Climbing up the mountian

Photo Borrowed from Planetsave.com

Life is an interesting thing isn't it! Some days you feel so confident, so sure that nothing could bring you down. Other days you feel the weight of the entire city and its cat on your shoulders!

I have noticed lately that life is all about balance. A balance of self love, relationships, family, work and fun and what ever other category fit into your life, its different for everyone! It can be super hard to find a perfect balance between all these things, and I have come to experience that when one category soars, others might start to crumble, for example if your work life starts to suck the life out of you,  your love life might be way up on cloud 9.But this up and down is a good thing isn't it? Its like the old saying "you cant appreciate light with out the dark" or compassion with out rage. Maybe its a good motivator, a hot fire burning under your butt, maybe its there to keep you on your toes and push you that much harder to doing what you love!


I hope everyone has a fantastic Saturday and you will hear more food blabbering tomorrow :) and don't forget to check out Mondays post for the St Lawrence Market Series, you coffee lovers wont be disappointed  :)

Don't Give Up 

Don’t let today’s troubles
Bring you down,
Or allow you to question
Your ability

Don’t let life’s little obstacles
Keep you from trying,
Or become the reason
For defeat
Don’t let your fears
Keep you from dreaming,
Or from chasing
your dream
Don’t give up for any reason
Believe in yourself,
And in yourself
You’ll find strength

CHECK HIM OUT!

So I know on fridays I generally do a blurb about a book or a restaurant I really like but today I have to share with you some exciting news!

My Friend Jonny Gray was featured in The Grid news paper here in Toronto as the bar star! He is a super awesome bartender and probably my favorite English Chap! I am convinced his accent does most of the talking when he is selling drinks!Check out the link to him and his awesome drink "1066".

Jonny Grey in the Grid!!

go green thursdays - animal love

Be respectful to animals

   Ok, so living in a city, it is easy to hate racoons. They get into your garbage....ravage your green bin, poop on your porch! Sometimes sneak in to your house and use your litter box....Or does that just happen to me? Sigh, it’s probably just me. But, and it’s a big BUT, they need to live, as well as we do. They do what they do to survive.

   The other day I was headed to work, and I saw something I have never seen before; a baby squirrel. So as I`m trying to take pictures of it, my cats became interested too. I`m a bit worried, but my cats are so domestic, and have lived with ferrets, so I let them come up as well.

   This brazen baby, chittering (my name for the noise) at us all the while, climbed back up the tree, only high enough for Aslan, my cat, to smell him. He turned around, and whacked Aslan on the head for his effort, which made me laugh, and Aslan duck away, but still stay close.

   So I put out my hand, and he almost jumped into it; started sucking on my fingers, and even bit me once. A passing jogger stopped, and gave him some granola, that he ate, while in my hand still, with gusto.

   So what to do? I have to go to work! Well of course I Google it on my iPhone.
   It tells me that; If you find a baby, put on gloves (because they may bite) and check if it is hurt in any way. Then it should be reunited with its Mom. So make a warm place for him, and hope for the best.

   OK so all this is done and the baby squirrel is gone off with his mom, a very happy ending. But what if that wasn`t the end??

   Would you know what to, do if you found a stray baby animal? Not many people would. So I have some tips;

1. Approach with caution

2. Wear gloves, mama birds won’t take back babies if they smell like humans.

3. This being the most important; if you are not sure, please, PLEASE, call the right people for the job.

So here is a list of places that you can contact;

http://www.torontowildlifecentre.com

www.second-chance.ws

If these don’t work, try your local vet.

Lavender Crazy Week 4

                                              Lavender Cooking Experiment # 4

Lavender Truffles

   So this one is for all you chocolate lovers out there, including Kristen. This recipe is really quite simple, a will definitely impress guests. It is a 2 day process though so give yourself time.
   You will need;

½ Cup 35% Cream
8 oz or 1 box of Bakers Chocolate
1 tsp of dried Lavender
Nuts or Coco Powder for rolling in

   First heat the cream and lavender in a sauce pan, just bring it to a simmer, turn it off and let it steep for 30 minutes or so. While your cream is sitting, roughly chop up your chocolate. Most recipes call for dark, or unsweetened chocolate, I doubled the recipe and used unsweetened, and semi sweet. At this point you can strain out the lavender; I left it in for optimal flavour. Re heat the cream, and add your chocolate and stir until smooth and shiny. This is known as a ganache in the culinary world. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Now the good old messy fun begins. Using a melon baler, or small spoon, spoon out the size you want and roll in your hands until smooth, then roll in your nuts or coco. Place your truffles on a baking sheet, a put back in the fridge for at least 7 hours so that they set.

   So as for the results; now I have never been a big fan of chocolate, which is why I opted to use a sweeter chocolate, but I found that the slight lavender taste really complimented this rich dessert. My Mom, who could only eat half, said the same. As for my Aunt Debbie, well, when I called to ask her how she liked them, she told me that if I checked her mouth at that very moment, I would find pieces of truffle. Oh Aunt Deb!

   Many more great Lavender recipes to come so keep checking back!!

Love Sarah

SLM Series- ROWEFARMS

Happy Monday Everyone! 

So this post is going to be a little bit biased because I have worked for the company for 5 years, BUT let me assure you that this company is a translucent as possible and you would hear the exact same information out of any employees mouth or read on the website :)

So now thats out of the way Welcome to the north west corner of the St Lawrence Market North:

Started in Guelph Ontario with one family owned farm and has now expanded to roughly 14 family owned and operated farms across southern Ontario from Guelph to Peterborough. All of the farms are monitored regularly to make sure the standards of Rowefarms are being upheld!

It is an all natural butcher shop, not to be confused with 100% Organic. The farmers do not use any antibiotics or hormones on the animals and they are treated with respect. Huge space to move, in door and out door facilities for their comfort. If you go and visit Rogers farm the little piglettes run around and play over the whole farm, open space and the wind at their ears!

The animals are fed a strict vegetarian diet. Cows are fed grass only for 86% of the time and then allowed a combonation of grass and veggie grain for the other 14% to help build the fatty flavor the western world loves. There is also 100% grass fed beef that is in season right now! GO TRY IT!

The chickens are free-run in well protected barns. Fed on veggie grain and flax seed and air chilled!

Also offering pork, lamb, turkey (seasonally) and NITRITE cured products (no Nitrates EVER) 

Its a touchy subject to talk about but lets face it, if you eat meat then you should be able to deal with the fact that it was once a living creature and is now not!

Veggies and vegans are advised to not read any further! I respect your decision and support most of he reasoning behind them, but I dont wish for the hate mail! 

As well as the animals are treated, if you eat meat there is always the death part to deal with. While I am one that has battled with the vegetarian bug for most of my life I can say that Rowefarms does the slaughter in the most humane way possible. The travel time from farm to the house is as minimal as possible and they are not waiting for hours, it is done quick and painlessly.


Come visit us at the St. Lawrence Market booth every saturday from 5 am-2:30 pm in the north west corner. We would love to have you come and chat and experience how much love the SLM Rowe Family has to offer! or visit a store close to you, 5 locations in the city of Toronto would love to have a chat!

ROWEFARMS WEBSITE

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

Love Kristen

Lavender Crazy - week 3

Sarah has spiced up a family favorite and made short bread just a little bit more addicting! try it!!



8   Tbls cold butter
¼   Cup sugar
1    Cup All-purpose flour
¼    Cup cornstarch
¼    tsp salt
2     Tbls dried lavender

   Cream the butter, then add the sugar, stir until well mixed. Mix flour, cornstarch, and salt together, and then add to the butter mixture. Once well mixed, add the lavender, and then turn out onto a floured surface and knead 5-10 times, or until the dough is smooth. Now roll out and cut into which ever shape or size you want, and bake at 350 degrees, for 20- 30 minutes, or until slightly brown on top.

  I made 2 batches of these, the first I topped with crushed pistachios before baking, and the second I added chopped sage when I added the lavender. My mother and I liked the Lavender/Sage cookies, while my sister and Auntie Deb like the pistachio cookies. As for my Dad, well he said they tasted like soap, I guess lavender is not for everybody.

Enjoy!!!

Love Sarah!

St Lawrence Market Series- Stasis local preserves

The North market is lucky enough to be host to some of the best Toronto has to offer. One of them being a good friend of mine Julian. He is the owner and operator of Stasis Local Foods s and the Stasis Preserves booth at the SLM North!

The mission is farm to jar to you! Its as local and as seasonal as it gets. Its all done in smaller batches to keep a close eye on quality, and also with a health conscious mind, adding the lowest amount of sugar possible for safe preserving :)


I have been fortunate enough to be able to tastes most of his preserves, my favorites being the pickled asparagus(seriously the asparagus is the best I have ever had), apple butter and black walnuts in honey.

He is a Master at pickling and a pro at preserves, so come by and check him out! Located in the north west corner of the building :)

Lavender Crazy 2

Boozy Lavender Lemonade

So as I said, I’ve got a lot of lavender, and clearly too much time on my hands. So for my second experiment I made Lavender Lemonade!! And yes it has booze in it.


