Dictionaries Anyone? Manitoulin Pix

A week or two ago, on Glenda Larke's blog, we were discussing dictionaries and whether people use books or the internet. Friday morning I heard a report that the Oxford English Dictionary in Canada had laid off all their employees because of the internet so, I guess the answer is more and more people are using the net instead of the written word. I personally do both depending on where I am when I want to get the information. I feel sorry for the people who lose their jobs, but these days, technology is where its at and where you should be headed. I used to have a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica then I got the same thing on a CD I could play on my computer, now I don't even use that any more - I just go on the net. However, I still prefer to read a book rather than to read the same thing electronically although I do that a lot too. I can put several books on my Palm at one time so I always have something with me if I need to kill time. As you may have gathered, I read a lot. Of the 6 books I told you about the other day, I have 2 1/2 left, but then an author friend has sent me two more of his books, so I have those left to read when I finish this series. I always have to pause a few hours between books to drag myself, sometimes kicking and screaming, from the world I have been reading about and get ready for a different world. Here are more Manitoulin pix for Gynie. These are two shots from the Bridal Veil Falls. This is the main falls with the secondary falls above. This one is Gore Bay which I only had on video and the next one is Gore Bay leading out - I was going to say to sea, but I guess I mean out to lake!! Then we have a still shot of Providence Bay where we spent our last few days. Matt took several more which are similar to the ones I already posted. One being the stone man. I don't know if I mentioned that you can actually see these all over the island, just little rough ones actually built by the Indians. Apparently they indicate where food is hidden. I think this one was built by a house owner nearby as an ornament. And just to finish off, nature's own paintbrush uses orange too Gynie. This sunset was taken from our balcony at home. Finally, I have a recipe from Food and Drink again, the picture of which is shown on the front cover. A recently deceased friend loved pears and Gorgonzola cheese, this recipe would, I think, have appealed to her taste as well. Poached Pears with Highland Blue Cheese on Bitter Greens Serves 4 2 C water 1 C dry white wine 1/2 C sugar 1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns 1/4 tsp ground cardamom 4 pears 4 Tbs extra virgin olive oil 4 slices bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1 tsp Dijon mustard 2 Tbs white wine vinegar 1/4 C red onion, finely diced 12 dates, pitted and coarsely chopped 8 C bitter greens i.e. escarole, endive, radicchio or frisée lettuce Salt and freshly ground pepper 1/2 C Highland Blue cheese (or any good blue cheese available) 1/4 C pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped (walnuts if pecans not available) In a large saucepan bring water, wine, sugar, peppercorns and cardamom to the boil, reduce and simmer. Peel pears and halve lengthwise. With a melon baller or small spoon core the halves making a cavity for the cheese. Place halves flat side down in the poaching liquid. Cover and simmer until knife tender, more or less 25 minutes depending on ripeness of pears. Once cooked, remove from poaching liquid and let cool in fridge. In a small sauté pan, heat 1 Tbs olive oil over medium heat, add bacon and sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to kitchen paper to drain. Pour drippings from pan into a large bowl, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan and adding them as well. To the bowl, add the rest of the olive oil, Dijon mustanrd and vinegar, whisk together. Add to the dressing the onions, dates, bacon pieces, pecans and greens. Toss well with vinaigrette and season generously with salt and pepper. Taste a leaf and adjust, adding more vinegar, oil, salt or pepper if necessary. Place 1 Tbs chees into each cavity of the pear halves. Divide greens between four plates, sprinkle with pecans, top with 2 pear halves and serve. Have a great weekend.

