Presents & Produce.......Week 14

Christmas arrived early. I was a bit apprehensive that Mike might get stuck in Masset but the weather has been surprisingly wonderful for this time of year.

I had no sooner gotten the breakfast dishes done and started on lunch that I heard the plane. Half a doz boxes had to be unloaded than Mike appeared. Anxiously I waited to hear what the doctor had to say. It was a week ago now that Mike had taken that fall down some steps while we were going out to shut down the genny. We hadn't noticed the frost, 1 step down and both his feet went out from under him. He fell pretty hard onto his back and actually bounced and hit again. Prognosis from the doctor, nothing broken or cracked but definitely take it easy for a couple of weeks and DO NOT lift anything heavy. That good news was my first Christmas present.

A large mound of boxes had materialized on the dock, “did I order all that?” Well I did plan for this food order to last us till at least mid March possibly till April. That's 3 ½ months, 113 days or 339 breakfasts, lunches and dinners. The bulk of the canned goods and baking supplies had been shipped in during the summer and the freezers still had a good assortment of butts, rumps, ribs, shoulders, wings and thighs ( breasts were coming in on the plane) so this order was odds and ends, items that make planning numerous meals a little more exciting.

Some spices, nuts, different dry pastas, pickles and jams. Store bought bread which I consider a nice change plus Fat-Free puddings and low calorie yogurts for post holiday season desserts.

Treats such as ice cream, chocolate covered almonds, those delicious little mandarin oranges that seem to only appear during the holiday season, some whipping cream to make a mousse plus my eggnog will all be savoured.

This is my second Christmas present.

When I tell people that I am a caretaker living in the middle of nowhere more often than not the first question is what do I do about food and more specifically dairy and produce. Milk, fresh OJ, butter and cheese can all be frozen, although vacuum sealed cheese last for months just in the fridge. Eggs and yogurt last waaaaay longer than what the expiry date says. In fact last week I used the last doz eggs that were purchased in August and I'm still here!

As any cook knows we all adhere to the saying, “if in doubt, throw it out.”

Produce is a challenge. How much is too much? Don't want to end up feeding the fishes but would be nice to still be eating something fresh and crisp 3 months down the road. In the first month we will munch our way through all the lettuce, spinach, broccoli,peppers, mushrooms,tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers and grapes. We get our fill of salads, relish a ridiculously overloaded bacon & tomato sandwich, barbequed steak smothered in fresh mushrooms, a lot of stir-fry’s. Than they are gone.

Squashes, cabbages, carrots and potatoes last forever, well 4 months anyways, this I know for sure so the quantities seem high, even to me.

100 lbs of potatoes! Mike and I like our spuds. Baked, twice baked, boiled, mashed, whipped,roasted and scalloped. Home fries, french fries, oven fries. Potato salad, potato cakes and potato chowder. Have I missed any?

I try to keep a running list of all I order and all we eat, gives me reference for future orders and also how close I was on the amounts that I guessed at.

A couple of last minute gifts ordered on line all made it to the airport in Masset in time to be put on the “Christmas” plane. Love the internet. That's all my presents and now it's time to start thinking about finding that perfect tree to put these gifts under.

As you recall from last week or maybe you don't but Roger and Robbie are here to put the 20kw generator back together and buck up some wood for the summer season.

Work begins at the “crack of dawn” which is 9 am. Now this has always been a saying of my dad's , a family joke so to speak ........but dad, the sun here really does raise at 9 am! Before you know it the sun is down and it's dark outside, time 4:30pm.

Six days fly by, the plane has been sheduled for an afternoon pick-up. The weather is closing in, will they make it out? Bags and bales of insulation ( still packing them out) are waiting on the heli pad. Do I start thinking of what to cook for dinner?

NOPE! There's the plane. Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Very quick hugs, gotta get moving, the pilot says it's snowing like “heck” over the mountains.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike

                                          Outtakes from the Week

We're having company....Again!.... Week 13

It's been a week of planning, cleaning, doing those jobs that have been put aside and just trying to get all my ducks in a row.

When a date was confirmed, as much as a date for a plane arriving in the month of December can be, I shifted gears from my general routine of not having a routine to making a list of all the things that had to be accomplished before Ken, Roger and Robert arrived.

First item on the list, well in my head, was get up earlier. This meant actually finding my alarm clock and than actually getting up when it rudely disturbed my beauty rest. Did you know that it's still dark outside at 8 am?

My days are now filled with purpose, although I can get along just fine without one. Instead of sitting down in front of the computer with my morning coffee(s)

I surround myself with cookbooks. The challenge is to find a few new recipes that don't involve me running out to the store (wish) or being able to substitute with items I already have. All too often I forget my mission and get absorbed in looking at all the pretty pictures. I look at them differently these days as I am starting to photograph food. Mike just shakes his head as I walk around the entire lodge with a sheet of cookies, hot out of the oven, looking for just the right light.

                                                                                  

I envy the cook who can walk into the kitchen without the slightest idea of what they are going to make and half an hour later a 3 course gourmet meal is on the table. That is not me. I plan. I plan for everything that is going to be eaten for the entire time we have company. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, desserts and maybe even an appie or two.

Breakfast is easy. Get it yourself. Sorry guys. I'm not a breakfast type of cook, never got the hang of making those perfect eggs over easy. There will be fresh hot muffins and scones just out of the oven along with hearty homemade bread to toast, maybe a quiche. I wonder if these are the type of men who eat quiche?

Rest of the menu, piece of cake. Speaking of cake should it be a 4 layer double chocolate or banana with vanilla cream filling and butter frosting?

Jobs that have been put off due to my previously busy schedule make it to the list. Wash windows, there are a lot of windows, wash floors, sweep boardwalk, sweep basement, sweep away all the cobwebs outside ( I keep the one inside under control) burn a bunch of boxes that I had emptied a while ago and make up 3 rooms. Take down to the crew shack those 58 bales of insulation that I dragged out of the attic earlier in the week. Don't mind that job, gets me outside and allows me to stretch my legs.

Vacuum upstairs hallway where said 58 bales of insulation left a trail of yellow prickly fibre. Vacuum living room, dining room, bedrooms.

Stock the fridge with juices, pop and water.

Stock the cookie jar.

Whew! All is ready. Lets hope the plane makes it in on Wednesday.

Here they are and early!

The morning was grey with enough of a drizzle to make the boardwalk slippery but otherwise a fine day for flying, and so we assumed we would see them before noon. It's only 8:30 so naturally I pour myself a second cup of coffee and sit down to check emails. “On our way”. What! Their already in the air, so much for that second cup. Nothing urgent to get done except maybe get dressed and do something with the “bed head” hair. No sooner had I poured that second cup of coffee...again, that we heard the plane and seconds later there she was taxiing up to the dock.

Handshakes and hugs of welcome. The 400lb crate that left back in October, a couple of bags and 3 men was all the plane could hold so grocery order will be on the next flight. Didn't take long to unload and for the pilot to untie the lines. A change in plans though had taken place in this short interval, Mike was flying out. He took a nasty fall earlier in the week and seeing a doctor wasn't a bad idea and since there was a plane flying in again tomorrow to pick up Ken and deliver the food order the timing was perfect. Quick hug, kiss and off he goes.

A fresh pot of coffee awaits and I finally get my second cup.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike

Rain,rain go away.....week 12

I'm waiting for a heartbeat. It's been 3 hours now and nothing. The monitor shows a slight change in numbers but it's not stable yet. Nothing you can do except get another cup of coffee and wait.

While technology allows us to have access to the World Wide Web without being tied into the mainstream grid, nature still rules.

It's a finicky piece of equipment. Doesn't like the rain and when a 5 day forecast can read something like: light rain, scattered showers, cloudy with showers, isolated showers and heavy rain it's a wonder we do connect.

Heavy cloud cover, snow or hail can also play havoc with the signal. Yet there are days it could be raining cats & dogs and we have no problem, go figure.

Line of sight is everything. I think it's kinda odd that we can nail a satellite dish to a tree and receive a signal from a orbiting satellite hundreds of miles above the earth yet a branch that has grown just that little bit more can disrupt the entire operation.

I have a friend, who knows exactly what I am talking about. She was telling me how her internet goes down when the PALM TREES swaying in the warm tropical breeze disrupt the signal. My mind sort of wandered at the mention of palm trees. Visions of walking barefoot on white sand beaches, turquoise water and the requisite tall fruity drink with an umbrella in, it took over.

Whether it's a palm frond or a reaching branch from a 50ft hemlock we share a common problem.

Friday night we had a visitor. Didn't stay long, just ate and ran. Messy eater.

Not sure whether he will show up again but he's well known here at the OP, if he should return I hope to see him, from a distance of course, nothing up close and personal is necessary. This fellow has a reputation of being a mean old black bear.

Somebody, OK  me, didn't secure the door of the incinerator 100%. Following a trail of garbage I came to a clearing where he must have sat down and licked clean half a doz pudding cups and and a molasses container. I guess this answers the question that bears really do sit in the woods.

A caretaker's life can involve any number of jobs to be done. Today we spent the afternoon in the attic. Clean and well lit as far as attics go. Didn't come across any mummified critters or hairy legged creepy spiders, good thing cause spiders give me the heebie-jeebies.

Our task was to haul down bags of insulation which are needed at one of the other lodges. Fifty-eight in total, now have to be brought down to the crew's shack where they will await a plane. Going to be interesting to see just how many we can stuff into the “Beaver”. The “Christmas” plane is coming in next week bringing with it not only produce plus treats and presents for the holiday season but also Roger, Robert and our boss, Ken.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike