boots

It’s officially fall. And I’ve officially fallen for a new brand of shoes – Vionic. 

They aren’t a new brand…but new to me with their structured, yet styling, comfort. I can’t wait for cooler weather to strut them out.

I bought these ankle boots in the heat of summer so they’ve only seen the inside of my house as I break them in. I usually don’t wear any amount of heel…but these actually feel like flats.

And the black runner-style shoe has a great future for travel. Dressing up jeans , capris or yoga travel pants,

These are my Friday Favourites.

CJR

 

friday favourite – dear girl

My daughter-in-law received the book Dear Girl as a gift for their new daughter Lila. She read it as I held Lila the other day. I have since ordered several copies, a few to give away and one to keep for my basket of books! It is a wonderful message for girls about being  powerful, strong and accepting yourself. If you have any special girls in your life, give them a copy of the book…and maybe keep one for yourself, too.

Dear Girl, Keep that arm raised! You have smart things to say!

Dear Girl, Sometimes you may feel like being pink and sparkly. Sometimes you may feel pretty much the opposite.

You may have heard of the author, Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  She wrote an incredible piece for the Modern Love column in the NYTimes entitled You May Want to Marry My Husband. It was published on March 3, 2017, just 10 days before she died of ovarian cancer at the age of 51. It is heartbreaking and heartwarming.

HAR

shana tova (Jewish New Year)

Sunday at sundown marked the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Judaism is full of symbolism and the food served for this holiday is no exception…apples dipped in honey and raisins in the challah to symbolize the hope of a sweet new year. And the challah bread is often made in a circular shape to symbolize the cyclical nature of life.

My task for Rosh Hashanah was to bring a challah. So with some help from Ina Garten and Smitten Kitchen, I spent most of Saturday making a round challah with raisins tucked in the folds. I was pretty impressed with myself and my instagram post included clever hashtags like #kindaimpressedwithmyself and #shiksainthekitchen. Raised Presbyterian (therefore a shiksa) but married to a Jewish man for 34 years, I am always amazed when my matzo ball soup impresses Jewish guests! And then there was this challah…

I heard my husband bragging to his brother about the bread I made. Score.

This promises to be a sweet year for us since we welcomed our first grandchild into the world three weeks ago. Lila is sweet and perfect and so full of potential. I hope it’s a sweet year for you and yours too!

HAR

 

friday favourite – ice cream

I don’t usually keep ice cream in the house. I think the deep seeded memories of plowing through a tub of Haagen-Dazs made me realize that it never stops at one small scoop.

But I buckled recently and am sooo glad I did. I was having friends for dinner and thinking of something cool and simple for dessert…and there it was.

A beautiful cube of locally crafted ice cream with packaging as delicious as the salted caramel flavour waiting inside. It didn’t last long enough for a photo. And the melted remnants of my little slab of sweet and salty goodness just didn’t make for good photography.

Check. This. Out. (or something like it in your town). Four All ice cream is my Friday favourite!

CJR

simple summer entertaining

Every week I visit the local farmers’ market and come home with armloads of goodness from the vendors. I wish I could eat more of what they grow.

Last week, I made a list and tried to stick to it. It was all the local veggies I needed for a salad nicoise – a simple summer salad recommended by my blogging sidekick sis.

 

If you like make ahead entertaining meals, this is a great one to try. Here’s how I constructed my version.

1. hard boil 3-4 eggs, peel and slice in quarters
2. briefly steam a big mittful of fresh green beans – trim one end
3. simmer new potatoes until just done – cut in halves or quarters depending on the size
4. prepare the salmon – I marinated fresh atlantic salmon in equal parts maple syrup and soy sauce for about an hour (skin side up) – then with skin side down, and a generous layer of sesame seeds sprinkled on top, I baked them for about 15 minutes at 425F
5. then the assembly – bib lettuce on the bottom, piles of potatoes, eggs, beans, and Kalamata olives – toss capers over the whole thing and rest the salmon in the primo spot
6. drizzle the entire presentation with dressing – I used this dressing, you could also try HAR’s everyday go-to homemade dressing.

A side of fresh bread, great friends and life is good.

CJR

getting back at it

We’ve been on a bit of an unplanned blog hiatus (blogatus?). We didn’t make a conscious decision. It just happened. Neither of us sent our usual “hey check out my draft on slippers” and the other didn’t sent a “what the heck should we write about next week?”

Life was happening all around us. As it does. And that took much of our time, attention and energy.

When we first starting blogging, I brought my marketing/advertising get-shit-done-on-your-to-do-list and of-course-we-can-blog-three-times-a-week approach. It was a good plan and we did pretty well for a year or two.

Then you wonder…are we saying the same stuff as we said last November? And if we are, does anybody remember? Probably not. Hell, if we couldn’t remember and it was our blog…we were pretty sure that our readers didn’t keep mental track.

And then life happened. There were wedding details. There were kayaks to paddle. There were real jobs to get done. There were vacations to plan and take. There were tributes to write for old friends who had left this world. There were brothers to worry about and visit in the hospital. (he’s fine!) And there was stinking hot, humid weather All. The. Time. Sure we grew up in humid southern Ontario…but come on.

But enough about us. We wanna get back to sharing the stuff we love with all of you.

Stuff like…

• a cupboard full of homemade, local jam
• baby blankets knit for your first grandchild-to-be

So, we might repeat ourselves every 18 months or so…with a slightly different twist and new picture. Thanks for travelling along with us.

Be well.

CJR & HAR

family weddings

We just wrapped up a great three-day wedding weekend. It’s the kind of stuff we love…

when your son/nephew gets married to a wonderful woman…when your family travels five hundred miles squished in a car to attend the wedding…when cousins re-connect at the wedding…when two families merge at the wedding…and of course, when sister bloggers get some real in-your-face time…

HAR & CJR

friday favourite – grandma’s slippers 2.0

These are so quick and easy, each slipper is the equivalent of one episode of whatever you are bingeing on with Netflix! They are a custom order for a friend of mine. Her adult children were nostalgic for the slippers their grandmother used to make for them. We went to our local yarn store and selected colours for each of her daughters. And then I knit them. It took a week and I binged on Fauda, a drama about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — the more intense the drama, the faster I knit!Then I had some fun arranging the slippers for a photo shoot!Creativity comes in many forms!

HAR

grilled eggplant salad

This eggplant salad was easy and a big hit on Sunday for our family backyard gathering.It’s a Melissa Clark recipe from the NYTimes.

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant (I used 2)
• 1 plum tomato, diced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley (I forgot to add this)
• black pepper
• capers, for garnish, optional

Heat grill to medium high. Prick the eggplant all over with a fork, put it on the grill and close the cover, cook, turning occasionally, until the eggplant is very soft and skin is blistered, about 15 minutes.

When cool enough, scoop out the insides of the eggplant and coarsely chop. Transfer to a bowl and toss with tomatoes, vinegar, salt and garlic. Stir in oil and parsley, season with pepper and more salt if needed. Garnish with capers. Serve with warm pita bread.

HAR

 

return of the chopped summer salad

It’s hard to want to spend much time at all in the kitchen with the extended heat wave that seems to be just about everywhere.

Then I remembered how easy it is to just chop up all the local veggies that are showing up at my local farmers’ market. Last week’s haul included shelling peas, green beans, green onion, cherry tomatoes and multi-coloured carrots.

So I chopped, shredded and tossed, added in some cooked quinoa, local apple cider Dijon dressing and feta…and voila.

What are you cooking in this heat?

CJR