Fun Family Day

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….last weekend was a long weekend here in Ontario to celebrate Family Day

Family Day has become a tradition in our family where food takes centre stage. This year my husband and youngest daughter thought it would be fun to have a soup exchange. So in three households three different soups were prepared and ladled into containers for sharing.

Four of us drove to Hamilton where Gaelan had a lovely lunch of roast chicken, mashed sweet potatoes and broccoli ready to serve. Andrea and Josie brought a yummy salad and my husband volunteered to pick up the gourmet donuts from San Remo.

Winnie and I were the only two that won a prize in the Tim Horton’s Roll up the Rim contest. We both won a cup of coffee which we handed over to our hostess.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Texture

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…I love texture in all kinds of things – art, nature, food

Thanks to Cee for hosting the Fun Foto Challenge

When I’m Not Drawing

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….I’m knitting

I’m loving my collage class but sometimes I just need a change of pace. A while back I started a hat for my daughter and I had wool left over so I decided to knit a matching hat for her daughter (my granddaughter). I wasn’t sure there would be enough wool and it did look a tad small when I finished. I opted not to attach the pompom until I made sure it was going to fit.

Yesterday we drove to Hamilton to celebrate our Family Day. I presented Winnie with her hat and it just fit. Of course she wanted the pompom so I got out my sewing needle and promptly attached it.

Sunday Trees – 379

Posted on February 17, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Becca Givens for hosting Sunday Trees

Baking During a Blizzard

Posted on February 16, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….crazy weather didn’t keep us from baking outdoors this week

A couple of weeks ago the weather forecast was dismissal so the Farmers’ Market was cancelled. A lot of vendors come from out of town so with their safety in mind calls were made and notices went out to the community that Montgomery’s Inn would be closed for the market.

This week the weather looked grim again but we went ahead and prepped for the market. On Tuesday morning the snow was coming down pretty heavily so I opted to forgo driving to the Inn. Luckily three of the other bakers braved the snowy roads and prepared a smaller batch of dough than normal. Instead of 7 breads they prepped for 4. The turnout to the market has been down this winter because of bad weather so the decision was made to make less and hopefully have less waste. Not that the bread is wasted. In the end whatever doesn’t sell goes into the freezer or is given away to the other vendors.

On Wednesday the sky didn’t look promising but I drove to the Inn to join my colleagues and get ready for the market. Everyone showed up so I was in charge of making lunch. All the ingredients for a homemade lentil soup had been bought so I started preparing the onions, carrots and celery. It’s a pretty basic soup and the lentils don’t need to be soaked ahead of time. I added a small diced smoked sausage, about a cup of tomato sauce and some leftover mashed potatoes along with the broth and water. Then I let it simmer for a couple of hours and before serving I seasoned it with salt, pepper, basil and thyme. It turned out to be a very hearty soup. Perfect on a cold winter day.

Getting the wood oven to heat up turned out to be a bit of a challenge this week. Since the oven hadn’t been used in two weeks it was ‘stone cold’ and it took quite a while to get the inside up to temperature. When it finally did reach the desired temperature the snow and the winds picked up and we had to proceed with putting the loaves in the oven during the worst part of the day. We decided to score the bread inside to keep our stay outside to a minimum.

The bread turned out exceptionally well this week. I don’t know how many people showed up for the market but hopefully the bread sold. At least the vendors and those who showed up had a nice warm fire to cozy up to inside the inn.

Friendly Friday – Contrasts

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Amanda for hosting this week’s Friendly Friday

Contrasting floor boards at Liberty London in London, England

Contrasting colours of nature vs man-made (Christo’s The London Mastaba on Serpentine Lake in London)

Old vs New at the Natural History Museum in London, England

Freezing snow and ice vs hot coals

An Abstract Valentine Collage

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…from a one-line drawing of shoes

In one of my sketchbooks I have some pages of drawing that I’m not particularly fond of and over time I’ve gone back to them and added colour and some line detail. This time I added bits and pieces of printed transparency in a random fashion over one of the one-liner drawings I did of shoes. After I glued all my pieces down I added some line detail using a white paint pen and some fine black markers. Here is the original drawing.

A couple of hours later it was transformed into this:

Cee’s Black and White Challenge – Made by Humans

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Cee for hosting the Black and White Challenge

All these photos were taken in London, England: a sculpture from the Whitechapel Gallery, the iron gate at the Natural History Museum, the tower from the Imperial College of London, a plane at the Science Museum, an outdoor sculpture and a dress from the Design Museum, a guitar from Canada House in Trafalgar Square, a statue in the V&A and the gate at Holland Park.

A Photo a Week Challenge – Pink

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Nancy Merrill for hosting the A Photo a Week Challenge

Happy Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…homemade cards are the best

I have to admit that I purchased a card for my husband but for my Dad I made one. I took some of the transparency film that I printed and cut it into heart shapes and arranged them onto a folded piece of card stock. I added extra detail with white ink.

I gave it to my father this morning with a jar of hand and body cream that he likes and a small chocolate heart that I purchased at the farmers’ market yesterday. He was delighted and surprised. For one thing he was under the assumption that only men gave Valentine’s gifts to women so this gift was completely unexpected. Aren’t those the best kind? I think so.