Canada Day is just Days Away

I am so excited! Canada Day is in a couple of days and here I am in Minnesota planning the meal to BBQ, what I will wear (nothing weird or too matchy matchy, don't worry), what to drink (meh, not a huge fan of beer) and wondering who I will meet this year.

Bloomington, MN which is where I have been living since 2003 after leaving my sweet city of Montreal, Qc to live with the love of my life is celebrating it's 10th Annual Canada Day Picnic! Weeeee! It's not city run but a Canadian run one which makes it (thankfully) way more fun.

Bonjour et Bonne Fetes mes amis!!!!

Testing out the new Camera

Anybody else have a second shop on Etsy? Well, if you don't and are considering it, beware... It's tough! Unless you have the ability to love love love two ideas at the same time and, actually have the time to do so, then you should be ok.

My whole Etsy experience began with Photography here: Costellos and then moved into my other passion, Food. Yet there are times when I want to escape from food and get back to nature photography and actually devote special time to it. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that we all need a mini moment to stop and stand back from our shops that consume us and honestly, just get back to what we love, every so often. That's me right now oh, and I just bought a used Nikon D100 so perhaps that's my excuse, too.
Testing, Exploring, Having fun!

Just another avenue?

While I'm still awaiting approval of acceptance into that "other" online hand made website I look at it as inspiration to a more streamlined, blog like experience.

As I understand it, it's for US shipping addresses only and the criteria of acceptance runs from excellent photography to the number of articles that one would sell in their shop and while I'm still going through the exercise of reading all of their dos and don'ts, fees and whatnot, I am in love with their layout.

Many of my Etsy mates have shops on Artfire which I sincerely find intriguing but can any online seller of handmade goods really get over the exclusivity of the gem of 1000 Markets? I have been swooned.

Wish me luck on being accepted 'cause I want to hang out with WhimsyandSpice!

I love when this happens

Etsy Front Page

Ode to the basics and damn to Crock Pots

Imagine
CROCK POT PICTURE HERE

i never knew you existed before moving here
your absence from my life went unnoticed for years
parties meant planning, cooking, buying wine and beer
not filling, stuffing, plugging it in and to simply disappear

Little smokies, meatballs, chicken nuggets and more
Calories, fat and sugar galore
If that's what it means to host a party in this town
Let me out now before I explode through my once sexy nightgown

Ok Ok, I get the ease of the Crock family dinner
though it is only slightly better then a McDonald's sinner
So give up the crock and head to your wok
Fresh Veggies and Meat go so perfectly with pop

Merri Time, or something like that

I wish that I could say that this little weekend of mine back home in Montreal was something really special, but I can't. The best thing that came out of it, a clean kitchen.

My mother began hoarding. She'll be turning 80 in October and this was not something we, as her children saw of her in any uncomfortable way until recently. My last trip here I only broached the subject of cleaning and she nearly took my head off. With this trip, she's in Ireland till June 9 and so I did it behind her back. Is that a bad thing? I'm a little worried about the repercussions.

I found this lovely old box in her pantry and before I tossed it, I just had to photograph it.

Sigh.

2.5 months to go

Well, the moment I've been dreading for the last 3 years is finally coming with only 2.5 months to go. Senior Prom was last Friday night... aren't these kids gorgeous!
Keifer will be heading back to Montreal, Quebec to attend Concordia University in August, entering into their Graphic Arts Program. I'm so happy that he will be staying with my family but his presence here will be sorely missed.

A few of his beautiful friends:

and the birthday girl of the evening

Where's My Man?

In the past 4 weeks, I think I've seen the Man a whole 3 days. Originally he was out of town for work but then his Mother, who winters in Florida, fell down and broke her shoulder and so he flew down there almost immediately. They operated on her, she begins to recover and then what happens? A massive Staph infection, followed by 2 heart attacks. He's had a very difficult few weeks. So, it's yet another weekend on my own here and unless I actually have someone to cook for, preparing a meal for 1 is just not on the agenda. It ends up way way down there with laundry and window washing --it ain't gonna happen unless I'm desperate ;-)

Well, I'm missing him and there's a cold strong wind blowing outside today making it a rather unpleasant experience of cleaning up my garden (something I really do enjoy without being desperate). I got to thinking about his favourite starch recipe that includes any one of these Grey Salt delights but since I won't be making it tonight, I thought you might like the recipe.

This recipe serves 6 - we usually cut it down to our little family of 3 (when the teenager is around)

OVEN ROASTED RED POTATOES
1 1/2 lb red new potatoes
1 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tbsp Little Italy Grey Salt Blend (to go with Red Meat dishes)
or, 1 tbsp Little Burgundy Grey Salt Blend (to go with White Meats, Fish and Seafood)
or, 1 tbsp GreekTown Grey Salt Blend (perfect on Chicken, Lamb and White Fish)
2 tbsp Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 450 F. Cut potatoes to bite sized pieces, usually quarters do the trick. Place cut potatoes in a nonstick deep roasting pan and add the remaining ingredients. Toss together. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, turn the potatoes and roast for another 15 minutes or until the the potatoes form a nice crust on the white parts. Serve with just about everything!

Love the one you're with!

Recipe & Photo Tip Time...

First of all, I would like to say that I am loving my new little photography studio and so for anyone who is doing product photography and holds a full time day job doing something else, I want you to go out and buy these bulbs: 60 W Sylvania Daylight Plus Clear. Above is the result! This photo was taken at about 9PM in a dimly lit sub-basement environment, TV blaring in the background and hubby enjoying it. My little photo studio is behind him... Minor adjustments were made in Picassa and Voila! It's done and posted to Etsy in as few as 5 shots... 3 of which are currently different angles of this same product in my Etsy shop. This has shaved a ton of time from posting new products leaving me with more time to develop new products and my weekend natural light time, to moi!! Win win and win!

So this is one of my new herb blends. It's salt free and absolutely delicious. If you equally love lemon and pepper, this is such an easy way to get both and jazz up just about any meal in seconds. I am going to recommend that you not use this blend on red meats --it's just not made for it and besides, Black on White just looks so much prettier.

Lemon Pepper Chicken (super simple) time: 10 10 10
3 or 4 Chicken Breasts as they come packaged
1/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce
1 pat of butter
Lemon Pepper Blend (1/4 tsp per 2 breasts, per side)

Place chicken breasts in a glass bowl and let them marinate in the Soy Sauce for 10 minutes. Melt butter in a skillet over medium to medium high heat just until the butter bubbles but does not turn brown. Add the chicken and sprinkle with the Lemon Pepper. Cook 10 minutes then turn the chicken over, sprinkle more Lemon Pepper on the Chicken and cook another 10 minutes. Serve with Rice and Aparagus spears to finish off your beautiful meal.

Eat well and Be Great!

Eye Candy

I had to delete my last two posts due to some coding errors that made my blog look quite ridiculous. So, here's a little eye candy for today.