Let's Have a Tea Party!

Anabelle received this little wooden Tea Set as a gift. I pulled it out the other day, and we had a little Tea Party! It is so cute, I want to have it displayed on a little table in her room!! I went to find you the link to Toys R Us, and sadly found out that they do not carry this item anymore :-( It was by Imaginarium. Amazon.com has them, but they do not ship to Canada, on this item anyway!!?? I tried to search for another wooden set as cute as this one, and I had no luck. The colours, and floral painting on this one is just so adorable! With a tray, 2 cups with saucers, a creamer, a sugar pot, and a little spoon to stir, the perfect little addition to any girls toy chest!

It makes me want to check out the Toys R Us locations to see if they are clearing any out!? Keep a stock for gifts :-) I think I will head there today!!

K

8/10

Night before last we tried the salmon burgers from Costco. I rated them an 8 out of 10. They were delicious, but I think the mound of tartar sauce on top helped them out a bit. I also put some arugula and tomatoes in mine...

A great quick and easy meal, taking only 4-5 mins on each side on the BBQ. I got some ciabatta buns, threw some crinkle cut fries in the oven and made a nice big salad.

I believe they are $14.99 for 12 nice sized patties, and they are 100% pacific wild salmon (from filets). They were hiding in the aisles, so they need to be searched out a little bit! When I went, I found them at the end of an aisle, in an orange bag (freezer section). Sorry no picture, I am too lazy to pull them out of the freezer, take a pic, upload it, and then add it.............consider it a bit of a scavenger hunt :-)

Hope you give them a try!!

K

didn't have the heart...

I did not have the heart to throw away 4 pieces of garlic toast that were left over from our dinner the other night, so in the morning, after seeing a Bruschetta post by Jillian Harris http://www.jillianharris.com/post/food-fridays-bruschetta I got right to it! I knew I had tomatoes, arugula, asiago cheese....I made my own concoction, but thanks Jillian for the reminder!!!

Best bread ever, is the ciabatta baguette from Costco!! Perfect for garlic toast, croutons, tuna melts, and of course bruschetta! I chopped up the following and loaded it on my bread!

3 vine tomatoes

a handful of arugula

rough slices of Asiago cheese

tbsp of olive oil

shake of salt

bit of pepper

My bread already had garlic, so I left that out!

It was delicious! So fresh and yummy, I could have eaten all 4 pieces!

K

big dreams...

I have big dreams for this space...every time I go past I can visualize just what I would put there. I can see myself inside, picture just what the store front would look like.....it is right beside the Pear Tree Restaurant on Hastings Street, I could walk to work. How much money do you think the dream bank would give me??

K

s.l.u.g

Hello! So sorry to have been away for so long...let me reintroduce myself. My name is Kristen, although lately I have felt more like a s.l.u.g.....

sleepy

lazy

unmotivated

gal

Since my job stopped at the end of the school year, I have felt like I have been dragging my heels. Unmotivated to get things together. Is that what summer is supposed to be about? If it is, I really am not a fan. I wake up in the morning trying so hard to open my eyes while hearing my daughter scream my name from two doors down...meanwhile my son's nose is right in my face asking me for breakfast....I know as soon as I get out of bed, the day begins, the chaos begins.

Last night we went to the Kenny Chesney concert, Uncle Kracker and Billy Currington opened for him.....they both were great, but when Billy started to sing, I could have cried. It was amazing, the volume, the guitars, the atmosphere, magic. We need to go to more concerts, they are incredible! I had thoughts of joining them on stage, LOL.

I hope this will start a better domino effect of more inspiring fun posts....sorry...I am just getting my fingers warmed up! If any of you have recipes to share with ME, please do!

kristenvalente@shaw.ca

Until next time.....when hopefully I am feeling more like myself!

K

little nest

My stomach is bursting with goodness...I just rolled in the door from having breakfast/lunch at Little Nest off of Commercial Drive in Vancouver. I knew this place was supposed to be delicious, but I kept putting off trying it for some reason...

We arrived at 10:30am, a perfect time to have a late breakfast or an early lunch, by the time noon hit, it started to get a little crazy! That is when we were out the door. They open at 9am, and start to serve lunch at 11am.....so a perfect in-between time!

We indulged in the following.....fruit fries with yogurt dip, poached eggs with polenta, goat cheese, pesto and sliced portobello mushrooms....bread pudding with pistachios, orange and chocolate......scrambled eggs and toast soldiers for Noah...oh yeah, and mac and cheese for Anabelle, DELICIOUS!!! The prices were fair, everything was fabulous, atmosphere was great, highchairs were retro, toys were cool!

The play area was awesome for Noah, a bit of a pain in the ass for Anabelle, seeing as she is 15 months and needs to be watched, this meant I could no longer sit and eat the rest of my breakfast! Every time I would attempt to bring her back to the table, she would just SHRIEK to go back....Noah was busy in his apron, baking a pie :-)

When you place your order, you get a wooden block letter for your table, very cute idea! They know what you got by the letter you have.....

Highly suggest this place! A bonus, is that you get the bill out of the way right off the bat with their counter service, so if you need to bolt with screaming kids, you are out of there! Check out the website...

www.littlenest.ca

little nest

1716 Charles Street

9am-4pm 7 days a week

(kitchen closes at 3pm, treats and beverages until 4pm)

Check them out! Don't wait as long as I did!!

K

patio pizza

I salivate thinking about my mom and dads homemade margarita pizza....the thin crispy crust, the gooey cheese and the dripping olive oil....unbelievable taste, I could eat a whole pizza!! I can never get the dough as thin as my mom can, so that was her job last night when we made it at our house...spread on some strained tomatoes, chunks of bocconcini cheese, leaves of fresh basil, cracked pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil, bake it HOT, I put my oven at almost 500, pizza heaven!

I have decided that I don't eat a lot of crap, I just eat a lot....I can't see that ever changing. I enjoy cooking and baking. I enjoy having meals for my husband when he comes home from work (even if its at 10pm), and I love making good meals for my kids, even if they just try a bite. I enjoy having fresh muffins for company, and feel so good about myself when I know my fridge and cupboards are stocked with the groceries I will need for my meals that week.

I ate pizza for breakfast, with my coffee, and it was delicious....

A totally random post, my apologies.

K