So Many Peppers....So Many Tomatoes!

Picked some more fresh veggies from our potted vegetable garden!  We have a great selection of peppers this year as you can see pictured above - yellow bell peppers, hot banana peppers, and chili peppers.  These peppers are HOT!  We put a couple into a pasta sauce tonight and I can still feel my lips burning over an hour later!  We also used some fresh basil from the garden as well, and some (store-bought) onions.

There are lots of cherry tomatoes - those yellow ones that you see are the heirloom "Snow White" variety of cherry tomato.  I didn't find that it tasted terribly different from a regular cherry tomato, but it adds a great variety of color if you mix them together when making something with tomatoes!  We took the tomatoes and made a fresh salsa, also using some of the hot peppers.  This salsa is spicy hot! We essentially followed this recipe, posted on my blog last summer, but also added a splash of white wine vinegar.

Gotta love the summer and fresh veggies, especially the kind that you grow yourself!

Work In Progress - Sakura Cross Stitch

It may not look like much right now, but it will eventually be a fairly large cross stitch project that I would love to frame and hang up on the wall!  My goal is to finish it by the time that we move into our new house (we are starting to look at homes tomorrow!  So exciting!).  Here is what it will eventually look like (the picture on the project bag):

Beautiful, isn't it?  I just love beautiful Japanese/Asian inspired designs and the cherry blossoms remind me of the time that we visited the Sakura Matsuri in New York City.  My only question - do any of my readers speak Chinese?  What do the characters say on the pattern?  I'd love to stitch them on the design but I'd love to know what they actually mean!

I also purchased these two cross stitch kits from Pinn-stitch.com yesterday!  I find these to be quite beautiful as well - the kits are appropriately named Tranquil Valley and Gentle Scenery.  I've never ordered from this website before so hopefully it is a positive experience.  I got an email this morning saying that they have already been shipped, so that is a great sign!

Now for something completely unrelated....I've noticed since moving to Brantford a few years ago that people here LOVE to ride their bicycles on the sidewalk!  Back in Dundas and Hamilton, this wasn't such an issue - people typically would ride their bikes on the side of the road, with exceptions made for extremely busy streets or little kids.  I can understand if it is a really busy road or a small child, but people here tend to ride their bikes on the sidewalk even in the quietest of neighborhoods with ample room on the road.  As a pedestrian who loves to go on walks, I've almost been hit by bicyclists on several occasions.  People love to creep up behind you on a bike without warning you with a bell and almost run you down.  I once had a father with two teenage daughters almost run right into me while going quickly around a corner.

So...to end my little rant, please be careful and mindful of pedestrians if you are riding a bike!  Technically, a bicycle is a vehicle and should be used only on the road.  If you must ride on the sidewalk, please use a bell as a warning and share the sidewalk with people who like to use it for walking! 

Swap-Bot Blog Swap!

Wow...try saying that three times fast!  Swap-Bot Blog Swap...Swap-Bot Blog Swap....okay, you get the point.  I have mentioned this super awesome website in the past called Swap-Bot where you get to exchange all sorts of fun things via regular snail mail or electronically, whether it be postcards, chocolate, information, crafts, and the list goes on!

I joined this super fun swap there where you basically swap blog addresses and get to read and follow some new blogs written by members!  Super fun - I'm always looking for new blogs to read, especially those from fellow swappers and crafters!  I'll list all of the blogs below just in case you're looking for something new to read!

Redchuckstress - http://www.redchuckstress.blogspot.com/ - A great crafting blog!  Shows some really neat Etsy finds as well as the blogger's own crafty experiences!

Craftland - http://www.pookalakachicka.blogspot.com/ - From the blogger's page:  "The misadventures of a crafty girl in the world of indie craftiality"

Missanne.org - http://www.missanne.org  - Adventures in craft, photography, and geek chic!

Sex, Drugs and Crafts - http://zilliahbailey.blogspot.com/ - The name says it all! This blogger happens to live only about an hour away from me...the world can be such a small place sometimes!


Delicate Eccentric - http://delicate-eccentric.blogspot.com/ - From the blog: "The beautiful little gems that you didn't realise you couldn't live without until you saw them!"

Lucky XIII Creations - http://luckyxiiicreations.wordpress.com/  - "where imagination runs free"

A Life Designed, by RJ - http://www.designedbyrj.blogspot.com/ - Recipes, crafts, life! All sorts of neat stuff to read here!

Too Cute - http://overlycute.blogspot.com/ - This blog is filled with all sorts of cute crafts!

The funny thing is you're just as useless as me - http://tovesuomi.blogspot.com/ - A blog all about life, swaps, stationary, and all sorts of things that I'm interested in, too!

The girl at the traffic light junction - http://timelessbeauty.wordpress.com/ - I love this blog!  All about the blogger's life, filled with inspiration!

There you have it - I hope that you enjoy these blogs just as much as I do!

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada and Buffalo, NY (Day 2)

We woke up on Thursday morning and went downstairs for our 9:00a.m. breakfast.  Maddie at Copper Lane made us our delicious breakfast and she tries her best to cater to all of the guests' tastes.  She specializes in various diets - vegetarian, lactose-free, gluten-free or peanut-free - whatever your allergy or preference may be.  For instance, we are both vegetarians, I cannot consume yogurt, one of the guests did not like fruit, and two of the guests did not like onion.  Maddie prepared our first course - a delicious baked biscuit and delicious baked pears with cinnamon.  For the guest who did not like fruit, she made a yummy looking slaw type salad with zucchini, carrot, and other fresh veggies.  She also prepared a main course frittata, with onion for most of us, and without onion for the other two guests.  There were three couples in total (one in each room).  For dessert, she made these yummy gooey brownies and cranberry oatmeal cookies.  What a great cook Maddie is!  We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and were so pleased with the trouble that she goes to prepare meals to please all tastes and preferences!

