NEW LISTING AT 285 NAUTICAL - LAKESHORE WOODS - OAKVILLE HOMES!

LISTED AT $839,900

Lakeshore Woods locale! Gorgeous executive home backing onto beautiful lush ravine. Total privacy - and a pool sized lot! National Homes "Bismark" model - 2,883 sq. ft. of luxurious living space. Smooth ceilings through out entire home. Superb floor plan, boasts a main floor study. Bright eat in kitchen offers granite, custom built cabinets, travertine marble tile back splash & stainless steel appliances - also under cabinet lighting. Kitchen i& eat in area s open concept to family room. Crown mouldings, gleaming hardwood floors on BOTH main & second floor & so much more. Wrought iron inserts in front doors. Upgraded lever style door handles through out in brushed nickel. Custom vanity cabinet with granite top in powder room. Custom stained handrail with clear finish spindles on staircase. Lovely master bedroom retreat with ensuite with upgraded porcelain tile. Laundry room with extensive cabinets & new stainless steel laundry tub. Fully finished basement with media room, recreation room with bar sink, home office & 3pc bath. Pick up the phone today! Contact Mary Ann Schiralli at 905-338-9000 to book your showing.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS - OAKVILLE HOMES

Midnight Madness, one of the largest shopping and entertainment events of the year in Downtown Oakville, is celebrating is 33rd year in 2010.


Catch a performance on one of the stages, enjoy the shopping deals from many of the retailers, and sit and enjoy a great meal at many of the downtown restaurants.

There are plenty of family activities as well such as bouncy castles, face painting and crafts.

When: Friday, July 16, 2010 starting at 5:30 pm
Location: Lakeshore Rd., Downtown Oakville
There will be a FREE shuttle bus from the Trafalgar GO station every 15 minutes!

If you do take your car downtown, be sure to view the list of oakville parking lots with maps.

OAKVILLE CELEBRATES RECENT "HIGH FIVE" ACCREDITED STATUS - OAKVILLE HOMES

Oakville celebrated its recent HIGH FIVE® Accredited Organization status at an appreciation event today where hundreds of recreation and culture employees were applauded for their efforts in helping the town achieve this significant goal.


“Oakville is a town full of energetic, active people who enjoy recreation. Our Accredited Organization status shows how dedicated our staff is to providing the best recreational programming possible, at the highest of standards,” Oakville Mayor Rob Burton said. “By achieving this goal, we have moved one step closer to becoming the most livable town in Canada. You should all be proud of your success.”

Oakville is the first municipality in Halton, and the largest in Ontario to receive the provincially-recognized HIGH FIVE® accreditation for providing quality recreation and sport programs to children aged six to twelve. HIGH FIVE® accreditation is the highest recognized level of quality and safety in children’s sport and recreation and Canada’s only quality assurance standard for organizations that provide sport and recreation programs to children.

“The Town of Oakville has exemplified true dedication to enhance and improve their delivery of services to the community,” Brian Connors, Parks and Recreation Ontario (PRO) board member said. “Research indicates that organizations registered with HIGH FIVE® are improving the experiences of children participating in recreation and sports programs and enhancing the long term success of their staff and organization.”

Organizations that have achieved accreditation are distinguished by their focus on healthy child development in all aspects of their operation, from programming to policies and procedures. An organization must work through five levels of achievement to reach accreditation.

For additional information on the HIGH FIVE® accreditation process visit www.highfive.org

CURLEY OR FLAT: PARSLEY IS ALL GOOD TO ME - OAKVILLE HOMES

This is a tale of two parsleys.


Parsley No. 1 was the prettier of the pair — bright green, with curly, crinkly leaves. However, as any teenage girl knows, looking too cute can get you dismissed as a lightweight. That was, alas, the fate of parsley No 1. She got relegated to a supporting role in the kitchen, fit only for garnishing plates.

And parsley No. 2? People took her far more seriously, because of her plain, flat, businesslike leaves. She also possessed one huge trump card: the magic word “Italian” attached to her name. So parsley No. 2 earned the accolades of gourmets everywhere as “the best kind of parsley to cook with.”

Poor parsley No. 1. She could whimper all she liked that she tasted just as good as her Plain Jane cousin. No one took any notice.

At least that’s my take on this much-used herb, folks. Everywhere I go, people keep trotting out the myth that Italian parsley tastes better than the curly kind. But it’s bollocks. And — hallelujah — the tide does seem to be turning. Canadian House & Home recently identified curly parsley as the new “star of high-end cuisine,” with chefs suddenly favouring “its intense flavour over flat-leaf.”

Be that as it may, all parsley tastes better when you grow it yourself. And it’s pretty easy. Just give the plant nutrient-rich soil and lots of water. If it dries out (the bottom leaves will start turning yellow) whack the whole thing back, water and it’ll soon bush out again. Too-dry parsley tastes bitter and has a tough texture. I find the curly kind harder to clean than Italian, because gritty bits of soil tend to get splashed up and trapped between the “crinkles” during rain. (Perhaps that’s where the belief that Italian parsley is better to cook with comes from.)

And don’t bother to grow any kind of parsley — pretty or plain — from seed. Germination takes longer than the streetcar out to the Beach. Just pick up pots of both types in spring from the garden centre. Then, do a taste test yourself. Chew on a raw sprig of each. See what I mean?

Grow your own

Mesclun mix

Unlike parsley, supermarket salad greens lose their flavour fast. So grow your own. Mesclun mix is hip, incredibly easy and fun. (And by the way, it’s MEZ-clun, not mescaline, which delivers an altogether different high.) Just sprinkle seeds on top of a shallow container of damp growing mix. Keep in a spot which gets sun part of the day, but doesn’t fry the leaves. Start snipping within three weeks. The freshness is delish. Three Canadian sources: Stokes Seeds, St. Catharines: 1-800-396-9238. www.stokesseeds.com Manitoba’s McFayden Seeds: 1-800-205-7111. www.mcfayden.com Veseys in PEI: 1-800-363-7333. www.veseys.com

Plant pick

Flowering raspberry Rubus odorata

A remarkably pretty native shrub that has started popping up in Toronto’s parks. (Kudos to the city’s plant pooh-bahs.) I spotted it in High Park recently and also a lovely long row at Kew Gardens in the Beach. This produces the oh-so-Canadian fruit called thimbleberry. But even if you don’t bother with the berries, the purplish-pink flowers look lovely in spring: big, rather like rugosa roses. And for city gardeners, it’s fine in part shade. Source: Grand Moraine Growers in Alma, north of Guelph. 519-638-1101. www.grandmorainegrowers.ca