We planted clover in the backyard last year so that we didn’t have to stare at dirt anymore, and so that we never had to cut grass again.  Sometimes, however the clover gets a little long as you can see here.

Steve recently found a variety of seed that grows short clovers at Tregunno Seeds on Catharine Street North.  We’ll have to try it out since some of the clovers in our backyard are just so super long.  I’m gunning for integrating Irish or Scotch moss into the mix, but I think that might just be wishful thinking and potentially impossible.

If you have the slightest itch towards craftiness, and sewing then you need to make your way down to Needlework on James Street North.  It carries beautiful fabrics, patterns, crafty books, sewing and embroidery supplies.

I love that there is now a sewing place downtown, and that I no longer have to get in a car to grab some fabric, or a button.  Not to mention if you don’t have a sewing machine or if you just want a different sewing/work environment you can pay by the hour to use their in-store machines.

On top of it being just about the prettiest store ever -high tin gold ceilings, bright and airy, and filled with creative inspiration one would usually only dreams of- it also offers fabulous classes. Next month’s workshops sound amazing; a leather moccasin making class umm hello!? Awesome!

Over the weekend I attended my very first ever introductory embroidery class at Needlework.  Our talented instructor for the day Kate Jackson taught us some basic embroidery stitches to get us novice embroiders on our way to creating our own masterpieces.

The samples below are from Kate Jackson (our instructor), Kate Hunter (partner of Needlework & avid embroiderist), and someone who I know is on their way to becoming a fantastic embroiderer -today was her first time and look at her stitches!

Next month Kate Jackson will be back to teach two more classes: Machine Embroidery, and Hand Embroidered Monograms.  I’m especially interested in going to the Monograms class.  I think that embroidered lettering is so gorgeous.  My goal is to one day have the alphabet from A-Z in a variety of fanciful embroidered stitches.

It was great to meet Liz Simpson (partner of Needlework) and all the lovely folks that came to last Saturday’s class.  I hope everyone enjoyed continuing their projects for the day in the comforts of a shady and breezy garden patio stitching away.

For another sneak peak at Liz and Kate’s store check out Beaux Mondes’ post here.

*Needlework, 174 James St. North, 905.667.5663, Open Tues-F 11-6, Sat 11-5, Sun 11-4

We finally have CBC in Hamilton in its newest ever format… digital!

Nearly a month ago CBC launched its first ever digital only news station.  Welcome to the digital age and welcome to Hamilton!  The station combines a number of news sources with different social media formats such as the already active #HamOnt Twitter community and local bloggers. Hamilton veterans Paul Wilson (writer of the infamous Hamilton Spectator Streetbeat) and Roger Gillespie (former managing editor of the Hamilton Spector), are part of the small team of Hamilton CBC reporters covering the news here in Hamilton.

Not only is it fabulous to see another news source reporting and supporting Hamilton culture, but it is great to see the CBC presence on the street level too.

CBC Hamilton is officially in their new digs in the former Friendship Gift Shop on James St. North.

I’ve noticed this great logo plastered on bus shelters all over town.

A special treat from the CBC Hamilton opening at the last art crawl.  CBC cupcakes yum!

Its refreshing to see an integrated approach to reporting that interacts with the community from the ground on up.  I’m looking forward to seeing how the CBC presence in Hamilton continues to develop over the years.  Perhaps it will even attract some bigger Hamilton features on CBC Radio and Television.  Or perhaps it may bring CBC guests to the city for special talks or broadcasts.  Tonight Nora Young – host of CBC Radio’s Spark – was in Dundas to do a talk about the “Digital You”.  Seems like a great start so far!

PS. -Thanks CBC Hamilton for the shout-out yesterday in your new feature Best of Digital Hamilton.

The weather was devine this past weekend.  We enjoyed three consecutive lovely outdoor backyard barbecues!  The third BBQ was at our place with some old friends from Toronto.

I planned the food around the theme of a summery Caribbean meal.  For the starter, I made my first attempt at coconut shrimp.  It was pretty easy, just shell and clean the shrimp, pat dry, salt and pepper liberally, coat in flour, dip into egg and then cover with unsweetened shredded coconut and deep fry.  I used a hot pepper jelly as a dipping sauce.  Overall I was pretty pleased with the turn out -crispy, quick and savoury sweet.

