Tomorrrow I will be in San Francisco! After that we are driving south on the california pacific coast to LA. SO excited! We will be gone just short of two weeks. I'll make sure to take lots of photos to post when I can. Although I am a believer of shutting off your life a bit when your on vacation - no email - no text - no web (except for trip research) - and definitely no thoughts of the day job. I have a feeling I will break this rule now that I have a blog. We'll see.

We enjoyed a steak dinner last night for my husband's birthday and it was a great opportunity to make him a steak cake. Because one steak is not enough. His cut of choice was rib eye.

The 'spices' were Oreo cookie crumbs and I couldn't make a quick decision on what to use for oregano, so I just used oregano...

The cake was red velvet, because he is a medium rare kind of guy. And maybe I took it too far by making 'bloody' strawberry sauce...

What is the best thing about camping, or the only thing that would actually make you want to go camping. The campfire and the s'more making. Right!

You know I'm a Nutella lover. When my husband's friends decided Nutella was the best chocolate to use for a s'more I couldn't agree less. Nutella is creamy, easy to spread and is already 'melted' so half the work is done. You must try the nutella on both graham crackers, don't skimp on just one side.

And if your adventurous try using toasted coconut marshmallows.

I was in s'more mood and wanted to find you a photo using Nutella in the s'more because I unfortuntely didn't bring my SLR camera this past camping weekend and my iPhone was so far away from my seat in front of the warm fire. Then I stumbled on this blog, Surviving Oz. So cute. You have to check out this great post on s'more combos. I'm drooling.

PS. I like my marshmallows burnt.

This is my new favourite toy -- or favourite app I should say. It's the Hipstamatic app for the iPhone and it allows you to take photos that look like you've used a vintage camera. Check out some pics from my long weekend camping trip at the Pinery...

Best $1.99 I ever spent.
Hurry up and download this app, it says on the website that it's $1.99 for a limited time and I have a feeling this price will go up.

Enjoy your Victoria Day long weekend!
love, linda

wiki:
Victoria Day (in French: Fête de la Reine) is a federal Canadian statutory holiday celebrated on the last Monday on or before May 24, in honour of both Queen Victoria's birthday and the current reigning Canadian sovereign's official birthday. It is sometimes informally considered as marking the beginning of the summer season in Canada.

Sweetheart Victoria Custom Pr can cooler, cafepress.com

It was crazy birthday month in April, and this month there are two birthdays coming up -- the hubby & mom, in that order. For my husband it is a milestone birthday and since its so close to our anniversary we'll be going on vacation to celebrate both. But of course that's not enough, because I can't let it be. (Obessive complusive much?). So I had planned a 30 day surprise for him.

It's not really a gift a day, because that would be crazy right. Could be a coupon for a massage, making a nice dinner, brunch, etc. Here are some of the purchased gifts I'll share with you for fun.
A concert...

Army men series print from norma beez on Etsy...

Amoeba T-shirt from isotope on Etsy
(inside joke!!)...

Shorts and a tooth necklace from ae...

Dinner at Susur Lee's restaurant, mainly for his famous coleslaw...

This reminds me. We went to Lee's for Winterlicious and had the most amazing dessert called tong yuen, almost like a dim sum with a gooey chocolate hazelnut ganache inside. Anyway my husband figured out how to make it and I will share it with you in a future post. So exciting!

Non-stop rain since the weekend. Might as well make it fun with this sky umbrella. On the outside it looks like an ordinary black umbrella, but the inside is a bright blue sunny sky! Added a new category called "sweet things" for posts like this.

Sky Umbrella from uncommongoods.com, $48

A big congrats to my brother-in-law and my future sister-in-law on their recent engagement! Woo!

Here is my advice to brides before starting on the madness of planning a wedding:
Think of three words to describe your wedding. These words should reflect the both of you as a couple and what you want your wedding to be.

Take these three words and make sure every choice you make supports them. It will help you make your decisions. Because trust me, from the day you get that ring it's all about decisions.

Don't forget to check out these beautiful wedding blogs for inspiration...

I've been sick all this week, no chance to post. It's a shame because the weather has been so beautiful it would be nice to be outside, and like always in Toronto the weekend calls for rain...

I'll leave you with a short post and a cool product.
The watermelon knife! $24.95, Williams Sonoma. This leaves you plenty of time to get it in time for watermelon season, which happens to be August.

Since my mom is probably my biggest blog fan (and maybe the only one who visits regularly?) I have the chance to wish her a happy mother's day right here, right now.
Happy Mother's day mom!
I know, I'm early.
I'll see you sunday.

Here is the cake I made for her and for my mother-in-law. The rose buds are made out of fondant, and leaves piped with buttercream.

We all know how special moms are, and even though we hope they know how we feel I think its important to tell them again. Sometimes we all like to be reminded we are loved and appreciated. Here is a great idea for your mom: an edible bouquet! This one is made out of sugar cookies, by Cookies By Design

PS. How cute are these poppy cookies from Camille Styles Blog?