What We Read: Quaintrelle

Ashley Bartlett is a self-described Toronto gal who always walks on the sunny side of the street. She’s a PR girl by day and a cultivator of life’s little pleasures the rest of the time. Her labour of love Quaintrelle delivers the same cheerful outlook. Quaintrelle focuses on beauty, style, art, culture, design and décor - usually interspersed between beautiful images, musings on life and personal portraits of glamorous women.

DIY: Wedding Centrepiece Inspiration

So sometime last year V and I were wandering around The Junction and I came across these vintage sap buckets at Metropolis and have since become obsessed. At the time I didn't pick them up and have been kicking myself ever since. The problem was originally I had no idea what to use them for. Of course, when I started planning my cousin's wedding and decided to take on the flowers myself I knew immediately what I wanted to put the centrepieces in. While I'm still undecided about the flower composition (and you know that inspo will be another post!) here's a few ideas of my flower vessel of choice!

Food and Drink: Thai Mango Salad

To complete my delicious Thai dinner, I made a quick and easy Mango Salad. The combination of sweet and spicy flavours, the contrast in textures between the soft mangoes, crunchy peppers and peanuts, is a perfect way to cleanse the palate after such a rich and flavourful meal.

Food and Drink: Satay Beef with Coconut Peanut Sauce

To go with my Coconut and Kaffir Lime Thai Stew, I whipped up a batch of Satay Beef complete with a peanut dipping sauce. The secret to a tasty Satay is the marinade - the longer the beef marinates, the better it will taste. The best part of this dish is definitely how easy it is to make and the perfectly balanced flavours you get in every bite, of course.

What We Read: Homepolish

So I might have fallen in love...with a new website. We all know that Pinterest is a fantastic place to go searching for design inspiration, and even a quick Google search can lead you in all different directions, but this website that I have stumbled upon (thank you Refinery 29 for leading me there) is like porn for interior designers. Homepolish is actually a website for a company whose goal is to make design services available to everyone, regardless of budget. While I'm a big fan of the idea, (sadly, they are currently US-centric), what really gets me is their Featured Projects section. It combines great design with my second favourite love, great photography. Take a look for yourself!

Now, if only we could get them to expand to Toronto...

Food and Drink: Coconut and Kaffir Lime Thai Stew

Recently I decided to try my hand at making a homemade Thai dinner, with Green Curry as the main. But, I had a slight dilemma...two of my dinner guests (ahem, mom and sister) are both opposed to curry, saying that it is too fragrant for their palettes. I took this as a challenge and decided to make a Coconut and Kaffir Lime Thai Stew - or a curry-less green curry. 

Hometown Tourist: Ripley's Aquarium

On Wednesday, A and I finally went to the aquarium. It's taken us at least 6 months to find a time that we could go without it being so busy we couldn't see the fish. Well, after all the buildup it did not disappoint. My advice would be to go on a weekday as you'll have the best chance of seeing everything you want and you can pet a stingray to boot! By far, my favourite part had to be the underwater tunnel. I couldn't take pictures fast enough! Here's just a fraction of some the amazing things you'll get to see when you visit.
PS. The rather majestic lion fish above was my favourite. He posed for me!