G.K. quote of the week!

via

"Wisdom, first and last, is the characteristic of women. They are often silly, they are always wise."

-G.K. Chesterton

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Ok, I admit it, I watch an inordinate amount of time watching Top Chef and the Food Network in general. I'm pretty addicted to any sort of decent food show. I love food, love cooking, I like talking about food, I like trying to new food, I like judging food thats on tv from my couch...basically it was only a matter of time until I got around to reading this book.

Anthony Bourdain always comes off as the incredibly rude and arrogant judge on Top Chef, and although he continues to be abrasive in his book, his writing is wickedly entertaining at times and he describes with finesse the details involved in a chef's life. He describes his way working up the ladder of tough kitchens, culinary school, and then a life devoted to finding the best money in being a chef to dying restaurants in order to fuel his drug habits. 

His descriptions of life in a working kitchen are entertaining to read and make up the best of the book. There is a good amount of crude and rough language that I fully believe happens in the back of the kitchen, but it does seems to create an almost fictional atmosphere that can only happen at the hands of a good writer. Bourdain never ceases to be honest whether about food, people, his own drug addiction and his own place in the chef world which surprised me due to his large ego on tv. 

Bourdain's great writing style made this book readable and entertaining, and is still a must read for a "foodie" or food tv addict alike.

Monday check-in!

via Elle Decor

Happy Monday-if thats possible! 

I always feel like randomly posting on Mondays, its almost as if I can't attempt anything too serious until I've got the week under control. So heres a little randomness:

-I spent a whole blissful half hour in Starbucks flipping through Elle Decor on Saturday just for the sheer fun of it! I pretended that I do that sort of thing all the time, and that it doesn't take coordinated efforts to have spare time in the city where I'm not running errands AND my husband and/or in laws are alright in watching 3 kids run around for a while. 

-My sister's birthday is today-Happy Birthday Alexa! Its also the feast(?) of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist...which is a weird feast day...but kinda cool at the same time...I've always teased my sister about it though, poor kid.

-My house is full of flies and its driving me nuts. Its the end of summer+living in the country+living in a pretty poorly built house which equals me vacuuming up flies every afternoon. Its pretty gross. I shouldn't be telling you about it.

-And finally, doesn't this beautiful bedroom feel like a wonderfully cozy spare room at Grandma's house?? It makes me want to curl up and read some Anne of Green Gables!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!

Just wanted to post a little Dom picture-lately he's been looking up at me with his big eyes and saying "I lub you too mama!" usually while eating something or when theres a strange lull in conversation. 

Just another adorable thing I want to remember forever.

A dream house in HouseBeautiful

Isn't this home dreamy??

I know its been making the rounds but I had to post it because I love everything about it! Its light but homey, uses my favourite colours, has fabulous wallpapers, great fabrics, and most importantly looks very kid-friendly. 

House Beautiful bills this home designed by Mona Ross Berman as a "retro beach house" which I don't know translates easily into Canadian style, but maybe I'm hesitant to see it as a beach house as its just so close to my style but definitely wouldn't describe my fav style as "beachy". Oh well, I'll get over it.

*All images via HouseBeautiful.

World Youth Day wrap-up

World Youth Day was remarkable once again this year. As always, upon reading the Pope's words I'm struck with how well he speaks to his audience. He concisely speaks to the issues young people of faith are dealing with, you'd never know he's in his 80s! 

Here's a great quote from his homily at the Saturday vigil:

"If you abide in the love of Christ, rooted in the faith, you will encounter, even amid setbacks and suffering, the source of true happiness and joy. Faith does not run counter to your highest ideals; on the contrary, it elevates and perfects those ideals. Dear young people, do not be satisfied with anything less than Truth and Love, do not be content with anything less than Christ."

If you get a chance the Pope's words are really worth a read. The Vatican news site has all the Pope's speeches.

I also found these two articles to be a great commentary on the importance of World Youth Days:

Tim Muldoon's take on what makes the Pope different from atheistic leaders. 

And an article detailing the difference between the London riots and over a million young people gathered in Madrid.

The weekend's over?

via

This is what my kitchen looks like when I wake up!

I wish!

I can't believe how fast the weekend/summer goes! My husband had another 3 day weekend which is always great, but its over before I know it! We went to the city for my nephew's first birthday party which was tons of fun, the kids especially were completely played out by the end of the day. Add the packing, driving, and of course, my big grocery shopping that is always entailed with a short trip to the city and I was pretty knackered as well. 

So today I've already vacuumed floors, thrown some laundry in, done the dishes, but I need to do something with the awful clutter on my counter, and find some place for all the cheap(!) summer clothes for next year I bought for the kids this weekend. My family's also gone on a little holiday so the kids are going to have to tough it out with me this week, I think we'll try a little beach action at the lake one day. So that was my unnecessary wrap-up of my weekend and my exciting Monday, hope your Monday's more productive!