Perth Ontario

My husband asked what I wanted for my Birthday and I said a night away somewhere. I chose Perth, because as a child I had many special memories of visits to Perth on our family's annual trip to nearby Bobs Lake. I wanted a hotel within walking distance of the downtown area, so I chose the Best Western Plus Perth Parkside Inn and Spa.

Photo credit: Best Western

We booked a room on the second floor with a balcony overlooking Stewart Park.The view was fantastic and so was the hotel.

Some photos below of Stewart Park.

 The downtown has many old stone buildings, Perth was established in 1816 as a Military Settlement.  Click here to read the history.

This trip brought back a flood of childhood memories, seeing places that I once loved as a child, that either no longer exist or changed ownership.

Pattersons Resaturant on Highway 7 was one of my family's favorite. Before and after photos.

So sad to see it looking like this.

Had to stop in The Red Fox for a drink as I have a vague memory of this place having lunch with some relatives from the USA in the early 60's when I was about 4 or 5 years old. It is still run by members of the same family but back in the day it was called The Revere House. They told me it was at one time the bus terminal there.

What it looked like a long time ago.

What is looks like now. 

After a day around town, we got a nice surprise when we arrived back at the hotel, I know it was the highlight of my husbands trip to Perth as he loves his boats, we both do. Unfortunately it will be a memory that we will never forget.The Rideau Ferry Boat Regatta was happening on Saturday. The owner of this boat Bill Pearson passed away from injuries at the Regatta. 

It is a  Larry Lauterbach custom replica of the famous Edelweiss vintage hydroplane. Click here to see the construction. It sure appeared to be Bill's pride and joy, as he was so gracious in talking to the people admiring his boat.

My husband in these photos, being a mechanic sure wanted to ask him about the engine, but there was always a crowd around, and we thought he probably just wants to go have some dinner and relax after driving from Minnesota.

We were so saddened yesterday when we heard the news. Bill made so many people happy watching him doing what he enjoyed.  Our deepest condolences to Bills family and friends.

Springbrook Diner - Springbrook Ontario

I must say it took me a year to visit the Springbrook Diner. It opened in December 2014 and I had been reading nothing but good things about this place. Living in between Campbellford and Stirling, I could not find a restaurant that I absolutely love. But after visiting the diner in December of 2015 when my brother from Pennsylvania came up for the holidays, I have found my favorite place.

My brother had the hot turkey sandwich, pictured above, which he really enjoyed and said that was one of the best homemade meals he has enjoyed in a restaurant in a long time.

I chose the chicken wing platter, and asked for the honey garlic with a bit of hot sauce added to it, and sweet potato fries with the chipotle dip. Once I had a burger here with some excellent poutine, but I always go back to the wings every time I visit. You can order the wings as an appetizer or as a dinner.

Photo from Springbrook Diner.

They always have a dinner special and a soup of the day, my favorite is potato leek. And we are always too full to try any of their wonderful dessert selections. I'm also happy since June of this year you can now enjoy your favorite alcoholic beverage. I was even impressed that they had my Wisers Canadian Whisky which I love. One of these days I am going to have to try a steak. Yesterday was to be the day, but the wings kept calling my name, and instead of the sweet potato fries, I had the poutine. Many times when in the area, I do get take-out, just so I don't have to cook dinner. I do want to try their ribs when they have a rib night.

Click here for their menu.

Springbrook Diner 

4876 Stirling Marmora Road

Springbrook, Ontario

Phone: 613-395-3535

facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Springbrookrestaurant/

Incredible Edibles Farm Tour 2016 Campbellford, ON

Incredible Edibles Festival - 2015

It was a beautiful day in Downtown Campbellford Ontario on July 11, for the second annual Incredible Edibles Festival. The 2015 event attracted thousands of food lovers and close to 50 exhibitors. The wonderful aroma of local food filled the downtown core, from baked goods to pizza, grilled pork, beef and bison and even flour made from crickets.

The Campbellford-Seymour Agricultural Society which hosts the Campbellford Fair from August 7-9, 2015 sold delicious homemade pies.

  

Butter tarts from the Butter Tart Factory were served up by Nancy from In Season Gourmet, which sells the Butter tarts at their store at 44 Front Street in downtown Campbellford.

Westben Arts Festival Theater Cello Mania, flash-mob consisting of U of T Cello Ensemble: Sarah Steeves, Rosalind Zhang, Brenton Chan, and Jun Kyu Park. I loved it, they were preforming Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, one of my favorite songs.

Deborah Neimann Boehle author, journalist and speaker from Illinois gives a demonstration on making homemade mozzarella.

Check out Debora's website The Thrifty Homesteader for more info.

Joel MacCharles of WellPreserved.ca was one of the speakers and he also gave a demonstration on making mead and honey wine.

Jude Cohen-Phillips was a speaker from Incredible Edible in Todmorden, England.

And the big hit of the day was speaker Frank Ferragine, otherwise know to us Canadians as Frankie Flowers. Frank’s family runs one of the largest combined greenhouse/garden centre operations in Ontario www.bradfordgreenhouses.com and he still remains active in the business.

