Happy 2011!

Well we've not been writing much but that is not to say we have not been busy, and sick! We have taken a small but well deserved winter break from the blog but will soon have plenty to add. We're pretty happy about a number of recipes that we have tried out - some sweet - it was Christmas after all! and some savory. In the mean time bundle up - it's cold outside.

Winter in the capital

Cook ahead - snow is coming!

Don't be fooled by the nice weather - snow is on it's way. With snow comes the inevitable slow drive home. Here's our suggestion - take a couple hours on the weekend and prep some meals ahead of time and toss them in the freezer. Sounds easy enough everyone always says it so I put it to the test.

First I needed to come up with three different but tasty meals I'd want to eat after a long drive and also meals that the boys are going to like to. Yeah I'm saying 'I' as Charlene is away big game hunting or something so I'm flying solo and I think the plan has gone according to plan!

Ok first - the plan. Make brown bread - in the bread maker sorry not fancy this time. The bread was just because I felt like it and if timed properly bread and food should all be ready around the same time. Next on the menu - chicken stew, fish pie and spaghetti sauce.

Chicken stew - decided to do that in the croc pot - easy peasy. Took some chicken breasts cubed, carrots diced into chunks same with potatoes, chicken stock a little veg stock, red pepper - diced, some flour and the usual seasonings you'd expect. Why red pepper you ask? Cause I had one I wanted to use up. Remember it's stew - that's the idea. 'Cause I know I'll be up late I elected to cook it low heat for 7 hours - you can do it on high heat for 4 hours or so. The stew tastes superb - of course if you like stew it always does. Oh forgot to mention I only had one small boneless chicken breast, so I used two breasts bone in. Trimmed the chicken off of those but tossed the breast bone into the mix too (pull it out afterwards of course) but I'm guessing that's where the extra flavour came from - other than my prefect seasoning of course! Have fun play around combine a couple recipes into one and voila - a meal that is delicious and everyone will love.

Fish Pie - Those that read my blog about the fish pie know I wasn't happy with it - despite the rave reviews. They were rave so don't snicker. So, I tackled the fish pie next - I cubed the onion this time. I've posted this story before so I won't repeat it. I did however use cod and haddock this time. No peas so I used corn. This is where I mixed it up a bit. Before pouring on the white sauce I grated cheese over the fish then added the white sauce. If it tastes like it smells it's going to be brilliant.

Spaghetti sauce - there are a million recipes all claiming to be the best. Today I was looking for quick and easy. A little disappointed I didn't have any Italian sausage on hand - I wanted a little spice in there to give it some zing - so I tossed in a jalapeno instead for some bite. I took what I had in the fridge and cupboard and wanting to be different I elected to go for a smoother sauce than I'm accustomed to. I used the magic bullet on the sauce ingredients - except the hamburger of course. Whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, onions, celery, garlic, red pepper, jalapeno all blended up with the usual seasonings. End result a really smooth yummy sauce with just enough heat to warm you up on a winters night.

Sounds like a lot of work I hear the nay sayers moaning. Not so says I! Total time - stew 20 mins prep, fish pie - 25 mins prep and sauce 20 mins prep - 1 hour for enough food for easily 7 days of meals. Okay of course you have to cook it so yes there is cooking time as well. But really are you going to stand there and watch the croc pot and spaghetti sauce simmer?

The result three really tasty easy meals - nothing fancy here. Prep - cook - clean up time - start to finish - 2 1/2 hours - stew of course a bit longer. So, yes if you have a couple hours which most of us do if we pull ourselves away from the goggle box and Internet - you have half your cooking done for the next two weeks. Now I wonder does that mean I get to relax while Charlene cooks the other seven days? Probably not - in the words of Rumpole "She who must be obeyed" will find little humour in that!

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Prince Edward County - above and beyond

This blog is going to be a little long - well there is a lot to say: 800km in 29 hours, three vineyards, wine tasting, art shows and galleries, a local artist, hot house tomatoes, a great big apple, a gourmet meal and... well you get the idea. So to make it easy for you we've created a few new pages where you can get the rest of the story about the places below. It's miles of fun - we promise. We've also added the links to a number of the wonderful places we enjoyed so you can check them out for yourselves - you wont be disappointed!

Prologue - Before I jump too far into this blog I have to say that our experience and the people we met in PEC was absolutely phenomenal. It seemed that just about everyone we met were more than willing to take a moment to share their stories with us and listened to ours, it was truly tremendous. I want to thank the wonderful people you read about here for making us feel so welcome and for allowing us to share our experiences with them.

