Recipes | Guinness BBQ Sauce

Matt is a fan of Guinness, so when I came across this recipe from The Black Peppercorn, I thought it'd make a great advent gift. It's really simple to make and I tired it on ribs and it was delicious! 

Guinness BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 onions, minced
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 cup Guinness beer
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne 
• 1 cup (8 oz can) tomato paste

Directions:

Melt the butter in a pot. 

Add the onion and garlic and saute until they are tender and beginning to caramelize.

Add the molasses, beer, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and cayenne. 

Bring to a boil. Continue to cook at a low-rolling boil for about 10 minutes. Make sure to stir often so nothing sticks and burns to the bottom of the pot. 

Add the tomato paste. 

Reduce the heat and let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often. 

Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. 

Use a blender or hand blender to puree until smooth. 

Lifestyle | Indian Summer

My favourite season is definitely autumn! Although in Canada, it doesn't seem to last that long, only 2 months, if that, it is certainly the 2 best months of the year. The temperature is perfect - warm with a cool breeze, the landscape is beautiful with all the leaves changing colour, and let's not forget about pumpkin flavoured everything! As soon as the season started, my Instagram was filled with pictures of Starbucks coffee cups with the description "first #pumpkinspicelatte of the year".

The past week however has been absolutely gorgeous. We've had some perfect Fall days and also a few days where summer seems to have made another appearance.

Last weekend was one of these perfect autumn days and my boyfriend and I decided to take a walk along the boardwalk down at the Scarborough Beaches. I had made some pumpkin cupcakes (recipe to follow in another post) and we went and grabbed some pumpkin spice lattes and headed down to the beach. I'm a beach gal through and through. I grew up on the beach and have lived there the majority of my life, but I had never been to the Beaches in Toronto. I was absolutely shocked to discover such a breathtakingly beautiful place in the city. There is something so romantic about walking hand-in-hand with the man of your dreams along the waterfront in the middle of autumn. I couldn't have asked for a better date. Just the simplicity of it all - staring out at the endless lake until the water meets the horizon, feeling the cool breeze as your man holds you close to keep you warm and just enjoying a meaningful conversation - it was perfect.

Yesterday was another beautiful day, this time it felt like summer (I think it was about 20 degrees). I'm staying at my boyfriend's house for a few weeks and since he was away working a 15+ hour day and I had nothing to do, I jumped at the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful weather. I packed up my book and my notebook, grabbed a Starbucks, and headed back down the beach. There's nothing I enjoy more than just laying at the beach, by myself, relaxing and spending some quality time with my own thoughts. It's so peaceful and just allows me time to de-stress and remind myself what's important in life. I spent about 3 hours just sitting by the water, thinking.

I know some people find going for walks to be extremely boring, but now is the perfect time to get outside before winter hits and we all want to spend the next 6 months curled up on the sofa. There's so many beautiful places to discover. I suggest everyone spend some time, whether it be by yourself, with your boyfriend, your best friend, your mom, whoever, and just take a stroll outside and enjoy the beautiful weather while it's still around :)

Time For A Change

I just wanted to apologize to all my lovely readers for not having written a post in the past month or so. To be honest, my life has been quite hectic but also extremely boring at the same time. My summer was pretty uneventful and so I haven't had much to blog about. But I've also been struggling with some personal issues so I just took a bit of 'me' time to sort myself out. 

This time off has also allowed me to decide what direction I want this blog to head in. For the past year I've been really confused with all aspects of my life and I've kind of been jumping around from interest to interest but not really focusing on anything that makes me truly happy. I think it's good to try different things, that's the only way you'll know if you like something. That been said, I've found recently that after a lot of uncertainty, I've finally started getting back in touch with what is important to me in life. For me, that is experiences. 

Now, you might be asking what I mean by experiences?

Like many women, I like fashion. I like to express my personality through the way I dress. But unlike many women, I don't obsess over this. I'm not a fashionista, I don't follow what's in trend, I just dress appropriately for the occasion, wear what I feel comfortable in, and if there's a day that I really can't be bothered to get all done up, than I'm perfectly happy to just chill out in my sweats. Likewise, when it comes to make up, I love it and I hate it. I like to splurge on expensive make up every now and then, I like to get all dolled up from time-to-time. But again, unlike many women, I don't obsess over this and I am quite content to leave the house without any make up on. This past summer I've completely embraced my natural beauty. I've only worn make up a handful of times and it's actually surprised me how comfortable I've felt without it on. 

So, although this was originally established as a 'fashion, beauty, and lifestyle' blog, I have decided that I will be focusing mainly on the lifestyle aspect of it because that is what I am most interested in. I get more joy in life by spending my time outside, experiencing the world and doing as many activities and trying as many new things as possible, as opposed to spending all my time in front of the mirror. I like to travel, and bake, and explore; that's what's most important to me. So while this blog will of course still include fashion and beauty related posts, it will focus mainly on the happenings of my life; giving you many recipes to try, music reviews, and events and experiences that I enjoy that I think may be of interest to everyone else as well. 

