Monday Moanings - August 25, 2014

The Last Monday in August

Please excuse the cliche, but just where did the summer go? We all ask the same question at the same time every year and every year the answer is more sigh than words, at least in this part of the world where summer is our reward for enduring snow, ice, wind and bitter cold.

While I happily admit that autumn is my favourite season, summer offers unique joys that I never want to miss. I never want to miss breakfast on a deck bathed in sunlight and warmth

Out there this morning with my omelette and latte, I watched blue jays sweep in and out of the tray feeder, hummingbirds buzz in and out stopping just for a moment to sip some nectar, chickadees and nuthatches. The distant hum of highway traffic offered up a steady bass line while crickets kept up a staccato chirp. The neighbourhood dogs barked in sequence along the street as a cyclist whizzed by.




And every now and then the breeze picked up the baton and conducted the leaves, still mostly very thick and very green, in a soothing chorus of rustling chatter.


One has to make the most of mornings like this one...

©2014 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - September 12, 2013

Breakfast on the Porch

It's our last morning in Niagara-on-the-Lake, our last very civilized brekkie out on the porch at The Shaw Club Hotel. I must say it's been lovely to enjoy eggs benedict, or brioche French toast, a truffled omelette, and even the simple continental of creamy yogurt with fresh berries and nuts, toast with Greaves marmalade and muffins.

Breakfast is often such and rushed and usually boring affair six mornings of my week. I do make an effort on Sundays to up the ante a little with a great omelette and even greater latte, but the rest of the week I break the fast with fibre loaded concoction of dry oatmeal, bran, protein powder, almond milk, wild blueberries or rasps, psyllium husk (I told you it was fibre loaded! And let's not discuss why.) enlivened with cinnamon and vanilla. Sounds just awful as I write it all down, but actually it's not that bad. It just doesn't stand up well against the eggs benedict which came to my table all decked out with thick slabs of peameal bacon, two perfectly poached eggs and a generous pour of sunshine from the hollandaise. What a great way to dress up an English muffin!

Treat yourself to a nice brekkie this week -- the start of so many days deserves the uplift.
More on Niagara-on-the-Lake, the wines, the food, and the Shaw Festival, later next week.
Enjoy!