   So no recipe needed, just make up some lavender tea, add some lemon juice, and a bottle of sparkling wine. I know, simple, but at this point have some fun, add some berries, some honey, or some basil. Pour over ice and enjoy while sitting on a back patio somewhere. It is refreshing, and crisp; a perfect summer drink. Much more to come, so keep checking back!

My Appologies and Jason Mraz

I am just going to apologize in advance for the randomness of the posts this week. TIFF (the Toronto International Film Festival) is eating both Sarah and I alive! I am going to send a few posts this week but they wont be as regular or as scheduled as normal! Think of this as a week of vacation posts....not your regular programing! I Hope everyone in Toronto has an awesome TIFF and everyone else has an awesome week!

Now on the random posting note, late night I was the happiest girl in the world. Or maybe happy as a pig in shit...happy as a clam?? okay you get it I was so happy! I Got the chance to see my favorite musician perform at the Molson amphitheater here in Toronto! The show was nothing short of wonderfully uplifting, singing old hits and new soon to be classics from his most recent album. The crowd was dancing and sending out some of the most positive vibes I have ever felt!

When we were walking to our gate to enter the amphitheater there were quite a few booths set up selling things but one caught my eye! It was a pledge booth! Jason has set up this pledge booth at all of his concerts on his 2012 tour. Basically you get a free water bottle if you pledge to plant a tree! I read also that to help offset the carbon foot print his tour is leaving he is planting a tree in every city he visits.

It was a cold night, and the event was outdoors but it was so perfect I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!  Indoors wouldn't have had the same passion or feel to it!

I LOVE this idea and I LOVE the example he is setting for his millions of fans to help take care of the planet! When the music was over and he was saying his goodbyes he reminded everyone to take all of their belongings and garbage with them when they left!

I could gloat all day about the amazingness that is Jason Mraz but I think I am already starting to sound like a little school girl in love! All in all the concert and evening in general were fantastic!

If he is coming to your town get some seats or a patch of grass, go and listen to him change your mind about life!


love love love

Kristen 

Go Green Thursday- Sleeping Naked is green

Sleeping Naked is Green

I Have writen about this book before, and I think it speaks volumes that I am writing about it again! Its one of my favorite reads, and a great one if you want to find simple ways to chip away at your carbon footprint.

Its about a girl from Toronto who, everyday, adds one new thing that is "green" to her way of living. It Starts out simple, like changing to 100% recycled papertowl, but then gets to unpluging her fridge, selling her car and cutting her hair!

The novel was written by Vanessa Farquharson and started out as a blog just like this one. It got picked up by a publisher and hit the shelves at bookstores all over Canada!!

The Blog Link is

http://greenasathistle.com/

I AM DEMANDING YOU BUY BORROW OR STEAL (dont steal...I was kidding) THIS BOOK!

Love Love Love

Kristen

Lavender Experiment Number Uno!

                                                           Lavender Experiment #1

   I love lavender, so much in fact I planted a whole bunch in my garden a few years ago. It’s great for the garden because it spreads nicely, and attracts bees that help pollinate my vegetables. This year, I decided to harvest it, what to do with it is the issue.
   Lavender is traditionally used for teas, soaps, and its precious oil. It has many healing qualities, and is great for calming, and relaxing. Now how do I cook with it??? Lavender is becoming very popular in the culinary world, and has a vast variety of uses. So I have decided to give it a go, and share my findings with you.

   My first Experiment Lavender Jelly;
3 ½ Cups of water
½    Cup of dried Lavender
¼    Cup of lemon juice
4     Cups of sugar
1     Box of pectin

 First simmer the lavender in the water making a tea (at least 20 min.), strain the lavender. I actually added some sage to this process, but you can play with yours. Add the lemon juice, and sugar, and stir to dissolve the sugar, add the pectin and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 2-4 minutes.
  There you have it, easy as pie. I think I’ll try this on lamb with some mint. Keep coming back to see more of my lavender experiments, and please, share some ideas of your own. I’ve got lots of lavender.

Vanished for the long weekend!

I decided to take the whole long weekend off from writing just to relax my body and mind! I feel very ready to take on the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). So we are back on track today with regular posts about awesome food, travel and well anything else! I hope you all had a wonderful labour day weekend and you got the chance to relax as much as I did :)

Until tomorrow Earthlings :)

Love Kristen

PS: Don't be scared to leave your comments/opinions, we love to hear them! If you have topics you would like us to cover, send them our way :)