Birthdays everywhere, and an aboriginal bistro

I was in Ottawa this past weekend for numerous celebrations - one of my best friends' 30th birthday parties, mother's day, and probably most monumentous: both of my parents' 60th birthdays! My parents' birthdays are exactly 1 week apart (actually my whole immediate family has a random type A birthday pattern of all having birthdays on the same weekday each year - this year it's Sunday!). Their anniversary is smack in the middle.  Although this sounds hectic, they really made it easy on me and my sister as we got older as it was the perfect opportunity to combine celebrations.

My parents were steadfast in not wanting a party or a big "to do", so we tried to be creative. We ended up taking them out for a unique dinner at an aboriginal bistro recommended by a family friend - Sweetgrass Bistro, at 108 Murray St. in Ottawa's market area. After eating there we would all happily recommend it and would love to go back!

Vegans or non-meat lovers can probably stop reading now...

Sweetgrass is an aboriginal bistro, so there are many unique meats on the Spring menu.  The restaurant sources local meat, cheeses, and veggies and thanks each of their farmers on the back of the menu. We started with a bit of popcorn (cute touch from the restaurant!), and then had elk dumplings and a trio of cheeses as shared appetizers. Both were delicious and interesting flavours we had never had before.  The restaurant's style seems to be to take a "typical" dish and prepare it with unique (at least to me) ingredients. Then to move onto the mains - my father and I had the land special which was braised venison served on sauteed kale (I think?) and a variety of beans. My sister had goose leg - similar to duck confit - nice and crispy on the outside and rich meat on the inside. My mom had halibut, and my husband had grilled buffalo! For dessert we shared a rosemary creme brule (I am not really a creme brule fan, but this one...this one I would run back to!) and a traditional aboriginal cake that was somewhat like a mild fruit cake. Definitely a meal for the senses - and everything lived up to our expectations. The service was excellent - attentive and knowledgeable but down to earth.

If you are in Ottawa and looking for an excellent meal I wholeheartedly recommend visiting Sweetgrass!

Lovely Lonny

The new issue of Lonny is out now, always a great source for inspiration! Check out the May/June 2011 issue here.

And here are some of my favourites from the issue:

Love this "after" on the left (p62) - those chairs are to die for, and the mirror on the ground reminds me of a mirror I have on the floor of my office...although it wasn't intended to be a design statement on my side haha

Love the image on the top right - it's not exactly my style but I do like the mix of bright yellow, green, and comfy brown.

Maybe I have a yellow thing going on right now?

Pretty much any photo that features a rad cover gets featured in my blog...I'm just sayin'...

Happy Lonny-ing!

Go go garden

Yesterday we had a little lunch & learn at work about container gardening (amazing work perk?? I agree).  The presenter is a colleague of mine who dives into things head first, and as an example didn't have to buy produce for 3 months during his first year of gardening.

My hopes aren't QUITE so high - just thinking about an upgrade over some of the basic (but delicious) herbs I grew last year. This year I was hoping to do some lettuce (who else loves arugula?) and cherry tomatoes. A work friend who lives nearby said that they have tried cherry tomatoes for 2 years and the squirrels eat all the fruit before they could get to it. Bah! I LOVE tomatoes from the garden - they just scream summer.



via Etsy

I was very inspired yesterday when I got home so I went out and started weeding our garden (and lawn...we're a bit behind).  And I was making good progress until I found...eek...a dead mouse in our flower bed. YUCK. Our neighbour has an outdoor cat - couldn't he have taken care of it for us?? Anyways that was enough to stop my garden progress for the night, the Mr. will have to deal with that when he has time.

Anyhoo, if anyone out there in blogland knows anything about either vegetable gardening or flowers / plants (we have to liven up our front yard which is west facing), suggestions are more than welcome!

The presenter yesterday recommended the following book for container gardening - definitely sounds like something that is attainable (hopefully???):

via amazon.ca



I also tend to trust most things from the City TV crew - has anyone read the Frankie Flowers book? I think it is more for plants and flowers than veggies, but still piques my interest:

via amazon.ca



DIY painted lamps

A little while ago, I posted some inspiration pics for turquoise lamps.  Turns out I had great directions from my commenters over to a DIY step by step at Isabella and Max from Barbara at HodgePodge, and a perfect example to follow from Emily at Name 5 Things.

It all started with a trip to Home Depot (since we're there all the time I have to occupy myself by looking for something exciting, beyond the wood or nails or whatever functional thing we are buying). On this trip I found a PAIR of lamps for $13 (I didn't put them together for the before picture, but you get the idea):

When I bought them I knew immediately I wanted to paint them turquoise - and figured the worse thing that can happen is that I don't like them, and turn around and sell them on Craigslist (and probably for more than the $13 I paid for them!).

So I went through the tutorial and prepped and primed them with spraypaint. I tried to get even coverage and made sure to do light coats. I did 2 coats of primer:

Then it was time for the fun part - the colour!! I did 2 coats of "aqua" spray paint and 2 coats of gloss spray - easy add on for this project since I could only find the colour of spray paint I wanted in a "satin" finish, but I was going for a lacquered finish. I lightly sanded a couple of rough spots between the primer coat and the colour, but other than that it was pretty smooth:

Nice and glossy!

Here is the full finished product:



Cost for this project:

Lamps (2):  $13

Spray paint (primer, turquoise, and gloss - $6 each): $18

Total Cost: $31. Considering it is next to impossible for me to find a lamp that I like under $50 I think that's a success!

Watch for full bedside photos to come once I finish painting our bedside tables.







Friday faves - stripes

I can't say that I have always loved stripes, but there are some situations where they just work!  One in particular is nautical inspired fashion...love this take on stripes for work:



via 9to5Chic 

(*sidenote: this is a great fashion site and based in SF - one of my all time fave places)

Stripes for home can be implemented anywhere from subtle to downright bold. Here are some ideas:



via DecorPad

West Elm via Welcome to Heardmont

via SimplyNattie

via Decor4All

via Innumerable Goods - this would be a cute utensil holder in a kitchen, non?

 

via Lilac and Grey

Dwell Studio via All Modern

Moooooo...cowhide

I want to add a cowhide rug to our bedroom - I think it will add a nice juxtaposition to some of the colours and pattern in our room.  I picked one up at Ikea this weekend (Koldby) - what do you think?

Do you like this? I like the angle but may want something with a bit more colour variation. I know there are a number of places that sell them where you can pick exactly what you want. I will probably go that route. I've always liked them and am convinced that it is one of the most versatile design pieces you can buy. I've seen them featured in bedrooms, living rooms, even bathrooms! (oh, to have a bathroom that large...)

Here are some photos that inspired me in the first place:



via DecorPad

Isn't this almost the exact room layout to mine? The rad is in the right place and everything!

via Apartment Therapy



via DecorPad

via BestingNesting

via My Interior Life

via DecorPad

via Achitecture Interior Design