Steak Tartare at Luma. Unbelievably tasty.

On Saturday D and I went to my company’s employee golf tournament.

Scenes from my company golf tournament. Yes, that's a SpongeBob Squarepants ball - he's my good luck charm (Pictures by D - I was having too much fun to remember to take any)

I’ve been golfing quite a bit, but this was only D’s second time playing a round (His first time was the tournament last year). I had a lot of fun, and I think D did to. Of course it helped that both of us took home a trophy – his for closest to the pin (guest) and mine for closest to the rope (employee).

There was also a draw for some rather cool prizes, and I got to take home this:

My new Kobo e-reader. I'm so excited!

Now I’m sure there are some who wouldn’t be quite as excited to get this as I was (ahem – see my expression in the Mosaic picture above) but I've been eyeing these in Chapters for quite some time. I love to read, and given I started the work book club I think it’s about time that I can read a book on an actual e-reader rather than my phone while commuting to work.

I wonder if 8 cans will be enough?

What was your weekend like – did you get any projects started or finished, did you get together with friends, or did you spend it relaxing?

Chocolate Mousse Filled Strawberries

• Strawberries
• Chocolate Mousse
• White Chocolate *
• Candy melts

1. Rinse your strawberries, and then core them as you'll be filling them with mousse. Leave the strawberries out to air dry. (The mousse won't stay put if the strawberry is wet)
   
2. Make your mousse (I used this recipe. It makes a dark chocolate mousse which I thought would work well as the strawberries and white chocolate are quite sweet).
3. Using a piping bag (or a plastic baggie with the corner cut off) fill your cored strawberries with mousse. I placed mine in an empty ice cube tray to ensure they stayed upright while the mouse set. Refrigerate until set.
   
4. Once the mousse is set you'll need to melt your white chocolate or candy. I used white chocolate, but I found it a little harder to work with, so I'll use white candy melts next time.
   Carefully dip the top of your strawberry in your white candy. The heat will melt the mousse, so this may take a little trial and error or you can also use a spoon to pour the chocolate/candy on top of the strawberry. Place your strawberries on a wax-paper covered baking sheet and refrigerate until cool.
5. The last step is decorating your culinary creation. Using candy melts in either red or blue, decorate the white part of your strawberry again with a piping bag or baggie. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

   Happy Canada day - Eh!

This bread is lovely served with plain cream cheese and lox, or even toasted with peanut butter.

Irish brown bread with Cream cheese and Lox

Pumpkin Pie (makes one 9-inch pie)

Pie Crust

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tbsp. chilled vegetable shortening or lard
• 2 tbsp. chilled butter, cut in 1/4" pieces
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. ice water

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, vegetable shortening or lard, butter and salt. Use your fingertips to rub the flour and fat together until they look like flakes of course meal.

   Rub the butter and flour together

2. Pour ice water over the mixture, toss together, and press and knead gently with your hands, only until the dough can be gathered into a compact ball.
3. Dust lightly with flour, wrap in wax paper and chill for at least 1/2 hour.
4. Lightly butter a 9-inch pie plate. On a floured surface, roll the dough out into a circle about 1/8 inch thick and about 13-14" in diameter. Lift it up on the rolling-pin and unroll it over the pie plate, leaving enough slack in the middle of the pastry to enable you to line the plate without pulling or stretching the dough.
5. Trim the excess pastry with a sharp knife to within 1/2" of the pie plate and fold the extra 1/2" under to make a double thickness all around the rim of the plate. With the tines of a fork, or with your fingers, press the pastry down around the rim.
6. Preheat the over to 350 degrees.

Filling

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp Applejack (optional - I don't use it)
• 1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin, freshly cooked  or canned

Summertime Watermelon and Feta Salad

• 3 cups cubed seedless watermelon
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives (about. 25 olives)
• 1/4 cup sliced red onion
• 10 large mint leaves
• 2 1/2 tbsp. Olive oil
• 2 tsp. white wine vinegar
• 5 turns of fresh black pepper
• a pinch of salt
  

Directions

1. Slice 1/4 of a small red onion as thin as you can with a sharp knife. In a small bowl, soak the slices in cold water for 10 minutes.
2. While the onions are soaking, cut the watermelon  flesh into bite-sized cubes - slightly larger that a standard sugar cube. Place in a large bowl.
3. By hand, crumble the Feta cheese into the watermelon bowl. Most of the pieces should be just slightly smaller than the watermelon cubes, but don't crumble them too small. Do not mix.
4. Use the flat side of a knife or your hands to crush the olives one at a time on a cutting board. Remove the pits by hand and rip each olive into two pieces. Place the olives in the watermelon bowl. Do not mix.
5. Drain the onions and pat dry with a paper towel. Add to the watermelon bowl. Do not mix.
6. Chop the mint leaves very finely. Sprinkle into the watermelon bowl. Do not mix.
7. In a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

Pour the dressing over the watermelon mixture and gently toss with a large spoon just until all the salad ingredients are coated with dressing. Do not over mix the salad as the watermelon and feta are fragile. Transfer to a serving dish, and garnish with two or three sprigs of mint.