I had to do a bit of research on how to make jerk-chicken (another culinary first for me).  I combined two recipes (recipe one & two) and did a trial run once with a few tweaks and improvements.  As a base I marinated the chicken in a homemade jerk-chicken paste of green onions tops, red onion, garlic, all spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, scotch-bonnet peppers, molasses, brown sugar, a splash of dark rum, and fresh ground black pepper, and thyme leaves.  I ground up the ingredients into a paste and let chicken marinade for 24+ hours.

We cooked the chicken on low heat on the barbecue but with all the marinade and chicken juices dripping into the flames, there was some serious blackening of the chicken.   In the end this worked perfect for the look and taste of a proper jerk chicken.

The scotch bonnet peppers in the marinade were pretty hot!  So for a nice complement I made a cool mango, papaya, avocado, cucumber, coriander, mint and lime salsa.  I had a bean salad left over from the day before’s BBQ, and just added some potatoes to make another cooling side dish.

For this meal I had to plan in advance to make sure I had ripe mangos, avocados, and plantains.  Plantains take some time to ripen nicely and I wanted them to be in their optimal pan-frying condition.  I discovered that the riper they are the faster they brown and the easier they are squish (with a fork or rolling pin) for a tasty pan-fried delight.  All this was served along side a pot of hot coconut rice.

The first dessert, made by our friend Andrea, was a gorgeous flan with raspberries, and blackberries on top of a layer of custard.  Note the letter “S” on the cake (for the S’s of Steve and Seema). So cute!  The dessert was perfect -fresh, light and summery!

Our friend Vern brought some homemade butter-tart squares which were gooey, and amazing.  You need to take a peak at Vern’s blog!  She has some mouth watering recipes and great posts about her dining discoveries plus her all time restaurant favourites.

A gorgeous weekend enjoyed with friends and family!  I’m looking forward to many more culinary delights this summer in our backyard!

This month’s artcrawl is going to be a good one!  SO many things going on;  Steve and our talented friend Jamie Lawson both have their solo openings tomorrow night, there’ll be the super-fabulous vintage dress sale that White Elephant is hosting, and CBC Hamilton will finally have their official doors open for the crawl too (yay)!

Some sneak peaks…

Steve’s show is called Straits, and is amazing!  It features new 2D and 3D works using mixed media, metal, and routered wood.  His show will be up at b contemporary gallery at 226 James St. North until June 2nd.

Up on the 3rd floor of 126 James St.  North, be sure to check out Jamie Lawson’s exhibit Albedo in Sylvia Nickerson’s Open Studio.  His work is looking fab, and he will also have some prints for sale to adorn your lovely walls.

To get your one of a kind 1940′s-60′s vintage dress you must check out White Elephant’s Dreaming of Dresses -vintage dress sale!  They’ve got the combined super-power forces of Ottawa’s Victoire, Hamilton’s Peacock Chic, and Toronto’s Love in the Afternoon to put on the best vintage dress sale you’ve ever seen!

With the quickly warming weather this art crawl is sure to be a busy one.  I heard that last month the count was 6000 people!  Well done.  If you do plan to stop by the crawl it runs form 7-11pm and please remember to bring a non perishable good to Cannon & James North (specifically baby formula and baby food)!  Help your community!

 

The AGH held its annual Spring Art Sale from May 3rd to May 6th.  The sale featured work from 50 artists (local Hamilton artists and artists from the surrounding GTA) exhibiting artwork varying from painting to pottery, jewelry and ceramics. I went and checked it out over the weekend for Doors Open Hamilton.

Of all the amazing art on display I was immediately attracted to a ceramic piece by artist Lana Filippone.  I adored her dainty and sweet creations and wanted to take each one of them home with me!

This work is from her series “Dwelling on a Whim” -playing off the theme of “childhood daydreams”.  The artist describes her work as having it all: “bunnies with tree houses on their backs, to grumpy birthday party guests-of-honour”.  Adorable!!

I see these pieces going perfectly along side high-tea, and crumpets.

 

 

 

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of finally checking out 270 Sherman – the old Imperial Cotton Mill in the north-east end of town – which has been transformed into artist’s studios and other creative spaces. The area has a real historic industrial Hamilton feel and I was intrigued by the neighbouring buildings.

I wondered a little about how 270 Sherman came to be what it is today and had heard a rumour once that someone from the Zeidler family may have bought the building.  FYI – the Ziedler family own both 401 Richmond and The Gladstone Hotel in Toronto.  The transformation of 270 Sherman into a creative space would then all make sense, knowing that 401 Richmond is a transformed industrial space that is now home to artist’s studios and galleries, as well as various other creative workspaces.  And The Gladstone is a refurbished boutique hotel that supports the Queen West art scene with gallery exhibitions, Come Up to My Room, and numerous other artistic events.  Hmmm… I wonder.  The rumour was recently dispelled as I learnt from a reader and staff member from 270 Sherman that in fact the building is locally developed and managed by The Crerar Group from right here in Hamilton. Sorry for any perpetuating of false rumours!

