Finally, A Beautiful Sunny Day

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….. a perfect day for a bike ride to the Green Show

Yesterday I told you about our day out at the Junction or at least half the day.

After lunch K took the groceries back to the car and A and J and I went off to explore more of the stores along the street. A few stores down from 3030 we discovered a great little cheese store, Junction Fromagerie, that specializes in artisanal cheeses from Canada. We went inside and sampled a couple of cheeses and made a few purchases. Luckily K saw us inside the store and continued to join us on our journey of discovery.

There were lots of places for browsing but we didn’t have the time to check everything out. If you’re into antiques the Junction has numerous antique stores, second hand furniture stores, and stores that sell used appliances and unusual old lighting fixtures and hardware.

There are also numerous coffee shops, ice cream parlours, pubs and restaurants along the street. Many are one of a kind establishments, owned by independent merchants but you can always tell when a place starts to become popular because the ‘chains’ start to appear. It’s no different here.

Along with the older and well established businesses, some very trendy and high end stores have started to appear in the last few years. One of my daughters’ favourite stores is Mjolk. This store features beautiful furniture and design pieces from Sweden and Japan. In the window is an art installation piece that was just completed by an artist flown in from Japan. It is called My Garden. It’s a little difficult to see on the glass.

The prices in this store are incredibly high but the items are all one of a kind art pieces. The photograph showing the stones is actually layered and carved paper and the larger piece sells for over $1000.00. Believe it or not my girls always find something here that they want to own. Luckily not everything is out of our price range.

Today the sun was shining when we woke up so we went for our walk a little earlier than we did yesterday. There’s still a chill in the air but the sun on our faces was glorious. I didn’t plan to run today. I thought my body might need a rest after yesterday but after 1k into the walk my feet started to take me on a run again. My legs felt a little heavier today but I managed to run 1.2k and walked another 2k for a total of 3.2 k.

My husband wants to attend the Green Show today. If we ride our bikes we can park for free and if we bring a used electronic device for recycling we can get into the show for free. I’m sure we can find a couple of things that we can carry with us on our bikes. Well I guess I better get going before my husband changes his mind and it gets too late. If I see anything worthwhile to report on I’ll check in with you later.

Cheers!

Mokuhanga

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. I learned about Japanese wood block printing

In Japanese ‘moka’ means wood and ‘hanga’ means print. Mokahanga is literally the art of making prints from carved wood blocks. Today I took a workshop on this art. Elizabeth Forrest is the artist who taught the class and it was held at Articulations in the Junction.

Elizabeth Forrest

We learned about the history of mokuhanga and then were shown how to carve the wood to make our blocks.

Carving the wood block.

Students hard at work. Everyone was so focused on the task that you could hear a pin drop.

Half way into the three hour workshop we were instructed on how to apply the ink and create our prints on specially made rice paper. Elizabeth has her own paper maker in Japan who makes these special papers. Articulations has signed on to become a distributor for her papers.

Here are a few examples of the finished projects.

My friend, D’s work.

: Three of my 6 prints, plus the wood block. I started with the orange but wasn’t happy with the colour so I switched to the blue.

Walking, Junction Farmers’ Market and More Canning

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. one by one farmers’ markets are shutting down for the season

The day started with the a cool breeze and sunshine. My husband and I decided to check out the farmers’ market in the Junction. We had never been there and it would be our only opportunity to pay it a visit. The market was due to close later today.

As soon as Frances saw us preparing to leave she assumed we were going for our usual walk. We couldn’t disappoint her so we bundled up and fastened her into her Buddy belt. We ended up doing the usual route and gave her a good workout before heading back to the house. By the time we returned we decided that our plan to bike to the market wasn’t doable because the market was only open for another hour and a half.

So we took the car. The day progressively became cloudier and cooler. Parking in the Junction wasn’t a problem but we did have to ask someone where the market was located. Luckily we were close.

Caught on camera at the Junction Farmers’ Market

The market proved to be interesting. It wasn’t huge but it had some interesting vendors. We bought spinach, pears, vegetarian samosas, pepper jelly, radish relish, humus and homemade crackers.

We walked back to the car and unloaded our purchases and then walked to The Bean Cafe. We enjoyed a couple of cappuccinos and I must admit we each enjoyed a vegan oatmeal pumpkin cookie. (picture below)

On our way home we picked up our daughter, G, who needed to do some work at our house. She told us about the pumpkin butter she had made and it inspired me to do something with the leftover squash I had cooked last weekend.

K quickly found a recipe on line for squash butter. Actually there are quite a few. The one I chose is pretty close to the one my daughter used, the exception being that it called for any winter squash. Now when my sister brought me the squash she had no idea what the variety was. She called it horse squash because it grew in the horse pasture on their farm.

After researching the different varieties of winter squash I’ve decided that the squash my sister gifted me was a kabocha squash.

