tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8211989363706835662024-03-17T23:03:41.565-04:00A Baked CreationHi! This is a blog written by a lover of books, desserts, food, and travel.Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.comBlogger500125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-78316845437812881512016-09-27T19:04:00.002-04:002016-10-07T17:01:24.364-04:00We've Moved!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pssst.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Dear readers,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's been really quiet over here.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If you're wondering why, it's because I've started a new blog over at <a href="https://sincerelysyl.com/">Sincerely, Syl</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You might be wondering why. It's been so many happy years here, why switch things up? Why start all over? Read why on my first blog post <a href="https://sincerelysyl.com/2016/08/12/celebrate-with-cake/">here</a>. Still lots of sweets and desserts. Some additional crafting elements, even drinks and travel - but yes, I'm going in the direction of a lifestyle blog as opposed to food blog.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If you want to follow along on social media, here are my new handles for . . .</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Instagram - <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sincerely.syl/">sincerely.syl</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Twitter - <a href="https://twitter.com/sincerelysyl">sincerelysyl</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Facebook - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sincerelysyl/">sincerelysyl</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Pinterest - <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/sincerelysylvi/">sincerelysylvi</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Goodreads - <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/sincerelysyl">sincerelysyl</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Stay in touch!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Sincerely,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Syl</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">P. S. Here are some more details:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The domain - www.abakedcreation.com - will expire on Tuesday, September 27, 2016. The links on this blog are most likely broken because of that. I have closed @abakedcreation on twitter and instagram. I managed to migrate everyone on facebook over to the new page. I changed my username on Pinterest to reflect the new blog.</span><br />
<br />Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-34071129099835358292016-07-22T16:06:00.000-04:002016-07-22T16:06:39.356-04:00Roasted Peach and Graham Cracker Crunch Ice Cream<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oh my peaches, what a scorcher we're having here in Toronto. But guess what? No complaints because I complain enough during the icy cold winters we have. I am embracing the hot weather with open arms (because it keeps me cool) and eating lots and lots of ice cream.<br />
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It's currently peach season (yay) and I don't even know if I <i>had </i>to roast these, but I was inspired after seeing <i>How Sweet It Is</i>'s post <a href="http://www.howsweeteats.com/2016/07/no-churn-sugar-roasted-peach-pie-ice-cream/">here</a>. The peaches were sweet enough on their own, so I felt that roasting them might have made them a tad sour. But I gave it a try anyways. Mixing in 4 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt before laying them out on a baking tray and roasting for half an hour.<br />
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But you know what I did love from that recipe? The graham cracker crumble! I need to make this for every ice cream topping! Simply mix 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs with 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter. It'll become nice and chunky, giving you a good crunchy texture in the ice cream.<br />
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I didn't follow the recipe fully as I switched to use <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18383369-jeni-s-splendid-ice-cream-desserts"><i>Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream</i>'</a>s base. So there was churning and freezing involved, which means I did not get to taste the fruit of my labours until the next day.<br />
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I sprinkled the graham cracker crumble, tossed in some peaches, then poured the ice cream base over. Repeated again with another layer of graham cracker crumble, peaches, and ice cream. Ending with the crumble and peaches on top.<br />
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Noticed my new ice cream container? Yes, I thought purchasing one would be a good investment for <i>all </i>the ice cream I'm going to make in the future. I found it at <a href="http://www.crateandbarrel.com/tovolo-ice-cream-storage/s113730">Crate & Barrel</a>, <a href="http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/tovolo-ice-cream-storage-tub/">Williams-Sonoma</a> also carried one with a white rim instead of red. Howard firmly made me get the red one from Crate & Barrel because it was cheaper. Hmph! Aesthetically I preferred the all-white Tovolo storage tub, but financially, it just didn't make sense. The packaging does say that it's dishwasher safe, but I found that there was a bit of warping and well, you see the freezer burn on my peaches. Going to hand wash this from now on. The tub also doesn't hold a lot, if I hadn't accidentally spilled some of my ice cream mixture when I was pouring it into the ice cream machine, this would have overflowed in the tub because of the extra goodies I added in.<br />
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I wish I could say that the combination was perfect, but the texture of the ice cream came out icy. Noooooo! I wonder if it was all the delicious peach juices that came out after I roasted it? The ice cream is particularly more icy there, but it's fine around the graham cracker crumble. I'm starting to understand why the cookbook mixes jam into the recipe instead of actual fruit. Ah, we live and learn, but I'm still eating it and shivering along the way as it's keeping my body temperature down this summer.Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-60736087218806535562016-07-18T08:00:00.000-04:002016-07-18T08:00:21.795-04:00Blog Tour: Stars So Sweet by Tara Dairman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello, Monday!<br />
<br />
Yes, I can feel chipper at the start of the week because I'm taking part of something fun today - the <i>Stars So Sweet</i> blog tour! This middle-grade book releases tomorrow and if you've read the first two books, <i>All Four Stars</i> and <i>The Stars of Summer</i>, then you'll want to know how it all pans out for Gladys Gatsby.<br />
<br />
And before we dip in, I just want to say that sometimes it's completely okay to judge a book by its cover because there will be certain aspects in it that just scream out to you. Bunting? Check. Macarons? Check. Madeleines? Check. Cupcakes? Check. Even a cake stand? Yup. I'm pretty sure ten-year-old Sylvia would have picked up this final book in the All Four Stars trilogy. Kids these days are so lucky that there are so many great books for them to choose from. Each geared to their own interests. That's why shows like <i>MasterChef Junior</i> exist, right?<br />
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<b>Stars So Sweet</b><br />
Written by Tara Dairman<br />
Hardcover | 288 pages | Ages 8-12<br />
ISBN 978-1-10199-648-5<br />
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Picking up from the second book, summer is winding down and Gladys Gatsby has to prepare for the next big step in her life - middle school. Will she be able to juggle classes, homework, after-school activities, <i>and</i> critiquing restaurants for the <i>New York Standard</i>? What's going on with her and Hamilton Herbertson? Why is the school newspaper reporter on her tail? At least she still has Sandy, Parm, and Charissa by her side . . . right? Her parents have limited her time in the kitchen <i>again </i>and then, to her complete surprise, Aunt Lydia shows up on their door step too.<br />
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What do you think? Enough for any twelve-year-old to handle as they enter a busy fall? Probably more than anyone can handle calmly, but Gladys Gatsby does it with grace and help from her friends and advice from few exceptional adults. Not only is she problem solving her own dilemmas, but she has time to organize bake sales at school to help out the after-school programs.<br />
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What I love about these books is that there's no magic miracle that comes to the rescue, every issue is figured out in a timely basis and completely plausible. Things don't just fall in place for the perfect happy ending, the characters have to try and try again. Take Sandy's challenge at earning his reputation at school. Or the fact that friendships need to take time to build - Parm and Charissa didn't start out on good terms at first, but given the chance and their friendship to Gladys, they slowly learn to accept each other.<br />
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Of course the main feature that I admire in Tara Dairman's writing is how funny the situations can become and Gladys practical commentary has me in stitches. And the food writing - spot on for any aspiring foodie. It's in the chapter titles, it's in Gladys' restaurant reviews, and in her daily metaphors and similes. Really, I give this series all four stars!<br />
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In honour of the scrumptious finale of the series, I baked up some savoury madeleines as a nod to Gladys love for French baked goods.<br />
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<b>Cheddar and Scallion Madeleines</b><br />
(Makes a dozen)<br />
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1/2 stick of salted butter<br />
3/4 cups of all-purpose flour<br />
2 teaspoons of baking powder<br />
1/4 teaspoon of salt<br />
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper<br />
3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil<br />
2 large eggs, room temperature<br />
3 tablespoons of milk<br />
1/3 cup of grated smoked cheddar (I'm sure regular cheddar will work too)<br />
2 tablespoons of finely chopped scallions<br />
<ol>
<li>Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Brush melted butter on your madeleine pans or use a cooking spray.</li>
<li>Place the butter and oil in a microwavable glass bowl or measuring cup. Microwave on low until butter has melted. Whisk to combine and let it cool for 3 to 4 minutes.</li>
<li>Add eggs, one at a time, and whisk until completely blended.</li>
<li>Add milk and whisk for 1 to 2 minutes.</li>
<li>Stir in the cheese and scallions.</li>
<li>Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper and whisk until the batter is fully combined.</li>
<li>Using a spoon, scoop, or teaspoon, fill the molds on the madeleine pan with the batter. Don't fill it completely, leave a sliver of space so that the madeleine can expand while baking.</li>
<li>Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the madeleines pull up and the edges are golden brown.</li>
<li>Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool for 2 to 3 minutes. Use a small fork or spatula to remove the madeleines from the pan.</li>
<li>Enjoy!</li>
</ol>
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Just so you know, when these are baking in the oven, your kitchen will smell delicious. Howard was in the den yelling, "I smell bacon!! Give me bacon!" while I was yelling back, "I'm not making bacon!!!"</div>
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<b><a href="https://taradairman.com/">Tara Dairman</a></b> is the author of the middle-grade foodie novel <i><a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2014/07/blog-tour-all-four-stars-by-tara-dairman.html">All Four Stars</a></i> (Putnam/Penguin) which was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month and won a 2015 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award. <i><a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2015/04/blog-tour-stars-of-summer-by-tara.html">The Stars of Summer</a></i> followed in 2015, and <i>Stars so Sweet </i>(7/19/16) completes the series. Tara grew up in New York and holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Dartmouth College. After surviving the world's longest honeymoon (two years, seventy-four countries!), she now lives in Colorado with her family.<br />
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<b>Visit the other blog tour stops here:</b><br />
<a href="https://dailydahlia.wordpress.com/2016/07/07/5691/">The Daily Dahlia</a> >> <a href="https://thereadingdate.com/2016/07/08/blog-tour-stars-sweet-tara-dairman/">The Reading Date</a> >> <a href="https://bookish-illuminations.com/2016/07/12/star-sweet-blog-tour-delicious-finale/">Bookish Illuminations</a> >> <a href="http://logcabinlibrary.blogspot.ca/2016/07/stars-so-sweet-by-tara-dairman-blog-tour.html">Log Cabin Library</a> >> <a href="http://wordspelunking.blogspot.ca/2016/07/stars-so-sweet-blog-tour-review-giveaway.html">Word Spelunking</a> >> <a href="http://www.fwiwreviews.net/2016/07/stars-so-sweet-by-tara-dairman-blog.html">FWIW</a> >> <a href="http://fic-talk.com/">Fic Talk</a> >> <a href="http://www.popgoesthereader.com/">Pop Goes the Reader</a> >> <a href="http://www.kitchenfrolic.ca/">Kitchen Frolic</a> >> Creative Spaces<br />
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<b>Credits:</b> Blog tour button / <a href="http://www.kristinrae.com/p/blog-page_28.html">Kristin Rae</a>; Book cover / <a href="http://kelmurphy.com/">Kelly Murphy</a><br />
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<b>Disclaimer:</b> An ARC of <i>Stars So Sweet</i> was sent to me from Putnam/Penguin for the blog tour.Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-79456084672184399692016-07-10T16:27:00.000-04:002016-07-10T19:33:43.920-04:00Graham Cracker Ice Cream<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Our family friends gave us an ice cream machine for our wedding and I knew it would be perfect for summer this year. So far we've been having a fantastically hot summer, weather <i>made </i>for ice cream. Not to mention, July is ice cream month too! It was time to take out the machine and give it a churn (plus now Howard can't say I never use it).<br />
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I had lots of graham cracker crumbs left from the <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2016/07/key-lime-pie.html">key lime pie</a>, so what better use than to infuse the flavour into ice cream? I happen to have a lot of ice cream books, but based on word of mouth alone, I knew the first one I would crack open would be Jeni's. I was lucky enough to get a copy two years ago at a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/qBPIm3G2TH/">trade show</a> and I think I'm going to have to get her first book as well - <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10178769-jeni-s-splendid-ice-creams-at-home"><i>Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home</i></a>.<br />
<br />
I have a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, it looks something like <a href="http://www.cuisinart.ca/cuisinart_product.php?item_id=143&product_id=127&cat_id=27">this</a>. It's quite easy to use, just give it a good clean and dry. Then pop the bowl in the freezer over night. The bowl is ready to use when you don't hear the liquid inside the walls sloshing around.<br />
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<b>Graham Cracker Ice Cream</b><br />
Recipe from <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18383369-jeni-s-splendid-ice-cream-desserts">Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream Desserts</a></i><br />
(Makes about 1 quart)<br />
<br />
2 2/3 cups of whole milk<br />
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons of cornstarch<br />
4 tablespoons of cream cheese softened<br />
1/8 teaspoon of fine sea salt<br />
1 1/2 cups of heavy cream<br />
3/4 cup of granulated sugar<br />
1/4 cup of light corn syrup<br />
1/2 cup of graham cracker crumbs<br />
<ol>
<li>Don't forget to freeze your ice cream maker's bowl in the freezer the day before!</li>
<li>Take out two mixing bowls. In the first one, mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch. In the second bowl, whisk the cream cheese and salt together.</li>
<li>Combine the remaining milk, heavy cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 4 minutes and remove the sauce pan from the heat and gradually whisk in the first bowl with the milk and cornstarch. Place it back on the heat and bring it back to a boil over medium-high heat. It'll start to feel a little thicker in about a minute. Remove from the heat.</li>
<li>Next, slowly add in the second bowl of cream cheese and salt. Whisk until smooth. Add the graham cracker crumbs and allow the mixture to steep for 3 minutes. </li>
<li>In a basin or large bowl or pot, fill it with ice and water.</li>
<li>With a sieve, pour your mixture through it and into a large Ziplock bag. Seal and submerge into the ice bath in your basin, bowl, or pot. If you don't have a 1-gallon Ziplock bag, I was able to do this with a container with a airtight lid. Let the mixture cool down for approximately 30 minutes, add more ice if necessary. I popped mine in the fridge to speed up the process.</li>
<li>Take out your frozen bowl and assemble it in your ice cream maker. Pour the ice cream mixture in and start the machine! Churn for 25 minutes.</li>
<li>Don't worry, an ice cream expert told me that it'll still look soupy after, she told me "the ice cream machine is really just aerating it a bit and dropping its temperature." Using a spatula, pour out the creamy mixture into your storage container, press a sheet of parchment on top of the surface, and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze for at least 4 hours or until it's firm.</li>
