Happy Anniversary to Us!

>Cory and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary this past weekend. I can't believe it's been 2 years, crazy. That being said, it' s been wonderful and I'm so happy to be married to such a kind and wonderful man.

We began the weekend with a lunch at Domaine de Chaberton Winery. This place is about 20 minutes from home. They have an awesome bistro and serve incredible food. We've been here before and taken thier winery tour, which was great. They also make our favorite wine "Bacchus" so we picked up several extra bottles to bring home because they are about 6 bucks cheaper here than at the liquor store.

We had the French Onion Soup which was incredible. Tons of yummy crusty cheese covering the whole thing.

Cory had the beef (I think) in a a balsamic sauce. I went with the Ratatoille Parmesan Quiche. Both were awesome.

After our lunch we headed to a "River Run Cottages," a Bed and Breakfast in Ladner on the Fraser River. We stayed here last year for our anniversary (on recommendation from my Auntie Cheryl) and loved it so much we decided to go back. It's a lovely group of floating houses on the Fraser River. We stay in the Net Loft which has a little sitting room, small kitchen, bathroom and an upstairs loft bedroom. It also has a Japanese soaker tub on the private deck. The best part is, no TV. Lots of games and a great view and atmosphere.

We picked up some lobster tails and prawns and gooked them on the BBQ for dinner. It was great. I made some chocolate covered strawberries as well, and they turned out great.

If you're ever here and looking for a getaway close by, you should definitly check it out.

All in all, it was an incredible weekend.

Cheers to 2 great years and many more to come.

Mammmma Mia!

Have you ever made your own pizza dough? It's so easy and honestly one of the most satisfying things you can make. There is something wonderful about the smell of rising dough and punching down the dough is pure bliss.

This dough is super easy when you use the dough hook on the Kitchen Aid mixer. Alternatively, you can knead the dough by hand for 10 min.

Basic Pizza Dough

In a mixer combine the following. Let stand for 5 minutes until yeast foams.

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast)

1 tsp sugar

Add in

3 1/2 cups white flour (substitute up to 1 cup of whole wheat flour)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp salt

With the mixing arm, mix ingredients on low speed for 1 min. Switch to dough hook and mix on medium for about 10 min or until dough becomes smooth and elastic.

Place in a well oiled bowl (turning dough to coat), cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hrs in a warm place.

Punch down dough. Ahhhhh :)

Divide into 2 balls. Roll each ball loosely in plastic wrap and let rise for another 15 min.

Flour your counter and roll the dough into whatever shape you like. (If you like the crunch, spread some cornmeal on your baking sheet before placing the dough on the sheet.) Let rest for 10 min.

Top the pizza with whatever you want. Bake at 475 for 10 min or until it's done.

*My fav toppings are olive oil, sliced Roma tomatoes, whole basil leaves and baby boccocini mozzarella. Margarita style.

PS. Here's a pic of the salad I ended up making with those Heirloom Tomatoes!

Operation Beautiful

One of the girls who writes a blog I read all the time (Caitlyn from www.healthytippingpoint.com) has a book that just came out called Operation Beautiful. It looks inspiring, I'd really like to check it out.

Go and read this post. This girl has the right idea...

http://peasandthankyou.com/2010/08/03/lessons-in-beauty-a-giveaway/


It's wonderful.

Tomato Love

We had a great weekend! Adrian and Stacey came over from the island on Sunday and we spent the day with them. We went to Granville Island to visit the market and picked up a few special ingredients for our dinner that evening. They have a wonderful shop that sells a huge variety of fresh pasta and sauces, so we treated ourselves to that for dinner. I made a Peach Crisp for dessert. It was simple and a great way to showcase some incredible peaches.

I also picked up some BEAUTIFUL HEIRLOOM TOMATOES and I finally found some GARLIC SCAPES that I have been looking for forever.

Some random info for you.

Heirloom tomatoes are very different from the bland varieties we find in the supermarket. They are considered an 'antique' variety because they are produced from seeds that have been passed down from one generation to another, and have not been modified like the hybrid supermarket varieties. Furthermore, heirloom tomatoes are allowed to ripen naturally and are therefor only available "in season." Because of this, I plan to enjoy these tomatoes in their natural state. Uncooked and maybe drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Perfection.

Have you ever heard of garlic scapes? I hadn't either until earlier this summer. Garlic scapes are the stalk of the garlic plant and they resemble green onions. As the gralic bulbs are growing, the farmers snip off the curly garlic scapes so the the energy given to the plant goes into the bulb and is not wasted on the stalks. These garlic scapes are apparently full of garlicky flavor and are best used in salads, stirfrys or GARLIC SCAPE PESTO. I will be attempting the pesto today with walnuts and fresh parm as a topping for a wonderful Italian Loaf.

After visiting Granville we headed out to Deep Cove and went kayaking for a couple hours. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed the company and scenery.

Yesterday we spent the day at my parents place by the pool. Have I mentioned how much I love living 10 min away from Club Med?