Easter With the Cormiers

Posted on April 21, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….celebrating a day early makes for a nice restful Easter Sunday

On Saturday I got up early to put the turkey in the oven. I made the stuffing the night before so that saved me some time and I hid a few eggs before I retired for the evening. Despite all the advanced prep work I still found myself working right up till the moment the first of my kids arrived but I must admit that it was considerably less stressful than other years. I did manage to get the table set and hide all the Easter eggs.

My daughter and daughter-in-law took over the egg decorating job and my husband started up the BBQ where he cooked all the vegetables.

Our granddaughter and her parents and other grandmother were the last to arrive and little Winnie didn’t waste any time looking for the treats that the Easter Bunny hid around the house.

After dinner most of us decided we needed to get some fresh air and walk off some of the calories that we had consumed. Our son-in-law made us some wonderful cocktails to start the meal, Gaelan prepared a delicious cheesy cauliflower bake and Andrea and Josie made a decadent chocolate panna cotta for dessert. On top of the turkey and the rice stuffing I also made gluten free spring pasta salad. Luckily the rain had stopped so we headed to the park and continued to the playground a few blocks over.

I hope all of you had as wonderful day as I did. Happy Easter everyone!

A Photo a Week Challenge – Fire

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Mama Cormier

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

Every week I work with fire as we bake our bread for the inn and the Farmers’ Market in an outdoor bake oven. There’s also an old fireplace in the tearoom that we light when the weather is particularly cold. I couldn’t resist including the fire from my daughter’s birthday cake. I love how it illuminates our granddaughter’s face.

A Surprise Visitor(s)

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…this time last year we discovered a similar visitor in our backyard

Some of you may remember the racoon we found in our deck box last year. We managed to get a couple of photos before it scurried off and never returned. All spring we’ve had a heavy metal pan sitting on top of the box so we figured that would be enough of a deterrent to keep the racoons out of the box.

When our dog Frances started to get excited and agitated around the outside of the box this week my husband suspected that the racoon had returned. We took the dog back into the house and quickly the racoon escaped. When we opened the box we found another surprise.
The mama returned shortly after but she wasn’t sure what to do.

We called Animal Control and they told us to make the area very uncomfortable by playing loud music, especially at night, and throwing in some dog fur into the box. The one thing not to do is add moth balls because they are too toxic for the babies. Apparently racoons have more than one den site so the theory is that the mother will take her babies somewhere else.

We were all set to do that but my husband didn’t want to wait until nightfall so he started by opening the box all the way. Again the mama racoon scurried away. It didn’t take long before she returned and one by one she removed her babies and waddled across the deck and the backyard, up the chain link fence and into the neighbours yard. We were afraid she was going to move into our old garage or crawl under our deck but I guess one of her other den sites is in someone else’s backyard.

Proud Mama

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….yesterday my oldest daughter ran a 30k race in Hamilton

The Around the Bay Race in Hamilton celebrated its 125th anniversary. It is one of the oldest long distance races in North America, even older than the Boston Marathon. We woke up to snow yesterday but that didn’t stop thousands of runner from participating in this historic run.

I was looking forward to using my telephoto lens so I could capture Andrea coming around the bend towards the finish line. I practised on some random runners.

Seeing this was the first time Andrea has run 30k she was aiming for a 2:35 finish. The runners in the photos above were all in the 2:15 to 2:20 time range. I knew that at 2:35 the runners would be more bunched together and my fear was that my 5’1″ daughter would get lost in a pack of runners. My fear came true and the camera completely missed her. It’s not like she was going to stop and pose for me. I was pretty upset. Anyway after the race I managed to get a couple of nice shots with her medal. Luckily my daughter-in-law positioned herself at the 27k mark and managed to get a couple of good shots as she passed her.

Friendly Friday – Dreamy

Posted on February 23, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….thanks to Snow for hosting Friendly Friday this week

The task is to post at least one photo that depicts the concept of ‘dreamy’. For me, right now in the middle of winter here in Toronto, dreamy images are ones of warm waters, sandy beaches and sunshine. Let me take you back to summers at the cottage.

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.

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.

Weekly Photo Challenge – Comfortable and Cozy

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….thanks to Travelling at Wit’s End for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge

When thinking of comfortable and cozy I immediately think of a big puffy blanket or an oversize sweater. It can also be how a place makes you feel when walk into it or an oversized armchair or sofa that you can sink into. What makes you comfortable and cozy?

The Inn in Prince Edward County

A Fire

Reading with Papa

Snuggling with Mom on the Hammock

Cuddling Some of her Favourite Stuffs

The Library at WAAC

Comfort Food – Old Fashion Trifle

Cozy Chair

Pyjama Day at School

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Posted on January 27, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…..the weather that is

I’m not talking about the weather that we’re experiencing today but the weather that we had when we were in London, England back in October. Most people think of England as being foggy, cloudy and teaming with rain with a bit of sunshine here and there. Fortunately for us that was not the case. Out of the 14 days in London we only had one rainy day. That happened on Day 8.

Originally we planned to take the train to Brighton and enjoy the seaside. The relentless downpour that day changed our plans. Instead we took a bus to Brick Lane. Brick Lane is in the East End of London and is famous for its curry houses. Having said that I found it unusual that our son wanted us to try a deli where they serve salt beef sandwiches. I guess they’re pretty popular because there was a huge line-up to order one of these massive buns. The weather certainly didn’t keep people away. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos of the area because the rain was really lashing down.

After sampling the salt beef we ventured back outside and maneuvered our way down the street with umbrellas overhead. We made our way to the Whitechapel Gallery to see the Elmgreen and Dragset show. It was to say the least, a most unusual show. On the ground floor gallery they present the ghost of the Whitechapel Pool.

Throughout the exhibition there are more sculptures, such as, a cash machine, in front of which a baby has been abandoned. This supposedly acts as an emotional precursor to sculptures in the rest of the galleries. These include a rifle on the wall, a judge’s wig, a pregnant maid and a frightened schoolboy.

Later that evening, closer to our accommodations, we all went out for dinner together. It would be our last night together with all six of us. Andrea and Josie were heading for Scotland and my husband and I were moving to a hotel in South Kensington the following day. Our son picked his favourite Ramen restaurant, Kanada-Ya, Ramen Bar on Upper Street.

Not only did the good weather come to an end but so did our time with our daughter and daughter-in-law. Luckily for us the good weather did return for the rest of our trip but Andrea and Josie had quite different weather farther north in Scotland.

Friendly Friday Photo Challenge – Pathways

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…..thanks to Amanda from Something to Ponder About for hosting the Friendly Friday Photo Challenge

The pathways here are from the neighbourhood, at Highgate Cemetery in London, Kensington Gardens in London, an autumn path along the Lakeshore, a path through the garden at Montgomery’s Inn, a path to a neighbour’s house on Hallowe’en and a path through the woods when we were ‘hunting’ for the perfect Christmas tree.