Small victories, stunning vistas....

I feel really supported this week, and it's pretty great. In the last month both sets of my future in-laws have come to visit and expressed their excitement at both the wedding and the business. So many friends have lent their help, advice and support. The blog is getting more readers than ever, and strangers have told us what a great idea we have. We like to think so too.

I havent talked about the wedding in a while, beacuse it was so up in the air for the longest time. We did what every engaged couple does and planned 5very different weddings before we gave up on all of them and realized what we, as a couple, wanted to do. As both of us had never been off the continent before, last year we decided to go to Europe. Like everyone, we fell in love. We went to Holland and Belgium and literally discovered a brand new world. We loved the food, the people, the (!!) architecture(!!), and the timelessness of it. It was this, that inspired us to go away for the wedding. Not to the Caribbean, or Mexico, or Italy or France, but to Iceland.

(If anyone wants to Photoshop a little bride and groom in this picture, and send it back to me I wouldn't mind a bit, you all know for damn sure I can't.)

Look into Iceland, I promise you will fall in love with it. We hope to, on Canada Day this year, when we'll get married on one of the most interesting islands to exist. Let's hope the weather is good to us, but if it isn't, the comfort of some of the best views on the planet fireside will have to do. To think, that we get to go to this strange and wonderful place! There are geysers, volcanoes, whales, wild horses, glaciers, hot-springs...unreal. So I guess what I'm really saying is....

We are unavailable for bookings for the last two weeks of June, and the first two of July! We wont actually be gone that long (if only!), but any of you who have a planned a wedding before are fully aware of the time needed just before and after. Especially a wedding abroad.

In the meantime....and I know I said a bit about this last week...I've been taking most spare minutes to write menus. But since we're all getting to know each other here, you may as well know I can get excited and repetitive. And a little long winded. Get to the point.

You all know that I love food and cooking but I've got to say, sitting at home and trying to write something cohesive is much, much harder than just going to the market and seeing what inspires you to cook. Now, I have to go back through a mental catalogue of things and actually think about whats in season, what went well with what...etc. Don't get me wrong though, the more I do it, the easier it becomes. When something stops being hard, it starts getting really fun. I found myself last night writing a menu out for no good reason. So, in case anyone wants a fully vegetarian, fully Mediterranean menu....I've got that all ready for ya.

I've got one or two more to finish off and then I'll post them here, and on the website shortly.

P.S- In my ongoing, painfully embarrassing struggle to become Master (I was going to coin Mastress, but Urban Dictionary has some interesting things to say about that) of the Interwebs I must announce small victories. I put a picture in my blog. :)  Of Iceland, in case you were wondering about that bit.

P.P.S- In the painfully embarrassing vein, I must also admit that I tried for two pictures. Sigh.

Menu's and Memories...

I've blocked my view of the snow by hiding in the office in the basement. The point is to try to think of sunnier days in the summer, when hard work and patience yields the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables you've long waited for. I've looked back through some of the pictures of our backyard, tried to remember what it feels and tastes like to pluck a cherry tomato off the vine, and eat it still warm from the sun. Cucumbers, beans, peaches, berries...summer squash, corn, lettuce!!!  Eating outside, watching the sun go down, but leaving its warmth on the patio stones and sidewalks for grateful bare feet. Late nights eating for hours, with good wine and better people. It's no secret that I love the summer.

I'm thinking warm today so I can get together a couple of menus, with the unfortunately lackluster produce available to us at the moment. How can you translate flavors of the ripe, heavy warm fruits of summer, into the pale, mealy poor excuses for tomatoes at the markets? I love winter cooking as much as the next person, but duty calls. I love making menu's and trying new things, and I would normally cruise the markets picking up things that inspire idea's and just get to work, making things up as I go along. But it has to be done, so while the snow blows around ruining everyone's commute and likely most of the city's restaurant traffic tonight, I will be here, taking notes and trying hard to remember what my garden smells like in the morning in July.

Today, in January, in the first snowstorm of the year, I'll have to be satisfied with taste memories and a notebook. But it's a great day for soup isn't it?  

Blame it on the rai....nope. not going there.

If you can believe it, my wonderful invisible friends, things are going far better than expected.  We've been giving lots of quotes, and talking to a lot of people. It's pretty amazing. I'll be able to update you more by next week, maybe with some sample menus and fun things like that, but for today....

