Old St. John's

Here are a few pictures that might help you understand why I am sooooo in love with St. John's, especially the old downtown section.......

These pictures were all taken from great distances, so they are not real clear.

This would be the sight awaiting you after you passed through the narrows and came into St. John's harbor....

 I think this is my favorite building in the city--The Basilica.

This would be your view as you came in through the narrows, just before getting into the well protected St. John's harbor.

The brightly painted old homes are magnificent to look at.  It must be so hard living there in the winter.

 You will be able to get a good look at the Cabot Tower on Signal Hill as you enter the narrows as well.

 What do you think?  

Are there any old parts of your city that have been protected and remained the same 

over the last few hundred years?

Cheers

;o)

Countdown to dream vacation.......

In just two weeks, we will be spending three days  in London, England......




.........then two days and two nights in Dover, England.....




  before we board a cruise ship for a 12-night cruise of the Baltic Sea.......   



Then, back to London for one last night.  We booked our last night in London at The Crowne Plaza hotel, which according to a very reliable little birdie, just happens to be in the vicinity of some pretty awesome shopping----

Can you tell that I'm a little excited!!??!!

The suitcases are on the bed in one spare room, and evening wear, dressy shoes

 and passports are laying out in anticipation on the bed in another.  

I'll give more details in the coming days.  I plan to take tons of photos, so you'll 

get to see a VERY DETAILED ACCOUNT when we return.

Cheers

:o)

Two Tickets to Paradise

Do any of you remember the words to the song Two Tickets to Paradise by Eddie Money?

Well, it's the closest I could come up with to sum up our weekend.  Hubby & I were invited to spend the night with our close friends Dave & Sharon,  at their beautiful cottage.  Take a peek and tell me  if you think I wrong-named this post!!!!


As soon as we arrived, this is what was waiting on the front verandah....

 
We sat out in these most comfy chairs and enjoyed the early evening breeze....spectacular!

 
We watched the beautiful full moon as it started to rise........

Yes.... we were still sitting there, watching the moon rise......

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

This was the sight awaiting us this morning....now can you think of anywhere more beautiful and relaxing to sit with great friends, chat and drink good coffee??

The view of the cabin from the beach... 

Yeah......I know----we are so lucky!!!!!

What did you do this weekend?  

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend enjoying great company and awesome food like we did!!

Cheers

:o)

First Day of Summer!!!!!

Hey everyone.....Welcome to Summer!!!  For those of you that don't live on this beautiful island in the middle of the North Atlantic, there's something I should probably explain.  We really celebrate summer because we look forward to so much and our summers are usually soooo short.

There's nothing that speaks summer to me more than fresh berries.  We do get our own local fresh crops, but not until late summer (remember we always have a threat of frost until about 25 of June).

I picked up some great fresh fruit and veggies yesterday at the supermarket.  I was inspired to take a few photos of these  berries by one of my favorite bloggers, Tina, over at  http://tinajoathome.com

Drop over to her blog, you won't be sorry.  I just love it when I find a nice blog about ordinary everyday things.  It is especially nice when that person is living in a part of the world that is so far away.  It's like you get to take a peek into the way they do things in that part of world every time you check their blog!!!!!!  If you visit her today, you'll see just what I meant when I said that today's post was inspired by her.......go check it out!

Now, look at these berries......

 
Don't they just look scrumptious?????  They smell just s good as they look!

 And, my favorite, the raspberry....yummmmy

Cheers friends!!

;o)

Great day to be inside cooking......

It was a beautiful day actually, nice and warm.....but those darned little black flies.....eeeeeecckk!!!

I took advantage of the outside conditions (the flies) and decided to make a double batch of Cod au Gratin....

This is the recipe that I use...minus the onion.

Look at this amazing cod---we caught this last year during the annual fall "food fishery"........

 I always make some extra cheese sauce---great on steamed broccoli or brussel sprouts...

I make my own breadcrumbs, using a variety of oven-toasted breads from my freezer.  This time the addition of some cheese breads made the crumb mixture extra chunky and delicious.....

Here's how it looks coming out of the oven........

Mmmm.....a nice light meal with a large glass of dry white wine and a fresh brewed decaf......

I love this funky tablecloth that my great friend, Kathy, brought me from Mexico.

What's your favorite fish dish??

Cheers

:o)

Pretty in Pink........

The rhododendrons are bursting with these pretty pink blooms......

 This bee made me think of the popular saying......"busy as a bee...."

 Aren't they pretty???

 I couldn't resist taking a small cutting to bring a little color inside.....

The azalea is coming along nicely too, after about three springs of me thinking it was an unusual, but pretty weed.  It would be about 5 feet tall had I realized that it was something that I had actually planted there......duuuhhh!!

The gooseberry bush is loaded with little marble sized berries....mmm-mmm, can't wait to be able to pick these.

My snowball tree is loaded down pretty good too---they are a real pale lime green color now...when they turn white, they are just like big fluffy snowballs!!

Cheers from my garden to yours!

:o)

Food for the Soul

Well, it has been a long, long time.

I have been working in St. John's since mid-January, but my contract is completed and I can now get back to my old routine, with lots of photography and lots of blogging!!!!  I came home every weekend, but there was just never enough time to blog---I hardly had time to keep up with checking my own favorite blogs.

It has been an "on and off" sort of day here.  One minute it's raining and the next it seems to be clearing off, only to begin raining again----a great day to cook a traditional Newfoundland and Labrador meal------

Stewed Beans and Fresh Rolls.  Yumm :o)

 Old Fashioned Stewed Beans

• 2 cups Thompsons white beans
• 5 cups cold water
• 5 pieces salt meat (2”L  x  1/4” thick)
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 1/4-1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/4-1/2 cup chopped parsnip
• 2 cups each of chopped carrots & turnip
• ground pepper to taste

Method

Wash beans thoroughly and let soak in cold water for 1 hour.  Dump water and place beans in a large saucepan.

Add water, onions and salt meat. Season to taste with pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 1 hours, then add all vegetables.  Stir occasionally.  Cook until tender.  Serve with piping hot fresh bread or rolls and a good cup of steeped tea.

Hubby really enjoyed this treat after a good day of work.....

To top that off, I made Date Squares, a favorite of mine from as far back as I can remember.  Mom used to have to make up extra crumb mixture and give us kids each a little bowlful while she made these gems and we waited for them to bake.

They turned out great, what do you think?

It is awesome to have the time to cook treats like these......I'd better get back on that bicycle of mine too, if I want to be able to continue to eat this stuff on a regular basis!!

Cheers all!

;o)