Tis the season to gather and make merry with family and friends. It is also the season to decorate! We encourage you to have fun creating a wonderful, magical holiday!

Greg Nicholson, floral designer from the Village Grocer designed the beautiful urn outside of our building.

Greg joined us for our "DECK THE HALLS" Christmas decorating presentation. He showed us how to create stunning floral arrangements to enhance any setting. Visit the Village Grocer located at 548 Carlton Road in Unionville. Choose from an array of ready-mades or bring Greg your container and he can customize to suit your style. The Village Grocer carries all your fresh greenery and florals for seasonal decorating.

We used one of our "everlasting" garlands to dress this bannister. You can enhance it with fresh greenery to make it come alive. Replenish with fresh every 2-3 days as the real will dry out.

Tip: Keep a bag of fresh greenery in the garage to revitalize your "everlastings" as needed.

Karen and Victoria decorated this tree to complement the style of the family room/kitchen area of the homeowner whose house we decorated for the "Home for the Holidays" House Tour.

To create a warm and cozy ambience, little vignettes were created throughout the kitchen area tying in the colour and the theme.

Happy Thanksgiving! Fall is a fabulous time to take a drive through the countryside to savour the vibrant colours of the season. Thanksgiving is all about the feast so stop at a local farmers market and take advantage of the farm fresh produce available.

One of our favourite farmers market is The 19th Ave Farmers Market located just down the road from the Mill on the corner of 19th Avenue and Woodbine. These pictures were taken as we shopped for the vegetables for our "Discover Your Roots" cooking class held on Thursday, October 2nd.

Pumpkins and gourds abound! Mix them into still life arrangements to give an autumn ambience to any room.



Have fun creating bountiful baskets of gourds celebrating the colours of the season!

Our lovely Queen Bees gathered together celebrating their roots at our cooking class!

Nothing like a bowl of carrot ginger soup to warm the spirit at the start of a meal.
We are happy to share this delicious recipe:

CARROT SOUP WITH ORANGE & GINGER

3 tbsp. olive oil

2 leeks, including the tender green parts, sliced into round coin shape

6 carrots (about 1 lb.)peeled and thinly sliced

1 red potato, peeled and coarsely sliced

1 1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger (make sure to peel before grating)

5 cups of vegetable stock

1/2 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice(about 2 oranges)

2 tsp. of orange zest

tub of sour cream

Warm the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and add leeks. Saute until slightly softened. Add the carrots, potatoes and ginger and saute for 5 minutes until they are just softened. Add the stock and simmer until the vegetables are completely fork tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Puree the soup in batches using a food processor. For a chunkier texture, use a hand-held blender in the pan until the desired consistency is achieved. Reheat the soup and stir in the orange juice and zest. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladel the soup into bowls and garnish with a dollop of sour cream on top. Delish!!!

We used farm fresh onions and potatoes from the local market to create a fabulous caramelized onion and potato galette.

A Galette is simply a quick and easy French country cooking method of creating a pie be it sweet or savoury. We love to use puff pastry especially the President Choice ready to roll out version at Loblaws. We recommend that you alway keep a box in the freezer when you need to make a quick appetizer, main or dessert. Once you make our Potato Galette, you will see how easy it really is:

POTATO GALETTE WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS & GOAT CHEESE

3 tbsp. of olive oil

4 sweet onions, thinly sliced

8-10 baby red potatoes (love the colour but you can use any small variety)

1 log of goat cheese

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

1 pkg. of puff pastry, thawed overnight in the fridge

salt & pepper to taste

1 egg beaten

Saute the onions in the olive oil on a medium/low heat until caramelized being sure not to burn them (they will turn into a dark rich colour and be very sweet). It usually takes 40-50 minutes to get them perfect. Add the potatoe slices and continue to saute until they are soft. Salt & pepper to taste. Roll out the puff pastry. Spread the goat cheese on the bottom leaving a 2 inch border around the edge. Add the potato/onion mixture on top of the goat cheese. Fold in the edges making sure that there is an opening. Remember the idea is to make it look rustic so do not worry about making perfect corners. Sprinkle fresh rosemary on top. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg. This will give the pastry a beautiful golden colour. Bake in a 350F oven for 20 minutes or until the top of the crust is golden brown.

HAPPY FEASTING!!!!

Autumn Splendor

Autumn has arrived at the Mill. We couldn't wait to decorate our porch. We love this time of year and it seems that by the time September arrives we are ready for all the harvest colours.


Celebrate the bounty of the season by creating a colourful Harvest vignette.
Or.....create a palette of cream and white using ghost pumpkins and cabbages.

Let nature be your inspiration and have fun!

We invited Vicki Taylor-Scott to host another seminar to give us tips on how to create professional looking seasonal containers for use inside and out. She also discussed Fall prep for the garden. Thank you Vicki for sharing your expertise and enthusiasm.

Refreshments were served which included our delicious pumpkin muffins. These are a family favourite especially at this time of the year. We made them in the mini muffin tins so they were one-bite wonders!

