Wednesday, October 31 - Happy Halloween!

It appears that the hurricane has missed us, as expected. We were forecast to get drizzle the last couple of days but that never materialized. Lots of wind on Tuesday, but nothing out of the ordinary for us. It was devastating to watch the film footage of the damage in New York City yesterday morning. It will take a long time and a LOT of money to recover from Sandy's impact in that city and the surrounding areas. We should see some rain today, and it's still quite windy, and although it might cast a shadow on Halloween festivities, it's a lot better than what could have been if the storm had come this way. It's also still quite mild, sitting at 13' this morning and heading for 15' later.

Needless to say, the hurricane has been first and foremost on most peoples minds the past few days so not much else going on. Lloyd was off work on Tuesday because of his finger, but it's feeling much better so he's heading out this morning. The swelling has gone down considerably and he can bend it much more freely than was possible on Sunday. He did take our suggestions and went into town on Monday and got a tetanus shot - just in case.

Last night was week 7 of our cooking class. The girls wanted to talk about gravy and I wanted to teach them a simple white wine cream sauce I like to use. So armed with some filling I'd made on the weekend, and some store bought won ton wrappers, we made lobster ravioli. The filling was just some lobster, mixed with some cream cheese, a bit of chives and salt and pepper. Blitzed in the food processor, it becomes a lovely little bit of stuff to pipe or spoon onto the wrappers. Then the second wrapper was placed on top, after brushing the edges with egg, and then pressed together. To make them a little fancier, we cut them out with a round cookie cutter before boiling them. We made the White Wine Cream Sauce and everyone was impressed with how quickly it came together and how tasty it was. While we were doing that, I had put a small chicken in the oven to roast while we worked. After the break, we attempted to make gravy with the drippings in the chicken pan. Unfortunately I hadn't been watching it and the drippings and veggies that were in the bottom of the pan were burnt to a crisp. We still managed to make a gravy but it wasn't great, but at least they could see the process.  I suppose it was good that they also got to see that I can totally mess up as well.  It happens to all of us from time to time, and I'm no exception!

This morning the Guelph radio station is broadcasting from James' school. He has to be at school by 6:00 and I'm assuming in costume. Not sure why they're doing this but thanks to technology, I'll be able to listen in on my computer at work.  Needless to say, I know what Patti was doing into the wee hours last night - finishing said costume. James is quite intrigued with the War of 1812 and is dressing as a British Soldier - good thing for him he has a mom who worked as a professional costumer at a theatre in the past. I'm looking forward to the pictures later today.

Monday, October 29th - are you ready for "Hurricane Grandma?"

Out here in the Maritimes it's a pleasant 12' at 5:30 am with no wind - perhaps just the calm before the storm. We should reach a high of 14' later. They're telling us we could reach winds up to 80 km an hour but that's not at all unusual here, so at this point it might not be too bad for us. Southern Ontario, on the other hand, may not fare too well from Hurricane Sandy. But it's really anyone's guess at this point so we'll just have to wait  it out and see what happens.  We'll see if it lives up to the hype.

It was a pretty good weekend here, although we did get a bit of rain on Sunday. Fortunately it was sunny and clear most of Saturday so with a lot of help from some great friends - Bernie and Will, Lloyd was able to get the trusses all finished. Will came over on Friday afternoon and there were 14 done by the time they called it a day.

 By the time I got home around 3:00 on Saturday afternoon, they were all finished.

There was no one around when I got home and the car was gone. I assumed they'd gone for something to eat. But then I noticed a couple of drops of what appeared to be blood, on the floor inside the back door.  I was going to call Lloyd to find out who got hurt, when I noticed the house phone and his cell phone sitting on top of the BBQ.  So instead I called Brenda to see if she knew where everyone was. Her guys were out in the fields somewhere and she had no idea where Lloyd was but did say that Will mentioned that Lloyd managed to hurt himself but it didn't sound too serious. Good, nothing to worry about. A short time later he arrive home having been to Stratford to order more wood for the roof. 

Turns out he put a nail through his index finger on his left hand, with the nail gun. It went all the way through and was completely sticking out the other side. Fortunately he wasn't home alone. Bernie performed surgery on the nail by cutting off the piece sticking out the back side, so there wasn't so much to pull back through when it was removed. Needless to say there was lots of blood once it came out, so I'm really surprised there wasn't more around the place.  When I got home we took the bandaids off that he'd put on quite tightly to stop the bleeding and we cleaned it all up, applied some antibiotic cream and covered it with some gauze and tape. It's a little sore and a bit swollen but he says it's not very painful. Of course, you wouldn't want to hit it very hard on anything. Fortunately it missed the bone so it should heal okay, but we'll keep an eye out for any signs of infection.

Other than that it was a pretty uneventful weekend. We had a wedding at the Rec Centre on Saturday night so that was pretty much it. Sunday was wet in the morning and kind of drizzled once in a while so it wasn't a great day to get out and do anything. Instead I stayed indoors and baked a batch of bread, made some cookies and a baked pudding for dessert. Lloyd had made a big pot of split pea soup on Saturday night, sore hand and all, so we invited the Van Gaals to join us for a late lunch/early supper - whatever you wish to call it. Lloyd also made a warm Cheese and Sausage dip that was really tasty with nacho chips.  So a hearty soup with friends over a couple of glasses of wine - what better way to pass a dreary fall day.

But we can't complain. Rumour has it that there was snow falling in Guelph yesterday afternoon,  and Caitlin advised that they had to shovel snow in Edmonton yesterday! So sitting here in the rain at 10' doesn't seem so bad. Patti and Greg and the kids were in Gravenhurst for the weekend for a hockey tournament. They made it to the final game and lost 4 to 2. But apparently they played really well and James was voted player of the game so there were some redeeming qualities about the weekend. He even got to do a little fishing with some of his teammates but it was cold and wet so not a totally successful outing. But I'm sure they still had fun. Bonus points for the really nice hotel they stayed at with a great indoor pool so everyone had a great time, even the non-hockey playing members of the team!

Friday, October 26th - a chilly one this morning

Currently at 5:30 am it's 2' outside but we should reach a sunny 10' later. Looks like southern Ontario sent us some of their weather. Yesterday it was apparently in the low  to mid 20's in various parts of Ontario but that wasn't the case here. It was quite chilly and with a light breeze it felt very cold. We still have to get used to it. But watch out - Hurricane Sandy is on  it's way. We may or may not feel it's impact but it's too early to tell at this time.

Not much going on around here. Lloyd is hoping to finish work at noon today so he can come home early and do some work outside on the trusses. It should be a good day for that, weather wise.  He was talking with Bernie last night and they are hopeful to have them up by the end of the weekend but we'll see how that goes. I have to work tomorrow and there's a wedding at the Rec Centre tomorrow night so I'll be of absolutely no help whatsoever. But that's the way it goes sometimes.

Caitlin made it safely to Edmonton and is now on the hunt for a place to live. It's helpful that she already has some connections there upon her arrival.  Now Brenda and I can settle back into our previous routines. We got off to a good start last night with some wine and spring rolls and a chance to catch up a little.

So I made the Butter Chicken and Curry Vegetables for Lloyd for supper on Wednesday after work. His response was "You can make this for me any time you want - breakfast, lunch or supper!" so I guess it was a hit. Fortunately there's a little left so he has it for lunch today or tomorrow. I have to admit I enjoyed it but I wouldn't want to eat it all that often.

I'll be waiting to hear this morning about James' first school dance. It was last night and when he was asked if he was going to ask anyone to dance, his immediate response was 'no' but when he was asked what he would do if anyone asked him to dance he pondered 'I hadn't thought of that'.  I have no idea what school dances are like today but I still have memories of my early high school years when the boys all sat along one wall and the girls along another and never the two shall meet!  I can't imagine it's changed all that much, at least for this age group.

Wednesday, October 24th - class # 6 complete

Fall is finally here, if the temperatures are any indication. It's currently 4' this morning at 5:30 and we're heading for a high of 7' that's apparently only going to feel like 3'.Good thing my honey had the fire going in the wood stove when I got home from school last night!

Our theme this week was curry. Someone had asked if we could try making some curry recipes. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of curry. I have had it and sometimes enjoyed it but it's not usually my first choice for a meal out. So I did some research and found some recipes that didn't look too difficult to execute. First up was a vegetable curry. It required the making of a curry base sauce first so I did that on Monday night as we wouldn't have had time to do that at school. It simply needed to be added to the sauteed vegetables and then simmered.

Next up was a Butter Chicken recipe. It was also very good. The sauce was made first, then set aside. Then the chicken is cooked, and added to the sauce to be simmered for a little while. To add to this we cooked a bit of Basmati Rice and heated up some Naan bread.

Butter Chicken on Basmati Rice

After the break, we sat down to our feast. I have to admit I quite enjoyed it, especially the chicken. In fact, that's what we're having for supper tonight. I'll get Lloyd's opinion on the two recipes as he's a big fan of curry dishes. We'll see just how close we got. A fellow that he used to work with in Toronto, invited Lloyd to dinner with his parent who are East Indian. Needless to say, he was treated to a feast. It was nothing like you get in restaurants. Everything was homemade, authentic and fresh and he says it was absolutely wonderful.  We'll see what he thinks of my feeble attempt.

Today the Van Gaals are saying a temporary good by to Caitlin (she'll be back at Christmas for a visit). She heads off this afternoon for a new chapter in her life. She's starting a job in Edmonton and is flying out tonight. We wish her all the best as she takes on this new challenge. But she's pretty adaptable and she'll do just fine. There's also a handful of people out there that she knows so that will help in getting adjusted.

So my Christmas shopping is well underway. It helps if you know what you're looking for - it makes it much easier to get started. James and Meghan are done and Tristen just has to be sourced. I also found the items I was  searching out for James' birthday, which happens to fall on the 22nd of December. Not sure if he'll be able to use his birthday gift right away or not, but we'll see.

Monday, October 22 - a relaxing weekend - mostly

After lovely warm temperatures in the high teens all weekend, it's a slightly cooler 10' this morning and will only reach a high of 12' later, with a mix of sun and cloud.

All in all, it was a fairly quite weekend. Nothing much going on Saturday. I worked in the morning and Lloyd worked on roof trusses. So far there are 7 completed - only 21 more to go. I was lamenting the fact that I wasn't home to help. Unfortunately when I am home, I'm pretty much useless anyway. They are way too heavy for me to lift up so he has this complicated series of braces he uses to slowly lift them up and then flip them over, lowering them the same way. Needless to say that takes some time, but they are getting done. He's going to be off on Friday and Saturday and figures he should be able to get them done next weekend as he's also taking the following Monday as well. At this point the weather is looking like it might also cooperate but of course, it's WAY too early to count on that!

It was lovely and warm when I got home on Saturday afternoon so I puttered around outside and put my wood rack together. Then I loaded it up so I have a supply of wood in the back porch. I'm ready! We've been pretty lucky this fall, I've only had to light a fire a couple of times. Or maybe I'm just getting better acclimatized. I remember the first fall I was here, in 2009, and I had the fire going in September. I found it very cold and damp. But now it needs to get quite cold and damp before I feel the need to build a fire.

Sunday morning dawned foggy and wet. No bike rides for the guys that morning. So I busied myself by doing fun stuff inside like laundry! But I also baked some cookies and put a ham into the slow cooker for supper. Then in the afternoon Brenda called to suggest we go kayaking just down the road. But when I got there, the plan had changed ever so slightly. Let's go canoeing instead. I've only been in a canoe once in the past 30 years and it didn't end well. But what the heck, let's give it a try. So Bernie, Brenda, Caitlin and I headed out to a local spot known as Riverton, where there's a bridge crossing over the upper end of the Morell River. There were several people in the water fly fishing for salmon. James will want to know where that spot is! So, we put the boats in the water and headed out to sea!

The water was quite fast moving in some spots and at first it made me slightly nervous, especially in light of my last outing on the water in September. But I got over that fairly quickly and was able to enjoy the ride. For the first half of the trip, we had to do very little paddling because there was enough of a current that carried us along quite nicely. Pretty much all we had to do was steer. It was absolutely beautiful with the colours of the trees and a new section of river to explore. After we reached the Indian Bridge, a spot Brenda and I have put our kayaks in a couple of years ago, we made to decision to continue on to Morell.  Unfortunately for us, the current stops at the Indian Bridge so we had to pretty much paddle the entire way to the end. Needless to say, we were all pretty much done in by the time we reached our destination. But it was a beautiful day and I'm really glad I got out and did something physical, although my muscles might not be quite so pleased in the next couple of days.