Flu and What to Do, Election

I have just heard some interesting information on preventing flu. Dr. Tim Johnson who is Medical Editor on Good Morning America was talking about the things you can do to prevent flu. First, if you can, get a flu shot. We have been having them for a few years now. I personally am not convinced of their benefit as they are made from previous flu strains and who knows what strain will mutate and produce a new one each winter. He also mentioned washing hands which is a major way of preventing the spread of flu germs. When asked how long you should wash your hands he said sing Happy Birthday - twice! Another thing is to stay at least 3 ft. away from anyone who appears to be coughing and sneezing and to have flu and his final comment was not to cough and sneeze into your hands but into your sleeve!!!! I would never have thought of that and I must admit it sounds rather disgusting to me, but I can understand the logic of it. Better to be sure you carry some Kleenex tissues with you at all times. He also stated flu shots are available in the States right now, not sure if they are in Canada yet. In a couple of weeks, Matt and I are going to do something we have never done before, we are going to work at a polling booth as Information Officers. We have to go to different booths unfortunately, but it should be fun. I didn't realise if you take on such a job, its an all day affair. You have to take lunch and supper with you and anything you want to drink. If you are lucky there may be a kitchen and you can microwave something, but that isn't guaranteed of course. We have to go for training next week. This was suggested to us by a friend on the night of my birthday party, funnily enough, so we decided to look into it. I gather they only take seniors for the jobs as you have to prove you are in receipt of Canada Pension. If they take one look at us there won't be much doubt. Our election is actually on October 14th, much quicker than our friends down south. Now I have to figure out what I am going to take in the way of food and drink as well as "in what", I have bags big enough for one meal, but two? We could have taken another job at the poll booth, but a) it involved writing and in my case, my writing is appalling these days and b) it means staying to count the votes which could last well into the night if something went wrong. I think after working 9:30 to 9:30 we won't want to stay longer. Yes, we do get paid for this. We collected Matt's pictures of Manitoulin yesterday, he has some good ones. Another one of me on the slide at the beach. I notice no-one commented on those pictures!! He has a couple of nice shots of Gore Bay and some good ones of the Bridal Veil Falls, I will have to scan them later and share them with you tomorrow. Meanwhile here is another recipe from the LCBO's Food and Drink. Asian Barbecued Pork with Sweet Tart Sauce This spicy, hone sweet and citrus tart pork roast is best served with rice. It can be served either warm or cold. The meat is so tender that you can make superb pulled pork sandwiches by pulling it apart with a fork. Servings 6 2 1/2 to 3 lbs. rib end pork roast off the bone Marinade 3 Tbs soy sauce 1/4 C hoisin sauce 2 Tbs Sugar 1 tsp 5-spice powder 1 Tbs sambal oelek (any good oriental store) 2 Tbs vegetable oil Salt and freshly ground pepper 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar Garnish 1/4 C slivered green onion Lime wedges Place pork in a large baking dish and set aside. Combine soy, hoisin, sugar, 5 spice, sambal oelek, oil, salt and pepper in a medium bowl and pour over pork making sure it is well coated. Marinate pork over night or for at least 6 hours, refrigerated. Preheat oven to 300 °F. place pork in a covered baking dish along with the marinade and 1/2 Cup water. Cover and bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, turning every hour and basting until pork is fork tender. Remove from oven and let pork cool in juices. If you can refrigerate overnight it is much easier to remove the fat. Remove pork from juices and skim fat from sauce. Add balsamic vinegar to baking dish and bring sauce to a boil over high heat. Boil for 7 to 10 mins. or until juices have reduced and thickened slightly. Thinly slice pork, coat with sauce, pour over rice and scatter with green onions. Serve with lime wedges. Have a great day.

"Crippen Was Innocent You Know"

For years my first husband, John, used to say "Crippen was innocent you know", in a tongue in cheek manner implying just the opposite. Well now it appears, he was innocent. This may not mean a lot to North Americans, but it certainly will mean something to lots of English people. If you are interested, you can read about the case here, it is one of the most famous criminal cases in the UK and I certainly remember hearing all about it when I was a young woman. Last night we saw a programme detailing the use of modern forensics on the case and it appears that the human remains they found were not only not his missing wife, but were not even female. They do not know and I don't think they have any way of finding out, who the remains could have belonged to, but there is a strong opinion that some of the evidence was planted. Either the remnants of Crippen's pyjamas were planted, or possibly even the remains themselves. The living relatives of Crippen, who was an American, are endeavouring to get the British Government to issue a pardon. A fascinating programme. I just wish John was still alive to have seen it.

Another interesting thing about this crime, it was the first time forensic pathology was used in a case. It was, by today's standards, very primitive, but tissue slides were still available in the archives of the Royal London Hospital. There is an article here which details the seven years of research carried out by John Trestrail head of the regional poison centre in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Scotland Yard also had the original files and evidence in their storage, but at first they were less willing to allow it to be examined, especially not in the States.

Here is another recipe from one of our favourite magazines, Food and Drink from our Liquor Board. Zucchini Tart with Feta and Mint. Serves 6 2 Tbs unsalted butter 2 medium zucchini (10 oz), sliced into rounds 1/8" thick 1 tsp chopped garlic 2 Tbs chopped mint Salt and freshly ground pepper 1 large egg 1 large egg yolk 3/4 C 18% cream 3 oz feta cheese, crumbled One 9 inch tart shell, partially baked (if you buy a frozen one, follow directions on packet) Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt bugtter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add zucchini and sauté for 3 minutes or until beginning to soften. Add garlic and stir to combine. Turn heat to medium high and continue to cook for 1 minute or until zucchini is just cooked through and juices have evaporated. Remove pan from heat, stir in mint, season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside. Beat egg and yolk with cream until uniform. Season with salt. Sprinkle feta over prepared tart shell. Pour over half of egg mixture. Add zucchini mixture in an even layer and pour over remaining egg mixture. Place tart on a baking sheet and bake in the lower third of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until set and lightly golden. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Have a great day.

Health Insurance

Matt was watching a programme on TV last night and I was being distracted from my reading and ended up watching some of it. The most tragic scenes about people in the US without health insurance. Intellectually one knows about this, I have also experienced some of it when living in North Carolina, we couldn't poke our nose into our local hospital without shelling out about $2,000 but we couldn't afford insurance and our Canadian insurance didn't cover us. However, on the programme they told three stories of families, two of whom lost loved ones. Some of the scenes were so heart wrenching I was in tears. The third story was about a man with a major spinal problem, who, because he was on the programme, attracted the notice of one hospital who agreed to operate for free. Apart from the cost of the actual medical treatments and the fortune they spend on medications, these families suffer badly from loss of a wage earner. The whole thing is tragic and I cannot understand why America doesn't do something about it. Although I gather both McCain and Obama have "plans". We all know what happens to election promises. One of the women, who lost her husband, said something I have always said, she lived in what was supposed to be the richest country in the world and yet she had lost her husband through lack of health coverage. Before you say, they should have insurance, it is cost prohibitive for many families. We took the risk and we were lucky, these people have to take the risk and are often not lucky. In many cases its insurance or food. It makes me appreciate that most of my life I have lived in either Britain or Canada where we do have national health coverage.

