A Tent Raisin’ and Father’s Day

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This past weekend was so great. Saturday arrived sunny and clear – and we had big plans! After the usual greeting, feeding, playing, burping, and napping, I went downstairs with baby J and Tyler and found out that I had been totally spoiled this year for my birthday! Tyler had found a few useful things (new bathmat) and things I’d like (funky flower ring holder and little frames) plus a huge new coffee table that he’d secretly assembled in the basement and lugged up in the middle of the night, draping it with hot pink wrapping paper and yellow bows – the first thing I saw.

Besides being useful for storing stuff it actually lifts up so you can work or eat without hunching over. It also lowers back down steadily so you don’t have to remove anything. Very good job picking it out and I know we’ll use it a lot!

We took a relaxing walk in the glinting sunlight with baby J to get coffee, and then arrived home and people started coming over. We’d invited some friends and family to help put up a tent in the backyard that’d give us shade and a more private area to hang out and eat dinner outside. Tyler’s parents brought the tent, and everyone pitched in to get it set up and sturdy.

I was also given some garden themed gifts – a frog statue, a salad bowl mix (excited to grow my own salad!) a metallic sunflower table, and a couple of comfortable reclining lawn chairs. Plus baby J got his own set of tiny gardening gloves! I let our yard and garden go totally wild last year, and I’m excited to make more of an effort with it this year. Next stop, tomatoes!

We spent some time having drinks, snacks, and lively conversation in the newly shaded backyard before people left and it was just the 3 of us. The only blip on the day’s landscape was when Herman found a little robin in one of the garden boxes, lunged and shook it! Poor thing didn’t stand a chance. I was shocked and mad at Herman, but he didn’t know any better – he treats his toys the same way.

After another nap and some down time, I put Julian to bed and my mom came over to snooze on the couch while we hit the town. We enjoyed a huge salad, steak, and lobster dinner at the Keg in the Market and then checked out our friends playing at the Heart and Crown. It was really fun – I even had a couple glasses of wine – and it’s funny, we were doing all the same things I would have done last year, but it feels different. Like calling home after dinner to make sure the baby was still just sleeping. Like talking over dinner about how he just started to notice his hands and keeps putting them out in tiny fists to stare at.

Going out to a pub and watching people and knowing that although they can’t tell, we’re parents now. So we didn’t drink more than a bit of wine or a couple beers, didn’t dance with abandon or feel careless about what time it was – we still had a nice night out. I wouldn’t trade what we have now for any of those old days when we partied a bit harder, stayed out a bit longer, and slept in a bit later.

Speaking of which, it was also Father’s Day this weekend! A rainy, miserable day that we spent as a family, drinking coffee, playing with baby J, having dinner with Tyler’s dad too. I can’t believe our good luck this year, that we have this great little family now, and Tyler is not only a dad, but a wonderful one. I love hearing him talk to Julian, playing songs on the piano, being silly and he happily changes diapers. I’m pretty excited to see this father-son bond grow in the years to come. I know it’ll hinge on love, laughter, stories and probably music.

Peace, quiet and pasta at Zola’s

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Living in Bells Corners isn’t so bad. It’s an older neighbourhood, with plenty of schools, parks, and stores. And lately we’ve been trying out some of the restaurants close to home with the happy realization that there are a few gems right in our backyard so to speak!

When it comes to Italian food, especially pasta, I’m sort of a picky customer. It’s understandable, right? After sampling fettucini Alfredo in Rome and pizza in Naples, the food here in Canada doesn’t always quite measure up. On Sunday night, after a long week of baby time, we decided to head out on a date to Zola’s on Robertson Road, with the little man in tow, and while he napped we had a great meal of mussels, wine, and homemade pasta.

Zola's wine
Zola’s looks unassuming, perched at one end of a plaza and looking dark from the outside. Inside, it’s clean and modern, with a counter of fresh goods for sale (lasagna, bread, pasta sauces and desserts). It’s small and cosy, with Adele’s hazy vocals playing softly in the background and not a bad table anywhere. We sat by the window with Baby J and looked over the menus carefully.

Tyler opted to get an appetizer of mussels in a slightly spicy garlic and wine cream sauce. I munched on a couple of them, but then realized that dipping the bread in the sauce was heavenly and tried to restrain myself from eating all four rolls myself.

Zola's bread Zola's mussels

We both decided to get pasta as the main course. I chose a spinach and cheese cannelloni, drenched in more melted cheese and tomato sauce (there’s also a meat version) and Tyler selected the spaghetti puttanesca which featured ropes of pasta smothered in a spicy sauce, olives, and salmon-based meatballs. We both liked our meals a lot – the pasta is homemade, slightly thicker and chewier than the store bought stuff, and you can also order it gluten free.

Zola's restaurant

We hadn’t been to Zola’s since welcoming our son into the world, and we clinked our wineglasses to his safe arrival, to our first couple of months of parenthood, and to being able to still go out for a first class meal (the little guy slept like an angel the whole time). The restaurant was very quiet and our waitress didn’t bat an eye at us bringing a baby – we felt very welcome.

Weekend roundup and a bit more salad

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The weather this weekend has been strange and unpredictable: humidly muggy and sweltering, braced with torrential downpours and even hail. So we spent time mostly indoors, with family. My dad and his partner stopped in with coffees Saturday morning, and got to have a bit of alert and smiley baby time before the little man passed out. He’s getting so cute, very responsive to us, and in the mornings now when I go to get him he’s happy, grinning when he sees me, instead of crying and clamouring to be fed RIGHT NOW.

monkey suit baby

Even though he’s just 2 months old, the little guy had started to spoil me a bit, sleeping for 6, 7 and then one 8 hour stretch this past week, from about 9:30pm to 4 or 5am. Then just as suddenly he started waking up again around 1 and 2am. There’s no pattern to it, so I guessed he was just hungry but he also didn’t nap so well those days and must have been overtired. So I’ve been trying to revolve the days around him a bit more, watching carefully for his sleepy cues and getting him settled into sleep before I missed the window of him wanting to snooze.

Saturday afternoon, we drove out to visit my Oma in Calabogie cottage country. We also stopped at the Neat Cafe for a handmade pizza and I don’t know if I was just really hungry but it was maybe the best pizza I’ve had since dining in Naples. Seriously, so, so good; chewy thin crust, sweet tomato sauce, and gooey, piping-hot cheese.

Neat Cafe Burnstown Pizza

When I was younger, Saturday nights would mean dressing up and getting together with friends, trying out restaurants, dancing at *that* piano bar, but I know I’m an adult now because after Tyler left to go to work, I got a sitter (thanks Mom!) and went out to do groceries. Not only did I get myself in bed before 11, but I didn’t mind a bit.

Getting those groceries meant I had a fridge full of good stuff to made Sunday brunch, something I haven’t done in months and months. Breakfast lately is usually a bowl of Shreddies at 5am then coffee later in the morning. So I went to town making eggs, bacon, and hash browns, then used a trick my Mom showed me: drain the grease after cooking the bacon, and thrown in a bunch of greens to wilt them down and eat with your brekkie. I used an arugula and baby spinach mix.

arugula and baby spinach