Before I put Summer of Funner to rest, there was one Love-to-Do List item that I just had to make. I’ve always wanted to make a marmalade to sigh for, most particularly, a Lemon Ginger Champagne Marmalade. I didn’t even really know if such a thing had ever existed before. I only knew that I wanted […]
Okay, I have to admit it, while it’s our FORTnight or Backyard Campout season, I haven’t been sleeping outside with the kids. I’m still wearing my cast at night, and so this makes camping particularly uncomfortable for me. So, to fill out my “half” of the bargain, I volunteered for “gourmet” breakfast duty! To kick […]
The first man I saw… had been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put in phials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw inclement summers. He told me, he did not doubt, that, in eight years more, he should be able to […]
The kids are at zoo camp this week, so I snuck in a little canning in their absence… They’ve been enjoying this pink jelly on their toast. It’s also pretty tasty on a little arrowroot biscuit! Makes 5 half-pint jars and .25 c cook’s treat! If you liked this recipe, you’re bound […]
Yogurt Pops are insanely easy to make. All you need is yogurt, some fruit and/or jam, and, if desired, sweetener like honey, sugar, or nut butter. You can even add mix-ins like coconut, nuts, or cookie bits. All you have to do to prepare them is to smash the fruit a bit [or pulverize it for […]
It’s good to make friends with your local farmers! On Tuesday, I was able to get out to the East York outdoor market to pick up a few freestone peaches. When I told one of the local farmers that the kids and I were thinking about making jam, she reached around to the back of […]
August 8, 2012 Just because you can’t walk into the liquor store and purchase a case of beer at the age of 7 or 9 (and for good reason!) doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy foods that are cooked with it, or, under supervision, even cook with them yourself. Today was Street Eats Day! We had […]
2-5 August, 2012 On Thursday, we canned double batches of our newly jazzed up recipes for Bread & Butter Pickles and Sweet & Tangy Pickle Relish. As we were waiting for our veggies to brine in the fridge for a few hours, the kids, remembering the fun labels we created last year, used coloured pencils and oil pastel crayons to […]
2 August, 2012 Last year’s Adventures in Canning were incredibly successful. The Chai Tea Jelly, Strawberry Jam, Lemon Balm & Lemon Verbena Jelly and Spiced Blueberry Port Jam we canned last Summer, Labeled in the Fall, and Decorated in the Winter were a big hit. We used tons of those jams and jellies in the […]
WE CAN’T BELIEVE IT! OUR SUMMER OF FUNNER 2011 IS NEAR TO A CLOSE! Of course, we’re going out with a bang…Over the last two days, for instance, Blaise has been holding a cartooning workshop with the kids, teaching them about how comics are designed and produced and helping them create their own comic strips. Yes, […]
August 30, 2011 Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea change Into something rich and strange Perhaps you were not expecting such language at the beginning of a post entitled “Jelly and Ice Cream Day.” But, you see, as we come to the end of our Summer of Funner, Ariel’s song from The Tempest becomes more and more applicable […]
August 16, 2011 Sure, we’ve painted with pineapple skins…We even attempted to grow one from a crown on our windowsill…Still, this year’s “Crazy Fruit Day” took the old “Pineapple Day” up a notch. Today, we played a Name That Fruit Game, we created Still Life pieces with ink and watercolours, and we operated a Blind […]
August 9, 2011 Last summer, we had Pickle Day. We made Dilly-Dill pickles, and that was all. No. That wasn’t the end of it. Those seven litres of pickles lasted us through the winter. And, after they were gone, our talk about those pickles lasted another season, with plans and plots about what to do for our Summer of Funner 2011. The […]
July 6-11, 2011 My new strategy for entertaining out-of-towners: try something in the city that you’ve never tried before! This week marked the first of several visits from family and friends. First up were California grandpa and step-grandma. We had a busy few days playing t-ball, starting swimming lessons, learning to play video games, and trying out new […]
July 5, 2011 I always like to start our “food themed” days off with a bang. So, for this first Tuesday of our summer holidays, I planned a few more activities than I would normally undertake on a single day. For “Strawberry Day,” I had four activities planned: making dough for strawberry handpies, painting with […]
