Category Food Events & Food Trucks, Caterers

The (third) Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Streetsville United Church Harvest of Crafts Sale

Why do I love the Streetsville United Church Harvest of Crafts Sale so much? It’s the most wonderful time of the year, third to Christmas and the Bread & Honey Festival of course! After everyone’s out-of-town summer vacations and busy falls, it is so nice to gather the village of Streetsville under one roof and reconnect. The spirit of community weaves around the Streetsville United Church Women and their wonderful cooking, baking, and crafting and the villagers who attend, and binds us all together. It’s the old-fashioned Streetsville I have always known and loved.

What a great time to get some Christmas shopping done. I always find something unique and well-priced at every show, like handcrafted felt Christmas ornaments. Last year, I bought these Christmas pudding caps for the holiday table (to stick a chocolate in and put at each place setting). Aren’t they adorable?

I always make my first stop the baking table and stock my freezer with homemade shortbread and bars to pull out at Christmas.

There is usually some really fun Hallowe’en baking too but do be sure to get there first thing.

Read more about why I love the Harvest of Crafts Sale here. It is a lot of work for the church ladies and I am grateful they continue to pull it off year after year. It always falls on the last Saturday of October.

Here are this year’s details:
Date: Saturday Oct 29, 2016.
Time: 9:30 am to 3:00 pm
Events: cafe, bake sale, craft sale, outside vendors with a large variety of crafts, face painting, book sale, Attic Treasures.
NO ADMISSION CHARGE

Streetsville United Church is located at 274 Queen Street South in Streetsville (Mississauga), Ontario. Click here for map.

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Staycation: Summer in the City

Olive loves traveling around the GTA west, unearthing fine global flavours, and sharing her finds with you. Being the #snaphappy girl that she is, Olive loves the instantaneous power of instagram. But those of you who aren’t on instagram are missing out, so here’s a snapshot of her finds from this past week.

As much as she cherishes the time she is lucky enough to spend with family in Muskoka and Montreal, a staycation in the city is pretty nice too.  These boots are made for walking, so that’s just what Olive did this week…from one end of the GTA west to the other.

Georgetown Farmers’ Market with one of my besties on Saturday morning. Read why I love Georgetown Farmers’ Market here: http://olivetoeat.com/2014/07/georgetown-farmers-market-olive-it/

Thiessen Farms #georgetownfarmersmarket #olivetoeat #unearthingglobalflavours #gtawest #iloveartichokes

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And then Jerkfest in Etobicoke with our families Saturday night. What a great night that was!

#isthislovethatimfeeling

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And a celebration lunch at Jamie’s Italian at Square One with my husband and son. How do you celebrate summer?

Guess where I am? #Sauga #jamielove

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The 2nd Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Bread & Honey Festival

Just thought I’d share a few pics while I am waiting to take my crew of sleepy teenagers to the Rotary Pancake Breakfast. Our clan has made the Streetsville Founder’s Bread & Honey Festival a tradition since year one – that’s a lot of Hazel-led parades and pancake breakfasts. The Bread & Honey started when I was a kid; all of our Chatham cousins would come down for the weekend for one giant sleepover. We’ve carried on the tradition with my siblings’ children. We spend the whole weekend at the festival or wandering the streets of our happy village and we love it! It’s like a huge Streetsville reunion.

My brother used to start our B&H weekend with the phrase “Lock your windows, the carnies are in town!” and the kids love it when I continue his tradition (all in jest of course because the ‘carnies’ are kind and decent people). Missing a few faces and pay no mind to the lad on the right – he hates it when mom takes his photo…suck it up buttercup.

#menofsteel2016 #breadnhoney #breadandhoneyfestival2016

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The kids enjoy the carnival and every once in a while, Uncle Nagui tries to put on a brave face to join them on the rides. They would like to see the return of the Zipper, the Boat, and the Fireball….especially the Fireball, right Uncle Nagui?

Oh so pretty! #breadnhoney #iloveaparade #streetsvilleliving

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I thought the kids weren’t into the parade this year so we ate our breakfast in the garden, listening to the music from band after band marching along the street. It sounded like the best parade ever; we ran out and caught the tail end and vowed to never miss it again (sorry Hazel, it was a late night).

There are some great food trucks at the festival this year. These tacos were fantastic.

