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!

The Joy of Buying New Clothes

Posted on September 16, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….in smaller sizes

It wasn’t that long ago when I was so happy about getting out of plus sizes and into x-large. Today most of the tops I bought were large.

I have to admit that I am a bit of a shop-aholic. Today wasn’t the only day that I bought new clothes. Last week after a stressful day at work I headed for my new favourite store, Marshall’s, and tried on at least a dozen tops. Many of the extra larges were too big and I actually went back to the racks to find the same garment in a smaller size. I bought 3 sleeveless tops and I’ve already worn all 3 to work.

I don’t think I’ve ever had as many compliments about what I was wearing as I did last week. Not only were the tops pretty but they actually accentuated my new figure and people really noticed how much weight I’ve lost.

Today I convinced my husband to go with me to Marshall’s again. We had spent hours today making ketchup, cleaning the kitchen, washing the floor and organizing all our newly made canned goods. I really needed to get out. Come to think of it I more or less left it up to K to decide where we would go. I guess Marshall’s was the lesser evil of all the other suggestions that I made.

I spent most of my time looking at the large size rack and took 8 items with me to the dressing room. Only one top was too small and the pants were a little snug. I ended up with 5 items. I spent just over $100.00. Not bad and all of these tops will take me into the colder weather.

When I got home I knew that I needed to clean out some more of my old clothes that were clearly too big for me. I used to think that looser fitting clothes would look okay but the truth of the matter is that they only make you look bigger than you are. Out with the old!

“Out with the old”…. I’m sure the pile will become bigger. These are only the clothes that were on hangers. I haven’t gone through my dresser drawers and then there are all my winter clothes that are packed away and stored under my bed.

I used to reward myself with food. I think I prefer my new reward system.

” In with the new!”….. they look much nicer on me. Maybe I can convince K to take some pictures for a future post.

Images From My New Bike

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. I finally got out for a long ride on my new bike today

It started out as a beautiful day. I wanted to go to a market and pick up some more fruits and vegetables to can but my husband had other plans.

It would be a shame to let such a sunny morning go to waste by getting in the car and driving to a market. Out came the bikes and the panniers were fastened to the racks on the back of each bike.

We opted to head east toward the city. There are good bike lanes for most of the route. Good thing because traffic was heavier than normal due to road closures this weekend. As always there’s a lot going on in the city of Toronto. Getting there by bike is probably one of the best options to choose. Not only does it give one a good workout but we also didn’t have to worry about the heavy traffic and parking was a breeze.

The other benefit is being able to enjoy the scenery along the way and stopping to take pictures. At the Humber River we have a great foot bridge that on its own is wonderful to photograph but recently a piece of installation art was added that makes it even more interesting.

As you can see from the photos, our beautiful sunny day was quickly becoming overcast but we decided to continue our journey and we rode north to Bloor West Village to take in the sights, sounds and smells of the Ukrainian Festival.

A good part of this ride was all uphill but I’m happy to say I made it all the way without getting off my bike. I put myself in the same mindset when I’m running and just focused on my breathing and only concentrated on the road in front of me.

When we got to Bloor St. a parade was underway. We locked up our bikes and started walking down the street.

The sky got darker and darker as the morning gave over to the afternoon.

When the parade ended we found a relatively quiet cafe and ordered a couple of cappuccinos. We timed it well because the place filled up quickly. After finishing our caffeinated beverages we headed back out on to the street to enjoy the colour and din of the vendors that lined the centre of the road.

We made very few purchases this morning. I’m sure that some of the regular vendors on this strip lose money on weekends like this. We did buy a couple of loaves of fresh bread from Cobbs which we carefully packed into our panniers. We were debating whether to head home or wait out the impending rain. We decided to risk it and ride back. Good thing! The rain still hasn’t materialized.

As we were riding down the hill (much easier) we became quite chilled so we stopped and put on our fleece jackets. We stopped at the bridge and took some pictures of the city skyline and a lone kayaker coming down the Humber River.

When we got home I checked gmap.pedometer and calculated that we travelled a total of 24 k today. Not bad for the first time on my new bike.

Cheers!

Up to Our Elbows in Tomatoes

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….that motorized food mill looks better all the time

After spending 12 hours with daughter number one on Saturday, I felt I had to extend the same courtesy to my second daughter, G.

I called G, early Sunday morning to see if she would be interested in making tomato sauce and learning how to use the pressure canner that she helped pay for. It was a Father’s Day gift for my husband who is becoming more and more conscious of the food we eat.

It took a bit of coaxing but G’s husband was away and she needed to do laundry. Being able to use my washing machine and having her father pick her up clinched the deal. G lives about 35 minutes from us, when the traffic is good. Luckily it was.

After putting a load of laundry into the machine we started the process of making our own sauce about 12 noon. A bushel of tomatoes is a lot of tomatoes. Until you start cutting them up and putting them through the hand operated food mill you don’t realize how big a job it’s going to be.

While one person fed the tomatoes into the food mill, another one turned the handle to grind them and the third person scraped the sauce from the screening and the slide into a shallow bowl. The advantage of using a food mill is that the skins and seeds are separated and deposited from a separate orifice and you can eliminate the blanching and peeling and straining steps.

This is only the beginning. We had tomatoes next to the food mill and there are more tomatoes hidden behind this pot.

We started to fill the large pot that you see behind the smaller one in the picture. After preparing one bushel of tomatoes we ended up filling that pot about 3/4 full with sauce.

Our fancy new food mill.

Once we were ready to start cooking the sauce we realized that we didn’t have enough propane for the new burner outside. I volunteered to head out to Costco to purchase a new tank and have it filled. Nobody said that making your own sauce is economical.

My trip to Costco was a nightmare. You would have thought it was Christmas. I searched the entire parking lot before finally finding a spot to park and the line-ups to pay for your purchases literally snaked halfway through the store. I wish I had taken a picture of that. The girl at the checkout said that it was just as crazy the day before.

By the time I got home it was almost 5:00 and G and my husband got tired of waiting for the propane so they started cooking the sauce on top of the stove. Now you might wonder why we didn’t do that in the first place but I think when you see the next picture you’ll see why cooking inside isn’t the most ideal place.

K standing on the ladder so that he can stir the tomato sauce.

As you can see from the picture, K literally has tomato sauce up to his elbow. Another purchase that we need to invest in is a much larger wooden spoon.

After cutting, grinding and simmering tomatoes for 7 hours we were too tired to cook dinner so we ordered in. After regaining our stamina we started the canning process. Having never used the pressure canner before we did a lot of checking on the internet and watching youtube videos to make sure we didn’t end up with tomato sauce erupting over the entire kitchen.

The process was relatively simple but time consuming. We only managed to process 7 jars last night. By 10:30 G packed up her dog, Lucy, her laundry and 3 large jars of sauce and I drove her home. By the time I got back it was going on midnight and I had no energy left to write about our experience.

“The fruit of our labour”, 20 jars minus the 3 our daughter took.

Today K processed 7 more jars and hopefully he’ll finish the rest tonight or we’ll be eating a lot of sauce this week. Is canning your own sauce economical? We figured it will take us years before we recoup what we spent on equipment but the time spent with family is priceless.

Will we do it again? Absolutely!

Cheers

P.S. By the way for those of you who are following my fitness journey, I got out this morning and ran 2.4 k with the kids at school. Feels good!

The Joy of Spontaneity

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. and I reached my goal Saturday morning!

Some of the best times in life are those that are not planned and just happen as the day progresses.

The only thing that I had planned for the weekend was cleaning the house and getting some of my son’s belongings from the apartment he had shared with his girlfriend.

My husband and daughter number one, A, took care of the latter job while I started on the first. As it turned out retrieving my son’s belongings didn’t take long at all and my daughter called to arrange for me to meet her and my husband for breakfast.

As I was driving to the designated location for nourishment, A called me and asked if I would pick up her partner, J from the house so that she could join us for breakfast. The four of us ended up having a delicious meal in a very funky and popular yet unpretensious location.

I announced to my family that I had reached my goal that morning and my husband joked about celebrating by eating whatever I wanted. I wasn’t tempted. I ordered an omelet with cheese and herbs, a small side salad and a delicious cup of Americano. No potatoes, no toast.

As we were sitting in the booth (comfortably by the way even though it was pretty small) we talked about the large bag of pears my husband received from one of his clients. He wanted to make pear butter and put it in jars (there were so many pears).

The discussion soon turned to how we could all get involved and maybe we could pick up some tomatoes and make sauce as well. Hmmm….we had no idea how time consuming this would be.

The girls and I headed for the hardware store to pick up more jars, a food grinder and a propane burner to cook the sauce outside. We couldn’t find everything we needed in the first store so we decided to drive to a famous Italian store on St. Claire that catered to the Italian community, specializing in kitchen supplies. They had everything we needed except the jars and the pots were pretty expensive so we decided to continue our quest and we headed west. So far we had only purchased the food grinder.

After numerous discussions back and forth on our phones with K we decided to buy the propane burner at Canadian Tire where they were on sale. This particular model included the pot. Actually it was advertised as a turkey deep fryer. Guess how we’re preparing our turkey this Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately the first store had sold out but the Canadian Tire close to the house had 9 of them in stock. Back in the car. We made a couple of detours and stopped in a small cheese store where they make their own fresh ricotta everyday. What a treat! It was so fresh that it was still warm. The second detour was another cheese store. Have I ever told you that I love cheese.

We finally had all the supplies we needed for making the pear butter. In the meantime K picked up a bushel of plum tomatoes (another project for another day).

