Donkeys, Frogs and Wine

July 13, 2013August 19, 201528 Comments

If I said this was a busy summer, that would be an understatement. Particularly these past few weeks. Last week was an extended holiday weekend complete with three BBQs and a sleepover. This weekend we’ve just wrapped up two of three birthday parties with one more to go. Whew. It’s a little how Toronto felt for us too – one big whirlwind of fun. So when we left Toronto to head back home, we opted for the scenic route.

It was time to slow down for a bit, take in some of the outdoors, some wine and even some grape juice. Mr. N and Miss A became quite the aficionados.

We began the next leg of our adventure on a wine route on the southern side of Lake Ontario – a great recommendation from Barb. She even pointed out a few great places along the way to stop for lunch and tastings, the first of which was The Good Earth for lunch. It was a gorgeous day and we were able to dine outside. The food was delicious, but the view was what we were lost in.

They even had some chickens, so Miss A was in farm heaven.

After lunch we found a few other wineries along the way – several of which were accessible by hiking a little trail. Now how clever is that! This was by far one of our favorite afternoons.

There was even some wildlife along the way.

And of course some grapes…

It was one of those days you didn’t want to end. Fortunately we had several more ahead of us though as we headed back toward the Finger Lake region of New York. We had passed through the area a few years ago and really enjoyed it. The lakes are a the quintessential summer getaway with small, friendly towns, rolling hills and scenic drives. (And of course more wineries!)

Now don’t worry, while Mike and I were most certainly enjoying ourselves…the kids were too. Many of the wineries are kid friendly (or perhaps our kids are just winery friendly) and most of them have something interesting aside from wine. The Swedish Hill Winery, for instance, has Doobie the donkey. He of course came over to see Miss A.

And a trip through the Rochester area be complete with a visit to the National Museum of Play and the Sesame Street stoop!

Check out how much Miss A has grown since the last time we were here:

So after a few days of wining, dining, playing and relaxing in the Finger Lakes, it was time to head home. This time we took a slightly different route though and made one last stop – Allegany State Park. It was just a gorgeous area. Lush with trees, wild flowers and beautiful old forestry building.

After a picnic lunch we took a short one-mile hike that made a nice loop through the woods.

We passed remnants of an old zoo,

and old ski lifts.

The kids especially dug all the caterpillars we saw though.

It was the perfect way to end the trip. Relaxed.

I think we could use another one of these. 😉 Until then, I’m just going to try and adopt Miss A’s happy-go-lucky style. Life is good.

Next week we’ll be back with a stateside recipe from New York…it only seems fitting after all. Have a great week!

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation

July 8, 201323 Comments

As Kristy promised the next few posts will highlight our latest road trip across North America. If you haven’t guessed by now, we like our road trips!
This time a business trip called me to Toronto right as school was ending for Mr. N and Miss A, and that was all the excuse we needed to jump in the car and head to the Great White North. The fact that some of our favorite bloggers are in the area made it an even easier call. After an all day drive on Friday, the first thing on the agenda was a Saturday morning trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

I highly recommend a visit. The trophy room is impressive to say the least – we actually got to touch the Stanley Cup before it was brought back home, and there are lots of interactive things for the kids to do. While Mr. N was clobbering me at NHL trivia (seriously), Miss A was trying her hand at the real thing.
Mr. N and I played the goalie interactive game, but it’s probably best there isn’t any photographic evidence of our performance. That evening, I took the kids to a movie, and Kristy got to have a girl’s night out with blogging friends Eva, Barb and Kelly. From all accounts, a great time was had by all. I’m told the conversation flowed (as did the drinks and food) and it was more a gathering of long-time friends than new friends. And don’t feel bad for me, after taking the kids to the movie (and getting them to sleep I might add) I got to kick back and watch the Hawks in a little playoff action. Like our weather at home, Toronto was hit or miss, but the sun seemed to shine on the days we most needed it – like our second visit to Centre Island’s Centreville Amusement Park. (A few of you may recall we spent Miss A’s 3rd birthday at the park a few years ago.)

