sangrias, workshops & photo blogs

summer is a great time for sangrias and for fish. now, its not technically 'summer' yet, nor has it felt like summer lately here in vancouver. but that doesn't mean its not a good time for eating fish & for drinking sangrias.

especially white wine sangrias, one of which i had last week (along with some tasty fish - sole almondine) at beatniks bistro in langley. i was there with a group of ladies from a workshop we were all attending. read about this workshop here, at my new photography blog:
joeyarmstrong.ca/blog!

i'll still be blogging here, of course! but maybe not as consistently as i'd ideally like to. life isn't ideal like that all the time. oh well! :)

but speaking of sangrias, anyone have a good sangria recipe? or another favorite summertime drink?

cheers to summer starting soon!

birthday dinner (part 2 of my birthday)

part 2 of my birthday:

birthday dinner cooking

birthday wine, birthday bread, birthday flowers

birthday dinner (fish, yummy roasted veggies, bread)

birthday cupcakes

birthday fun?

birthday jamie oliver :) (my first ever jamie oliver book. SO excited)

birthday camera bag (from here )

birthday aftermath

part 2 of my birthday day was just as lovely as part 1. i am very blessed. now i have a whole year to give back all the love i've received this year. maybe jamie oliver can help me. :)

fish n chips

i'm starting to appreciate fish. my sis fried some last week and it didn't smell too 'fishy' or taste 'fishy.' and i understand, that, yes, fish is supposed to smell like fish, but not the rotting, i-want-to-puke kind of fish smell. but i digress.

i attempted to do the fish thing. i bought some cod from a local store that sells seafood and free-range meat. i dipped it in an egg/lemon whisked liquid and then into a mixture of flour with rosemary-lemon-pepper-salt. then fried in olive oil at a mid-to-high temperature. apparently fish is done when it flakes and when the inside is no longer translucent. which means that in my eagerness to not undercook the fish, i ended up with punctured, flaky fillets that teetered on the edge of being overcooked. and definitely weren't presentable for their glamor shots. but i brightened up the plate with beans & a lemony tahini sauce, and homemade potato & yam chips. which weren't really a success. but good enough. i was inspired (as always) by alicia from bread-and-honey, when she made these chips. i think my oven is hotter than most, cuz the chips either burned or were soggy. i will conquer the homemade potato chip someday...