</ol>
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I have to say the consistency and texture of the ice cream was top notch. Yes, just like store bought! Let us all bow down to the ice cream queen Jeni!<br />
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It's tempting to also buy another ice cream bowl so that I'll have two canisters at the ready for different flavours. Wouldn't it be great to have a homemade ice cream party this summer?<br />
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Mmm graham cracker ice cream - may I suggest dressing it up with mini marshmallows and chocolate syrup?Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-37102770533258110252016-07-03T21:06:00.002-04:002016-07-03T21:13:59.518-04:00Key Lime Pie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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How is everyone's long weekend going? I am really loving the hot weather that Toronto is experiencing. I can't remember a more glorious summer than the one we're currently having. With above 25°C temperature, I can finally ditch the jackets and dig out the dresses and skirts! It's like seeing good old friends again when I take out my underused shorts and T-shirts. It also makes me feel a lot more body conscious, but then I remember not to care so much and gobble down another piece of pie.<br />
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This pie is an homage a publicity intern at work. Hey, I've been there and done that - it's not an easy gig. But despite all the work we have to work together to finish, our publicity intern found the time to make key lime pie (not once, but <i>twice</i>) for us. I have the vantage point of sitting near our kitchen and got to hear a lot of joyful food noises that my colleagues were making upon taking a bite. So Anyka, this is for you!<br />
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<b>Key Lime Pie</b><br />
(Makes one 9-inch pie)<br />
Recipe from <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12538553-perfect-pies">Perfect Pies</a></i> by Michele Stuart<br />
<br />
<i>Crust</i><br />
1 1/2 cup of graham crackers, finely chopped<br />
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar<br />
5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted<br />
<ol>
<li>Preheat your oven to 350°F.</li>
<li>In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter together. If you have cracker sheets, you can use also place all three ingredients in a food processor to chop and mix. Or you can purchase the graham crackers already chopped, I've tried both methods and they work fine (see photos above).</li>
<li>Spread the mixture evenly across the bottom and sides of your pie tin. Try using something with a flat bottom that you can use to press the crust firmly down. I use a measuring cup (see photo below).</li>
<li>Bake the crust for 5 minutes and cool the pie shell for half an hour before adding the filling.</li>
</ol>
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<i>Filling</i><br />
6 large egg yolks<br />
3 teaspoons of key lime zest<br />
2 fourteen-ounce cans of condensed milk<br />
1 cup of key lime juice<br />
<ol>
<li>Keep your oven on at 350°F.</li>
<li>Using an electric mixer fitted with the beater blade, beat the egg yolks, lime zest, and condensed milk together. </li>
<li>Add in the lime juice and mix well until the filling is combined.</li>
<li>Pour the filling into the graham cracker pie shell.</li>
<li>Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the pie is firm in the middle, but still soft. Allow the pie to cool and set. Cover and place the pie in the freezer for at least an hour before serving.</li>
</ol>
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My pie tin is a bit shallow, so I had leftover filling. Not to waste it, I poured it into some dessert jars and popped those in a water bath for the oven. Same process as the pie, I had it cool and then covered to freeze it.<br />
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When it came time to eat it, I took it out to defrost for 5 minutes and added a layer of graham cracker crumbs on top.<br />
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Yummm!<br />
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Howard preferred the pie version, more graham crackers that's why. You know what? I agree!Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-87080014455916193322016-06-26T21:17:00.001-04:002016-06-26T21:17:19.876-04:00Strawberry Matcha Éclairs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, since my <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2016/06/totoro-puffs.html">Totoro puffs</a> didn't turn out the way I imagined them to, I thought I would work on some éclairs instead. The good thing is, the choux dough recipe is the same (so refer back to the Totoro post), the only thing you do differently is how you pipe them out.<br />
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And you know what? You're supposed to use a star tip, but I couldn't find mine. It's probably at my parent's house - all my baking supplies are now split apart because my condo can't fit everything. But the éclairs turned out just fine with a round piping tip.<br />
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After the éclairs cool, cut them in half so that you have your elongated boats. If you made the choux dough correctly, the interiors should be semi-hollow.<br />
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It's strawberry season again (yay) so I chopped them up into tiny little cubes. Then sprinkled a teaspoon of sugar on it, gave it a toss, and had it macerate for a bit. It's sitting in a sieve so that any excess liquids can drain off.<br />
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Using tiny dessert spoons, I filled the with the strawberries I so painstakingly sliced.<br />
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Then came the fun part, decorating with matcha buttercream! I was originally going to make matcha pastry cream, but realized I finished using all the milk on the choux dough. Oops! Oh well, it worked out in the end as buttercream is so much easier to make and also pipes out beautifully.<br />
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Doesn't the smooth matcha buttercream look like avocado? In fact, these éclairs remind me of sub sandwiches or avocado toast. I know you're supposed to put the tops back on the éclairs . . . but they're so much prettier when they're like an open-faced sandwich!<br />
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You can also pipe the buttercream in first and then top it with strawberries. Don't forget to decorate! I had sprinkles and milk chocolate crispearls on hand. You can also switch out your piping tip for different designs.<br />
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Howard's colleagues are going to have a happy Monday eating these (I hope)! There's too many for Howard and I to finish. There's also a key lime pie in the freezer, but more about that later.Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-20184669663449818762016-06-03T13:00:00.000-04:002016-06-03T13:00:04.043-04:00Totoro Puffs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Have you seen the original Totoro cream puffs from the <a href="http://www.shiro-hige.com/cream_puffs/">Shiro-Hige's Cream Puff Factory</a> in Japan? They are impeccably made, uniform, smooth, and oh-so-cute! I've heard they taste really well too, but since I am not in Japan, I've been fixated on these recently and finally decided to try and make them. Just one tiny problem: I've never made cream puffs before. I took out one of my favourite cookbooks, <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21481463-sugar-rush">Sugar Rush</a></i>, and flipped to Johnny Iuzzini's cream puffs and éclairs recipe. Gave it a through read through a few times and tackled this seemingly simple dough.<br />
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<b>Cream Puffs</b><br />
Recipe from <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21481463-sugar-rush">Sugar Rush</a></i> by Johnny Iuzzini<br />
(Makes about 1 and a half dozen cream puffs or 12 Totoro puffs)<br />
<br />
1/2 cup + 2 teaspoon of whole milk<br />
1/2 cup + 2 teaspoon of water<br />
1 stick of unsalted butter<br />
1 teaspoon of granulated sugar<br />
1 teaspoon of salt<br />
1 1/4 cups of bread flour<br />
4 to 5 large eggs<br />
Vegetable oil cooking spray<br />
<ol>
<li>In a large saucepan, pour in the milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt. Turn the heat to medium-low and wait for it to simmer. Give it a quick stir and then remove it from the heat.</li>
<li>Add the bread flour and stir and knead with a wooden spoon until the ingredients are all combined. </li>
<li>Return the saucepan to the medium-low heat for 3 to 4 minutes to dry out the mixture a little bit. The dough shouldn't stick to the sides and when you see a skin form on the base of the pan, turn off the heat and transfer the dough to your stand mixer's bowl.</li>
<li>Using your wooden spoon, spread the dough out along the sides of the bowl (see photo above) to help it cool. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes to cool.</li>
<li>Scrape the dough down a bit (if you really built it up) and attach your mixer paddle. On low speed, add 2 of the eggs until it's completely incorporated into the dough. Stop the mixer and scrape.</li>
<li>Add the third egg and mix until it is fully incorporated again. If your dough is too firm, add the fourth egg and mix until combined. The batter should be firm enough to pipe, but not runny. It has to hold its' shape. If it's still too tough, add a fifth egg.</li>
<li>Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line your baking pans with silicone mats. Use a large round tip on your piping bag, fill the bag with the batter and hold the bag at a 45 degree angle. Pipe pear-shaped puffs on your silicone mat. Space them out at least 2 to 3 inches apart as the puffs will expand during the baking process.</li>
<li>Help reshape any end tips or points with a wet finger (the dough will stick to your dry fingers). Use a smaller round tip to pipe out two ears. Again, help reshape using your finger.</li>
<li>Spray the surface of the dough with a light coat of cooking spray. Then put the pans in the oven and adjust the temperature to 325°F (160°C). </li>
<li>Bake for 30 minutes. Rotate the pans and continue to bake for another 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the puffs completely cool before decorating or filling.</li>
</ol>
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You know what? Piping cream puffs is harder than piping macarons in my opinion. The pear-shape and those ears took me so much longer than I expected. And they still don't look as perfect as Shiro-Hige's. I wonder how they pipe their's out. Also horizontal or vertical? Do they use some sort of mold?<br />
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The ears turned out better than I thought they would after much aggravation piping them. But, my poor little Totoros ended up with crevices on their belly. It's like they went to war and came back slashed. Or they're part of the walking dead. Totoro zombies!<br />
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For some of the puffs, I ended up decorating the back because it was a lot smoother than the cracked front. I made some icing with powdered sugar and water and piped little dabs on the face to adhere the white round sprinkles. Then another dab on top to stick on the little brown sprinkle for the eyes. Then using the icing as glue, decorated near the ears with stars, hearts, or leaf-shaped sprinkles.<br />
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Tried to do some whiskers using jimmies. And gave this one a nose too. I think this one should be General.<br />
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She looks like a Lieutenant General, you can tell by her battle scars.<br />
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Next, Major General.<br />
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The Colonel has a sense of humour.<br />
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Okay, Totoro puffs, now let's get into formation.<br />
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Formation into my belly.<br />
O.O<br />
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Side story: Howard walked in when the puffs were cooling. He peered into the pan and asked if I was making goldfishes. Dishearteningly, I showed him a photo of the Shiro-Hige Totoro cream puffs and he proceeded to laugh for 3 minutes straight. My puffs were apparently that bad. I did save a few and made them into goldfishes for him. =)<br />
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Also, I decided not to fill mine with pastry cream, hence I called them puffs in the blog post title instead of cream puffs. But you can by creating a little hole using a chopstick or knife. And then a narrow piping tip to squeeze all that deliciousness into the hollow of the puff. Or you can simply cut off the base and fill it and reapply the base. I did trim the base to help my Totoros stand.Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-54045104432558997262016-05-27T14:00:00.000-04:002016-05-27T14:00:27.230-04:00Matcha Canelés<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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How has your week been? May has become this crazy busy month for me at work. It used to be that summer was a bit quieter for us in publishing, but now that we work with a three season span, there's just no break. There's more books to read and promote than ever. What have been your favourite reads this year? I've started sharing some of the ones I really love on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/abakedcreation/">Instagram</a>, so it's become more of a mix of baked goods, books, and food.<br />
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Like I said in my last post, I am on my matcha binge to use up all the deliciousness that we brought back from Taiwan. The next thing I really craved was canelés. I missed this delightful treat with its crispy outer shell and custard center. Really good canelés are difficult to find in Toronto, and the places that make them usually stick with the vanilla flavour. So a girl's got to make her own matcha canelés!<br />
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I used the original recipe I followed from the Redpath canelés project <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2015/03/caneles-canneles.html">here</a> and included 3 teaspoons of matcha powder. The only thing I wish I had was a better mold for the batter, these silicon ones make it really difficult for the canelés to pop out. Not quite non-stick and if you try to invert it out, the canelés get little benty sides.<br />
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This time, I rested the batter in a pitcher. I simply cover the top with plastic wrap and sat it in the fridge and gave it a few stirs from time to time.<br />
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It looks like some freshly squeezed green juice on my counter. But trust me, I am not one to make leafy green drinks.<br />
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The recipe yield enough for me to make about 20 canelés in the mold I have. I was able to fill it once fully and then half the next round.<br />
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They're a bit wonky shaped due to the silicone mold, but the taste makes up for it. You just pop these into your mouth and revel in the matcha flavour.<br />
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It's hard to resist them when you take them out of the oven. Sometimes you just want to ignore the cooling time and be a rebel with a burnt tongue.<br />
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Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-16822907263669307442016-05-20T14:00:00.000-04:002016-05-20T16:40:04.470-04:00Matcha Black Sesame Babka<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We picked up some matcha powder from a baking supply store when we were in Taiwan, so you might notice that the next few posts are matcha based as I wanted to use up this delicious flavour before the expiry date. I've been pretty fixated on the beautiful braided babkas that other bloggers are making, so I thought I would give it a try!<br />
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Ugh, once I mixed the dough, I knew I went too far. I had overworked it and it wasn't going to turn out like I wanted it to. It was going to be tough with minimal rise. But I forged ahead as I didn't want to throw away all those ingredients.<br />
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I was fighting against all the gluten as I rolled the dough out as much as I could. It was really elastic and as I predicted, tough and strong. Bah, I wasn't trying to build some crazy structure!<br />
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But that braid, it is quite beautiful. Okay, maybe "braid" is going a bit far as I only managed to give it a few twists. I love seeing the swirl and black sesame paste oozing out.<br />
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The recipe I followed allowed for two loafs!<br />
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It came out of the oven all bubbling, sticky, and shiny with the best aroma. I thought, <i>it just might have turned out fine?</i><br />
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Ah, slicing into it proved me otherwise. It had a stubborn mind of its own, not staying together and isolating itself as little babka pieces. As you can see in the photo above, there aren't a lot of air pockets in the dough.<br />
