Tuesday, November 24th - one month to Christmas Eve!!!

It's been a pretty quiet week. Not a lot going on at our house although there were things we could have participated in, but just didn't.

My sheepskin is still just sitting with salt on it. I was having some difficulty finding the chemical I required to tan it myself, but after much  digging and digging online, I finally found a source in Quebec. I've ordered what I need and once it arrives I can move on to the next step. For now they are just sitting and drying, which is exactly what they are supposed to be doing ( I think!).  This is all a learning process.

The weather has been unseasonably mild the past few days but lots and lots of rain. I see this morning that the rain has stopped for now but it has gotten quite a bit colder. From 16' yesterday morning to 0' this morning. But then it seems we may get back up into some milder temperatures as the week goes on.  Thankfully it's not snowing as yet. Parts of New Brunswick received a fair bit of snow yesterday but if they can keep it from crossing the bridge, we'd be quite happy with that.

I see Ontario also got some snow on the weekend. All the better for those Santa Claus Parades. James and the pipe band and/or air cadets seem to be doing their fair share of marching in parades. This past weekend was the Puslinch parade. That's him in the centre of the front of the group.

You can just see a bit of snow in the field to the right in the picture. There's a photo of Meghan on their snow covered back deck, on Instagram..(I'd include that one but I can't figure out how to copy it from there and save it)

Sunday was mild but rainy so I opted to stay inside and do some much needed work, while Lloyd puttered out in his workshop. I did laundry, and cleaned out the top cupboards in the kitchen, that have badly needed that for quite some time. I needed to see just what I have on hand and what I need to pick up to do some Christmas baking. I did get my Christmas cake baked on Sunday as well as a couple of batches of cookies. Trouble with the cookies is they are disappearing quickly. I need to pick up containers to freeze them in so I can find a place to hide them from certain people (and I must admit, I'm also guilty).

Tonight is our pot luck supper at Community School to mark the end of the session.  It wasn't totally successful as neither I nor my two students finished any projects but it was an evening out and we enjoyed ourselves just the same.  We usually have at least one night when it's really snowy but so far we haven't had that this year. Which reminds me, I'd better cut this short and get on to something else. They want to put together a little flyer with the recipes from the cook a night class, which I helped with last Tuesday. I got a call last night that someone needs the recipes I used so I'd better go and find them and get them emailed.

See you next Tuesday.

Tuesday, November 17th - all over the map this week - literally and fuguratively!

Another busy week has gone by, bringing us one more week closer to Christmas! (I know, no one wants to hear that)

Firstly, a belated happy birthday to Patti, who celebrated yesterday. It was her good fortune that it was also timed that Tristen's school was hosting a special lunch for the parents, with a Parisienne theme.

It wasn't planned that way, but it was a little ironic in light of the terrible tragedy that struck that city last week. Our thoughts and prayers are with those in France, but also gratitude that Patti wasn't there, as she often does flights to Paris.

It was a very busy week for the kids. James participated in the Remembrance day ceremonies in Guelph with the Air Cadets, then a quick change into his kilt and off to several other performances with the pipe band, at various locations.

Sunday was the Guelph Santa Claus Parade, where Meg made her debut as a drummer.  Because a lot of members of the cadet band are also Pipe band members, the two were combined so James was a piping cadet and Meg was a kilted drummer.   It looks like they had a beautiful day for the parade with mild temperatures and lots of sunshine.

A much nicer day than we had here. It was cold and drizzly both Saturday and Sunday and  I had a new project that I've undertaken that needed to be started outside.

Our friend Charles had his lambs slaughtered last week and gave me two hides fresh off the lambs.. Now this is not something I had any idea of what to do with. How do you get from there to a lovely sheep skin rug?  Let me just say, it's not a task for the faint of heart!!!  It's messy business to strip the skin of bits of fat and flesh ( I know, it's kind of gross) but I've always been fascinated by how they did things in history before you could get almost anything mass produced.  I spent the afternoon out in the rain on Saturday washing them with a garden hose, as they were pretty messy. (I'll spare you those photos!) Once that was done, I laid them out to dry a bit as the fleece holds a lot of moisture when it gets saturated.