The recipe: PUMPKIN SPICE MUFFINS

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 cup of raisins

1 egg

1/4 cup of granulated sugar

1/3 cup of canola oil

1 cup of cooking pumpkin (if using tinned version made sure it is pure pumpkin)

1/4 cup milk

Combine the first 8 dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir thoroughly. Make a well in the centre. In another bowl, beat the egg until frothy. Mix in the sugar, oil, pumpkin and milk. Pour into the well of the dry ingredients. Stir only to moisten. Batter will be lumpy. Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 400F for 20025 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

It is fun and easy to create a fall tablescape. Fill colourful gourds in glass containers. Create a centre piece using cabbages, ghost pumpkins and a basket. The combinations are endless! Be creative.


We simply used a cake mix, a tin of can apples, Hershey Chipits SKOR Toffee bits and a bundt pan in the shape of a sunflower to create this fabulous looking dessert. It tasted great too!

The Recipe: EASY APPLE TOFFEE CAKE

1 Vanilla Cake Mix (check the ingredients on the box)
1 pkg. of Hershey Chipits SKOR Toffee Bits
1 tin of apple pie filling

Follow the directions for the cake mix. Fold in the Skor Chocoate pieces and apple pie filling.
Pour into a bundt cake pan. Bake as directed on cake mix box. Cake is done when a toothpick is inserted in the middle and comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before plating. Dust the top with icing sugar. We have a collection of bundt pans on hand which turns an easy to bake cake mix into something special!


Visit the Mill and see how we are dressed for the fabulous fall season!

Greetings from Ireland!

Karen has escaped to the enchanted Emerald Island to visit some Irish friends for 2 weeks.
Normally on a good day, you get 4 seasons in one day, however, Karen reported that it has been teeming since they arrived---a condition which the Irish refer to as "thrashing" rain not the usual soft drizzle.

Even the sheep do not look happy!

The beautiful Kylemore Castle. Under cloudy skies is looks lovely and lush but a bit surreal.

Surrounded by the Sea, the Irish landscape is a magnificant verdant carpet of rolling hills, forests and green, green, pastures. It exudes a romantic mysticism. It is not surprising that it is the land of leprechauns and magical rainbows

Taking refuge from the rain, Karen visits the local church bazaar and buys some delicious home-baked goodies.

The Irish countryside is dotted with quaint stone cottages all with delightfully painted doors in bright colours. Local legend has it that it makes it easier to distinguish one's own home upon returning from a night of indulgence at the local pub.

With the rain still "thrashing", its time to head into the local bakery for a hot cup of Irish tea and a sweet bun (or two).

Ashford Castle on another "soft" day in Ireland. You can't help but love the poetic nature of the Irish spirit. They use this expression to describe days that are not sunny and bright. One good thing about all that Irish rain---incredible green gardens and lawns!

Looks like another bout of thrashing rain! Where to go?

The local pub, of course! Nothing warms the spirit more than a tall glass of Guinness! Cheers!

Adventures in Tuscany

Arrived in Pisa. What a marvel! It really does lean over alot.


Up we go!


Climbed to the top. Incredible panoramic view of the surrounding area!


Discovered a charming shop just outside of Pisa on the road to the beach.

Shop done in a beautiful palette of soft greys, whites, creams and taupes. Great inspiration for our new fall looks!

The beach just west of Pisa Colourful umbrellas and chairs line the coast. For a small charge, you can rent your very own "space" for the day and enjoy the Italian Riviera.

Inspired by the colours of the buildings. New idea for a colour palette: truffle, taupe, cream mixed with vintage white.

Lunch in the beautiful town of Lucca.

A simply lovely shop discovered down one of the many widing streets of this mideval walled town. All the items sold in the store were varying shades of grey, blue, taupe, cream and white setting a mood of serenity. We fell in love with this combination of colours.

The beautiful tapestry of the Tuscan landscape. Grazing goats prized for their delicious creamy cheese.

Capuccino at one of our favourite cafes in the small town of Montespertoli. Only 1 euro ($1.65)for this incredible treat. Often we could not stop at just one!

Market day on Monday in the charming town of San Casciano. Beautiful fresh vegetables are piled high, set out in the open air.

Everything is for sale from the side of trucks that open to display their wares whether its meats, cheeses, household goods or clothing. These caravans travel from town to town with their goods opening for business at a new location each day of the week. It really is an amazing sensory experience. A veritable open air mini-mall of food and wares.

The magnificent Renaissance city of Florence. A beautiful city of winding streets opening up to spectacular piazzas lined with cafes. Every vista is shere delight to the eye. A shot looking down towards the Uffizi--a must see museum filled with incredible artwork.

Looking up the Arno River at dusk separating Florence from Pitti.

Twilight view of Florence high on the hillside across the other side of the Arno River.

Our last night in Florence, we began our meal with a delicious bottle of Chianti Wine-the preferred wine of the region.