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Well, at least I knew where I went wrong! Next time I'll have to remember to have a gentler touch when kneading the dough. If you want to give it a try, I followed <a href="http://www.fixfeastflair.com/home/2015/2/24/matcha-black-sesame-babka-recipe">Fix Feast Flair</a>'s recipe. Alana has the most gorgeous step-by-step photographs!<br />
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If you're in Canada like us, we're wishing you a happy Victoria Day! Hopefully there's no more snow and this long weekend marks the beginning of summer. Or at least consistent warm weather, I really want to wear more dresses and skirts without the bundling up of coats and boots.Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-73395389204326667202016-05-15T17:00:00.003-04:002016-05-15T17:01:33.646-04:00Taiwan 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oh Taiwan, we didn't start with the right foot. Airport services in Taipei were very slow and frustrating. It felt like the lines were never going to move and that there weren't enough staff on hand to help out. I just hope they work out a more efficient system soon! We also arrived of the day when a 6.4 earthquake hit causing buildings to collapse in Tainan. It was all over the news wherever we went as the world was being updated on the search-and-rescue progress. Investigations later revealed that the developers had cut corners and were responsible for the poor building structure. I don't know how I felt at the time as it was a combination of sadness, anger, and worry - because lives were lost, people almost got away with their crimes, and who knows what other buildings weren't stable to be in?<br />
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Despite the mixed reaction, once we got out of the airport, we got the warmest welcome from Howard's cousin. They brought me hot chocolate to help keep me warm and some Apple Sidra for Howard as we hightailed out of the busy airport and into the night. After settling in that first night, we were ready for Chinese New Year and food!<br />
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Seriously, you might notice that I chose to post all food photos here, but that's because it felt like we were constantly eating. We would go out for breakfast or brunch or lunch. Visit some relatives who would offer us snacks. Go out and eat. Have dinner. Then head to a night market to snack. Come home to rest and . . . you know, indulge in snacks. I'm surprised we didn't gain 20 pounds from all that eating. It felt rude not to when all the elders and relatives were pushing plates and bowls of food at us.<br />
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We went to the night markets for fried chicken, fried squid, stinky tofu, aiyu jelly, and shaved ice. We lined up for world-famous soup dumplings and beef noodle soup (which I still think Howard's mom makes better). Don't get me wrong, we did lots of sightseeing too. We went to the mountain tops via spiralized roads and took in the beautiful scenery of misty mountains, glimpses of the ocean, and how amazingly natural most of the country is. Despite being a small island, there is a lot of nature that's protected and left alone.<br />
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We went to the Tamsui District to marvel at the river and explore the Old Streets and markets. It felt like it wasn't ever going to end and the crowds! Just mass exodus of people enjoying their week off by the sea. There were stalls and stalls of shops in which we tried ice cream and peanut wraps, cooked quail eggs, and chicken spring rolls.<br />
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We went to see Bitan and walked along the boardwalks and bridge. Guess what? There was another market here. I think wherever people gather, a night market just magically pops up! We had our first shabu-shabu and bubble tea in Taiwan there.<br />
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We spent our first week in Taipei before visiting Kaohsiung City. From there, we went to breathe in the deliciously salty fresh air in Taitung. It's kind of like the Hamptons for New Yorkers. Did we mention we took the high-speed rail? It was really fun to ride and watch the countryside zoom by. We saw lots of rice paddy fields, rocky beaches, and small towns this way. Plus, you can buy bentos from the train station to eat on board.<br />
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Speaking of bentos, I was fascinated to see how much Japanese influence was in Taiwan. The food courts with their wax food representations serving tonkatsu, udon, and other delicacies. Fruits being beautifully packaged and imported from Japan. The apartments with wooden sliding doors. Not to mention all the Japanese restaurants serving sushi and shabu-shabu. I didn't know hot pot was so popular here! Howard and I also had our first conveyor-belt all-you-can-eat sushi. They have them everywhere, even in food courts!<br />
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The food in Taitung was so delicious. We had the second best wintermelon tea (Howard's mom version takes first place). We ate lots of noodles. We lined up for buns (twice)! I had the best scallion pancake ever (I still crave that on a weekly basis) that was stuffed with egg, onion, and basil. We were driven along the coast and even stopped by some tidal pools to spot the little fish, snake-like creatures, and crabs.<br />
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My personal favourite was Din Tai Fung - I know, how predictable - but the food there was really good! Their hot-and-sour soup has moved to the top of my list. Their beef noodle soup takes second place. And their dumplings with the intricately folded and translucent skin, you really can't just have one. They're addictive. We actually went twice, once during our first week in Taipei and then on our last night at the end of our trip.<br />
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We also really enjoyed World Soybean Milk Magnate for some traditional breakfast food. Soy milk, deep-fried dough sticks, sticky rice, sponge cake, scallion pancakes - I know, nothing colourful or healthy about this start to the day!<br />
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The great thing about all of the Japanese influences were shops like Uniqlo (in which I stocked up on a year's worth of clothes), Muji, and even bakeries that don't require me to go to Paris or Japan. We had macarons and madelines from pâtisserie Sadaharu AOKI paris!<br />
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If I thought <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2016/04/hong-kong-2016.html">Hong Kong</a> had a lot of bakeries, there were even more in Taiwan. My absolute favourite one is Wu Pao Chun (which his aunt lived so conveniently close to). For souvenirs, we brought back boxes of their tasty pineapple cakes for our relatives in Toronto. We tried their award-winning rose-lychee bread, lemon cake, bread with corn kernels, bread with bacon, croissant, baguette with condensed milk, and a bunch of other savoury artisan buns. Yes, lots of baked goods. I had to gorge on it, as I wasn't going to get it fresh again for a very long time.<br />
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In Taipei, we stayed with relatives, but splurged on a hotel in Kaohsiung City. We highly recommend <a href="http://www.hoteldua.com.tw/index_en.php?lang=en">Hotel Dùa</a> if you're in the area. The rooms were clean and the bathroom was frankly more luxurious than the one I have at home. Howard's favourite part was the daily breakfast that was included with our stay. It was located on the top floor, with a patio and view of the city. There was a great selection of beverages (we kept mixing the juices with the yogurt drinks), salads, fruits, bread, and even savoury food and sushi rolls made fresh by the kitchen. There were traditional Chinese items like congee, bamboo shoots, and soup. What you won't find it a waffle or pancake station!<br />
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Being the last leg of trip, Taiwan felt like a mix between Hong Kong and <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2016/05/ho-chi-minh-city-2016.html">Ho Chi Minh City</a>. Taiwan had built up a subway station and it was still being worked upon, the transit was already years ahead of Toronto. But there were still a large part of the population that used scooters. The food and fruits were on par, with restaurants garnering Michelin stars and attracting chefs like Joël Robuchon. Hong Kong had the British influence, Ho Chi Minh with the French, and Taiwan with the Japanese. I liked that we could see the history everywhere we walked. There's so much to do in Asia and we did love that it truly felt like the cities never slept.<br />
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I did start to pick up some Mandarin. Mostly "eat" and "eat more" and "when are you guys having kids?" Sigh!Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-77858076799206255832016-05-07T16:50:00.001-04:002016-05-07T16:50:09.217-04:00Ho Chi Minh City 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When we were planning our big three-weeks trip to Asia, I knew we had to make a stop in Vietnam. My dad happened to be taking a holiday there and the timing was perfect. When else would I get to see my dad's country of birth with him? Just like Hong Kong, I managed to squeeze in four days into our itinerary. Granted, the first and last days are mostly devoted to travel, we still got to see a bit.<br />
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Flying from Hong Kong to Vietnam, we had to take a bus to the Vietnam Airline plane on the tarmac. I don't know why, but I felt like I was in the movie, <i>Speed</i>. You know that scene when they're at the airport? Minus the stress of course. There we were all holding on to the rails and our carry-on items as the bus drove, and we got off to walk up the stairs to the plane. The airline hostesses all wore turquoise áo dài and to my surprise, we were also served dinner, I'm starting to feel spoiled by the airlines here compared to the ones in North America!<br />
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However, the airport in Ho Chi Minh City is crazy busy. Our plane circled for hours before it was finally given the go ahead to land. We also departed via bus to go to the terminal. But we found going through all the checkpoints very smooth. Tip, make sure you have all the right documentations! You need a visa to enter Vietnam and we saw lots of travelers waiting at the Visa office, stuck and not granted access to the country.<br />
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Since it was also days before New Years, lots of people were coming home. When we walked out of the baggage claim, the noise, heat, and crowd that hit us was insane! There were so many people waiting outside, I felt a little panic that I wouldn't be able to spot my dad because our flight was delayed, but we had pre-arranged to meet at a numbered column. The drive out of the airport and into the city was fascinating. There were so many people out and about. It feels like everyone is always on the go in the city. There were scooters everywhere, bikes, cars. We were quickly surrounded by scooters on the road and crawled in traffic to my uncle's home. Not to give it a scary description, but it felt like those zombie movies where you can get engulfed by the sheer number of people on the roads. We saw lots of disregards for traffic lights and road signs. We heard horns go off every minute. But hey, you never have to really stop, so you are on the go all the time! We got used to it after and when we left, it felt regular driving was so slow.<br />
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After settling in a bit, my dad and his brother took us out for dinner. We requested pho even though it was 30°C outside and most restaurants are outdoors. Well, we sweated through that first meal and I was so excited to be eating food in Vietnam! My dad ordered us all coconut water - mainly because there isn't much of a cost difference from ordering plain water and coconut water is cleaner/safer. The tap water here isn't drinkable like back in Canada. The coconut water came in the coconut! It was so cute and refreshing. The accompanying dish that comes with pho here are generous with limes, greens, sprouts, and pepper - something that Vietnamese restaurants are quite stingy about here in Canada.<br />
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Some of my favourite pho meals were ones we had on the streets in Ho Chi Minh City. Prepared right in front of me, they are quick, efficient, and filling meals. My favourite one was a Northern style broth that packed a bit of heat in it. We would clean our cutlery with lime wedges or wipes that we had bought and packed. Bringing your own sanitary wipes and napkins and toilet paper is probably the best tip one can give you when going to Asia. Always be prepared! And don't forget to stay hydrated with coconut water or juices, it is hot and humid even in February.<br />
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Since it was close to New Years Eve, a lot of parks, boardwalks, and streets are transformed into gardens and markets. At night, we would walk around to admire all the flowers and plants, basically a garden show where you can purchase things from exotic orchids to large lucky trees. I'm was pretty baffled as to how people carried these heavy potted plants back home - especially when more people own scooters than cars or trucks. Although, we did see someone carry a refrigerator on the back of their scooter. I went to my first night market ever and you can pretty much buy anything from food to home decor.<br />
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But the sights are beautiful. Twinkling fairy lights and flowers make for a wonderful holiday. They go all in here with the decorations. Everything looks so pretty and dreamy. Thanks to the climate, it is truly patio weather here and their restaurant and bar patios are amazing. I think that sales of string lights must be very strong here!<br />
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The city itself is growing. There's not a lot of skyscrapers here, so the tallest one offers the tourist attraction of going up to see the view. Most of the buildings are low, close together and sometimes narrow (which reminded me of photos of Holland). This is a high density city where any bit of space is used. We saw families eating dinner right outside their homes on the street. Scooters are parked everywhere and hop right onto the sidewalk before going up a small plank going inside the house.<br />
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My dad took Howard and I on a tour to the countryside where we got to see the more rural lifestyle. The rest stops by the roads consisted of small refreshment shops and rows and rows of hammocks. The temples here are large and full of blooming flowers and gigantic statues of Buddhas. We took a boat on the Mekong River. Saw lots of livestock running around. Tasted some coconut taffy, harvested honey, and fresh fruits. Howard even held a python!!!<br />
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In terms of other tourist spots, my dad also took us to see the Saigon central post office where he used to have to travel to just to make an international call. Those phone booths now house ATM machines. We saw the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica and did a quick in-and-out of the Ben Thanh Market which was stifling hot. We toured the Independence Palace and War Remnants Museum which made me feel sick after reading the history and looking at the photographs. I felt this sadness and anger at how terrible humans can be towards each other. I ended up with a headache and didn't feel up to visiting the other rooms in the museum.<br />
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Okay, I also need to talk about the fruit here. Basically, it's amazing! I never had fruit that fresh, juicy, and delicious before. First of all, I love pomelos, but now that I had the ones in Vietnam, I can't believe how much better they are than the ones we get in Toronto. There's a vibrancy to it and I wanted to keep eating them, plus they can actually quench your thirst. The mangoes were incredibly sweet. I could go on and on. The jackfruit, starfruits, pineapples, passionfruit, and even apples. I really miss the fruit and food here, why oh why can't these make it to North America? I don't know anything about the import or export business, but there are surely farmers at home want to grow things for taste.<br />
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Everywhere in the city, you see the people hustling. There's a corner on the sidewalk? Someone is there making snacks or meals to go so when traffic is slow they might get some hungry scooter drivers coming by. There's a flower market happening? The sidewalks are filled with people with something as simple as a cloth with trinkets on top to sell. A burner and basket of ingredients becomes a place to buy street food. I'm not going to talk about my trip without mentioning how poor people here can be. The currency here is completely off-kilter. Fifty Canadian dollars is roughly eighty-five thousand Vietnamese Dong. We were carrying around a million Vietnamese Dong for our four days and couldn't even spend it all. We had delicious meals that included a beverage for the three of us that cost about $5 Canadian. A taxi from the city to my uncle's home was $7 Canadian - unheard of if I were to take the taxi from downtown Toronto to the suburbs. Our full-day tour to the countryside cost less than $10 each and it included the bus ride, the boat rides, a served lunch, and the tour guide. I was trying to figure out how the cost broke down so that everyone got a decent piece. I couldn't. Wouldn't gas alone take a huge chunk of that? My dad would try to help compensate by handing out large tips, but still we had to be weary to not draw attention to ourselves. We are by no means well-off in Canada, but coming here puts things in perspectives. We would walk around and see shop signs selling things that were in the multi-millions. It was an alarming and unsettling things to see.<br />
