Ten Year Anniversary Trip: We Want More Montreal and Date Night in Toronto

Montreal feels like a blend of modern edge with classic form and buildings. The great use of historic buildings is what left an imprint on us after this very quick, less than 24 hour trip. This post box. This post boxed nailed it. Modern vibe next to old school stone wall. Nicely done Montreal.

Friends suggested we hit Tommy Cafe for coffee. Our internet friends weren't wrong. We just missed the actual breakfast and could only get pastries and coffee. C'est domage? Non, c'est parfait. 

We strolled around looking for a bigger breakfast option to load up before our second Canadian road trip day.

We stumbled upon Crew Collective...and what a find it was.

We ordered a light lunch and decided to enjoy it in the gorgeous old bank that has been converted to meeting rooms and collective work spaces. Eric had the most wonderful house cured salmon and I had the avocado BLT with pickled celery ribbons. The coffee shop was behind what would have been the bank teller area. Again, a gorgeous use of space. We were there on a Thursday. There were tour groups, business people, people working on laptops, and deals happening behind glassed walls. Even with the hustled of people coming in and out the area was very quiet. Library quiet, actually. Looking up you could see the coiffured ceiling which has that calming effect on sounds and space. Think of Union Station's ceiling in DC. Same design concept to keep the noise to a minimum.

The space, energy and details were just beautiful.

We did not tickle the Botero pinky toe on our walk, but love that passersby continue to do so even with words of warning. Do not touch. Maybe it should say, Do Not Tickle.

Daily Chandelier in another bank building. Modern vibe smack dab next to art deco design next door.

We called for the bikes, our car and got ourselves together to head out.

We asked the front desk manager to take our anniversary photo and he literally bent down on one knee to take it, making us crack up. Montreal, you are one lovely city. Merci!

It was a perfectly cloudy day driving to Toronto. It was a pretty dull ride other than passing by the Thousand Islands. Check out that link. We must find a way to go up there Charlie! There were so many cool homes in the middle of the lake. Boat houses are just the coolest. We found Baby Nephew III a birthday moose and a few Canadian candies while up north too eh.

The traffic in Toronto was gruesome. It took us an hour to get 20 miles. But once we finally found the hotel all our driving cares melted away. Thompson Toronto was the truth.

The suite had a perfect little TV area to stretch out. There was champagne chilled and ready for us. We popped that bottle so fast. Mary's whipped cream and strawberries were the perfect pairing with champers.

The champagne was just what we needed after the 7 hour drive, that should have been 5.5 hours. Summer. I forget that summer tacked on hours.

I had visited Toronto once before for a conference. We did an event at Sotto Sotto and I remember it as being one of the best Italian meals I'd ever experienced. Do click this website link too. Toronto's web developers are on top of it. I do love the large scale videos and music on this site.

Horrible photo. Great table and date. There was a curtain behind Eric that closed as we were finishing our third course. The private group was so private that the body guard jumped when I came back from the powder room to get to my chair. I have no idea who was there but it was fun being there with a body guard two tables down from us. When you walk up the stairs there is a wall of fame with tons of celebrity photos lining the walk.

We had beef carpaccio to start, mushroom papardelle, bronzino, tiramisu and a gorgeous bottle of Chianti for our Anniversary Meal, but on the 6th of July. I got lemoncello and E finished with an espresso.

Horrible photo. Beautiful bronzino in a salt crust. 

E's ring reminds us both to Be Present. We had such a nice date and reminisced on the last twelve years together. I wish I wrote down what we said. I tried to keep a journal, but hope this little Blog will remind us how nice of a night it truly was. The restaurant is so dark and romantic. It's a small little place and different from the location from years ago. They had a fire. It was fun bringing E back to this place I remembered so fondly.

As we waited for our Uber we couldn't resist this Somerville selfie!

Thanksgiving Festivities

We really had the best Thanksgiving. It was our first time hosting at Stone Hill. We borrowed a six foot table from Katiecakes and had eleven people for dinner. We found fabulous chairs at the Turnover Shop and I felt so prepared.

I've been saving these little cordial cups and just loved the way the rosemary looked in them. My Momma and Daddy gave us their English Renaissance china for our wedding. We love it.

We had a great day and again were so, so happy to have my beautiful grandmother with us. Lucy and Susan brought her this scarf from their summer trip to China. I can hardly believe she is 92 years young.

Lucy was a huge help.

I let her loose in my craft closet and she helped decorate the place cards.

Francie enjoyed the newly heated Breezeway and some reading.

Susan, Eric and I did a lot of work in the kitchen.

It was awesome. I did have one minor melt down and asked my loving family to leave the kitchen. We were getting lots of direction and "are you sure you want to do that? kind of comments. I finally said, If we were going to fail, E. and I will have to fail together. It was actually the best part of the day because Eric and I felt like such partners and became Team Somerville once again.

We roasted pine nuts for the Brussels Sprouts.

E. took out the dry brined turkey and rubbed it inside and out with an herb butter made from fresh sage and our good neighbors thyme.

We stuffed it with tons of rosemary, cored apples and onions. I left out the lemon because Mary Frances is allergic. God forbid she gets here safely on a plane, by herself, to have an allergic reaction to our bird.

We added celery, onions and apples in the pan with two cups of water. We had the oven preheated to 450 degrees.

We turned the heat down after thirty minutes and it looked like this just after thirty minutes. It was GORGEOUS. E. basted it every thirty minutes for three hours. Thanks to Guy and Pam for their last minute baster loan.

Susan helped make our New York Brussels Sprouts with purple onion and pine nuts.

I made cranberry sauce three days earlier that turned out so well. I hate cranberry sauce. This one was seriously amazing. I used one and a half bags of fresh cranberries, made a simple syrup on the stove and cooked them just until they started to pop. I added the peel of one orange thinly sliced. Finally, I grated one large knuckle of ginger and added two tablespoons of Port Wine. I let it cool and put a handful of fresh berries while it was cooling and the orange slices. It was joy rapture in your mouth.

The turkey was not only gorgeous but I think it was the best I've ever had. It was perfectly cooked and the little pop up thing jumped out at just the right time.

I was so proud of my husband. That is a 22 pound bird and kinda hot. We let it rest for thirty minutes.

We put the stuffing in the oven and asked everyone to pray as it was still warming up. The food was actually warm when I sat down!

We were blessed with great friends and family. 

We will cherish this time together and our memories of this past weekend for years.

I love this photo of Eric's sister and his Daddy.

My aunt is so wonderful and the best kind of guest. She was a rock star in the kitchen. Do you recognize her? She's an actress and was Dr. G. on Sex in the City. She was also in Leaving Las Vegas and a ton of theatre on an off Broadway. I spent so many Thanksgiving's with Susan that I feel like Thanksgiving is "our" holiday. It was so wonderful having her with us in our home finally with Lucy!

 

I'm also thankful to have my great grandmother's china serving bowls. It's a little thing but I love how this "stuff" connects us to the past.

I also loved looking across our table and seeing my darling husband happy as a clam.

We are blessed beyond measure and are truly thankful to have had the space and time to be with family and friends this Thanksgiving. We are thankful for our jobs, our health and all the projects that Stone Hill keeps us busy with. We are now setting our sites on Christmas and the new bundle of joy that is Andrew McWilliams! Yesterday was his birthday and it is also St. Andrew's Feast Day. I could hardly believe it. He is the patron saint of Scotland!!! Hoping all of you had enjoyable time with your families too.