A Life, Lived

Peonies and Family History

The recent hot spell brought our peony plants quickly to bloom.

Now these aren't just ANY peonies. There is a special story behind these flowers.

It goes back more than 200 years ago. My grandmother's family (many generations ago) were living in the 13 Colonies (New Jersey to be precise). Staunch monarchists, they were content to let history with a vile king run it's course rather than do anything crazy. Obviously others were not so patient and they fought in a little 'skirmish' known as the American Revolution.

When it was over and the the forces of the King lost, the upstart rebels were not exactly taken with those who had not supported their cause. Seeing the writing on the wall, many of these families packed up their cherished possessions and fled to Canada. The woman of the Smith household (I don't know her name - have you ever tried to trace a family named Smith?) loved her garden and was particularly proud of her peony plants. Guess what she tucked onto the wagon with all of her worldly household goods?

Once in Canada the family settled in the Niagara region with many other United Empire Loyalists. The story of these peony plants became the stuff of family lore. These weren't just any old peonies, they were family themselves!

My grandfather, who lived in Beamsville, was a brilliant gardener and his peonies were always a beautiful sight. He would often tell us the story of how they were brought to Canada, making sure that we understood that they were family.

After my grandfather died my mother and her sisters couldn't bring themselves to sell the family home. They rented it out to one bad tenant after another. In short, a headache! Finally they had had enough and they made the decision to sell the house. There was a stipulation in the bill of sale: the grandchildren could come and remove any plants from the garden that they wanted.

I wanted some of the peonies which had been so special to my grandfather. Unfortunately I had nowhere to put them as our house was nothing but a construction site at the time. Our friends came to the rescue and agreed to 'plant sit' , taking great care with the plants for close to 2 years until our house was ready.

They were one of the first plants we put in the garden and the rest of the garden grew up around them. Every year when they start to inch their slow progress up from the ground to brilliant bloom I am reminded of that ancestor who valued beauty and roots. It seems strange to think of a plant as family but these certainly are a strong tie to my past, the present, and the future.

Travel Tuesdays - Winnipeg

Back in the before times and prior to retirements I always travelled somewhere in Canada at this time of the year to meet up with the senior education union leaders from across the country. It was a time to share 'war' stories, seek guidance, and discuss the common issues of the day.

The Manitoba labour groups were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike and the Manitoba Teachers' Society was celebrating its 100th anniversary so there was a lot of celebrating.

Lunch at Eataly

One of Toronto's big anticipated events in the 'before times' was the opening of Eataly.

Food fiends who have visited one of Eataly’s 40 other locations worldwide have been counting down the days until the beloved brand arrives in Canada. Eataly Toronto does not disappoint with its three-storey, 50,000-square-foot space dedicated to Italian cuisine. I was one of those fiends having beem to Eataly outposts in Torino, Bologna, Rome, and New York.

In addition to aisles of both local and imported products (+10,000, including close to 100 varieties of extra virgin olive oil from producers that exclusively harvest in Italy), there’s an array of fresh produce, seafood, cheese and meat to shop for. In addition there are multiple restaurants scattered throughout the space.

When Eataly first opened I was super busy at work so my only visits were in between work activities. The restaurants were so busy that it was near impossible to get a table earlier than 9:30 at night.

Then the pandemic happened and everything shut down.

There was a brief period when patios opened up in Toronto and Eataly set up a large outdoor eating area. We secured reservations and headed in to the city. Traffic came to a complete stop - apparently the main highway into the city was closed. Then the rain started. Even if we could get into the city we had no interest in eating lunch in the pouring rain.

We finally made it in for a meal a couple of weeks ago eating at La Pizza & La Pasta which is their pizza and pasta restaurant (duh). Because we had been anticipating this for such a long time I was worried that all of that pent up anticipation would be crushed by a less than stellar meal. Happily this was NOT the case.

Now before I talk about the food some context is needed. At the time of our reservations were had a number of friends visiting Rome. Their social feeds were full of pics of the seasonal foods that they were eating as well as some classic Roman dishes.

For example - in Rome right now artichokes are in season and chefs prepare them in a variety of ways. When I was there in March 2019 one of my favourite ways to eat them was fried - the outer leaves turned crispy by the hot oil and the inner part of the artichoke soft and delicious.

One of the appetizer specials when we were at at La Pizza & La Pasta was fried artichokes which were served with a lemon aioli. Done!

It was challenging deciding on my main course because there were so many wonderfully sounding choices. However, so many of our friends in Rome had been enjoying one of the classic Roman pasta dishes - Cacio e Pepe (pasta served with a cheese sauce and black pepper) that I decided to try that to see if the chefs made it properly. This is a simple dish with no fancy ingredients - pasta, grated cheese, pepper and pasta water. NO butter, garlic, olive oil, cream or any of the other things i have seen North American chef's add.

At Eataly they did it right.