Saturday’s weather was perfect! Hopefully today will clear up but we are going down anyways. Happy Bread & Honey Festival Streetsville! Hope to see you down there today.

 

 

 

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Forkful of Flavour: Molisana’s Lasagna

Molisana Lasagna

Craving a bite of homemade lasagna but can’t even dream up the time to cook it? Molisana Bakery layers soft sheets of lasagna with cheese and a ragù of meltingly tender ground meat in tomato sauce. Packed with homemade flavour. Total comfort food. Priced right. Olive it!

Molisana_Lasagna

The Molisana ladies make about 20 lasagnas a day. Call ahead to order because these beauties sell out quickly. Dinner – fast, cheap, delicious – done!

Molisana Bakery
1474 Pickwick Drive, Unit 1
Mississauga, ON
L5V 2G2

Telephone: 905-826-8260

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Celebration Tips: Desserts by Michelle & Soft Touch Video

Oh, does Olive have a couple of great tips for you to make your next milestone celebration extra special without breaking the budget! My father didn’t want a fuss over his birthday, so we gathered family around him and ordered Chinese take outs. But how can you pay tribute to 85 years of a life well-lived without doing something extraordinary?

Tip #1: Streetsville’s Desserts by Michelle, a personalized catering and dessert service for the GTA West area, is a great source for well-priced, delicious cakes. With over 20 varieties of cakes, tortes, tarts, and individual desserts to choose from, you will find something to suit every occasion.

My friends have been raving about Michelle’s wonderful desserts for years. The Éclairs, they tell me, are amazing, and so is the Pavlova – crunchy and sweet with gorgeous berries all over it. Madeleine cookies are a staple.  Another favourite is the English Toffee Cake. Michelle wowed the guests at a friend’s birthday party when she served chocolate spoons with bacon as an hors d’oeuvre; they were really good! Click here to check out Michelle’s website and photo gallery.

Desserts_By_Michelle

I ordered a Black Forest Cake, my Dad’s favourite. Over the years, we have served him a variety of Black Forest cakes from other suppliers – all of which were, in my humble opinion, quite ho hum. Michelle’s version was absolutely lovely. Luxurious but light and fresh, using real ingredients; not overly sweet. Dark chocolate cake – so moist it was almost fudgy – was layered with a tasty red cherry filling and plenty of freshly whipped real cream. It was garnished with dark chocolate and the most divinely juicy, fresh, local dark cherries.

Desserts_By_Michelle

Oops, got a bit of dripping candle wax in the photo and had to hurry while holding the hungry troops at bay.

It was the best Black Forest Cake I have ever tasted this side of the Black Forest (I did eat one in Germany once). Everyone loved it. It was delivered right to our door in a white box tied with a pretty orange ribbon. For a very reasonable price, we each enjoyed a generous piece and had plenty of leftovers. Michelle is my go-to-girl for celebration cakes (especially Black Forest!) from this point on.

What do you give the person who has everything? Consider a beautiful DVD slideshow featuring photos and video of life’s most memorable moments. Let your pictures and video tell his, her, or their unique story and it will last forever. And here comes Tip #2: Mississauga’s Mike Cederberg, owner and founder of Soft Touch Video, does a fabulous job of converting your photos, film, and video memories to DVD to preserve them, while bringing them to life in a moving and professional presentation – and his prices are fantastic!

Mike has created two DVDs for our family and a number for friends and all turned out great. They are the perfect way to mark a milestone celebration (birthday, anniversary, Bar Mitzvah, graduation), journal a special vacation, or create a lasting memorial tribute of a loved one.

I asked our family to record personal messages for my Dad on video (what he means to us, how he inspired us, or a favourite memory of time spent together, etc.). Mike compiled them, interspersed video with family photos, added creative visual effects and music, and burned a DVD copy for each of us. We played the DVD at the party. The surprise messages from family residing across the continent and overseas who we don’t get to see often were particularly moving. It touched us all and left my Dad, though emotional, beaming from ear to ear. I am so glad we did this for my Dad.

Be sure to click on this link and watch the beautiful slideshow Mike did as a loving tribute to his Mom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNOFQx5ZRlc

And here is a link to the slideshow Mike created of a trip he and his wife, Mona, took in 1989. http://vimeo.com/47627333

So, keep these two tips tucked away for the next time your family celebrates a milestone.

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