dutch bakery.

we just had lunch at one of our favorite spots in downtown victoria, the dutch bakery. aside from the kids accompanying their parents or grandparents... we are always the youngest people there. it's always packed with elderly people having brunch, lunch or their 4pm dinner, and have likely been doing so for many many years. it's that kind of place, a family owned and operated business built on principals of good food! somewhere that you would bring your parents and/or kids to to have a coffee, a bowl of soup, an egg-salad sandwich, a hamburger and milkshake, and a delicious treat.

whenever we're both in victoria we're sure to stop by and have our favorites.

hearty homemade soup with noodles, meatballs, rice, carrots, celery, onions... delicious starter!

i think this is the best burger ever. classic processed cheese, tomato, shredded iceburg lettuce, sliced pickle, mustard, ketchup and their amazing mayo.

my favorite treat is their fruit-custard tart.

alison's fav is the vanilla slice. we read that they've made over 1.9 million of them over the years!

if you ever get the chance to go to the dutch bakery on fort street... don't hesitate!

r&a

mount douglas

one nice thing about living in victoria (or visiting, as ryan is), is that there are countless sunday hikes to be had within a short driving distance of the city.  many within the city of victoria itself!  today, ryan and i drove out to mount douglas, a 15 minute drive from my apartment, and hiked to the summit. we had perfect september weather, not too hot, slightly misty, fresh after-rain smell, slugs everywhere - it was great!

photos 4&8 credit: ryan nelson.

my favourite part of the hike was when we found a rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa). after we held him for a bit, we let him go, placing him safely in the underbrush. neat! i'd only ever seen one other before, when michelle (ryan's sister, and my new sister-in-law) and i caught one up in bella bella while i was her research assistant (she is working on her phd in salmon conservation from SFU).

anyhoo, ryan and i had a great misty/moist sunday in victoria. bye for now!

agricultural society saanich fair, central saanich.

on saturday, september 4, ryan and i went to the 143rd saanich fair with my friends amy and heather. i hadn't been to a fair since i was a child, and seeing the incredible breeds of rabbits, ducks, geese, pheasants, llamas, alpacas, horses, etc was truly amazing! ryan and i filled my 16gb memory card on my new camera and drained the battery rather quickly! (ryan, my parents and my new in-laws rob and jeri bought me a canon EOS 7D and a 50mm f/1.4 lens - i'm a very lucky girl!) 

we ate fair food - hamburgers, onion rings and hot dogs with fries, elephant ears (beaver tails) and a wonderful new fair food we'd never encountered: a lavender lemonade sorbet "freezie". it was FANtastic! ryan and i are going to try to replicate it one day!

the food and flower portion of the fair was neat too! huge tomatoes, incredible blackberries the size of walnuts! rooms were filled with baking contest submissions, homemade wine and local honey and honeybee demonstrations. it was a wonderful day revisiting where food should come from (and smell and taste like)!

more photos from the day posted on my flickr site.

#1.

photos 1&2 credit: jamie delaine photography. photo 3: robyn michelle-lee thompson photography (in collaboration with jamie delaine).

i think a great way to start off this new blog that ryan and i are writing, is to start with a bit about our wedding! ryan and i were married august 21, 2010 at our family cottage in roberts creek, bc.  we could not have asked for a more beautiful day, with the help of family and friends, all of our planning came together perfectly! ryan and i designed the wedding ourselves, and with the help of our families, all of the decorations and snacks were homemade and exactly how we'd imagined. perfect for us!

next up for me (alison) is writing up my thesis in biology at uvic, and ryan heads to scotland for a 4 month exchange at the university of strathclyde in glasgow (through dalhousie m.arch program). we are hoping to tag-team post on this blog, posting about things we do together, things we hope to someday do, and everything in between! :) thanks for reading!