The next step is to lay them out and put on a good thick layer of salt. That will pull the moisture out of the skin so they can move on to the next step - tanning. I've been researching the process and there are various ways to do this. I haven't decided yet just which method I'm going to go with but  I have a few days to decide. That's how long the salting process takes before I can move on. Wish me luck!

Sunday I took some time off to attend the Christmas Craft show at the Confed Centre. I met up with Brenda, Meghan and Bernie at the show. Bernie and Meg had been out for brunch and Brenda had been away for the weekend with some old school friends. We toured around and  did some shopping and then headed upstairs to the Art Gallery to see the Samuel Holland map that's on display.

he survey of the Island of St. Johns is now before His Majesty, to the end that His Majesty may decide upon the Plan proper to be adopted for the future settlement."
John Pownall, Secretary to the Board of Trade and Plantations, 19 May 1766

In the fall of 1765, working under canvas at his base camp at Observation Cove, Samuel Holland finished the map he'd been working on for over a year. Then he shipped it to London. The map is a unique document in Canadian history. It was a remarkable technical achievement; the first step in the most ambitious mapping project that the world had ever seen, a complete map of Britain's North American Empire, which at the time stretched from Florida to Hudson Bay. No other colony on the continent had ever had been mapped with such precision.

It needed to be accurate. It would be the basis for a lottery that would turn the entire colony over to private landlords and make them responsible for developing it. In one way, Holland's map was only a tool. But in many others, it had an impact on Prince Edward Island that echoed across its history. The geography of our legal and political framework. A hundred of our placenames. The orientation of roads; even the hedgerows that border our fields. The fact you're reading this in a provincial capital named Charlottetown stems from Samuel Holland's survey.

For the first time since it left here 250 years ago, Holland's map has come home to where it was made; to the province it helped make.
- See more at: http://www.confederationcentre.com/en/exhibitions-current-read-more.php?exhibition=102#sthash.aqILGZwu.dpuf

he survey of the Island of St. Johns is now before His Majesty, to the end that His Majesty may decide upon the Plan proper to be adopted for the future settlement."
John Pownall, Secretary to the Board of Trade and Plantations, 19 May 1766

In the fall of 1765, working under canvas at his base camp at Observation Cove, Samuel Holland finished the map he'd been working on for over a year. Then he shipped it to London. The map is a unique document in Canadian history. It was a remarkable technical achievement; the first step in the most ambitious mapping project that the world had ever seen, a complete map of Britain's North American Empire, which at the time stretched from Florida to Hudson Bay. No other colony on the continent had ever had been mapped with such precision.

It needed to be accurate. It would be the basis for a lottery that would turn the entire colony over to private landlords and make them responsible for developing it. In one way, Holland's map was only a tool. But in many others, it had an impact on Prince Edward Island that echoed across its history. The geography of our legal and political framework. A hundred of our placenames. The orientation of roads; even the hedgerows that border our fields. The fact you're reading this in a provincial capital named Charlottetown stems from Samuel Holland's survey.

For the first time since it left here 250 years ago, Holland's map has come home to where it was made; to the province it helped make.
- See more at: http://www.confederationcentre.com/en/exhibitions-current-read-more.php?exhibition=102#sthash.aqILGZwu.dpuf

 I've been wanting to see it and didn't realize it was still here.

In the fall of 1765, working under canvas at his base camp at Observation Cove, Samuel Holland finished the map he'd been working on for over a year. Then he shipped it to London. The map is a unique document in Canadian history. It was a remarkable technical achievement; the first step in the most ambitious mapping project that the world had ever seen, a complete map of Britain's North American Empire, which at the time stretched from Florida to Hudson Bay. No other colony on the continent had ever had been mapped with such precision.

It needed to be accurate. It would be the basis for a lottery that would turn the entire colony over to private landlords and make them responsible for developing it. In one way, Holland's map was only a tool. But in many others, it had an impact on Prince Edward Island that echoed across its history. The geography of our legal and political framework. A hundred of our placenames. The orientation of roads; even the hedgerows that border our fields. The fact you're reading this in a provincial capital named Charlottetown stems from Samuel Holland's survey.

