Tuesday, October 25th - can we really be that close to halloween?

Another eventful week during my first full week of retirement.  I'm finding it a little difficult to establish a routine for myself but I know that will come with time.

There are lots of jobs that I can do around the place and I've been working on them a little at a time. I made a list and it's a nice feeling to be able to actually cross some of the things off said list!

One of many lovely fall days

We had some lovely warm sunny weather last week so I spent a number of days splitting and stacking wood. Lloyd has finally blocked that last bit and it's just waiting to be split. I'm optimistic I can get some of it done on Thursday as the weather should be sunny, albeit a bit cooler.

I had to go into town one day last week to finish off the items needed to complete the inspection on my Miata and I couldn't wait to get back home. Now it's all ready to go as soon as spring comes round again.  I can't say I miss driving into town every day.  If I need something from the grocery store I just let Lloyd know before he leaves work and he can pick it up on his way home in the morning. It will be a little more difficult if he goes on afternoon shift at the end of the month. This will probably be until Christmas. But that leaves my afternoon and evenings free to work in the craft room. I have a few projects I'd like to complete for Christmas.

My first batch of cheese

Our friends Charles and Laura came over for lunch on Sunday and we had a lovely time. They brought out a bottle of champagne to celebrate my "retirement" so that was really nice. We served spinach and ricotta  ravioli for the first course and roast goat ( not one of ours) for our main course. I then made a chocolate panna cotta from goat milk for dessert. Another successful meal, I think. Or else our friends are just really polite!!! I had learned how to make ricotta earlier in the week so it was nice to share it with our friends.


The barn is coming along really well now. Lloyd has spent the most of the weekend working on the floor in the area that will house the milking apparatus.  It will make things so much easier when the cold snowy weather comes and I can do all the milking and feeding in the barn. The next couple of days should see that part of things finished, at least enough that it can be used..

Of course, the building took place yesterday in between monitoring the smoking of the bacon. The hams should take place later today.

I spent the better part of the day yesterday peeling apples. Our neighbour, Margie, dropped in on Sunday morning for tea. She asked if I could use any apples as she had an over abundance on her tree. I went over for coffee yesterday morning and came home with three grocery bags full. All I can say is thank heavens for whomever invented the apple peeling device. It's really a work saver when you have lots and lots of apples to peel and core. I prepped two of the bags and made a large batch of apple sauce. I sweetened it ever so slightly with some of our honey - just because I could! Then I put it into jars and processed them in the canner. Now we have lovely jars of apple sauce.  Does it really get any better?  I think not.









Poor Meg has had a tough week. Patti was on her way home from the airport last Monday when she received a call from the school. Apparently Meghan had fallen during gym class and hit her head. They suspected she might have a concussion and after a trip and lengthy wait at emergency, it was confirmed. So she missed a few days of school until she could sit up without felling nauseous, and the massive headache was somewhat subsided. Apparently she's feeling a little better now.

And finally, WHERE IN THE WORLD IS PATTI?

This past weekend she was in Istanbul, Turkey, for what she says will be her last trip there until spring. I don't have any photos from this week but I did get some from London's trip last week. Her visit to the hospital with Meg kind of delayed her sending last weeks photos!  Looks like it was much lovelier weather but they are also getting into the Christmas spirit way too soon!

Just a glimpse of things to come, I suppose.


And finally, I lost the small camera I use all the time quite some time ago. I had a really cute picture of Eddie to share but couldn't find the camera. Lo and behold, it turned up behind the spare wood stove in the wood shed. Lloyd was moving it out of the way on Saturday and there was the camera. It would have been there for eternity if he hadn't decided to move the stove...

.. so here's Eddie, wearing his water bucket.  What all the best dressed goats are wearing this year, or so he thinks!

Tuesday, October 18th - yet another eventful week

First, we need to wish Patti and Greg a belated Happy Anniversary. It was on Sunday but I neglected to send them best wishes. We were busy the entire weekend.





It started on Friday with the killing of the pigs. They were cleaned, and hung up to wait for the final cutting. We were fortunate that the weather was quite cool on Friday evening so they were hung off the tractor, hoisted into the air and left till morning.

After supper we were treated to cake and tea at the VanGaals as Mike and Caitlin baked a cake to
celebrate Brenda's turning 60, since they weren't here for the original celebration. Mike had quite a visit. His goal was to try to fit in as many island experiences as he could while he was here. He did well, and at times he may have been pushed a little out of his comfort zone, but he coped.  I loved the look on his face when we went to gather eggs and I handed him one that was still warm from being laid. He thought that was so amazing.


Saturday morning started bright and early. The VanGaals arrived to help out.  The guys were in the garage cutting up the pork and Brenda and I were in the kitchen wrapping and labeling. We have a small vacuum sealer and it works just beautifully. We must have worked out some of the bugs from last year. It was our first time doing it and this year went very smoothly. By 1:00 we had everything cut, wrapped and put into the freezer. Thanks to all those who helped out, it made the job so much easier.

