Olive Us

Hello, hello, hello my Lovelies.

Long time no see.........or read! BAD blogger...bad, bad blogger!!! Someone give me a swift kick in the butt please.

So much to do, so little time in the day. I'd like to tell you that I've been busy but really??? I must stop using "BUSY" as an excuse...everyone is busy...it's December for crying out loud.

No...I've just been neglectful and I apologize for that.

But on a more positive note, the reason why I'm coming out of hiding is to share a fantastic little, local discovery with you all. Now all of my non-Vernon readers I apologise again, for getting you all excited, but maybe you can find a place like this somewhere near you. 

A few weeks ago I gathered up some of my favourite ladies and took a trek out of my snowy covered cave to Vernon to take a boo at a new little store I've been itching to check out.

Located right on main street (30th Avenue), Olive Us is an Olive oil and vinegar tasting room dedicated to bringing Vernonites some gastronomic goodness.

Now I've experienced wine tastings, beer tastings, chocolate tastings and even honey tastings but nothing compares to the wake up call your taste buds get with a balsamic vinegar tasting. And don't even get me started on the olive oils!!

Oh the joy!!

I've been to similar stores in Kelowna and Armstrong, both stores selling products of equal quality and price range; but the folks at Olive Us have created a store that is both beautiful to look at and comfortable to browse in. 

I could have stayed there all day, it's truly like the Wonka chocolate factory for adults.

The proprietors Janet and Ray have done amazing things with the space,  keeping the decor neutral and truly letting their product shine..literally, in their stainless steel urns.

Even their packaging has been carefully selected to match the decor, making their products the star of the show.

Gift sets are thoughtfully selected with different themes and flavour profiles, making gift giving a breeze as all the hard work is done for you.

This is definitely one of those stores that you could spent an hour or two in without realizing it. Bring a friend and get lost in tasting and sampling to you hearts content. 

The store is well stocked with other food items such as flavoured salts and beautifully packaged pastas and decorative bottles for your goodies.

So after your Christmas hangover has subsided and you are feeling up to hitting downtown, do yourself a favour and stop in to see the folks at Olive Us, tell them Kylie sent you!! 

I'll probably be there somewhere in a corner sampling their products to find my new favourite for the month.

The Pumpkin Patch...the happiest place on earth.

I love that there are little patches of awesomeness scattered all over this little valley of ours. You just have to get out there, talk to people and go find them. We were lucky enough the first year we moved to the Okanagan to have some fantastic tour guides who were always up for an adventure and appreciated the thrill of sharing new places with us. One of the most memorable places being the Pumpkin Patch in Armstrong. We have lived here for almost 10 years now and have never missed a year without a trip to this place. 

Last week I managed to sneak an early peek at the patch the day after opening, I was in need of some spaghetti squash and the prices are definitely right at the Pumpkin patch. $1 per squash sure beats out Superstore prices any day.

 

The property is pet friendly, kid friendly....and it even supplies a porta potty for, well.....you know.

There are squashes and pumpkins of all shapes, varieties and sizes. Ornamental corn and free corn stalks for decorating the abode for thanksgiving and halloween.

I plan to take the kids to get their pumpkins for jack o lanterns soon, its a little early yet.

Stay tuned for pictures to come!!!!!!

As you can see, between three ladies we went a little hog wild with the squash. But there are plans for coconut butternut soup, spaghetti squash casserole and much, much more. I thought we showed great restraint at the time....thats a lot of squash!!! But I know I will be back for more before long.

  

There really isn't much to complain about as far as the scenery goes, there were no crowds to deal with.  No impulse purchases (aside from the excessive amount of squash), no rides to tempt your children into throwing a tantrum if they don't get one. Just plain old pumpkin hunting fun. 

We really could not have picked a more beautiful day.

 So with the minivan loaded up full of squash, ladies and kids we follow the pumpkin lined road back out through the field. Its almost like following the yellow brick road, but prettier.

 

The owners operate on an honour system here. You simply pull up to their wonderfully decorated house, ring the door bell and hand them your cash.

Head back onto St Annes road through more pumpkins.

And say bye until next year.....or next week, because we all know that you can never have enough pumpkin!!!!!

http://armstrongpumpkinpatch.com

I'm baaaaaaaack!

