L'été

 I really have some mixed feelings going on with summer.. I know, most people just luurve summer. It's warm, you get to eat outside and enjoy the terraces, and festivals and stuff. I'll admit I do love some things about this season... It's my birthday in July, and I do love to swim, and I love fresh berries and veggies, and to eat al-fresco. But..but I feel like it can become complain-season. We find it too warm, we complain when it's raining, when it's too cold, then the allergies roll in and it just plain sucks. So.. yeah I'm kind of dreaming about autumn already. It's really my favorite season each year, and I just can't wait. The weather has been pretty perfect these last days and I am trying to enjoy summer while it's still around. 

 I also find it harder to balance work and play during the summer too... Especially this year. We took on the kitchen reno at the end of June, and honestly, that was a much bigger bite to chew then we thought. Things are finally starting to get back to normal. Last week, we got our counter tops and sink installed... (like hell-yeah-hallelujah after nearly 50 days of washing the dishes in the bathroom) It's hard to feel efficient when your life feels so disorganized at times. I feel bad about blogging less.. but truth is, I was just not inspired. It's like this summer dragged on and on, and also flew by like crazy... Like I said, mixed feelings!! 

 We did take a mini vacation to Hampton Beach last week. And it was exactly what we needed. We got away, got a change of pace : Constance woke up at 6am everyday there, I blame the ocean air. Still, walking a dog on a board walk by the sea is not a bad thing at all, even at 6am. I even out-lawed it and snuck her on the beach when it was really early. She had the best time ever and I'm glad I did it. While we loved our stay (even our swims, at 58F the water was pretty icy but still felt amazing) I don't know if I'd return to Hampton Beach per se. We did not click with the Jersey Shore vibe (as in the program, not the place) and things were pricy and very tourist-trap-y. We drove around and really loved Rye, NH.. and North Hampton, NH, maybe those places are better options? Anybody ever stayed in New Hampshire outside of Hampton Beach? 

 I don't have any pics of our vaca to share since we took this weekend to really disconnect with the Internet and our Iphones and social media and all. It feels great to just put it away and LIVE. Maybe one day I'll buy a camera and take actual pictures, I used to love it, you know, back in the days with my Nikon and some film! 

 So yeah.. back to almost normal, we will put the final touches around here and I can't wait to share our new kitchen. It's looking better and better as we get closer to being finally done. 

November

November always feels like the longest month of the year, to me. It's colder, grey, darker and darker, kind of just a long drag before Christmas time gets here. All the Holiday stuff in the stores are a little obnoxious until the real time for it comes, December-ish. (to me, Christmas is in full swing when we get that weird little panicky voice in our heads like: "GOSH is there really only two weekends left before Christmas!?") 

Still, November was good, even though it seemed really long. 

I got to hang out at Salon du Livre for this. Babysat my nieces for the first time. Worked on a lot of different things at the same time. Quilted some more. Cut my bangs (myself.) And visited NYC for a weekend with a friend, and her huge bouncy baby. 

An Autumn Vacation

 On the first weekend of November, we went out on a vacation / retreat. We basically, on a whim, rented a cabin, in the middle of nowhere - or Lefebvre, Qc - and took off for 3 days and 3 nights. It was perfect. It rained, or spat for most of those three days, we had no cell reception or Internet, so we really had to change our pace and adapt. Adapt to relaxation mode, and it really recharged us. 

The cabin itself was just so lovely. It had a cozy mezzanine, a balcony over looking the woods, and massive windows facing a stream and waterfall. The sound it made was so imposing... it was surreal. We were detached from reality. Days going by with nothing to do but read, make fires, drink tones of coffee and tea, tend to the fire, cook great meals, drink tones of wine, cuddle with the dog. (And with each other, a little ;))

I took walks with Constance in the little forest surrounding the property, and did yoga every morning. It felt great. We drank good wine, and cooked awesome meals. I made a roast for the first time, ever. It was a scandalizing success. I'm including a humble recipe down at the bottom of the post. 

We had the intention of making a lamb roast, but did not find any at the Drummondville market.. We bought bison instead. Great move! 

As you can see I basically just put my piece of meat in an oven friendly pot. Made it cozy with some green beans, garden carrots, onions, and fresh thyme branches. I added kosher salt, ground pepper and generous chunks of butter to my veggies. I coated my bison with more salt, more pepper, and Dijon mustard. I added about 1/4 cup of blond beer to the bottom of my pot, to make sure these guys would stay moist, since the bison was pretty lean. 

I set my oven at 375f, and let it go for 45 minutes. (the butcher had recommended 1 hour, but I eat red meet pretty rare, have all my steaks blue, and did not want to over cook.) So I checked the middle of the roast, and put it back for an extra 5 minutes. 

Once you're happy with the done-ness, take it out, wrap it in foil. (it will keep it warm, and make it even more juicy, while you serve the vegetables) Slice your meet and enjoy.. Oh boy, that was one good meal!! 

Lake Placid

 We went on an impromptu road trip last saturday, to Lake Placid, NY. It was pretty cool! The ginormous wait at the border was not. (I pat myself on the back, for insisting that we went out there on the first day of Labor Day weekend, even if my super nice boyfriend was feeling down with a cold. I'm just awesome like that.) We had a.... drum roll... 2h30 delay at the boarder, and it kind of changed the whole beat of the day. But the weather was just so nice, it was hard to be mad. (Lucky for me.)

