands. There will be fireworks tonight so I'm preparing dog rescue remedy and some passionflower for Marlene. No offence to any francophones out there, but in all honesty, English people are the minority here and that's how we are typically treated. Montreal is more cultural but once you leave the cities, you're not too welcome if you speak English because it's associated with being Canadian - most Quebecers resent anything Canadian. Anyway...suffice to say we ARE NOT into the french thing so we prefer to just hang out indoors and watch movies this weekend.

But weeknights are still nice and quiet around here! Last night we treated ourselves to a cheese plate with some port and wine on the veranda. It was dark by the time we got around to dinner, and Alex had lit all the candles. It was so nice!

Here's a photo with the flash on. We found some really stinky Brie that is so delicious! And that heart-shaped cheese is a cheddar from England, so yummy! Alex and I try to be as frugal as possible since our dream is to purchase land and a home in a few years. But we also value the importance of enjoying each day. We don't go out much, we don't spend lots of money on clothes or vacations or "toys", so we treat ourselves to good food. It's important to keep your eye on the future, but to also enjoy each day as well, because we just never know what tomorrow will bring do we? :)

I hope everyone is having a great summer thus far, enjoying the garden and not working too hard!

Summer Solstice! My Porch Is Now Complete! :))

Necessity is the mother of invention isn't it? :) Alex found a way to fix the love seat so it fits on the porch! He had to take one of the arm rests off. Problem was, it was holding up the bottom so he built a wood box to sit under the side against the wall so that I'd be safe up there. The back wasn't the same size as the front...and of course, our porch floor is NOT level, so it took some work. But he did it! It's sturdy and oh so comfy!

And I can fit up there with TWO dogs!!! Alex has to wait his turn. :) Actually I can move the pillows around and use it as a day bed facing the yard with Jack at my feet while the big dogs are in the yard. We were so glad he found a solution without having to alter the love seat. We want to be able to use it with both arm rests in the future.

Of course, we had to celebrate the completion of the cozy porch with a cocktail! :) We had our own favourite Old Fashioned's on the new love seat with all the dogs around us. We'd love to let the cats out, but we know they'd scratch the screen to bits. The secret ingredient in these Old Fashioned's is "Rain's Simple Syrup". You might notice no link to that....it's a secret and I'll take it to the grave!!! ;)

As a thank you, I made Alex one of his favourite brunches, Ham and Swiss Cheese Quiche. What a treat for both of us! :) 

Happy Summer Solstice!!!  For me, this day is called Midsummer...midway between Spring planting and Fall harvest. It's also a day I'm celebrating the bounty of the first harvest of the season. I'm so grateful for my garden and the lovely food it's already given to me! :) Today's holiday is a fire festival celebrating the Sun, so if the rain stops, a camp fire will be on the agenda...if not, I'll be lighting candles and we'll be sitting out on the porch to enjoy the evening and Nature all around us. :)

Minor Injury

Thumbs Up! :) It's amazing how useful this little digit is...last week, I suffered a dog-related sprain to the tip of my thumb joint - imagine a bend that just shouldn't bend that way! Shudder! The Arnica gel is invaluable. Even though I'll be out of commission for 2-6 weeks, I'm learning how to make do without my left thumb - which surprisingly I USE A LOT!!! As my blogger friend Sam I Am says, onward and upwards! She's having some aches and pains too but her attitude is always so positive.

Last night I made my Chicken Saltimbocca with boiled potatoes. Everything is taking me a little longer with my gimpy thumb, but I'm giving myself a break. It's too easy to get frustrated! We discovered an amazing taste last night. The Saltimbocca calls for a white wine reduction to drizzle on top. We didn't reduce it completely but poured it over the taters...taste sensation! And this is the last of my first crop of Buttercrunch lettuce! My second pot is nearly ready to pick and the next sunny day I need to plant some more.

I got this in the mail yesterday. I have an ice cream maker that basically collects dust at the moment. Alex ordered it for me last week, comfort sweet food on the way! :) We love to buy used books online, we spend maybe up to $15 a month each surprising each other with a book. It's an inexpensive way to treat each other and most of the time, the books are like new.

