Feeling Boxed In?

While we do most of our grocery shopping on foot at Kensington Market, there are some things that we can't get there or that are too heavy to carry home. So, once every few months, Nick takes the car to a 'real' grocery store. At the particular one he goes to, (called No Frills), they offer clean used boxes to carry your things home in. This store was doing this years before a bylaw was passed in Toronto in 2009, requiring all retailers to charge customers a nickle for every plastic bag used in packaging their order. Excellent for the environment, and more ....

What’s up in the Garden : July

Hello! Welcome to my monthly garden entry. In comparison to the past 3 months, July's garden offerings were somewhat sparse. But these plants made up for things by offering hundreds of blossoms! The clematis was spectacular, and the hibiscus equally so. This tree was here when we moved in and now stands a remarkable two stories high. I believe it may have been planted soon after the house was built, in the 80s. From what I've read about these plants they are not supposed to get this big, so I guess ours is a very happy plant in deed! The honey bees that come to visit are very glad it's here.

[caption id="attachment_1777" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Clematis buds and Lavender (smelling amazing!)"]

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[caption id="attachment_1778" align="aligncenter" width="768" caption="Clematis Vine .. must have a thousand flowers on it! Glorious"]

eBay Calling : Crazy Daisy and the Little Jug

I received this package from eBay last week and, as difficult as it was to do, I didn't open it until today because I knew it contained kitchen ware, and without belaboring the point, our ongoing kitchen renovation has left things in a chaotic mess. I didn't want to add new things to this and risk the chance of breakage.

Out for Lunch to Foggy Dew and What We Wore

UPDATE : The Foggy Dew has permanently closed.——————We have always liked the Irish Pub called The Foggy Dew, located on King St West at Niagara Street. The food is good and the service is friendly. But to make this particular visit extra special we snagged our own little separate room to eat in. It was extra fun!

Out for Lunch : Milagro Restaurant

If I sound like a broken record about our kitchen renovation taking ages, it's because it is taking ages! Our toaster and microwave ovens are currently in the living room. We have no running water in the kitchen, not to mention a stove or dishwasher! Actually, our dishwasher has been broken for a couple of years now, and we decided it wasn't worth getting fixed or replaced until we got the kitchen re-done. So we've gotten used to washing dishes by hand. That's not to say that we're not looking forward to having a new one though!

On a bright side, avoiding eating sandwiches twice a day, has meant lunch out on the town on a regular basis. And today, for the second time in 2 weeks, we have gone to a new-to-us place called Milagro, which is located at 783 Queen Street West. It's a "Cantina Mexicana", and the food there is wonderful. It goes beyond the typical Mexican restaurant found in Toronto, serving what I'd describe as gourmet Mexican food.