Fun Valentine's Night

 Richard and I enjoyed a night out last night for Valentine's. A dessert night was put on at our local cafe, where all the dessert choices (11 of them!) were made by local teens and served by teens too.

Of the 11 choices, you were allowed to pick three. We shared a bunch too so we got to taste almost everything. Here were some of the standouts!
Top: Chocolate truffles. Pavlova. Middle: Lemon curd tart. Stack of brownies with salted caramel drizzle. Bottom: Caramel pot de creme. Savoury cheese platter.
A lovely evening, we were also serenaded by teens playing violin and cello. What fun.

Your KISS is on my list

Every now and again you get a challenge that really works out. My friend Chantal was celebrating her 40th birthday and her husband asked me to do a cake for her. He said, "A kiss cake." Since her birthday is on Valentine's Day I said, "Like lips?" He said, "No, the group KISS. She's a huge fan!" I had some fun getting this graphic image of Gene Simmons, 3-D fondant tongue too on the cake. And silver dragees, placed one by one, on the KISS logo turned out great I think.

Trees and Spaceman cakes

 I was asked to do a cake for an environmental scientist. His partner asked for an evergreen tree and a little light bulb went off when I realized that the logo for his environmental services company was in fact a tree! I blew it up, cut it out of fondant and placed it on a background inspired by the late great Canadian artist Ted Harrison.

My friend Dave loves toy robots so when his wife asked me to make a cake for a gathering to celebrate his 60th birthday I decided that no ordinary robot would do. I thought back to a story Dave told me about his best-ever yard sale find. He poked around at a table and came across a Fighting Space Man toy, still in its original box. Cost? The same as it went for 40 years before. $2 (I think). At any rate, he took it home, plugged batteries into the space man and it worked!
I loved the story and decided to make him his very own Fighting Space Man cake with him as the spaceman. The box was chocolate cake with an edible label. Dave, the robot, was mostly made of fondant and M&Ms.

Winterizing your nest

While snowshoeing this weekend I came across this vacant nest. Funny how the snow piled up on it. It was only about 6" round, but somehow the well woven sticks and lichen nest managed to hold a great big pile of snow.

Snacktime inside and out

 Last weekend was perfect for snowshoeing. I noticed tons of bunny prints under the spruce trees. Last week we had an ice rain for a few days and it knocked lots of spruce tips off the trees. The snowshoe rabbits had a nice buffet waiting for them.

Meanwhile, inside it was time to try out the new glass teapot I got over the holidays. Time to inaugurate it with the lotus tea blossom I bought in Japantown, while we were in San Francisco a few years back. So much fun watching it bloom. Lovely and nice tea too!

Jack, Jack and more Jack!

 This sweet old boy's name is Jack and he visits me for about three weeks every winter when his parents go to Florida. He lives in Montreal but loves the country!

He's a big cuddle bug...and is pretty happy in his warm room with two beds and all amenities including a night snack and brushing.

I have a definite affinity to this boy...he showed up here years ago as a hungry kitten.

He was so cute and so tiny!

Happily, friends in Montreal adopted him and I'm lucky enough to get to see him on his yearly visits to the country.

A Day at the Museum

 The National Gallery of Canada is a marvellous place that I should get to more often.

 This holiday season we made a point of heading there and seeing the Jack Bush show, the Escher show and the contemporary gallery too.

 I loved this selfie of a Michael Snow selfie.

 In the Contemporary Gallery, Richard pondered man's eternal quest for freedom...or was it just an exit sign?

 I loved seeing Richard from my point of view in another gallery, framed by a Sol LeWitt.

Another selfie, this time with Sol LeWitt.

 This amazing work by Geoffrey Farmer was mind boggling. Years of Life magazine cutouts. Very cool indeed.

We took a break in the cafe to rest and hydrate and admired the snow-less view outside and one of the silver sculptures reaching for the sky. Great day in Ottawa.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year my blog-reading friends. Here's hoping that 2015 is happy and healthy for all.

ChocoMotive

We headed over to Montebello, QC to ChocoMotive, a chocolaterie and cchocolatemuseum housed in a former train station.

 There's lots to see there including a few people making chocolate bunnies.

 There's also a huge selection of chocolate types...Richard picked hemp and acai berry (!!) and one with no sugar and almonds.

 The bee pollen chocolate caught my eye but I settled on a sea salt bar.

 We also tried their incredibly delicious hot chocolate. A teeny tiny cup was enough. This stuff was rich and delicious.

 It wasn't cold out or snowy, which is so odd for Dec. 28th, but the hot chocolate went down perfectly well, thanks very much.

Looking forward to a repeat visit to this place. Lots of fun and yummy too.

Cookie time!

 Polar bear gingerbread cookies with warm scarves...

...or funky blue snowflake gingerbreads. How does one decide?

Retirement cake

I made this cake for a co-worker who retired as a salesperson at our office. She was often on the road and returned with Post-It notes and clippings and all sorts of things in her folders. I thought it was a fun way to point out possible adventures to come and at the same time remind her of the chaos of working.

Happy retirement-- Bonne retraite Francine!

Visiting the menagerie

Meanwhile over at Knatolee's World, there are plenty of new critters. Here's Nat mucking out the barn where her new ponies spend the night.

She's flanked by Honey, one of three Greek cat she's saved. They flew over a few weeks ago and seem to be enjoying Canadian life. 

 This is her sister Daisy. Buttercup was off exploring somewhere and I'll get to meet her next time.

I did mange to get a quick snuggle with Honey.

I grabbed a snap of the ropes hanging in the barn. So colourful.

 Meanwhile indoors, there are more creatures wanting a hug. Naomi is always up for a quick snuggle.

And poor old Tristan is still going strong. He's an elderly boy who still likes a treat, head pat or belly rub. Sweet boy.

Happy Chanukah

 It's Chanukah and time for latkes. Richard's really got the hang of doing latkes!

 I was running around all day but tried making the brisket in the slow cooker. And it worked out great!

Richard lit my grandfather's menorah on the left and I lit a candle on my late parents' menorah. Lovely to have family mementos and great memories to make the holiday special.

Cats, cats, cats, cats

I just love my cats...but I rarely ever see them all at the same time. In fact, hours can go by where I don't see any of them...but yesterday it was cold enough that they all found the warmest spot in the house and hung out together for a while. Kind of nice to see...