On Sunday we found my cozy love seat for the porch! :) After assembling it we realized it was 2 inches too wide for the space, always an issue in this rental. I measured the width of the porch, but everything is built so crooked here that the end where I wanted to put this love seat is not the same measurement as anywhere else on the porch, grrr. Anyway, Alex is going to come up with a solution today to make it fit. We may have to take off one of the arms, but he has a good idea. I can't wait to lounge on it! :)

Our days are filled with enjoying our pets and our canine guest; taking care of the yard, cooking, eating, napping in the hammock and watching movies! With the occasional work time for Alex :) It's rainy but muggy. The black flies are nearly gone for the season (yay!) but the mosquitoes are out now. They're a bit easier to handle! I'll have a garden update by the weekend! :)

Dogs and Peepers

Plenty of room for everyone! The pack is doing so well. :) Here is a bird's eye view of the 3 big dogs snoozing from my (not so comfy) lounge chair on my little porch. I'm in the process of shopping for a better seating situation. I'm out here so much that I need a wee bit more comfort. I had a wonderful porch swing that we hung up, but after 9 summers of use, it broke last year. 

Mr. Jack likes to stay indoors on the couch under a blanket. He'll scratch at the door once in a while to check on things, but overall he's an indoor dog!

This little fella is a spring peeper. He (with his many buddies) is responsible for the lovely "peep peep peep" sound we hear every spring. It's such a wonderful sound, and I often fall asleep to it! He is a "chorus frog" and when you hear his chirp it signals (without fail!) the beginning of spring, but we hear them all the way until the crickets take over in July.

The garden is progressing, I'm seeing more and more growth and it makes me happy! The weather, frankly sucks. It's not very hot though I'm grateful for sunshine. This weekend calls for rain and highs in the mid-teens, oh well - on the bright side, it'll keep the weekenders away. I still have high hopes for July and August showing me summer weather!!

We're Crazy, But In A Good Way! :)

Well, before I get to the craziness, I wanted to show you guys some garden pride! We ate our first radishes and really liked them! They were a little peppery at the finish for our digestions so we probably won't plant them again, but we're so glad we tried them! :) We've been eating fresh lettuce and spinach salads almost daily now, I have to plant some more to keep up.

I also picked lilacs to make a lilac simple syrup so I can make the lilac lemonade. The time frame to get these nice and fresh isn't long! I'll let you know how it turned out, the syrup is in the fridge (hopefully) thickening.

I got the finishing touches done on my porch. Sheers on one side for privacy, those will stay there until winter. Also, I put up removable white curtains to shield me from the sun so I don't bake! I didn't want to cover everything up so I still had a view of the yard and the dogs.

The happy couple! :) Alex and I went for a walk while the car was at the mechanic. The alternator is replaced and the car is running like butter! :)  Our mechanic is wonderful and we trust him completely. He said he heard a little...."fart" (translating from his French!) in our muffler, so we'll have to get that looked at next oil change. He said it was nothing urgent and we trust him. There are trails everywhere around here and it was a nice walk by the river. We decided on some alone time before the craziness began!

You may note that there are FOUR dogs here...I'd LOVE to say we adopted another one, but we're just babysitting for a friend. He just moved back from overseas and asked if we could babysit his little border collie/mix Pavlov until he found an apartment. Looks like Pavlov will be with us for about a month or so. He's such a timid and affectionate sweetie pie, fits right in!

This is Alex giving out treats. Four dogs and three cats. I'm loving this! Pavlov fits perfectly into the pack and everyone is getting along swimmingly, no fights! :) We're fortunate to be able to stay home 24/7. Since Alex works from home, we can spend most of our time with the pets and they all have a pretty good life here. :)

After a long day, four sleepy pups on OUR bed. There's just enough room for us to squeeze in at the top of the bed, lol. For us, this is slightly crazy. We already have our plates full with 6 pets. Our friend actually has 2 dogs, but he found another babysitter for his other one. But we both would have loved to babysit both his dogs. We're not the types who make the pets stay down, they can be up on the beds, couches...wherever they want because they are our family...our vacuum is getting a good workout!

