Goodbye July

It's August, which means were eating corn for dinner 5 nights a week, I'm making birthday plans, and Christmas merchandise has showed up at Costco.

July sped by in a blur of pool parties, potlucks, weddings, and long afternoons spent keeping cool. I dedicated a series to frozen treats over on Simple Bites and, for the most part we survived the heat wave.

We started the month with a perfect three-day camping trip, followed by a most memorable U2 concert under warm Montreal skies. Best. Show. Ever.

The month was punctuated by our baby news! It was a thrilling discovery, but one that plunged me into exhaustion so deep I felt --and still do-- that every day was Moving Day. ‘Moving day fatigue’ is the best way I can describe to Danny how my body feels in the morning as I lie pinned to the mattress.

Fortunately, he's been off work for the last 2 weeks and has gallantly risen every morning to prepare breakfast and coffee for us, and keep the kids quiet until I can rouse myself.

I think my strength is slowly returning; hopefully my appetite is not far behind.

So yes we are expecting again, anticipating the new arrival in early March. Danny is hoping for a leap year baby again, which could easily happen. I for one, won't truly relax until the first ultrasound and they tell me there's just one baby.

As twins run in my family, the chances of doubling the number of our children with this pregnancy is definitely a possibility. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that kind of an adventure!

Central Park

At the end of July, I hopped on a plane to Jersey for Big Summer Potluck. I cemented some online friendships, made new ones, laughed myself silly, and spent a day eating New York City. It was the best of times.

In an update on our urban homestead, our backyard project of the month was finally completed and I now have 4 raised garden beds. They terrace down the hill toward the forest, framed by a massive weeping willow. I love them.

I planted a little fall garden -- lettuce, spinach, watercress and arugula-- and little sprouts are already peeking up from the earth. My herb garden is thriving, thanks to bedding plants I was able to find at a local nursery.

Next year I will plant a complete garden; it's reassuring to know that as soon as the snow melts the spring I'll have a garden space ready to plant.

August holds some canning projects, a visit from long-time friends, my birthday, back to school for Noah, and at the end of the month, a trip out to Vancouver to film a little project for TV...

But that story is for a another post.

Goodbye July.

Wordless Wednesday: Hola! A Mexico Recap

Dinner at Empire State South

Restaurant reviews are something that went out the window a looong time ago around here. I posted a few at the beginning and then realized that I strongly disliked writing reviews. I just wanted to enjoy my meal, not sweat the poor lighting for photos and hour long write up upon my return home. Non merci.

Plus, with two little children added to our family, our restaurant outings have slowed to a crawl. It's not exactly like I stay on top of the local restaurant scene. And I don't pretend to.

This past weekend, however, offered the chance for a dinner out on the town - in humid Atlanta, Georgia. Danny and I were in town for a mini second honeymoon and the Blogher Food conference - of course we wanted to eat Atlanta while we had the opportunity.

You can read my full BHF'11 recap on Simple Bites -I had a marvelous time- but over here we're going to talk about dinner.

Danny & Shaina

The destination? Empire State South. A Canadian chef's modern take on Southern food, served up in style, with plenty of love.

ESS proudly considers itself a farm-to-table restaurant, which reminded me a lot of our own Toque! and the scads of in-house charcuterie bordered on Au Pied du Cochon's style.

Needless to say, I felt quite at home at Empire State South.

My dining companions? Eight fabulous rock-star food bloggers. You just may recognize a few names here: Alice & her husband Rob, Sandy, Carrie, Amanda, Tara, Jenny, Lori, Shaina.
Along with Danny and I, we invaded the small-ish Empire State South and proceeded to ordered half the menu.

Thanks to Amanda, I've got food photos from the meal. I was too busy gabbing with the girls to work the camera and was happy to hand it over to the competent Amanda.

Amanda's first oyster! This ain't no New York cupcake - The girl is fearless.

Carrie & Jenny

Soft Poached Farm Egg anson mills grits, maitake, baby celery.

Strawberry Gazpacho, pickled shrimp, asparagus, marcona almonds.

Ramp Orecchiette, carrot puree, carrots, english peas, squash and benne.