This blog will probably be delayed as I have a lot on this morning, the young man who repaired my PC has to return to fix my USB ports which aren't working properly, and I have to make some phone calls. Which means instead of sitting around here in my nightdress, I have to get a move on and leave blogging til later. Sorry Kevin.

Here's a different version of Crème Brulée which I haven't tried but which is listed as easy.

Ginger Crème Brulée

Servings 6

2 oz. ginger root, pared, grated

1 qt. heavy cream

10 egg yolks

9 oz. sugar

ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp. sugar

candied ginger, as needed

berries, as needed

6 mint leaves

Combine ginger and cream in sauce pan; heat to boiling. Remove from heat; let cool 15 minutes. Strain. Place egg yolks and sugar in mixing bowl; mix using hand whisk. Slowly whisk in cooled cream. Pour mixture into soup cups. Place in hotel pans containing 1 in. water; bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour. Remove from oven; refrigerate overnight.

TO SERVE Sprinkle 1 tsp. sugar over each cup; brown in salamander or with hand torch. Garnish with candied ginger, berries and mint. Have a great day.

Finance, Rosh Hashanah, Paul Newman

We just saw a special broadcast by George W. Bush regarding the $700 billion bail out which congress just voted against. They can't do anything about it today because Congress is taking the Jewish Holiday - Rosh Hashanah. Excuse me? Since when did Congress start celebrating Jewish holidays? Sure, if you are Jewish obviously you are going to celebrate it, but the whole of Congress cannot be Jewish surely?

In Matt's opinion Congress shouldn't be taking any kind of holiday until they have solved this major financial crisis. I am not sure where I stand on this, on the one hand people are right who say if a mom and pop store fails no-one bails them out, but if it does, it doesn't create a worldwide financial crisis. We, after all, live in Canada and I know our few Mutual Funds have taken a nose dive, in fact I haven't dared look and see how few dollars we have at the moment. The sound financial advice is to hang on, so we are hanging on. We don't have much and I have no doubt we have quite a bit less right now, so come on Congress, get back to work and maybe I agree you should vote for that financial bail out. For the first time in my life I actually George W. sounded like he was talking sense.

Talking of Rosh Hashanah, I have a very good Jewish friend in my cookery group and I know she has been very busy preparing for today. Last year we, as a group, joined her in celebrating the feast and made a similar meal on more or less the same day. The principle items which are a must are apples and honey which symbolises the hope of a sweet new year. There are some good Honey Cake recipes here if you are interested.

It was sad that Paul Newman died this weekend, I hadn't even heard that he had cancer I must confess. He was such a wonderful man and raised so much for charity with his sauces and dressings. He was also a very humble person. Barbara Walters (I've mentioned her before) did a great interview with him a year or two ago and he even took her for a ride in his race car. He really loved racing cars. This is a more recent picture of him, he was 83 when he died. These days, that isn't so very old, unless you are only in your twenties I guess. As I have mentioned before, more and more people are living longer and longer.

Don't forget to sign on to my Followers List please.

Funny, I was talking about Peameal Bacon for breakfast when we were in Manitoulin. I have just come across a Bacon Roast in the HomeBasics magazine I've been using for a recipe source lately. I must say it looks pretty good and I will certainly give it a try.

BBQ Peameal Bacon Roast

Serves 4

1/2 C barbecue sauce

1/4 C orange marmalade or peach jam, melted

2 tsp each grainy mustard and maple syrup

1 Tbs cider Vinegar

1 1/2 lbs whole peameal bacon roast

Preheat the barbecue to medium-high and grease the grate. Combine the barbecue sauce, jam or marmalade, mustard, maple syrup and cider vinegar in a microwave-safe bowl and heat on high, stirring often, for 2 mins. or until smooth and glossy. Let cool slightly. Brush a third of the sauce over the roast. Grill, turning and basting often, for 1- mins. or until the roast is evenly marked. Turn the burner directly under the meat off and set the remaining burner(s) to medium-low. Close the lid and roast over indirect heat, turning and basting occasionally, for 30 mins. or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the meat reads 160°F (71°C). Transfer to a carving board and let stand for 5 minutes.

They recommend serving it with Knorr Cheddar Cheese Pasta with Broccoli and Carrots. However, obviously you can choose your own sides.

Have a great day.