Can you believe it has been over nine months since I posted on my blog? Boy oh boy, I could have gotten knocked up and popped out a baby and you would have all been none the wiser!
Truly, I though about posting some random pics with me and a baby to see who was paying attention...but eh.....who can be bothered with that?

So, I have to give props to my wonderful hubby and kids for my early birthday present as today's spontaneous blog post is proudly bought to you by my tribe and apple Canada. You guessed it....or maybe you didn't.
I finally have a functioning computer!!! Yippee, early birthday presents rock my world.
No more ipad for me baby, I've hit the big times with my new MacBook Air. Oh sweet laptop, how I covet thee.

Hot diggity, we have so much to catch up on. My kids have grown so much in the last year; Zoe started grade 8 (high school over here in Canada). My baby is all grow'd up and there is nothing I can do about it, except stalk her and read her ipad messages like a crazy woman. That will have to do for now.

The house is still a work in progress, but there have been changes and there will be more to come. You will be happy to learn that we finally have deck railing, the roof is finished and so is our court battle with the roofers. Just a few of the many reason why I make regular visits to the hairdresser to dye my constant supply of new grey hairs!!

I've been learning lots at work, I still love my job and cant think of a better match for me.
I'm still addicted to making jam, even though I said "no more" I still get strange looks at Walmart when cashing out with a cart full of jars...I just want to scream, "doesn't anyone preserve their food anymore? Quit staring!"

Ive been trying lots of new recipes, I can't wait to share with you. Hubby and I are trying to give up wheat and white sugar........lord help us. Its been a challenging month so far...you'll be hearing me whine and complain about it in the near future.

I know there's more...so much more to tell you. Are you still there???? Did I scare you all off?
You know, I get rambling and sometimes I forget that at this point..until I hit the publish button, I really am just talking to myself.

Anywho, lets chat soon.

Kylie Jayne

Blueberry sour cream scones

I visited with a bunch of great ladies this morning at my pal Alison's house for a mug of coffee and baileys lovely tea.
It was so nice to come out of my cave and get out and visit over some yummy morning nibbles and great conversation. I tried out a new scone recipe as I was, as usual, not very organised and had not planned ahead my treat to share with the ladies.
This one came together very quickly and I timed it just right so that I could deliver a steaming plate full of yummy blueberry scones to the gathering. Mind you, they did make me half an hour late as I don't normally do the wedge style scone and I had to pull them out of the oven, separate them and give them a quick flash in the oven to be sure they were fully cooked through.
I had a few requests for the recipe, so here 'tis ladies, with a few alterations.

I got this recipe from a website called Chef in you, I'll be heading back there after I finish this post to go check out some more recipes.
Click on the pic to be directed to the recipe, I had to nab the pic from their website as  I didn't take one of my own this morning.....as I was running late remember!!!!
Then scroll down to see what I did differently.

So instead of 2/3 cup of sour cream, I used 100ml of strawberry yogurt and then made up the rest with sour cream to get the correct amount.

I also used full fat sour cream. Did I tell you this is not diet friendly already?
I also upped the amount of sugar from 3 tablespoons to 6 tablespoons!!

THEN, I made a vanilla bean drizzle to go on top of the warmed scones..........drool!

Vanilla Bean Drizzle.

5 tablespoons of icing sugar

1 teaspoon of Madagascar Vanilla

a pinch of vanilla bean seeds. ( I have something like these in my pantry)

add a tiny bit of milk until you get the "drizzle" consistency you like.

If you don't have the vanilla bean seeds don't worry, the recipe is just as yummy without it. They just had an extra hit of vanilla flavor and the seeds looks so great in the drizzle.

Easy!!

December

I don't know what I did with the entire month of November, other than watch way too many old episodes of Lost on Netflix and make jam. I know I was busy.......productive, no...but busy....yes.
I did a couple of Christmas markets, sold lots of my jams and jellies and had tonnes of fun doing it.
No excuses though, just letting you all know I'm still alive and well. I don't have cabin fever just yet!

So lets just pretend like November didn't exist and just jump head first into December shall we?
Firstly, a quick update and some pics from the last month.

We are finally seeing some snow on our side of the mountain which in turn is bringing out the Christmas spirit in the Simpson household ( I must admit we've been a little Grinchy in these parts, with the hubby being away so long).