Music | Shawn Tavenier & Silver Creek

Two weekends ago I headed to Perth for my friend's Stag and Doe (congrats Melissa and Nigel). I was only planning on staying the one night, but the following day, I decided to go to Ottawa with my best friend Broghan, her sister Shannon, and her brother Eric. Now I know the last time I talked about Ottawa and the Byward Market I promised that the next time I went I'd bring my camera so I could share some photos with you. Well ... I went to the Byward, again, and I forgot my camera, again. But in my defense it was a completely unplanned trip, so please don't hate me! 

We spent the afternoon just roaming through the stalls, indulging in Beavertails, and watching some crazy Aussie street performer. Surprisingly the Beavertails didn't fill us so we decided to stop for a proper meal at The Aulde Dubliner before heading home. After debating about whether it was going to rain or not, we took our chances and chose a table outside. It ended up being the perfect spot as we had a direct view of the live music set that was going on. 

The man singing was Shawn Tavenier and he has got the most beautiful voice I have ever heard! His voice is so strong and there's so much soul to it - as I joked to my friends, as soon as he opened his mouth, I fell in love, it's impossible not to! I think all four of us were in awe at how good he was. The poor guy was probably creeped out because I swear I just stared at him all night (sorry not sorry) but I couldn't help myself, I was just mesmerized; so amazed by his talent! We sat there for probably two hours listening to him and singing along, and in Eric's case, Googling the words to all the songs he wasn't sure about. 

Reluctantly we left after a couple hours since we were all starting to freeze and had to get home. For whatever reason I had the brilliant idea to go to Menchie's for some frozen yogurt but it meant I was able to head back and watch Shawn play a few more songs while the girls went to Sugar Mountain and Eric became bff with some homeless guy who played the spoons. 

Princes and Kings

On the drive back to Perth I decided to put my creeper skills to the test and see if I could find out who this Shawn guy was so I could look up his music. (I promise I'm not THAT big of a creeper - his name was on the pub website). Turns out he's part of a band called Silver Creek which originates from Ottawa. Now, how I lived in Ottawa for four years and never heard of these guys is beyond me, but I'm sure glad I've stumbled across them now because they're simply incredible.

Another reviewer described Silver Creek as similar to 'The Band, The Allman Brothers and Neil Young' and I'd have to say that's a pretty accurate description. They certainly have rock and roll roots but you also get a little soul and blues, and even little country thrown in there at times too. 

I can't give you a proper review at the moment, as I've yet to hear the band play live, but I can tell you that after hearing front man Shawn's solo set, I know Silver Creek is a band not to be missed! Their music is just so refreshing - it's original and honest and you can't help but become a fan. And rest assured, they're playing at the Kinmount Fair on August 31st so you can bet I'll be there!! I expect to see all you other 705ers there as well. I promise you won't be disappointed. If you can't make their Kinmount appearance, Silver Creek is also playing at the Burlington Ribfest on September 1st. 

You can check out Silver Creek at: 

• Website - www.silvercreekmusic.ca
• Twitter - www.twitter.com/silvercreekrock
• Facebook - www.facebook.com/silvercreekmusic
• YouTube - www.youtube.com/user/silvercreekmusic

You can buy Silver Creek's debut album "About Time" and their third record "Princes and Kings" on iTunes (I suggest you all go do that right now!)

Who else is a fan of Silver Creek? Have you ever seen them play or do you have plans to in the next few months? Also, if you know where I can buy their second release "Follow the Sun", pleeeease let me know! I can't find it on iTunes :( 

Beauty | Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche Skinscent

So I've noticed that Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess has been making its way around the blog-sphere lately and it's no wonder why. This perfume is literally summer in a bottle and has been my go-to scent this season. It's hard to describe what it smells like, but all I think when I take a sniff is being on holiday and relaxing on the beach with my favourite drink in my hand. It basically smells like a mix of citrus, vanilla, coconut and sunscreen. Seriously heaven in a bottle! I really feel like some exotic princess every time I spritz this on.

As for the packaging, the box is beautiful and really screams 'summer' to me, but the actual bottle leaves a lot to be desired in my eyes. The bottle is completely gold and reflective and although sometimes I find myself liking it, overall I just find it looks a little on the cheap side, especially for Estee Lauder. 

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche Skinscent retails at $72 for 100 ml. Unfortunately it's currently sold out online, but it might be worth checking out your local Estee Lauder counter to see if they have any in stock. I personally picked mine up in duty free at the Manchester airport on my return to Canada - shall we say a little departing gift for myself.

Have any of you tried Bronze Goddess? What do you think? Do you like the packaging?