Sunday was a beautiful day, a little cool but perfect weather for the PEI Marathon. Caitlin was battling a cold all week so I'm so impressed that she finished her half marathon in just under 2 hours, which was her goal.  Did I mention that a half marathon is 21 kms?  I'd be hard pressed to run 21 feet never mind 21 kms. We weren't there to see it but we saw pictures. Well done, Caitlin. I'm so awed with your accomplishment.

Bacon

Instead of going into to town to see the finish of the race, Lloyd and I spent the morning getting the bacon and hams ready.  The bacon, which at this point is just pork belly, gets well rubbed with a mixture of salt and something sweet , usually sugar or sometimes maple syrup. So why not honey? We have lots of our own so we will have honey cured bacon. After coating in the mixture it gets wrapped well and chilled for a week. Then it gets smoked, sliced and wrapped and voila, it's become bacon.
The hams get submerged in a brine solution for the week and they are then smoked as well. Next weekend will be a busy time as well.

When we finished prepping those items, we moved on to sausage production. We limited our product this year to breakfast sausage and Italian sausage, as those are the ones we tend to turn to first.  The pretty much took up the rest of the day. So now, aside from the smoking we are done.




The only other news this week is my employer and I have parted company and that's all I'm going to say about it.  The up side I suppose is that I now have time to do a lot of the things that need doing around here to get ready for winter. So many little jobs have gotten away from me due to lack of time but now I have no excuse!  I've made myself a list and will try to work my way through it over the next little while.  I realized that I've worked 6 days a week for the past 6 years so it's nice to have time, although I'm finding myself working flat out most days. It's going to take some time to adjust to all of this, but Lloyd's enjoying not having to come home and do chores in the morning  or stopping what ever he's doing in the afternoon to make supper before I get home. I'm having to get re-acquainted with my kitchen again!

I'm also home to witness the antics of the goats. The two girls take great delight in escaping. They get out through the fence after the grass on the front lawn. Not that there's any shortage of grass on their side, but you know what they say about the grass on the other side...
Well a highlight of their travels was the trailer that Lloyd had used to pick up the branches we lost during the Thanksgiving storm. It was parked out back and many of the branches still have leaves on them. To a couple of small goats it was like a salad bar. They must have spent over an hour munching the leaves.  

and finally Where in the world is Patti?

This weekend she was in London, again. She was planning to do some shopping this trip. There's a chain of shops there that we both love and she finds it the best place to source out clothes for James. There must be a lot of tall, very skinny young boys in England! No pictures as yet.

Wednesday, October 12th - Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Weekend, however you spent it

Well, that was a thanksgiving to remember!  After a beach day on Saturday (for some folks, anyway) with the humidex into the high 20's we were treated to the remains of Hurricane Matthew on Monday. Very strong winds, and copious amounts of rain for most of the day and well into the night.

We were very glad that the pens had finally been installed in the barn and the goats all spent their first night inside on Sunday night. Needless to say they stayed inside all day Monday. It was a wonderful sight to see Monday afternoon when I went out to check on things. The lights were on inside and the goats were all just lying down content in their own spaces.  You could hear the rain beating against the tin roof and the wind howling but inside the barn was nice and  cozy. There are a few spots that still need to be made weather tight but for the most part they were pretty happy little campers.

All in all it had been a pretty busy weekend. I had Saturday off so we spent the first part of the day

finishing off the floor in the barn, so Lloyd could continue with the pens. Meanwhile I spent the afternoon bottling honey. Lloyd had finally come up with a plan that worked, for spinning the honey out of the frames without destroying the wax honeycombs. In total we gathered and jarred approximately 56 pounds of honey. That was just from one section of each hive. The rest is staying in the hives for the bees to use over the winter.  This was the first year we actually got any honey so it was pretty exciting.  (I know, it obviously doesn't take a lot to make us happy!)

Sunday was busy baking cupcakes. We had a benefit to go to on Sunday evening and I decided to bake some special cupcakes to raise some money at the event. I made three different kinds.

By all accounts they were a success. I had thought they were having a cake auction but in the end I think they raised more money by selling them individually.  Brenda, Meghan and Caitlin came over to help with the final assembly and packaging on Sunday afternoon so it was a great time.






The hamburger and fries cupcakes were a big success. It was a lot of work but with great help it was fun to put them all together. I just realized tonight we should have had wine to sip while we worked but then they might have turned out a little wonky. In the end the extra effort was worth it.

A thin brownie sandwiched between the two halves of a large white cupcake  

looked for all the world like a hamburger. 

 Rolled fondant cheese slices. lettuce and tomatoes with buttercream mustard

 A few sesame seeds sprinkled on top with a toothpick completed the look

 Pound cake slices with red piping gel filled our baskets.

  A final wrapping and they were ready for the sale.  

All in all it was an interesting experiment in cake creativity.

