Perfect July Weather

 

While the picture below doesn't exactly look nice, the month of July has been great. It has rained often enough for all of the foliage to be very happy and yet we have had super sunny days between.

 

This weather report from last week highlights the steady nature of the temps and rain ... pretty smooth and even.

I think we have been able to sit out in the evenings and also barbeque more often than in several recent years. Below is the blogger and JoAnne's brother Rick as I whipped up some nice filets on the Barbie.

 

We bought this small potted flower when we arrived in Barrie and now because of the weather it has exploded as if it is on steroids and now is about three feet tall!

And lastly the French lesson of the day which is a box of assorted water crackers in veggie and other flavors. Fun at the supermarket, eh.

So July comes to a nice close and prepares us for a really busy August and September which we will photograph and document ... going to be fun and entertaining!

North

 

OK, sure, we are in the north ... but this was different as that is the name of an excellent restaurant in Barrie. Every year Barrie has a downtown event called Barrielicious during which many of the downtown establishments offer a fixed menu to taste their special menu items at a fixed price.

 

We had never been to the North Restaurant before so with our friends Morgan and Jeanette we hit the place below for their tasting offering.

 

 

The restaurant faces west so in the picture above (their website pic) we were on the patio to the right ... and the sun was pretty hot on this Ontario 80 degree summer evening.

Below is the menu for the event. We did the six course evening with paired wines for each course and the dishes are highlighted in yellow. The wines picked for each course were excellent and we will try some of these ourselves.

Almost every dish was beyond excellent and all were served in a three compartment white porcelain plate to separate the different items. We had no choice in the selections and got two of the appetizers, three of the main course tasters and one dessert and of course six of the different wines.

The preparation, service, and appearance were excellent. The only exception was the green pea mussel soup which wasn't great and not all folks like mussels. The rest of the items presented over the next two hours were superb as was the wait staff. Apparently the chef and owner is Portuguese and all the wait personnel are as well ... and extremely well trained and knowledgeable.

The tasting was $40 CDN each and the wine pairing for each course was and additional $25 CDN each so the evening was pretty expensive but well worth it.

The bottom line is that we will go back ... probably sit inside as pictured in their web shot above and we would pick our own favorites off the menu with our own wine choices.