Spring has sprung and it’s almost time for Easter! The big day falls on Monday April 17th this year. If you’re planning a feast with family and friends at your Timbercreek home, Timbercreek Communities wants to help out in the kitchen with some delicious recipes for the best Easter main courses.

Crown Roast of Lamb

This Crown Roast of Lamb is an impressive cut of meat for a special culinary occasion. It’s perfect for an Easter dinner. It’s prepared in about 45 minutes by arranging two racks of lamb in semi-circles and cooking for 8 to 12 minutes per pound with minced garlic, fresh thyme, coriander, and rosemary. The video will help guide you along.

Sugar Glazed Ham

An old fashioned Sugar Glazed Ham, with it’s sweet golden brown coating, is a fabulous main course for Easter. The sweetness of the brown sugar is complemented perfectly by the mustard and vinegar. Best of all, it only takes 5 minutes to prepare, so you’ll have more time to spend with your family while it bakes for 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Wild Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna

This hearty Wild Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna is an excellent vegetarian Easter entree.

It’s loaded with five pounds of fresh (or frozen) spinach and 3 pounds of wild mushrooms, and topped with a Madeira wine and parsley sauce. Frozen spinach can be used in place of fresh in this recipe.

Salmon with Dijon Dill

This Salmon with Dijon Dill will make a refreshing change to your Easter Holiday meal. The rich sauce is made with butter, dill, Dijon mustard, shallots and white wine. The sauce is a rich addition to the delicate flaky fish. This dish only requires 20 minutes of hands on time and another 20 minutes of cooking time.

Lemon-Thyme Split-Roasted Turkey

The classic pairing of lemon and thyme gives this Split-Roasted Turkey a springtime feel that is perfect for your Easter feast. The split-roasting method also saves time when compared to a traditional roast turkey. You’ll need 30 minutes of prep time and only an hour and a half to 2 hours in the oven.

Happy Easter from Timbercreek Communities!

To learn more about Timbercreek Rental Communities across Canada, please visit our website.

Car and bike sharing services have changed the way we get around. They've made transportation more accessible, and turned the concept of ownership on its head. Car and bike sharing, gives you access to convenient transportation for a few hours to go to a meeting, a dinner party, or to see the city. While having your own ride is hard to beat for maximum convenience, occasional use transportation is way more affordable. Check out this list of 5 car and bike sharing services that make life easy from Timbercreek Communities.

Car2Go

With Canadian locations in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal, Car2Go is an incredible option in the care share scene. Featuring easy app booking, no surge pricing, and affordable rates, they can't be beat. Car2Go cars are two-sweaters that are easy to park and require a small amount of fuel. Learn more here.

Bike Share Toronto

With 2,000 bikes and 200 stations, Bike Share Toronto is making an impression. BST has a fleet of incredibly solid bikes available along major city thoroughfares and subway transit stations, and presents affordable pricing programs including $7 day passes, $15/3-day passes, and a $90 annual memberships that offer unlimited 30-minute rides. Though it is still focused mainly in the downtown core of Toronto, BST is branching out to serve bigger swaths of the city. Get more info from their website.

Enterprise Car Share

Enterprise Car Share offers services in major Canadian cities, including Toronto, Regina, Saskatoon, and Sackville. A small annual fee in addition to hourly or monthly rates are available, in addition to a vast range of car choices. Enterprise Car Share’s rates include fuel and insurance. See more here.

Zipcar

With membership rates as low as $7/month or $70/year, Zipcar is an incredibly affordable care share program. Zipcar is used across Canada from London, ON., Kitchener/Waterloo, Toronto, and Ottawa. Members have access to all 10,000 vehicles including hybrids in more than 470 cities worldwide. As with most services, Zipcar’s rates include fuel and insurance. See more at Zipcar’s website.

With so many amazing sharing options available, there's no need to own a car or bike in 2017. We hope that this list of 5 car and bike sharing services that make life easy will make your commute or unexpected errands a breeze. For even more resources and info about car and bike sharing in Canada, please check out this article.

For more information on Timbercreek Communities across Canada, please visit our website.

Liberty Village is located in Toronto’s west end, in one of the city’s oldest neighbourhoods. The fascinating blend of old-world charm and modern, urban living is something that must be experienced to be fully appreciated. To help you get a feel for the neighbourhood, Timbercreek Communities created this guide to Liberty Village.

Bars and Restaurants

Liberty Village is a great neighbourhood for food and drink. There are many excellent restaurants and bars to discover. The interior of Les 3 Brasseurs (3 Brewers) feels lofty, yet cozy. The beams, brickwork and the brewery itself, are all exposed, in fact every step of the brewing process in on display. The menu outlines helpful pairing suggestions for those looking to have their beverage compliment their meal. For example, when you choose your Pulled Pork Poutine ($13), you’ll know to order the Amber or Brown to wash it down. If you’re looking for something cozy, LOCAL Public Eatery is an amazingly comforting option. This restaurant compares itself to a living room with better food and drink. LOCAL Public Eatery is obsessed with craft beer and constantly rotates new selections. The menu is loaded with affordable international fare, offering everything from Chicken Quesadillas ($7.50) to Perogies with bacon and fried onions ($8). Their drinks menu is incredible and features local craft beers (like Collective Arts) and more familiar offerings from around the world (like Sapporo). They also have some seriously delicious cocktails, comically served in a boot and not in a boot like their Lucky Lemonade in a boot ($9) -- a delightful mix of JD, lemonade and guava juice.