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Now that we've been home for a couple of months, I can truly say that visiting Vietnam was my favourite and most memorable. Hong Kong and Taiwan were also eye-opening, but not as different from the busy cities in North America. I am grateful I had the chance to be there with my dad, who became a handy translator and tour guide!Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-84672845836692796392016-04-08T20:39:00.000-04:002016-04-17T18:12:35.359-04:00Hong Kong 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Friends! I did it!! We decided to take the plunge and do a big Asia trip this year. We meant to go two years ago, but a lot of things came up and I was really, <i>really</i> scared about the flight. I mean, I still was, but I survived it. And that probably means I'm stronger for it. Right? If you're wondering, the flight from Toronto to Hong Kong is about 15-16 hours depending on lots of sciency things that I can't explain. That is a long time to be stuck in a vehicle with little arm and leg space. That is a long time to travel in economy (because have you seen the prices for any of the seat upgrades? They're <i>insane</i>). We decided to fly Cathay Pacific and collected a lot of Asia Miles - which means we might be able to actually upgrade our seats next time (that's if I can stomach another long flight).<br />
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Obviously there aren't any perks flying economy, but compared to Air Canada, we were allowed to bring two suitcases each at no extra cost (not that we needed four suitcases for three weeks). You line up to check in your luggage with everyone else. You wait in a long, snake-like line to board. You fight for overhead space for your carry on (we did see a heated argument between some people sitting in front of us which didn't help with my calming my nerves).<br />
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But the service is lovely on this airline. We were handed napkins and a menu of the in-flight meals. The individual screens were loaded with movies, television shows, games, and even a camera under the airplane so you can watch the city twinkle beneath you during take off. Pillows, blankets, and headphones are given to everyone. The facilities are kept clean. And there are snacks and beverages hat you can ask for anytime during the flight. Fruits, instant noodles, and even ice cream! Hey, I can get excited about that. You can tell I'm not a frequent flyer.<br />
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Still, the flight was long and it's really difficult to sleep when your bum is getting numb. I watched a bunch of movies and tried to nap as much as I could between the served meals (we had congee for breakfast on the plane! What!). It was fantastic to finally land and see my aunt and uncle waiting to pick us up bright and early.<br />
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After dropping our things and freshening up, we went downstairs for breakfast. Paper lanterns hung from the ceiling. The food is made right at the door for those who want to grab a quick take out on their way to work. We got in to sit down on the stools and order sticky rice (<i>chi fan</i>), fried dumplings, and sweet soy milk. Sigh, we rarely get this in Toronto because there are so few places that make it well. The food is so good that I don't mind the cracked plastic bowls and the feeling of a matte film over the utensils. Or the fact that the sticky rice was made wrapped in a thin plastic bag. We're definitely not in Canada anymore.<br />
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I'm incredibly weary of cleanliness because of my sensitive stomach, but I felt that I had to ignore it all or I'd miss out on some great eats. We got rice noodle rolls (<i>chee cheong fun</i>), another favourite breakfast item of mine, from a street vendor that sold mini bouquets. I watched with fascination behind the glass window as the vendor pulled out the noodles onto a piece of paper and then topped it with black sweet sauce and chili sauce with sprinkles of sesame. Two wooden sticks get skewered in and breakfast is served. Um, it was ridiculously good as the sign of a good rice noodle roll is how smooth and silky it is. (We also did end up buying bouquets from him before we went to pay our respects to our ancestors.)<br />
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If you've never been to Hong Kong or haven't been back since you were an infant (like me), here are some of the things you'll notice right off the bat. The buildings are tall. And there are lots of them. If you thought New York City had lots of skyscrapers, imagine double, triple, or quadruple that. Apartments are clustered close together and you wonder in astonishment what happens during a fire drill or how long those elevator waits must be or if anyone ever tackles the stairs. Stores and restaurants aren't always on street level. You might have to walk up a few staircases and follow signs and arrows before you find the place.<br />
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It's also very hilly there - think San Francisco. There are lots and lots of high-end malls that are connected by the subways or high walks - think Las Vegas. You can actually manage to go an entire day under awnings and weaving in malls and subways, which is pretty handy when it's raining. If you go during winter, it is cold. Apartments here aren't insulated, nor do they have heaters. Instead, there's a bone chilling cold that feels damp, a type of shiver that we don't feel in Toronto. The subway system is so great, clean, clear on directions, and well thought out. There are lines on the floor for us to line up where the train's door will stop. There are designated seats that people actually respect (unlike Toronto where commuters rudely take priority seating). And best of all, there is the Octopus card that works for transportation and in stores!<br />
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But it's also a place mixed with new and old. I didn't expect to see construction still help up by bamboo. Or expensive shops next to dives and hold-in-the-wall places. You can find the latest fashion here in boutiques or crevices (where you didn't think a store would fit) crammed with an assortment of items for less than a dollar. It's really baffling and amazing at the same time. And there are so many shops. How does one ever know where to even start?<br />
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There are so many alleys and streets where you could turn a corner and marvel at hundred-year-old trees incorporated into the landscape. Or you end up on a road where every store sells the exact same herbs or dried seafood. It's no wonder there isn't a need for large supermarkets, there's food vendors everywhere selling fruits, vegetables, protein, and snacks. Everyone is hustling and bustling, I can see why visitors to Canada find the pace slower.<br />
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We didn't stay long in Hong Kong, just four days in which the first I spent nursing some bad jet lag. I was running on adrenaline, but after lunch I really wanted to lie down and sleep. I lost my appetite and had a crushing headache. Luckily, I didn't get sick even though it felt like I was getting every flu symptom and was having trouble staying warm. I just had to remedy this by doing some retail therapy and buying some sweaters, extra layers, and a hoodie. Gawd I love Uniqlo. I even ended up buying a hot water bottle (no more cold feet!), that's when I knew I was finally old.<br />
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I had jotted down some rough plans for our four days. To climb Victoria Peak for the view and to walk by Victoria Harbour to check out the skyline by the water. But thanks to the fog and drizzly weather, we didn't do any of those. We stayed near Causeway Bay and Central, dragged my aunt and uncle out so they could show us around the city they grew up in. I couldn't even tell you where we've been, we just followed them around, walking everywhere and stopping for snacks where we saw lineups.<br />
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Howard and I both wore our Fitbits during this trip and logged in over 15,000-20,000 steps a day. The nights were spent cozy on a couch (hah, no night life for us) as we rested up for the next day of walking. What will also amaze me is that space is never an issue. My aunt has a breakfast nook in her apartment, not even a dining room, but the ten of us crammed into that space and we had hot pot like it was no big deal. And it wasn't. But here I am in Toronto struggling to invite any more than four friends over because our dining table doesn't comfortably fit more than four. The kitchen there is the size of a small powder room or a closet, but everything fits (<i>gah</i>, guess I'm not allowed to complain about my kitchen space). There may be three bedrooms and two washrooms, but every room is efficiently filled to the brim with stuff.<br />
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Eating out is the same. We share tables with strangers, sit with our backs against each other and keep our eyes on the best dishes coming out of the kitchens. We couldn't visit Hong Kong without having dim sum. To my surprise, my aunt and uncle took us to a traditional tea house where tea is served in bowls. I had the best egg custard bun there, I probably could have gobbled all three but wouldn't be able to live up the scolding I would get from my family.<br />
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We also couldn't stop in Hong Kong and not have egg waffles (<i>gai daan jai</i>). These are my favourite childhood snacks and lately there's been a resurgent of them in Toronto. To my delight, shops in Toronto now incorporate other ingredients like pork floss and seaweed, sausage and seaweed, cookies and cream, chocolate, matcha, red bean, cheese, coconut, and so on. And even pairing them with soft serve ice cream. I'm pretty tempted to open a shop of my own ... if only I could get the egg waffle maker here.<br />
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Finally, during the various legs of our trip, we stopped at the Hong Kong airport three times and have yet to fully explore it. This place was huge and the food offerings are <i>amazing</i>. There's restaurants and food courts with so many different types of food, each with their own fan base. Some of the lunches and dinners we had at the airport while waiting for our flights were even better than ones out in the city. Aside from the food, the service and cleanliness at this airport was top notch. The free WiFi must be hella strong because there are so many people on their mobile devices here. There are prayer rooms and breastfeeding rooms. Overall, we found Hong Kong to be friendly to new parents and respectful to people with various beliefs. Spots where you can fill your water bottles and lots of retail shops to browse. Frankly, you can't be bored waiting here!<br />
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Oh, and if you love bakeries, this is your city! There are bakeries on every corner, in every subway stop, and on every street. Feel like a sweet or savoury bun? You got it. Need a pick me up or a special dessert for a celebration? It's right there. It was simply impossible for us to sample every bakery, but I would like to see somebody try!<br />
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Okay, our next leg of the trip was to Vietnam, stay tuned!Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-87964033112385627062016-03-20T18:16:00.001-04:002016-03-20T18:16:21.203-04:00HOWIAmoon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Happy first day of spring! We're one more season closer to summer and when the days are still hitting negative temperatures, I think back to happier and warmer weathers. Last fall, Howard and I went to Jamaica for our honeymoon and it was glorious. After a year of planning, our wedding came and went. It felt so good for all the stress and worry to wash away as we boarded that plane for our destination. We were hoping for a surprise seat upgrade (just like the movies), but with the automatic check-in's nowadays, you lose that face-to-face interaction at the airport.<br />
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After lots of months deliberating, we finally decided to book <a href="http://www.thegrandcollection.com/en/hotels/montego-bay/iberostar-grand-hotel-rose-hall/introduction">Iberostar Grand Hotel Rose Hall</a>. This all-inclusive adult-only resort had the highest rating on <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g660724-d1167103-Reviews-Iberostar_Grand_Hotel_Rose_Hall-Rose_Hall_Montego_Bay_Saint_James_Parish_Jamaica.html">TripAdvisor</a> as well as their Travelers' Choice award. We had a fantastic time at Iberostar in Varadero a few years back and it has simply become a chain that we can trust and rely on.<br />
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We knew we were in a special treat when the staff at the airport in Montego Bay were telling us that this was the crème de la crème. Once we stepped off the shuttle bus, our luggage was promptly taken and we were given towels to refresh with (because you don't just get use to the heat that quickly). Check-in at the hotel lobby was quick and courteous - made even better when they told us they upgrade us newlyweds to an ocean view suite (it really is like the movies). One thing I did notice was that it always smelled nice and floral on our resort. I think there's some aromatherapy or scents being pumped out somewhere.<br />
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Our suite was gigantic. The washroom included a bathtub and rain forest shower with two sinks on either side. There were two closets with bathrobes and a mini bar that was part of the all-inclusive package. My favourite item were the snack-size Pringles! There was a king-size bed and a separate seating area. Then a large balcony with seating and a patio swing. They also have butlers assigned to each room, but we found that we didn't need their services as we booked our restaurant reservations through concierge.<br />
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The beach front was large enough that you don't feel crowded among the other guests. Some of the water sports are included and lessons for scuba diving (which we did in the safely of the pool - it was fun! I'd love to try it again). The beach's sand was soft and they are very careful with keeping the place clean. The grounds were always wiped down as it can get sandy and by the beach. Puddles swept to the drains. I've never been to a resort that was so well kept before. Towels are always available and they keep an eye on the lounge chairs and cabanas to turn them over when guests leave.<br />
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There's lots to do from the daily entertainment schedule if you don't feel like floating in the pool or napping on a chair. The star friends are friendly and are able to quickly persuade you to join them in games and events. We did yoga under the wooden awnings, ping-pong in the shade, soccer and volleyball on the beach, fitness in the pool, and dancing lessons on the stage. In the evenings, there are shows in the theater and dancing at the club. In face, that's where Howard and I had our first dance as husband and wife! In a room with a smoke machine, a DJ, and a bunch of resort guests. Can't say what song our first dance was to, but it was loud and extremely fun.<br />
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There are two buffets here, one inside and one by the beach, each with their own schedule. Bars are always open of course (I could use a piña colada right now). But it was the à la carte restaurants that shined. Also, beach events where everyone had delicious food on the beach - I will forever crave that jerk steak I had.<br />
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Most people keep this week for themselves, but we invited our wedding guests to join us. Four members of our wedding party joined us mid-week and we had an even better time! We did more exploring, went on the lazy river at the resort next door, and the guys tried some cigars. One night, we went to see the <a href="http://www.visitjamaica.com/luminous-lagoon">Luminous Lagoon</a> and it's one of the best memories in my life. Everyone on the boat was stunned to see the areas where we made waves across the water light up. Those brave enough jumped into the dark waters and their surroundings started to glow. Seeing the bio-luminescent waters is definitely something you'd want to check off your bucket list!<br />
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We also lucked out on some great weather. There weren't furious downpours or even lots of mosquitoes. There was a good mix of sun and cloud - and you start to become grateful for clouds as they provide nice relief from the scorching sun.<br />
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Our resort also granted us access to the two Iberostar hotels next door where it's not adults-only and there are more pools, beach area, restaurants, and other activities for you to join.<br />
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And those sunsets. Sigh!<br />
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We did some more travelling this month, so I'll be sharing our journey to Asia where we met relatives and ate lots and lots of food!<br />
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I've filled my airplane quota this year, but I am looking forward to another Caribbean holiday next year. Hmm, where should we go?Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-91530129000477715842016-01-23T21:53:00.000-05:002016-01-23T22:00:24.009-05:00Looking Back: 30 Years<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Happy New Year (23 days into 2016, so it still counts)! How was your 2015? How were your holidays? I hope everyone had a wonderful end of year. I love how everything feels so festive in December, twinkly lights and decorations everywhere. The atmosphere is fun and light, especially at work when everyone is looking forward to some time off.<br />
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I actually made this <a href="https://twitter.com/abakedcreation/status/680085445003374592">pie</a> on Christmas Eve because I was hosting a family dinner with my dad and brother. I figured Howard likes citrus flavours and my brother loves meringue that this pie would be the perfect dessert to serve. It was . . . but it tasted better the day after when I brought it to my in-law's for Christmas day dinner. Letting it set and chill in the fridge actually tasted better than fresh!<br />
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Speaking of chill, do you have Netflix? We watched a lot of shows during the holidays that had us doing all-nighters. My whole sleeping schedule got flipped thanks to the addicting series. We managed to finish <i>Luther</i>, <i>Narcos</i>, and started <i>Making a Murderer</i>. Have you seen these shows? What did you think? What would you recommend we watch next?<br />
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I'm deciding to make this a combination post too. Not only are we celebrating national pie day, I also want to chat birthday. I've also hit a new milestone, I'm officially in my thirties!!! Way to make myself feel old there. My favourite cousin recently turned 13 - gasp, a teenager - and I remember babysitting him as toddler. He's still not taller than me yet, I hope that takes a bit more time (we have a height bet). It's amazing how fast time flies. There has been so many neat changes in the past year alone that I'm excited for this year.<br />
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Looking back, here are thirty highlights:</div>
<ol>
<li>WE GOT <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/search/label/HOWIA15">MARRIED</a>! Finally!</li>
<li>Had an amazing and memorable honeymoon in Jamaica. Which reminds me, I want to share that in a post soon.</li>
<li>In Jamaica, we visited the Luminous Lagoon. Very cool experience, we'd recommend going if you get a chance.</li>
<li>Tried scuba diving for the first time. </li>
<li>Met new relatives that flew in from Taiwan and South Africa.</li>
<li>Felt the love at my bridal showers. Good friends and colleagues are hard to come by, so when you do find them, make them bake and cook for you.</li>
<li>We were fortunate enough to squeeze in some travel. We visited Chicago and flew Porter for the first time!</li>
<li>Work perks: Met Judy Blume and had my book signed. Had my photo taken with Chef Curtis Stone. Ate dinner with Alan Doyle. Shook hands with Al Gore. Saw Chef Michael Smith. Shook hands and had my booked signed by Chris Hadfield. Felt the excitement when Ethan Hawke and Rainn Wilson were in the office. Seen Margaret Atwood roam the floors.</li>
<li>Helped plan Anne Michaels' book launch for <i>The Adventures of Miss Petitfour</i>. She's a fantastic reader and there were sea shanties.</li>
<li>Gained a godson because we're awesome godparents. Still watching in awe as our goddaughter becomes more vocal.</li>
<li>Survived an office move. Boxes of books are incredibly heavy.</li>
<li>Made new friends with new colleagues thanks to the merge.</li>
<li>Switched from the editorial department to the marketing and publicity department. Every day is a learning experience, but we do such cool things.</li>
<li>Working with the coolest children's marketing and publicity team ever, I love my pod.</li>
<li>Finished watching <i>Veronica Mars</i> as numerous interns vouched for it. It lived up to the hype.</li>
<li>Lost at Pongapalooza. In the first round.</li>
<li>Made lots and lots of bunting. Then more and more. I've been given the title Baroness of Bunting.</li>
<li>Also been given the title Countess of Cake.</li>
<li>Featured in the <i>Globe and Mail</i> as an office model.</li>
<li>Had an amazing dinner at Grand Electric's Champagne Room.</li>
<li>Discovered my new favourite chocolate chip cookies recipe!</li>
<li>Had my hair coloured and my nails done for the first time.</li>
<li>Got a waffle maker. Just you wait for all the waffle posts.</li>
<li>Saw the Pan Am excitement around the city of Toronto.</li>
<li>Gave pop pilates a try and was surprised I enjoyed it.</li>
<li>My orchid bloomed!</li>
<li>Not getting cable and just having Netflix was the best decision ever.</li>
<li>Discovering canelés. Ugh, craving one now.</li>
<li>Howard surprised me with a spa date. His first one ever!</li>
<li>Booked an ambitious trip to Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Taiwan for 2016.</li>
</ol>
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And if you were just here for the pie. The recipe is from the <i>New York Times</i>, which they adapted from Alice Water of Chez Panisse. If you read the comments, you'll see that lots of people doubled the lemon recipe. I ended up doing so as well and it gave the pie a nice inch of lemon filling. I also found that the lemon filling set better in the fridge, despite the recipe's instruction saying not to place it in the fridge after letting it cool for one to two hours.<br />
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Recipes: <a href="http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/3305-flaky-pie-crust">Flaky pie crust</a> | <a href="http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/3304-chez-panisse-meyer-lemon-meringue-pie">Chez Panisse Meyer Lemon Meringue Pie</a>Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-64282545078188328682015-12-20T18:25:00.001-05:002015-12-20T18:25:12.685-05:00Wedding Cakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Okay, finally! I'm sharing my favourite wedding project - the cakes! You might not believe this, but there was a time where I didn't think we needed a wedding cake, I figured there was a dessert course in the menu and that would be the sweet ending for the meal. But Howard pointed out that it would be weird for us to not have cake - especially with me being known as being a baker and all. So I thought about it and decided it would kind of be odd and I did like the idea of baking for our guests.<br />
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Then came the hard part, what type of cake would I make? What flavours? How would I decorate them? I looked in many cookbooks and my past blog posts. What did <i>we</i> like to eat? What would cause me the less amount of stress?<br />
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What I did know was that we wouldn't use fondant. Even though we started this blog showcasing fondant decorations and even though fondant looks really good, we personally don't enjoy eating it. I wanted the cakes to look natural to match the venue. This wasn't a sleek and polished event, it was small, intimate, and homey. I wanted the application of the frosting to look homemade. I wanted one to be naked with no frosting covering it. Then I wanted a cake that didn't look like much, but upon closer inspection, was something special.<br />
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So my next project was to figure out what types of cake toppers I wanted to make. Pinterest was extremely helpful in providing ideas and I eventually picked three: a "Mr and Mrs" bunting, a "LOVE" sign, and a "JUST MARRIED" banner. I used cardboard, paper, thread, and wooden skewers to make them. What I liked about these was the extra height it gave my six-inch cakes.<br />
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No one else would know this, but it bugs me that I made the mistake in pairing up the cakes with the cake stands. In my original plan and sketches, I had the naked cake on the white cake stand and the white cake on the glass cake stand. In my own nervousness, I accidentally set them up wrong on the day of. I could have also pushed down the skewers a bit more - like maybe an inch. This is just me over-thinking it and being critical. Since I was the one who set up the cakes, I have no one else to blame but myself! The staff did an outstanding job decorating the rest of the table with greenery and candles - seriously, best team ever!<br />
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Here we are, our first task as a married couple! Don't we look happy getting ready to cut the cake? (Another reason why I love my wedding dress, it almost looks like another dress when you don't see the bottom part of the gown. This could have been a knee-length cocktail dress since you can't tell with the table covering the bottom.)<br />
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We picked the easier cake to cut into. The restaurant provided the knife and cake lifter.<br />
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I'm over the moon here. If Howard fed me cake everyday, I'd be the plumpest and happiest wife on the planet.<br />
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I'm sure he doesn't feel the same.<br />
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When we were finished our photos, the staff took all three cakes back into the kitchen so they could divide them up and plate them. Then they were carried back out and placed on the table as a self-serve station. To my surprise - because a lot of my family members don't have a big sweet tooth - everyone went up for cake. At one point, I thought we didn't have enough (we did, there was like three slices left at the end of the night).<br />
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I made a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting - a classic and one of my favourite go-to cakes.<br />
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The next cake I made is one that is a bit more unique. Not a lot of people have tried a mille crêpes cake before and I feel that it's that something extra for special occasions. Plus, it's a favourite of ours ever since we tried it in New York where we got engaged.<br />
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The third cake I made was mainly for Howard. Even though the mille crêpes cake is his all-time favourite, he also loves citrus flavours. This was a lemon cake with lime buttercream.<br />
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Wedding Photography: <a href="http://www.ikonica.ca/">Ikonica</a> | Venue: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a> | Cake Knife: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a> | Cake Lifter: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a> | Cakes: <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/">A Baked Creation</a> | Cake Toppers: <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/">A Baked Creation</a> | Cake Label Signs: <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/">A Baked Creation</a> | Glass Cake Stand: <a href="http://www.crateandbarrel.com/charlotte-cake-stand/s502530">Crate and Barrel</a> | White Cake Stand: <a href="http://www.crateandbarrel.com/">Crate and Barrel</a> | Wooden Cake Stand: <a href="http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/">Chapters Indigo</a> | Six-inch cake boards: <a href="http://www.goldaskitchen.com/ca/round-cake-board-6.html">PME Sugarcraft</a> | Wedding Dress: <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2015/10/wedding-dresses-and-shoes.html">Mori Lee Blu 5108</a>Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-57511171946655543612015-12-13T09:00:00.000-05:002015-12-13T09:00:02.578-05:00Wedding Menu<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Finally, we're getting to the FOOD portion of our wedding! One of the main reasons we picked Auberge du Pommier as our venue was for the food. Yes, you can call me a baker, a foodie, or someone who takes photos of her food, and this meant that I wanted our guests to be given various choices and to be well fed at our wedding. We decided on a French restaurant because most of our fond dining experiences happened in French restaurants.<br />
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The restaurant doesn't offer a complimentary tasting, but you are able to schedule one for an additional cost. We felt pretty confident that the food would be good, so we skipped the option and picked the dishes based on the menu descriptions.<br />
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Of course, the first edible treat they received was part of the <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2015/11/wedding-programs.html">program</a>. After the ceremony, the drinks were generously circulated to our guests. Lots of wine and cocktails to start the party with.<br />
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We also ordered three types of canapés to be circulated at this time. A vegetarian pick - savoury scallion madeleines with lemon crème fraîche - as you may know, I love <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/search/label/madeleines">madeleines</a>! Next up, a seafood option - grilled octopus brochettes with strawberry gastrique. Then, because most people love meatballs, grilled Moroccan lamb on a stick.<br />
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Auberge du Pommier printed the menus for every guest, but the children's menu wasn't included in it. But our flower girl and ring bearer had some great choices for dinner as well! Caesar salad, crudités and dips, or greens with house vinaigrette for an appetizer. Fish goujonettes with chips and tartar sauce, petit filet of beef with vegetables and potatoes, or roasted chicken with vegetables and potatoes for their entrée choice. Then for dessert, they could pick a chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream, a banana split, or fruit salad with cookies. The children's portion were actually really large so the parents happily helped finish all the food.<br />
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For the adult guests, they could order the soup of the day which was fennel and leek vichyssoise with fennel front mascarpone and mint pesto or the chou frisé consisting of kale, radish, pickled granny apple, and horseradish kefir vinaigrette.<br />
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One of the popular mains that guests ordered was the canard: roasted duck breast with apricot, coriander tabbouleh, fennel salad, pickled red onion, and grilled lemon jus.<br />
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Next, the boeuf: a beef tenderloin with braised broccolini, pommes purée, shallot confit, a scallion compte, and bordelaise sauce.<br />
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And since no one RSVPed with food restrictions, we offered a saumon choice instead of a vegetarian one: B.C. salmon with charred romaine, braised radish, spicy pea purée, and goat cheese cream.<br />
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Even though there would be cake, we still wanted a dessert course (who doesn't want more dessert?) The mousse au chocolat was served with a mixed berry compote, nut clusters, and salted caramel.<br />
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And the rhubarbe consisted of chilled rhubarb coulis, yoghurt gâteau, toasted almonds, and crème fraîche ice cream. Howard's and my plate were personalized from the chef with a note of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/7jvlZ-m2WO/?taken-by=abakedcreation">congratulations</a> (the only photo I took that day).<br />
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Cheers! More about those cakes next time . . .<br />
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Wedding Photography: <a href="http://www.ikonica.ca/">Ikonica</a> | Venue: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a> | Food and Drink: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a> | Printed Menus: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a>Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-2938719119794301402015-12-06T13:04:00.000-05:002015-12-20T18:26:48.525-05:00Wedding Game<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZpZisv9XHQuOasXkcle-qpoyASjO89UzvyswgpXVVxztl3bES2OHohGeRvT3WoIOWX7zBHIVpTLq6G0d3Y-YKC8rWtC2LleDUWdrSFhAHBG060wyUMJJd2pdghzkc66UXqVmYtHtoUJp/s1600/01_ShoeGame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZpZisv9XHQuOasXkcle-qpoyASjO89UzvyswgpXVVxztl3bES2OHohGeRvT3WoIOWX7zBHIVpTLq6G0d3Y-YKC8rWtC2LleDUWdrSFhAHBG060wyUMJJd2pdghzkc66UXqVmYtHtoUJp/s550/01_ShoeGame.jpg" /></a></div>
One of our highlights of the evening was the game our maid of honour and best man co-hosted for us. You've probably seen it at other weddings or parties, where the couple sits back-to-back and answers questions without knowing each other's answers. Normally this "shoe game" is played with the shoes the groom and bride are wearing, but we swapped that out with homemade paddles instead.<br />
<br />
We want to applaud and thank Laura and Kurt for doing such a fabulous job. They bounced off each other with great energy, had amazing pacing and entertaining questions. How did we do? Well, not that it was a competition of anything, but I'm pretty sure I won the game.<br />
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Kurt and Laura started us off with some easy questions at first.<br />
<br />
Who owns the most pairs of shoes?<br />
H: Howard<br />
S: Howard<br />
(It's really unfair how many shoes he has over me, but I'm slowly catching up.)<br />
<br />
Who spends more time in front of the mirror?<br />
H: Sylvia<br />
S: Howard<br />
<br />
Who has better taste in music?<br />
H: Howard<br />
S: Howard<br />
(Sad, but true. Howard picked out all of the ceremony music for our wedding.)<br />
<br />
Who is the better dresser?<br />
H: Howard<br />
S: Howard<br />
(Sigh, I know I should try harder, but I really do prefer comfort over fashion.)<br />
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Now the questions progressed to be a little trickier.<br />
<br />
Who starts the arguments?<br />
Howard: Howard<br />
Sylvia: Sylvia<br />
(We're being politically correct here, aren't we?)<br />
<br />
Who is more stubborn?<br />
(Oops, didn't catch what our answers were, but I'm pretty sure I picked myself.)<br />
<br />
Who says sorry first after an argument?<br />
H: Howard<br />
S: Sylvia<br />
(Lies! I always go first!)<br />
<br />
Who is more likely to be running late?<br />
H: Howard, then switches his answer to Sylvia<br />
S: Howard<br />
(The fact that he took so long to answer should indicate that he's always late.)<br />
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We were warned that these questions were more difficult to answer.<br />
<br />
Who passes gas more?<br />
H: Howard<br />
S: Howard<br />
<br />
Who is the bigger baby when they're sick?<br />
H: Sylvia<br />
S: Sylvia<br />
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Who wears the pants in the relationship?<br />
H: Sylvia<br />
S: Sylvia<br />
(I just <i>love </i>the above picture, because I am 100% certain of the answer.)<br />
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Who has the craziest family?<br />
We both refused to answer this, in which Kurt told us that technically, we're all family now!<br />
<br />
Who said <i>I love you</i> first?<br />
H: Howard<br />
S: Howard<br />
<br />
Who says <i>I love you</i> more often?<br />
H: Sylvia<br />
S: Sylvia<br />
<br />
Who talked about marriage first?<br />
H: Howard<br />
S: Howard<br />
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Who is more romantic?<br />
H: Sylvia<br />
S: Sylvia<br />
<br />
Who loves the other more?<br />
H: Sylvia<br />
S: Sylvia<br />
<br />
Who is the better kisser?<br />
H: Howard<br />
S: Howard<br />
(I pointed out that you can't tell if you're the better kisser unless you kiss yourself and Howard then chooses to demonstrate...)<br />
<br />
We ended it there as we were informed that the questions get a lot more risque after this! Again, thank you to Laura and Kurt for doing such a fabulous job. The photographers caught the best photos from this game. Lots of laughing faces and candid shots of our family and guests. It felt so nice to look back at these pictures and see everyone having a good time.<br />
<br />
Most of all, thank you to my bridesmaid Diana who made us the paddles for the game! She's incredibly talented and crafty and made us two grooms and two brides that matched our tux and dress. I love the sweetheart neckline, corset detail on the back, and the poof of my dress. Not to mention that stunning tuxedo lapel!<br />
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Wedding Photography: <a href="http://www.ikonica.ca/">Ikonica</a> | Venue: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a> | Game Paddles: Diana Brown | Wooden Cake Dowels: <a href="http://www.michaels.com/">Michaels</a>Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-43534646494730383152015-11-29T12:15:00.000-05:002015-11-29T12:15:00.293-05:00Wedding Programs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We took the wedding programs into our own hands as another do-it-yourself project. This was required some timing and planning as we wanted our programs to be as fresh as possible. Odd? Yes, but our program included a sweet treat with it.<br />
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Do you remember our centerpieces from the previous post? Well, I couldn't make those until the programs were finished because I had to use the cookie cutters first.<br />
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Two days before, I made the batter for <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2012/11/blogger-brunch-with-smitten-kitchen.html">brownie roll-out cookies</a>, chilled them overnight, and baked them the next day.<br />
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It would have been pretty difficult to do with the dowels on them!<br />
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I needed eight of each number to go with our seating chart. We found these clear 4 x 6 treat bags for the cookies to go in and stapled them to the program I printed.<br />
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I designed these double-sided programs and printed them on card stock so that the shape would hold while the treat bags were attached. The back of the programs informed each guest which table they would be seated at for dinner.<br />
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I know these programs don't match the save-the-dates or the invitations, but I wanted it to be simple and match the venue. So I stuck with a craft paper background, black, and white, and the cookies would be dark enough to stand out.<br />
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We piled it all into a wooden pine crate and put the groomsmen in charge of handing these out to guests when the ushers dropped them off at the terrace.<br />
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Of course, Howard and I didn't need one, we knew where we were sitting!<br />
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And there's the front of the program where we listed the key people participating in our wedding party, the officiant, and schedule of the evening.<br />
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A few guests commented on the fact that they saw the connection between the table numbers and the program cookies. =) And those brownie roll-out cookies are so good, I love how they stay soft and chewy. I think most people would have chosen to go with a sugar cookie, but I find those dry and hard to the point that they'll be too crumbly.<br />
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Wedding Photography: <a href="http://www.ikonica.ca/">Ikonica</a> | Venue: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a> | Table Numbers: <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/">Sylvia Chan</a> | Wedding Programs: <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/">Sylvia Chan</a> | Cookies: <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/">Sylvia Chan</a> | Cookie Cutters: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-Number-Cookie-Cutter/dp/B0000VLP1W">Fox Run Craftsmen</a> | Wooden Cake Dowels: <a href="http://www.michaels.com/">Michaels</a> | Clear Treat Bags: <a href="http://www.michaels.com/">Michaels</a> | Wooden Crate: KNAGGLIG from <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10292357/?query=KNAGGLIG">IKEA</a>Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-56744020099815874532015-11-22T15:18:00.001-05:002015-11-27T12:21:43.790-05:00Wedding Tablescapes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We live in a city with some great farmer's markets and florists. So I was very torn about going the do-it-yourself route or simply buying gorgeous and beautiful flowers to fill our tables. In the end, it came down to budget. After doing some research and seeing some sample quotes online, I knew were weren't going to get a sprawling table of flowers. I didn't even bother contacting florists for quotes in fear of offending them!<br />
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My initial vision was to keep things rustic to go with the restaurant's atmosphere. We were in what used to be a woodcutters' cottages after all. I was thinking mason jars and beautiful pink dahlias or flowers from my parent's garden. At one point I even thought I could make beautiful crepe paper flowers instead. I collected mason jars from family and friends (and ate a lot of pasta sauce myself), cleaned them, and painted the inside with white acrylic paint. I wanted the look of milk glass - without paying for the hefty price. A Pinterest idea gone wrong! Acrylic is supposed to be waterproof, but after letting the jars dry for weeks, I tested them a week before the wedding. No! The paint simply peeled off and bubbled. Water had somehow gotten between the paint and the glass - despite two to three coats of paint. It did <i>NOT </i>look pretty. Think mad-scientist lab with organs in a jar.<br />
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So that week, we frantically tried to come up with an alternative. Our best bet was going to Ikea for their versatile Ensidig vases. We bought six of the large ones (diameter: 15 cm, height: 16 cm) and 10 of the smaller ones that resemble milk bottles (diameter: 7.7 cm, height: 18 cm). We dropped the six larges one off at the florist where I ordered the bouquets and boutonnieres and asked them to fill it with green hydrangeas.<br />
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I had made the table numbers that would be combined with the main centerpiece. Had to insert a bit of my love for baking here. I took some wooden cake dowels, bought cookie cutters in the shape of numbers, and used a hot glue gun to stick them together.<br />
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There you have it! A visible table number - with a nod to baking - rising above a fluffy bouquet of hydrangeas.<br />
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For the milk-bottle vases, Howard and I went to our grocery store and bought green chrysanthemum buttons the day before the wedding. We trimmed them at home and had them ready to go. The venue provided candles and candle holders so they did the set up, placing as many candles that would look nice and lighted them before the dinner. They also arranged each place setting with folded napkins, menus, cutlery, and glassware. We loved how they did a little extra for our head table, using different candle holders and including some of their own greenery.<br />
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We decided on assigned seating for each table, so we got a pack of ivory tent cards with an embossed frame along the border. Here's the crazy part - I hand lettered all of the names. Yes, we could have ran it through a printer . . . but where's the personality in that? I don't even have calligraphy pens or special nibs, I did these with a regular black pen and coloured in the areas I wanted thickened. Yes, hand cramps and lots of breaks were involved.<br />
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Wedding Photography: <a href="http://www.ikonica.ca/">Ikonica</a> | Venue: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a> | Candles and Candle Holders: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a> | Florist: <a href="http://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/Ontario/Markham/Ruby-Florist/1371519.html">Ruby Florist</a> and <a href="http://www.loblaws.ca/">Loblaws</a> | Vases: ENSIDIG from <a href="http://www.ikea.com/">Ikea</a> | Place Card Hand Lettering: <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/">Sylvia Chan</a> | Table Numbers: <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/">Sylvia Chan</a> | Cookie Cutters: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-Number-Cookie-Cutter/dp/B0000VLP1W">Fox Run Craftsmen</a> | Wooden Cake Dowels: <a href="http://www.michaels.com/">Michaels</a>Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-71792762085113083762015-11-15T21:18:00.002-05:002015-11-15T21:18:39.072-05:00Wedding Hair and Makeup<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is probably my least favourite topic regarding our wedding. For those who know me, know that I've been grappling with skincare since high school. That's right, when acne reared it's ugly head in grade nine, it never went away. Thinking it was just a phase that teenagers go through, I never thought much of it. It became something that I categorized as mildly annoying. But then it stayed and it became wildly annoying. I tried Proactiv and many drug store face washes and cream - that didn't go so well as the products mainly dried out my skin to the point of flakiness. I hated getting my photograph taken. I didn't like to make eye contact because I'm sure people were staring all my acne. And I didn't (and still don't) have the skill that my friends and colleagues have in applying makeup. It's why I kept long hair to hide behind. It's why I don't wear V-necks or low swooping tops. It's why I wanted an illusion neckline and not a sweetheart top for my wedding dress. It's why I prefer sleeves to cover my dry, rough, itchy elbows - not just a winter thing for me, all year round I can't moisturize them enough.<br />
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Yet, I knew I wasn't going to go barefaced on my wedding day. I probably started too late, but I saw a dermatologist six months before the wedding who gave me three options: Take these pills that had crazy side effects that could change my mood, take birth control pills and use topical creams, or apply topical creams. Let's just say I didn't get along with my dermatologist and haven't been back after the wedding. She was firm on saying that there was nothing else in the world that could help. No natural solution at all, it was going to be medicine or nothing. And those cray pills didn't even guarantee that it would clear up my skin. So uh, no thanks. We ended up going with the last option - topical creams. I didn't see a huge difference, but it did cause a sunburn and after my skin peeled, the angry large pimples seemed to have went away. But that didn't mean that the scarring disappeared. Or the occasional pop-up around the T-zone. I did find that it was related to stress, so I tried very hard to remain calm the week leading up to the wedding.<br />
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But enough about my poor skin situation. I knew I needed to find a professional hair and makeup artist for my big day. My sister-in-law had hired Fidelia Lee and she did a great job. I loved her hair and makeup on her wedding day. I got in touch and made an appointment for a trial with Fidelia. I'm sure Fidelia knew that she had her work cut out for her! But she was patience and listened to what I preferred - as natural as possible with soft and romantic light colours. Nothing too bright or strong, I didn't want to look unrecognizable with large eyelashes, purple eye shadow, and red lips.<br />
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For my long hair, we tried a braided bun first. I liked the idea of a chic and dainty bun and showed her a bunch that I liked from Pinterest. But you know what? I didn't take into consideration that my black hair showed none of the lovely braids, twists, and curls. And with the veil, it was basically nonexistence. Not to mention, it felt so weird to not have my hair beside my face. I didn't like how it looked in the front with all my hair pulled back. It felt uncomfortable, like I had the shortest haircut ever.<br />
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So we kept it simple by doing loose waves. Tucking a few strands from the front and tying them to the back with an accessory. One of the best parts of doing the hair trial at Fidelia's was her wall of accessories. She has shelves and shelves of colour coordinated hair clips. I picked out a few that I liked for her to apply. While I loved the leaves from the top photo, it felt too large and concentrated in one area.<br />
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The next one was a bit better, but too plain.<br />
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I really liked this floral one.<br />
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And because Fidelia is a pro, she added some more leaves at the side. There we have it, the winning style!<br />
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You might have also noticed that I dyed my hair so that the curls would be able to caught the light better. This was the first time I went to a hair salon for colour and it was a long process. It took about three to four hours for all of the dye to be applied on my hair and wrapped in tinfoil. The stylist did a light brown highlight to make my hair look naturally sun kissed. He also made it look gradient so that it became lighter near the ends.<br />
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I had what was healthy hair, but a few days after the dye, it tangled and felt crunchy. I wanted to cry! Turns out this is a common side effect from research online. It only meant one thing, I had to buy lots of conditioner and keratin repair spray.<br />
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Okay, back to the wedding stuff. I love this combination so much! One focal point with the flower and four mini leaves and flowers on each side to balance it out.<br />
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We started our wedding day at 7:00 am, which wasn't considered early according to many brides and makeup artists. Fidelia and her assistant came over to my parent's house to set up. My bridesmaids opted out of hair and makeup so I decided to treat my mom and mother-in-law. While Fidelia worked on my hair style, her assistant worked her magic on both my moms with Fidelia looking on and touching up as she saw fit. </div>
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Even thought 7:00 am wasn't early for them, I found myself nodding off while there was a hot curling iron behind me. I'm sure Fidelia noticed but was too polite to say anything. I was sleepy, nervous, and eventually feeding off the energy as my maid of honour arrived to help with the tea ceremony and my aunts, uncles, and cousins filled the house. Howard came by to steam his tuxedo. People hovered around me to see the process. There was breakfast in the kitchen being served. It felt really nice to hear everyone gather this early in the morning for us.</div>
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After my hair was set, I popped in my contact lenses so that Fidelia could start on the makeup. I have to say my favourite part was the eyebrows! I don't know how to shape them or fill them in, so when she did it, it looked so amazing. I can see what the YouTubers are always going on about when you have proper eyebrows framing your face. I did end up using fake eyelashes, but not incredibly thick or long ones. And all my skin worries melted away through Fidelia's expert application. She instructed me to put on my dress so that she could do more touch ups along my neck, shoulder, and chest.<br />
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The tea ceremonies were a long way from the actual ceremony. So I included a touch-up session in my package. Fidelia came to our venue to fix up the damage all the rain drops did during our photo session in the park. She did provide me with a touch up kit - but I honestly didn't know how to use the mystical things in it. Regardless, I am so thankful she was there to make me look my best that morning and evening. I've provided her link below, but if you want her e-mail, let me know! I highly recommend her if you have events or photo shoots.<br />