The kids are getting excited, thanks to our nightly visits from Kevin the elf. He has been a naughty little elf lately, getting into all kinds of mischief, stealing my lipstick, eating and drinking from the pantry and making little elf messes all over the house. What a fine example of what NOT to do for the children.

I finally caved in and dragged the Christmas tree out of storage yesterday. The girls and I had a great time deciding on our color scheme and making a start on our decorating. We still have a long way to go but it's nice to get started.

Get a load of the size of the Narcissus bulb we planted. I potted it up mid November and it looks as though it will flower in the next week or so. I've always wanted to plant one but never got around to it.

I'm hoping to feature it in a lovely table centerpiece for the holidays. 

I've been working quite a bit at Simply baskets with Brenda in her new location and now that she has expanded her business and added the florist, I've been lucky enough to get some floral training and some much needed hands on experience. So stay posted for some more pics.

Next up...holiday baking. I'm thinking butter tarts, as always, but have been scouring pinterest for some new family favorites to add to the ever expanding cookbook.

If anyone was some favorite recipes they are willing to share I'd love some new inspiration.

I also have some great recipes I want to share soon. Like this one.... Magic crust custard pie. 

The girls and I made this lovely, simple dessert tonight which reminded me of the delicious custard tarts you get in the bakeries in Australia. Although, we couldn't wait for it to cool down so we ate it warm with fresh blackberries and a dusting of icing sugar. The only thing it was missing was a dollop of whipped cream.

The girls devoured it and we've already planned future alterations to the recipe using some passion fruit pulp. Yum.

Anyhow, it's after midnight and I had better get myself off to sleep. Just wanted to say hi. I hope you are all well and feeling festive, can you believe there's only two weeks until Christmas? Eeeeeeeeeeeek!!

Halloween hangover

Farewell October...with your birthdays, thanksgiving and Halloween and Hello nice quiet November. 

The kids are all settling back into their post candy school routine and I'm looking forward to a month of mellowness and quiet Christmas planning. 

Halloween has come and gone (can I get a hell yeah from the audience!!!), not that I don't like to celebrate the scary season, but it does make my kiddos a little crazy.

I'm one of "those" parents that lets my kids gobble up all their candy straight after Halloween. The sooner that stuff is out of my house the quicker the sugar induced mood swings are over.

I worked this Halloween, in full costume, at the store handing out candy to all the wee little downtown trick or treaters. Within 2 hours we had around 1100 trick or treaters... that's a lot of "Happy Halloweens" and "ooooh look at YOUR costume" and " What are you's?????" 

Shortly after my shift I ripped home, took off my bat lady costume, made myself a thermos full of hot toddy, grabbed the kids and headed out for some trick or treating. The weather was nice and mild, no snow which meant the kids could show off their costumes without having to cover them up with winter jackets.

I managed to snap a few pics of the kids before they left for school, so fun that they get to dress up and wear their costumes all day. Zoe put so much work into hers, the hot glue gun, scissors and makeup were out for days as she put her outfit together. I think I might have a future Tim Burton on my hands!!

Marley put her own outfit together also and when I asked her what she was her response was " I'm a little kid who goes to pubs and kills people in the washroom". 

She looked semi sweet in her outfit until she declared her evil plot...........what do you think??

Zoe, was a mixture of the mad hatter and the evil side of the Cheshire cat. 

I'm happier that the girls are embracing the creepy side of Halloween and have grown out of the princess dresses, tiara's and cutesy costumes. 

I hope everyone had a spooktacular Halloween. 

Tootles,

Kj*

My happy little vegemite.

It's official...Miss Marley is now officially an Australian citizen. Only took me 7 years to get my butt organised and get the paperwork done. 

She received her certificate in the mail yesterday and now I can get her an Aussie passport to complete the process....woohoo.

I will now teach her the happy little Vegemite jingle (Zoe's favorite), the slip slop slap song and other random Aussie trivia that she will be needing in the future if she wants to "blend in"!!!!

Next big thing on my humongous list of things to do is to get my Canadian citizenship, and from what I have been reading is quite a bit more complicated that Marley's simple application process. Oh the joys of marrying someone from another country. 

I am, at this point, an expert form filler outer lady, I think I should get myself a government job after all of this is over. 

I'm thinking the passport office could use my expertise!!!