Happy Monday everyone!

This past weekend was the anti-summer weekend. Rain. Rain. Rain.

Now I love rain (I know, weird right?) but even I was a bit bummed by the terrential downpours we had. It sure put a damper (ha ha, ‘damp’er get it. oy) on my deck sprucing plans.

BUT, it did offer me some great moments to get outside and capture a few neat things with my camera…

The rain created tiny droplets that captured the light like little diamonds. So pretty.

So quiet, so green and so serene. Oh, and a keen eye may have noticed that those top shots were taken on the new grasses in my recently redone planters!

Now let’s hope this Monday turns into a ‘Sun’day. Yup. Another pun. You’re welcome.

Chef Kev is! Okay, so maybe he isn’t technically gnocching at the door since he lives here but it makes a funny headline no?

As I’ve been working at sprucing up the deck, Chef Kev has been busy in the kitchen (as per usual) and came up with another stellar masterpiece (which, I might add, we enjoyed on said deck). Yummy times.

Here’s how he did it:

Chicken Mushroom Gnocchi

The key to this dish is to introduce earthy tastes (thyme, sage, mushroom) to compliment the gnocchi.

For this yummy creation you’ll want to time your two main ingredients (gnocchi and chicken) so that they finish cooking at around the same time – so do a bit of math first. Did I mention Chef Kev is also a Certified General Accountant? I’m just glad that I’m a designer and only in charge of making things look pretty. I’m not a fan of pop quizzes. Anyway….

Gnocchi: Purchase some gnocchi at the store (ours was the ‘Italissima’ brand) and prepare according to package instructions. Chef Kev note: he wants to attempt to make his own some day (and you SO know I’m gonna blog about that) but for now, this brand makes a great quick yummy gnocchi. 

Chicken: In a sauce pan melt some butter and little olive oil on medium heat. Once melted add: two diced  shallots, a clove (or two) of minced garlic and cubed chicken breast. Next, add the following herbs WHOLE (for flavour purposes while cooking): a couple of fresh sprigs of rosemary, a couple sprigs of fresh thyme and a few sage leaves. Add some sliced mushrooms. Once chicken is almost fully cooked remove the whole herbs and add some chicken stock (enough to deglaze while still keeping the chicken moist). Once that has cooked down a bit add some heavy cream. Add salt and pepper and some dried thyme Chef Kev note: taste along the way to test your seasoning level and adjust accordingly. Let this reduce down until desired thickness (feel free to add corn starch or flour to help this process). Turn pan off when done and let sit.

Once your gnocchi is done, have another sauce pan ready with melted butter and olive oil (on medium high heat). Add gnocchi to pan and fry for a few minutes until it has a bit of texture on the outside. Add gnocchi to chicken mixture pan and combine.

Serve in a bowl and finish with freshly chopped chive. Salt and pepper to taste (if desired).

Tomatoe Bocconcini Salad (with a maple twist)

This is a great casual summer salad. The large chunky pieces add to this feeling of laid back dining.

In a bowl add mixed baby greens, grape and/or cherry tomatoes (cut in half), one minced shallot, some peeled and chopped english cucumber and of course, Bocconcini! It does not matter what size Bocconcini but Chef Kev used ‘cherry size’ for this dish.

To make the vinaigrette combine: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, dijon mustard and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Add in quantities to your liking of acidity and taste.

You’re almost done – add to salad and toss.! Don’t over dress, no one likes a salad that comes too dressed for a casual dinner party.

Enjoy!

And if you take a sip of wine for every time I said gnocchi then you’ll really be having a good time.

In the (almost) words of Fergie, I am now Herbalicious. I’d like to make more comparisons but I don’t got the boys on rock rock and they aren’t lining up the block just to watch what I got… unless of course they like herbs. Because now I got ’em.

As you may recall from my earlier deck post and subsequent deck projects (my chandelier refreshing found here and my planter redo found here) this is another step in my plan to bring a little lovin’ to our deck. I still have a few more projects up my sleeve which I plan to roll out soon and then our new outdoor room will be done!

As we came into the season our herb garden from last year looked like this:

Let’s just say that I’m glad “Herbs Gone Bad” isn’t a reality show because I would find myself in a surprise ambush. “Surprise! We’re repo-ing your herb garden because you defaulted on watering and care”! How embarassing. No, but in all seriousness our herb garden is seasonal so it tends to look like this at the beginning of each summer. Put your clipboards away herb repo-ers (is that even a word) nothing to see here.

Okay, so aside from the herbs being dunzo these poor planters were also on their last legs. Not in the function category but in the Elaine-design-stamp-of-approval one. I am attached to these planters because my dad made them (awwwhhh) so really wanted to keep them and give them a new lease on life.

I decided on a glossy black to compliment the planters that would be below them (more on that later) so the first step was to empty these bad boys and give them a good bath, clean, hose down.

