The days rush by with a
multitude of jobs to take care of, as is the norm at the beginning of
each season. The most pressing is to use up as much of the produce in
the walk-in as we can before it turns into treats for the 3 amigos,
Norm, Al and Sammy.
With cases of tomatoes,
celery, peppers, mushrooms and zucchini I make an army size batch of
spaghetti sauce thick with veggies. Simmered for the best part of the
afternoon I end up with 18 containers to freeze - enough to last us
through the entire year.
A bucket of ONIONS ( Mike
HATES onions) is a main ingredient for a barbecue sauce recipe that
has been in my family since 1966. The 4L jar plus might seem a lot
for one person but I find myself dipping out a cup or more to smother
a slice of meat loaf, simmer with chucks of chicken, spoon over a bed
of rice or sauce up an omelet.
My yearly repertoire of favorite dishes are made in quantity and stored in the 'quick meals'
section. Stuffed peppers, spicy chili, turkey noodle, minestrone and
beef barley soup, cabbage rolls and manicotti have used up most of
the remaining produce.
Finding a restaurant
size container of sour cream gets the wheels turning as to how to use
it up. Walnut Sour Cream Coffee Cake, New York Style Cheesecake,
Garlic Cheese Bread, Vegetable Dip, Blueberry Scones and a rich
Chocolate Cake. No....we haven't been eating non-stop, most
of these delectable goodies now reside in the 'frozen dessert'
section of my grocery store.
It doesn't matter what's
on the “to do” list for the day, when the sun comes out so do we.
Warm, sunny and not ripple to be seen in the bay the water beckons us
to jump into the kayak for some exploring.
After
several trips out this season (each in our own boat) thanks to the
awesome fall weather we've enjoyed, we decided to give the two-man
kayak a try. I really couldn't turn around so I just held the camera
above my head and clicked - not too bad.
Sea lions are a common
sight throughout the summer but this is the first we have ever seen
the bay.
Must have stayed around
for the late season fishing.
Don't blame Mike and I
for creating this very
friendly fellow, sure he was coming to the back door at the kitchen
before we left but now he can be found standing outside the kitchen
window, with his nose almost pressed against the glass - Jordan were
you giving him treats through the open window? As you can see he is
totally comfortable strolling everywhere.
How can one resist such
a face.
“That was a tasty
snack”
Along with the halibut
that was given to us there was also several smaller salmon which the
crew left to add to the 'fish' section of the freezers.
Even though it's been at
least 10 days since the barge was here we are still working on
getting the water all the way up to the lodge. A rack consisting of
40 18.5L (5 gals) bottles isn't heavy when wheeled one by one but
when you think of it as 800 gallons, which we will consume all of, it
puts a different spin on the quantity.
Experiencing a -16C cold
snap last year and losing 8 bottles due to freezing and splitting
open we have decided to move all the bottles into the “dry room”
which is located just off the living room and can be accessed from
inside or out. Will be very handy when a new bottle is needed for the
water cooler and the rains are torrential.
Ingram as she is know
throughout the summer and Princess for the rest of the year is still
as aloof, demanding and affectionate as always.
For those who don't
follow the Outpost blog on the WCFC site during the summer will be
sad to hear that Brock (Big Fat Cat) is no longer with us.
Nobody knows for sure
where she went, just that one morning she was no longer around. Mike
and I miss watching her wattle down the boardwalk to her favoured spot by the bucket of the backhoe where she would watch the world go
by. I think Princess feels the loss also for one day we found her
sitting on top of the backhoe.
Till next week,
Heather & Mike
