Liam had a day off he had to use up this month so he took monday off. We spent the day at Humber nurseries scaring up a few last plant purchases - yellow strawberries, chocolate mint (yay!) and pink champagne geraniums - they have pretty hot pink flowers and give off a citrusy perfume - very much like pink champagne! It is the girliest flower of all time, and I am in love with it.
To start the day off right, I made a fancy breakfast - not something I do very often. I do dinner, but I don’t really do breakfast. We usually grab some toast or cereal and that’s about it.
But I had come across some dutch “pain d’epice” in the grocery store tucked in a shelf between the cookie and the cracker section. Pain d’epice is normally a french - and specifically alsacean food - it’s a spice laden honey cake. It smelled really good - like rich gingerbread, so I decided to give it a try.
When we got it home we realized it was a little dry and lacking on it’s own - but I had a brainstorm. I had recently seen Nigella whip up a donut french bread.
Hrmmm…
What could be better than spicy donut french bread?
And instead of strawberry sauce, how ’bout some spicy apples, since we got some nice organic ones in our food box?
Well, it seems my instincts were good that day, because Liam has proclaimed it the best thing I have ever made, and that he would like it every day, at each and every meal (which is not gonna happen unless we want to weight 300 pounds each!).
Pan D’Epice French Toast
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 8 1 cm thick slices of pain d’epice or other spice loaf or cake
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon icing sugar mixed with a pinch of cinnamon (garnish)
- whisk the milk eggs and vanilla in a small shallow dish
- dredge the bread/cake in the eggy mixture
- heat the butter and the oil on a medium heat in a frying pan until they are gently sizzling
- fry up the eggy bread in the frying pan until it is cooked and crispy
- garnish with the sugar mixture sprinkled on top, and a dollop of spicy apples
Quick and Spicy Apple Sauce
- 2 apples (peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks)
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed into 1/2 cup of water
- more sugar and cinnamon to taste
- heat the butter in a small sauce pan until it is melted and gently sizzling
- add the apples and sugar to the pot and saute until the sugar melts and the apples start to soften
- add the cinnamon and the cornstarch slurry and continue to cook until the apples are softened and the sauce has thickened
- add more sugar and cinnamon if you feel like it needs to be sweeter and/or spicier
This colour co-ordination happened mostly by accident.
Although (as lame as I know it is to be matchy-matchy in this day and age) it makes me kinda happy when my wellies match my clutch, if you know what I’m saying (who do I think I am, the queen?).
By the way, this picture also pretty much encapsulates everything I love about spring.
My living room and bedroom are more or less in line, and my obsessive curation of excellent/pretty/functional kitchen supplies means my kitchen is pretty rockin’ - if a little overstocked.
Next up is the bathroom.
At the moment, my towels are mismatched and the theme could best be described as Hello Kitty meets pastel polka dots… Yeah, not so much an adult’s bathroom.
I’ve been thinking about putting some intensely coloured venetian plaster on one wall because the plaster there is kinda cracked - so it’s two birds one stone.
Then I was in Chinatown looking for sushi plates (we make it enough now that it seemed an legitimate expense) and we came across those super-pretty Japanese bowls that are indigo and white and have pretty little patterns all over them. Now we’re getting somewhere!
Through these inspirations, I have come up with a small, inexpensive plan that could best be described as jewel toned, rustic Japanese.
- persimmon coloured, burnished, venetian-plaster on one wall (hopefully it will look organic and not too much like a tacky faux finish)
- indigo and white shibori shower curtain (shibori is Japanese for tie-dye - but it’s much more sophisticated and graphic than normal, hippy-dippy tie-dye - although it will involve a bit of DIY craftiness)
- indigo and white Japanese decorative bowls and trays and things (basically, repurposed sushi plates - because you know how much I love repurposing). The patterns on this type of porcelain often seems to mimic the patterns on the shibori, which I think is pretty neat.
- some sort of window treatment so people on the deck don’t get a view of the goings on in there (probably also shibori)
- some kind of Japanese inspired art - that isn’t cliched or tacky (so no tsunami woodblock print - probably some kind of illustration by yours truly)
- find some kind of shelving unit that will fit the only available storage space there is - above the toilet.
- no bathmats, because for some reason our cats like to pee on them (it’s actually quite sad how many of our decorating decisions revolve around cats)
Well! I’ve finally started on my garden!
That’s right, no more dreams and promises, this thing is becoming a reality!
I’ve got a packet of beautiful mixed heirloom tomatoes started on my south-facing windowsill - although I’m worried that it might be a little late for them, so I’ll probably have to supplement my garden with a store-bought plant or two. There are also about a dozen other little paper envelopes sitting on the shelf patiently awaiting May 9th (that’s the frost date around here, if you don’t know).
I also got started on my little bathroom window box (as seen above). It faces the deck, so it’s easy to get to.
I saved up tomato cans all winter (I use them a lot, so it wasn’t too hard) and then I nailed holes in the bottom (this is very important - plants need drainage) and spray-painted them that pretty colour. Then I put herbs in three (golden oregano, golden sage, and lemon thyme) and miniature black pansies in the two remaining cans.
Altogether it cost me around 10 bucks, and it worked out so well, I dumpster dived some oversized spaghetti sauce cans from a nearby market, and I’m going to turn them into planters too! You have to love a project that’s quick, easy, cheap (free!) and recycles.
I’m glad eating colourful food is pretty much the healthiest way to eat, ’cause man have I got that down.
What you see here are local, organic, red onions (although really, purple is a more accurate description) some cherry-red cherry tomatoes and local, organic, RAINBOW CARROTS (they are green and yellow and orange and oh-so pretty)!!! The carrots and onions came in our Organic food box, just in case you were wondering how that turned out (pretty well, all though we still have a few kinks regarding ordering that we have to work out).
And in case you were wondering about how our garden is growing, it’s growing pretty well. This weekend we took a trip to ikea for some patio furniture and then we had a talk with our downstairs neighbor about how to split up the veggie plot.
Next up I think we need to grab some seeds and start sprouting them.
I see neon coloured swiss chard and sweet little strawberries in my future. I also see some home made rhubarb pies - there is already some pink stalks poking up in one corner of the garden and I am SOOOO excited. We love us some rhubarb around here, and I haven’t had fresh stuff in a really, really long time.
Yet another reason to be our friend: we throw really elaborate parties, even if it’s just for a person or so.
Last weekend we had a bit of a sushi blowout. We also invented a new flavour: asian pear! It’s really good in sushi - a beautifully sweet little crunchy-crunch in the middle of the tangy roll. We watched anime (Tekkonkinkreet - really good!), drank (pink!) sake and had organic miso soup with udon floating around in it - and also had strawberry bubble tea (which isn’t Japanese, but I sorta think it’s perfect with sushi anyways).
Our theory is that it’s cheaper and more fun to do this at home than go out.
And it is.