Thursday, June 30, 2011

Pesto, pesto do your very besto

Have you seen 'Houseboat' with Sophia Loren and Cary Grant? It is one of our favourite movies.
This year I am growing a pot of basil on the deck and I have also direct seeded some in the garden. As you can see the plants are doing quite well and we are looking forward to a meal of pesto pasta.



Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Prezzemolo

The green stuff used to make me gag when I was a kid, I'd pick it out of my food, no way was I going to eat it. How times have changed. Now I can't imagine making a meal without parsley.
Harvested our first batch the other day. After a good wash the stems are removed and the leaves are spread out on cotton tea towels to dry. Mix really well with a few glugs of olive oil and freeze. Come winter, every time you cut up some parsley, it will take you back to those hot summer days.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Enough with the pillows


For now, this is the last of my pillow posts. This last pillow was a lot of fun to make because I just went a little overboard with my choice of fabrics. The front panel of course is Naramata linen and I love this one so much that I made it into bags, lavender pillows, bookmarks, and even a housecoat. The embroidered button panel was a blouse from the thrift store which I had bought just for this. I can never get enough toile and the purple cotton from my stash is brand new.
It's amazing how these simple pillow covers have made our couch more inviting for reading and napping.

Deck with a view


Summer is finally here; sit back and enjoy the view!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Three down, one to go

Found under the many piles of thrift store goodies, I came across this little embroidered cloth which I triple stitched onto an Irish linen napkin.
For the back of the pillow I used some Naramata linen, cotton, and again, the button panel from an old shirt. I made this pillow a little bigger for the recliner.
For my pillow I used one of my favourite quilting cottons, the Dogwood stripe.
And on the back, the brown totem poles plus the button panel from one of my old blouses. One more pillow to go.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Three days, three recipes

I agree with Gwyneth when she says that cookbooks are for ideas and then you need to make it your own. Which is exactly what Mr. Cowboy did with a Rachel Ray recipe from her Big Orange Book. On Friday night he made Italian Nachos; he rightly omitted the bay leaf but added lots of basil and parsley right out of the garden. What made this so good was the smoked scamorza cheese,nothing else will do.

Mr. Cowboy really kicked it up a notch Saturday night with his rendition of Lemon Chicken Scaloppine. Made his own bread crumbs with Squirrelly bread and again with lots of fresh basil plus a good squeeze of lemon juice. This recipe is from The Oprah Magazine Cookbook from Chef Rory Trovato.

Sunday mornings the kitchen is all mine so I decided to give pancakes a rest and try something a little fancier. Given that I was still half asleep and had not had a coffee yet, I did not follow the directions in the recipe so we were very surprised that these muffins turned out as good as they did. These Sour Cream Maple Walnut Muffins are attributed to Chef Tom Bivins from The Oprah Magazine Cookbook.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Deli lunch

It was a hot day with a warm wind blowing from the east so I decided to walk down to the Deli for lunch. I was surprised and happy to find the place empty but cool as a cucumber. Instead of my usual broccoli salad, I feasted on baby greens with a cheese biscuit. After lunch, as the gardener watered the wilting plants, I strolled through the nursery and stopped to smell the flowers.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Birthday breakfast

This is Mr. Cowboy's favourite breakfast; a savory croissant bursting with ham, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and brie. So, for this special birthday we took our little picnic to the river and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We waved to the Rocky Mountaineer as it made it's way to the station.
We were not the only ones out this early in the morning.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Before and after

This is the 'before' picture of one of the couch pillows. Note the artistic stitchery and the wonderful shade of mud puddle brown. The other side is even more hideous so I am sparing everyone by not showing it here on my tasteful blog.
And here, after just over an hour in the sewing room, the ugly pillow has been transformed using a beautiful Naramata linen.
The back panel was a lot of fun to design. One section is cut from a vintage halter top, the embroidered flowers echoing the flower motif on the front of the pillow. The striped fabric is from my quilting cotton stash and the button panel is cut from one of Mr. Cowboy's old shirts. Makes it so easy to remove the pillowcase for washing.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Crowd control

I remember being in the middle of a huge crowd in an open field; the Bryan Adams concert had just ended and we were headed en masse for the exit, a very narrow exit. It was just dusk, a warm summer evening and the lake breeze played with our hair. As we shuffled along, shoulder to shoulder, the surge and jostling of the crowd carrying us forward we heard a sound.No, it wasn't the band coming back onto the bandshell for another encore. Someone in the throng mooed like a cow and we all laughed. And from that point on we all calmly advanced to the exit, took our turns going through the gate and walked down the road back to town.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Poppy love

It was quite windy when I tried to capture the beauty of these huge poppies at St. Andrew's but I took the picture anyways knowing that I could never really duplicate what my eyes were seeing.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Hockey biscuits

At 4:28 I made my escape hoping no one would notice. I hurried across the courtyard and breathed a sigh of relief; no security guard to impede my getaway. As I turned the corner into the alley I quickened my pace, happy to see Mr. Cowboy, engine idling like a Clyde waiting for his Bonnie. Through alleys and deserted streets, we made it back to our hideout with just enough time to uncork some red to enjoy with our linguini as we watched the Canucks hammer the Bruins.
To celebrate another great win by the Canucks, I made a triple batch of my award winning blueberry biscuits for our brunch this morning.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Thursday collage








This far-reaching rainbow appeared in the sky last night after the Canucks won the first game in the Stanley Cup Finals.
My lemon tree is now outside; it's blooming and looking good.
He was 77 when we first moved here and he is still going strong despite losing his wife and a son. Always up on current events, the latest scuttle-butt on our cul-de-sac, and knows how to fight city hall. Loves home-baking and to show his appreciation for the latest treat (buttermilk pancakes) he brought over this wonderful bouquet of my favourite flowers.