When our friend came over, we had dinner on the veranda. I made homemade coleslaw, burgers and chicken burgers and homemade hamburger buns, Joyce's recipe from Octoberfarm. They turned out amazing, thanks again Joyce! We toasted the buns and grilled the burgers...a little cheddar, Blue cheese, fresh picked lettuce and some tomatoes and it was a perfect summer dinner!

We really thought we'd be up all night babysitting and separating dogs from dogs and dogs from cats, but to our surprise, we've had no issues. So we were able to make some cocktails and spend some time in bed watching movies. Alex had ginger ale with limoncello and I had mango soda with some spiced rum. I caught myself thinking that another dog would be a great addition to our fur family lol...but Pavlov is taken!  We'll wait until we own our property before adopting more pets though!

Black Fly Bite Count: At least 25 now, with two on my right temple, sigh...so itchy...now the mosquitoes are out...eegad they are bad this year! I tried a baking soda paste and it actually took the itch away for a bit. Aloe is helping too. Coconut oil helps with healing but it doesn't take the itch away... I'm tempted to put on the hydrocortisone cream...it might be my last resort. I don't like using it too much but desperate times call for desperate measures!!!  :)

Upstairs Veranda

I've blogged about my porch a lot because it's my sanctuary and it's a source of pride for me! :) We are lucky in this rental, the master bedroom has a balcony off one side. It's not very big, but a few years back, Alex started to make it HIS sanctuary. He screened it in and put up his hammocks...made it into a kind of nautical decor too. This is one end of it. We actually got that hammock at a thrift shop for less than a dollar, it's priceless! We both can fit on it and in the summer, it's just wonderfully romantic with the candles lit and the frogs chirping! :)

This is the other side, we have a small bar outside too so we can have a drink if we want to. I don't know that we'll be this lucky with the place we buy in a few years, but the notion of us each having a screened in area of our own (and to share!) is something we want! To differentiate, we call mine the porch and his the veranda.

I think that it's nice that we each have our own space to enjoy the outdoors, bug-free. We love spending time together, but alone-time is very healthy too and we both appreciate it. It works. Today it's so hot out and Alex is up on his hammock reading a book and I'm here on my porch with the dogs catching up on blogs and recipes!

The only drawback to his veranda is that it's in the front of the house and it's a bit less private than my porch. So yesterday we put up some sheer curtains and it gives the area so much more privacy! He'd also built a fold-able table so we could have meals together up there. The spaces here aren't very big, but we're making the best of them! Last night for dinner we ate on the veranda. :) We made Brie and ham sandwiches on ciabatta bread with fries and herbal iced tea. During the week, it's quiet after 6pm in this village so we like to take advantage. It was so relaxing having dinner, listening to the birds and watching the sun set. No technology needed! :)

Our "candle" area really is a cat shelf!!! Oscar and Leo LOVE being on the veranda. As I took this photo, they were eyeing our sandwiches. Our cats are house cats, we are just too paranoid about the dangers outside for them, so they spend most of their summers out here enjoying the "outdoors inside"!

It's a hot summer day here in the Laurentian mountains and I'm happy as a clam! We will try to do a little fishing this evening if we're not too tired. We're going to have another Cobb salad tonight with fresh lettuce. I'm also going to pick some spinach. I think that the radish is ready, so we'll try that too. I'm LOVING my garden and the beautiful summer weather! I am sending out all sorts of positive happy energy to everyone reading this!!!

PS: Black fly bite count:  16 and ITCHY!!!!

PPS: The car's alternator is shot...sigh...when it financially rains, it pours...now only if it would reverse and money would rain down ON ME for a change!!! What can you do? That's what emergency funds are for!!! But do you ever feel like you just can't catch up?

All Seeds Planted! My Very First Lettuce Harvest :)

June the 3rd was the day I finished planting all of my seeds! My garden is now done and it's all up to the weather now.