 Lake Placid is kind of neat. Having had more time, we would have looked into the Olympics' stuff. But we mostly just strolled, ate, paddled a bit on the lake, had ice cream and went home. The drive there is seriously breath-taking. It was, by far, the highlight of the trip and my favorite part. That gorgeous almost-full moon was just so stunning in the mountains... I was not able to get a good picture, and decided to actually just stare at it.

 Now I'll return to feeling miserable about that nasty cold. It's my turn. 

August

 I don't know what to say about you, August. I love you and I hate you. I love that the heat feels more tranquil, and even though every body starts complaining that summer is almost over... I always know you will be warm. Really warm. This is the time when all the produce is fresh and we can finally really eat local. Though there is always autumn thoughts looming in our minds, and I keep wishing it will get colder and colder soon. We notice with you the day light leaving more and more early each day. You always have me miserable with allergies, it makes me curse you. I feel like you are the quiet, humble month of summer, and for that I still love you. 

Our Capital... And Joe Fresh

 Here... I'll say it fast... I like Ottawa. A lot. Every time I go, I find new things to love. Maybe this is not so so popular on my side of the province border...But I say, whatev. Last week we did a little overnight trip to Gatineau / Ottawa to visit Guillaume's sister. She took us out to one of her favorite restaurant, that we had been dying (no, really, we talked about it often) to try. Whalesbone, on Bank St. This place is teeny-tiny, rsv is a must. Even for a party of 3, on a thursday, at 6pm. It's busy but not loud, pricy but not outrageous. And seriously... when the food arrives, you don't regret any penny. Our expectations were met, big time! I had the hanger steak, and the boyfriend had walleye fish. (Fish is their specialty, and it's also an oyster house. But I had eaten a lot of those recently so I felt like a change!) I heard the menu is always changing, with what is fresh from the market each day, I love that! 

 Speaking of love, here's something I wore for brunch on Sunday. JOE. FRESH. My new lover. I like to buy quality over quantity when it comes to shoes (ie: Pretty Ballerina flats, were pricy, but this is the fourth summer they see. Who can say as much about their A*#do flats?), purses (whether it's from a store or a flea market, I buy real leather purses, that will age nicely with time, instead of burst at the seems if you carry too much in it, which we ALL do.) 

Top and jeans: Joe Fresh

Purse: Garage sale find. 

Shoes: Pretty Ballerina

Scarf: Gift from a friend, I believe it was HnM. 

Back

 And... We're back. This was an amazing week.. Finding ourselves disconnected from... Well pretty much everything (who lives without internet connection now days!?) felt very good. We knew we could have had wifi at the island's McDonalds.. but really, that was just out of the plan. The weather was cloudy for most of the week, which had me bummed out a bit at first, but it did not actually rain. We have been able to swim-swim-swim in the ocean without worrying too much about sunburns, or sun-excaustion. Just making small plans for each day, one day at the time, was very relaxing. Spending quality time with my family is always so much fun, and makes me realize how lucky I am. :) We ate SO MUCH seafood. The price is really reasonable, and the produce also was cheap and so good. (Hello fresh ripe peaches!?) 

 The long drive is so, so worth it. We decided to cut the drive back in two, and stayed in Cape May NJ on sunday. Cape May is beautiful. It always strikes me. When I was 5, 7, 25.. now. And even though it was a super fun afternoon and night; the waves were very strong (even bigger - taller then the ones in Chincoteague, that can still flip a grown man upside down!), we swam for almost 2 hours straight, then enjoyed a restaurant me and my parents loved from our vacations 20 or so years ago (The Lobster House, on the marina - was hectic but worth it!)... We realized just how much we love our small beach town. It's so much more quiet... There is just less people. And the vacationers are more laid back, they really all seam to be tuned to the same relax beat. Cape May kept making us think... Jersey, in a negative connotation way. (not in the awesome lush nature beautiful state kind of way.) So yes, it's still worth it to go all the way south to our tranquil - less urban getaway. The refuge is so... untouched. And it feels much better to the soul.

 I feel there is so many things I could say about this awesome vacation... Swimming in the crushing waves and feeling all salty, seeing groups of dolphins having fun in the waves too in the distance . Feeling like rockstars on the beach with our new Hudson Bay Company towels, cooking live blue crab! Tasting Virginia wines, enjoying out favorite beach food at Woody's Eatery, scratching mosquito bites... I could go on and on. I still have some more photos, taken on roll (!!) That I'll get, and share, later this week. I'm thinking that maybe next year I'll have to work on a vacation city guide, to show my appreciation to this area. Until then... 

I'll be by the beach, if you need me.

The things I cherish the most about beach vacations: 

+ Family time, 

+ Collecting many more freckles,

+ Catching up on a good book(s),

+ The week goes by with mostly leggings and sun dresses over bathing suits,

+ You kind of don't need to wash your hair, ever,

+ The incredible amount of sea food and white wine,

+ Still finding tiny grains of sand in your house weeks later.

I'll be spending the week in Chincoteague, VA, one of my favorite places on earth. 

Take care, and I'll see you next week!