A Snowy Weekend

Hi from Blue Mountain! Snowman was all smiles to spend some time up north.

Zucchini Bread/Muffins (Version 3.0)

Hi pals! Did you have a good holiday? We were quite busy throughout but managed to sneak in some naps and TV shows/movies.

Tim had the itch to bake today. And we had a few zucchinis lying around. Below is a new recipe we tried with Tim. To see the Mins' zucchini bread or Bernie's rendition of zucchini chocolate chip muffins, check out our baking collection here.

Smitten Kitchen's Zucchini Bread

3 large eggs

1 cup (235 ml) olive, vegetable oil or melted butter

1 1/3 to 1 3/4 cups granulated or turbinado sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon fine sea or table salt

2 cups grated, packed zucchini, not wrung out

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1 to 2 cups dried cranberries, raisins, and/or or chocolate chips

Heat your oven to 350 F. Generously grease/flour/coat with nonstick spray/line two loaf pans or 24 muffin cups.

Whisk eggs, oil/butter, sugar, and vanilla in the bottom of a large bowl. Sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt over wet ingredients and whisk them in well. Stir in zucchini. Gently stir in flour, mixing only until flour disappears. Stir in any add-ins, from nuts to chocolate. 

Divide between prepared pans and bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Muffins will bake far more quickly, approximately 20 to 25 minutes. You can let them cool for 10 minutes on a rack before inverting and removing cakes from pans, or just let them cool completely in pans. Store it wrapped in foil at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Source: Smitten Kitchen

Last Day in Paris

One of the highlights of our trip was the Musee d'Orsay. It was an impressionist art paradise in an old railway station.

This painting was one of Clem's favourites in the museum. There were so many famous pieces in one place...we couldn't believe it!

Clem loved this sandwich at Abri. It's a tiny Japanese restaurant that only serves the sandwich on Mondays and Saturdays.

We ate a ridiculous amount of bread, pastries, and other baked goods within a three-day period. This lemon tart was divine, and apparently the best in the city.

It's hard to see Clem but she's in the bottom lefthand corner of this photo. We watched the light show at the Eiffel Tower. It exceeded our expectations. We felt like we were in a movie!

We can't wait to return to Paris! It was simply magical!

Paris, Je T'Aime

The Sacre-Coeur was a 20-minute walk from our hotel in the 9e arrondissement. There were several great bakeries en route to the church. We had some of the best croissants we ever had.

Our second day in Paris was more sunny so we bought sandwiches and ate them outside of the Palais-Royal. B napped while Clem and I people watched.

We visited Notre-Dame. Liked many of the buildings in Paris, we were very impressed by how old and ornate this church was.

Shopping in Paris was a dream! We wished we had more time to check out Paris' department stores. Clem loved this purse by Karl Lagerfeld. She asked that we keep an eye out for it when we return home to Toronto.

We had another terrific meal...this time at Les Arlots. Their wine selection was superb and reasonably priced. We would definitely recommend this place to our foodie friends.

City of Lights

After B's conference, we hopped on a quick flight to Paris to check out the City of Lights. We walked everywhere. The Arc du Triomphe was impressive but probably even more impressive was watching the cars merge several lanes without slowing down.

Even though our first day in Paris was overcasted, we spent a decent amount of time walking through the city's beautiful parks. The Tuileries Gardens had lots of history (from the mid-1500s) and fun public art.

Here's Clem outside of the Louve. We didn't go in, but will check it out on a future trip.

We had an excellent dinner at Verjus. The tasting menu was worth every penny.

Tickets

We ate pretty modesty while we were in Barcelona so we could have this fancy meal at Tickets. We had a great time tasting innovative tapas. Clem liked how everything was her size!

These tapas look like sushi but the "rice" was a meringue that tasted like nori. 

This one was Clem's favourite - crab in avocado.

The dessert room was very whimsical. Fruit decorations were hanging off the ceiling and Willy Wonka was playing on the TVs on the back wall.

Clem had the corn sponge cake. She said it was delish!

Barcelona

I didn't take as many photos as Clem as I would have liked in Barcelona. I was sightseeing on my own most of the time and didn't want to be a target for petty theft. She was safety stowed in my purse when I visited Sagrada Familia, the Gothic Quarter, the Picasso Museum, and other attractions.

Churros and chocolate is a very popular snack in Barcelona. It definitely satisfied Clem's sweet tooth one afternoon.

We ate at a fun pintoxs bar. Snacks with the regular toothpick were one Euro and snacks with the red toothpick were 1.5 Euros.

We checked out street art in the El Raval area. This one was by Keith Haring.

We also visited Park Guell. The security guard smiled when I took this photo of Clem!

Clem said hello to Gaudi's famous lizard.

She also enjoyed the colourful park benches that overlooked the city.

A few more photos of Barcelona to come...from Clem's Michelin starred meal!

Bon Dia!

B had a conference in Barcelona so Clem and I tagged along. We stayed in a university residence, just east of the famous La Rambla. This was the view from our room.

We did a day trip to Montserrat to visit the monastery and go hiking. We made it in time for Sunday mass and also heard the boys' choir (one of the oldest boys' choirs in Europe).

Clem was a trooper and didn't freak out how high we were. We bought sandwiches and ate them here.

Back in Barcelona, we had very tasty squid ink paella at Can Sole.

Our trip was off to an excellent start!

Clem In My Pocket

Oh hey there! Clem reporting from B's pocket. She spent a week across the pond and we have the photos to prove it! More to come...

Thankful

Sending a Happy Thanksgiving to our fellow Canadians near and far! We're grateful for the friends we have made through this blog. We are thinking of you today!