Manitoulin - Last of the Trip

Today I cover the last bit of our trip to Manitoulin. I was disappointed not to see the quill museum. I saw some quill work (porcupine quills) in the store for sale, very expensive mind you, but absolutely beautful, so it would have been nice to see what they considered worth putting in the museum. The work I saw was full of wonderful pictures of wolves, birds, scenes, etc. but the one that most impressed me was a basket that looked as though it was covered with beautiful lace. It was also beautifully expensive. September 19, 2008 As the other visitors had an early breakfast, we missed them and had ours in peace. This morning, apart from a bowl of fruit, which seems traditional round here, we had bacon and sausages. We have been getting good breakfasts. Chatting to Ingrid and Trevor this morning and I asked about the almost white cows, they looked like Charolais to me, guess what, they were. I then asked about the beautiful horses I had seen a lot of which I thought were Palominos (gold coats, blond mains and tails) and I was right again. Doing well here. Trevor told us about walking to the bridge over the Mindemoya River, just a few steps away from the B & B. The salmon should be beginning to run. We had already seen a dead salmon in the stream leading to the Bridal Veil Falls. We wandered around to the bridge and then stood on the beach. Lo and behold we saw a salmon leaping, twice, or two salmon leaping once, who knows. All kinds of fishermen around but nobody doing much. I took a picture and am now using it for my desktop background. We encountered a woman walking a cute little dog, not sure exactly what breed, but he was quite small. He decided to kill a branch and would not leave it alone, she had to take it with her to get him to follow. It was quite funny. There is a very long boardwalk around the bay, we didn’t follow it, too much walking, but the bridge is part of the walkway. Could have been an interesting walk. I liked this picture I took of where we saw the salmon leaping, that I now have it as wallpaper on my desktop. Decided to check out Carter Bay which had been recommended by Ingrid, headed there and drove down a road which was like a washboard, shaking us to bits, we were not too happy. Decided to turn round, however before we did, saw a hawk flying in front of us and then it sat in a tree. Matt didn’t bother to try and take a picture as we figured it would fly away as Matt got out of the car. Matt thought it was a kestrel, I thought it was a Peregrine. Checked it out later, I was right, I am now batting 1,000. Having got out of the road to Carter Bay, we decided to check out the restaurant at Michael’s Bay. Another long unpaved road, but not a washboard this time. A beautiful spot right on the bay, nice looking building. Not that we saw it, but there was a golf course there too. Rental chalets as well according to notices. On Friday they do all you can eat perch, but Matt decided it was too far and he didn’t want perch anyway. I do agree, it was a log way from Providence Bay. Went to a deli store we had seen and got some gorgeous croissants and some cold pork slices for lunch then on to Providence Bay and sat at the picnic tables there. This time we finished our wine. Afterwards we took our chairs on the beach for a bit and sat in the sun, Matt was a bit overcooked from the other day, so he put a hat on and turned his back to the sun, it was bloody windy though, so we didn’t stay long. There was a guy out in the water with a kayak. He came back in and when trying to get out, fell in the water. It must have been bloody cold. He had a change of clothes with him in his car. We also saw a “rent a motor home” and took the phone number to make enquiries. (I’m sitting here typing and can hear the seagulls - lake gulls? – through the window which we have had open all night with the sound of the waves on the beach, weather has warmed up now we are going). Went back to the B & B and decided to do some reading, I have a book and there are lots of Reader’s Digests for Matt. We ended up chatting to Trevor and Ingrid in the garage, they are both smokers so spend a lot of time there. Their dog, Peter, is only 10 months old and was having a crazy half hour. Ingrid booked a table for us at the School House so we headed there just before 7, its only round the corner, tonight Matt wasn’t too hungry but I had a cauliflower and gorgonzola soup, delicious. Then their whitefish, which was very good, not breaded or anything but nicely seasoned. We had their house white with it. I finished off with an intense chocolate cake served with some ice cream, scrumptuously decadent. Back to the house, spoke to Ingrid who was waiting for guests arriving by the last ferry. We played some more crib in our room then crawled into bed. Funny, we don’t play crib at home much any more but enjoy playing it when we are travelling. September 20, 2008 I can’t believe this, I have been going to bed around 10 and sleeping solidly all night. This morning I woke early. 5:15 ish, but yesterday I must have had 9 hours. I never sleep that long. We had peameal bacon again which is very good. There was another young man at breakfast and I watched Trevor cook his egg “over easy” as they say in North America. I now know how to do it, I was never very successful and just cooked them the way I had always done so, splashing fat over the top of the frying egg. Trevor made it look so easy. Ingrid sent us to a store where we could buy the orange, carrot and ginger marmalade we had been eating. It is made on Manitoulin Island. The store had all kinds of fascinating things in it, I could have spent hours there, but we had to go. Headed off to South Baymouth to catch the ferry and went the shorter way. It was quite windy and the ferry was rocking around a bit. I felt a bit nauseous, not sure if I was seasick or if it was just low sugar. I had a candy and felt better. Had been going to have lunch on board but waited until we got to Tobermory. We headed for the same café where we ate on the way to Manitoulin. Not very hungry, but I have to have lunch. On the way home I had totally forgotten all the roadworks we encountered before. In Canada they say we have 7 month’s winter and 5 month’s roadworks. Got home and one of my Avon customers told me she had been trying to phone all week, sounds like the phone must have been off the hook or something. Not sure how that happened. Had a couple of belated birthday cards from daughters in England. The apartment was like a furnace, the weather has been a lot warmer here (of course) and the gas prices are a lot lower too. We threw a few things together for supper and I tried to get my desktop to start. In the end I gave it up as a bad job and carried on reading my current Katherine Kerr book. Finished it and have read two more of her books since. I now have three more to read and I have caught up with her whole Deverry series. Not sure if the last book I have is the last of the series or not, I will, no doubt, find out. I borrowed this picture from Amazon.com. Don't try clicking to look inside, it doesn't work here, it does at Amazon.com though. You will have seen what happened with the computer so now life is back to normal once again. I am still working on summer recipes here, but this is another one from Home Basics which I thought sounded good and will have a go at myself very soon. Satima started a list of followers. I joined her site, I would appreciate it if you would join my site. There is a segment at the top on the right. Grilled Shrimp on Summer Slaw 1 pouch sun-dried tomato parmesan pasta seasoning 1/2 C olive oil, divided 1 lb uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined 1 TBS lemon juice 1/2 tsp salt 4 C thinly sliced red cabbage 1 beet, peeled and grated 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced In a medium bowl, whisk together the pasta seasoning mix and 1/4 cup olive oil. Stir in the shrimp, cover the bowl and marinate in the fridge for 1 hour. Preheat the grill to medium high. Grill the shrimp, turning once, until cooked through. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, remaining olive oil and salt. Toss in the cabbage, beet and onion. Serve the srhimp alongside a bed of summer slaw. Serves 4.

