Like all good things, my summer vacation came to an end with a return to school last week. I was funemployed for the first couple months of the summer, and for the first time in a long time had (almost) zero commitments. It felt a little weird at first: no set schedule, no job (no pay-cheque) and no classes, but I adjusted pretty quickly…it was glorious. I decided to fill some of my free time with a class (couldn’t resist some kind of organized activity, I guess.), and signed up for a beginner photography class at SPAO. Ever since starting this little blah-blah-blahg of mine, I’ve wanted to set some time aside to properly figure out what I’m doing with a my camera, and this summer seemed like as good a time as any to get the basics under my belt. I’m still learning (but when aren’t we?), and I don’t think I’ll ever call myself a photographer, but hopefully the quality keeps improving around here. My favourite aspect of the class was that it set aside some time to go out into the world with the sole intention of taking pictures. This meant tinkering around with my camera of course, but it also meant that I got to enjoy even more of Ottawa’s summer beauty through my lens. I took an awful lot of pictures of flowers. And Dunlop. Flowers and Dunlop together! And food, of course.
Simple Summer Fruit Crisp
We had an abundance of peaches and cherries that were getting extra ripe in the kitchen, so I threw them in the oven with a very simple almond crisp-type topping. Without any added sugar, it’s a healthy treat, and makes a deliciously dessert-like breakfast with a dollop of Greek yogurt.

For an 8 by 8-inch dish of crisp…
3 peaches, sliced
2 cups of cherries, pitted and cut in half
1 1/2 cups of ground almonds (almond flour)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Place the sliced fruit evenly in the dish.
Toast the slivered almonds with the cinnamon in a pan on the stove until the almonds start to brown just slightly.
Stir together the toasted almonds, the ground almonds and coconut oil. Spoon the almond mixture on top of the fruit, it might be easier to distribute it evenly and pat it down with your hands.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the almond topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling.
Enjoy in the late summer sunshine.