Once home, I made a quick supper, watched something on TV while we ate, then headed off to a nice hot bath - the cure for everything!

Friday, Octobedr 19th - another sunny day in store

The last couple of days have been absolutely glorious. When I went out for lunch yesterday afternoon, I was lamenting the fact that with such glorious weather, I should have been home giving the lawn it's last cutting for the season. Alas, I had to go back to work. Today is supposed to be even nicer. It's a cool 6' right now but should reach a sunny 15' later. Let's hope a little of that carries over to the weekend but so far it's not looking good. As I was checking out the weather I came across this photo submitted by someone in Timmins - a place I lived in, a long time ago - I don't miss this scene so early in the year.

These warm days and cool, clear evenings, are bringing us some pretty spectacular sunsets. I snapped this photo outside the back door on Wednesday evening as I was putting the dog out just as the sun was going down.

Yesterday afternoon,  Brenda called to inquire as to whether or not I would perhaps give her a ride home. Of course! So she headed out the by pass to meet me, as it was such a beautiful day for a walk. I picked her up at Motor Vehicles on my way through. We threaded our way through Stratford and took a back road home. On the way we passed a house with some great Halloween decorating. They have this amazing witch on the power pole at their corner that Brenda had told me about. I tried to get a photo but it didn't turn out very good. I know she took one with her camera as well so I'm hopeful it turned out better. It's a homemade witch but it's great.  I always have such admiration for people who are so creative and can make something so great out of the simplest materials. It really is just a mask, some fabric and a couple of pieces of wood. Wait till you see it! It looks a little like this one someone has posted on the Weather Network...but this isn't it (although they could be sisters as they are both in Stratford!)

Otherwise, not much else is new. Brenda has a cousin who raises chickens and delivered some to her house last evening. I took 2 and she had 6. When I went to pick them up, we took that opportunity to dismember the birds in question, freezing them in small packages. Being as their household is quickly dwindling once more, it looks like it may just be Brenda and Bernie again. No need for enough food to feed 6 people at a time. Fortunately we didn't take any photos of the mess made in butchering the birds.  When I got home I also put ours in the freezer so we should be well stocked for a bit, as I had another one left over from an earlier purchase. I should do a re-arranging of my freezer because he's going to have more available in the next couple of weeks. They are such tasty chickens and it's really nice to know where they came from.

Wednesday, October 17th - Belated Happy Anniversary

It's a cooler 7' this morning and quite breezy. It should reach a high of 10' later with a mix of sun and cloud. The last couple of days were amazing. On Tuesday morning it was 17' at 5:00 am! I was listening to a southern Ontario radio station and at 8:00 their time it was 4'. Guess it will be headed this way soon. Tonight will be chillier at 1' so a fire in the stove might just be in order.

Just want to wish daughter Patti and husband Greg a Happy Anniversary, which was yesterday. They're usually too busy carting kids around to activities to do anything together but one of these years they'll be able to go out for a nice dinner somewhere to celebrate on the actual day.

Sticky date pudding

Last night was cooking class number 5. We did New Orleans style Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce and traditional PEI Sticky Date Pudding, which is really just a very dense and moist cake. Both types are doused with an alcohol based sauce, although the alcohol is optional, but necessary in my opinion. It does add so much flavour.
Brenda came over on Monday evening and we made both dishes in advance, to take with us. They take a very long time to bake and we didn't think we'd have time to bake both as well as eat, so we made the eating ones ahead of time. We did have time to finish baking the sticky date and eat it, but the bread pudding I brought home to bake here.

Both recipes were a hit and everyone enjoyed them.  Brenda and I talked about the class on the way home and for next weeks class we'll once again go back to the demo style. One student mentioned that she hadn't actually seen a step in a recipe the week before because she was busy working on something else. That got us to thinking that if they are there to learn, then they need to see all the steps. So next week, we'll have the students prep all the ingredients and then I'll cook it on the induction burner at the table so they can see what we're doing. It may be a better way of dealing with such a large class in such cramped quarters. Brenda found it a bit confusing and disjointed last night and I have to agree with her. So, we'll just have to fix it!

I stopped in at Brenda's on our way home to drop her off and we had a glass of wine while deciding  the fate of a couple of items she had in her freezer. There are definitely a couple of new dishes on the way.