Manitoulin - Day 4

More from my Manitoulin diary.

September 18, 2008 Oops, my blood sugar readings are climbing, better cut out the Crème Brulèes etc. Pity. We had Peameal bacon for breakfast, despite over 30 years in Canada, I have never eaten it before. Its very good. We also tried a low sugar marmalade made with orange peel, carrots and ginger. Also very good. We went to Gore Bay after breakfast and the first thing we did was go to Valu-Mart to buy stuff for lunch. I am very glad I don’t have to do my regular shopping on this island, they don’t have lot of choice. Up to Lookout Bluff to see the lake and the harbour of Gore Bay. Pretty area. Well its water isn’t it? On to Kagawan where the Bridal Veil Falls are (see my video posted on September 25). It was a popular spot so had trouble parking. There were lookout points at the top and then steps, lots of them, down to the falls. You could actually walk behind the falls if you wanted. One young lady walked part of the way but said it was VERY wet. Walking was a bit difficult anyway. This is one of the rivers (if you can call it that, more like a rushing stream) that attracts spawning salmon and they are obviously already running as we saw one dead one lying in the water. You can just see it in the picture. Getting out of there was a bit of an effort for me, there were a lot of stairs to get back up again. Living in an apartment, I rarely climb stairs, they can be quite a problem for me. I am getting lots of practice with stairs this week though, maybe I should continue when I get back home. We then took our lunch over to a picnic table at the top and enjoyed sitting in the sun. Matt figured we shouldn’t have our wine though as we were in a very public spot. I took a picture of this blue flower as there were hundreds of them dotted about and they looked so very pretty. Down the hill into Kagawan which calls itself the prettiest village in Ontario, bit of a stretch. They are right on the bay which does help and it is very attractive to look out to the water. We went into the chocolate shop and looked around but I didn’t dare buy anything. They had all kinds of chocolates, local made as well, they looked delicious and I began to drool. They sold both hot chocolate and coffee but they didn’t have any coffee made which I would have enjoyed. Pity. We took a back road round the bay and found a pretty spot to overlook the bay and I took some video – we also got onto more back roads and saw some deer, first we’d seen. Someone was telling us the other day that they had seen deer and a fox, I was miffed because I hadn’t seen any wild animals. The island is supposed to be overrun with deer. Bit scary when you are driving at night. It apparently isn't funny if you hit one, doesn't do the deer much good either. Found our way to M’Chigeeng again and this time the Catholic church was open. What a gorgeous little church it is. I bought a postcard, but it really doesn’t do it justice. The Stations of the Cross were painted by the Indians and are wonderful in bright, vibrant colours, quite incredible. On the back of the main doors there are the most amazing wood carvings. Easy to miss on your way out. The base of the church is under ground level and is circular. It has a wonderful sense of serenity. There are no pews, just ledges to sit on. I would love to attend a service there. Headed back to Mindemoya and found a coffee bar. By then I was gasping as I hadn’t had a drink since breakfast. The café was right opposite Mum’s where we had eaten lunch the other day. From Mindemoya we went to South Baymouth as I wanted to take a pic of the ferry coming in. Was I fooled. I was looking out one way and it arrived behind me. As looking that way was directly into the sun, that was the end of that idea. We made a booking for the 11:10 a.m. ferry on Saturday and I bought another postcard as you can see. I am absolutely fascinated by the bows lifting up to let cars in. Matt wanted to time the drive to Providence Bay but wouldn’t believe me when I told him he was taking the long route. It took 40 minutes. However, we confirmed with Ingrid that the other route was shorter, so that is what we will take next time. Have spent a lot of time chatting to Ingrid, she is fun to talk to. However, she got some new customers, so we went on the porch and had a drink. Later Ingrid set up her Paypal account so I could pay her, however Paypal didn’t recognize me. Not that it mattered as far as paying, but I was teed. Turned out it was my fault, wrong password. Passwords are a flaming pain aren’t they? I thought this cartoon very appropriate. For supper we went to Mum’s which we were told had good whitefish. It wasn’t bad at all. Miss Congeniality was still working, but she went home before we left. The other woman (owner, manager?) turned out to be very friendly. Back home Matt decided we shut ourselves in our room to play crib as we hadn’t like the look of the guy who was in the other room. He was a hail fellow well met type, noisy too and irritated us the way he came out onto the porch and said "ah two newly weds" in a loud, jovial voice. They told us afterwards that she was in the room and he was down in the garage with Trevor and friends drinking scotch out of a large jug with no glass, no mix, nothing. Had the bottle hidden in his trunk (boot to the Limeys) apparently. Alcoholic?

Our LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) issues a magazine called Food and Drink about 4 times a year. We always try and make sure to grab it as it has wonderful recipes. The following is one which is absolute poison to me, but I thought it sounded delicious.

