My Birthday Trip in British Columbia

KAMLOOPS

River Walk

Crusty Pickles at the Noble Pig Brewhouse

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THE SALMON RUN at ADAMS RIVER

 

We didn't see many because the run was almost over, but we did see a few wonderful rusty-red salmon.

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MERRITT

After breakfast at the Quality Inn, Bryan and I walked around Central Park.

Then, we picked up Diana and headed up Juniper Drive to a grand lookout.

Next, we enjoyed strolling around the town.  This old hotel looks very Western and the bar is open but it was early so we chose an indigenous restaurant, instead.

I enjoyed a Saskatoon Berry Bannock here.  Diana had a cherry topped bannock.

The Baillie House museum is closed, unfortunately, between Sunday and Tuesday.

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HOPE

No trip would be complete without a bookstore and this one in HOPE was wonderful!  I wish I had taken an interior picture so you could see the towering bookshelves all crammed with lovely, old books and all for $2.00 a piece.  I picked up 3 by Helen Forrester! 

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HARRISON HOT SPRINGS RESORT

Bryan and I had the ground floor room at the very left and Diana's room was upgraded to the one next to ours.

We enjoyed the outdoor hot springs pools; but, oops, no pictures.

We also spent very pleasant hours in the hotel bar!

                Bryan had the "Harvest Moon" cocktail: Bacardi, Apple Sourz, Angostura, and Caramel

I had the "Sour Apple"

Then, we had dinner there: Portobello Mushroom Burger for me, Steak Tips & Frites for Diana, and  Salmon Burger for Bryan

                                                                

                                                                     Next morning: 

Breakfast in the resort's Lakeside Cafe 

Morning stroll from the hotel

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And then,

Nestor made me an amazing 75^th birthday dinner!

raw oysters on the half shell

mussels

pasta with prawns

lobster

tiramisu cake

 

SEARED SCALLOPS and FETTUCINE with TANGY CARROTS and a really good book

 

This book I recommend by Ruth Reichl

makes food sound irresistibly intriguing

and expressed this idea that speaks to me even though I don't totally agree with it :

 “working is the only thing that keeps you young.” 

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SEARED SCALLOPS and FETTUCINE with TANGY CARROTS   (Serves 4 to 5)

      (for a side, serve buttered asparagus or a salad)

The fettucine recipe is loosely based on a recipe in Bon Appetit's PASTA AND PIZZA cookbook.

6-8 ounces onion

8 ounces carrots

1 ½ tsp fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried)

1/3 cup olive oil

½ cup dry vermouth

¼ tsp minced garlic

½ tsp coriander seed, crushed (with mortar & pestle)

½ tsp dried marjoram

1 tsp salt

1 bay leaf

¼ tsp crushed red pepper

 

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup chopped parsley

2 tbsp minced green onions or chives

¼ tsp coarse black pepper

 

Parmesan

1 pound fettucine

1 tbsp olive oil

1 pound scallops

Salt & pepper

2 tbsp butter

 

·        Slice onion finely in short slivers.  Set aside.

·        Slice carrot into matchsticks.  Set aside.

·        Chop parsley and set aside.

·        Mince green onions and set aside with the parsley. 

·        Juice a lemon and set aside ¼ cup. 

·        Put 1/3 cup oil into large saucepan.

·        Pinch leaves off thyme and put into the saucepan.

·        Crush coriander seed with mortar and pestle and put into saucepan. 

·        Add vermouth, garlic, marjoram, salt, bay leaf, and crushed red pepper.

·        Stir in onions. 

·        Cover and bring to a simmer.   Time 2 minutes.

·        Add carrots.  Time 3 minutes.  Taste carrot.  It should be tender but still crisp. 

·        Take off heat and add lemon juice, parsley, green onions, and ¼ tsp pepper.   

·        Set aside, covered, until you are ready to finish making the dinner.

·        Pat scallops dry with paper towels and refrigerate until you are ready to finish making the dinner.

·        Prep a salad or cook asparagus now for a side.

·        Grate some parmesan and set aside.       

******

·        Set table.

·        Put grated parmesan on table. 

·        Bring large pot of water to a boil.  Add 1 tbsp salt.

·        Start to reheat onion & carrot sauce, covered, on low heat.

·        If you are serving asparagus, start reheating it on low heat.

·        Sprinkle scallops with salt & pepper.

·        Melt 2 tbsp butter in a very large skillet over medium-high heat. 

·        Add scallops and sear them for 3 minutes on one side and 2 on the other.  Take them off the heat when they are opaque.   

·        Stir fettucine into large pot.  Test after 8 or 9 minutes.  Drain.

·        Put fettucine into large serving bowl.  Stir in a tbsp of olive oil.

·        Stir onion and carrot sauce into fettucine. 

·        Serve.  Yum!   

 

 

Bryan, Nicole, and Kepler in a Mexican café, 2021 

RHUBARB RAISIN TEA BREADS and the 'marry' month of May!

 

 

You two have always made marrriage -- as challenging as it is -- look worthwhile to everyone else. . . and thanks for making family important.

Really, Kathleen?  What's that you said!

And Nicole!

   Happy 47 years together Mom and Dad!! You guys are Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee in the best of ways. Its so amazing and rare to see a couple who are the absolute best of friends and have as much fun together as you two do! Keep bickering and for goodness sake Bryan, DON"T FORGET TO MAKE TEA!!!!!

RHUBARB RAISIN LOAVES

3 cups finely diced rhubarb

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

¾ cup raisins

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup wholewheat flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ cup milk (I used 2 tbsp powdered milk in ½ cup water)

4 eggs

1 cup canola oil

1 tsp imitation rum extract

3 tsp imitation pineapple extract

·        Chop rhubarb and set aside with the nuts and raisins.

