Last week was full of preparations and celebrations. Maisie is three! I can hardly believe it. At the same time it seems impossible she could have been any different than she is now. I remember a friend telling me that she thought three was just awesome and I completely agree. Maisie’s imagination is constantly working in the most amazing ways. She picks things up so quickly and is ready for the next thing before I’ve even realized that she’s mastered the first. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday and she said “blue with strawberries inside.” I was very happy to comply and made one of my favourite recipes for strawberry pound cake and covered the whole thing with blue buttercream icing. I wanted to make swirls all over but ran out of icing and Rob suggested I just smooth out what I had left on the top and leave the swirls on the sides. Brilliant. It looks great to me.  I found the little dancer in her blue dress while I was hunting for my icing tips so I popped her on there along with three candles for the birthday girl to blow out. The number shirt this year is from Rae’s Flashback Skinny Tee pattern. I made the size 3T and it fits Maisie perfectly with just enough length in the sleeves for growing. My only modification was to shave about ⅛” of the neckline and use a narrower band; Maisie often complains when shirts are too close to her neck. We had three little friends over for a part and made no-bake cheesecakes from this recipe. Cooking with Dog is a favourite show of Maisie’s and she’s watched this particular video many, many times. I didn’t even really have to give directions for the different steps of making the filling. She knew what to do and was happy to help her friends figure it out. We had berries and mini chocolate chips for the kids to put on top of their cheesecakes. So much fun (with leftover cake for breakfast and tea during the week).

I made oatmeal raisin cookies yesterday. The recipe is one I acquired years ago from a friend at university. They're just sweet enough and a little bit chewy but the best part is that my friend wrote out the recipe for me. I spent over an hour hunting for it on Saturday night. There are loads of oatmeal raisin cookies floating around on the internet and there probably isn't a lot of variation between them but somehow having the recipe in my friend's handwriting makes these ones just a little better. Like I feel a little connection to her even though we haven't been in touch in years. Making up cookies from this recipe reminds me of evenings spent studying, baking, drinking tea and watching Anne of Green Gables.

Andrea's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Cream together:
1 C unsalted butter
1½ C brown sugar
¼ C sugar

Add:
2 eggs
2½ tsp. vanilla

Combine and add:
1¾ C flour
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg

Add:
1 C raisins
3 - 3½ C old fashioned (large flake) rolled oats.

Drop heaping tablespoons of dough about 3" apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350℉ for 6 - 9 minutes. Makes about 5 dozen cookies. Excellent with a cup of tea and a good friend.

We got home from camping yesterday afternoon. We were only out for one night but it still felt pretty good to be home, showered and sleeping in our own bed (without so many mosquitos buzzing around). We had a great time camping. The weather wasn't great so we altered our plans and the group of us headed out to my sister's in-law's cabin instead a campground. We still had to deal with a lot of bugs but when the rain came we were all glad of the roof over our heads.



The group of us consisted of me, Rob and Abby along with my sister and her husband, their friend Jeff and his niece Ella, and Jane's friend Sarah-Lacey and her dog Jenna. The dogs were good entertainment for all of us. Jenna is about five times bigger than Abby but a year younger and there were some mild disagreements about who should be in charge. When the dogs weren't entertaining us Ella was. She's a super cute five year old with plenty to talk about once she got used to us. She's also a bit of a night owl and stayed up until nearly eleven when all the adults (and both of the dogs) were barely awake at nine.




The area around the cabin is great for exploring (wear your Muskol!). You have to hike in a short way from the parking lot just to get to the cabin and if you walk a little further you'll find the lake. It was chilly and windy while we were there but Jenna was up for a few games of fetch in the water and Abby got her feet wet. If you walk back to the parking lot and across the road you'll reach the river where we found a group of kayakers. Jane, biologist and natural teacher, also found some snails and shared her knowledge with Ella who was fascinated (and even took her bug jacket off to see better). Further down the road is a short trail into the small falls (we visited the big falls further down the river a few weeks ago) where we found a breezy open area for a bit of a rest and the most amazing shades of green.



Hanging out in the cabin was pretty relaxing. There are cozy couches and beds to lounge on and there was plenty of reading, napping and (in my case) knitting while we were there. Jane brought "Hey! That's My Fish!" and we played a few games while everyone got acquainted. The cabin is pretty posh (in my experience of cabins) and has a propane stove and oven so we were able to make some really good meals while we were out there along with the traditional fire roasted hot dogs and s'mores.




As always, there are more photos over on my Flickr.