the long weekend

This year, Canada Day (or Dominion Day as the gentleman prefers...err.. demands it to be called... at least while the queen still lives he says) fell on a Thursday. This has resulted in one of the longest and most delightful weekends I've had in quite some time.

Dominion Day started off with a breakfast at nearby Zuppa. Later I met up with my siblings, including my oldest brother Davide and his wife Dian who were up visiting in order to help my youngest brother finish moving. I had to abandon my siblings for dinner with the gentleman's family and the subsequent viewing of the fireworks.

I was really excited for photographing fireworks this year, since I was going to have one of the best vantage points I've ever had... without having to show up several hours early and sit around smelling cigarette smoke or having my tripod knocked out of place by someone making their way through the crowd to get to a better spot. Although there's something to be said about being admist the oohs and ahhs.




Friday was BBQ night. The gentleman prepared ribs for the first time following extensive research of cooking with indirect heat. His commitment to the study of delicious ribs was rather successful. The ribs were tasty and the perfect companion to the side dishes of wilted butter lettuce with buttermilk and chive dressing and grilled corn (thank you Fine Cooking magazine for the side dish recipe ideas).


And then Saturday of course was market day. I stocked up on fresh produce and the fridge is full for the first time in ages.



I wasn't the only one who was stocking up. This particular cyclist had filled her basket to the point of overflow. I still haven't picked a basket for my bike (plan for this week I think) so I walked home with my bounty, potatoes, berries, mint, red lentil dip, pitas and some fish for the evening dinner. I must have been in the mood for entertaining this weekend as we had Wade and Phil over (first time in the new apartment) for a casual dinner of potato salad, butter lettuce salad, roasted peppers, and fresh pickerel poached on the bbq with lemon, dill, chives and butter.

The weekend has ended with a quiet birthday. Tom and I were chauffeured around the city by the gentleman to take some pictures of various public art projects. We had a bit of a late start, but we managed to photograph a couple of the projects before Tom and I went for a breakfast brunch at the sugarbowl.



I had planned a birthday picnic in the park, but the cool temperatures and intermittent rains led to celebrations being relocated inside the apartment.




Like the rest of the weekend the party itself was pretty chill. When I usually have parties I tend to make everything, but this time I delegated tasks to my guests. Happily they all complied and brought tasty treats like lemon-poppyseed loaf, spinach and feta dip, fruit salad with moroccan mint, and then a smattering of savoury bites. My lovely birthday cake was provided by Leanne, who kept her colour scheme of fruit topping very American.

The party wrapped up early in the evening and now after dinner with the gentleman, Alessandra and her man friend from Padmanadi (not that I needed any more food this weekend) we're all settled in to watch In the Loop.

And this my friends, is why I love the beginning of July.