Dark Chocolate Pecan Pie

A chocolate topping makes this traditional pie a little trendier. If you'd rather use a ready-made frozen pie shell, buy a deep-dish shell and bake it according to the instructions on the package before filling. (In fact I am going to assume you are doing just that and that you have pre-baked your pie shell.

1 1/2 Cups pecan halves toasted (you can also use walnuts by the way)

3 eggs

3/4 Cup dark brown sugar

1/2 Cup corn syrup (or any other syrup available to you)

2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 Cup coarsely chopped, good-quality bittersweet chocolate (about 3 oz).

Set aside 1/2 Cup of pecans; coarsely chop the remainder.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Beat in sugar, syrup, butter, vanilla and salt until smooth. Stir in chopped pecans.

Pour the mixture into your baked pie crust. Scatter chocolate evenly over the surface. Arrange reserved pecan halves decoratively on top. Bake for 30 to 40 mins. until filling is set a round the edges but centre still jiggles slightly, shielding pastry edges with foil if they start to brown too much. Let pie cool to room temperature on a wire rack before serving.

Have a great weekend.

Manitoulin Day 3

Last night we celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary and finally opened the Malivoire Pinot Noir I have been yattering on about. It was good. I had a couple of glasses of bubbly before lunch too, gotta have champers on an occasion.

September 17, 2008 We packed up what little we had unpacked and went for breakfast. This morning we had boiled eggs in egg cups which is something you never see in Canada, well I never have. As Brenda said, most Canadians don’t know how to eat them. One couple who were there certainly didn’t have much idea, she was using a dessert spoon and they were quite small eggs too. We also had soldiers with them (fingers of bread to the uninitiated) to start we had a bowl of fruit and yoghurt and in between some more chocolate bread. I wish I could get the recipe for that. Finished loading the car, not much left. Headed for Mindemoya and the grocery store where we bought some goodies for lunch. A turkey wrap, some sliced havarti cheese, some Campari tomatoes, they have a very good flavour and a couple of bananas. Very odd to us, the LCBO or liquor store, was in the grocery store. You paid separately. Anyway, got ourselves a bottle of wine. Not a bad grocery store, but not great when compared to our stores in Kitchener. Back to Providence Bay and we spent several delightful hours on the beach. Had lunch out there too and made friends with a seagull, Sidney, who was on the scrounge. He got some cracker as I broke one up unintentionally. It really was a beautiful day all though too cool to strip off but the sun was blazing down and our faces certainly picked up some colour. In fact I burned my lips – face was OK my cream has SPF15 in it. Will have to remember to put some on my lips to. Matt burned his face, no cream of any kind. Around 2 I figured we had had enough sun for a bit so we checked in to On the Bay B & B which was more or less just behind us and settled ourselves into our room. What a difference compared to the first place. We have decided to stay 3 nights. I plugged in my laptop and yay, it worked on the internet so I checked all my emails. I was a bit nervous about staying too long as Rusty said it would be so easy for me to pick up a virus as I don’t have anything on here and I only have Win 98 which is all this old unit will take. Remembered later I had AVG anti virus. The picture is the B & B from the beach. I booked dinner at the School House restaurant which was just round the corner from us and we then “hung” around the B & B. We discovered a horseshoe pit, Matt used to be quite good but that was more than 20 years ago. He threw quite a lot of shoes and finally ended up with a couple of ringers and a leaner as he called it. This is a delightful property and they have quite a big piece of land. We sat on the porch and had a couple of drinks before we headed out to dinner. I forgot to mention our room has a balcony from which you can see the bay which leads into Lake Huron. If you would like to check out their web site click here. The Bay was originally called Bebekodawangog by the local Indians which means "where the beach curves around the water". This is the beach from the B & B.

At the School House I had clam chowder to start and Matt had crab cakes, both of which were very good considering how far we are from the salt water. We both decided on the rack of lamb which was delicious and came with good, crisp, veggies. We drank a small carafe of Valpolicella with it. We both finished off with Crème Brulèe for dessert and I had a cup of coffee. Turned out to be a little more expensive than last night, but not too terrible. Back to the house and more cribbage. Doesn’t seem to be a weather channel on the TV locally. We hear it’s supposed to be warmer. Ingrid, our hostess, has suggested several places for us to visit tomorrow, including restaurants.

We are getting some real early nights this week. All this fresh air is getting to us.

Back to today, I thought I would give you a fairly easy curried chicken recipe. We bought a load of chicken breasts yesterday so here is a way to use them.

Curried Chicken Breasts

Servings 6

Source: Cookbook Wizard

6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves (about1-1/2 pounds)

2/3 cup plain nonfat yogurt

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon sesame seed

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)

1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric

4 cloves garlic, crushed

3 large onions, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon butter

Paprika

1 small cucumber

Place chicken in ungreased rectangular baking dish, 13 X 9 X 2 inches. Mix yogurt, coriander, ginger, sesame seed, red pepper, turmeric and garlic; pour over chicken. Turn chicken to coat with marinade. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, but no longer than 24 hours.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook onions in butter in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are tender. Remove chicken from baking dish; stir onions into yogurt mixture in baking dish. Place chicken on onion mixture. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake uncovered about 1 hour or until juices of chicken run clear. Cut cucumber lengthwise into halves; remove seeds. Chop cucumber; sprinkle over chicken. 6 servings

Have a great day.