After eating that big bowl of pure comfort I didn't really want dessert however Paul was determined to have some limoncello and tiramisu so I had an espresso (Jerry was driving so no more alcohol for me) and fried sweetened ricotta balls (Castagnole). The espresso was the only disappointment of the entire meal - it wasn't nearly as hot as it should have been (likely the first pull of the day). The castagnole were amazing - light, fluffy and dazzling in their simplicity. The contrast between the fluffy filling and the crisp crust was wonderful.

This was a wonderful meal. We won't be joining all of our friends and travelling to Rome any time soon but our lunch at Eataly was a good culinary substitute!

Cuteness Overload

Jake and Lucca having a nap.

Travel Tuesday - Venice

We have a lot of friends who are making up for two years of no travel right now. Five sets of friends are in Venice right now and the pics theya re posting to Facebook have me thinking of the times we have been there over the years.

I've been lucky enough to have been in Venice on six separate occasions and would loev to go back again - no matter how many times you are in the city there is always something you've not seen before.

Here are some pics from previous trips.

Easter Dinner

Easter dinner was a fairly simple meal. One of the things that I have learned from the pandemic was there are all sorts of wonderful food producers who have amazing food for purchase. While I started buying things from an urge to support local businesses who were hurting I continue because it makes live easier.

Don't get me wrong I did make some parts of the dinner myself. Like a loaf of challah to serve with dinner. That was a complicated tasks but other than rookie braiding, turned out well.

I ordered a ham from a butcher in Dundas. It was from a local farm that doesn't feed the livestock a bunch of chemicals and crap. The animals are raised free range. The ham was smoked over fruit wood. All I needed to do was heat it up and glaze it. I used the delicious (and super simple) glaze that we got out of a 1991 Gourmet magazine. It consists of rum, candied ginger, and brown sugar. MMM

The butcher also makes delicious things to serve with their meat. In this case I ordered their potato gratin made with thinly sliced potatoes, cream, caramelized onions and Gruyere cheese. MMMM

I also bought a lemon meringue pie from a nearby bakery for dessert (augmented with treats from the Greek bakery). I like that they use a graham cracker crumb crust instead of pastry for their lemon pies.

We generally keep the appetizers simple. Deviled eggs and kielbasa. I picked up kielbasa from a favourite producer while we were away the other weekend. When it came to the eggs I was feeling like I needed to take things up a notch. I googled Easter deviled eggs and some horrific things came up (I do not think i could bring myself to eat egg whites that have been dyed pink, purple, blue, and yellow). However, all was not a bust. This recipe for Easter Chick deviled eggs came up and I was inspired. It was a bit complicated and my wee chicks aren't going to when any food styling contests  but it wasn't bad for a first attempt and was thrilled so it was all worth it.

Dinner was mostly set - I just needed to make a vegetable. I went with a recipe I've made a few times before - peas and carrots with dill, mint, and lemon. It is a fresh take on good old peas and carrots. I find the freshness is a good foil for the rich ham and potato gratin.

 

Easter Brunch

For Easter we tend to to a big brunch followed by an early dinner. If the menus are planned properly there is time to sleep in and time to get a mid-day nap. Well, there would be time to sleep in were it not for a cat named Jake who demands his owners awaken at 6 AM and present him with food.

I did a breakfast casserole that I have made before. It is a Martha Stewart recipe calling for English muffins, Canadian bacon, cheese, and lots of eggs. You make it the night before and the bread sucks up all of the eggy goodness. I made a hash brown casserole to serve with the strata. We also had the traditional Hot Cross Buns. The ones I had made on Thursday were all gone so I whipped up a new recipe (which I didn't like as much as the other one). Paul made mimosas to sip.

Remember when one could drink a few mimosas and not require a nap?

Goodness, one mimosa and I was DONE! LOL

 

Good Friday Dinner

Dinner on Good Friday was inspired by finding this:

It is difficult to find Pastitsio noodles in Canada - when I did the memu was set.

Pastitsio is a Greek casserole made with noodles, a beefy tomato sauce, cheese, and a rich bechamel  sauce. Some folks call it Greek Lasagne because in their minds it is easiest to connect something new to the 'known'. Enough. It is Pastitsio and it is a delicious, rich casserole.

We started with appetizers some made and the rest purchased at the Greek bakery in Toronto and cooked at home.

Fried feta with honey and thyme, spanokopita, tiropita, and tzatziki.

Dinner was the pastitsio and a Greek salad.

Dessert was super simple - treats purchased from the Greek bakery. MMMMM So good. I used to pop into Sareno a fair bit when iIwas working but since I've retired it has been awhile some I made the trek into the Toronto Greek Village.

Travel Tuesday - Prince Edward County

I've posted two sets of pics from our recent getaway to prince Edward county here and here.

Here are some shots of our dinner on Saturday (one of the best meals we've had in years), wandering historic sites in Picton, a creamery, and a maple syrup 'hut' and one last winery.

 

Travel Tuesday - Prince Edward County

Last week I posted some pics from our weekend getaway in Prince Edward County.

Here are some more. Food, Quaker meeting house, wineries, brewery.