Ooey, Gooey Cinnamon Buns

All is well in our little Saskatoon household. We had some exciting thunderstorms last week, but stayed warm and dry and not-electrified inside the house. It is amazing how much rain came down during one of the storms - I can see why people have rain barrels! We also have these amazing drain pipes that go down the house and out two metres to let the water drain far away from the house's foundation. Most houses around here seem to have them, but I had never seen them before moving to Saskatoon.

J and I were very productive this weekend. He worked his last (yay!) call shift of CTU (Clinical Teaching Unit) Internal Medicine on Saturday and I got the car fixed, went to the Farmer's Market, and finished off our engagement and wedding photo books. And managed to have a Harry Potter marathon, rereading and rewatching Harry Potter #5, #6, and #7, in preparation for my upcoming visit with my lovely cousins! (JK Rowling's little Rita Skeeter story on Pottermore definitely worked on me - I immediately dove back into the wizarding world with gusto. I even got sorted this time!) 

As it turns out, Saturday is the proper day to go to the Saskatoon Farmer's Market. When you come to visit, we will go on Saturday. At 8 AM. (You thought you would sleep in? Ha! Not when there is a new resident in the house - J has to get up super early most days, so I figure I might as well get up as well. Sometimes I do sleep in until 7 AM.) Anyways, at this market there were loads of vendors and I was able to buy fresh garlic, cocktail tomatoes, crisp radishes, and some farm fresh eggs. Our neighbours have a huge garden plot that is going crazy with all of the humidity that we've had recently, so have been giving us boatloads of lettuce and cucumbers. 

Saturday Market, full of hustle and bustle.

On my bike ride home from dropping the car off and visiting the market, I noticed that there was a dragon boat festival going on at the river. The FMG's Dragon Boat Festival was a charity event, raising money and awareness for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. I was very happy to pause for a few minutes to watch the dragon boaters race their way down the river. I had the best seats in the house, stopping on the river trail and in the middle of the bridge! 

8:30 AM view from the middle of the brige

2:30 PM view from the riverbank

As you can see, the weather certainly brightened up a bit in time for the afternoon racers! I was on my bike, on the way back to pick up the car when I went by the second time. And I am happy to report the car is now fully ready  to be insured in Saskatchewan. I'm a little sad to give up my "Beautiful British Columbia" plates, but I suppose "Land of the Living Skies" isn't so bad a slogan. It's certainly true! 

J was a bit bummed to have to do a final 24 hour call shift on Saturday, so when he texted me with his frustrations, I told him that there would be fresh cinnamon buns waiting when he got home Sunday morning. This cheered him up immensely. He was also cheerful when he got home because he hadn't been paged all night and actually slept from midnight until six in the morning. (For the record, this will not happen when he is on Obstetrics. Apparently you work all night long during call shifts. Those babies want to be born!)

So, I made the dough in the evening and let it rise in the fridge all night. Then I rolled it out and mixed the cinnamon, sugar, butter, and pecan filling together, then rolled it all together and let it rise for another hour. By the time J got home at nine, the cinnamon buns were just coming out of the oven! 

I considered taking some cinnamon buns over to the neighbours, but J convinced me that we needed to eat all of them ourselves. So, indeed we did, but we had to go for a run in the afternoon to counteract the delicious dough and butter and sugar and cinnamon working their way through our systems. Heh.

On Friday I am off for a week at Shuswap Lake with my lovely aunt, uncle, and cousins. I'm really looking forward to swimming, ice cream eating, reading, pedicures, and spending time with some of my favourite people in the world. I hope that you all have a wonderful August Long Weekend and I will talk to you all very soon!

Love, as always, 

S + J and J + S