Sometimes it’s best to brainstorm when you are far away from all the hustle and bustle of the daily routine of home an work. Last year Serenity’s Lavender Festival exceeded all of our expectations. The turnout was amazing, the weather was picture perfect but we did not yet have our new hospitality centre and so with a new building smack dab in the centre of our parking and vendor area, with a full service restaurant open 7 days a week, a brainstorming session was in order. Over the next few months we’ll be rolling out the Festival activities. A sprinkle of new with old making this an even better festival for all ages!
Lavender is, of course still the star of the show and choosing a date can be a challenge not too early and not too late to miss the peak of bloom. And then there are all the other wonderful festivals in Windsor Essex to keep in mind. We’ve chosen June 30th and July 1st and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that mother nature is as kind to us as she was last year! So pencil that date into your calendars and we hope to see you for another Scentscational Experience!!!
WE ARE HIRING!!! Our sister company had a wonderful soft launch thanks to you our customers and now we are gearing up for ourregular hours and expanding our offerings. So start your New Year by joining our talented culinary team. We are hiring in all positions full time and part time including: line cooks, prep cooks, dishwashers, cleaners, front of house supervisors and waitstaff. Apply by sending a resume to chef@north42degrees.com.
Renumeration commensurate with experience.
Come join our team!!!
Here’s a nice easy recipe for Lavender Lemon tea cookies that we’ve adapted from Dietitians of Canada, COOK! A tea time favourite- oooh so pretty too! They are a perfect pairing with a cup of Serenity Lavender’s Lavender Earl Grey tea on a cold winter’s day or just a nice treat to chase away the winter blues.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Serenity Lavender’s lavender sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
1 large egg beaten
1/2 cup 2% milk
2 tsp lemon extract
Frosting:
1 cup icing sugar
2 1/2 – 3 tbsp 2% milk
2 tsp non-hydrogenated margarine
1 tsp lemon extract
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C)
In a large bowl, combine flour, lavender sugar and baking powder. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
In a small bowl, whisk together egg, milk and lemon extract. Pour over flour mixture and stir just until a stiff dough forms (do not over mix).
Drop 1 tablespoonful (15 mL) about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until bottoms are golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Frosting:
In small bowl, combine icing sugar, milk, margarine and lemon extract to form a smooth, thin frosting.
Drizzle frosting over cooled cookies and top with Serenity Lavender’s Culinary lavender buds.
Makes about 30 cookies
Excerpted from Dietitians of Canada, COOK! by Mary Sue Waisman, photos by Colin Erricson © 2011 Robert Rose Inc. 
A perfect day for a cup of tea…. we’re tasting some new teas and can’t wait to share our new releases with you! Of course they are all blended with our own lavender grown locally at Serenity Lavender Farm. The flavours of our culinary lavender varieties are matched to enhance the flavours of the tea. We grow a number of varietals that are unique to Ontario and Canada. So, coconut ice with it’s spearmint flavours and aromas are a perfect match to our Spearmint tea, which incidently is a great tea to help with digestion. All of teas are fair trade and where possible organically grown. We are always looking for recommendations.
So,what’s your favourite tea?
We’ve started our holiday baking with a few of our favourites from mouth watering shortbread to chocolate fudge. At Serenity Lavender we’re always experimenting and adding lavender to different recipes to see how our favourite herb accents a recipe. Like anything in life, we’ve had some huge successes and then some less than stellar results. Over the next several weeks on Sundays we’ll be sharing some of our recipes that have been great hits and sure fire crowd pleasers. Today we thought we’d start with a classic – Lavender Shortbread! Buttery crisps with a hint of floral and citrus notes that turns this old family recipe into something spectacular!!
Servings: 5 dozen cookies
Ingredients
1 lb unsalted butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
2 teaspoons Serenity Lavender culinary lavender (ground)
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup rice flour
½ teaspoon salt
Preparation
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Cover bottoms of two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, lavender with an electric mixer. Mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add all purpose flour, rice flour and salt and beat until incorporated. Divide dough in half. Flatten into squares and wrap in plastic. Chill until firm. On a floured board, roll each square to a thickness of 3/8 inch. Cut with cookie cutters and place onto baking sheets, spacing cookies about 1 inch apart. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until pale golden around the edges. Cool then transfer to a rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Store in an air tight container.
Photo from ilovemilkandcookies.blogspot.ca
North 42 Degrees Estate Winery and Serenity Lavender Farm
We are getting excited as the new building is entering its final completion stages. The new retail display racks and furniture is ordered and scheduled to arrive next week. For those who haven’t heard we have built a brand new hospitality centre the will be home to Serenity Lavender Farm, North 42 Degrees Estate Winery and Bistro 42. Yup we have a brand spanking new space that is full of natural light to show off our fantastic lavender themed giftware, handmade artisan soaps and body products and our expanded line of lavender culinary goodies that we will be creating in our own kitchen. More on that in our next blog post. We’ll have access to a private room with spectacular views of the vineyard and a roaring fireplace for our craft classes. So stay tuned for more details. But today we just wanted to update you on our progress and share a few photos of what is to come at Serenity Lavender Farm.
Make a beautiful snowman wreath on Sunday November 26th at 2 pm in our new Serenity Lavender North 42 Degrees Hospitality Centre. We’ll be using white deco mesh accented with lots of green and red ribbons and other accessories to beautiful your doorway this holiday season. All supplies are included and you’ll go home with a beautiful completed wreath. The class cost is $65.00 plus HST and is limited to 10 people so register today.
Click here to register.
Who wants to make the perfect bow this gift giving season? Come join us and you’ll learn to make a wreath bow, flower bow, layered bow and a scrap bow. Yes, a bow from all those scraps of ribbon that you just can’t bear to throw away. All supplies are included (but you can bring those scraps and we’ll help you turn them into something beautiful). Tickets are $45.00 per person A cozy fireplace and great conversations are included. This class is being offered on December 10th at 2 pm
Click here for tickets
We’ll be making this gorgeous grapevine wreath adorned with beautiful silk flowers, pine cones and other accessories to make your home extra special this holiday season. In this class you will not only learn to make a grape vine wreath from scratch but also a gorgeous decorative bow and then take home your beautiful creation. This class is limited to 10 participants and is $85.00 plus HST
Click here to register
Who wants to make the perfect bow this gift giving season? Come join us and you’ll learn to make a wreath bow, flower bow, layered bow and a scrap bow. Yes, a bow from all those scraps of ribbon that you just can’t bear to throw away. All supplies are included (but you can bring those scraps and we’ll help you turn them into something beautiful). Tickets are $45.00 per person A cozy fireplace and great conversations are included.
Click here to register