Roasted Grouper, pea broth, young zucchini.


There are no photos of desserts to speak of, save this one, snapped with my iPhone.


We ordered eight plates, but they disappeared so fast. I was sitting next to Amanda and I don't know anyone who loves sweets more that that girl!

I knew that if I wanted a fighting chance at tasting dessert, I had to put the camera down. And so I did.

Alice, myself, Amanda

We sampled:

• Coconut Cream Pie, almond brittle,
• Fried strawberry pie, pickled strawberry, buttermilk ice cream
• Coke soft serve ice cream, peanut funnel cake (pictured above)
  
• Grasshopper Terrine, candied chocolate mint

Shaina and I have since been fantasizing over the strawberry pies.I think she's going to have a recipe coming soon. Hopefully just in time for our strawberry season.

Shaina & Lori

Consensus? We loved Empire State South. The entire evening was surreal. Fantastic food. Brilliant company. Inspiring conversation. I think it lasted about three hours, and is definitely going in the books as one of my most memorable dining experiences.

Maine Mini-Vacation Highlights

In case you were wondering, our recent road trip to the Maine coast wasn't ALL about food. I didn't even make a menu for the camping part of things--and I think that is a first. OK, I have to admit part of me was hoping we'd encounter so many local good eats, that cooking over an open fire would take a backseat.

Sure enough we did, like the absolutely perfect lobster roll pictured above from Percy's Store on Popham beach. Oh and you already heard about our lobster feast, complete with a hatchet to open the claws.

Yes, there was great food, but most of our time, though, was spent enjoying this:


You won't find much information online about the Popham Beach area, or the small, family run campground we stayed in. It was the perfect, non-touristy, off-the-grid kind of place that we like to hang out at.

Most of the time we had the beach nearly to ourselves, especially in the early mornings and late evenings, my two favorite times to stroll the beach. And on a cloudy day? The 3 kilometer stretch was ours!


These little dudes acted like they owned the beach, especially the one in the middle.


Popham Beach was SO ideal for small children, with it's gentle surf and miles of sand. Even the big kids had their fun.


Choosing to spend the maximum time at the beach, we kept the food really simple. Well,with the exception of this chocolate cake that I made the day before the trip...


I somehow had the feeling that we were going to need some comfort food, but I had NO idea how badly...

Maybe you heard about our storm tornado from my tweets, but you didn't hear about the power outage on the entire point. The trees down. The flooding of our tent. The terror of my children. The tornado touchdown not far away and The. Most. Intense. lightning storm I have ever witnessed.

And, at about 10 pm, our retreat to Comfort Inn.


I consider myself a seasoned camper; I've canoe-camped, winter-camped, and slept under the stars by glacial streams. Never in my 31 years of camping have I ever taken a hotel. Seriously though, those coastal storms are somthin' else.

And so chocolate cake was consumed, our tent dried, camp set up and the next day looked like this: perfectly peaceful.


Some of the local sites included a magnificent old fort, which Noah was convinced was a castle, and ripped around the place with tireless energy.


Another hit with the whole family was the Maine Maritime Museum, where we played pirate on a almost-to-scale 'real' pirates ship, toured the extensive and interesting shipbuilding grounds, and went aboard a real wooden fishing vessel.


Our morning in Portland flew by (OK, so maybe stops at the L.L.Bean empire and J. Crew outlet store on the way cut into that precious time) but we saw enough to vow to return. And possibly even move there.

Highlights were The Standard Baking Company, which Travel & Leisure calls the best bakery in Maine, and this place:


We took our sweet time on the drive from Montreal to Maine, making sure the road trip was about the journey just as much as the destination. Stops along the way included this one, of course, for a full factory tour.


Aaaand this place,


which will now be on our not-to-be-missed list. (Psst! Free WiFi on the terrace!)

How nice are the folks at Green Mountain Coffee? They supplied us (no charge) with more than enough of their French Roast to last our camping trip. Thanks, Green Mountain Coffee!


Rolling Vermont hills, dotted with farms. I never get tired of the drive.


And a good time was had by all...