We left Ottawa 5pm Friday and after a quick top up at the Shell (got to get those airmiles!) we were on our way. Treated to rain and wet snow the drive to Cobourg was going to be miserable. A quick stop in Brockville. I think I've mentioned before that I love Brockville, but this was just a quick fuel stop - this time for us - Harveys. The drive was quiet with us both absorbing some sad news - Charlene drifted off into a light sleep and I plodded along through the driving rain mixed with pockets of wet snow. An ugly drive but, waiting for us was a warm home filled with family. So after 9 o'clock with glad tidings out of the way, birthday presents opened and the little ones tucked in bed it was time to turn our attention to our hosts and our plans for the next day. Before we knew it hours of chat drifted into hours of sleep and in a blink of an eye it seemed we were once again bidding farewell to Shawn and Gayle and three of their six kids.

First stop: The Big Apple - a quick pit stop to buy a pie. I've never been there before but that big red apple outside has been calling to me for literally a couple decades. Did we do the typical tourist thing and get our picture taken next to an enormous apple? Absolutely! Anyway, we bought a pumpkin pie - we're going to see how it stacks up to ours. Kyle our 7yr old is the ultimate connoisseur he will be the final judge on how good this pie is. No disrespect Big Apple but Kyle knows his pumpkin pie so if it comes down to a tie this kid is the swing vote!

Second stop: Stanners Vineyard - We roughly knew which vineyard we were going to visit, by chance we saw the Stanners Vineyard sign on the side of the Loyalist Highway. Without any discussion we did a U turn and were off down a twisty road that led us to the vineyard. Without a doubt this was the best decision we could have made. There we met Colin Stanner the proprietor. We could not have hoped for or planned better than to meet Colin and have Stanners Vineyard be our first port of call. Please see the wineries page for more on this wonderful vineyard.

Third stop: Black Prince Winery - Having had Stanners set the bar so high we expected a lot upon arriving at the Black Prince. The Black Prince has some fine wines many made from grapes bought from surrounding vineyards given they only have 10 acres of their own vines. This appears to be a commercially successful winery, along with a number of award winning wines. A good place to stop - see more on the wineries page.
There was an art exhibit on here as well in the Art Cellar where we also met local artist Brandy Gale - read more on the arts page .

Fourth stop: Cromato - an unexpected stop. But Charlene does love her tomatoes. This time no U turn required we knew we'd be passing by when we double backed. The place was completely vacant except for the trays and baskets of tomatoes, pots of basil, trays of strawberry plants growing. We are so glad we stopped - the tomatoes lived up to their claim best in the county. We loved this place not just for the tomatoes - please see the food page why this place stood out for us!

Fifth stop: Amelie Handpainted Silks - Again not really planning to stop but I had a good feeling and so did Charlene so yes another U turn, and we were so glad we did. Amelie Konning is simply delightful. I cannot say enough about her warmth and the generosity of sharing her knowledge, experience and time. Charlene was filled with inspiration after our visit. We could have spent hours there. If you ever find yourself around Bloomfield look for the 'open' sign in the window of her studio. Please read more on the arts page you'll see why Amelie is a treasure tucked on the shore of west lake.

Sixth stop: SideStreet Gallery - We probably would have stopped anyway but Amelie told us this would be a good place to stop. We looked around the main floor and were enjoying the art when it was suggested that we see the art exhibit upstairs. Wow, we were not disappointed, here we were greeted by gallery owner Paulette Greer and one of the featured artists David Greaves. This gallery had something for everyone. Charlene was enthused. Paulette who's spent the majority of her life in Wellington made us feel right at home - well more like this should be home. I haven't even mentioned Davids art yet. You have to read more on him on the arts page - because if you are thinking it's time to buy a piece of art you can stop looking.

Seventh stop: Chadseys Winery & Vinyard - Chadseys was on our to do list. Operated by Richard Johnston and Vida Zalnieriunas. It was the photograph of Richard lying across the bushels of grapes that caught my attention. Then after a short time browsing their website and reading their fun descriptions I knew this was a place to go. The place was busy - really busy - but Vida and Richard never made us feel rushed and we left there pretty content. They have a super barn that you can rent too - I think if we lived out that way it would be a terrific spot for music, dancing and of course some wine. Read more on the wine page.

