My Favorite Breakfast

A few months ago Nathan and I flew out to beautiful British Columbia for a wedding reception. We weren't sure where to stay since the bride and grooms place was full of siblings and pretty much ground zero for planning and decorations. This was when I had my first exposure to a real Bed & Breakfast.

Now I'm not talking like Motel 6 or La Quinta Inn with it's little breakfast of cereal and doughnuts. This place was literally a place to sleep and relax with the most amazing breakfasts each morning. We found the place on the Internet and we weren't really sure what we were going to find. It didn't look super glamorous but the reviews were great and the price didn't hurt either!

Well we soon found out that this B&B was run by a nice older couple. The husband was from Scotland and the wife from BC and the reason they had the B&B was because she loved to cook. They had renovated the basement and that's where the guests stayed. The rest of the house upstairs was full on antiques from when the area was settled with plaques describing each item and the time period it came from. The breakfast table overlooked their backyard which was full of trees and plants and flowers. My favorite part was all the fresh herb she grew right there from different kinds of parsley to mint to chives and asparagus. so cool!!! Did you know that asparagus grown right out of the ground in a single stalk??? I loved walking past her asparagus garden everyday! The only way I could describe this place was wonderfully quaint.

Each morning the hostess would prepare the most delicious breakfasts! Two of the days we came upstairs to find fresh scones baked that morning with homemade jam and butter, and that was just the precursor. My favorite breakfast she made was probably her glazed pear crapes with homemade whipped cream and powdered sugar. My mouth waters just thinking of it! Along with my first experience at a B&B it was my first real experience eating yogurt parfaits. Along with those fresh scones we always were served a fresh fruit cup or parfait. I'm pretty sure she made her own granola but it was so yummy! Ever since then, I've made my own fruit parfaits in the morning for breakfast. I buy strawberries, cantaloupe, honey dew, kiwi's and berries. Then I cut them up bite sized and grab some low-fat strawberry yogurt and granola and mix it all together. It really is one of the best parts of my day and it's pretty healthy as well!

Sadly I can't remember the name of the B&B. If I think of it I'll have to post it but I absolutely love my yogurt parfaits each morning!! And I'm determined to start growing all my own herbs! If I thought I could get asparagus to grow here I totally would do that too!!

For the recipe to my parfait, click the link to "Kina's Recipes"

Chix Books

I haven't had a lot of time to update my blog but I absolutely had to tell everyone about a really cool little group that I'm in. It's called "Chix Books" and it's a bookclub. A few ladies in Airdrie or Calgary (mostly Airdrie) read a different book every month and then get together a discuss it. We've only had two meetings so far but they have be AMAZING! The first book we read was "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld and wow, what great conversation this book inspired. so many different ideas about how we think about ourselves and how we treat others. It was my second time reading it and I was ready to go read the rest of the series after that!

The second book we read was "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. This book was so intense. The writing was amazing and the story, although somewhat disturbing at points, was so engaging. I HAD to know what was going to happen next for this family. The book had kind of a "Jane Eyre" feel to it, definitely a gothic novel and although it was a sad story the author told it in such a way that it was light and had almost a happy overtone. The end was so surprising and the story so involved that our Chix Books discussion was all about the plot and subplots. The funniest thing was seeing how others imagined how the different characters looked in their minds. One lady totally pictured one character to be black when he most obviously wasn't and I pictured the same character to be in his 30's kind of rugged looking with dark hair, which he wasn't! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes to read!

For this last dicussion we had a themed threat. Since the book took place in England our theme was "Tea & Crumpets" or English treats since who really knows what a crumpet is! We had a table full of things like scones (to take place of crumpets), turkish delight, tea, yorkshire pudding, york mints and little cookies and chocolates. I wish I would have taken a picture and am now resolved to always bring my camera. We discussed dressing up...we'll see how far that goes! haha

To the left I'm hoping to post whichever book we read for the last month and what I thought of it just incase you're looking for something new to read!

Also, we have an amazing group that's called "Flix Chix" and we get together once a month to watch a flick chick sometimes at the movie theater and sometimes at someone's home. We have so much fun with this and hit up Boston Pizza or Applebee's for dessert afterwards and that's when we usually have the most fun!! If you aren't in a group of some kind you should find one to join or start your own! I schedule it out through facebook and email, pick a date, time and place so everyone can mark their calendars. We usually get around 10-15 people showing up each time. So much fun!! Great friends and a great time!