Manitoulin Videos

Here's a couple of small videos I took, Providence Bay and Bridal Veil Falls. I have two more to upload later. Sorry about the inane remarks, I am not very good at commentary.

Manitoulin - Day 2

This is me on the ferry, did you guess? below we have the pictures of South Bay B & B and Gallery. South Bay is very close to where the ferry docks so it is very convenient when you don't know where you are or where you are going.

Went to bed quite early on Monday night as both Saturday and Sunday nights were not blessed with much time in the land of nod and luckily had a very sound sleep, the bed was actually very comfortable. Helps that in fact there was no-one else staying in the house at the moment although we anticipate there will be on Tuesday, but its nice, we have the bathroom to ourselves. It’s normally shared. Breakfast at 8:30 which I know will contain fruit salad and quiche, can’t remember what else Brenda mentioned. It turned out to be very good. We started with the fruit salad, to which I added yoghurt, had small quiches which were very good, then tried some chocolate bread toasted, had lumps of chocolate in the bread – I loved it. Followed by multigrain toast. There were all kinds of jams and jellies if required, extra fruit, cereals, coffee and juice. Plenty to eat. Later went to the Internet café and they gave me the name and phone number of a guy, Rusty, who does computer repair. Having phoned him, we headed off for Mindemoya which is where he hangs out. He checked out my laptop and the problem was no IP address which he corrected and lo and behold, the internet. He also showed me an absolutely darling little laptop, about the size of an evening purse, which has more power than my desktop at home. It was, with tax, about $500. I wanted it, I wanted it. I don’t have $500 to spare though. Upset me for the rest of the day that did. Later when I tried it I still couldn’t connect. Problem with the connection maybe. We headed for Providence Bay and found a delightful B & B where we booked in for Wed. and Thurs. nights. This time we have an en suite bathroom and somewhere to hang our clothes. Matt will be happier. There is also a nice lounge with a TV if wanted plus ice etc. where we can sit. Actually it’s a delightful house and pretty big. (Found out later that the original house was burned down and this is a brand new one built last year). It is also right on the water plus they have a friendly dog called Peter.

We had been recommended to Mum’s in Mindemoya for lunch so went back there. It is very popular with the locals. I had Italian Wedding soup and a BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) sandwich Matt just had the BLT. It wasn’t bad although too much rather sweet mayonnaise for my taste. Our waitress was Miss Congeniality, talk about a misery. Didn’t get another coffee, never got our bill, we stood at the cashier’s desk waiting to pay and she looked right through us. Eventually someone else found our bill and took our money. Needless to say, no tip. We then went to M’Chigeeng to look at a particular Catholic Church which is supposed to be worth a visit, it goes underground apparently. Wouldn’t you know it was locked, also a quill work exhibition which was closed for the day. They had a lot of quill work for sale in the store, it really is quite clever and beautiful. Done by the Indians of course. There is also an Ojibwa Foundation exhibition which wanted $10 for us to go visit. By this time I was feeling stroppy so didn’t go in. We decided to drive on to Little Current which is where there is a bridge to the mainland. Quite a nice boardwalk, unfortunately the weather started to look extremely threatening so that put the kibosh on spending much time there. Started to head back to South Baymouth and on the way stopped at the Garden’s Gate restaurant to make a booking for dinner. Had to wait for about 10 mins as they weren’t open. However, we booked for 6:30 and then want back to the B & B. Once there I tried out the laptop on the net. Brenda says the ferry often knocks out their phone and/or net.- lets hope I can connect at the new place as I saw (when at Rusty's) I had 47 emails to check out. We had a drink outside and I started getting bitten by mosquitoes. So went inside and played cribbage. Can you tell I wasn’t having a good day. I’m afraid I am not very impressed with the island so far. We were told it was beautiful and so far it looks like any other part of Ontario. However, there is one area we have seen from a distance which they call mountains, I don’t think they really classify, but they are certainly quite impressive looking hills. Also we did miss a lookout point although at that time it was still dark and threatening.

Set off for supper and were pleasantly surprised to see it was very busy. The service was leisurely, none of this slapping one plate down before you have finished the other. We had an excellent Caesar Salad, we had previously been served a hot roll with herb butter. Then we both had the Whitefish which came with – in my case – a risotto cake, shaved carrots and a kind of cabbage in a sauce. It was all delicious. There was a fruit salad type of dressing for the fish, I enjoyed it, Matt said the fish didn’t need it so I ate his as well. I guess it didn’t really, it was a very nice piece of fish. We had a glass of wine with it, forget what it was called. Matt had oven roasted potatoes, Matt could teach them a thing or two about roast potatoes. We finished off with apple pie and ice cream for Matt and a Coffee Cup a la Crème for me which was light and a perfect finish. They had a decadent chocolate cake which had a description followed by a sentence assuring the customer that it contained all the four food groups, dark chocolate, white chocolate, damn, I can’t remember the next, and chocolate crème. The bill, considering I had two glasses of wine, came to $80 and that included the tip. Very reasonable.

Back at the B & B and more cribbage – at least it was a lot warmer this evening. I didn't mention that the previous evening it was very cold in the B & B and Matt, who never has temperature problems, froze. We ended up going to bed to get warm. The next day we complained and they put the heat on. Of course it got warmer anyway. There were no chairs in the bedroom, nowhere to hang our clothes, not a very big room but it had a single bed crammed in to it as well as our Queen. Matt was not too happy. There was a kind of kitchen with a table downstairs where we could sit and play cards, but it wasn't very comfortable, nor, the first night, as clean as it should be. This is where the internet connection was located even if it wasn't working. There were seating areas outside, but it was mostly too cold in the evening, especially that first evening.

