Food Friday : Pasta with Tomatoes and Grilled Shrimp

c="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/without-cheese.jpg" alt="" title="Pasta with fresh tomatoes shrimp and tarragon" width="640" height="426" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6391">My recipe this week is for pasta tossed with a sauce made with fresh tomatoes and shrimp, and seasoned with the flavour of tarragon. This is an easy dish to prepare and elegant enough to serve to guests, or as a quick dinner with your family on a work night! If you don't go for shrimp, it can be made with any cooked seafood or fish (it's delicious with salmon too), or not ... the sauce it good on its own, tossed with pasta too.To make four servings:8 grilled shrimp, peeled and cut into pieces (we had the shrimp leftover from another meal, but it only takes a few minutes to grill or fry it prior to making the pasta. Cook with the shell still on if possible, to keep them moist and then peel after they're cooked.)1 medium white onion chopped (about 3/4 cup)2 cloves garlic, minced3 or 4 tomatoes chopped1/2 to 3/4 cup broth (I use Knorr vegetable stock powder mixed with water)1 tablespoon olive oil1/2 cup dry white wine (optional but very good. If you'd prefer not to use it, add more broth)1/2 teaspoon salt (or less if your broth is salty)1 teaspoon dried tarragon, or 1 tablespoon freshA handful of parsley, about 1/2 cup choppedPasta to serve four. I used linguine but any shape will do.

Red Crocheted Scarf in Liberty Village

I really thought that I'd packing this scarf I just finished away until the fall because it was too late to wear it now, given the fact that we've already been outside with no coat or jacket on, never mind a warm scarf. But I was wrong and I wore the scarf today when we took a walk to the shops in an area called Liberty Village.

The clerk at one of the stores we went to said that it is supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow. [Update : this unusual cold spell resulted in the blossoms on the apple trees freezing so there were no Ontario apples in 2012.]

What I Wore : Black and Red & Belt DIY

This is what I wore last Thursday evening, when we went to see a play (that I posted about yesterday here). It was a casual theatre experience, so my outfit wasn't overly dressy. The weather was warm enough to go out without a jacket however rain was in the forecast, so I wore leggings and boots. I bought this top recently because I really liked the mod looking colours and print, and the braid detailing around the neckline. But I thought it needed something around the waist, so I quickly made a wide elastic belt for it. (See last 3 pictures for this quick and easy DIY). The truth about the belt is that I had bought the supplies to make it a while back and not specifically for this shirt, and the desire to wear it with this outfit got me going and I finally made it. Not sure why I dawdled because it took me all of five minutes to make using my sewing machine.

Night Out : A play at The Berkeley Street Theatre

I mentioned last week that we were lucky winners of a raffle that includes a number of fun things to do for a Date Night, and on Thursday we went out on our first outing. The prize was tickets to see a play called "The Happy Woman", at The Berkely Street Theatre.

This was located on the east side of town, so we took the streetcar over. The area was an interesting one that I've never explored before. Not to be overly morbid but worth mentioning I think, is that petty well right where we got off the streetcar was the former site of public brandings. According to author and investigative historian, Peter Vronsky, "In Toronto until 1798, prisoners were publicly branded in open court at the bottom of Berkeley Street near the present location of Front Street. Except for the crime of manslaughter, branding was abolished in 1802." *

The theatre was located just south of this spot, in a building built in 1887. Apparently it was originally built by the Consumer’s Gas Corporation as part of a gas pumping station complex, as remained as such until 1955, "when Consumer’s Gas moved their production out of downtown Toronto. The Greenspoon Brothers wrecking firm was hired to demolish the buildings in February of 1971, but the architectural grandeur of the buildings inspired them to renovate the complex instead of destroying it." **

Much Love Monday : Kensington Market

This week for Much Love Monday, my photo with a heart was taken in Kensington Market. Since the idea of the Much Love Monday link-up is to post a photo of a heart and to talk about something you are loving at the moment, here's my story ..

One of our favourite errands is walking to Kensington Market for fruits and vegetables. We went last Tuesday, which was a perfect day filled with beautiful unseasonably warm weather and lots of sunshine.

I have to admit that when we go together, Nick does most of the organized shopping, while I do a lot of looking around. In fact today he told me I was lolly-gagging! Even after 10 years of coming here regularly, I still get turned around by all the sights and colours.