The next day, well, the weather was cold and rainy, but that didn’t deter Kristy and the kids. They spent the entire day at the Ontario Science Centre while I was at my conference. Now that the kids are older they can actually spend more than a few hours at a museum without needing a nap (us adults on the other hand…), so it was a FULL day of hair-raising fun. static electricity </a

Toronto was a non-stop whirlwind of fun with much of the thanks going to Eva, who provided a virtual tour book of activities for us including the other places we visited, the Distillery District, Eaton Centre, Marché, and Yorkville. We didn’t make it to everything else on the list, but the cool thing was that what we did see (except for Centreville) was new to us despite having been through Toronto twice before. Thank you again Eva. We’ll be back again to finish off the rest of the list for sure!

Now before we head back to the states (in our next post), and leave our Neighbor to the North we just had to make another stop at Niagara Falls.

Even though it’s our third visit, it amazes every single time. The amount and force of the water is just staggering. Every time. Again with the kids being older now, we figured a new adventure was in order (and no, not one that involved a barrel, much to the kids’ dismay). This year we braved the rapids on the Maid of the Mist.

And what can I say other than, it completely lives up to the hype. If you’re in the area, it’s an absolute must do. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves (photos were taken on Kristy’s iPhone since the ride is a bit wet):

It was another good one for the books (or our memories anyway), there’s always a new adventure around every corner. Toronto and the Niagara region can provide weeks of sightseeing, and they’ll surely keep us coming back for more. (Not to mention – we’ve got some great friends to come back and visit again too!)

Later this week, Kristy will be back with the rest of our adventure. Until then, here’s something else that was new to us this year – lights on the Falls.

Baker’s Dozen

June 30, 2013June 29, 201347 Comments

For those of you new to this blog, our mission is to cook recipes from different countries around the world. We try to stick to traditional recipes or popular recipes for the most part. It’s been a great way for us to try new foods and learn about different cultures. My favorite part about our journey is that the kids are fully involved. They pick the countries, cook with us and of course provide their “spoon ratings” to the dish. It’s been a great experience for all four of us and we’ve learned so much – especially the kids, but us grown-ups too.

But, as you may have noticed, things get a little off-focus in the summer – and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We have birthdays, anniversaries and vacations all of which we celebrate to the fullest. It’s a little taste of our family’s culture and traditions if you will. So this week, I’m putting our vacation post and French recipes on hold because Mike is whisking me away for the weekend. This week we celebrated 13 wonderful years together – a full baker’s dozen.

Not to worry though, I won’t leave you without a bit of deliciousness. We were fortunate enough to find fresh morels at the farmer’s market this week. Instantly we knew what we were going to make for our anniversary dinner.

A morel risotto. We love our risottos and we especially love an earthy, savory risotto. This recipe did not disappoint.

It had that umami type flavor – at least for us. The morels are similar to a truffle. They are earthy, meaty, mushroom-y, but slightly sweeter than truffles.

It was just the flavors we were hoping for and made for a fabulous anniversary dinner.

Needless to say, it was four spoons for both Mike and I. We cooked and served this one after the kids went to bed. 🙂 So, if you’re lucky enough to get your hands on some fresh morels, take advantage. They certainly live up to the hype and deliver an amazing flavor.

Print this recipe: Morel Risotto

But if morels and mushrooms or risottos aren’t your thing, since Mike and I are off to Michigan I thought I’d share a few delicious recipes from the Great Lakes State. Enjoy and see you next week for our regular programming (or regular summer programming anyway).

Cherry Apricot Crisp

Peach Blueberry Crisp

Salmon over Spinach with Cherry Sauce

Cherry Cheesecake

Low and Slow with a French Twist

June 22, 201321 Comments

Hi everyone! The road warriors have returned. We had a fabulous road trip across more than 1,500 miles. We began with a “five on the clock” as Mr. N would say. Which means we were up and getting ready with a “four on the clock.” Or getting up in the middle of the night as Miss A declared.

The day before and the first day of road trips are my favorite. The packing, the anticipation, the waking up bright and early (the only time I like to wake up early), the excitement, the buzz around the house…it’s exhilarating.

We had a great time visiting friends (more on that to come), going to museums, amusement parks, wineries and just generally lying low and taking it slow. It was perfection. No phones, no emails (at least as they pertained to work) and no texts. How often does that get to happen?! Certainly not often enough.

