Afternoon Tea at The Grange

Q, my mum, and I went for afternoon tea at The Grange, a.k.a. the original home of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Q and I ordered Tropical Green tea while my mum ordered Citrus Calm. Both were quite good. The savouries and sweets were excellent too. Our tummies were very happy!

Despite it being cold and rainy, we had a nice view from our table. This park is fittingly called The Grange Park. For photos of the park back in the day, click here.

Vote Today!

Colin wants to remind our Canadian pals to vote today. Do your part and get to the polls! To learn more, check out Elections Canada.

Pear and Ginger Muffins

The Mins woke up this morning wanting to bake something for breakfast. These muffins were adapted from a popular Nigella Lawson recipe.

Pear and Ginger Muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 cup + 6 teaspoons light brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon honey

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups pears, peeled and diced

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line 12 muffin cups.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and ground ginger.

In a medium bowl, whisk sour cream, oil, honey, and eggs. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated. Stir in pear.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Sprinkle each muffin with 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool on rack.

Source: RecipieGirl.com

Though the photo with the Mins has eight muffins, the recipe does make a dozen. We cut down on white sugar by 1/4 cup, and didn't sprinkle brown sugar on each muffin before baking. We also used dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar since that's all we had at home. We used two Bartlett pears, which worked out to be more than 1 1/2 cups. Even with all these adjustments, the muffins were excellent. We would try this recipe again, perhaps making a loaf instead.

#ComeTogether (with Tim on Thanksgiving)

The Quatchis and I have been following the Blue Jays all summer. We're happy to see that they pulled through last night. Game four of the ALDS is this afternoon. We'll be cheering from my parents' place.

This cute little bear is our new friend, Tim. You might recognize him from the Minions movie. Colin was teaching him the rules of baseball when we were watching the game. The two of them will be with BC for a bit to keep him company.

To our fellow Canadians, Happy Thanksgiving! May your gatherings be as fun as they are tasty!

Pecan Pie Perfection

It's only been a few weeks, but fall is in full gear. Colin says it's perfect sweater weather. He helped me bake a classic pecan pie yesterday. 

Classic Pecan Pie

1 cup corn syrup

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups pecans

1 9-inch unbaked or frozen deep dish pie crust

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Mix corn syrup, eggs, sugar, butter, and vanilla. Stir in pecans. Pour filling into pie crust.

Bake on hot baking sheet on centre rack of oven for 60 to 70 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack.

Source: Karo

We didn't have enough corn syrup so we topped up with honey. We also cut the sugar by half. Our pie took 75 minutes to bake and would pair nicely with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Bon appetit, Colin! Bon appetit!