Oh, Canada!

Dear Hannah,

I went to Canada! It was a wonderful cruise with the hubby's family to celebrate his parents' 40th anniversary. Thanks you MIL and FIL for an awesome trip!

When we arrived in Montreal, we found out that we were buying a house! FROM CANADA! According to hubby's best friend, "It's the most Jay Z thing you will ever do!" This is the moment we found out we were getting the house.



Montreal was amazing: it felt European and American all at the same time!



Sometimes I wish I was Catholic so that I could look at these candles every Sunday. These were at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal.



These were my two favorite stained glass windows at ND because they are so historically inaccurate. The church founders wanted to depict Canadian history instead of church history in their windows, but like many North Americans, they got it wrong. These images portray misleading stereotypes that I do not support, but they are beautiful and ironic (women were not the main purveyors of fiber arts in the 1600s, men were, and the Algonquins in Canada did not live in tee-pees, they lived in long houses or wetus).



Shhhhhh!



Yard Art:



Mmmmm......



Coolest hotel lobby ever



AMAZING hard cider/cidre



PEI: Anne of Green-freaking Gables!!!!!



Lunch on PEI at PEI Preserve Co.



I like lobster!



I want this table (but not really) from the Preserve Company store. Best preserves. Ever. Strawberry Grand Marnier, Blueberry Raspberry Champagne... need I say more?



Maple leaves in Canada



Canadian ice cream at Cows. I've been to 3 of the top 10!



Sunset from the cruise ship



The cutest tugboat in the world!



Back in the States: Bar Harbor (Bah Hahbah, or something like that). Amazing rock beaches, cute houses, the president, and more lobster!





The Grand Finale: Boston

pastries



duckies



history: the cemetery where Benjamin Franklin is buried, a woman's suffragist memorial, and the first public school (where B.F. learned his ABCs).



It was a great trip!

love,
Ellen

I've named my style

Modern nostalgia

What do you think?

xoxo,
Ellen

That Frozen Jello dessert pic you wanted, lovely pics from your trip here, and how are you???

Frozen Fruit Salad

Dear Hannah,

A few weeks ago, my cousin, Mary Catherine, emailed me about a recipe for frozen fruit salad. Since then, I have been pondering the salad, craving the salad, trying to make the salad and researching recipes for the salad. Nashville is a great city for many things, but especially for fruit tea and frozen fruit salad. The one I made at your house (a week ago) I totally made up. It contained a package of strawberry Jello mix, a tub of cool whip, a can of crushed pineapple, and fresh cherries and banana. It was pretty yummy, but paled in comparison to the one I had today at Merridee's Breadbasket in downtown Franklin. (Remember, it's the Swedish bakery where they have the amazing cinnamon-raisin bread?) They have just released the second volume of their cookbook. I hope their frozen fruit recipe is in there! Here is a recipe I found in Recipes from Miss Daisy:

Pink Arctic Freeze (What a great name!)
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
2 Tbs mayonnaise
2 Tbs sugar
16 oz can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Beat cream cheese, mayo and sugar with an electric mixer. Add cranberry sauce and pineapple. Mix well. Fold in whipped cream. Freeze in a 9x9 dish. Cut into squares to serve.

MC, I hope this helps satisfy your craving. Hannah, will you post a picture from the one I made in WA?

love,
Ellen

Curry Supper

Dear Hannah,

This past spring, I took an Indian cooking class through USN's evening classes. It was really fun because I learned how to make ghee and how to use a masala dabba. I got one masala dabba from the class instructor, which I keep with the one from my friend Bijal who has also taught me a lot about Indian cooking. (Thank you Bijal!)



Hopefully I will make some puri soon and document it here. Like this guy:



So, in the class I also learned how to make gravy - not the Southern kind, but the oniony-tomatoey kind that makes Indian food so yummy delicious. I made this tonight - Chicken Do-Piaza Recipe. I added eggplant that I picked up from the produce place (regretting not taking a picture). They were called fairytale eggplant and were so cute! I will have to go by this week and snap a photo. Anway, supper came out looking like this:



I'm sure it would not have tasted like Indian food to a person actually from India (I'm a wimp when it comes to chilies), but the hubby liked it.

FYI: When I make Indian food, I use ALL of my dishes. I'm up for suggestions on how not to do that.

I wish I could say "bon appetit" in Hindi...

xoxo,
Ellen

Catch up

Dear Hannah,

How I miss you! It feels so long since I saw you yet it was only days ago! So much has transpired since I got off the plane in Nashville. Most dramatically, we're thinking of putting an offer on this house.

How cute is it?!? It is a LONG shot, but we feel hopeful.

Anyway, in an effort to keep our blog organized (a skill I struggle with), I'm going to post the Indian dinner separately.

I love you, dear friend.

Ellen