It was mid afternoon before we actually started making the pear butter. Turns out I had to make another trip to buy star anise, lemons and fresh ginger. It took us about 4 hours to cut up the pears, cook them, grind them and then cook them some more.

Pear butter after 45 minutes.

The actual cooking time for the butter to reduce was about 2 hours. As it cooked the sauce went from this light yellow to an amber and after processing it in jars it turned a pink colour.

After 2 hours.

For the recipe go to:

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pear_butter/

The final product. Delicious on ricotta cheese and toast.

After supper we were ready to put the pear butter into jars. We got the water bath ready and K volunteered to watch the last step so that the girls and I could go for a long walk with Frances. The rain that was forecast for the day was over by the afternoon and the wind blew the clouds over the city and to the east. An interesting sky.

The girls and I walked for about 45 minutes. We passed a house where the owner was selling fresh vegetables from his driveway and A and J bought a bag full of corn, potatoes and cheddar cauliflower. When we got home the girls packed up their goodies, including jars of pear butter and I drove them home.

The best part of the day was spending it with my husband, my daughter and her partner. None of this had been preplanned. It was an adventure and even though it was a lot of work it was very rewarding. What about those tomatoes you ask? Well that’s another story for tomorrow.

Frances guarding the tomatoes for Sunday’s sauce.

Three Days of Summer Left

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. and I’m already starting to feel the stress of returning to work

I’ve been at school for 4 out of 5 days this week, anywhere from a couple of hours to 6 hours, trying to remove or organize my belongings in one room and find a place for these belongings in my new room (the library office to be exact). Today I found out that the superintendent is coming to the school to observe our opening day. Even though the library won’t be used the first day I felt the pressure to tidy it up in case she decided to visit my space.

I haven’t been getting enough sleep this week. I’m slipping back into my old pattern of staying up late and getting up early. I know this plays havoc with my weight and with the added stress I’m looking at double jeopardy.

When K and I woke up this morning neither of us had the energy to drive to the cottage. We decided to leave tomorrow morning. I wish I was there now. I would already be in bed getting at least 8 to 10 hours of sleep.

The beach is calling me.

The heat was oppressive today. I put off my bike ride because it was just too hot. Our house is not air conditioned and sleeping in this weather is difficult. Thank goodness that I got out for one of our long walks this morning.

I feel like I’m coming off a ‘high’ after celebrating my birthday and visiting with old friends two days later. What a difference a couple of days can make. I seem to be in a daze and can’t make the simplest of decisions. This post makes me sound like I’m depressed. I probably am.

I started to write about other things that are weighing heavily on my mind right now but I’ve deleted most of it. It’s just too much of a downer. I know that all these feelings will pass in a day or so or after a good night’s sleep. No point in making my readers feel bad. I’m not looking for sympathy.

Things that were positive today:

I bought a brand new pair of sandals that were on sale and I had an additional $15.00 off coupon to use.

I bought 2 new flowering plants to brighten up my garden

I discovered that the cabbage that I thought had bolted is actually a brussels sprout plant and is still producing little brussels sprouts.

The main part of my library is tidy and ready for visitors.

I had a good food day today and am back on track with my eating.

I’m getting to bed before midnight so that I can enjoy my trip to the cottage tomorrow.

On that note I’m bidding you all a good night. Sleep well!

Shop Till You Drop

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. went into stores that I never dreamed I would step into never mind try on clothes and actually buy from.

Yesterday I needed to buy my sister and husband some gifts so I headed out to Sherway Gardens with my 20 year old guests. I made all my planned purchases in one shop and returned an item in another and then my cousin and his girlfriend ushered me into numerous trendy stores that I’d never looked twice at in the past.

One of the reasons that I never set foot in them was that they were dark and forbidding and seemed to be inhabited by mainly young people who were more interested in the brand name and willing to pay a hefty price for the privilege of wearing it. The second reason was that these stores would never have carried anything in my size, 27 pounds ago.

Well it seems that this time of year there are actually some very good deals to be had in these stores where half naked men are displayed at the entrance and perfume is misted throughout the store. I tried on a shirt in a large that was okay but then I found a cropped sweat shirt in large that was perfect for my yoga classes and an excellent price to boot.

While waiting for my cousin to pay for his shirt I found a comfy leather chair to sit in and had a lovely conversation with a young lady who had obviously done a great deal of shopping that day as well and she was excited to show me some of her purchases. I found it very interesting that she was so open and friendly towards me and engaged me in conversation. I was at least the age of her mother or older.

Later that evening my sister and her son came to the house to meet our cousin from Germany and his lovely girlfriend. I gave her the present that I purchased earlier that day and then I proudly modelled the sweatshirt that I bought at H…..

As I slipped the shirt over my head I felt something hard under my arm and discovered that the security tag had not been removed. How I got out of the store without setting off the alarm I’ll never know. So much for security. I guess I’ll be returning to the store when I come back from the cottage. Who knows maybe I’ll find something else that I like and more importantly that fits me.