• Contributing Garden Writer for Canadian Living Magazine and Canadian Gardening Magazine.
• Weather Anchor and Garden Specialist for Toronto’s number one morning show Breakfast Television
• Garden Expert on Canada’s most popular daytime lifestyle show CityLine
• Weekly columnist Toronto Sun promoting Local food, farming and cuisine. 
• Selected to be the voice of Toronto’s Water Campaign 1” per week. 
• Former Board Member of Canada Blooms Flower and Garden Show. 

And I must add that Frank is a very gracious and personable speaker.

After his presentation, he did a book signing. I was hoping to buy one, and he sold all 40. But at least all of those in line, got to get an autographed book, except for me:-(

But at least I did get a photo with Frankie, my favorite weather anchor on Breakfast TV. Thank you Frank!

Martin Littkemann (above left) of Ontario Water Buffalo Company from Stirling, Ontario encourages children and even adults to hop on Yvette.

Lori Smith (above right) of Ontario Water Buffalo Company smiles for the camera, along with Yvette the buffalo.

Whether you arrived by car, boat, plane or were local, it was an enjoyable day along the shores of the Trent River in Downtown Campbellford, Ontario.

For more photos of the Incredible Edibles Festival 2015 check DayTrippingOntario's facebook page www.facebook.com/DayTrippingOntario

Homemade Baileys for the Holidays

I have been making this recipe every Christmas since the 1980's. While I was searching for the perfect recipe, people gave me ones that had raw eggs as an ingredient. Not being an egg lover, I could not even fathom drinking them raw. YUK. A friend gave me his concoction which I have been using ever since.

Baileys Irish Cream 

2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 liter half and half
4 Tablespoons Hershey's syrup 
2 Tablespoons coconut extract 
4 Teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup of Brandy

Whisk all together in a big bowl and enjoy. Refrigerate when done if any is left:-) This will make about 2 liters, the recipe can be doubled or reduced. I usually double it. I usually use St. Remy's brandy, but this year I thought I would try some local Niagara Bench. You can use any chocolate syrup, I do pick up my Hershey's syrup in the states, as I like that the best. Measure the chocolate exact, and you can fine tune the coconut if you like a little less, but I found the above measurements to be the best.

Save your half and half container to store it or use your own favorite bottles. My bottles below came from a wonderful Raspberry Schnapps by Wintergarten imported from Germany. I could only find it in Delaware or New Jersey many years ago. In fact I don't think they have sold it since the 80's. If you are a Chambord lover, then you would have killed for this. It was so mellow. I do see a few of the pint size vintage empty bottles on ebay.

Hastings Christmas House Tour

Post by Day Tripping Ontario.

Kalays Seafood Restaurant - Belleville, Ontario CLOSED:-(

My Mother-in-law and I were always in search for the best seafood. I remember her joking about the pathetic scallops that I ordered at Red Lobster. She said to me, there is only one real scallop and that is a Digby scallop. She was right. Sadly she is not with us today, to share this hidden gem located in Belleville, Ontario, Kalays Seafood Restaurant. She would have loved a restaurant that was true to her Nova Scotia roots, and that served fresh authentic maritime seafood.

The first time I experienced Kalays, was from their food truck, which sadly they no longer have. I sampled some friend clam strips and a lobster roll which was out of this world. This in turn led to many visits to their restaurant on Sidney Street, and each and every time I had the scallops. Well on my last visit with a fellow seafood lover, I was going to order my usual Digby scallops but she was ordering the Fishermans platter. I had to try it too, or I would have been so jealous. It consisted of breaded haddock, shrimp, clam strips and scallops accompanied with fries, cole slaw and their homemade sauces.

Kalays Fishermans Platter

Everything was delicious. Seafood is something you either like or dislike. For me my passion is deep fried with an ample amount of tartar sauce, enough to even dip your fries in it. I won't eat it without. My Dad used to tell me I was ruining the flavor of the seafood, but to me it compliments it, just like the lemon does. They do have seafood sauce for those who prefer it. For their menu, click here.

I do love my fried clams with many of my childhood foodie memories being of lunch outings with my Mom for some of the light and fluffy Howard Johnsons fried clams. They were the best ever. The history of the fried clam strip is interesting, click here to read.

Howard Johnsons Tendersweet Fried Clams. Photo credit: Look-to-the-skies.com

Kalays offers the traditional fried clam strips which are very good, but they also have on their menu lightly dusted Digby full-bellied clams (seasonal) fried up golden and served with tartar sauce. I think I'm going to have to try these, as I have never in my life tried a true whole fried clam.

A kitchen workshop for hosting your own lobster dinner party, or donair party.

Kalays has many events throughout the year to get the full Maritime experience. On the last Sunday of every month they have a traditional Jiggs dinner. Jiggs dinner is a meal commonly prepared and eaten on Sundays in many regions around the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The meal most typically consists of salt beef (or salt riblets), boiled together with potatoes, carrot, cabbage, turnip, and turnip greens. Kalays serves theirs with roast chicken.

The fishing boats at Digby Harbour in Nova Scotia. 

So if you are missing the maritimes or just have a craving for the freshest seafood around and some East Coast Hospitality, be sure to check out Kalays Seafood Restaurant.

Kalays Restaurant

393 Sidney Street, Hidden Square

Belleville, Ontario

613-962-3838