Then I removed the rusty little hooks that had been used in previous years. They had seen better days and I had no use for them for what I had planned.

Now on to the stain! I chose Minwax Polyshades, Satin & Polyurethane in 1 step (1 step! Yay for laziness) in Classic Gloss Black. I didn’t even sand because I’m a rebel (please don’t write in to the producers of any fictional herb éxpose reality show).

At this stage she was looking like this:

It worked great and I love the finish. A nice shiny black that still shows the wonderful texture of the wood but hides the aging and weathering that had occured. Note: I didn’t paint the inside of the planter because I didn’t like the idea of paint leaching in to any dirt and subsequently my herbs. These herbs are pesticide – and paint – free!

Now, earlier when I mentioned these were going ABOVE the planters that I redid last week it was because I planned to hang them off the white railing that sits atop the cement wall that my planters are working to camoflauge. My hubby – Chef Kev – is 6′ 5″ so if he can walk up to a planter that is chest height to grab some fresh herbs then that saves a good 30 seconds. He’s so tall that by the time he bends down to the ground we’ve entered a new time zone. For those unfamiliar with Chef Kev, learn more about him here and his wonderful dinner creations here and here. Create a herb garden for husband = more dinner inspiration that wife gets to enjoy. Done and done.

Okay, so back to the planter support hooks. I picked up six of these babies (two for each planter) at my favourite garden centre.

Once my hooks were installed (I had to measure them out and adjust them for each planter), I was ready to hang my planters. But wait! What herbs did I plant!? On the (planter) menu we have: chives, oregano, cilantro, parsley, thyme, basil, sage and rosemary. We also use a lot of fresh dill but to be honest it’s quite hard to grow (very floppy and finicky) so we continue to buy fresh dill. If I get my act together I’ll plant some in my actual garden with a tomatoe cage for support but I’ve been too busy avoiding the herb police to be that coordinated.

Planting complete, the planters were ready to hang. My ugly cement wall has gone from this (when we moved in)…

TO THIS! (if you’re wondering where the ‘grass’ went you’ll want to check out this post). And our dog’s name is Belle – Hi Belle.

The planters fit right in and have already begun to reap their bounty.

Here are a few more shots/details of our herbs in stagnant action…

Guess you won’t be seeing me on any future episodes of ‘Herbs Gone Bad”. Why? Because I’m HERBALICIOUS. Go basil, rock your rosemary, and your thym…. … get your chive on… party parsle…

My chef husband has been at it again. Another great dinner. Another satisfied customer wife.

Tonight on the menu we had an amazing Grilled Salmon with Goat Cheese paired with an awesome Southwest Quinoa Salad.

Here’s how he did it…

Grilled Salmon with Goat Cheese

Prepare your salmon fillets by dusting each side with seafood seasoning (Chef Kev prefers Old Bay seasoning) and salt and pepper. Next you take some roasted garlic goat cheese and mix it with chopped fresh dill. Spread a layer of your goat cheese mix on top of your salmon and sprinkle it with brown sugar.

To cook, place on a BBQ heated to medium high. Place salmon on the grill with the goat cheese side up. Cook on direct heat for a few minutes until the underside has a grilling seal on bottom. Turn off direct heat and finish cooking with indirect heat inside the BBQ.  Cook until desired doneness and the brown sugar has caramalized. Plate and finish with fresh squeezed lemon and salt and pepper.

So was it good? D.E.L.I.S.H!

Southwest Quinoa Salad

Cook the quinoa according the the package instructions. For ours it was 1/2 cup quinoa to 1 cup stock or water. Chef Kev recomends chicken stock as it adds great flavour. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes and then simmer on low for 15 minutes. Once cooked the quinoa is light and fluffy. Cool in a bowl placed inside another bowl filled with ice water. Let stand.

Add to the quinoa: one can of rinsed black beans, one can of rinsed sweet corn (or one cob grilled corn kernels). Chopped fresh cilantro, minced shallot, minced jalepeno and diced yellow peppers.

For the vinaigrette Chef Kev mixed olive oil, sesame oil, white wine vinegar, fresh squeezed lime. red pepper flakes and honey. Toss salad with vinaigrette and add salt and pepper to season.

Another winner. Chef Kev I thank you.

And another win – both salmon and quinoa are ridiculously healthy for you.

Great. Now I’m hungry.

My name is Elaine and I’m addicted to Christmas. No seriously.

Okay, so I’m not crazy-put-your-stuff-out-in-October-crazy but I do LOVE the holiday season. I love the warmth, the tradition, the coziness, the shimmering lights, the hustle, the quietness, the FEELING. I love Christmas.

I also love crafting and making things and that is how my little annual tradition of Christmas Craft Night was born. The concept was to get some girls together, drink some wine, chat, enjoy each others company and make a Christmas craft! And it took off. Big time. So now it has become an annual tradition that my friends say they love. And I love hosting it. Love it. The best compliment I received was from a friend who told me that the craft night was, for her, the sign that the Christmas season had begun. She looks forward to it every year to kick off the season and get her in the Christmas spirit. Wow.

