Champagne Monday

The leftover champagne in the fridge was the only reason I tried this recipe. Flipping through one of my favourite magazines, House Beautiful-Sept 2014, I came across Champagne Chicken Veronique, and except for the tarragon part,(I used sage) it sounded good and easy. The recipe calls for shallots but we have a cellar full of onions so that is what I used. The combination of red grapes, champagne and cream is so good that the plates were licked clean. And the chicken breasts, sauted in butter, were so buttery and tender that I had to remind myself that they were chicken breasts.

Sunday walk

Our Sunday walk took us right past the cenotaph so we stopped for a few minutes of respectful silence.

Saturday company

While I slaved away all afternoon making three pans of Yukon Gold Cinnamon Buns, our company napped in the backyard and then sauntered around feasting on all the goodies that he could find.

Friday night

The neighbour surprised us with a great bottle of Italian wine. Went really well with the pizzas from Bold.

Carrot cake

Carrot cake has been one of our favourite cakes for years; we were given a freshly-baked carrot cake and the pan plus the recipe and carrot seeds as a wedding gift. Over the years I have used the same recipe; it's great but I wanted to make a carrot cake that was different but just as good.

So I searched high and low looking for the best carrot cake recipe. I read all the reviews and decided on one. What's different about this one? The recipe I chose uses less oil and more carrots, plus the shredded carrots are marinaded in brown sugar for an hour. And this recipe calls for crushed pineapple and double the cinnamon. Can't go wrong with that.

 

Both of these cakes have one big thing in common. The one ingredient that you must add when baking, no matter what you are baking. A big glug of love, as Jamie would say.

Just the two of us

Just the two of us for lunch today at the fountain.

Big boots

Yes, this is a not very good photo of hiking boots worn by Chris Czajkowski at her slide show. The room was half full but there were plenty of oohs and aahs and laughter as we were transported, through her pictures and words, to the wild and beautiful wilderness that she calls home.

Can't wait to get into her latest book which she so kindly signed for me.

Picnic lunch

It was cool and overcast and all the benches were wet from this morning's rain, but still more enjoyable to eat lunch amid the still-vivid colours of the garden round the fountain.

The Mac

The best pies are made with MacIntosh Apples,

not Spartans.

Backyard nursery

Very, very spicy ribs

Love ribs but these were so spicy that a certain person, who shall remain nameless, was not able to eat them. The recipe is from The Pioneer Woman. The marinade contains, among other things, Dr. Pepper and a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. The secret to enjoying these spicy ribs; have them cold.
 

More visitors

Pumpkin drive

Surprisingly, we did not buy a pumpkin at Desert Hills Ranch in Ashcroft, (even though they were everywhere,dotting the hills, every surface, even the walkway to the market, pumpkins evenly spaced like an obstacle course) but we loaded the van with apples, winter onions, sweet peppers, and yellow potatoes.

But at Horsting's Farm in Cache Creek they had the little 'schoolhouse pumpkins' so we brought one of those home to make our traditional pumpkin cookies.