Is anyone else wondering what is up with the weather this winter?  I ask, because I'm already concerned about the gardening issue. Although, I'm not sure how much we'll be able to get done this year with the wedding and all. But after last years disaster, when mother nature kicked our butts... we're ready to fight back.  If any of you have any advice regarding starting seeds indoors and when to get them into the ground, Id be grateful.  As usual, the internet has an abundance of conflicting opinions on Ontario gardens. They'll let anybody write on this thing!

Todays blusteriness made me feel like coffee and croissants all day, while hiding out on the couch with the pooch and thinking up witty things to write for you all. Instead, we braved the oppressiveness of the day and ventured into the great, dreary outdoors! While carefully avoiding muddy patches and small lakes at the park, we were assured that no one else is crazy enough to head into the depths of the dog bowl either. Don't feel bad fellow dog owners, stick to the streets for a day or two like we did, its a mess down there. I would, however, not travel blocks and blocks away from your neighborhood under grey skies thinking it probably wont start pouring on you. It's inevitable. There is something romantic about being caught in the rain though, isn't there?

On the inevitable note.....I recently realized something about aging. Don't laugh! I don't know a Justin Beiber song, I don't understand anything on Muchmusic or MTV anymore, I don't know who most of the people on magazine covers are anymore...and what the hell is a Kardashian? I've asked before, but no one can seem to tell me how many of them there are or where they came from.  I work with a number of lovely girls younger than me, and have realized lately that we unconsciously move out of the realm of popular culture, it would seem, when we no longer have the time to dedicate to it. I don't anymore, and that's fine. But it is joltingly uncomfortable when its brought to your attention in company. I had a 22 year old girl look at me sadly, laugh, and explain who Rick Ross was this weekend....I was, for a moment sad myself, until I realized that it didn't matter in the slightest to my life. I haven't minded get older as much as I thought.

Which of course surprises and confuses me, and makes older people laugh. You cant win all the time.

#whatthehellishashtagging #whoslaughingnowfogey

Success, and the Slow Holiday Movement.

Hey there, I know it's been awhile, but I swear it's with good reason! It always surprises me that people are actually reading my blog, and looking at the stats for the 6 months I've intermittently been blabbering the sometimes mundane details of our lives and business, I truly have to thank you. I don't believe in new years resolutions much, but I do believe that when you put something on the internet, you'll look like an idiot if you don't follow through.

So...I'm going to blog once a week.  ONCE. A. WEEK. (It's more effective in caps.)

That's all about that. Now that you've just got finished with telling people all about how your holiday's were, and hearing about everyone else's...I'll fill you in on ours!! From this end it doesn't feel strange to still be talking about the holidays, because my still fully erect but very sadly sagging Christmas tree is only a few feet away. I haven't been able to get to taking it down. I'd love to say its because we didn't have time, but I absolutely could have done it instead of watching the Raptors lose and scaring the dog by yelling at the TV. Which is what we did for our four blessed days off, except it involved a significant amount of football. We spent our  first holiday season not hauling baggage and gift-cards on and off various modes of transportation, and it was lovely. We did leave the couches once to go check out the lights in the city though, and wholeheartedly agreed that the Annex wins. Some of those people really outdid themselves, and it made me very happy to know other people love the season as much as i do. I think I've almost got him, by the way...somebody was suspiciously game for Christmas related activities this year. He even wrapped my gifts. 

Phony Balony news abounds. We've started the new year off with a bang, our business is growing more rapidly than we ever could have hoped for, we got fancy new business cards that you can plant in the ground when you're done with them, and we keep getting more and more interest. While we're still technically a new business, we're really getting into a stride and doing a lot of work. There's nothing cooler than having to take time off from work, to work. I have to tell you, we've really received some great feedback and if you'll allow me to brag for a minute (its my blog, and ill brag if i want to), I have to tell you about something that happened.

We were asked to cater an event for a vegetarian. We assumed, naturally that there would be plenty of other vegetarians attending. We went through the usual motions, and waited for the feedback(do you ever get over the nervousness of that excruciating wait?) Then it came. Everyone loved it, it was fantastic, there was nothing left! Great job!

Best part? There was not a single other vegetarian at the event. Not one.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Now, it's probably bad luck to take down your Christmas tree the night before Friday the 13th right? You're right, I should wait.