This is "Green bean, yellow bean and cucumber land"; and I planted more cilantro since we are nearly finished the one pot I started in April, it goes fast!

This area will be the Moon Garden. It's fenced really well because Morning Glories are toxic to animals and we have curious pups. I colour-coded the labels, the blue labels are for the Moon Garden; and the pink ones will eventually be up on the porch, various pretty flowers to see and smell. :) I'm very excited about the Moon Garden, I've never done something like that before and I chose flowers that would look nice during the day and Moonflower that blooms at night. I also chose Blue Fescue ornamental grass because it shines silver at night too. I would love to find time to add some fairy garden elements to this area too!

By the bird feeder, I planted my butterfly and bird pollinator flower mix; and in two other pots I planted the beneficial insect pollinator flower mix (not sure where they will live yet though). And wouldn't you know it? More chicken wire! :)

Now that everything is planted and safe from the critters, I can kind of take a bit of a break, at least from planting! :) Yesterday was mowing and weed-whacking day. Today it's supposed to pour rain again, so the neglected housework should will finally get done!

I LOVE this photo and the fact that I'm already enjoying the garden! This is my parsley, chives and the lettuce I'd planted in my window on April 29th. This is my first ever harvest of homegrown lettuce! It took me nearly 50 years to figure out that gardening is fulfilling, fun, healthy and delicious! :) Better late than never I guess! :-o

For dinner on Saturday, I made a Cobb Salad with Worcestershire and Dijon Vinaigrette from my "Salad" cookbook that Alex got me last week. I made the salad and he made the dressing. The entire meal was delicious and we enjoyed our homegrown greens so much! I have to make sure we always have a steady supply of lettuce going because we do eat a lot of it now.

This is my plate minus the eggs which I can't handle too often anymore! The original recipe called for watercress which I didn't have; and avocado which would put us both in the hospital so they were omitted. The recipe calls for a Blue cheese and I also added some goat cheese. It was so good and satisfying!

It's still pretty cold out, but I think that spring was a month late in the Laurentians and it's finally here. Maybe in July summer will start! :)

Just A Little Food Post

Life is pretty good lately! Alex is healthy again, and we are both pretty much on the same sleeping schedule, which means that things are flowing much better! We're still trying to eat only REAL food now and we're doing a great job at it! Last night I made shrimp fajitas. Our old style of fajita was made with Old El Paso taco mix, bottled salsa, dollops of sour cream and loads of "cheddar" cheese, which we now call "cheese product" lol...Last night I made a little salsa with tomatoes, corn, our own cilantro and chives and some oil and balsamic vinegar. I started the recipe for refried beans, but we decided not to mash them. It was such a nice fresh meal! I can't wait to pick our own tomatoes and lettuce though! I have to say, I do miss all the melty cheesy stuff...but that's okay, this is yummy too!

This was the first morning in over a month that we woke up together! We walked the dogs in the woods, did some chores and had a big brunch. It's my version of an "Egg McMuffin" I guess. English muffins with bacon, poached egg, roasted tomato and a very tiny bit of Old Amsterdam cheese. I also made my fricassee potatoes (onions and potatoes cooked with some butter for about 30 minutes)...it was so good and very filling. The only non-real food in this photo is the English muffin - anyone have a good easy recipe I can try?

There is a little break in the clouds and I'm seeing sunshine!!! Out I go to finish my planting, hopefully the bugs don't get me first!!! :)

Chicken Wire Everywhere

There was a little bit of sun yesterday so I decided to do a little more planting. Next to my pumpkin patch, I planted 2 pots of ground cherries, 2 pots of strawberries, 2 pots of chamomile and a pot of orange peppers. I ran out of lattice so I had to just cover them up with loose chicken wire to keep them safe. Last night it went down to 4 degrees, sigh, so they had poly tarp over them too. I hope the cold doesn't kill them.

Look at my lettuce! It's growing really well, I have had so much going on lately, I have to see what size this one goes to so I don't pick it too early! I also planted some garlic chives and onion chives, the seed packs said they need dark, moist and warm so I put a cover over them until they germinate.

And I got my potatoes planted! :) I was going to plant them in my winter tires, since my plan was to buy new ones in the fall, but I got nervous. I came down with a big case of the "what if's"! What if there is a vet emergency and I don't have the money? What if there is another big and necessary expense and I can't buy tires? I'm not the type who has a thousand dollars lying around, so I opted to store the tires as a just in case, with my original plan to buy new studded winter tires anyway. I'll use the old tires next year! Instead I got 2 large garbage bins at Canadian Tire.

They are now protected and living next to my carrots, beets and radishes right in front of the pumpkin patch. I have to say I'm kind of sick of my puncture wounds from the chicken wire, but with my budget, it's all I can do to protect my plants! I still have green and yellow beans, cucumbers and my flowers to plant the next sunny day!

**I just spent two scary days formatting my computer. I kept getting bad error messages and nearly lost everything. I'm usually very diligent about backing up my files and photos etc...but with the last few weeks being so hectic, I neglected it. Wrong timing. I lost some things, but thankfully can recover them with a software I had from my previous laptop. My computer is so FAST now! :) Just a reminder...back up your stuff!!!**

Pumpkins and Pizza

My post title sounds familiar...I'm sure I've written about pumpkins and pizza before in the same post! We haven't had pizza in a few weeks so we thought we'd really test our digestion. It's all REAL food on these pizzas. No more grocery store "cheese" for us! The first pizza was a Margarita with fresh Mozzarella, olives and basil. I'll admit I overdid it on the cheese. Next time I'll use a lot less, it doesn't need as much as the fake cheese for flavour and texture that's for sure! The second was simply apricot jam with some Blue cheese and Parm. Deee-licious! And we digested just fine. Phewf!

Alex made a little side salad of spinach, tomatoes and corn with some of the Blue cheese, Balsamic and oil. I have to go shopping today, our fridge is nearly bare again! Shopping day is much different this time around. There will be no processed foods whatsoever in my cart. It'll be a financial challenge I think. And I may have to go back to bi-weekly shopping for a while since most of the food will be fresh with no preservatives. Sigh...I loved that monthly shopping trip, it made life so much easier, but health beats convenience any day.

So onto the pumpkins! Our weather is so cold this year...last summer we had hot days and mild nights. So far this year it's mostly rainy days, but if we're lucky, a few sunny days with temperatures anywhere from 14 to 20 (57-68 F); and nights from 8 to 14 (46-57 F)...so I had a dilemna about transplanting my huge pumpkin plants. I know they love hot weather and warm soil. So after debating, and some great advice and encouragement from Mama Pea (thank you again! BIG hugs!)...I went for it! I built my pumpkin patch. Half is the seedling plants and the other half has new seeds. As is my new custom, it's fenced in with chicken wire on top...

...and just to be safe, poly tarp for colder days and nights. I put the same tarp over tomato and pea land and they are doing so well. I just have one of the nineteen tomato plants that is wilting a bit, but everything has transplanted nicely! Now the only thing left for the pumpkin patch is my symbolic scare crow! :) I used up the last of the free lattice boards that the lumber yard gave away last year, I had just enough thankfully. I still need to build a few little fences, but I'll have to see what we have in our own lumber pile for that.

Question: Should the poly tarp come all the way to the ground?

I tried to plant more seeds directly into my pots yesterday, but the swarming biting black flies defeated me. I couldn't take it anymore, even though I wore a head net and proper clothes. I think I have a dozen bites on me, grrr...I finally gave in and put on some DEET spray (I know, it's highly toxic...but the only thing that works). They stopped biting, but swarmed incessantly...so grosse! Nothing like being batted endlessly by icky swarming bugs...But the rain started so it wasn't meant to be anyway. The next sunny day, I'll be planting more seeds, I have a lot of veggies left to seed plus all of my flowers too.

I think that this weather is challenging for any gardener. I'm finding that the challenge is making me more creative and do more research, so I think it's the perfect weather for my first attempt at having a full garden.