This post is about a whole lot of random little 'nothings' so buckle up and let's go.

A lot of you really liked the post on my Sis-in-law.  Even my Sis-in-law liked it.  I'm glad and I meant every word.  Big, open hearted hug to Steena (and a kiss too ;-)

I've been thinking a lot about capitalism lately and what it is exactly that one can believe in about it.  I'm asking people.  I'm thinking.  I'm not convinced that what we are calling a capitalist society truly is one.  I'm still thinking.
A couple of posts ago I was talking about the John Mayer song 'Say'.  It's really sweet and sentimental and I felt that I needed to round it out for you by telling you that I've also been listening a lot to this (please excuse the language) and this.  I helps me feel 'bad-ass' which is strangely very important for me.  Plus I just like the songs.
I know it might seem from my posts that all we've been eating is sweets lately.  It's not quite the truth.  We've been eating lots of corn on the cob.  Simple.  Boiled for 3 minutes and then slathered with butter and salt.
I've been eating lots of fresh tomato sandwiches.  Nothing beats a toasted tomato sandwich unless it has a little bit of feta on it and then... it's sheer bliss.
My mind hasn't really been in 'proper food' mode.  I've been canning like a crazy woman and I don't even know why I'm doing it exactly.  I'm not really looking to stock my pantry for the entire winter but it's a cool idea.  The thought of maybe saving a little money is cool too but I'm not sure that it's a big savings at the end of the day.  I think that my recent trip to what felt like the largest grocery store on the planet or at least Toronto made me realize that they are not places I enjoy being in.  Maybe I'm just motivated by wanting to stay away from those places.  Ultimately though,  the idea of taking the vegetables and fruit at their peak and freezing or canning them so that I can enjoy that bounty in the dead of winter appeals.  I'm finding that there is even something comforting about it.  So I've set to filling my days pealing peaches (yuck) and tomatoes (not so bad), cooking up batches of every kind of fruit combination you can imagine and throwing it all into jars and letting them whistle away in the canner.  Kid #1 doesn't want to see another peach for a while and she's feeling like tomatoes aren't far behind.  All that to say that the stuff I've been making isn't exactly food blogger material.  Exciting it's not.  Creative it's not.  Interesting... well maybe only just a little.



Fortunately, D's cuz and my sis-from-another-mother swept through town last week with her two kids.  That meant the D's Mom served us meals quite a bit (saved my ass, for sure).  It also meant that we were going out for food more - like to the beach, to Niagara Falls, to Wonderland - all my favourite places (Ugh).  Not exciting food places mind you - where I could take pictures of the food and tell you all about how awesome it is and that you should find yourself there asap and all that crap.  Nope, just the junky, can-we-get-chicken-fingers-for-the-kids kind of stuff.  Kids liked it though.
I made this cake to celebrate their arrival this year.  I can tell you that it turned out just the way a cake should that has peaches and blueberries on top.  Nice and spongy but substantial enough to hold the fruit.  The streusel isn't over the top so you might want to mess around with that if you want something a little more present.  You can't beat the colours and the whole mess feels somehow special and homey all at the same time.


Peach Cake adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used a combination of milk and sour cream)
3 peaches (or so) peeled and cut into slices
a sprinkling of blueberries
1/2 cup (or so) of streusel topping (find it here)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour a 9 inch springform (or just round) pan.

Combine the flour baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together in another bowl until it's light and fluffy.
Add in the eggs one at a time beating well after each one.
Add the flour and milk alternately beginning and ending with the flour.
Pour into the prepared pan.
Place the peaches on top of the batter.  Sprinkle the blueberries on top of that.  Sprinkle the streusel topping on top of that.
Bake for bout 25 min.  Turn the cake in the oven and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool slightly before removing from the pan.