Concerts, Sports and More!

Liberty Village is home to BMO Field, a huge stadium located in Exhibition Place. It’s an incredible venue for soccer and football games (featuring the Toronto FC and the Toronto Argonauts), not to mention major concerts and theater performances. Get your tickets for upcoming events here.

Coffee Shops and Cafes

Ciao Europe Cafe (80 Western Battery Road) is a cafe by day and a wine bar by night. Enjoy their fresh panini, stone-baked pizzas, and house-baked pastries. Other options when you’re on the hunt for caffeine in Liberty Village include Balzac’s Coffee (43 Hanna Avenue) and Louie Craft Coffee (1187 King St. West). Click here for a full list of local cafes to visit.

Convenient Transit

True Torontonians are always on the move. We love how accessible Liberty Village is thanks to streetcars, buses, Go Train access, not to mention the Gardiner and Lakeshore. Residents are located close to streetcar lines on Queen and King street that run East and West, and are within walking distance of Go Transit's Exhibition Station. Drivers can access downtown Toronto in minutes thanks to the Gardiner Expressway and Lakeshore Boulevard, which are connected to highways leading out of the downtown core.

Design

If you’re looking for interior design and furnishings for your Liberty Village apartment, there’s no need to leave the neighbourhood. Everything you need is within easy reach. West Elm (109 Atlantic Ave) is a great nearby option that is full of contemporary furniture and more for your entire home.

A pet’s playground

Dog owners will love Liberty Village thanks to the outstanding off-leash area in Stanley Park. Owners of timid pups can alternatively stick to the main park paths or surrounding neighbourhood streets. The neighbourhood also boasts a few great pet shops, like Global Pet Foods, Pet Valu and Timmie Doggie Outfitters which features pet clothing, accessories, designer toys, treats, gourmet foods and grooming for posh-pooches and cats.

Groceries

Liberty Village may be ultra-modern but it can still feel like a good, old fashioned neighbourhood. You can step outside your front door and take a trip to the local butcher, baker, cheese shop, chocolate shop or health food store, or enjoy the convenience of a one-stop-shop at Metro Supermarket (100 Lynn Williams St.).

Timbercreek Communities hopes our guide to Liberty Village has left you wanting more. To find your home with Timbercreek Communities across Canada, or in near Liberty Village at  200 Dufferin Street, please visit our website.

Spring is just around the corner! If you’ve ever wanted to get into gardening but thought you didn’t have the space, we have some tips on gardening without a garden. 

Windowsill Garden

A Windowsill Garden is an easy way to add a lot of life to your apartment. All you need are a few containers, some living herbs or flowers, and a few minutes of your time to transfer them into the containers. Be sure to keep your curtains open for good light exposure.

Mason Jar Herb Garden

A Mason Jar Herb Garden is an incredibly easy space saving gardening option -- and it will make your apartment smell amazing! All you need is soil, some easy-to-care-for living herbs, and a few large mason jars.

Shoe Organizer Planter

This one is super easy. Simply repurpose (or purchase) a hanging shoe organizer to create a hanging garden. This garden project will also help keep your cats from messing with your plants. Find detailed instructions here.

Tiered Herb Garden

Create your very own Tiered Herb Garden using galvanized containers stacked in order of size. They work together -- drill a hole a few inches from the bottom of one container and the water will trickle to the next one below, and so on. Leave the bottom container intact.

Timbercreek hopes these ideas help you give a green-thumbs-up to gardening this season.

To find your home with Timbercreek Communities, please visit our website.

Simply put, minimalism is about doing more with less. Minimalist design and decor in your home can open up a room and make if feel more spacious by using clean lines, and carefully selected colours and pieces. Timbercreek Communities has 5 ways to get the minimalist living room you want.

Limit Your Choices

Minimalism doesn’t mean stark white and sterile. Choose a base colour and a few accent colours. Stick to this palette when choosing paint, furniture and decor for your space. If you choose neutral colours for walls and furniture, choose some warmer colours for pillows, rugs and decorations to soften the feeling of the room.

Create Focal Points

A well designed minimalist living room will offer an open, relaxing and calm atmosphere. You don’t want things to feel scattered or cluttered. Choose focal points to make the room feel centered and balanced. Place items such as rugs, pillows and carefully selected decorations together around big furniture. Also, limit the pieces of furniture to only what you need to feel comfortable. Place all your picture frames on a single table or shelf, rather than on any and all surfaces. If the room is feeling sparse, use single pieces of art or fabric on the walls to create and airy balance.

Balance

Minimalist design needs balance. This can mean arranging selected items symmetrically,   or asymmetrically. For example, you can flank a sofa with lamps and end tables on both sides, or guide the eye by placing items to one side, to lead the eye along and connect the room. It’s all about filling the space with care. 

Behind Closed Doors

Your living room will feel calmer when there is a place for everything and everything is in its place. Everything that you don’t love looking at should be hidden cleanly away inside cabinets or behind closet doors, in drawers or inside other storage space.

Clear Out the Clutter

When embarking on a minimalist lifestyle, it's a good idea to go through your possessions and decide what you really want to own. Clutter is the enemy of clean, minimalist design. Items that are out in the open should be arranged intentionally. For example, try to place books in order of size or colour -- this will create a harmonious feel throughout your space.

For information on Timbercreek Communities throughout Canada, please see our website.