Category: Family, Friends and Food

Monica continues to hone her culinary skills and whet my appetite. 😃

Thank you, Sobeys!

Monica has been busy harvesting her garden this month and is inspired in the kitchen with all the fresh produce. Here is an example of her work:

Self-isolation means we have to keep ourselves busy to stay sane. Monica is busy exploring old and new recipes and I think her culinary skills have reached a new level. I’m kept busy eating it all with no regrets, no waste and no sharing… just us, self-contented… gaining weight slowly… steadily. Happy Easter 😀

We are self-isolating… along with home-made baked beans, German sausage, perogies, home-made mustard pickles and beets and home-made brown bread with cider to wash it down. We are convinced good food will keep the virus at bay. Fingers are crossed. So far, so good. So very good!

Monica and I had lunch uptown with Sarah at our (my) favorite lunch spot, Ta-ke Sushi on King Street. The ladies had lunch combos while I ordered the sushi dinner. The smoked-eel was phenomenal.

The Tom Gore chardonnay from California was a perfect match for Monnie’s seafood alfredo with salmon, shrimp and scallops on papparadelle pasta. The fresh herbs she picked that morning really spiked the deliciousness factor. So much that it called for a second bowl 😁

Monica and I had a chance to have lunch in Sussex with Monica’s sister,  Marlene. There is a sushi restaurant there I’ve never been to before, Sushi Jo! Marlene has never had sushi before! I was doubly excited to try a new place and with someone for their first time. We had a great meal with lots of laughs and lip smacking good sushi. Marlene was very brave. Nobody died 😀.

For three glorious weeks in July, Monica and I ate our way across the east end of PEI following the famous Chowder Trail in search of the perfect seafood chowder. We compared several different eateries plus we created our own epic chowder at Big Point Cottage on the Flat River. Not just chowder, there was an array of wonderful food and drink over the three weeks enjoyed both by ourselves and with family and friends.

There are lots of photos here as we enjoyed lots of food on the 2019 PEI Food Tour

… it’s “his turn to cook”!

Easy veggie pizza…mushrooms, onions, green and black olives, sun-dried tomatoes and mozza cheese. So average? Why so good then?

Must be the California raisins.

It is February now and it is cold in New Brunswick. Ah, juicy hamburgers with curly fries and French wine … that should do the trick 🙂

This is a food story:

Monica and I were privileged and honored with an invitation to visit our friends in St. George, Glenn Ketchum and Judy Barrio. A hot and humid day was perfect for lounging around the house drinking wine and solving the world’s problems.

And then came the food! Check out Judy’s dinner menu.

Glenn is an artist in the kitchen and on the grill and like any artist, he likes to experiment. The delightful surprise of the evening was the grilled goat cheese wrapped in grape leaves hand picked from their deck trellis. Come on! How amazing is that!

And as if that wasn’t enough, breakfast next morning was a full spread of eggs benedict with fresh chives and smoked salmon… Wow! Lucky us. We love visiting Glenn and Judy… who wouldn’t?

Monica and I thoroughly enjoyed a Saturday at home; in the morning running errands around the city including grocery shopping at Superstore. I couldn’t get past the sushi counter and was able to talk her into an easy dinner at home with a bottle of wine. Back at home, Monica made spaghetti sauce for family dinner night on Sunday while I ground glass for Christmas ornaments in the studio.

Through the afternoon, Mon worked on photos for her scrapbook of our children’s lives (pause) and I sat in my comfy chair foiling glass. Total Contentment!

Dinner was divine, of course, at 6:00 and so was the wine 😃. Just an average day at home you might think? Perhaps, but why then am I so thankful as if it rarely happens? It does… often.

My niece, Ellen Flood, came to visit today to show us her photos from her recent trip to Scotland. So great to see her again. Of course,  when Ellen is in town, sushi is on everyone’s mind. So off we went to our favorite restaurant, Ta-ke Sushi for an excellent and very filling meal. Sort of like dinner and a movie but in reverse order. Now, a nap.

Monica and I were running errands uptown and felt hungry. We found the perfect solution at Ta-ke Sushi on King Street.