Monday, March 26th - 10 cm of snow - SERIOUSLY???

What a difference  in 24 hours

This morning I woke up to a light blanket of snow on the ground and 0' and we're heading for a high of 5' and maybe some rain. But the weather network has a blowing snow and high wind warning posted and they claim we may get up to 10 cm of snow by tomorrow. Are they kidding??? It's quite a slap in the face from the 26' we enjoyed on Thursday. But it is only March and Mother Nature seems to just want to make sure we're paying attention. I guess the sandals are out for this morning!!

All in all, a pretty quiet weekend. Brenda and Bernie got home from Boston around 8:00 or so on Friday evening so nothing going on that night. Saturday I worked, as usual and then did a couple of errands on my way home. There was a recipe in the new What's Cooking magazine I received last week that I wanted to try so I picked up what I needed and took it to the Van Gaals around 6:00 Saturday evening. It was quite good and I'll have the recipe for you tomorrow. It was a stir fried pork tenderloin served with brown rice. It was tasty and went together in minutes so it's something I would make again. Brenda made dessert from a recipe that was in last weeks paper, It was equally delicious so a great meal was enjoyed by all.

The view from the window Sunday morning

Sunday was sunny but frosty in the morning - and with no snow on the ground it was the perfect conditions for cleaning up the back yard from the dog being out there all winter. Once that was done I filled up my wood supply then came in and had some breakfast. It was a lovely morning. The sun was bright and quickly melted the frost off everything.

I spent the morning baking muffins to take for my snack in the mornings at work, the tried my hand at a dutch recipe that Brenda introduced me to. Stroopwafels are a filled wafer type of cookie that she gets from the dutch truck. I used a pizzelle baker to make them and she said they were pretty close to the real thing. I didn't use the recipe for filling, which looked pretty much like a caramel type of spread but instead opted for some caramel I had in the fridge I did alter the tradition slightly by filling some with jam and some with peanut butter for Bernie as he's not a big caramel fan. They were an interesting project and I'll try them again sometime but with the proper filling and see how it works.  I'll post the recipe for those later in the week as well.

Brenda came over and picked me up and we went to the art exhibit in Fort Augustus. Yes indeed, the seniors of the community participated in a program throughout the winter where they learned how to paint and I must say I was pretty impressed with the results. There were a couple of paintings that I would have been quite happy to bring home and hang on my wall. Who knew we had such talent so close by?  After leaving there we headed back to my place and went for a walk to the corner and then down MacKinnon Point Road. What a busy spot. There is hardly any traffic on my end but on the other side of the Fort Augustus Road we encountered numerous cars and at least two other people out walking. We're not used to that much activity on this side of the main road.

By the time we got back we were pretty parched so a glass of wine was in order and some nachos seemed like a good idea. But just as they were almost ready to come out of the oven, I realized I didn't have any sour cream. What to do? Turns out Brenda had planned to go get gas in Mount Stewart on her way home anyway so she scooted out to do that and pick up sour cream at the same time. I was beginning to wonder where she went because she was gone for quite some time but it turns out she encountered some fellows just putting their kayaks in the water by the bridge. Of course she had to stop and chat with them - and I can't blame her.  But they were dressed in wet suits and ready for the elements so it wouldn't have been an option for us yet. Hopefully we'll get out more often this year than we did last year.

After she went home, it was a quiet evening - some laundry, a chat with Lloyd, a movie and then off to bed. A relaxing weekend for sure.  But the big news (at least for Lloyd) is that they are doing the Burger competition again this year and it's in April so good thing he's coming for Easter! I can see I won't have to plan much in the way of meals while he's here.