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day tripping: wine country

12 Feb

Last weekend I took a drive to Beamsville. The Niagara region town is a short drive from Toronto and home to some awesome wineries. It was a perfect day for February – sunny, not too cold and so clear you could see the moon in the daylight sky – and we really had just the best time.

Our first stop was Thirty Bench. There wasn’t any snow on the ground, but if there was we might have gone snowshoeing as part of their winter vineyard tour. They gear you up, take you on a tour of the vineyards and feed you samples of wine the entire time. At the end, you sit around a fire in blankets, eat soup and try more wine. It’s only thirty bucks! We just sampled wine instead. I tried a chardonnay that tasted like popcorn and some spicy reds.

Then was Angel’s Gate where I sampled (and purchased) a really delicious 2008 Pinot Noir Rose sparkling. I don’t get into rose wines at all but this was not too sweet and tasted a little bit like apricots. So yummy. The estate was lovely but not super cool or anything. I did think the ice on their pond looked like eyeball veins:

Am I right?

Down the road, we visited The Organized Crime (my friend’s favourite) and I fell hard for their amazing reds. The Download was great but the Cabernet Sauvignon was my favourite. This place really is the coolest. I kind of expected some hipster with a mustache to be behind it, but it’s actually owned by an older married couple (and guarded by their gigantic dog). Seriously, check out the website – it’s tight! These two are just doing everything right in my books. (although the wineries name is based on a story about amish people stealing a church organ – seriously – the wine corks have a message against downloading music. Oddest/Coolest).

I was starting to get tipsy and so we asked the owner where we should go for lunch. He recommended August restaurant and, in keeping with the overall theme of the day, it was perfect. You need to eat there if you’re ever in the area. SO good. We had some wine from the Malivore winery with our meal so decided to swing by there as a last stop before we hit the road back to TO.

We picked up a couple more bottles and then decided to take a little walk into the vineyard before heading out. Malivore offers a map for self-guided tours but honestly I had no idea and just felt like a walk in the sun. We trekked through the mud and vines and found a picnic table to sit at and take in the day.

Beauty of a day trip.

TFGIF

3 Feb

Seriously.

(image source)

old fashioned

21 Jan

I don’t keep a great home bar. Aside from a few bottles of wine and some Jameson (obvi), I’m more of a buy-as-I-drink type. But after taking some cocktail classes at BYOB Cocktail Emporium and enjoying classically made concoctions at the Toronto Temperance Society and Bar Chef, I decided to expand my home drinking options.

Enter The Old Fashioned.

My new favourite cocktail is so easy to make and delicious to drink. Instead of classic Angostura bitters, I used Orange Angostura – a trick I learned from expert mixologist Trevor Burnett.

The Old Fashioned
  • Fill glass with ice.
  • Soak one sugar cube in 12 drops of orange bitters.
  • Muddle cube.
  • Squeeze orange zest (from the peel – not the white stuff) into the glass and let drop.
  • Add 1.5 oz. of bourbon.
  • Add 1.5 oz. of soda water.
  • Give the drink a slow stir. Don’t “bruise the spirits”.
  • Garnish with an orange slice and cherry.

Now to decide how best to drink the Aperol I bought…

Sources: ohbeautifulpaper, ohgo, eldoradobar, onthefourthfloor

TFGIF – c’est l’Halloween HEY

28 Oct

Good luck beating this guy’s costume.

My friend and I are going as this famous pair, that is, as long as my killer flu doesn’t keep me bed-ridden this weekend.

Have fun pals!

thanks

10 Oct

This weekend was special for a few reasons, only one of them being the Thanksgiving long weekend. With the temperature in the high 20′s, zero clouds and plenty of people to spend my time with, it really was an incredible three days. Oh, and it also marks my last little bit of time spent unemployed – tomorrow I start a brand new job. I feel a little bit like the girl who transfers in mid-semester but I’m excited. ‘Fired-up’ is more like it.

In summary:

Collingwood, Ontario, where they make the streets look like movie sets for Pleasantville.

I think this place is probably famous? It’s near Wasaga Beach. I also think they make their soft serve with full cream because it hardly melted. Or maybe that was because we ate it so fast.

Then the beach,

On the ride back to the city we listened to Vinyl Tap (Randy Bachman’s show on CBC). The sun was setting and we were on hilly back country roads and when this song came on it was one of those moments where you think “Perfect”.

Then, on Sunday, it was up to the farm with Lia and Alex.

Oh, and their doodle Hank/Hankleberry/the softest dog in the world.

A bushel of orchard apples at the front door. I mean, come ON. Picture the quintessential Thanksgiving harvest farm vibe and copy paste me right there.

Not at all dreamy.

Lia’s Mom is going to convert this little love shack into her writing nook. Guess who I want to be when I grow up?

And we’re off to see the horses with our wine and the Parsley’s retriever, Henry. He likes to ride up front.

So friendly and mesmerizing. What is it about a horses’ eyes? Can they see into the future or what?

Thirsty?

