what some parents do....

on friday night there was a thunderstorm.
one that hit so suddenly it was magnificent.
the light was golden.
the rain was hard.
so we sent aydan out.
we took a video. the husband edited it.
then put it on youtube.
yes.....we are those parents.

enjoy.

burning up the airwaves.

around here we love the muppets. as a child i loved the muppets. i remember on sunday nights my sister and i would have our bath then run to the tv room for the muppet show before being sent to bed. loved that time, loved that show, love the muppets. and i'm so happy that my kids have jumped on the band wagon and embraced them as well. when i was pregnant with aydan i saw the muppets season one on dvd and snatched it up quick. they watch it with wonder and it's so special. and we are so excited for the new movie to come out - we are even going to splurge and go to the theaters opening weekend!

you can have too much of a good thing though. it's for this reason i am sharing with you the trailer/music video that has been playing around here non-stop for the past month so you as well can join in our pain fun and share it with your family!

enjoy!

the faucet. the Pilar Single Handle Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet with Touch2O® Technology and Soap Dispenser, to be exact. but who's bragging?

the genius of advertising. the hook.

everyday we are bombarded with product after product and the pitch on why this is the one most important thing we must have. some succeed. some fail. here we had success.

the product. the pitch. the people. the victory.

years ago when the world was accepting the launch of the household disinfecting wipe i was neither impress or repelled. i felt nothing for it or against it. neutral. then i saw an ad that hooked me. it hooked me to the point that all i could think about was that i had to have those wipes. right now. as the woman on the ad began to wipe her kitchen down with a chicken thigh leg combo i started to get the sweats and the shakes. i began to think about my own kitchen and the state of affairs it might be in unless i got this product and treated the problem right now. hook. line. stinker.

as i said before when the product is good and the angle is right you have a winning combination.

as many people do - i dream big as well. for a while (like 15 years a while) i have always had in the back of my mind what i would want in a kitchen if i ever got so lucky to design one for myself. and it all spins out of food hands. what are food hands you ask? they were my life. my constant companion. having a caterer mother you are obliged to help and with that comes food hands. working in a fish market - mega food hands. starting my own baking business, once again food hands were there. the only problem with having food hands it that you need your hands to turn on the faucet on the sink to wash said food off the hands but then in turn leaving the food on the faucet. a vicious cycle. therefore - back to my dream kitchen - i had come up with a solution to food hands. a button on the floor to control the water flow from the tap so one would not have to touch the tap, just step on the button and we have eliminated the problem! brilliant i know.

delta has bested me.

they came up with my new kitchen companion. my new food hands helper as you would. the pilar
collection of faucets by delta. when i heard about this product i was it's newest victim; vowing to myself that this would be in my kitchen. we checked them out and decided on the pilar single handle pull-down kitchen faucet with touch 2O technology and soap dispenser in the brilliance stainless finish. the day we got it was a happy day. we plunged right into installing it and i have to admit i was a bit weary of the task to start with - i'm not a plumber by any means - but i am afraid no more. after following the clearly marked step by step instructions, what geniuses they are at delta - 1.2.3. - it was in!!! i couldn't believe my eyes. it was in, stable and there was water coming from it! there it was in all it's glory in our kitchen! yes i get excited by faucets and yes i am doubly excited about this one. all i have to say to the bathroom sinks is watch out!

the beauty about this is that it's all controlled by sensors. i was under the impression that you tap the top and it starts for you so you don't have to use your hands at all. they weren't lying. and not only is it the top you touch; i came to realize it's all over the neck and on the handle too! the thing is amazing! we ended up getting the three hole model as that is what our current sink handles so we got the separate single handle plus the soap dispenser and the sprayer attached to the neck. all i have to say is love love love. i have done more dishes in the past three days then ever - and if you know me you know that i have a hate affair with dishes. no more my friends.

just because i love this so much i copied this off their website to share with you:

Pilar® is a distinctive kitchen faucet that coordinates with most any décor. The touch operated pull-down kitchen faucet provides all the convenient functionality Touch₂O® Technology has to offer. The Waterfall® kitchen and matching bar or prep sink faucet feature the same high arc spout and stylish design as the touch operated model. Pilar also features Delta's exclusive DIAMOND™ Seal Technology for worry-free, leak-free, lasting durability.

as i sit here, i am glancing over at my new queen sitting so majestically on hier new island throne. now to make the set complete all we need is a stunning pendant light above to cast down a royal glow, a slightly larger sink to capture her mighty flow and a butcher block counter top to dress her up. i think that would fit quite nicely thank you.

