Saturday Walk

This is early into our walk today. View from Dallas Road.
Right after the coffee, of course.

It was so gorgeous here today. Gorgeous, wonderful summer weather. Did you hear that word - summer?  It evokes such an amazing feeling in our bodies.  And our minds.

Well, today was one of those perfect summer days. A gentle and warm breeze. Full on sunshine, maybe a little sunburn. In fact, it was so warm, make that hot, that there were hundreds of people wandering around in shorts and t-shirts.  And some, make that lots, were eating ice cream.  Sigh.

I found an abandoned rusty mattress that was screaming for a little attention ...

After dinner at home, I discovered the lilac bushes behind our building are officially in bloom. Well, the purple ones are, in any case. The white ones are a little behind, and the California lilacs are trying very hard, as well.

 Can't you just smell that distinctive, lilac fragrance? It was wafting in the back stairs, so I went out to get up close and personal.  Then, look who popped his head out the window! 

My sweetie!

I Can't Believe it is July Already

Really?  July 1st?  What happened to June already?  Let's see ....

It was a glorious day, although not
bathing suit temperature

Visit to Vancouver - Peter and I had a quick weekend visit to Vancouver. We managed to take time to share some sushi at Spanish Banks and make the obligatory visit to Granville Island.

Getting my hands dirty

"Empress of the Underworld" - hey,
I 'earned' that title the hard way!

Two weekends on Hornby Island - as Peter's parents are staying there now that the weather is better, we went up to visit and help them get ready for summer.  We managed to clean the roof, plant some flowers in pots, replace some fencing so the deer can't get in and eat the flowers we just planted, and move some things into storage under the house.

Peter in his natural habitat.

Right out of the oven - yummy!

To balance it out (it was the weekend after all), we made a loaf of gluten-free crusty boule that I absolutely had to try (Peter found the recipe and it was quite good), the hot tub was up and running so we tested it out, we made dairy-free ice cream with sugar-free hazelnut flavour, went for a walk in Helliwell Park early one morning, walked along Tribune Bay and saw the new tennis court surface.

Looking southeast towards Vancouver

New court surface!

We even had some time to visit with  friends and wander around the farmer's market both weekends. It was sunny both weekends but just a little cooler than one hoped it would be.  Looking at the selection of fresh flowers and strawberries available, the sunshine was more important than the temperature.  It was a good month.

Fresh flowers from Maia at the Hornby Island Farmers Market

Double the taste, double the fun

Today we happened to be grazing through Value Village, and what did we find?  Yes, the deal of the century, a gallon sized Donvier ice cream maker!  For only $14.99.  Double the taste, double the fun.  We may take our old pint sized one to Hornby, just in case we need homemade ice cream up there too.  Life is good.

Chocolate Peanut Parfait

It's so simple, and so wonderful!  And, dairy and gluten-free too.

Step 1 - roasted organic peanuts with a hint of sea-salt

Step 2 - whip up some raw Chocolate Sauce

Step 3 - churn some homemade ice cream

Layer together in whatever order and quantity you prefer and enjoy!
(Oh boy, my mouth is watering all over again)

Sunday Night dessert

Sorry for the poor photo -
we almost forgot to take it!

This past week we conspired with Peter's parents to share our "Sunday Night" Japanese style.  We prepared a little miso soup, rolled some sushi, sliced some tuna and salmon sashimi, and finished with freshly made Banana, Lime and Coconut ice cream. 

We've mentioned the gluten and dairy free ice cream once before and have made some adjustments to the recipe that we were most happy with.

Banana, Lime and Coconut Ice Cream

All ingredients ready to blend.

1 tin coconut milk

1/4 tin vanilla almond milk  (I measured in the coconut tin)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 mashed ripe banana

juice of 1 lime (approximately 60 ml including the pulp)

2 tsp orange zest (homemade preferably)

1 tbsp agave syrup (or maple syrup)

Put all ingredients in the blender to puree for a couple of minutes, and store in the refrigerator until cold.  This part you can make up to a day ahead of time.  Then follow the instructions for your an ice cream maker. 

 

This makes a lovely, creamy and tasty ice cream.  Next time I may experiment with coconut milk and different fruits, and, of course, chocolate!

We use the half pint Donvier that was thoughtfully gifted to me by my aunt a number of years ago.  

I imagine that if there was any leftover ice cream, one could keep it in the freezer for a rainy day.  But I can only imagine that part.  The leftover part, that is.

More Food

Sunday dinners used to be a fairly formal get together for me when I was growing up.  Perhaps it was for you too.  In any case, it seems I still have a little bit of that same urge these days to take the time and make something really nice for Sunday night dinner.  Yesterday we surprised ourselves and had a fabulous one - almost without planning it!

Steamed local mussels in a white wine sauce, tossed green salad with Mamma's Marvelous Dressing and home grown sprouts, finished off with a homemade coconut lime ice cream topped with fresh strawberries (ripe and on sale).

The entire meal was gluten- and dairy-free, nutritious, colourful, and, best of all it tasted really, really good!  Peter was lovingly nurturing the sprouts all week, and I had made the ice cream Saturday evening on a whim.   Well, not exactly a whim as it had been inspired by a local artisan ice cream maker (Cold Comfort) whose Rum, Banana and Coconut Ice Cream I managed to taste a month ago, and I'd seen some coconut based ice creams at the local Lifestyles Market.  After reading the list of ingredients I made up my own recipe and it worked out quite well as the taste was almost spot on.  The strawberries and mussels were on sale, and the wine, well, it was the cheapest bottle in a specialty wine store. What can I say?  Luckily there was enough wine for us as well as the mussels.  Life is good.