The Ultimate Camping Supplies Checklist & Some of my Favorite Places to Camp!

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Sarah

I know that camping out in the wilderness is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you do love camping as much as I do — you’ll love, love, love my new handy-dandy, Ultimate Camping Supplies Checklist!

As my dad always told me while growing up, the key to success is to ALWAYS be prepared! This definitely counts when camping! Whether you are camping in one of the many beautifully maintained provincial parks, or whether you are camping out in the middle of no-where in the bush, this checklist will make sure that you have everything that you need!

You can download it here: The Ultimate Camping Supplies Checklist

Ontario luckily offers some of the most amazing campgrounds… Some with fees, and others are free!

Some of my favorite camping places in Ontario include:

The French River Provincial Park is my most favorite place to camp (or be!) — ever! I’ve only been camping there twice… once for 4 days, and another time for ten days. Both trips were equally amazing!

I love being out in the middle of nowhere, no one else is around and everything is so peaceful and quiet! The scenery is literally breath-taking, and if you are a bit of an adventure-junkie like me, this river boasts many fun rapids to play on! These rapids include the best of both worlds… rapids for the most experienced, to rapids for the least experienced! And don’t worry! Each rapid also includes a portage trail — for the slightly less adventurous!

Every time that I cast my lure into the water near a set of rapids, it was fish-on! The wild-life sightings were also extraordinary! From bald eagles to moose! (No bear-sightings… yet! Maybe a sad thing, but a good thing??!)

And one of my most memorable moments was laying on the rocks by the rapids gazing up at the stars! You’ll never get a clearer view then out there, in the middle of nowhere! We were even lucky enough to see a meteor shower!

Although the French River Provincial Park is obviously my favorite, I definitely recommend camping at any of the great spots that I mentioned above! And I definitely plan to be adding a few more to my list! 😉

Savory Southern Stew

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Sarah

Savory Southern Stew!

I’m so excited that it finally got a little bit cold here in Southern-Ontario! In order to celebrate, I decided to make my favorite stew and I thought…. why not share it with you! It is seriously the easiest stew to make… All you have to do is lightly saute the beef, and then throw everything into the crock pot to simmer for the day!

What you’ll need:

1 cup of chopped or baby carrots
1 cup of diced potatoes
1 cup of mushrooms
1.5 lbs of cubed beef
2 tbsp of butter or margarine
1 can of condensed tomato soup
1/4 tsp each, of salt, pepper and thyme

Step 1: Lightly saute about 1.5 lbs of cubed beef in a frying pan in butter and pepper.

While sauteing your cubes of beef, this is where you could add in one and a half tablespoons of flour for a thicker stew. I chose to leave the flour out, since I’ve been trying really, really hard to eat super-healthy! If you are looking for a thicker stew, after your meat is sauteed, toss it in the flour until all of the flour has been absorbed… It will later mix in nice with the rest of the contents of your stew, causing it to thicken, but by mixing it in with the meat first, you will prevent the flour from clumping!

Step 2: Add beef, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, spices, and one can of condensed tomato soup into the crock pot.

For this stew, I chose to use some of my favorite vegetables; carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and onions…. but really, you can use whatever kind of vegetables you like, or even whatever you already have on hand! I also used just a few of my favorite spices to keep it nice and simple, but you can also choose to use your favorite spices too!

Step 3: Let simmer for at least 4 to 6 hours.

I like to let my stew simmer all day long to make it extra savory! But since the meat is pre-sauteed, you really only have to make sure that your vegetables are cooked all of the way through before serving. Remember, that the smaller you chop your vegetables, the quicker they will be ready!

Step 4: Serve and enjoy! 🙂

A nice dinner roll or slice of bread with butter (plus maybe, a glass of wine)…. make the perfect accessories for this meal!

Memoirs of a 178 year-old Farmhouse – Wallpaper Edition

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Sarah

Welcome to the very first edition of, Memoirs of a 178 year-old Farmhouse! This is the very old, (and very intriguing) farmhouse that I grew up in, and of which my parents still reside in, to this very day. This house was built in 1838, and is one containing somewhat of a colorful history, as at one time, it was an inn with a saloon, bordering the railway tracks in the now sometimes forgotten, community of Anson, Ontario.

I have always been completely intrigued and fascinated with this farmhouse, whether it be antique and treasure hunting, ghost stories, or just plain research and facts. One of the remarkable things about this beautiful old farmhouse is that believe it or not, there are still a few rooms in the home containing the original wallpaper…. and oh — what wallpaper it is!

This is the wallpaper that can be found in the old saloon, or in what we refer to as “the Bar-Room”. In this tiny room, you can actually tell exactly where the bar tender stood, as that spot in the floor is worn down and indented. My parents absolutely hate this wallpaper, but I of course, love it! It looks a little orange-y in the photos, but don’t be fooled… it is pretty pink!

Below is the wallpaper from the old basement stairway…. I can’t be sure, but I assume that it would have consumed the entire kitchen at one point in time. It is definitely tied in first place with the bar-room wallpaper, as my favorite!

The most ornate original room left in the house, is the room that was at one time used as the parlor room. It has beautiful wooden moldings around the windows and doors, and beautiful intricate wooden paneling beneath the windows.

Connected to the parlor room of the house, is what once would have been the “Picture Room”. This room would have been full of photos…. I can only imagine what it would have been like, back in its prime…. (If only wallpaper could talk!)