A day at the beach

Well it is just beginning to cloud over but the sun was out and shining almost as much as this past Saturday when we walked down to the beach and I took these photos (I may post more when I get someone's permission). It was like a spring day in January. Bit chillier today but I should have gone down to the beaches this morning to photograph that wonderful sunrise. Sunrises are starting to happen earlier and earlier these days...

Cooking and photographing

Well I'm certainly liking the new camera and it even went to work with me today. I went out at lunch and made sure I took some photos and even discovered a new little street.

Narrow house on a short street near McCaul

But before that I, on Sunday we were cooking and baking. Here are some of the results.

Hubby-made cake with apples

Roasted dinner

I hope to continue going out a lunchtime and taking pictures while exploring the neighbourhood.

The Grange at the Art Gallery of Ontario

New Camera and the Social Networking Diet

Well yesterday was my birthday. I won't go into details as it was a bit bleak but I did get a wonderful present from hubby. So I will take more pictures but ones with higher quality (raw capabilities) than my point and shoot (but more portable and lighter than my DSLR).  I am now the new owner of a compact system camera and it's pretty awesome. So maybe expect more updates and more photos? I'm going to try to take it with me everywhere. I want to not rely on my iphone for photos anymore. Don't get me wrong, iphone is great for photos but there are sometimes that I wish I had the quality there for some images and ways of manipulating the photos without losing quality as well. Now I have the answer. Today I took some photos of the new Loblaws after buying myself a cake (a day late but that's okay).

Along College on the streetcar

love the bright colours in the store

reminders of its past

Beginning today, though, for a week or more I will not be checking facebook, twitter or instagram. I think I need a break from knowing someone went to Starbuck's and the like and maybe, just maybe, I'll focus more and take more photos. Well it's an experiment. We'll see how it goes.

Post Christmas

Well I broke with tradition this year and took the decorations down before the 5th. To fill the void I made sure to buy some flowers and some extra candles. It actually didn't feel so bad the first night without Christmas lights.

We did a lot of cooking during the holidays. Hubby made some fantastic French onion soup and I made cassoulet for New Year's Day.

Christmas Eve

Getting all prepared for Christmas day and tonight's dinner. Looking forward to that duck tonight. Yum. Christmas cookies were baked last weekend. Caneles were made this week and a cranberry pudding cake was done today. Almost there.

This year's Christmas card. Originally taken in Paris in 2010 at the store Merci.
Like that message of Thanks.

All the best to everyone out there this holiday season. Hopefully during this bit of a break I can actually post new things and get some creating done.

Decorations outside

Well it finally stopped raining a couple of days ago and the sun was out today and it was lovely so I was able to pop out to take these finally.

Daytime

My brother made the birch reindeer

the berries are from our vine in the backyard

Already a casualty of a broken ornament. Got to have one a season.

Nightime

And there are more lights going down the length of the fence

Nice day out in the morning shopping at the market and thinking about Christmas meals. After taking these pictures tonight, I think I would like a new tripod on my Christmas list. Need a better head on the tripod - one that I can trust. I watched as my camera slowing started turning in portrait format. Not something you want for doing long exposure, although that effect could be interesting.

Chicago on my mind

Still thinking about Chicago even though it was over a week ago. Had such a great time and great food. Can't wait to go back. So here are some panoramas from the trip.

Starting to look a lot like Christmas

So today was decorating day around here. We already had some lights outside (since it was raining, pics of that will come later). Just a mini tree this year but that meant more lights for elsewhere.

This is also a way to keep playing with long exposure.

Canelé

Today is a baking/cooking day. I like days like this. I'm still creating although I do feel a bit guilty as I feel like I'm having too much fun.

After sitting "brewing"(?) for nearly 3 days, the canelé mixture was ready. It's best to let it sit for at least a couple of days and I'm happy to say I think it paid off! It immediately took me back to Bordeaux and just over a month ago when I first ate one of these perfect little treats. Thanks to Chocolate and Zucchini where I seem to have found the best and least complicated recipe for them. I bought two sets of moulds - one a little bit bigger than the other (the latter I found in Auchan for just 3 Euro!). It also pays to let them bake just that little bit longer for that caramel-y like appearance. It's hard to describe how you have to almost break the outside "skin" to get at the egg-y goodness inside. Bliss.

Now waiting for my squash soup simmering away in the Le Creuset that I (re:hubby) lugged home from Bordeaux. Just too good of a price to miss!

Getting Ready for a sale - Magnets!

magnets

Still getting ready for the sale. It's tomorrow! I think everything is set but I may need a last minute trip to the art store. New this year - magnets. I've been using the same photo transfer technique and I've also added paint to some.

Hope it goes well. Still debating about taking some of the panels I've got attached to and are hanging on our living room wall. Hmmm...

Getting ready for a sale

I already have some photo transfer panels ready for the sale next Saturday (email me if you want details!) but I thought I would try some smaller little canvases that I may turn into magnets. We'll see. Already prepped some photos (see the tutorial from earlier posts) and just waiting for them to dry before applying them to the mini canvases that I got here and in Bordeaux.

Here are some of the images I've been working on.

Geneva

San Francisco

Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Bordeaux

What I've been up to

Long silence there with no posting but there was another trip to France in there with, of course, more photos.

Saint Emilion

Toulouse

Bordeaux

Now I'm preparing for a one day art and artisan show and a trip to Chicago. I'll try not to be so silent, though.