Thursday, September 20th - new beginnings

Right now (5:30 am) it's not raining and the pavement outside is dry but it rained quite a bit last night. The wind was pretty high yesterday but it seems to have eased off for now.  It's 12' this morning and we're only going to reach 15' later with lots more rain expected over the rest of the day and maybe right up till Sunday.

Not much going on right now at our house, at least. Lloyd ended up working yesterday even though he thought he might have the day off as they were between jobs and it was expected to maybe rain but it turned out okay. We're not sure about today at this point. He doesn't find out till 6:00 am.

I received a text message from Meghan last night. Each year her mom goes on a shopping trip with her mother-in-law, sister-in-laws and some other ladies. The mix varies from year to year. I used to have to pleasure of being part of that group when I lived in Ontario. This year Meghan is going with them for the first time so she's pretty excited about that. So in an effort to raise some spending money for the trip, the first week of November, she's trying her hand at Dog Walking and also dog sitting, should someone need that service. In her text message she mentioned that she even has a 'sing', but I'm assuming she means 'sign'. I asked her how much she charges for Dog Walking and she replied $5.00 for 20 minutes or maybe longer. So I've put in my order for 6 dogs walks the next time she's here on the island. She's to send me some gift certificates so I can redeem them when she's here. Cooper will be very happy with that. So this will be a new adventure for her.

I also received a video a couple of days ago from Patti, of James who is back at guitar lessons again this fall. He wanted to know if I could recognize the piece he was working on and I knew it after about 3 notes:

Here's James' version:

... and the original:




As Patti said, It's a work in progress but a good start.

Wednesday, September 19th - it's going to be an interesting community school session

It's a balmy 16' at 4:30 this morning, heading for a humid 23' that may well feel like 28' later. Just when we thought we could put away the summer clothes, Mother Nature decides it's not time yet. It will be cooler over the next couple of days and we should get some rain later this afternoon (well, more like evening out here on the eastern end of the island - 20 to 30 mm perhaps).

So registration for Community School was last night and I'm once again left shaking my head and wondering what the heck are they thinking? I arrived at 6:25 and there were 10 people registered. I had specifically requested that we limit to no more than 8 but the person who was taking names wasn't told that. Nor were they told to advise all potential students about the $20 material fee. I know that might impact some peoples decisions. We also have two teen aged boys in the mix so not so sure how that's going to work.  But we have some new ladies, and some are from Stratford because they aren't doing Community School this year.  So we'll just have to make the best of it and see how it goes. It's going to be a pretty crowded space and difficult to find enough things to keep everyone busy in that short time but we'll so what we can.

Last night I had the previous students work on a soup while I sat at the other table with the new students and we talked briefly about food safety and did some knife skills. I took a bag of carrots with me that we used to dice using the sharp knives that I have. They were amazed at what a difference it makes to work with a really sharp knife and all went away with a new appreciation for the care and maintenance of their tools.  We took the break with everyone else then went back in to eat our soup, which was delicious, by the way. The recipe came form an email I received from the Ace Bakery site. Once we were cleaned up we sat at the table and tossed around some ideas of what people would like to see covered this year. I have some ideas now that I can build on.

This is the soup we made (but not our picture) - we used green peppers instead of red

I see this morning that the travelers are in Gouda - hope they get to eat lots of yummy cheese! It's hard to believe they will be home this time next week - a little jet lagged perhaps, but at least sleeping in their own beds. Just an FYI for Brenda,  I received an email from Jana Monday evening telling me she and Scott were at the Toronto airport, waiting on their flight to Ireland. They've never been, but are heading there for a couple of weeks. I told her that was on our radar for sometime in the future.

Tuesday, September 18th - first day of Community School - without my helper!

It's a cool 13' this morning and heading for a sunny 21' later. What fabulous weather, but we may get rain Thursday, Friday and Saturday but we'll have to see on that one. We likely will as I notice that Ontario is getting cooler temperatures and rain today. Time to put the open toe shoes away, Meg (1)!

So I think I'm ready for tonight's class. It just doesn't seem right not having Brenda to bounce things off of or to offer suggestions. We lost one of our previous students yesterday. Yolanda emailed that she's starting a new job and won't be able to attend all the classes so she decided to back out for this year and let someone else have her spot. That's really too bad, as we will miss her sense of humour and vibrant personality. She really added something to the class. But she asked if I could keep her informed with the recipes each week and I said I would, as well as leave her on the guest list for any after school extra curricular activities that might involve wine or food!

I'm going to do some food safety and knife skills with the new people and let the old timers previous students make a Sweet Corn, Leek and Potato Chowder (coming soon to a food blog near you!).  We're also going to do a bit of menu planning and ideas on how to organize our pantries and freezers a little better. I have to admit it's mostly for my benefit but if I tell people I'm going to do it, then there's a bit more incentive to actually get it done and it might actually be beneficial to the others as well. It's a work in progress so we'll see how we all fare by the end of the ten weeks.

It's good to get back into the fall routine again and I am enjoying cooking regular meals again. Last night I made a Mushroom and Leek Quiche that was in the Sobey's magazine this month and it was really delicious. Of course it didn't look exactly like the picture - it was meant to be made with Swiss cheese but I only had cheddar so that altered it slightly but it was still really good.

Lloyd is only likely working till around lunch time today as they are almost finished the project they are working on so he may have tomorrow off. That's not a bad thing as it will give him a chance to work on the garage walls. Then we are supposed to get rain - Thursday, Friday and Saturday so he would likely be off then anyway. That will be a good thing as he has a huge blister on his hand that really needs some time to heal before it gets infected. Guess he'll wear gloves the next time he uses a rake to smooth out the surface of the garage floor!

Monday, September 17th - I knew it was your birthday, so I baked a cake!!

It's a cool 12' this morning but we should reach a sunny 19' later this afternoon. It turned out to be a beautiful weekend.We were supposed to get rain on Sunday but it turned out we just got a bit of a downpour on Saturday night and it ended by midnight so we had lovely sun, although a coolish breeze on Sunday.

Friday after work Linda and Joyce dropped by with some Cod they had caught when they went deep sea fishing on Friday afternoon. They had already eaten on their way home so didn't stay to enjoy it with us. Good thing because we managed to demolish the whole works! 
Saturday morning I worked and when I got home after grocery shopping Richard was here helping Lloyd. They have one wall almost completed and ready to go up. I know that now they are at that point it may go a little faster. He really only has Saturdays to work on it so it's going to take a while but he'll get there. His muscles are still pretty stiff and sore from getting used to the new job so it's going at little slower than he might like but it will get better. By the time I got the groceries put away, they were ready to quit for the day.  After Richard left, we headed into town and enjoyed something to eat and drink at the Old Triangle. The Shell Fish Festival was on but we just didn't really feel like battling the crowds that would no doubt be there by then. Then it was home to a hot bath for Lloyd to soak his poor aching body.

Sunday morning he went for a bike ride with Raymond, while I stayed home and caught up with a few things. Now that I have water, I set about doing a bunch of catch up with laundry. I also had a bin of tomatoes that needed something done with them so I tracked down a recipe for Chili Sauce. It's got a bit of heat but that's not a bad thing at our house! While that was simmering, I grated some cucumbers and set them to drain to make some  tzatziki as I also had some yogurt and cucumbers that needed to be dealt with.  While I was on a roll, I also had some over ripe bananas sitting on the counter that also needed to be transformed into something useful - voila - Chocolate Banana Cake dusted with icing sugar. Very easy, very moist and very delicious. I thought it most appropriate that I bake a cake on Brenda's birthday! She wasn't here to celebrate it with her, but we did think of her as we ate it. So, a Belated Happy  Birthday my friend!

Happy Birthday Brenda

Lloyd had promised to take Linda and Joyce fishing in Cardigan on Sunday. When he arrived home, he wasn't feeling too well but he had promised so he kept his word. The ladies came over and they all took off to fish. I, on the other hand, headed into town. It seems that the two of them had been in town at the Shellfish Festival on Saturday afternoon. Chef Michael was there with copies of his newest cookbook. Joyce bought one for herself and one for one of her sons, and of course, her other son wanted to know (via text message) where was his copy? So the panic was on to obtain another signed copy of said cookbook. That's where I came into the picture. Since I don't fish, I was delegated to go into the Festival and get another book. So while they sat out and froze on a windy dock, I was inside the big tent, enjoying the music and chatting with Chef Michael.  Easy to see who the winner was in THAT one! 
So after saving the day for Joyce, I picked up some mussels on my way home and then started supper. I got a phone call to say they had fish for supper so that part was taken care of. I tried two recipes out of the new book to go with our fish and they were both a hit - Bacon smashed potatoes and Moroccan Carrots.  Chocolate Banana cake for dessert and we were done. A lovely evening with the ladies, and now it's back to Monday morning again!

I've been watching the feeds from around the world and I can tell when Brenda has been in to read. She beat me to it this morning, having been in to view the blog about 45 minutes before I sat down to post it. Love the technology that lets me keep in touch with someone half way around the world up to the minute!  Have a great day travellers!

PS for Brenda - Yesterday there was a Strawberry Social at the Park in honour of the Queens Diamond Jubilee from 2 until 4. There were a lot of cars there when I went past on my way into town a little after 2:00 and it was 3:50 when I passed on my way home. There were still lots and lots of cars there at that time and I thought about stopping but I figured it was almost over so I didn't. But it was nice to see such a large turnout for the entire time it went on.

It's another pleasant morning with 16' moving up to 23' later that will feel like 27'.
Pretty much a carbon copy of yesterday. Amazing weather for this time of year.

The weekend is almost here and it's looking like a nice weekend coming up. There should be some progress on the garage this weekend, at least a start. He's hoping to get at least one wall done tomorrow.
The new job is going very well, although he's pretty tired when he gets home but it's a good tired. A couple more weeks and he should be a little more used to it.

Earlier in the week James went to school early in the morning for football tryouts. Patti and I both got a bit of a chuckle out of that one because he's such a skinny little kid. But it's touch football so maybe speed will be his friend. Then yesterday I got a text message from Patti that they had suspended all extra curricular activities due to a dispute between the government and the teachers.  Unfortunately the students are the ones that get caught in the cross fire. This was a great welcome to the public school system, after having spent all his life in private school.

But we can see that the private school up to grade six has been worth every penny. Patti sent me this message:

"I had to laugh, though because apparently at recess some of the kids were blaming Stephen Harper, so James said he felt it necessary to point out to them that the education system is run by the provincial government, which is led by Dalton McGuinty, a Liberal. Harper is a Conservative, so they should all go home and suggest to their parents that they should vote Conservative in the next provincial election."

Did I mention that James is 11 years old???

Patti said "Yeah, he was telling me this like it was the most normal thing in the world. I didn't want to point out to him that he is probably well on his way to being labelled a nerd"

So be it - he might be  a nerd but he's our nerd and we love him. And let's face it, the nerds will pretty much run the world one day - I just wish he was here to help me with the learning curve that is my iphone! I could use a resident nerd (oh, wait, I have one of those now!).

Yesterday, I was talking with one of the customers who regularly comes in for service. While he's there he usually stops by my desk to chat for a few minutes. He's an older gentleman and is very active. He's an avid bicyclist and always brings his bike on the back of his car and goes biking while the car is being serviced.  Yesterday we somehow got onto airplanes and it turns out he owns a bed and breakfast up near St. Peter's and is the only fly-in B&B on the island.  He knows the Guelph airport quite well and has flown into it many times years ago. When I was telling Lloyd about him, he thinks he met his son in Guelph at the airport, so we'll have to go for a visit sometime so they can compare notes.

Thursday, September 13th - and the warm weather continues

It's a pleasant 15' this morning and we should reach a warm 23' later that will feel like 26'. More of the same as we had yesterday.
It was a gorgeous day and I really hated to have to leave for work at 10:30 although it was nice to have the morning. It would have been great to have had the whole day. The repair man came by and it turns out there are two plugs that plug into each other at the back of the stove, underneath near the bottom drawer. It appears they came apart somewhat and weren't connecting properly.Probably a result of trying to cram too much into the drawer.  Once they were back in their rightful places, everything was fine. Good to know it wasn't anything too serious.
When he walked in he said, "Why two stoves?"  I just looked at him and said "Why not?" I'm sure he's seen stranger things than that going into peoples homes to make repairs.

