Champagne Birthday

This Wednesday Taylor and I ventured back to Toronto for Shaunas’ birthday dinner! We had some time before dinner so I made her come with me to St Joseph media where a gift bag full of goodies were waiting for me as a thank you for an event I volunteered for. Queen street east and west are not as close as you would think.

Dinner was at La Carnita. I was obsessed with the food, so much so I made Jon promise we would go back on Friday! Sadly when getting ready to go I decided best to check if they were open for lunch and of course they only opened at 5 pm (I worked at 4:30). So we went to El Catrin in the distillery because they serve similar food.

I loved Shauna’s gift and it was fun to buy. I love using a real bag instead of a gift bag and writing in a book instead of a card!  The fact that everything was color coordinated was just the cherry on top. Happy Birthday love, I hope the day was amazing.

Typi(K)al

Necklace from Aldo, I'm in love

Shauna's Birthday Goodies, Necklace from Aldo, everything else from Chapters 

No card needed here

These lights are on my DIY list for a room at my house

Birthday Girl, 23 on the 23rd 

E

Come on, French it Upppp

What TV show is my title from? If you know it we can be best friends.

Emma left for France at the end of June and with three weeks until the rest of our family joins her, I have discovered a new dessert that I love making, Crème Brûlée. I was using a recipe from youtube by Dishin' with Di.  Burning sugar with fire is so much fun and the recipe is easy to make and tastes delicious. I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and purchased a starter kit for 14.99 it came with the torch and 4 oven safe dishes. What I didn’t buy was the fuel for the small torch so I had to improvise with a plumber’s torch (not very dainty).

The most important thing I found out was the importance of letting them cool, otherwise you are serving warm pudding, which Nathan, Robin and Taylor did not seem to mind.

Finally, I went back to Bed, Bath and Beyond to purchase the fuel and while I was there I found little metal dishes for a dollar each. I decided I was going to make them for my Dad’s annual canoe trip. This is no ordinary camping trip he is a fantastic cook and prepares gourmet camp meals for his buddies. Rumor has it they loved my Crème Brûlée, obviously.

This is our relationship at the moment

I have dainty wrist therefore could not hold the torch myself

Papa Bear loved it but he is lactose intolerant so his stomach was pretty upset after. On a side not I did end up using lactose free cream for his camping trip and there consistency was just as good as the ones with lactose for all you with special dietary requirements 

Taste tester 

My beautiful babies glistening with sugar. Stunning. 

Carte postale envoyé par ma pretite soeur  

Final thoughts: Dessert is the best meal.

E

Saint Lawrence Market

Now that I am back in Guelph and out of Toronto every time we go to Toronto we have to make the most of it. I went to the saint Lawrence Market with Taylor the week after we moved out.

Then my parents wanted to see what it was also about. I accidently spent 30 dollars on macaroons. I went up to the counter and said “one of every flavour please!” (Without asking how much they were its not my fault I assumed it was like a 10 for 10 of 10 for 15 kind of deal). What are you going to do, live and learn, or ask before you buy?  Im not going to lie the Atwater Market in Montreal is better and has a bit more variety. It also might have something to do with the city, Montreal for the win. 

Both days were beautiful and we took the go train from Aldershot and Mimico the second time. 

My favourite building and my favourite dad

Expensive but delicious

E

Birthday Boy

Never to old for a birthday party right!? It was Jordan's Birthday, Taylor's Boyfriend, and we all came together for the surprise. Taylor baked some delicious treats, including mini cheesecakes, can we just say, “YUMMMM”. Although most of us can handle our sangria the birthday boy was off to bed before the party was even over.  Surprise parties are the best despite being a lot of work for the person planning it. Taylor’s backyard is the perfect setting for many summertime hangouts.

G Frands

3 amigos

Happiness is

I do not enjoy taking pictures at night most them turned out like the ones below. Taylor and I want to take a photography course but they are so expensive! We are hoping to find someone who loves taking pictures so we can make the lesson more of a hang out and learn a little more about our cameras. 

Happy Birthday little J.

E.

Still Growing in Guelph

I love love love my backyard. This year there is so much going on back there. We planted a garden that is growing beautifully. The only downside is every week there are tons of weeds that we need to remove so they don’t take over. Its exhausting. Next year we are planning on putting hay down because midway through the season some gardeners were giving us tips. Not the be negative but where were you guys when we were starting this little adventure.

I hope everyone is getting time outside because it has been the perfect temperature!

Top: J crew (on sale) Bottom: Forever 21

Straight lines are everything

Zuchini are growing so well! 

Green peppers

The rabbits have been helping themselves to our lettuce but that's fine, there is a ton so we will share

Erika gardener extraordinaire

Just the Girls

Everyone should know this past Friday the Faults in Our Stars came out and if you do not shame on you! My bffl and fellow blogger Taylor had been bugging me for a couple years to read it and it took the commuting life for me to finally get around to it. The stone that I am did not cry as hard as the women around me, Emma's faucet (her nose) started about 30 minutes into the movie and didn’t stop again until we got to the subway while Shauna although beautiful put Oprahs’ ugly cry to shame. I shed some tears but I was not unaware to trek home and makeup of the night. When we left everyone’s eyes were red and looked exhausted, I am assuming from emotional drain. Overall, it was a great movie.

Prior to the sob fest of 2014, we picked up Shauna at work and made our way to Yorkville where we ate dinner at TrattoriaNervosa aka Café Nervosa aka the restaurant Beyonce ate at when she was here last summer. 

Enjoy the day visually below.

Source

We decided gaining 10 pounds each would be perfect for this shot

Kipling Station

Two beauties

Always E