Things that fly, things that fry, renos, fangs and garlic!

First off, a cold front came through yesterday to sweep out the nasty, hot and humid weather we've been having. There were tornado watches and warnings all afternoon, and indeed an F0 tornado touched down 15 minutes south of us mid-afternoon. It damaged some crops and trees but no one was hurt.

It was a honking big storm that came in over the wheat field...

The honeybees survived just fine!

Charlie Sheen was a little damp and muddy but he didn't seem too bothered. We did get a little much-needed rain, but not enough. We're in a drought. The grass around Charlie is quite green because I empty water from the duck pools there. And while the fields are green with soy and otebo beans, the ground beneath them is deeply cracked with dryness. We need to get a decent rainfall in the next week or so, or the corn crop may fail. They already predict a hay shortage this fall, because the farmers are only getting one cut instead of two or three.

I'm catching up today, hence the title of the post. A mixed bag of things I've been meaning to put up...

The other week, we had lunch at Truffles Burger Bar in Cornwall. They have all kinds of burgers, including emu, kangaroo (!) and alligator (!), as well as five type of vegetarian burgers, and a lot of other tasty options. This is their second location. The first was destroyed in an unfortunate fire just after it opened last year. 

Gordon had the pulled pork burger with a side of poutine. Very tasty!

Okay, the plate is HUGE. The burger is not as small as it looks here.  I had the Pommier burger, which I believe is named after the jewellers around the corner. Pork, feta and apple. Yum!

And (out-of-focus) side of yam fries with garlic mayo:

On another day last week, we had lunch at Bite Me Sandwich Shop & Deli in Alexandria, which just won best new business of the year in Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry. It is great to have a couple of new places to eat around here that aren't chains, or serving crap food.

We tried the Cuban sandwiches and they were very yummy. It was a meaty week last week. I often have meatless meals, but you wouldn't know it from these pics! :)

And I meant to post this ages ago. A while back, I made a birthday cake for a friend, and instead of turning on the oven, I turned on the BROILER. And didn't notice until it was too late...

  

Doesn't look very appetizing, does it? I tossed these and made another cake with the oven at the proper setting!

Emily continues to wage war on my houseplants...

Note the fangs!

More fangs. That plant used to be on my desk, but I moved it to the hall in hopes she'd leave it alone. Nope.

Meanwhile, the garlic is doing great...

This is not quite ready but still edible. Another week or two and I'll be digging it all up!

And we've been having the upstairs of our house renovated since April. The upstairs hall used to have f-ugly carpeting, where every pet in the house went to throw up, drag his butt or, in the case of Alex on a naughty day, pee. We really, really wanted that carpeting gone. Four cats, two dogs, and carpeting DO NOT MIX...

When the carpeting came up, it looked like this:

Old stain, paint, paint blobs, and plaster. And it turned out there used to be a bathroom on the landing! The holes for the toilet and the bathtub and sink pipes were still there!

Then our renovators worked some magic and...

Really love 100+-year-old birch floors!

 

Next the stairs are being stripped, along with the bannister and railings, all original to the house.  The walls have all been painted too. We are both thrilled with how it looks. I love bringing out the character of an old home.

And I can't remember if I ever posted this, but it's cute enough to post again if I did:

Enjoy!