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Hair and Makeup Trial Photography: Maid of Honour/Mom | Wedding Day Photography: <a href="http://www.ikonica.ca/">Ikonica</a> | Hair and Makeup: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FideliaMakeup">Fidelia Lee</a> | Hair cut and colour: <a href="http://www.ncsalon.ca/">NC Salon</a> | Venue: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a>Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-46893036112838747212015-11-08T19:33:00.000-05:002015-11-08T19:36:06.429-05:00Wedding Photography<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMw9uDqF1eW0O8Ar04elgcAXriYmsI2aBWr7gYbkKLt6hjlY4wXio1JdBRyT0tgxD7N-dVLa97OLLOsRIyF3LMIJ8vjASg91PbkLChJZhvkqNsnKbiFm8OcVT-zl_G7Wfc9iutZXD9cLN1/s1600/01_Menu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMw9uDqF1eW0O8Ar04elgcAXriYmsI2aBWr7gYbkKLt6hjlY4wXio1JdBRyT0tgxD7N-dVLa97OLLOsRIyF3LMIJ8vjASg91PbkLChJZhvkqNsnKbiFm8OcVT-zl_G7Wfc9iutZXD9cLN1/s550/01_Menu.jpg" /></a></div>
Okay, so you've picked a date, sent out your <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2015/10/save-dates.html">save the dates</a>, booked a <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2015/10/wedding-venue.html">venue</a>, sent out <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2015/10/wedding-invitations.html">invitations</a>, and found the <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2015/10/wedding-dresses-and-shoes.html">dress</a>. Simultaneously, and preferably a year ahead, you need to book your wedding photographer! Trust us, the dates book up fast! You'll want to check out each photographer's question and start inquiring to see if they're available on your wedding day. Compare prices, services, and photography styles. Some packages start at 6 hours, 8 hours, and you have to pay additional fees for over time. Does the company send one photographer? Two? An assistant? What is the policy if the photographer can't make it? Do you get the high-resolution files on a disc, USB, or does the package include prints and an album? Are you on the hook for paying for gas and parking? What about dinner?<br />
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So as you can see, there are LOTS of different options and we found it useful to create a grid to see everyone's offers in neat columns. Testimonials are incredibly important, but rely on your own instincts too! For instance, we loved the photos our friends received for their wedding, but found this studio to be incredibly rude and unreliable when we were discussing the details. Another photographer had many rave reviews, but accidentally double booked us. There were lots of talented options here in Toronto and we found this more challenging than finalizing the venue. When it came down to it, I knew I wasn't going to take this decision lightly and that this was going to take a significant chunk out of our wedding budget. The photos were an important part of the wedding for me, acting as keepsake and gifts for our guests. Honestly, we do think you get what you pay for in this department.<br />
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Our final decision was to go with Ikonica because we found the director to be incredibly knowledgeable, patience with our many questions, quick in getting back to us, and professional. We liked that as a studio, there would be a whole team behind us. And in the case of an emergency, another lead photographer at the studio would be able to work our wedding (I'm sure no one wants to be stressed and scrambling for a replacement on the week of). They provided a core package that included a photo essay of the day that we could have password protected for our guests to view, screen resolution previews, a lead photographer, a second photographer, and an assistant photographer. We were able to include additional hours and purchase the high-resolution files to do as we see fit. And browsing through their galleries and portfolios, they did great post production work on the photos. The payment structure was also nicely set up at signing, the month before, and upon delivery - this helped as there are lots of bills to pay during or after the wedding, so having it spaced out in installments gave us breathing room. In terms of additional fees on top of the package, we did provide vendor meals for the three photographers and for parking/tolls/gas.<br />
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We'd have to say that the team did a great job on our wedding day. They arrived on time for our first look. Made all of us feel easy and relaxed in front of the camera and could probably tell right off the bat that we weren't the type to awkwardly pose for "fabricated moments." They really hustled to keep us on time and go through our photo list with guests. They also took the time to seek out little moments from our day in which we only saw later when we were going through the photos. My favourite was the mix of portrait and candid shots they captured. Our guests were happy to take direction and a few exclaimed that they were impressed with the job the photographers were doing. They were also well aware of the schedule, the key people, and knew where to be and when. We have to say that our experience was wonderful and we would highly recommend them.<br />
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And you know what? Now you have a bit of a breather in wedding planning! The big stuff have already been sorted and decided, so you can take a little break until it's time to look for a florist and a hair/make up artist.<br />
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On the topic of engagement photos and albums, we opted out! Howard and I weren't sure what we would use our engagement photos for - I wanted to create my own save the dates and invitations, so it didn't seem like there was a need for these. I know a lot of photographers encourage it because you get to know your photographer a bit more before your big day and you get practice being in front of the camera. But I think we did fine without it. ;) And for the album, we felt that lots of people view these online nowadays, so there wasn't a point in having one sit in our home for the occasional guest to flip through. But, I did want a few photos printed out and displayed as a gallery in our hallway! By the way, aligning and hanging frames is a whole other challenge . . .<br />
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Photography: <a href="http://www.ikonica.ca/">Ikonica</a> | Lead Photographer: <a href="http://jeanmarcrobin.com/">Jean-Marc Robin</a> | Second Photographer: Felix | Assistant Photographer: Nicole | Post Production Coordinator: Virginia LeBlanc<br />
<br />Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-24700451165832140172015-11-01T21:20:00.000-05:002015-11-01T21:20:19.633-05:00Wedding Dresses and Shoes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT96rLw9nVzkGR1G6PIH1cmNbF8lJUZ1O6-vQn0crzJxRJDXc3AQvlzjk1k6MApTNnQojtAsrAFcZqlC8bmjNrjywakkhmwFKmVR-mP20xYi0bqsuQcR5zpN8MWwcc1RdVhtNWxkCphvAt/s1600/Wedding+Shoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT96rLw9nVzkGR1G6PIH1cmNbF8lJUZ1O6-vQn0crzJxRJDXc3AQvlzjk1k6MApTNnQojtAsrAFcZqlC8bmjNrjywakkhmwFKmVR-mP20xYi0bqsuQcR5zpN8MWwcc1RdVhtNWxkCphvAt/s550/Wedding+Shoes.jpg" /></a></div>
After you've determined your venue and placed your deposit. Go dress shopping. ALL the dress shopping. Everyone was telling me to go in October 2014 when our wedding was set for September 2015. I didn't understand why until I actually went and discovered the very long delivery times. Wedding dresses take a long time to make and arrive. I foolishly thought I could casually browse and order my dress in 2015 because I wasn't getting anything custom made or stitched to my exact measurements.<br />
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But wrong! I was so wrong. Wedding gowns can take up to 6 months to arrive. And you'd want to buffer in time in case there is an order mix up, or if the wrong colour or size arrives, and for alterations. Unless you're buying a pre-loved dress or one from a store that you can take home on the same day, GO EARLY. I ordered my dress at the end of November and got it at the end of February - and that was the dress coming in <i>early</i> since it was estimated to arrive in March. Luckily there was no mix up, my dress came in the right size and colour. I didn't end up needing alterations because my heels made up for the length.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihDHU9JgHNhsT4_6zebJKLGi0Cx6vICtBmB1i7Yw5hKenxGnjAYwcZwCbURs0hj1Ye1YkXEO9_zlOwRaR_NuMYc-L2m7j3WIq7ZJLCw6nPPqZrzedcti6dBhQIY6JeqUjmnlSEv8cS9BxN/s1600/Bridesmaid+Dresses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihDHU9JgHNhsT4_6zebJKLGi0Cx6vICtBmB1i7Yw5hKenxGnjAYwcZwCbURs0hj1Ye1YkXEO9_zlOwRaR_NuMYc-L2m7j3WIq7ZJLCw6nPPqZrzedcti6dBhQIY6JeqUjmnlSEv8cS9BxN/s550/Bridesmaid+Dresses.jpg" /></a></div>
And what do I mean by ALL the dress shopping? I mean go bridesmaid dress shopping around the same time. After you find your dress, take your best friends and help find their dresses. We went at the end of April and beginning of May 2015 and it was a scramble. Again, I didn't realize that bridesmaid dresses took <i>forever </i>to arrive either. I had assumed that it was a simple process of ordering them and having them arrive within a month or some other reasonable time frame. But we were told that they could take 10 weeks or even 20 weeks depending on the colour of the dress. So not just the fabric or style, but the colour choices will impact when you will receive them. I wanted a pewter colour (seen above) as opposed to the mercury sample swatch that they had in the store and for some reason pewter took double the time. Then again, it also depended on the sales associate, we got some mixed answers which added to the frustration.<br />
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Anyways, my maid of honour arranged my first dress trying experience. She was so sweet in organizing the afternoon and the carpooling of my mom, mother-in-law, and myself. We decided to go to <a href="https://www.davidsbridal.ca/">David's Bridal</a> so I could try on all the different silhouettes I'd liked without feeling too pressured (as opposed to going to a boutique).<br />
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We arrived on time for our appointment and was told to sit in the waiting area. I was handed a tablet with all their different dresses and was told to choose the ones I liked. So I did. I went and marked up a few that looked like it would fit my style. When they assigned me a consultant, she looked over the tablet and told me I was all over the place. Well! It was my first time looking and I didn't know what I wanted yet. Then to my disappointment, she said that a lot of the ones I marked up were not in stock or unavailable for ordering anymore. Not off to a great start, but I could still try on the ones they did have in the show room.<br />
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We went to the dressing rooms and my consultant brought in dress after dress for me to try. I would come out and she'd help clip the back of the sample sized dresses. Then I'd stand in front of my posse and watch for their expressions. Surprisingly, my mom was the most opinionated! I know she used to work in a bit of fashion, but I didn't know how firm her head shakes would be. =)<br />
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I was all about the illusion necklines and didn't want a strapless dress. So I tried on ones with lots of lace, even sleeves (which made me look so matronly), trumpet, A-line, and mermaid.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ReZ9lnjV8xP6vnrXYUtzdYLbF2z_cpaZb4TQtlhnvJ7wlU7ccxmANHRjsX6JMnLz5WnPWpxgO5yuNsQfaiHlQEeAqkplLk0mJbu7SgpmoBHU3fWIH8IDP-aVU4OE-lEf-bzfsw5YwnKB/s1600/01_BallgownWeddingDress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ReZ9lnjV8xP6vnrXYUtzdYLbF2z_cpaZb4TQtlhnvJ7wlU7ccxmANHRjsX6JMnLz5WnPWpxgO5yuNsQfaiHlQEeAqkplLk0mJbu7SgpmoBHU3fWIH8IDP-aVU4OE-lEf-bzfsw5YwnKB/s550/01_BallgownWeddingDress.jpg" /></a></div>
I did try on a ball gown and completely loved it, but felt that it might be too cumbersome for the day. We are getting married in a cozy-sized restaurant and I didn't want my poof of a dress to take up all the space. I would have to lean over just to hug my friends!<br />
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But walking in a ball gown is a treat, you should try it on even if you know you're not going to end up going with that silhouette. It's truly one way to feel like a princess. The swish and movement of a ball gown is absolutely fun! Trust me, you'll feel like twirling and sashaying everywhere. I was close to bursting into song.<br />
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I thought about going whimsical, but the garden length wasn't well-suited for my body type and height. It made me look shorter and stubbier because of where the dress ended. I would have preferred it to stop just at my knee, but I wasn't keen on spending money on altering pretty much the entire dress.<br />
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Next, I went to <a href="http://www.bestforbride.com/">Best for Bride</a> to look at dresses. I had found an <a href="http://www.bestforbride.com/viewDress.php?id=549&dresses=AlfredAngelo&type=Bridal">Alfred Angelo</a> (2388) dress on Pinterest that I really wanted to try in and the store's website listed it. I was so excited, I was telling Howard that this was it! It might be a poof and it didn't have the illusion neckline, but I liked the simplicity of it and the one shoulder look. But guess what? None of their Toronto locations carried this dress, so I wouldn't be able to try it unless I ordered it. Regardless, I kept my appointment to see what else they had. And despite my reservations about strapless, I tried one on and loved it! Well, who would have thought I would be wearing a sweetheart gown on my wedding day? Not I! Just goes to show that you never know until you try.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaJC_3DsOGn-Z9VCj6OIS9UFO-D4EMyibO8215kyRunFpnQdhroDK1l_5hEUkim2cMM32tcJDdYLpoZTiAUDSf3AnQrsnkZIxzCz_VOlRttsGX0Sq3reVGAgvSqi07I9fLaXNVslp3S8j/s1600/Wedding+Dress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaJC_3DsOGn-Z9VCj6OIS9UFO-D4EMyibO8215kyRunFpnQdhroDK1l_5hEUkim2cMM32tcJDdYLpoZTiAUDSf3AnQrsnkZIxzCz_VOlRttsGX0Sq3reVGAgvSqi07I9fLaXNVslp3S8j/s550/Wedding+Dress.jpg" /></a></div>
The store said that this Mori Lee Blu was their bestselling dress and I could see why. It was simple with layers of tulle wrapping around with an asymmetrical trumpet flare featuring a strapless sweetheart neckline and a corset lace-up back. There was a small train in the back and I love how fitted it was on the top. I had to say yes! It was what I envisioned, no bling, beading, lace, appliqué, or shiny fabric. It was soft, romantic, and simple.<br />
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You can see the bottom part of the <a href="http://www.morilee.com/bridals/blu/5108">Mori Lee</a> dress in the first photo where I'm trying on two different platform heels. I bought two pairs to try on. I really loved the lighter one on the left, but it was a stiletto and I would be walking on cobbled floors in the park and terrace. The darker sparkly shoe had a chunkier heel and was overall more comfortable. My aunt was saying it didn't matter since no one would see it anyways. Both shoes didn't have a rubber grip and were really difficult to walk in. Oh I practiced, but when it came to the wedding day, it didn't matter. It was raining, we had to take photos in the park, I put on my waterproof booties. And kept them on the entire day. Which meant I was able to return both sparkly heels because I never wore them out. Funny how things work. I did so much planning and practicing that it didn't even matter! My aunt was wrong though - our photographer did see them and applauded me for going weather proof. He said that he never saw a bride do that before. =)<br />
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Oh, one thing I didn't like about the whole dress shopping experience? The consultants kept tying sashes to my waist for every single dress. I know they need to sell more and make me fall in love with an entire "look" that included the veil and sash, but I really just wanted to see the dress first before they started accessorizing. One thing I did like about purchasing from Best for Bride was that they had a price match policy in which they would give you an additional 10% discount. So once I knew which dress I wanted, I inquired with other shops to see what they sold the dress for. Another store did have a lower price, so I brought it in and got the price match discount.<br />
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Later this year when I was shopping for bridesmaid gifts, I found out that Kate Spade released their <a href="https://www.katespade.com/products/tanner-dress/NJMU5220-1.html">tanner</a> dress in white - ohhhh how I would have chosen that. It was simple and classic and casual. The bow on the back is just perfect. Our whole wedding would have had a different vibe, I first fell for the tanner dress when I saw it in a navy and white pattern that I couldn't find here in Toronto. I thought it would be a great rehearsal dinner dress if we ever did one (nope, we skipped hosting a rehearsal dinner).<br />
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But oh my goodness if I had an unlimited budget, these wedding gowns by <a href="http://www.jlmcouture.com/Hayley-Paige/Profile">Hayley Paige</a> make me swoon! You need to look these up and marvel at the design. Those stripes and patterns and use of fabrics, all folded into things of fairy tales. I don't love the top for this <a href="http://www.jlmcouture.com/Hayley-Paige/Bridal/Additional/Style-6413">Dori</a> dress, but the volume and shape of that skirt is amazing! Then there's these two: <a href="http://www.jlmcouture.com/Hayley-Paige/Bridal/Additional/Style-6351">Keaton</a> and <a href="http://www.jlmcouture.com/Hayley-Paige/Bridal/Additional/Style-6315">Guindon</a>. Stripes that are subtle and striking at the same time. How would you pick? The ballgown or the trumpet silhouette?<br />