So how I start is, I pick a craft that seems doable in a few hours. The point of Christmas Craft Night is that every girl leaves with a completed craft. I always host it right at the beginning of December so that the ladies can enjoy that years craft for the whole month.

After I choose the craft I do a trial run to make sure that it’s doable in an evening and work out any glitches. Then I design an invitation to send out that features what the craft will look like. In earlier years I’d include a list of supplies for the ladies to bring but now I just pick up the supplies myself (to save them running around and take advantage of bulk deals) and then just charge a fee that covers their potion of the supplies. I aim to always keep it under $20.

Here is what last years invitation looked like:

As you may recall from my deck post I had some big things in mind for our little back deck area. I really wanted to create that ‘outdoor room’ feeling so have a bunch of little projects up my sleeve on my ‘to do list’ that I can’t wait to share with you all!

First up was my pink chandelier and next on my hit list was some camoflauge for this fugly cement wall. We can’t really remove it unless we want to entertain our neighbours back yard on our deck if you know what I’m sayin’. As you can see, it has a tendency to get kind of grimey and could only be described as ‘pretty’ if pretty was a secret word for ‘redonculous eyesore of a stupid cement wall that we are stuck with’. And those are my nice words. I present you with Exhibit A taken from an earlier post…

So, fast forward until a month or so ago when my office was doing some botanical rejigging (technical term). In other words, they were sprucin’ up the joint and were getting rid of some old planters. They had a ton of these and put an email out to staff that they were selling them for $10 a pop. Great deal! I went to take a photo on my phone to email my hubby and tell him of my great plan and when I got back to my desk to send said email I got the ‘ol “all planters now accounted for” email. What!? Early bird what? Insert sulk here. Insert me forgetting about this master plan until a later day.

That later day came when my coworker mentioned that she had gotten two of the planters but had decided they weren’t going to work for her. What’s that you say? Why YES I’d love to take them off your hands. And that is how this stack came to be on our deck.

Now, don’t be alarmed. I am not a She-man who can magically turn over 100lb clay pots with as much ease as Snooki downs a beer (no, I don’t watch the show but it’s common knowledge that that’s got to be lightning fast isn’t it)? But rather these are fakeo terra cotta. They are really just feather light resin.

My plan for these pots was to spray them gloss black. I loved the shape (hated the colour) and thought they’d add a nice graphic punch while giving me a vessel to plant something TO HIDE THAT FREAKIN’ EYESORE OF A WALL! Sorry for yelling at you. I get passionate about dirty cement walls.

So, the first step was to clean the pots so that I started with a nice surface to spray. I actually power washed the deck and wall this past long weekend so I invited the pots to the spray party as well. Guess how quickly a power washer takes grime off a fake terra cotta pot. Hint: see Snooki comment above.

I used a high gloss black spray paint that was suitable for plastics and outdoor use. Each pot took one can each – about 5 coats. Multiple light coats will give you the best result and help to avoid any drips. Since the spray paint dries quickly between each coat it only took a few hours to do. Here is what it looked like after the first round of spraying.

Once they were both sprayed it was time to add some filler! I wanted something that would grow A) fast B) full and C) tall. Since I wanted to camoflauge the cement, this was key. I was thinking bamboo but after discussing it with my neighbourhood garden centre they suggested I go with some grasses as they met all my criteria as well as offered a nice texture. And the grasses cost less! Bonus. So I picked out some nice grasses that promised to grow to 42′ and also some ‘rainbow grass’ because it looks so great. There is a chance that the original grass may choke out the rainbow grass as it grows (supposedly quickly) but if so I can easily transplant it to my garden. For now though I like the texture it offers. One grass is light and airy and will grow up and over (like a big weeping willow) and the rainbow grass is straighter and thicker. I’ll update you all with some pictures as it grows!

But for now, back to planting and a tip! A good idea to keep your planter light and manageable (to move easily when full) is to fill the bottom with styrofoam, empty milk jugs or 2 litre pop bottles. What they do is take up space at the bottom allowing you to fill with one half the amount of dirt you would otherwise need to! No problem if you have a gardener/pool boy to move them for you but let’s be honest, I don’t have a pool. So styrofoam and an empty laundry detregent jug for me it is.

Once I had that taken care of I added my dirt and grasses and she was all done! Oh, but don’t forget to water generously as you should always do when you transplant or newly plant something. Doing so helps your new plant take root.

I can’t wait to watch these grasses grow! Come on grass… RACE. $10 to the fastest growing grass. NOW GO!

And here are the pair of them. What do you think?

The outdoor room is coming together and taking shape! … Should I invite Snooki over for a beer on the deck? Nah.