After our breakfast, we went for a walk to the main shops in downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake.  We saw these wonderful little Japanese-inspired shop called From Japan.  There were so many amazing Japanese gifts, art, tea, dishes and glasses, stationary, paper goods, and more!  We absolutely adored everything in this shop!  Paul purchased some stationary sets for me, as I love cute stationary sets!

Then, we just had to stop at Victoria Teas and Coffees, since I heard that their coffee is amazing.  Now that I'm back home, I've brewed coffee from the coffee beans that I bought, and it is so good!  I purchased a Maple Cream coffee and an After Eight coffee.  They sell so many varieties of coffee beans and tea, including some unique varieties to the Niagara area, such as Icewine coffee and tea.  I haven't tried either of those flavors, but I'm sure they are fantastic!

We decided (the day that we left for our trip) that we would take a little zip across the Canada-USA border for an afternoon in the States!  Maddie was nice enough to keep the wines that we purchased, as well as our luggage, at the bed & breakfast so we could travel without taking anything with us, since the border guards may hassle us if they discovered alcohol or a suitcase.  We wanted to go to the Wegmans to do a bit of grocery shopping (we LOVE shopping in the USA to find different foods, mostly snacks really!), so we went to one in Buffalo that was near the Cheesecake Factory at the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY.

After grocery shopping, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch!  I went to the Cheesecake Factory for the first time last month while in Ohio with some girlfriends, and I really wanted Paul to experience the Cheesecake Factory first hand!

For lunch, we had the White Pizza and some Fried Mozzarella as an appetizer.  The White Pizza, as shown above in the picture, has already been enjoyed a bit by us!  It was so good!  Paul said it was probably the best pizza he's ever had.  It definitely rivals the pizza that we had in New Jersey on our NYC trip - in a totally different way, of course, but it ranks right up there for best pizza ever!

Mmmm...and when we thought lunch was totally amazing....here comes the cheesecake!

Yum yum yum!  We decided to split a piece of Red Velvet Cheesecake...good decision, since we could barely finish the one slice of cake!  Best cheesecake EVER.  It was delicious bits of red velvet cake in between cheesecake and icing, and had white chocolate along the back of it!  It was well worth the trip across the border!

We had a fantastic mini-vacation to Niagara-on-the-Lake and a quick trip to the USA!  Since we're saving up to buy a house very soon, we haven't been able to travel as much as we would like to - hopefully the next trip we'll be making will be traveling for our wedding (or wherever our travels may end up taking us...!)

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada - Dinner and Wine (Day 1)

After touring the wineries, we went to Deluca's Wine Country Restaurant as a part of our wine tour & dinner with Niagara Vintage Wine Tours.  Since Paul and I are both vegetarian, we inquired ahead of time about a vegetarian meal.  On the menu, there were vegetarian options for us, and we were able to fully enjoy everything as there were meatless options for every course!  Also, each course was paired with a wine from a local Niagara winery that fully complimented the food.

We were brought an Amuse-Bouche to begin, which was some sort of apricot-rice mouthful with many other ingredients which I can't remember.  It was absolutely delicious - incredibly flavorful and all of the ingredients came together so well!  I always see the Amuse-Bouches being prepared on the Food Network and various cooking shows at fine dining restaurants, so it was really fun to be able to try one!

Next, we were brought some freshly baked bread with an olive oil balsamic vinegar dip.  Mmmmm... I wish that I could eat this all the time!  I could have easily just filled up on bread for the rest of the evening!

We each chose to try the salad (even though the soup was vegetarian, too, and sounded delicious) - this was easily the best salad that I've ever eaten!  There was a wine salad dressing that tasted delicious and topped a very complex and yummy salad!  It had salad greens, radish, beets, pickled asparagus, and a sweet pepper relish underneath, as well as feta cheese.  Oh my goodness....it was so good!  I could have eaten this salad for the rest of my life!

Yummy....wine!  We had a white wine with our salad, a red wine with our dinner, and an ice wine with dessert!  For dinner, we had a handmade pasta with a tomato sauce, topped with fresh ricotta and grated parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.  This was so incredibly delicious, too!  It has been since our cruise that we last ate at a fine dining restaurant of this caliber and it reminded us of the delicious cruise food...perhaps on par or even better!

For dessert, we had a fresh peach cobbler, as peaches just came into season here in the Niagara region.  It was warm and delicious!  Paul was even impressed with the fact that I don't normally eat raisins, but I gobbled them all up in this tasty dessert!  Yum!

After dinner, I enjoyed a great cup of coffee and then we were back in the shuttle van with the tour company and taken back to our bed and breakfast.  We were greeted by a friendly neighborhood kitty on the front lawn - apparently, there are lots of friendly neighborhood animals that live in the area, as there are plenty of trees and areas for wildlife to enjoy.  Although we never "met" him, Maddie (who owns Copper Lane) told us about a red fox that is fearless and only walks around on the sidewalks of the neighborhood!

When we arrived back at Copper Lane, we were ready to go to sleep as we had another adventure ready for us the next day!