For the first time since it left here 250 years ago, Holland's map

he survey of the Island of St. Johns is now before His Majesty, to the end that His Majesty may decide upon the Plan proper to be adopted for the future settlement."
John Pownall, Secretary to the Board of Trade and Plantations, 19 May 1766

In the fall of 1765, working under canvas at his base camp at Observation Cove, Samuel Holland finished the map he'd been working on for over a year. Then he shipped it to London. The map is a unique document in Canadian history. It was a remarkable technical achievement; the first step in the most ambitious mapping project that the world had ever seen, a complete map of Britain's North American Empire, which at the time stretched from Florida to Hudson Bay. No other colony on the continent had ever had been mapped with such precision.
It needed to be accurate. It would be the basis for a lottery that would turn the entire colony over to private landlords and make them responsible for developing it. In one way, Holland's map was only a tool. But in many others, it had an impact on Prince Edward Island that echoed across its history. The geography of our legal and political framework. A hundred of our placenames. The orientation of roads; even the hedgerows that border our fields. The fact you're reading this in a provincial capital named Charlottetown stems from Samuel Holland's survey.

For the first time since it left here 250 years ago, Holland's map has come home to where it was made; to the province it helped make.
- See more at: http://www.confederationcentre.com/en/exhibitions-current-read-more.php?exhibition=102#sthash.aqILGZwu.dpuf

We also visited an exhibit of photos taken during the war by a local man who smuggled a camera onto the battlefields, which was totally not allowed at the time. I know a young man in Guelph who would have found the display fascinating.

Bernie went home after the tour of the art gallery, while the three of us girls stayed. A trip to the bookstore and then we were off to the Old Triangle as we had worked up a thirst and appetite. Some good music, cold beer and nachos and we were a group of happy campers. Not a bad way to end off the weekend.

Tuesday, November 10th - Islander Day at the Inn at Bay Fortune was amazing!

 First my sincerest apologies for the poor picture quality. It seems I was in too much of a hurry to take photos to let the camera in my phone focus before snapping so some are a little blurry. Guess I'll just have to go back again and take them over.

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Since Chef Michael Smith and his wife Chastity purchased the Inn at Bay Fortune, we've tried several times over the summer to go for dinner, but alas, it was always booked up when it was convenient for us.

Now that the fall is here, and the tourist traffic has slowed somewhat, they've opened up on Sundays for a few weeks with a special menu for islanders. The nice part is no reservations are required, it's first come, first served at the large communal tables.

We arrived a little after 3:30 to find the staff busily working in the Fireworks Kitchen.

The tables were still empty but there were a few people sitting in a front lounge area sipping on their wine and listening to some live music. After shedding our coats and picking up some wine we joined them.

It was a very windy, but mild and sunny day as we enjoyed Chastity's singing along with a three piece group of musicians. I don't know their names but the drummer was familiar to us, as he was often a regular on Saturday afternoons at the Globe.  We hadn't heard Chastity sing before and she has a beautiful voice and we thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The room we were sat in is furnished very tastefully but at the same time is very comfortable and welcoming. At one point Chef Michael came in and sat down in a wing chair holding his youngest daughter, Camille, who is just three years old. We totally felt like we were just sitting in their living room and it was a gathering of friends.

After a few songs, the group in this room moved out to what was probably once a sun porch. Large windows overlook the water and the front grounds of the Inn. The sun hadn't set yet and it was a lovely view. The tables were all specially made for Chef Michael out of solid cherry wood. There's an elegant rusticity to the dining area, with two large tables that will seat 16 people each.

Our first course was 12 grain Red Fife Sourdough Bread with whipped brown butter along with a delicious bowl of Smoked Chicken and Vegetable Soup, followed by a Garden Salad, with all the veggies grown right there.

We had three choices for our next course:

• Smoke House Pork Belly and Loin with Apple Sauce
• Butter basted Halibut with Fennel and Parsley Pesto
• Old Fashioned Beef Stew

All of the above were served with Herb Roasted Norland Potatoes, Roasted Garden Vegetables, Cherry Tomatoes and Braised Red Cabbage.

We both chose the Halibut. I was chatting with Chef as we went in to find our seats, and he tells me they plan to raise their own pigs next year. We talked briefly about our experiment with ours this summer and what a gratifying experience it was. He joked about our pigs coming over for a play date with his pigs next summer!

