top of the muffin to ya

Thanks to everyone for all your recipe suggestions for all our berries! I love to cook a lot, but am not much of a baker... however, I broke out the 'ol muffin tins (a wedding gift from a few years ago) and decided to take my first crack at making muffins from scratch. OK, it wasn't my first crack... the last time I made muffins was in my grade 8 home economics class... so yes, quite awhile ago. My friend Jeannette has an awesome food blog (Everybody Likes Sandwiches)... so that was my first stop to getting a great muffin recipe. I decided to make one of her simple recipes for berry smash muffins since it seemed the best match for my amateur baking skills (instead of strawberries, I substituted for blueberries and blackberries). The result was a success!... hmmm.. perhaps attempting a pie will be in my near baking future.

Also, a top of the muffin to Barbara for featuring one of my collages on her blog second surf. Thanks!

collage: boy and rain drops

After what seemed like endless weeks and weeks of dry and hot sunny weather, the Vancouver rain has made a comeback. Just when I was getting used to my summer dresses and strappy sandals and learning to love my ugly ceiling fan, everything just had to go and shift on me.... ugh! Hopefully, this will just be a quick summer shower... there are only weeks left of outdoor swimming, bbqs and beach walks before the first leaf falls!... ack... where has the time gone!

a berry good time

Yesterday, we headed out to a Emma-Lea's Farm on Westham Island and had a berry good time (sorry, couldn't resist using a Strawberry Shortcake-ism there). It's the last weekend the u-pick fields are open, so we went crazy and stocked up on raspberries, blackberries and blueberries... yum! Picking went by pretty fast, with only the blackberries proving a bit tricky since they were growing on a downward slope into a canal (of course, murphy's law that the prickliest of fruit bushes lay on a slippery bank next to the muddy waterway full of frogs). Hmmmm... now what to make with all these lovely berries... suggestions?

collage: boy and balloons

Hooray! One of my collages has been included in the children's section of the Etsy Gift Guide! The collage was inspired by one of my favorite movies of all time, Albert Lamorisse's 1956 short film Le Ballon Rouge (The Red Balloon)... I get all sappy whenever I see it. Someone has actually posted the entire film online... so sit back and enjoy it here. It will make your heart warm.

Also thanks to purplepinkandorange.com for picking one of my collages to be on of their $25 and under score!

pleasant portland

Here are the short and sweet moments as well as a few fave things we visited over the long weekend in Portland, Oregon. It's one of my fave cities to visit... can't wait to head back!

We stayed at the Ace Hotel, a small boutique hotel smack in the middle of downtown. And yes, that is the shower there that you see in the middle of the room... how steamy! (sorry, couldn't resist that comment). This photo doesn't do it justice, it was a really cute stylish room. 
There I am in front of Albina Press Coffee Shop, where we got our morning fix of Stumptown coffee (the local fave)... I'm on the right waving... the person on the left is just some hipster guy getting his bike, who probably thought I was some crazy lady randomly waving.
Roger is an avid video gamer, so when we heard that there was a big classic arcade called Ground Kontrol, stock full of games and pinball machines from the 80s, we had to make a visit. Even cooler, is that after 5pm, the place turns into a bar, so you can enjoy the games with a nice bottle of beer. I got my ass kicked in every game we played... in my defense though... I was a bit too young to actually play some of these arcade games back in the day. (Roger just gave me a glare, when I made that point... heehee).
One of our fave places to stop when in Portland is Powell's Books... it's like a Chapters and Barnes & Nobles combined and on steroids... but waaaaaaaayyy better and waaaaaay bigger. It's huge and has every book (new and used), you can imagine. Swept up for hours there, we forgot to take pics, so instead I took pics of some of our loot. We scored some nice Edward Gorey books and I bought a copy of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and am loving it so far!
Next stop was Voodoo Doughnut where we indulged in some sweet treats.... Roger got the one with Froot Loops on it (I think we almost went into diabetic shock over this one - it was that sweet) and I got the chocolate and peanut butter glazed doughnut with Rice Crispies... yummy.
And lastly, here is the photo booth pics we took while staying at the Ace. There is a machine in the lobby, so every time we visit Portland we make it a point to get an updated photo.... we forgot to adjust the stool before we put in our money this time, so were trying to guess the right height the photo would be.

oregon bound

This past holiday long weekend we headed down to Portland, Oregon for a road trip... here are some of our pics from our first day, which actually was the drive and stopping in cities along the way. OK, so I guess, technically the Portland pics will be up tomorrow... but nevertheless... some of our interesting pics below.

This is a pic from the car bypassing Seattle on the express way (sorry, Seattle). We've been there quite a few times, so decided to keep on driving in order to have time in some of the other places along the way... Olympia, being one of the short stops. I think were were really focussed on eating in Olympia, so I have no pics of this city... oops.

These fat blubbery guys were one of the highlights of the day. We stopped in Astoria to get some fresh air on the docks and were rewarded with this group of sea lions basking in the sun. We have never seen them in the wild before, so were really excited to see so many just lazying about.
This chubby guy (or girl, not sure) was one of the loudest ones... perhaps it was yelling at us "Wwaaarrrghch!" - translation "Welcome to Oregon!"
Stopped in Seaside to walk on the beach and take in the views of the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, the area was a bit in its own weather system and it was a bit chilly and cloudy... so we did not get to use our bathing suits. Sorry that you do not get to see slow motion Baywatch-like photos of us running on the beach... maybe next time, haha.

We were trying to decide on where to eat dinner, and side by side (no joke) were three restaurants called "Pig'n Pancake" "Pudgy's" and "Girdle's"... hmmm, with the tubby sea lions still in my head, we decided to wait until our next stop to grab a lighter bite to eat. (Perhaps I am thinking way to much about it, but is it not weird that the mascoton that sign is inviting people to eat him?... he must be a very naive pig indeed, if he thinks he gets to eat the pancakes).

Along the boardwalk of Seaside, there were carnival rides, arcades, as well as tons of candy and souvenir shops. I tried to get into the spirit and eat a piece of saltwater taffy... only to realize, I'm not a fan of taffy... blech. Anyways, after some good times in the arcade and boardwalk, we headed off to find dinner.
Which leads to our last stop before getting to Portland that night... Cannon Beach. Again, it was a bit cloudy and cold, but still super pretty. Ok... can't let this side show scroll on forever, so I will post some of our Portland photos tomorrow!

sewing sweat shop

We just got back from Portland, Oregon yesterday, where we spent our BC Day long weekend... the trip was fantastic and I am still sorting through all the photos... so you will have to wait until tomorrow to see some of the shots of our weekend adventure! 

The day before we left (Friday), I finished sewing all the 100 or so notebooks covers – my attempt to get ahead of making craft inventory for this fall and winter. After sewing (too long) in 30 degree heat (high 90s if you are in fahrenheit), it was literally a "sweat" shop in our apartment. I am still quite slow on the machine, so what would have taken a real sewer probably only a couple of hours, took me the entire day (and evening)... sigh. Now looking at the pile, I am debating on whether to make more... (is 100 books enough for a 4 day fair? hmm... maybe not?). I do know that I will plan my production around cooler weather, if I do make more.