Bear Report

There have been a few reports of Bear sightings this spring in my neck of the woods. About a month ago, a neighbour was driving by and saw a bear run into the woods along the far side of Grandma's house (next door to us). Last week one of John's friends said he drove past a bear running into the woods on the next concession over. So it sounds like one or more bears are traveling through the woods around here. I haven't been on any walks in the woods this season, as I've been sticking to the well travelled road. The road seems like a safer bet this time of year, but I keep aware of my surroundings anyway, just in case.

A few years ago we saw a bear on a drive up to Bala. This is a photo of him running from our car.

Have you seen or heard of any bear sightings where you are?
 

Deal Report: Cheese Replacement Vouchers

A few months ago, I opened a package of blue cheese and something just didn't seem right about it. But how can you tell if blue cheese is bad, right? I wasn't sure if I should eat it, so I put it back in the fridge and phoned the company for advice. The cheese was Castello brand from a company called Arla Foods. They advised me not to eat the cheese and said they would send me some cheese vouchers so I could replace the product.

About a week later I got $8.00 worth of replacement vouchers for their entire line of products, not just the blue cheese brand. The brands I could use the vouchers on were Tre Stelle, Dofino, or Castello, so I had a lot of options. Plus sending me $8.00 was really generous, as the original blue cheese purchase had been bought on sale for $2.99. Obviously, I am very impressed with their customer service!

I held onto the coupons and wasn't sure what I was going to get with them. More blue cheese? Fresh mozzarella ball? Some wonderful feta? Fresh grated Parmesan? I had a lot of options.

I noticed in the weekly grocery flyers that a Dofino Havarti (800g) was on sale for $10.99. It normally sells for $13.99, so $10.99 was a good deal. I decided to use my vouchers, and got another $8.00 off, which made this beautiful chunk of Havarti $2.99. DEAL!

So the original blue cheese purchase ($2.99) plus the out of pocket money I spent on the Havarti ($2.99), got me this $13.99 block of cheese for $5.98. Amazing.

Plus Havarti is amazing. So far we've had it melted on burgers, in grilled cheeses, in an omelette, on sandwiches, and I even melted some on nachos (it tastes so good melted). It will not take us long to eat this 800g block and we are definitely having a great time doing it!

Beholder Cake #FoodPicFriday

My favourite thing about gaming with my D&D group is making and sharing treats. In the past I've made some themed D20 dice cookies, along with an variety of other baking experiments that were thoroughly enjoyed while we battled monsters and solved mysteries during various campaigns. 

I am not the only baker in our group, and recently our friend Colleen made a Beholder monster cake for her husband's birthday. Nothing says happy birthday quite like a D&D monster.

Minion Toy - Finished Object

I have gotten into knitting toys lately, and one of my favourite things to do is search through the endless amounts of patterns on Ravelry for something cool to knit. I could spend hours on there just looking...so many patterns, so little time. I found a pattern for a Minion toy, which would make a perfect gift for my Mom (her kids are all grown up - she needs Minions!). The pattern included a photo tutorial, so it was a great project to start and complete pretty quickly.

The pattern can be found here.

For this pattern I had to 'pick up stitches' to make the Minion's overalls, something I had never done before. I found a video that showed me how to do it, and marveled at how amazing the internet is. I love that there are so many teachers out there who are happy to share their knowledge. It is the best!

This was a fun toy to make and Mom just loves it. I'm going to make a two-eyed Minion as well, so this one will have a buddy. So much fun!

(Light) Sky Rainbow

There was a pretty rainbow effect in the sky on my walk the other day. It was far more vibrant in real life, so this photo doesn't really do it justice. But if you look closely you can (sort of) see the colours.