In any case I loved the 1900′s turn of the century factory -what a fabulous space!  According to its history Hamilton was apparently not just a steel town but also a garment and textile town too with a multitude of textile factories spattered throughout the city.  In the building there were still remnants of the former factory: old worker’s lockers, patches on the hardwood floor where the workers and factory machines treaded, and the steel plates on each of the steps leading up to the factory floor boldly embossed with Imperial Cotton Co. Ltd. 1900.

I was also really excited to check out the TH&B (2) exhibit that was being put on in the old factory space of 270 Sherman.  I wasn’t living in Hamilton for the first TH&B but had read about it, and so I was super excited to kill two birds with one stone by seeing the building space and opening night of TH&B2 all in one go!  The opening was amazing!  A great show of support for the arts from local Hamiltonians.  A bus load of folks from Toronto’s OCAD even came for the opening night.  It felt so good to be a part of something like this, and to know that there ARE great artistic things happening in this city.

I enjoyed the exhibit and the building so much that I wanted to check it out again in the day light for Doors Open Hamilton.  Here are some of the day-time photos of the exhibit and the building.

The night of the opening behind David Hind and the Aluminum Quilting Society’s piece there was some live aluminum quilting going on.  The artwork above is actually the front of a mini enclosed workspace, where artists were working to etch and engrave steel plates live!  It was pretty cool. Throughout the gallery space and the opening you could hear the industrious muted sound of metal being ground and worked.

The TH&B2 exhibit is on until May 12th.

 

*270 Sherman Ave. North, 905.547.8256

Recently we’ve been writing a lot of lists and organizing around here.

First on the list was to sort through our record collection, and weed out some of the non-essentials i.e. Milli Vanilli and STYX.  There’s probably still a ton of records left that could’ve gone in the “sale” bin but alas for now they will stay in our newly organized and sorted (by genre/era) record shelf.

Over the weekend I headed on down to The Brain for the bi-annual Deep Groove Record Swap.  It was a casual scene.  The regular crowd of afro-funk, soul, reggae and ska sellers and traders were not there in full force like I’ve seen a previous swaps, so I have to admit I was a little sad.  I didn’t pick up anything new but I managed to make one $5 sale from my “sale” bin; a lovely Roberta Flack album that we had a double copy of.

I loved seeing all the different record enthusiasts swapping and flipping through records and chatting.  The best was watching a dad school his young daughter about vinyl.  He was happily showing her his awesome finds of Joy Division and New Order.

If you’re not into the record purchasing and swapping but maybe into some vinyl listening, there’s always Jazz Chess on late Sunday afternoons.   You could swing by for a beer, wine, cocktail or juice, jazz, chess and a nice ol’ cheese platter.

*The Brain, 199 James St. North, 289.396.8508

Over the weekend we had some friends over for brunch.  I love the brunch get together: it’s casual, involves my favourite type of meal, and it’s not an all day affair (leaving ample time for late Sunday afternoon lounging).

I was pleased as punch that we actually had a set of matching dishes that could seat 8 people!  Our glasses set is only at 6, but the rest of the dishes and cutlery made it all around.  I inherited this dish set from one of my parent’s friends.  My parent’s are at the age where all of their friends are downsizing and moving to condos.  So I’ve been encouraging my mother to send me over for visits as people sift through and purge.  From this little tactic we’ve managed to score some great finds.

The table was set and the sun was shining through and everything looked so nice.  I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures.

There have been many Toronto visits the past month.

Last weekend I headed into the city to meet with my friend Vern, to check out City of Craft, and to show my support for the Day of Action rally at Queen’s Park (my first rally ever!).

I didn’t take a lot of pictures this visit.  But one picture I did manage to snap was this one of Spadina station.  I love how a lot of the subway stations in Toronto still look so retro.  I particularly like the contrast of this red bench against the rusty yellow honeycomb-esque tiles.

I’m looking forward to sticking around Hamilton for the next few weekends with tons of stuff going on like Canada’s largest food truck rally on Ottawa Street, The Brain’s Deep Groove Record Swap, Lee Fields‘ funk show at This Ain’t Hollywood, Doors Open, and Steve’s art opening at b contemporary (for the May artcrawl).