Thought you might like to know what Italian Wedding Soup is, I must admit I had never eaten it before.

Italian Wedding Soup

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Meatballs: 1 small onion, grated 1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley 1 large egg 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1 teaspoon salt 1 slice fresh white bread, crust trimmed, bread torn into small pieces 1/2 cup grated Parmesan 8 ounces ground beef 8 ounces ground pork Freshly ground black pepper

Soup: 12 cups low-sodium chicken broth 1 pound curly endive, coarsely chopped (1 pound of escarole would be a good substitution) 2 large eggs 2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese, beef and pork. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet. To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and curly endive and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the curly endive is tender, about 8 minutes. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with parmesan cheese if desired.

Have a great day.

Trip to Manitoulin

Hi everyone, I am now just about up to date with my computer. For our few days away, I thought I would just reprint the diary I wrote and include some pictures. The first two are the view from the harbour in Tobemory.

September 15, 2008

My first problem in life is that I can’t connect to the net. My lincsys seems to be kaput. Not sure if there is a store here for PC parts, at the moment I’m not sure what there is on Manitoulin Island, I presume there must be shops of some kind somewhere. We had a very uneventful if somewhat damp ride here, like going through what the Irish would call a heavy mist. In a few places it turned into rain, but never for very long. We got to Tobermory quite early and checked in, paid our fare and got into line. We then strolled over to a restaurant close by and had their special, chicken noodle soup and a corned beef sandwich. For my limey readers, that is not the stuff out of a can tin, but sliced brined beef, delicious stuff, much nicer than the stuff produced by Mr. Fray Bentos and his ilk. We then walked around the ferry dock and took a couple of pix (I forgot the cord for my camera so I can upload the pix onto the Laptop, duuh). We then saw the Chi-Cheemaun in the distance so went back to the car, in fact we would have had time to take pix of her coming into dock. Walking past some of the waiting cars, I heard a woman saying “put it in the boot” I said “boot? I haven’t heard that in a long while”. We stood chatting for a while and they are over here for a month. Spent a few days in Toronto, a few in Niagara and were now going to visit Manitoulin. She told me they were from Derbyshire and it was their second visit to Canada, last time they went to BC. I should have so much money!! We boarded the ferry and left our cars. Not that we wanted to, but you are not allowed to stay with your car and if, for any reason, you need to return to it, you have to get a crew member to take you there to open the door to the vehicle area. There is a cafeteria, a bar, an information area with leaflets on every conceivable thing to do with the island. Decided to have a beer as we were thirsty. Having finished that, we sat on the afterdeck which was out of the wind, but in the sun, and was delightful. Any rain had completely disappeared and it was now a lovely day. The lake actually looked blue and we passed lots of quite big islands, naïve of us, but I hadn’t even realized there were so many islands out here. We docked and once ashore, found our B & B quite close. This picture is through a window on the after deck. The B & B have a gift shop which is also the office and which sells lots of locally made bead stuff!! Not quite our thing. The owner, Brenda, took us over to the house where our bedroom is. I’m glad it isn’t raining. Matt is not too happy as there isn’t really anywhere for us to hang anything. The room isn’t bad though with a queen sized bed which looks quite comfy. Later Brenda showed us where she serves breakfast, another house. She suggested a place for supper and told us of another restaurant for Tuesday night. I wasn’t too sure about her first recommendation, however having had a drink in the little kitchenette/sitting area, we went and had salad and a breaded pork cutlet (I think it was some kind of minced pork) which wasn’t bad, but the veg were canned or overcooked. Not sure which. Price wasn’t bad though but then we were a tad took aback, they only took cash, luckily we had enough. We came back and had a couple more drinks and that’s when I discovered I couldn’t get on the net. So we played a few games of cribbage and pored over some of the leaflets. We had decided where to visit tomorrow and check out accommodations for later in the week.

Pork Chops Smothered with Cabbage

Servings: 6

Source: Cookbook Wizard

8 cups coarsely shredded red cabbage (about 1-1/2 pounds)

4 cups chopped apples (about4 medium)

2 cups sliced red onion (about1 large)

1-1/2 cups chicken broth1/4 cup red wine vinegar or cider vinegar

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 bay leaf

6 pork rib or loin chops, about 3/4 inch thick (about1-1/2 pounds)

1 cup cranberry juice cocktail

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Cover and cook all ingredients except pork chops, cranberry juice and parsley in Dutch oven over medium heat 10 minutes, stirring occasionally; reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Trim fat from pork. Stir cranberry juice into cabbage mixture; add pork. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 45 minutes or until pork is tender. Remove bay leaf. Serve cabbage over pork chops. Sprinkle with parsley.

Have a great day

Computers

If anyone is still reading my blog, I hope you are, I am presently re-loading my computer as I had to have a new motherboard. I kind of knew this was coming and so it wasn't a blow out of the blue. I haven't had time to write a proper blog, but I have a lot I wrote when away which is still on my laptop together with the pictures and videos I took. I hope I can start posting these on Wednesday. Til then, have a great day.