Here’s the link for the recipe that I altered slightly.

Maple Squash Butter

Kabocha Squash Maple Butter

6 cups of cooked squash (any type works but the orange varieties have a nicer colour)

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

2 tsp. vanilla

juice from 1 lemon

zest from the lemon

1. Puree the squash with an immersion blender.

2. Place it in a large pot and add the remaining ingredients.

3. Cook it for 20 minutes, stirring often, or until it reaches the consistency you like.

4. Taste and add more sweetner (syrup, sugar or brown sugar) if you like it sweeter.

5. Place in sterilized jars and seal. I didn’t put this in a waterbath. These jars will need to be refrigerated and used up within 3 weeks or you can freeze them.

My finished product isn’t very pretty. When you add the spices to the light yellow flesh of the kabocha squash it turns a pea soup greenish colour. Squashes with an orange flesh might be more appealing but then my husband said that pumpkin pie isn’t exactly ‘pretty’ either. However, it has a wonder flavour and would be great on toast and we dipped apple slices into it. Yummy!

To Market, to Market…..

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. and a few wineries to boot

Yesterday on our trip to the Niagara region our intention was to seek out a few farmers’ markets. I really wanted to purchase a large quantity of Italian plums for canning. Our first stop was in Beamsville where the market consisted of 9 vendors. It was rather overcast and everyone was afraid of being rained out.

None the less we found a few things to purchase and the vendors were very friendly and talkative. One thing I learned was that the fruit farmers in the area lost about 85% of their cherry and plum crop earlier in the spring because of frost. No plums at this market. On to the next stop.

Nothing says ‘autumn’ like a cornucopia of gourds, squash and pumpkins.

These radishes look like they’re on steroids.

Our next three stops were at wineries, Megalomaniac, Featherstone and 13th Street. All of them were very busy because we chose to drive to the Niagara Region during The Niagara Wine Festival.

The entrance to Megalomanic. An interesting place because it’s built into a hill.

A close-up of the door handles on those beautiful doors.

The tasting room was very busy today. We didn’t stay to sample but based on past experience they make an excellent white wine.

Our next stop was at a much smaller vineyard called Featherstone. This is where I posted the sign about welcoming dogs on leashes. This was a much more intimate experience and we were able to speak to the staff about the product. The owners actually own a Jack Russell Terrier that has his own doghouse made from a wine barrel.

The tasting room is inside this quaint little cottage.

Bocci is the dog’s name.

We stopped at one more winery, 13th Street. There was a Hand Made Fair going on at this place. There were hundreds of people there. Too busy for us. We purchased a jar of Horseradish Garlic Pear condiment to serve with cheese or meat.

We made one more stop at the local cheese factory, The Upper Canada Cheese Co., purchased a smoked maple soft cheese and then drove into St. Davids to have lunch at the Old Winery Restaurant. It was already mid-afternoon and we were very hungry. We made some healthy food choices and thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

Before heading home I was determined to find a roadside stall where I could buy plums. As luck would have it there was a stand not too far from the restaurant and they were selling plums. I was a little shocked at the price, $12.00 for a basket, but I decided it was important to support the local farmers.

Italian plums next to peaches and grapes.

The irony of all of this is that when I got home I had to make a quick stop at Costco to pick up something for school and while I was there I saw Italian plums for $6.99 (5 pounds compared to the 4 pounds in the basket I bought). I bought them as well. Today we started preparing them for plum jam using an old German recipe (I’ll share with you tomorrow).

Eight pounds of plums soaking in sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Tomorrow the entire pan goes into the oven for 2 hours and then pureed and poured into sterilized canning jars.

All in all it was a great day. The sun eventually did come out. We bought a variety of vegetables, fruit, cheese, salami, a condiment and a few bottles of wine. We supported the local economy but more importantly I got to spend some quality time with my husband.

Cheers!

Is it a Book or is it a Purse?j

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. I loved these clutches

Last Wednesday I took a detour on my way home from the cottage and headed into Midland. I parked the car and strolled up and down the main street. One of my favourite stores opened a few years ago and I was pleased to see that it was still in business. So many new businesses in ‘cottage towns’ don’t last more than one or two seasons. The name of the store is Homecoming and is located at 298 King Street.

I loved browsing and checking out the new food items such as homemade jams and mustards. Up near the cash I noticed an ironing board, stacked with piles of pre-cut fabric so I asked the clerk what he was making. He excitedly showed me some of the finished projects. How clever! They looked like books but were in actual fact clutches and purses. The small one, which I bought, are about the size of a paperback novel (large enough to hold your credit cards and a ‘smart phone’) and the larger ones have a strap long enough to put over your shoulder. There were a variety of actual book covers that one could choose from.

I’m sharing the clutch that I bought. Price? $24.95.

What do you think?