 Dessert was a delicious Wood Fired Apple Cranberry Crisp topped with Cranberry Ice Cream and some Pumpkin and Sunflower seed brittle on the side.

It was wonderful to see Chef Michael and his team of young cooks working in the open kitchen. They also took turns bringing food to tables to help out. Not everyone would expect to see Chef Michael Smith bringing their food to the table. He's obviously a very hands on kind of guy but at the same time, I watched him in the kitchen as he oversaw his young team, letting them do their jobs and helping out where needed.

It was a delicious meal and we enjoyed every bite. Because there were people waiting to be seated, we asked if we could take our coffee back out to the lounge area so someone else could have our spots at the table. That was just fine with the wait staff so that's what we did.  We headed back in to find an empty spot on a loveseat where we enjoyed more great music.

As we were sitting and enjoying the music, more and more people arrived, and were waiting for a seat at the table. Needless to say, this has turned out to be hugely popular, so much more than they were expecting.

I chatted briefly with Chef before we left and he admitted they didn't expect quite so many people and it was tricky to keep up, but they did an amazing job, and I know everyone will find that it was worth the wait.

All in all, a really great afternoon and a wonderful meal. The Smith's have created a warm, welcoming environment that I'm sure will be a big success, but I'm sure the whole family is looking forward to a little down time when they close for the a well deserved rest for the winter.  Chef Michael tells me they  recently did the math, and determined that they've shucked over 22,000 oysters over the summer, and Chef's some Gabe shucked at least 6,000! Yes, I suspect a break will be much enjoyed by everyone. Thanks folks, see you next year... 

Tuesay, November 3rd - all we can say is "YUMMMMM"

It's been another busy week. We are still working on pork. We didn't expect it to be quite so labour intensive but it's been well worth it.

Since last weekend, Lloyd's been busy finishing up the final processing of the meat. The hams are now smoked and the bacon was just finished yesterday. All that is left now if slicing and packaging the bacon.

The smoker that Lloyd built is pretty basic, using simple materials he was able to find, and/or negotiate for. Fortunately he has lots of time at work during the night to do research and figure out just how things are supposed to work. As our friend Charles has said in the past, "Inside Lloyd's head must be a pretty scary place!"

 This was an old commercial fridge that was found out in a field at the VanGaals farm. 

Gutted and given a bit of a retrofit, it was the perfect cabinet to house the smoking meat, all stainless steel inside and out, except for the outside panel on the new  insulated door..

 Because this was a cold smoking process, the fire is actually  on the outside 

and the smoke travels through the tubing into the box

The addition of some electronic controls helped in determining 

when the desired internal temperature is  reached

The wrapped boneless hams as well as the extra bones ready to be smoked

The finished product 

 Cooper just waiting for something to hit the floor or the ground!

On Monday of last week, Brenda came over and helped Lloyd make sausage.  Once everything was packaged and frozen, we took it all out and separated the various kinds so they could all be put away. We have Italian, Bratwurst, Hungarian, Chorizo, Breakfast sausages as well as patties, and English Bangers. There may be a couple of other types as well but I've forgotten what they were. It's quite an assortment and when all was said and done, there was 48 pounds of sausages in total.

Saturday afternoon we roasted our first piece of pork. We were busy with other stuff so just put it into the oven with some potatoes and carrots and let it do it's thing.

A delicious, and easy meal, with many thanks to Piggly Wiggly. (yes, as morbid as it sounds, we did label the packages)  They were two very different breeds of pigs and we wanted to be able to compare the flavours of each so we can decide what we'd like to raise next year.

Once the hams were done, it was time for the bacon slabs to go in. 

 The cured slabs ready to be smoked.

  Finally, cured, smoked and sliced and ready cook and  enjoy.

We had toasted bacon and tomato sandwiches for supper last night with tomatoes we'd grown ourselves and of course, our own bacon. There's really something very gratifying in having produced the food yourselves. I suppose it would have been even better had I baked the bread as well, but two out of three ain't bad! Next time.

Of course, the kicker came early last week with a big announcement about the fact that red and processed meats are now considered toxic. That may be but we know what our little piggies ate and the suasages are all meat, with no fillers. It may still be considered processed but we'll enjoy every bite.