Monthly Archives: May 2012

Our gallery wall

Posted on May 21, 2012 | 2 comments

My friend and professional photographer Jess Harcombe Fleming took some great candid and posed pictures of our family at Pearce Estate Park and in Fish Creek Provincial Park over two days last fall. Ever since she delivered the prints to our house I’ve been meaning to frame them for a gallery wall.

I finally had an opportunity this weekend. Blake and the kids cleared out to Red Deer and I began crossing things off the never-ending to-do list, including this daunting project.

I’ve always wanted to showcase our best family pictures on a gallery wall. I think I need to add some more in different sizes, from different times and places.

Now, my apologies in advance to my husband. Building a gallery wall is niggly and exacting work, and so there are now many little unsuccessful nail hole attempts hiding behind each photograph. But no one can see them and the end result is a nice start, don’t you think?

The view going up the stairs. Wait a minute … who’s that kid at the top??

I was all set to call it an evening, when this framed photo at the top of the stairs caught my eye:

Sorry boy from Peru, we are going to take you down now.

No, we did not adopt a kid from Peru. This picture was taken years ago near Cuzco and since we had to pay someone for the privelege of capturing the boy on film, he ended up framed and mounted on our wall. Sorry, muchacho, your days as art are over.

Do you have a gallery wall? Is it themed (family, travel) or random?

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Posted in Potpourri

Tagged family gallery wall, family photographs, gallery wall

Drink of the Week: Whiskey Sour

Posted on May 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

Tourism BC hosted a dinner at Model Milk last month for Calgary-area travel writers, the idea being to inspire us to visit our beautiful neighbour to the west. It worked. After an amazing meal spent chatting with the folks who represent different parts of the province, we had visions of ourselves chilling in Lotusland, cavorting on Vancouver Island or wine touring in the Okanagan. To seal the deal, there were cocktails by bartender Stephen Phipps.

I especially liked the whiskey sour. I am partial to sours, as I wrote in a previous blog; now, I like them with whiskey. I am not what you’d call a whiskey drinker, so this surprises me, but maybe it had something to do with the Forty Creek rye whiskey used in the drink. Or the red wine and black pepper syrup (Phipps is keeping that recipe under his hat). Or that hint of sweet maple syrup on the finish. Yum. I’ll be back for another.

Smooth, yummy and delightful whiskey sour. Thanks Model Milk!

Whiskey Sour

2 oz Forty Creek Rye Whiskey
1 oz red wine and black pepper syrup
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 egg white
Touch of Quebec maple syrup

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass and dry shake. Add ice and shake vigorously then double strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a wink and a smile.

— Courtesy, Stephen Phipps, Model Milk

Fine dining in Banff, with children

Posted on May 16, 2012 | 2 comments

Should children be present at a dinner that involves horseradish-crusted lamb shank and white tablecloths? My gut tells me no on this one, and yet, there we were at a fancy round table inside the Terrace Dining Room at the Banff Park Lodge, contemplating whether to order seared scallops with crepes or sablefish a la shrimp. Avery and Bennett, being kids, just wanted French fries.

Bennettt: “Mommy, I won’t eat my fries unless I like the presentation! Now, where’s that tablecloth so I can wipe the ketchup off my face?”

Normally I would leave the kids at home for this type of meal, but we were in Banff for the Rocky Mountain Wine & Food festival, and fancy dinner for the family was on the itinerary. The waitress brought paper and crayons, and Bennett promptly scribbled orange and blue onto the tablecloth (look really hard in the above snap and you’ll be able to see it). After colouring for approximately 30 seconds he asked Blake, “Daddy, where’s iPhone?”

After a palate-cleansing granita, Avery gets back to more interesting pursuits.

In situations like these, it pays to have an iPhone. Better to let the kids zone out playing Angry Birds than repeatedly ask, “When is our food going to come?” or, more to the point, “Where is French fries?” Valid questions, Avery and Bennett (appetizers really do prolong the dining experience when kids are along. And not in a good way). Inexplicably, when the waitress asked me whether I wanted the kids’ meals to come out early or with our entrees, I decided we should all eat together. Parenting fail.

The best part of the dinner was when our server finally brought out the children’s orders. Truly, I have never seen fries served in a separate white porcelain bowl, nor steamed veggies arranged just so, with dipping sauce in a little metal tin. The artistry of their dishes was lost on my kids, who immediately smeared ketchup all over their plates and faces. I cringed inwardly and took a silent moment to appraise my own entree: