Adventures in the kitchen!

Of course all my pictures upload to the blog in reverse order, so here are some of the final product of my salsa canning. Kerry and I were at the grocery store and saw bags and bags of half price tomatoes, which I had to buy (which also caused her to run to the other side of the store due to embarrassment). Ian and I tag-teamed skinning them, which involves dumping the whole tomato in boiling water, picking it out of the boiling water and dropping it into an ice-bath, then peeling the skins off. Blech.

This is my new love of my life, the giant canning pot. I never mentioned that Ian received an I-Pod Touch with his new Mac, and that this I-Pod has truly replaced me in Ian's heart (I think it was Rachel who called the I-Phone the "new Mrs Synchyshyn"?) Well, this I-Pod is definitely the new Mrs McCann, and the closest thing I have to a hot new love is this pot.

Here it is...Isn't she gorgeous? I bought it at the Goodwill for $9.00 only, and it came with a double-decker rack. Major bonus, b/c last year I did all my canning with rags and tea towels to prevent glass chipping. I can't stop talking about this pot.
Busy kitchen. Here is our illegally imported Cuisinart Food Processor chopping up tomatoes. I used onions and peppers from our garden, as well as thyme and cilantro. If it wasn't raining I would have added a picture of how much the veggie garden has exploded.
Peppers and onions from the garden. Tomorrow I am planning to can some pickles, and I will definitely be trying the Persian Pickle recipe from my dearest friend in Vancouver. I have one other recipe that I will try, but mainly b/c it has a photo of an adorable Chinese 6 year old dressed in true 80s fashion eating the final product. Marketing doesn't work on me! Oh wait, that's the only reason I ended up with a Yaris without even test-driving it. Hmmm....

The work of Kerry and Ian. They completely knocked the drywall off both sides of this will in less than 2 hours...but Kerry informs me that this time is a fraction of the time that it has taken her sinuses to recover. Which is precisely why I do not like drywalling! Black boogers = BAD.
The frame will be the next part to come down, so it will be one big open space between the hallway and the living room. My dream is to make this staircase curve, and then to add a second curving staircase, just like the closing scene of "Magical Mystery Tour". Then Ian and I can come downstairs on our own staircases singing "Let's all get up and dance to a sing that was hit before your mother was born". I guess this is why it will remain a dream only.
Kerry's wall! She built this with assistance from our cousin Aaron (hire him, he's very easy-going) and my dad, who supervised with his broken foot.

A few very late pictures from our wine-tasting getaway in Niagara-on-the-Lake (which from here on in will not be named with the hyphens). We stayed in a charming cottage, brought our bikes, and ate and drank the days away. On our main touring day, we biked over 50km between wineries and on the Niagara Parkway. I didn't bring the camera around to the wineries, but here are the few pictures that I did take.

Ducks on a raft in Niagara on the Lake.

Oh Yaris. Is there anything you can't carry? Here he is with our bikes and bottles of wine we brought back.

Featherstone Vineyard, where we ended our Niagara getaway this summer. We had a lovely lunch on the wrap-around porch and bought many beautiful wines, including a Cranberry wine for our family's Thank-mus-o-ween celebration.


Our cottage in downtown Niagara on the Lake. We strongly encourage anyone visiting Niagara to stay here...very affordable, has a kitchenette, and is about 45 seconds walking distance to downtown.

Oh yeah, there is a gas fireplace too, in case you decide to visit in the fall or winter.

Beer and Wine

Baby Docs, knit for a co-worker's Baby. Evidently Dad is a big grunge fan:

After much guilting from various friends and family members, I am back to the blog after more than a month's absence. Here are a few pictures of our place:

A very cozy nook on a rainy fall day...

A newly acquired family heirloom (yes, it's from a garage sale, but my mother bought it in June and gave it to me in August, so that counts right?)
A few photos for Alyssa the meteorologist. This was from one very rainy August day where our street flooded and people were actually wading in the road.


Fun times on Princess Ave that day. We are thankful we are in this house and not on 92nd Street where our basement flooded daily from the morning dew :)