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I also adore the floral patterns on this Chaviano Couture dress featured <a href="http://snippetandink.com/wedding-at-the-foundry-at-puritan-mills-kelly-thomas/">here</a>. I didn't find the name or style of it. <i>Sigh</i>, wedding dresses really are dreamy to look at. I hope you have a great time looking for yours!<br />
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Park photography: <a href="http://www.ikonica.ca/">Ikonica</a> | Shoe and store photography: Mom and maid of honour | Wedding dress from Best for Brides: <a href="http://www.morilee.com/bridals/blu/5108">Mori Lee Blu 5108</a> | Bridesmaid dresses from David's Bridal: <a href="http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_long-mesh-dress-with-cowl-back-detail-f15933_bridesmaid-dresses-long-bridesmaid-dresses">Long Mesh Dress with Cowl Back Detail</a>, <a href="http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_long-mesh-dress-with-one-shoulder-neckline-f15928_bridesmaid-dresses-long-bridesmaid-dresses">Long Mesh Dress with One Shoulder Neckline</a>, and <a href="http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_long-strapless-chiffon-dress-and-pleated-bodice-f15555_bridesmaid-dresses-long-bridesmaid-dresses">Long Strapless Chiffon Dress and Pleated Bodice</a> | Flower girl dress: Joe FreshSylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-15751931671321825902015-10-25T10:00:00.000-04:002015-11-08T19:34:10.267-05:00Wedding Invitations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQdcphKcTnSf3O3Cfbxve8zMwvwNrbvsUf09AMCjzfcCuHCo0MayPu-uzhzgM9m2OHCZggSU69NCivfZCDM3smzRSNy8hfA-kLPPDt_uSHzg6xeWULVHnyAjZMq4jv4MUesiQk5-2lmYX/s1600/01_WeddingInvitations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQdcphKcTnSf3O3Cfbxve8zMwvwNrbvsUf09AMCjzfcCuHCo0MayPu-uzhzgM9m2OHCZggSU69NCivfZCDM3smzRSNy8hfA-kLPPDt_uSHzg6xeWULVHnyAjZMq4jv4MUesiQk5-2lmYX/s550/01_WeddingInvitations.jpg" /></a></div>
Alright, so last week I talked about our <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2015/10/save-dates.html">save the dates</a>, which we sent a year in advance. We decided to send out the formal invitations at the six month mark.<br />
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Keeping with the dessert theme, I knew I wanted to do another piece based on photography. Something bright and cheery and related to the wedding venue a bit. And what's a French restaurant without macarons? We picked these ones up from <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2012/12/butter-avenue.html">Butter Avenue</a> and started the project when we returned home.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkOrzq6GgIbTxlhQnsCCcM4644oftYEb4y46uwrBOHwhwuCp5FngI5AJpKDdDoPAU2WWRjWehQLVMDmjDtYmNEQbLTsH6FGg9pgaiQYxX0arslAw_sBTsKFDcM07z6JFCSqEmhCGvpyNHC/s1600/02_WeddingInvitations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkOrzq6GgIbTxlhQnsCCcM4644oftYEb4y46uwrBOHwhwuCp5FngI5AJpKDdDoPAU2WWRjWehQLVMDmjDtYmNEQbLTsH6FGg9pgaiQYxX0arslAw_sBTsKFDcM07z6JFCSqEmhCGvpyNHC/s550/02_WeddingInvitations.jpg" /></a></div>
I took out some of my favourite props: a cake stand, a cocotte, ramekins, a beautiful teal plate, and our marble lazy Susan. I laid them out on a sheet of parchment paper on the floor and played around the the arrangement.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRs2eJV7y7epGPRs7gKvZ1uiuMc5skO7x0i-Hm7onkHajahalBawATgp7eJp1-BOxMRdWyL_60WbEHalBoMKkNEQs-CZXFnJUis5g70oMhZKSiqEHoSXsdBYza8gvYYz6s8JxGNE0Z9TIm/s1600/03_WeddingInvitations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRs2eJV7y7epGPRs7gKvZ1uiuMc5skO7x0i-Hm7onkHajahalBawATgp7eJp1-BOxMRdWyL_60WbEHalBoMKkNEQs-CZXFnJUis5g70oMhZKSiqEHoSXsdBYza8gvYYz6s8JxGNE0Z9TIm/s550/03_WeddingInvitations.jpg" /></a></div>
Then, positioned the macarons on the edge and filled the containers with sprinkles. I left our two heart sprinkles on the plate thinking that it would be super cute to go along with the text.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWZsMLY3xGsIgK-pSO_Ns8ELOafUi3yYMHn8uJi2WZOWQ2FFdRxGTIClnj1s4vgA0Ri6k6HcZ0dqU4XhfOsWut9bEoXXJhpqElUkn0i68PvVPXwY2uqPwf2MN_6Tb7nmlpNLshNGzS2DJo/s1600/04_WeddingInvitations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWZsMLY3xGsIgK-pSO_Ns8ELOafUi3yYMHn8uJi2WZOWQ2FFdRxGTIClnj1s4vgA0Ri6k6HcZ0dqU4XhfOsWut9bEoXXJhpqElUkn0i68PvVPXwY2uqPwf2MN_6Tb7nmlpNLshNGzS2DJo/s550/04_WeddingInvitations.jpg" /></a></div>
Time to take shots from above. The bird-eye view works really well and I was able to try different heights by standing on the floor and the chair. The one above is pulled back so you can see behind-the-scenes.<br />
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A close up worked best because it gave me more room to include all the information on that small plate and the rest of the cake stand and marble platter wouldn't look too sparse.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii8r1pYzfDQWh04NzFtvQG62uBWrfiAzkiNZmU2Ek8G6HBqCySX7gGt75nHN6b5NDKp-rOtn3ReIT7u_mj1Vxs83XLWzG57Qc7RVTUuylZ6pxP2RdV3u_IwN-PqsxynlWw8HyjX7GKAKD_/s1600/WeddingInvitation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii8r1pYzfDQWh04NzFtvQG62uBWrfiAzkiNZmU2Ek8G6HBqCySX7gGt75nHN6b5NDKp-rOtn3ReIT7u_mj1Vxs83XLWzG57Qc7RVTUuylZ6pxP2RdV3u_IwN-PqsxynlWw8HyjX7GKAKD_/s550/WeddingInvitation.jpg" /></a></div>
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There you have it! After fiddling with <a href="http://www.picmonkey.com/">PicMonkey</a> again to test out the text placement, we had our final invitation. I had about five versions of it until Howard and I both agreed on this one.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNmSOuvBh_wwzdhkaZJhMx21y7a-m8m7A5DOj21V3-W0Qn6OGzw9u4a3SQACkIUdflZNehJkpMSxHNf33k7VAxsQXdLZNYXvt4Vbaam-zMir32SiNJK6zz8lk5j8GvT_Q-zbPQj3Yx9rYI/s1600/06_WeddingInvitations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNmSOuvBh_wwzdhkaZJhMx21y7a-m8m7A5DOj21V3-W0Qn6OGzw9u4a3SQACkIUdflZNehJkpMSxHNf33k7VAxsQXdLZNYXvt4Vbaam-zMir32SiNJK6zz8lk5j8GvT_Q-zbPQj3Yx9rYI/s550/06_WeddingInvitations.jpg" /></a></div>
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Again, we sent these out electronically instead of having them printed and mailed. We used the free wedding website that <a href="https://www.theknot.com/">The Knot</a> offers to create ours and e-mailed it to all the guests. It was a great way to share all of the information in once place!</div>
Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-32876476037080400072015-10-18T18:19:00.000-04:002015-11-08T19:33:50.049-05:00Wedding Venue<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1HMHK0z6Kibw2gdBHKkAOSD7mzZhnle2NCGPtSC8iJ1St72Jc_zpK2LDX5Syh7e3-h29f1NdwrgBgfimzOHGPOHs4WigNSIXtrq3nEK7XuMmU0wDF1ZN1PgFiD3AZ1RfS0VqMUsruUxC_/s1600/01_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1HMHK0z6Kibw2gdBHKkAOSD7mzZhnle2NCGPtSC8iJ1St72Jc_zpK2LDX5Syh7e3-h29f1NdwrgBgfimzOHGPOHs4WigNSIXtrq3nEK7XuMmU0wDF1ZN1PgFiD3AZ1RfS0VqMUsruUxC_/s550/01_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" /></a></div>
Here's a blast from the past! I've been writing these posts since the beginning of the year by jotting down my thoughts in hopes of helping those who might be planning a wedding. So it's a combination of things I drafted months ago and thoughts from today.<br />
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I think choosing the venue was the hardest part of the wedding because everything else falls in place once it's decided. You might have read an earlier <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2014/03/wedding-blues.html">post</a> where I was feeling the blues because we didn't know what to do. Did we want to do a destination wedding or a wedding in our city? There were so many pros and cons and we debated for a long time. In the end, we decided to have the wedding in our home city with the following requirements:<br />
<ol>
<li>We had to stay within a budget.</li>
<li>There had to be good food (right? We have a food blog of goodness sake).</li>
<li>Ideally, it could host the ceremony and the reception.</li>
<li>Free parking for our guests.</li>
<li>Someplace easy to get to.</li>
</ol>
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One of our earlier plans was to go the route of a hall rental like everybody else. We wanted the ceremony and reception at the Toronto Botanical Garden because it was adjacent to Edwards Garden. This was when we thought we should continue our park theme (having met on the job while working for Toronto Parks and Rec and being engaged at Central Park in New York). But bringing in a caterer, renting furniture, and all the fees associated with the space meant we would be doubling our budget. *faint*</div>
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Another idea was to do a really simple wedding by getting married at City Hall and then having dinner at a restaurant. Then we found out that those wedding chambers at City Hall weren't included, there was a rental fee! And we'd have to pay for parking. If I was going to be spending money on renting a space for the ceremony, I might as well find a prettier spot!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqtRfxq7sTt-30M2Y_ho6tg5t0FGs7CpAnCvRmKUK_jfzEL6q_wBIl4C98oKbjHlJ9iV5saw_rJDThVDkiXiwZqV-q8S6W4UK_sOQZ6Roe83tc-DfiF3VX4KUvgs7P_2RPSwRY3b-YAsnX/s1600/02_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqtRfxq7sTt-30M2Y_ho6tg5t0FGs7CpAnCvRmKUK_jfzEL6q_wBIl4C98oKbjHlJ9iV5saw_rJDThVDkiXiwZqV-q8S6W4UK_sOQZ6Roe83tc-DfiF3VX4KUvgs7P_2RPSwRY3b-YAsnX/s550/02_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" /></a></div>
And a prettier spot we did find! We were so happy to learn that Auberge du Pommier was available (do book ahead, we reserved it a year in advance). This charming French restaurant includes a terrace space for ceremonies. It's covered in case there's rain (which it did) and includes heaters if it gets a bit chilly (which it did). We also still get the greenery with the trees, shrubs, and plants - so we're still with the park theme here with it being airy with fresh air.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmnWQ_zxu7-1y5-X2NG5pNSRRVMInYrVn6Ncz1UgYyfgcxeMk5o8e_TMbOmi_nb8XaOODF8kxbdiDz6ZbcBX9_-F4ulBTUn0yaDxU4UfTRPbvoRVN0qiT-mJNPcREnmoOw6BVpBUqzWiJy/s1600/03_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmnWQ_zxu7-1y5-X2NG5pNSRRVMInYrVn6Ncz1UgYyfgcxeMk5o8e_TMbOmi_nb8XaOODF8kxbdiDz6ZbcBX9_-F4ulBTUn0yaDxU4UfTRPbvoRVN0qiT-mJNPcREnmoOw6BVpBUqzWiJy/s550/03_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" /></a></div>
The lower terrace was transformed by the amazing staff who arranged the chairs in theatre setting and for hanging our decorative bunting at the front. Unlike other venues, you don't have to rent chairs or tables! The area is also completely private and not visible from the road or parking lot. Bonus, the aisle isn't too long so I didn't have to walk too far to get to the front (was seriously stressed about walking in heels in a gown. A simple thing like <i>walking</i>, geez)!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Y-i0ABJ0-qgxC1AlCrIOn3km3IGKUW5mmrBZ5nZcML2fRPdtqJhqonIMAYikuOu88w6r4FR-m6aQW0g9l3v1fJH5VTL1RF94oF_VrA0BZZW5cLQDXD0V6MWQeVoAJxcvCQvnOwhf84ky/s1600/04_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Y-i0ABJ0-qgxC1AlCrIOn3km3IGKUW5mmrBZ5nZcML2fRPdtqJhqonIMAYikuOu88w6r4FR-m6aQW0g9l3v1fJH5VTL1RF94oF_VrA0BZZW5cLQDXD0V6MWQeVoAJxcvCQvnOwhf84ky/s550/04_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" /></a></div>
We wanted a small wedding, but we still ended up booking the largest private room that Auberge du Pommier had - which seats 48. The Oscar room had the perfect set up for us, there were six tables of eight, a fireplace, a cake table, and a hutch.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTRToImVdRS5kI6y-KHOpY-zXZpOzCR7XSGoeVgsOXV0UcNUXhfartmWoiQKoACo7nCDZqOxrvOWoDwwMx4fnensyXnEctzqFbRBnEa-WJrOxUBjJDCM0_52rlndozek5FDh21MMoA9eg/s1600/05_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTRToImVdRS5kI6y-KHOpY-zXZpOzCR7XSGoeVgsOXV0UcNUXhfartmWoiQKoACo7nCDZqOxrvOWoDwwMx4fnensyXnEctzqFbRBnEa-WJrOxUBjJDCM0_52rlndozek5FDh21MMoA9eg/s550/05_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" /></a></div>
We had the option of reserving the second private room for late night dancing and food too, but they weren't next to each other so it felt disconnected and we declined the space. Another small wedding group was there that night, but we didn't see much of them since we were separated by the concierge. If you're wondering about the main dining room space, Auberge du Pommier doesn't offer full restaurant buyouts on Saturday evenings, only during lunch or on Sundays.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeqvV1-T1nUunXqJNL6N7aESTyzjSVjWu25aEsFnxZj7sZGQX5-UrY1RuJ9cyyYV7W7vnTFLme5qriUdZQ51o41ikUF9PF4NReiQ6pJuBtsUqe5TuneN-AiPPCdnKZA-P-hzo7A43xrAH7/s1600/06_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeqvV1-T1nUunXqJNL6N7aESTyzjSVjWu25aEsFnxZj7sZGQX5-UrY1RuJ9cyyYV7W7vnTFLme5qriUdZQ51o41ikUF9PF4NReiQ6pJuBtsUqe5TuneN-AiPPCdnKZA-P-hzo7A43xrAH7/s550/06_AubergeDuPommier.jpg" /></a></div>
It was tricky narrowing down the guest list to 46, but we did it. You know what's trickier after? The seating chart! We actually had our head table split in two, so the ones in the middle were for us and our wedding party. Then Howard's family and friends on the left and my family and friends on the right.<br />
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Now that we've had our wedding, we only have praises and good things to say. The event specialists at Oliver & Bonacini are courteous, helpful, and so great to work with. We were so lucky to have Jessie along the way to answer our questions and organize our ceremony and reception schedule. The on-site manager and staff that day were also top notch. We felt that they went above and beyond with our requests and even on things we didn't ask for or think about. They were all truly professional and thoughtful in presentation and interacting with our guests.<br />
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If you're thinking about an event or reception at a restaurant, I highly recommend it. Auberge du Pommier included candles, linens, printed menus, cake knife and lifter, booster seats for kids, card vessel, bouquet vases, coat check, parking vouchers, and reserved signs. And if you have elders or children, they have accessible washrooms on the main floor. Not to mention all the charm of a rustic woodcutters' cottages!<br />
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Venue: <a href="http://oliverbonacini.com/Auberge-du-Pommier.aspx">Auberge du Pommier</a>, Lower Terrace and Oscar Room | Photography: <a href="http://www.ikonica.ca/">Ikonica</a> | Bunting: <a href="https://twitter.com/twinkiethekidd">Samantha Swenson</a></div>
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Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-821198936370683566.post-14676073664284307702015-10-11T14:48:00.004-04:002015-10-11T14:48:56.496-04:00Save the Dates<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So begins my weekly series about our wedding. I'll be bringing us back to a year ago when we started planning for the big day. And how quickly time flies, we've been married for a month now! The day flew by and so did the honeymoon, I'm wish we were still lounging by the pool right now.<br />
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To start it off, the first thing we had to create were the Save the Dates. We sent ours out a year in advance because there was a travel component to it. While we would have loved to do a <a href="http://www.abakedcreation.com/2014/03/wedding-blues.html">destination wedding</a>, we knew that there was a chance that key people wouldn't be able to make it. So to incorporate the "destination" part, we opened up what would be considered our honeymoon to be a week long after party.<br />
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We sent out the save the dates electronically and to create it, I was inspired by the scripted icing that I spotted on <a href="http://jdmakesthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/WhiteCakes-1.jpg">Pinterest</a>. This looked like a delicious way to announce our wedding date!<br />
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I whipped up a small batch of <a href="http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Royal-Icing">royal icing</a>, took out a sheet of parchment paper, and lightly penciled in the cursive words. With shaky hands, I piped out it out in one try! Not bad! But looking back, I wish I made the icing a bit firmer as the loops in the <i>h</i> and <i>e</i> started to blur in. Or at least tried it again on another piece of parchment.<br />
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The next step was to decorate around the parchment paper. I poured some dragees into a cocotte (I recommend a funnel, they bounced <i>everywhere</i>). Took out some white coloured heart and star sprinkles and positioned the leftover royal icing and piping bag in the corners.<br />
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The next step was the most fun - snapping as many overhead photos as possible. Standing on a chair, I took photos of various angles and positions of the items laid out on my counter top. Then went through them on the computer before choosing one and doing some edits on the brightness.<br />
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The text was then added on using <a href="http://www.picmonkey.com/">PicMonkey</a> (still my favourite online photo editing). At this point, we hadn't decided on a venue in Toronto or a resort in Jamaica yet, so we left the details pretty vague.<br />
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But there you have it! We sent these out and even printed a few for family and friends to stick on their fridge.Sylviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14996685233111164684noreply@blogger.com1