29/11/11- Taste of Maui Tuesdays- Pineapple Coconut bread

It's the revival of Taste of Britain Tuesday! Though this week is a little different... It's taste of Maui Tuesday. 

When we were in Maui driving the Road to Hana, there were all these great little roadside stands selling homemade goodies like banana bread, coconut bars, fresh fruit smoothies and so on. I believe I saw on stand selling pineapple coconut bread. 

Upon arriving home (to the cold dry city) I was missing that Hawaiian feeling. (If you've been to Maui, you know what I am talking about) So I decided to try this very tropical recipe. 

I found it on this website and gave it a try. 

The recipe was pretty easy, and the house smelled amazing as it was baking. 

So tropical...I could almost hear the ocean waves crashing ;)

The 'bread' was more like a cake, and this is mentioned on the website. I found it to be almost a little too moist, and I had to bake it for a bit longer than what the recipe said. If I were to do it again, I'd use less pineapple, as that is what caused this cakey moist texture. 

However, it was delish! If you want a little tropical in your cold days, give this recipe a try. 

24/11/11- AGA

Earlier this week I drove up to Edmonton to attend to some bits and bobs. 

One thing on my list of to do's was to check out the Art Gallery of Alberta. The AGA had opened just after I had moved to England over two years ago, so I've missed out on seeing it till now. 

The exhibitions were great, and the layout of the gallery is nice as well. 

What I was also so impressed with was the building itself. A pretty amazing space to be in... I guess the architect decided to juxtapose the angled windows with a steel ribbon referencing the North Saskatchewan river with the Aurora Borealis. 

21/11/11- Cycle Sundays, Maui style

I miss my weekly posts for Cycle Sundays. Patty and Betsy (my two bikes) are home in England, so I've not done much cycling lately. 

(That, and I am not a fan of cycling on snow, our current weather here in Canada)

In Maui there were many locals on bikes around the small towns. Lots of them had bikes similar to my town bike, and there were many Cruiser bikes. (How cool eh?)

Life in Maui seems so slow paced, riding a bike around town for your daily ventures seems to fit well into that laid back vibe. 

One bike I spotted on my travels... 

20/11/11- Back, brr...

Well we are back from Maui!

I'm already missing looking at this...

The view from our balcony aka lanai

And drinking these...

Mai Tai

An amazing trip, Maui really is an island paradise. Thank you for the comments on my last post, the flowers really are beautiful eh?

This morning I woke up to -31. Not cool Canada, not cool. 

16/11/11- Where have I been?

Aloha!

Where have I been for the past two weeks you ask? 

Maui!

We came out here for my oldest BFF's wedding, which was so beautiful and amazing, and along with that have had a fantastic trip to Maui. 

We've got a few days left, and before we leave this island paradise I wanted to share some photos of some of the wonderful flowers found on the island. 

Mahalo for sticking with my blog during my absence. Once I get back home to Canada, will share a few more snaps. But for now, its back to the warm island air and pina coladas. 

2/11/11- Yar!

I attended a fab family birthday party on the weekend. It was for a lovely three year old whom I adore, and it was a dress up party. The guest of honor was a pirate, and all the children that attended dressed up as well. 

I took some fun photos that I was going to share, but ran out of time to make a decent blog post about the party. So instead I will just show these two photos of shoes. 

A good friend here at home is a drama teacher and always teaches her students the importance of shoes and how it creates a character. The shoes are the first piece of a costume an actor/actress receives, and once they have those shoes, they should not rehearse without them. For they put you into that character from the way you walk, to how you hold yourself on the stage. 

I thought of this when I looked at these two photos. 

(Playing musical islands. Like musical chairs, but since it was pirate themed it was islands)

(My cowgirl boots and the birthday boys pirate boots. Love this pic).

Exciting trip happening this week, so I may not blog as much, but will post some pics to tempt you of warmer climates when I get a chance.

31/10/11- First snow

What's that falling on my windshield? 

(FYI I was stopped at the red light and took this photo. Driving and taking photos is dangerous!)

Yup, it's snow!

However, the good thing about this snow is that it only was in certain areas of the city, and melted by the afternoon. The first snowfall is always fun and pretty, but after many months of it, let me tell you, its not so fun!