VirginiaMiddleton.ca

Banana Maple Muffins

Posted on by Posted in 2013, Family, Food .

On Wednesday, my sister-in-law (Heather), brother-in-law (Colin) and youngest niece (Emily) returned to Ontario after a really great week-long visit. It was great to see them and to have the six of us together for the first time under one roof.

Before leaving, they gave us a
hostess gift that included some maple syrup. Now anyone who knows my husband is aware of how much he loves maple syrup and he's a bit of a snob when it comes to cooking or baking with the liquid gold.

Heather noticed that we have a decent stash of maple syrup, but it's mainly because we can't get anything that's local and if we ever do run out of our Ontario staff, we'll have to resort to purchasing it from Costco or another major commercial retailer… Which just makes us shudder.

But we really do have a lot. We have medium grade and also what some would call “number three” (also known as dark maple syrup or grade B).

I decided to start looking up some baking recipes. I may look into other recipes, but for now, here are the details of a muffin recipe I followed this mornings.

Continue reading →

Spaghdogs? Hotspaghs? Hybrid food FTW!

Posted on by Posted in 2012, 2013, Facebook, Food .

I originally started writing this post in February 2012. I think it was before I was big into Pinterest and finding lots of unique food ideas. I can’t remember if it was Claire or Abby who inspired me to try these crazy things based on a photo they shared on Facebook… but it was a lot of fun!

Precooked

Prepped and ready to be boiled!


Continue reading →

Crying colic child

Posted on by Posted in 2013, Baby, Family, Miranda, Parenting, Products .

Over the past few days, we’ve noticed that Miranda has been increasingly fussy later in the day and even more so in the early evening.

While it could just be a growth spurt that we have to march through, we’re also wondering if she’s experiencing extra gas that’s causing discomfort; perhaps even colic. She’s kicking her legs more and seems to be suffering some sort of pain. The her facial expressions  would break your heart… and the her cries would break your ear drums!

After not being able to give her any relief yesterday afternoon, I went to Lawtons Drugs after supper in hopes of getting some gripe water. The pharmacy was pretty busy, but I waited for my turn. I spoke with a pharmacist and we discussed the different over the counter (OTC) options. I decided to go with Kolik because it has a decent dosage of sodium bicarbonate and it was recommended for babies her age. I’m really glad I spoke with the pharmacist since they have more medical knowledge than I’ll ever have and they can give an honest opinion, but not make me feel pressured to choose a certain product.

Kolik Continue reading →

Click.Those special moments

Posted on by Posted in 2013, Montreal, Ontario, Photography, technology, Toronto .

My camera and I have a very sordid relationship. I love it very much, but it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. Then when it receives lots love from me, I don’t know what to do with all of the photos I’ve taken.

I’m OCD likes to take over when I’m processing photos. I bought a copy of Lightroom back in 2011 and it was a mixed blessing. I have lots of great tools and editing magic at my finger tips, but it’s easy to get hung up on needing every photo to be perfect. I struggle with that, but am working through it. I also have a very hard time deleting photos, and there’s a good reason for that…

But there are those moments where you and your camera are in sync. There’s something about the lighting, the composition and the timing. It’s like the universe comes together and says, “Quick, take a photo. Now! Click! Wow!” And you’re so happy you did.

In no particular order, here are just a few photos I’ve taken that are on my Flickr account that I care dearly about. I have so many more. I’ll try to share more soon. Continue reading →

Hoppy Easter!