It was pure family time and pure fun. The kids have gotten older since our last road trip this direction, even since our last road trip. As we know, time flies. Miss A is certainly going through a new developmental stage and Mr. N literally aged on this trip (more on that to come).

But before I get to those fun little tidbits and while I get all our vacation pictures organized, we thought we’d share another French recipe with you all. Can you tell we’re enjoying our little foray into French cuisine! Well, who wouldn’t?! So like our trip, this recipe is one that you’ll want to cook low and slow. It’s a slow cooker twist on a traditional French Provençal vegetable stew – Ratatouille.

I believe we adapted the recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens dish, but truthfully I don’t remember and I can’t find the recipe that I used. It came on vacation with us (as I had intended to post this while we were away), but it either didn’t make it home or it’s lost somewhere in a suitcase. In any case, we used traditional ratatouille veggies – eggplant, onion, tomato, pepper (we chose red) and zucchini.

Along with our veggies we used garlic, tomato sauce, salt and pepper, oregano and herbs de Provence.

Everything was simply tossed into the slow cooker and set on low to cook for 5 hours.

All told, the only real time you spend cooking this dish is the time it takes you to chop the veggies. Not to mention there’s only one pot to clean at the end! This is my kind of weekday meal for sure.

Now there are many ways to serve ratatouille. It can be a served as a side dish or a main course. It can be served over rice, bread or pasta. It can even be served on its own as a stew.

The veggies will shine regardless of how you serve the dish. As for us, we wanted a little protein with the meal, so we served ours over omelets.

It was a fresh, flavorful and rather healthy meal. Mike and I both feel omelets are a great way to load up on veggies.

I gave the slow cooker ratatouille 3 spoons. As many of you know, I’m a picky veggie eater, but I’ll gladly eat them this way and feel good about it. Mike, however, would have preferred the ratatouille over rice. He enjoyed the stew, but felt it really needed a carb to go along with it. So he only rings in at 2-1/2 spoons.

As for the kids, well, we let them skip this one. They’ve tried enough dishes to know they don’t like eggplant, peppers or tomatoes…yet. I’m still holding out hope they’ll develop a liking for them though, but for now it’s a bit hard to hide the veggies in the ratatouille. They did enjoy watching the movie, Ratatouille, on vacation though. I suppose that counts for something. 😉

Print this recipe: Slow Cooker Ratatouille

We’ll be back next week with our vacation highlights and then onto a few more fun recipes, followed by our traditional summer celebrations. Have a great week everyone!

Spoiler Alert: Miss A has become obsessed with farms and farm life.

Spoiler Alert: One (or two) of those celebrations might involve a birthday!

A Devil of a Good Time

June 9, 201341 Comments

Hi everyone! As we mentioned in our last post we were preparing for some fun. Well, this week we are off to our neighbor to the North to meet some new friends and enjoy some family time. Yep, it’s another road trip; although not quite as epic as the one a few years ago that took us to many of the same places.

So while we are away, you’ll forgive us for not checking in on many of your wonderful blogs. We’re going to unplug for a short time and recharge. We’ll be back next week with another French recipe and hopefully some great vacation stories to share.

Until then, we thought we’d share this little non-recipe of a recipe with you. It was a HUGE hit in our house and it just happens to involve lobster which is reminiscent of that trip a few years back. Just search “lobster” on our site and you’ll see what we mean.

We took a basic deviled egg recipe – hard-boiled eggs, add the yolks to a bowl, and mix them with Dijon and mayo. This time we then added a bit of dill, some Champagne vinegar, diced shallots, and of course some chopped up lobster. (We had claws on-hand after a tasty special at Costco.) The measurements on today’s recipes are approximates. You can easily adapt this to your own taste preferences.

Once the mixture was added back into the egg whites, we topped them with a pinch of truffle salt, some chives and a sprinkling of paprika (regular, not smoked, as we didn’t want to diminish the taste of the lobster). Now you can see why these were such a hit.