We had some friends over for lunch mid afternoon on Monday and it was terrible out. Just as we finished eating, Lloyd received a call that his plane was bouncing around a lot, as it was tied outside at the airport in Charlottetown.  He and Jens took a trip into town to find things not so bad. A bit of damage to the plane but at least it wasn't flipped over or anything traumatic like that. We lost power  around 6:30 when I had just finished the dishes. It came back on briefly at midnight then went out again until sometime in the early morning hours.  But Tuesday morning the sun came out and the winds died down so I think we fared rather well. I heard on the news that parts of Cape Breton and Newfoundland were badly battered and flooded so we were pretty lucky.



The Dennisons were hosting Thanksgiving dinner at their house this year. A few text messages were sent back and forth as well as this picture of Tristen making a cherry pie for dessert. I think we have our next junior chef in the making.  They're planning on coming down for a few days after Christmas so I've told him he's on pie duty! He did the pastry all by himself as well as crimping the edges of the crust. Well done, T!

Which leads us to our weekly feature of

Where in the world is Patti?

After hosting thanksgiving dinner, she was off to Japan and sent me these photos from Yokohama, a suburb of Tokyo:

Her hotel lobby

The view of the city from her hotel room - not quite the view we see in tourist photos.
 I imagine you have to get away from the cities to see the tranquil beauty
that we westerners have come to associate with Japan.

Food, food ...

...and more food - yum!

As Patti noted, it seems some things are universal...I
wonder if their menu looks the same as the western worlds

It was a surprise to learn they celebrate Halloween in Japan

And of course, no trip to Japan is complete without a visit to the 100 yen store
 (Japan's version of our dollar stores) I wonder, is everything in their stores made in China?

Tuesday, October 4th - it was a delicious week!

As the annual Fall Flavours festival comes to a close, we decided to take in one of the signature events.

Thursday evening was the Great Big BBQ held at the PEI Brewing Company and hosted by Chef Mark McEwan (we've eaten at one of his restautants in Toronto, North 44 and it was wonderful)

We arrived at the brewing company a little before 6:00 and the place was hopping already.  Music was playing and drinks were being handed out as we entered.  Always a good start to an evening. Once the main doors inside opened, we were greeted to a bevy of food stations with tantalizing offerings for all tastes.




Items on the menu included:

PEI Seafood Chowder (that was really awesome)

Lobster Poutine

Glasgow Glen Farms’ Grilled Cheese topped with smoked salmon

PEI Brewing Company Wood Fire Pizza

Island Striploin with Lobster Bearnaise and Marinated BBQ Veggie Kabobs

Island Beef Burger (ate it before getting a photo)

‘Campfire’ S’More

Freshly Shucked PEI Oysters

Featuring an Island-Style Pig Roast

There was a pig roasting on a spit just outside the doors and that was served up on buns later in the evening.

All in all it was a really great evening. I even had a chance to chat with Chef McEwan. We told him about our  efforts to raise our own meat, eggs and make our own cheese. He congratulated us on actually doing what so many people think they would like to do but never actually do. He called us pioneers. Not sure I would go that far but it was nice to have someone like that who really appreciates and knows great food applaud our efforts, however feeble they may seem at times.

The rest of the week was not without it's surprises. I was sitting at my desk on Wednesday afternoon and who pulls up in front of the store but SANTA. He got out of his car and came inside with treats for everyone.  He and his assistant were visiting from the Delta promoting their locations Christmas parties.  I suppose it's not too early to be thinking about those kinds of decisions. But it was 17' and sunny on Friday  and I was able to drive the Miata home with the top down, so no, I'm not yet ready to think about snow!

Because she's often away in some foreign location, I'm adding a new segment each week called 

"WHERE IN THE WORLD IS PATTI?"

Those of up who are left behind can travel vicariously through her! 

This weeks location features a lamp that she purchased last week while in Istanbul, Turkey.  It's really quite lovely and a little different from anything we'd see here. It looks quite nice on the table in her living room

That was last week. This weekend she was in London and took the opportunity to visit the outdoor market on Portobello Road.  She says even though it was raining she really enjoyed it. So much so that she may go back before Christmas to do some holiday shopping!

Raining, in London - really??

Okay, now you're making me hungry!

Looking more like spring than fall.

So that's where old sewing machines go to die...

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The past weekend turned out to be just gorgeous.  Friday and Saturday were both  sunny and warm and I was able to drive home with the top down. Now, I'm not a big fan of the whole selfie craze (I've always hated getting my photo taken) but I just couldn't resist. Anytime after the first of October that I can drive topless is a bonus!!!



And the fun just continued into Sunday. The morning started out cool and overcast but Brenda and I braved the elements anyway and headed into town. After a couple of errands we met up with Meghan and wandered over to enjoy Farm Day in the City. The sun came out and it was a beautiful day. We worked up a thirst and an appetite so wound up on the patio at Fishbones.  A great way to end the week, with good food, wonderful weather and great friends!