Last week we had the awesome opportunity to head to Quebec on a road trip!  Peter’s brother and his family live there, so we specifically were going to spend time with them.  We had a really fantastic time and did all kinds of awesome things with them!  We also visited Peter’s grandparents and also we went to Montreal for a few days, but I’ll get to all that throughout a few posts…

To begin with, we went raspberry picking on Îles-de-la-Madeleine which is connected to the Quebec City area with a bridge.  It’s beautiful farm land filled with all kinds of great treats like blueberries, corn and raspberries!  We had fun picking them (and eating a few along the way…):

We also hit up Chute Montmorency (Montmorency Falls) which was stunning at dusk.  We hiked up a bit of a trail to a bridge overlooking the falls, and it was just lovely!  We had a great view as the sun set.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about our day in downtown Quebec City and our time at Les Galeries de la Capitale (a mall with an amusement park!).

This post has no important content, other than to show you the cute bunny that lives in our backyard.

There are bunnies everywhere in this neighbourhood.  But this little guy keeps me company while I’m outside reading on our back porch.  Until, of course, I make some sudden movement and he darts back into the bushes.  But he usually hangs around just long enough for me to say, “Awww…what a cute bunny!!!!”  Every. Single. Time.  Gotta love ‘em!

Happy Saturday!

A week ago today we were hanging out with friends Alan and Elisha from our university days!  It was so great to re-connect and to meet their kiddos.  It feels like university was soooo long ago… crazy.

We met up at Eramosa Karst, which has recently been made into an official conservation area.  We trekked along the trail and viewed some of the cave areas.  It was a hot day, but there was still quite a bit of shade covering, which was great.

We also took a walk through their neighbourhood later on in the evening after a most delicious homemade vegetarian burrito meal!  Sooo so good.

At the end of the walk was their community garden that they’re a part of.  You know how I feel about community gardens, so it was pretty neat to see.  Actually, the walk through their neighbourhood and garden spurred on some interesting thoughts that I’m hoping to blog about in the coming days!

Meeting up with old friends is great, and so worthwhile.  I’m grateful for the chance to do a bunch of that this summer!!

Last weekend we actually hit up two markets!  It was pretty fabulous.  The first one was on Friday where we went into downtown Toronto and wandered for hours and hours.  We found our way to Kensington Market and meandered through various produce markets and stalls as well as a variety of hippie shops where I happened to pick up a dress and a skirt and Peter got two t-shirts!

Along the way we paused to grab some fresh fruit.  We asked them if they could wash it, so they actually just filled up the plastic baggie with water to go.  It was pretty hilarious, but effective nonetheless!

The fruit tided us over until lunch, which we enjoyed at a little Mexican restaurant called El Trompo.  We had the chicken tinga tacos with a side of fresh pico de gallo and tortilla chips.  Both were absolutely delicious!  Just enough kick in the tacos and the pico de gallo was sooooo incredibly fresh.  Yum!

Every time I eat Mexican food I’m reminded again of how much I love it.  I need to make more of it!!

On Sunday we also ventured out to another market.  There’s a really ginormous mall near us called Square One and it has a farmer’s market nearby in a movie theatre parking lot that has been going on for 36 years!  Who knew?!  I had never been to it despite living close by my whole life, so we decided to check it out.

We ended up buying a GIANT head of kale for $2 (seriously – it’s a HUGE head of kale), some green and yellow beans and these beautiful, beautiful berries:

Those are red currants and gooseberries.  They’re both in the same family, which I didn’t realize.  We’ve been eating most of them fresh or with yogurt, but I have also put some goosberries in a kale salad, and I have plans to roast a few for some pizza this week…

Do you like going to markets?

One of my favourite things about the summer is the plentiful amount of fresh berries!!  I love them all.  I really miss having raspberry, blueberry and strawberry plants this year.  But I still enjoy eating the berries regardless of where they come from.

Despite how much I enjoy them, there has been occasions where the berries were going to go a little mushier than desired if we left them in the fridge any longer.  So one of those times I decided to whip up a simple berry jam that we could enjoy on toast, yogurt, waffles, pancakes or ice cream.  It was nice and easy and very delicious.

Berry Jam:

3 c. of berries (strawberries, black berries, raspberries, etc.)
1 3/4 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. unflavored gelatin
1 c. apple juice

Bring berries and lemon juice to a boil, mashing the berries to cook in the juices.  Reduce the heat and cook 5 minutes. Meanwhile, dissolve gelatin in apple juice (either cold or room temperature) and allow to stand 1 minute. Add gelatin mixture to berries. Stir thoroughly and cook 3 minutes. Pour into jars. Allow them to come to room temperature, then refrigerate.  Fills 3 half-pint jars.

My recipe isn’t super sweet as there is no added sugar, so if you like it sweeter you might need to adjust the recipe.

What’s your favourite flavour of jam?

“Art is like a border of flowers along the course of civilization.” (Lincoln Steffens) 

“Earth laughs in flowers.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” (Luther Burbank)

“Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts.” (Sigmund Freud)

*The above pictures were taken of flowers in our backyard.

We’re apparently able to now play hide ‘n’ seek in our backyard…a.k.a. “the field”…

If you take a realllllly close look you might be able to see little Kaiya sitting in the grass.

We might need to mow our lawn before we move…

Do you keep your lawn super well cared for, or are you a little more “free spirited” (a.k.a. lazy) like us?