Mike and I both gave them 4 spoons. Hands-down. No questions. Miss A gave them 100 spoons. I have never seen her eat so much of a non-dessert food in my life. I’m not kidding. She put these little devils (pun intended) away! But Mr. N, he insists on saying they were 3-1/2 spoons….despite also devouring them and fighting with his sister over the last one. Hmmm. I’ve determined his vote is due to either not wanting to appear as a conformist, or that it wasn’t dessert and therefore doesn’t deserve a 4 spoon vote.

What I’m trying to say, is that you may as well consider this one of the rare 4-spoon all-a-rounders. Now do you think I should add it to our index page for four spoon dishes. Hmm…

I’ll ponder that while we’re away. Enjoy your week everyone! Print this recipe: Lobster Deviled Eggs

Fake Trophies

June 3, 2013June 3, 201343 Comments

Whew! What a week. We made it through the end of the school year insanity. Miss A has successfully finished preschool and next year will be a full-time kindergartener (I get teary just thinking about it.). And Mr. N is off to 4th grade; although rather reluctantly as he will very much miss his teacher from this year. I have a feeling she will be one of those that he will remember his whole life.

Then this weekend we had yet another performance. This time it was Miss A’s turn.

She completed another year of gymnastics (she’s been in for a few years now) and this year she got to perform in the program’s version of the “Olympics.”

She was so excited for her big day. Nana and Papa came, as did Grammie and Boom Boom (my dad as he’s referred to by the kids) and my aunt and cousin (who Miss A adores) came to see her big day. She was a regular ham for the audience as she waited her turn (apparently a flare for the dramatic runs in the family)…

And then it was utter focus and determination.

She even made it up to the ceiling on her rope climb which ceases to amaze me.

It was such a fun afternoon and Miss A was so happy. Although she was quite concerned that her trophy was “fake.” I think she was expecting a real gold medal. The plastic variety was rather a disappointment. Ha!

And there’s no rest for the weary. This week we have summer activities starting and then we’re preparing for a bit of fun. Why is it that fun always requires so much preparation? Ah well, that’s why we have tasty desserts to get us through and make up for “fake” trophies. So this week we bring you a few French dessert treats – Sables (butter cookies) and Mousse au Citron (lemon mousse). We’ll leave the French chocolate delicacies to the masters – and those that like chocolate. 😉

We borrowed our recipes from Joy of Baking and Saveur and didn’t really deviate. The only real difference was in the shape of our sables. From what we read, and if you are an authority on the matter feel free to tell us otherwise, traditional sables have a fluted edge and are circular. Ours, however, are not fluted, nor are they circular.

Both recipes are very easy to follow. The biggest thing to remember is to have enough time set aside to chill your lemon curd. We made our cookies while the curd was in the fridge.

Ah yes, and the cookie dough must have time to chill as well. Really that is the only time consuming aspect of these two desserts.

How do you like our shapes? You may recall the dragon fly from our adventure with Mongolian cookies.

We served ours together and the butter cookies went nicely with the tangy lemon mousse. They can also easily be served separately. The kids enjoyed eating the cookies throughout the week. And look who tried to sneak into the photo shoot! Another ham for the camera? Or just after some of that creamy decadence!

As for how they ranked? Well, the sables were right on the mark. They are exactly as you imagine butter cookies. The kids enjoyed them more than Mike and I though. We prefer a chewier and softer cookie. Mr. N and Miss A ranked them 3 spoons and 9 spoons, respectively. Mike gave them a 3 spoon vote because he thought they were perfectly executed. I gave them 2-1/2 because while good, they just aren’t my kind of cookie.

The mousse, which shouldn’t be a surprise given our obsession with lemon bars, went over much better across the board. The mousse is wonderfully tart and full of fresh lemon flavor. It is, however, a heart attack in a cup, so we didn’t eat very much. Just enough to know we loved it! Mike ranked it at 3-1/2 spoons, Mr. N and I gave it the full 4 spoon vote and Miss A, returning to our normal scale gave it 3 spoons. She liked the cookies better – and at least these weren’t fake!

Now don’t worry, these desserts don’t end our French cuisine adventure. We have a few more recipes in store, but we may bounce around a bit first. Until then, should you want the recipes here you are: Mousse au Citron and Sables. We’ll be back next week with a simple, but delicious treat. Have a great week everyone!