So Long Summer

My summer.

It was not what I expected or planned. It felt long at times and so very short at others. It was busy in good ways and challenging as well. Now I am ready to breathe in the crisp air of Autumn and embrace a new year of life (Happy Birthday to Me). I also feel ready to put words back on a page and get more creative in the kitchen. Something about the chilly air makes me want to bake and cook new things.

But before I move forward, here's a snapshot of what you missed:

Where did we go?
Not much of anywhere...No long trips this time around. However, we did make a little weekend getaway to Cleveland and experienced what their quaint downtown and culinary scene had to offer. If you go, you have to eat at the Chocolate Bar restaurant located downtown.

Salted Dark Chocolate on a Toasted Baguette with an Olive oil and melted Chocolate dipping sauce. Amazing! 

We also took an extended business trip up to St. Catherines and made a point to stop in London, Ontario then St. Jacobs for the farmer's market, on to Kitchener/Waterloo, Niagara Falls and lastly Niagara on the Lake. 

If I could pick only one place to return to, I would definitely head back to Kitchener/Waterloo. We tried a few restaurants and were pleasantly surprised by their culinary scene. In Kitchener we ate at Martini's Restaurant, where Matthew enjoyed eating Pig Tails, which are a very savory cut of pork and are actually...pig's tails. We were really impressed with the menu offerings which were comprised of locally grown food. The next morning we headed to The Bauer Kitchen for a delicious breakfast of French Toast (I have an addiction) and an interpretation of Breakfast Poutine with the smoothest cup of coffee that I still crave. Both restaurants belong to a collection of world class restaurants in the Waterloo area by The Charcoal Group, and I hope to go back to try some of the others.

What did we eat?

This summer was the summer of fresh local corn. I grilled it, I used it in salads and soup, or buttered it up and ate it on the cob. Its probably fitting because we moved to Tecumseh, the home of the Corn Fest. The whole weekend long, the air smelled of grilled sweet corn, mmm delicious! I also broke out my ice cream maker that I found at a garage sale for $5, and tried my hand at peach ice cream. It was yummy and so fresh!

It was also the summer of new foods. I tried quinoa for the first time, as well as cousous (I've eaten it before, but not by itself). Its terribly unhealthy and embarrassing, but for the first year of marriage, I always kept a carton of 35% whipping cream in our fridge to use for meals. I blame it on cookbooks with no regard for my waistline. Needless to say, we needed to find different options besides rotating a different meat every night for dinner. That's when we invented "Meatless Mondays", which is a term we used loosely because we rarely had it on a Monday, and we always had some type of meat in small amounts. So it was more like "Summer Salad Suppers", where our main entree was a salad. We had so many variations, its hard to remember them all, but my goal was to create a filling but healthy and delicious salad with new ingredients each time. I would often put a grilled fruit or veggie in it, such as corn, peaches, nectarines or apple. We would choose one type of meat such as taco seasoned ground beef for a Mexican salad or grilled sausage to use in small amounts. I'll let some of the pictures speak for themselves...

So the summer has come and gone, and it was not disappointing by any means. Just different. 

I have learned a lot, I have taken some time to rest and now, NOW, I am back and ready to write again. Thank you for waiting, friends. 

Welcome Fall! Bring on the apples, cranberries, squash, and maple syrup. Bring on beautiful colours, crisp air, cuddly sweaters and cold noses. I'm ready for you!