And the newest farm addition: the chickens. I don’t know if they have names or not. I showed my rural ignorance here when I stated that chickens couldn’t lay eggs without doing it with a rooster first. Lia’s Dad kindly corrected me that, indeed they do, and they are the ones we normally eat (unfertilized). It’s not like I didn’t know that, just sometimes my brain checks out.

I love, love, love this room. The window over the bed looks onto one of the horse pastures and the side views let in the light all day.

It only makes me love this photo more. Happy almost anniversary guys and THANK YOU for sharing your Thanksgiving with me.

Now to obsess over what to wear tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving. XO.

(all images mine except for Lia’s wedding shot by Mango Studios)

a july wedding

7 Oct

 

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Last July my little sister got married at home in Newfoundland (remember?). It was such an amazing time for me and my family – all of us coming together from as far away as Australia to celebrate my sister and her husband. With ‘his’ side coming from Alberta, we even planned a special welcome ceremony for them during the reception (you’ll see what I mean in a minute).

The professional pictures are in and I’d love to share them with you! You can click-through the gallery to see the larger images. I hope you like them as much as we do!

Wedding Details

TFGIF – Thanks-to-the-Giving

7 Oct

Happy Thanksgiving pals! This weekend kicks off the dreaminess that is late Fall/early Winter. Everything is magical from now until Jan 2 (lets not talk about what happens after Jan 2).

There’s so much that I’m thankful for this year and two of those things are: 1. This blog and 2. You guys for reading it.

What can I say, the holidays make me sappy.

Thankstothegiving everyone!

 

Fun fact: when I searchrd for Friends’ Thanksgiving clips online, I unconsciously typed “Chandler Bong hates Thankgiving”. Chanandler Bong forevah

cottage.calm

25 Sep

Last week I celebrated the end of my work contract with a quick trip to the cottage. Kristen’s folks have a little house in the county of Wainfleet on Lake Erie and it’s basically the best place on earth. I love going up there – it’s more of a beach house than a Canadiana-type cottage which suits me just fine.

Summer’s kind of over (sob) so we didn’t take out the boat or the sea-doo. We mainly walked along the beach, cooked up a lot of good food, snuggled up next to the fire and had some epic, epic sleeps. What is it about fresh air that makes people so tired ?

 

my free glass of merlot tastes off

8 Sep

Sometimes to find the perfect image, all you gotta do is Google

It’s that time of year again (if you live in Toronto) – TIFF or, for out-of-towners, the Toronto International Film Festival. My Twitter feed is jammed with celebrity sightings and party bragging. Working at the back-end of events like these can be exhausting. Luckily, I’m only volunteering my time over the next six days to hang with media on a few red carpets. Sure for about 15 minutes it’s mayhem but mostly it’s shooting the shit with photographers and joking with entertainment show hosts. While I don’t always (nevah) buy into the hype, I do love films and it’s exciting that I live in a city where some of the best movies make their debut.

But stars aside, I’ll always and forever raise my glass to the people who put in all the work. So if you’re schmoozing at a premiere or guzzling bubbly at an after party, don’t forget to be especially nice to everyone with a headset, camera, microphone or volunteer t-shirt.

Because if you’re not, Ryan Gosling’s probably going to step in and straighten you out. (See you Saturday boo)

Summer Concert Series

16 Jul

I’ve been terrible about live music this summer. Last year, going to shows was a priority but between personal drams (eyeroll) and being the lazy old lady I am, I’ve passed up a lot of great acts in 2011 (Robyn, Black Keys, Cults, all of NXNE to name a few). Well, this week I started making up for lost time.

There probably isn’t a better band to rekindle love for live music than My Morning Jacket. They played Kool Haus last Monday (a favourite venue of mine if only for the great shows I’ve seen there). I’ve been arguing all week against people who call them a “jam band”. I mean, as a group of insanely talented musicians (fronted by someone who is arguably a musical genius) of course they play with their songs and go a little off the beaten track path. But unlike other jam bands, you won’t be wondering “What song is this again?” after a 20 minute extended version. My Morning Jacket are fucking tight OK and they know exactly what they’re doing at all times to keep you under their spell. Notorious for on-stage commitment, they played a full 2 1/2 hour set, including a 30 minute encore. If you’re going to see live music, this is where you need to be. Highlights: Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt II, I’m Amazed, Librarian, Golden

Three days later I managed to score a last-minute ticket to see Fleet Foxes at Massey Hall. For 60 bucks I was two rows from the stage, easily the closest to the action I’ve ever been in Massey. Being so close, I was able to see the reason for this venue’s incredible sound – a 40 (50?) ft high dome above the stage, cupping the sound and sending it back to the audience “like a big hug”. Fleet Foxes are new to me – I only started listening after the release of their second album Helplessness Blues – but I’m already totally smitten with their sound. I felt like a superstar music critic when I whispered to my seatmate that their sound was like modern medieval until every review I read called the band “minstrels”. In short, their music kind of fills you up and you can’t wipe the stupid I-Can’t-Believe-This-Is-Happening smile off your face. The show wasn’t long, but it was solid and by the last encore, I had goosebumps and felt like I was going to cry. Hugely amazing. Go see this band play, I’m serious.

Fair Warning: Wilco is coming to town

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