Dulce de leche

Ice cream is always a summer staple, so with the warm weather I thought I should attempt to make some homemade ice cream. After searching around the garage for our old school ice cream maker and deciding on a recipe, I attempted my first homemade ice cream. 

I used this Recipe which turned out amazing. It was slightly on the sweet side so a spoonful was all you needed. 

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice Cream! 

Margarita Madness

What better way to spend a day out in the sun then with some Margaritas. Since it was Cinco de Mayo on Sunday we got into the festivities and made an assortment of different flavours. From the classic strawberry margaritas to cucumber and mint blended with Gin we tried it all.   

Ingredients for our Margaritas included: 

Frozen Fruit- Strawberries, Mangos, Mixed Berries

Tequila- of course

Strawberry Margaritas

We made Pineapple salsa cucumber bites based of this recipe

We spruced it up a bit and used Pineapple instead of mango, and peppers instead of tomatoes. 

These bites are nice and light and perfect for a BBQ as well as super simple to make.

We served the Cucumber Bites with homemade Guacamole, Antipasto, Tortilla Chips and Crackers. 

The girls all reunited

Cannot wait for what the summer has in store for us 

A day in the office

With work starting up we have been all around Victoria scouting for Winter Moths and figuring out where to start collecting first. Our first stop for today was Cook St and Beacon Hill Park. While at Beacon Hill Park we couldn't not go see the new piglets at the petting zoo. They were so adorable I just wanted to pick them up and put them in my pocket to bring them home. 

Momma with the babies

Piggy in the middle

Goat Stampede

Finally made it to the top of Mt Tolmie, beauty day to see all the mountains. 

Uplands Park  filled with wildflowers

Since we biked and bladed all morning I google mapped it to see how far we went and oh boy will I be feeling those hills tomorrow. 

Saturday Market

With the weather in full summer mode, my friends and I went to the Moss St Market opening day. In staying with my resolution to drive less, we went there on bikes and rollerblades. Yes I rollerbladed... Trying to bring them back in style. 

There were tons of cute stands with an array of fruits and vegetables, pottery, handcrafted soaps and homemade goodies

Food Stands lined the inner area. Mexican food, donuts, burgers and popsicles to name a few. 

On such a hot day I had to try the Raspberry Iced Tea

Soaps in all different shapes

Besties enjoying the sunshine

A great way to spend the day outdoors

Mamma Mia!

My father decided to go back to his roots and make homemade pasta like his mom used to make on their farm in Sicily. 

The recipe we used is very simple, you only need two ingredients: eggs and flour. 

Since we were having some friends over for dinner we doubled the recipe and made 6 servings which is 8 eggs and 6 cups of flour with some water to help. We mixed the dough up and let it rest throughout the afternoon covered with a tea towel. 

While the dough was resting I met up with my old roommate for lunch at this cute cafe I had never heard of before. The Hot and Cold Cafe is situated on Cook St. It's a very quaint cafe that fits about 20 people, their menu is written up on their chalkboard wall. Their menu is pretty small and consists of soups, salads and sandwiches. They have gluten free and vegan options. 

Trisha and I split a vegetarian sandwich with an almond spread and a fresh green salad with maple dijon balsamic dressing. Both were amazing 

A few hours later we returned to the pasta.

We went for the spinach and ricotta filling which includes: 

500g of ricotta

A fresh spinach bunch (or you can use frozen)

1 egg

some parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

Boil them for about 4 minutes or until they are floating

Add some tomato sauce

and a little Parsley to finish it off

The final product! You can't beat the taste of fresh pasta, and putting the effort into making it yourself makes it that much better.