tiramisu: weekend pics (part 1, lovely friends)

my long weekend was full of friends, food, swimming and general goodness (except for the the difficult incident kai and i had with his tutoring homework that ended in tears, apologies, and cuddles but for the sake of this post i will stick with the telling of merriment stuff only).

this first weekend post is about our time spent with two lovely families.

sunday included a visit with darrin, alexia, and adorable kara. they had us over for dinner saturday night. and what a meal it was - arctic char cooked in the smoker was absolutely delicious and the blueberry sauce that went with it was divine. the salads, one mango based and one quinoa based were pure yumminess. alexia, i would say, is the best salad maker out there (along with my hubby). what warmed my heart the most was seeing kai with kara. she was looking forward to his visit and he made it worthwhile for her. he was so very good with kara, entertaining her, making her laugh, reading to her - so much goodness. and isn't alexia's skirt just lovely? she has a knack for styling that one. we also met some new friends, the neighbours, whose youngest daughter was smitten with kai and vice versa. very cute.

darrin makes the best double double coffee for me!

this is ruby the cat (mikey's sister)

the beef ribs that were also in the smoker were forgotten... almost! so, naturally, we ate a few bites for a late night snack. and some of us (definitely not me), had a scotch to end the evening with. the best thing about the end of summer is that we'll have a free weekend again to hang out with this family!

monday morning was spent with our friends kam, ghazaleh, and kayan on granville island. we hadn't seen them for soooo long (they were in portugal for 5 weeks!) so it was time! we brunched at edible canada (not a surprise, i realize), played in the water park, and lucky me, i got to listen to my favourite busker, a french singer (i might even have the tiniest crush on him). i was especially in need of some kayan time. this little guy cracks me up! he is always happy and smiling and on the move. he has places to go and things to see that one. what i loved most was his contagious enthusiasm for buses, planes, and sandcastles. omg, i wish i had recorded him, his mouth opens wide, his eyes wider, and his tiny hands waving back and forth with so much intensity that you can't help but share in his joy. you gotta love him. his parents are pretty cool too :-)