all i have to say is, lucky me.

summer vacation video series.

what i did on my summer vacation by cooper gus.




stayed tuned for more in this series. thank you very much.

finally italiano.

 the usual plan for a visit or move to a new city is research. you look up what the town is about, sites you want to see, areas that might peak your interest. but not me . nope i just moved to this city with really no knowledge other than what the house looked like that we bought.

our first two weeks were spent downtown going to the same park and the same grocery store. no real site seeing happened. we took one trip to westmount for the bank - only one open on saturday - and saw the nice area but most our time was spent soaking each other in and anticipating daddy's return from work every night.

then we moved to the country. life settled out here and the downtown city was a distant memory. a trip or two were taken in to show visitors and to go to the airport. work for the husband intensified and we were to drive into the city to get him to and fro when the train schedule was less than helpful, which everything in this province seems to be. and that's when i first laid eyes on this place. Milano. the italian grocery store. heaven. i was now planning my visit in correspondence with a city visit but of course after making such a plan it had yet to happen. of course work slowed down and the need for the city drifted away. the plan was there but my cheap bone was showing in that i didn't want to pay for the gas just to do that.

then last weekend we had to go into the city to go to the doctor for coop - health care here is awful, another post for another day - and pounced at the chance to go to Milano, another plus for this was it was just coop and me which is a lot easier than if it were the whole group.

we arrived, parked and entered. lovely. fabulous. overwhelming.


it was bustling with sunday shoppers getting their necessities for the week that it was very hard to browse and soak it all in. it is jam packed with all sorts of foods, goods and sweets that it really was hard to take it all in. we navigated through the crowd grabbing what we could while in the tide of the flow. hard to stop and decide. coop was great, he stayed in the cart and managed our purchases. i spent a while in the pasta aisle deciding and ended up with more than we needed. the olive bar was calling my name but was 10 people deep as was the deli. next time i will indulge here but not today.

the olive oil section was amazing but on glancing at the bottles up front and spying a bottle for $34.95 i imagined a trip inside the tiny section with the cart and a four year old was probably not the best decision. also i was afraid at what i might find in there - could there possibly be a bottle for $80 deep inside? could i resist it?

we found the nuts and bulk items. i love that italians take the time to crack a walnut. to peel off the flesh of a almond or chestnut. not like us costconians who buy the biggest bag we can find and hope that there is enough room in the freezer to house these treats as we will not use them up before there essence has escaped them. i could get lost in there. oh the possibilities!

the next station was the produce. the tomato section alone would leave you breathless.

rounding the bend we came to the cheese and fridges & freezers filed with homemade sauce, pastas, cannelloni's, lasagnas and other savory treats. the prices here were a little steep so i decided that these would be for a special night and hoped there would be an excuse soon! we perused the cheese and did make a selection here as we had to come home with some cheese for a before dinner treat. and a little prosciutto as well to wrap around the ripe melon sitting on our kitchen counter begging to be sliced.

they were definitely ready for eater as well with all the beautifully wrapped eggs hanging from the ceilings. it was hard to not reach up and pluck one.very very festive and cheery.

from here we encountered more dried and canned goods and then found our way to the canned tomato section. the canned tomato section. my lord. took up an entire wall. the varieties were astounding. we selected some san marzano tomatoes and were done.

the experience was fun and exhilarating (yes i know this is strange that i get so excited over a grocery experience but that's just how i roll!). as this was not my beloved bosa foods in vancouver and the definitely did not have bosa prices - bosa is the wholesaler as well so i believe for that reason they can offer more rock bottom prices - it still filled the void and i already have my list ready for our next visit.

to celebrate we went home for antipasti - soft cheese, balsamic tomatoes, crunchy flatbread crackers and melon wrapped in prosciutto. and we made a pasta dinner with the yard length spaghetti we found, a classic meat sauce and my version of garlic bread. yum!

 

new info.

i was passed on this article by the husband and i think it really has some great tips. we are all into saving a little at the grocery store are we not? to learn new tips for keeping our food fresher longer & cut down on waste?
a good read.

i also have a great post coming on some eco-products i have arriving soon.

fresh start. 2011.

my mind has been bursting! things i want to write about, inspirations, things i want to do, moments i want to capture.

i have decided on a few "weekly feature" posts i want to create that will have a - you guessed it! - weekly spot on the menu. also a few monthly ones.

I have been writing all yesterday and today trying to get my thoughts down on paper and out of my head. hoping i will type them out of my fingers soon! (this is why i need a laptop - dare to dream!)