·        Grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans and line the bottoms with waxed paper so the loaves will come out easily.

·        Start oven preheating to 350.

·        Stir together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl including the nuts and raisins.

·        Beat together the milk, eggs, oil, and extract.   

·        Stir liquid ingredients into the dry.

·        Stir in the rhubarb.

·        Turn into the loaf pans and bake for 70 to 75 minutes.  Test with a wooden skewer.

·        Turn out onto wire racks to cool. 

The aroma of these loaves deliciously fills the air.

PINEAPPLE CARROT LOAF . . . and other good stuff

                     Good food, good movies, good books! 

                                                ******

PINEAPPLE CARROT OATMEAL LOAF

1 ½ cups wholewheat flour

1 cup oatmeal

½ cup golden sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 ½ tsp baking soda

¾ tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup pineapple tidbits

1 cup finely grated carrot

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

¾ cup canola oil

1.      Grease a loaf pan and line the bottom with waxed paper so it won’t stick.

2.     Drain pineapple and set aside.

3.     Grate carrots and set aside.

4.     Start oven preheating to 350.

5.     In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: flour, oatmeal, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. 

6.     In another bowl, beat the eggs.  Stir in pineapple, carrot, vanilla, and oil.

7.     Stir liquid ingredients into dry ingredients, just until mixed.   

8.     Transfer to loaf pan. 

9.     Bake 1 hour and ten minutes. 

10.  Turn out onto wire rack to cool. 

Yum!

 

                                                                              ******

                                                                             *******

HOARDING! Echoes from the Past. . . and LIME PICKLE

My friend, Gale, and her daughter, Regan

I met Gale in New Delhi so when I came across this picture, I went back to a journal I kept at that time.

Glancing at a diary entry I made in December, 1971, just after the outbreak of the war between India and Pakistan, this leapt out at me.    

Gale and I went to the American commissary.  The men were told at a meeting that hoarding was “just not on.”

One country, in particular, was called to order by the Americans.   It wasn't Canada.

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Mary Atwood put a recipe for LIME CURRY in with her section on Vegetables  (p. 127) but when I finally tried it I was delighted to find that it was actually a pickle!  the pickle you often find with the other condiments at the end of a buffet table in an Indian restaurant!
     It's a bit of an acquired taste as it's bitter but I really like it now. 
     Having made it, I built a menu around it as follows:

 Chicken with Spicy Coconut Milk Gravy from

 THE COMPLETE ASIAN COOKBOOK, p. 228 and

   Sweet and Sour Acorn Squash: GOOD COOKING FROM INDIA, p. 157

MARY STADNYK's advice re HATCHING CHICKS

MOM told me how to HATCH CHICKENS with a BROODING HEN even in a CLASSROOM!

Time of the year when you can set a clucker: between March and July.

Step 1:  Select a brooding hen or “clucker”.  When a hen is making clucking noises and has been on a nest in the henhouse for 3 days and nights without getting off, you know she is ready.

            Not all breeds of chicken produce motherly hens.  Some of the suitable breeds of chicken are Rhode Island Reds, White Rocks, Grey Rocks, Jersey Black Giants, Cornish, Sussex, and White Wyandots.

Step 2:  Prepare a nest – just a cardboard box with hay or straw.

Step 3: De-louse the clucker before taking her into the house.  Do this in the henhouse.  One     powdering should be enough. 

One type of powder is called LM4 Dust and is put out by the Niagara Brand Spray Co.  It is 4% Malathion.  There are many different brands.   

Step 4: Settling the clucker: Put 3 eggs in the nest.  For a few days at the beginning, cover the nest with a grate so that the clucker cannot leave the nest.  After she starts going back to the nest, you don’t need the grate anymore.    

Establish a routine time of the day, such as 8:30 am to take the clucker off the nest.  The hen comes off the nest for food, water, and toilet only once a day for 15 minutes and never at night.   

Take the hen outside.  Spread newspapers if you don’t want muck in that area and give her gravel, wheat or barley, and water.  Tie a string to her leg so that you can bring her in easily.  After a while, she’ll come quite readily.   

How much to feed her: Put out a can of wheat or barley.  When she finishes, refill the can.  She will drink water out of a pail.

The settling-in period will take 3 days. 

Step 5: Discard the  3 eggs and give the clucker 19 to 21 fresh eggs which have come from a yard in which a rooster is with the hens.

Step 6: Check the eggs for fertility after 7 days.  Sine a strong light like a flashlight on them in a darkened room.  Check for a red spot with blood vessels radiating away from it.  This is a fertile egg.  Infertile eggs look clear as does a fresh egg.  An egg that was fertile but has not developed will show a small red line adhering to the inside of the shell or a red or brown circle.

            Discard the eggs that aren’t fertile.

Step 7: After 20 days, the chicks will start to crack the eggs.  On the 21^st day, all the chicks should be out.

Discard all the eggs that have not hatched on the 21^st day.  The chicks that might hatch from any eggs after 21 days would not be healthy.

Step 8:  Once the chicks are hatched, you can’t keep them and the hen in the classroom because she is very messy and strong-smelling.

            The newly-hatched chicks do not require food or water for 60 hours.  (This is why hatcheries can send chicks out to farms where they will be kept warm with heat lamps.) 

            Feed the chicks chick starter, oatmeal, millet, rolled wheat or cracked wheat.  From the start, the chicks also get gravel. 

Use inverted glass jars for the chicks’ water.  In their water, for a few days, you can put ‘chick zone’.  This is a liquid chemical so they won’t get diarrhea, but it is not essential.   

            In a week’s time, the chicks can eat whole grain with the hen – not without her.

            The hen stays with the chicks only about 6 weeks.