ginger bauhaus.

my friend Jenn and her boyfriend Jack made this incredible ginger bauhaus for the holidays… which is one of those brilliant ideas that we all wish we’d come up with first. modern gingerbread houses? i expect to see a Dwell and Martha Stewart tie-in at the craft shops by Christmas 2011.

Jack is also a very talented illustrator and outlined the entire ginger planning and building process on his blog—including a few pictures of the ginger Mad Men they made with the leftover dough.

(thanks to Jenn for the pictures!)

“is this a dream?”

i was in Nova Scotia last weekend—dreamy, laid-back Nova Scotia. my bff terra is from the Annapolis Valley and when i heard she was going home to the family farm for a few weeks i booked a flight to tag along on her holiday.

to set the scene: my cell phone didn’t even get reception on the farm. goodbye, stresses and distractions of home! also, i was sleeping on a waterbed, which is pretty much like sleeping on a warm cloud. each morning i would lazily wake up and join the family for breakfast on the patio—where hummingbirds would be buzzing overhead as we discussed plans for the day.

plans? okay more like “shall we go over to the neighbours’ farm and pick some blueberries?” and “after we get ice cream from the local dairy do you want to swim in the river or go to our friend’s pool?”

despite how often i’ve been buying produce at farmers’ markets this summer, i was absolutely overwhelmed with what we ate. eggs. EGGS! did you know they taste like custard when they come from a happy, wandering hobby farm chicken? blueberries were also a shock: sure, Muskoka’s wild blueberries are a delight, but in Nova Scotia blueberry bushes are everywhere and they produce perfect, juicy sweet-sour fruit as big as olives.

on sunday morning, i was handed a lobster claw the size of my fist. terra’s sister hannah knows how much i love the ‘cream’—and this claw, just scooped of its meat (for the lobster eggs benny we were about to brunch on) had a deep well of cream that i ate with my fingers while terra’s dad poured us glasses of champagne.

however, as much as fresh lobster and farm eggs can influence a girl, my heart had already switched allegiances from city life to country living on saturday night. we thought we were going to just watch a few bands play at a neighbour’s house—instead we landed (and i say landed because we walked up a very steep dirt road through forest) at an almost-impromptu music festival on a private property with views of both the valley below and meteor shower overhead.

and really, once you’re standing in a field with a plastic cup of wine and listening to a band that sounds like Neil Young slash Mumford & Sons you’re trapped in a cycle of “i need to enjoy this as much as possible right now but also how can i duplicate this moment over and over again?”

mexican night.

mexican chourico sausage pan fried with onion and red pepper
+ shrimps marinated in lime juice and cumin
+ cilantro, diced tomato, and red onion
+ sliced red cabbage
+ queso fresco
+ fresh corn tortillas
+ one very large margarita

= the best (and most colourful) way to spend an evening eating!

valentine’s day.

i made beef wellington, hand-cut heart-shaped purple potatoes and yellow beets with carrots and thyme, and a little bit of arugula and parm. (yes! i know, days late, but…)

aubergine dinner party

the colour dinner party series started when sarah hosted an all-green dinner in july. (so long ago how?) last night was the second iteration when i cooked everything in the shade of aubergine.

signature cocktail was, of course, the aviation—thanks to my imported-from-texas bottle of creme de violette.

that’s a plum, ontario coronation grape, red onion, and radicchio salad, recipe inspired by this.

purple potato, purple cauliflower, and leek soup, garnished with purple radish sprouts. (recipe adapted from here.)

raspberry sorbet and blackberries, and OPI Done Out in Deco.

*not pictured: mussels and pasta, because no matter how much beet juice and flesh you boil pasta in, it will not dye the pasta and you will curse yourself for just not purchasing squid ink pasta instead.

natalie’s up next with orange, and then it’s pink with terese—which may end up coinciding with valentines day if we continue the slow food approach to coordinating these meals.

every time i read luxirare i feel like i just don’t put enough effort into anything i do. how can i compete with the simply-intricate styling she pushes across all aspects of her life?

this ‘recipe’ for mojito tablets, however, is both genius and not-so-complex. definitely duplicating it this weekend.

“Not a ton, seeing that I plan to get 400 lbs for a ramp party im throwing soon…”

HOW CAN I GET AN INVITE TO THE BLACK HOOF RAMP PARTY?

related excitement: the hoof cafe (!!!)