Bump n Grind - South Granville Grand Opening!

I was invited to the opening party of Bump n Grind Cafe grand opening. The South Granville location is their second location. The original location on Commercial Drive is well-loved by the neigbourhood. Owners Cheryl and Kyle Wright wanted to open their new location in a community-oriented neighbourhood, and found the perfect space on Granville Street and West 15th Avenue.

Bump n Grind is a multi-roaster cafe, where the owners search high and low across Canada for the best coffee. Coffees are rotated weekly to keep the menu fresh, and exciting.

Recipe: Cashew Milk

Since getting married, I've definitely let my diet go. I'm very sad to say, none of my dresses fit anymore. While I'm not on a path to get back to wedding skinny, I do want to feel better and have more energy. I did a three day DIY juice cleanse about a year ago, and I have been researching new recipes to try.

One juice cleanse drink I came across over and over again is cashew milk, specifically from Blueprint Cleanse. My version costs about $2.00 to make. The best part of using cashews is that you don't need to filter the milk like you do with almond milk. Just blend and drink.

Cashew Milk

Makes 4 cups

1 cup raw cashews

4 cups water (plus more for soaking)

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 - 3 prunes

A pinch of cinnamon

Soak cashews for 2 - 3 hours. You can soak it for longer if you'd like.

Rinse soaked cashews under water until it runs clear.

Place drained cashews, and 4 cups of water, and the rest of the ingredients into the blender.

Depending on the type of blender you have, blend for 2 - 5 minutes until smooth.

DRINK!

I chose to use prunes as my sweetener. You can also use dates, figs, or syrups, such as agave and brown rice. You could also use different types of extracts, or use real spices.

What's your favourite nut milk?

xoxo

~meesh

Reception Venue - Hillside Winery!

I've been procrastinating on wedding planning, and blogging lately. Every time someone asks me how the planning is going, I just say "all the big stuff is booked, I just need to figure out the details". I've been avoiding planning so much that I just realized I haven't blogged about where we are actually going to have our reception!!

Hillside Winery was originally my first choice. It was where I had my first meal at a winery's restaurant, and Hillside was also one of the places we visited the first time I visited Penticton with Chris. So the venue definitely had some meaning for us. We had a tour of the space in May when we were looking at venues in the area. The view is spectacular, the building is rustic, and cozy. The only problem was the number of guests we were planning on having.

We are planning on inviting 100 guests. Hillside can fit everyone, however, 65 guests will be inside the main dining room, and 25 will be seated outside on the attached patio. This wasn't ideal, I didn't want my guests to have a blocked view of the head table. So we said our goodbyes and headed to Miradoro at Tinhorn Creek, which lead to this debacle.

After the experience at Tinhorn, I was relieved to work with Lindsay. We visited Hillside several times when we were in town. We weren't there for wedding business, but just to top up our wine collection. Lindsay was always gracious, and made us feel special. I told her about my concerns about the seating, and she gave me a copy of another couple's seating chart and reassured me that all my guests will fit. Chris and I went to have dinner one night, and Lindsay surprised us with complimentary wine and dessert.

We started with a Tartine of Warm Qualicum Brie. I had a Pan Roasted Local Steelhead, and Chris had the Field Squash Risotto with Crumbled Blue Cheese. For dessert we had a pumpkin cheesecake with a brûlée crust and Lindsay treated each of us a creme brûlée. Everything was so delicious, we might just use these as our food at the wedding.

I'm still unsure as to how our tables will be laid out, how many people per table, and where everything else like the DJ's, cake table, dessert table is going to go. That just seems way too overwhelming to think about. I do think I know where the head table will go. But who knows. I keep changing my mind on everything. Here are some pictures of the space. Our dinner will be in the restaurant, our cocktail hour and dancing will be on the outdoor deck upstairs.

For the head table, I originally thought about having the whole wedding party there. But now I'm thinking maybe just me and Chris and our MOH and Best Man. What are your thoughts on head table seating?

xoxo
~meesh