On my way home, I stopped in at my hairdressers, who is also a member of our cooking class.  We were talking about the upcoming season and she suggested a couple of things that she might like to see us cover this year. Brenda had made the suggestion a while ago that I contact the existing girls and find out what they would like to see investigated this year. I thought that was a great idea, but being the procrastinator that I tend to be sometimes, I forgot and now it's a week away. So last night I finally sent out that email and hopefully I'll get some more ideas.

Speaking of cooking, yesterday one of my email messages dealt with cooking and cookbooks. It had a list of cookbooks I can order for the Kindle. Now I have both a Kindle and a Kobo and I love reading on my ereaders. But I can't imagine a cookbook on there. There's just something about a paper page with a recipe and a colour photo (sometimes). I like nothing more, when I need inspiration, than sitting down and reading a good cook book. I've been known to read them from front to back like a novel. How pathetic is that? But some cookbook authors have such a literary style to them and they make such an interesting read, not to mention the additional information that is given in the stories that can accompany a recipe.
Apart from that, the best part of picking up an old recipe book are the notes in the margins sometimes made to clarify something, or modify an ingredient or a temperature or a cooking  time and the stains and splatters on well loved pages that indicate, without at doubt, that THIS recipe is a winner, judging by the number of times it's been taken off the shelf and used. I have over 200 cookbooks in my 'collection' (or some would call my obsession!) and I can't imagine how boring it would be to have to look at all of them electronically. Some of them are gifts given to me by friends or family who truly understand how much I love a new cookbook and many have a story behind them. Not only are they a source of information, they can mean a walk down memory lane. A favorite book or a favorite recipe can bring back memories of memorable meals and good times with friends. So I'll just have to clean off another shelf because I'm running out of room.

Just some of the collection - I really need to organize these a little better.
That's a great job for a rainy Sunday afternoon or someday when I retire!

Wednesday, September 12th - a short day today

It's 6:25 am and the sun is just starting to rise across the river. The days are so quickly getting shorter. It was a beautiful sunny warm day yesterday and will be the same today. Right now it's 12' and we should reach a sunny 22' later.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the Twin Towers attacks and I remember that morning several people calling me to ask if Patti was flying that day and was she safe. Ironically, she ended up flying to New York yesterday. She was supposed to fly to St. John's NL but all flights in and out were cancelled because of Hurricane Leslie (well, I guess it was just a tropical storm but it still managed to do lots of damage).  So she was rescheduled and sent first to Boston and then to New York.
We were texting back and forth and reflecting on trips we've taken to New York and decided we need to take James there some year on his birthday to experience the same Christmas trip he had when he was almost a year old. Patti had a layover in NYC so James and I tagged along and we had a great trip. She says Meghan also wants to go to New York but I think that should be a different trip. I think she would prefer the warm weather and strolling down 5th Avenue with her shopping bags. That's how I picture Meghan's first trip to the Big Apple. I still have very vivid memories of my trip there last summer and the other night I was watching the season finale of Glee. At the end, Rachel is in New York in front of the Plaza Hotel. She's standing in front of a fountain and I thought, that looks really familiar. Then as the camera panned around I realized it was the exact same spot that Jana, Kristi and I waited for our tour bus. You could even see the street where our tour bus parked. It was great to have that memory so suddenly brought back. It was a great time.

One of my ovens has decided to quit working so the repair man is coming this morning to look at it. As a result, I'm taking a few hours off work until he's been here. I could have gone in and he was willing to drop by and look at it without me be having to be here, but what the heck. I'll enjoy my morning at home for a change in the middle of the week.

Lloyd had a really great first day on the job yesterday. He feels his new boss was suitably impressed with his skills and that he's not a kid just out of school. He actually came home in a great mood, albeit a bit tired and I suspect he'll have a few aching muscles for a number of days until he gets used to using those muscles again. But it went well and he's pleased.

After supper we went over to check out my poor little garden.  It's not as badly overgrown with weeds as I expected, and I suspect the hot dry weather is to thank for that. But I have lots of tomatoes, 3 cucumbers, a couple of zucchinis and at least 5 or 6 great looking butternut squash. I'm really pleased about that. We picked the ripe tomatoes and a few green ones, and will likely make some salsa with some of those. There are still quite a number of green ones still on the vines as well.  There are some beets still in the ground, and that's pretty much it. There are a couple of tiny peppers but they really didn't do that well. It will be much easier next year when we have the garden here in our own yard.

The tiny cherry tomatoes are especially good