Eighth stop: Funktional Art and Design - Owners Dean Munroe and Michael Deyell have also own a gallery called Fad. We met them both in their shop and they really made us feel welcome, even long after closing time. A great shop and filled with interesting art, glassware, jewellery - Charlene saw some nice stuff, and pottery - I liked the pottery wine cups. We found art from their gallery adorning the walls of the Carriage House too. We'd definitely go and visit the gallery next time, the shop too. We really enjoyed meeting them - see the art page.

Ninth and final stop: The Carriage House - We weren't really sure if we were going to do the County-licious dinner until Thursday. In short a number of PECs finest restaurants put out a gourmet three course meal for 30-35$ p/p. After a busy day we were both famished and really looking forward to our culinary experience. We both chose different meals so we could compare and taste each others dinners. Charlene I think had the better overall experience. The salmon was really tasty - see more on the food page.

Yes we really packed a lot into our day but we never rushed, we took it as it came and a lot came our way. We both left our final stop the Carriage House feeling a little pooped, but really content. As we started our drive home we saw a for sale sign and I know we both thought how nice it would be to sink into bed and wake up everyday in Prince Edward County. For the most part the drive home was quiet. Charlene after signing a few bars of a song drifted off into dreams of paints and canvases and the promise of encaustics, while I thought 'how the heck am I going to blog about all this!' We hope you enjoy our stories and more so we hope that you take the drive and enjoy Prince Edward County and meet some of the same wonderful people.

Whirlwind

If you've been following along you will know by now we are doing our second jaunt this weekend - and you can find all the details here and below. Tomorrow we are heading up to Coburg 'home of white sandy beaches'. Well it's a bit chilly for that but I'm sure they are lovely. We'll be stopping the night at Charlene's brothers place that he shares with his girlfriend and their lovely kids. We were going to do a B&B (bed and breakfast) but we snapped up their invite to stay there. It will be great to see them and there is a birthday girl that needs a present.
We are looking to head out early(ish) Saturday morning to Prince Edward County and are going to pack in a pretty full day. I think we're looking forward to it - we wanted to be more relaxed but I think we're both feeling a bit of pressure about cooking for our guests on Sunday. I know it will be fine and no doubt we will have hashed out our menu and the plan of attack on the way to Coburg. No doubt by the time Saturday rolls around we'll be stress free and will enjoy all that comes our way. Charlene will probably be tuckered out after putting up with me all day and pretend to be asleep on the ride home - just kidding - but I can go on a bit.
Look forward to sharing our pictures, stories, and experiences with you upon our return. Yes you have to wait until we get back - we're not mobile yet. By the way - if you don't get the feed through facebook you can also find us on Twitter! Till next time ciao.

The weekend is nigh

Well the days are getting colder and shorter . We're now deep into fall so before we're deep in snow we've decided that a a quick get away is in order. The plan: head out of town enjoy the fall and be back home in time to rest and prepare a meal for our dinner guests Sunday afternoon. The getaway - Prince Edward County. The plan: well it's coming together. We are confident that we not only will see at least 1 art exhibit (perhaps 2), two wineries and quite possibly either a visit with family and a gourmet meal out or a visit to a bed & breakfast and be home late Saturday night. We're talking action packed. How you might ask is that possible? Stay tuned - we'll keep you posted! Interested in Ontario Wines - check out this book.

Tart Attack

Ok - just being funny. But as mentioned last time - The Mission - use up left over frozen pumpkin pie filling. So tonight we used the rest of the puff pastry and the defrosted pumpkin pie filling and made some awesome two bite pumpkin tarts. I`m so pleased with them that an encore performance will be coming to this kitchen in the very near future!

For those meringue lovers out there - here`s a quick tip - one part sugar to one part egg white - heat in double boiler until smooth - then pop in the blender till thick and then pipe. Why am I sharing this valuable info - I love meringue and will be testing out this tip myself in the very near future. Enjoy and happy eating!

More Hallows Eve...

 

Ok - the tacos were a hit. The banana bread not only looked great - see pic - it tasted wonderful too! We didn`t have enough chocolate chips to make chocolate chip banana bread so we improvised. We chopped up using the Magic Bullet a bunch of mini Aero bars and tossed it into the mix.  As you can see I didn`t do the pumpkin tarts yet but I did do a mincemeat wheel with puff pastry. The picture well doesn`t make them look as tasty as they are they were actually really good - though I think it would be even better with custard! Now it`s time for a couple of pics and the kids are off trick or treating! Happy Halloween!!!