Fun at the lake

We woke up this morning to a fresh 4-inch dusting of powder. After a raclette breakfast Blaine and I went out to plough the drive, well he ploughed I just rode along. Justin got packed up and headed off, we had an awesome visit with him and the time just flew by. It was a lovely mild day so we went out front on the lake and did a little ice fishing. Blaine set up patio chairs and I made us Sailor Jerry hot chocloate so although we didn't get a bite it was lots of fun.

To maximize the enjoyment of our environment we hitched the qamutiq up to Blaine's sled and he towed me and the puppies over to Indian Hill. Alas with all the powder and extra weight we couldn't get all the way up the hill so had to walk the last little way but the view always makes it worthwhile. Me and the puppies got covered in snow but I couldn't get a picture as my iPhone was in my inside pocket.

For dinner we had Mexican, heating our tortillas on the raclette. I have a chest cough so am resting up in bed with lots of Kleenex and cough meds. Blaine and the dogs are keeping me company watching Sons of Anarchy.

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Merry Christmas!

Call me immodest but I totally rocked Christmas dinner. On Monday I mixed up fresh thyme, rosemary and clementine zest with lots of butter which I then rubbed under the skin of our 12lb turkey. I also baked some soft white bread rolls.

Christmas Day I started cooking at noon and didn't stop until 6pm! The bird  was covered and roasted at 200 for 3 hours with the 2 clementines cut in half and placed in the cavity along with a handful of fresh thyme. 

We like lemony Greek potatoes so much that we eat them at every opportunity and the citrus was a nice refreshing flavour amongst the richness. 

http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/31522/recipegreek-style-potatoes

For veggies I made Blaine's favourite green beans, fried in garlic, butter and olive oil, glazed carrots, and steamed Brussels sprouts. For stuffing we had the last of Shalla's yummy stuffing which I had frozen on thanksgiving, and a pork, apple and sage sausage inspired by Gordon Ramsay. Finally we had a big jug of turkey gravy.

For desert I made a peach cheesecake. The base was 200g biscuit crumb and 75g butter. The filling was made by whipping together 4tbsp caster sugar and 250ml whipping cream. Beat 250g of full fat Philadelphia cream cheese until soft, add 1tsp pure vanilla extract and then whip in the whipped cream until it is smooth. Stir in some finely chopped peaches, pour onto the base and chill. Easy as pie!

We drank prosecco, Viognier and Malbec then sank into the hot tub. Merry Christmas everyone!

Sent from my iPhone

Weekend in SunPeaks

We spent the weekend snowboarding at Sun Peaks with the Guertins. There was lots of lovely ego snow and my leg held up really well. The Delta hotel has a great deal $200 for 1 night and 2 lift tickets. Since lift tickets are $83 each it was a no brainer.

Dum Aloo

Tonight I cooked up an East Indian feast. I used my "go to" naan bread and tikka marinade recipes from my Curry Bible cookbook then also tried out a new potato curry recipe that I found online. It was really very delicious and although the recipe seemed rather complicated I have to say it was worthwhile following. Try it for yourself by following this link.

http://www.ecurry.com/blog/indian/curries/gravies/dum-aloo-potatoes-simmered-in-spices-coconut-milk/


No photos as we devoured it all right away sorry.

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Toy Boy?

I always go to the same gas station in Williams Lake, the Super Save near the casino. The staff are super friendly and the prices are always the cheapest. Oh yeah, and they pump the gas for you and will even clean the windows. I usually clean my own windows (because my vehicles are so dirty!) while Rena pumps the diesel or petrol and we chat about stuff. Yesterday I was in town with Justin as his pickup was the perfect vehicle to take Blaine's skidoo to hospital. We pulled up to the pump and got out, then Rena said "hey so this must be your husband". Evidently Blaine and I have not been to fill up together. It was pretty funny.

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Bluebird sled afternoon

Justin, Sage, Johnny and I took my sled to Prairie Chicken Hill this afternoon. It was so very beautiful. We saw a moose cow and took turns driving. Justin is a much more confident driver than me. Hopefully the RMK 600 will be ready in a couple of days and we can take both machines. It was an awesome day :-)

Happy Birthday Sage

Today is Sage's birthday. She is five years old. To celebrate her birthday and the lovely blanket of fresh snow we got all dressed up for a skidoo ride. That is to say Johnny and I got dressed up, Sage stayed naked because she has waterproof fur and long legs so doesn't need booties and a jacket at -8. Naked Johnny accumulates so much snow that he can't walk. I am not a dog so I wear clothes.

Anyhow my skidoo wouldn't start so instead we ploughed the driveway which was less exciting all round. This evening I mentioned to Blaine that my skidoo battery was dead, to which he responded, "I know but the pull start works". Huh. We will try again tomorrow then.

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Sledding

Today I rode my skidoo for the first time this winter. It was fun. Blaine was getting the Rhino side by side ready for our family trip to Indian Hill (aka Prairie Chicken Hill), his skidoo is broken so we figured we might as well take the Rhino. While he was removing the snow plow I went for a spin up the drive, then I kept going over the cattle guard and all the way to the 90degree corner, then back again. Johnny rode in front of me, Sage ran alongside - and ahead. Maybe tomorrow I will go out for a skidoo ride with the puppies while Blaine is at work.

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Christmas Tree Hunting

Today we went out hunting for our Christmas tree. Blaine did a recon of the trail by skidoo and returned covered in snow. Because the trails are heavily used by ATVs in the summer they are pretty rutted which is not ideal for the sleds. His expedition had sufficiently packed down the foot or so of fresh powder that had fallen during the past 24 hours, that we were able to get to the tree on our side by side.

I had short listed two trees that were close to each other. Blaine shook the snow off to get a better look before we settled on one. The battery on my iPhone didn't much like the cold (a mere -4) so I only got this picture. We loaded the tree in the back of the Rhino and dropped it off in the car port to shake off the excess snow before bringing it inside.

I started decorating this evening and will finish tomorrow then photograph the festive beauty of it all.

Lists

I was just flipping through Flipboard on my iPad and noted a proliferation of end of year lists. I am a real sucker for lists, top photos and such. Are you?

Because food is my second love (Blaine being my first) here is a list of my top 5 flavours of 2012

1. Chipotle. There I said it. I love chipotle, Blaine says I am addicted and accuses me of infusing it into everything. He insists on one chipotle free meal per week.
2. Salted caramel. Enough said.
3. Red Velvet cake.
4. Habanero. Yep I like chillies.
5. My homemade honey oat bread. Can't get enough!

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Lots of snow

Today it snowed all day and is still snowing well into the evening. Sage has lots of fun in the deep fresh powder, Johnny watched from the car port. It took me almost 2 hours to plough the drive. 2 hours later and Blaine is out there going over it again. If this keeps up I may have to get out of bed and clear the drive for him to get to work in the morning. As soon as he comes back inside we are going to hot the hot tub, hard to beat soaking in a hot steamy tub watching the snow falling all around.

Christmas Shopping

If you are in Iqaluit this weekend I implore you to go along to house 122 to buy some beautiful gifts - for yourself or for others!

Satay

Today I made satay. I marinated turkey breast in a blend of coriander, cumin, turmeric, garlic, sambal olek, and peanut oil. After threading the pieces of meat onto skewers, Blaine cooked them on the BBQ.

The satay dipping sauce includes toasted peanuts, lemongrass, chilli, palm sugar, fish sauce, coriander and some other stuff. I sliced up some white cabbage and a little fresh cilantro then tossed it in lime juice, sesame oil and fish sauce. Served on white rice. It was good, really good. Once I have perfected the recipes I will share.

Christmas Dinner Comparison

I have been watching lots of Christmas cooking shows on Food Network which brought me to thinking about Christmas dinner traditions in England and Canada. Obviously this could be entirely inaccurate as it is based solely on my observations and experiences. I suspect that Canadian fare varies from West to East and probably a lot from English and French. My Christmas meals have mainly been in BC.

Turkey is the centrepiece for both countries, with baked ham as a backup just in case there isn't enough food.

Stuffing in England tends to be made mostly of pork sausagemeat, Canadian stuffing is focused on bread and cranberries.

Vegetables: Canada is mashed potato & steamed carrots, England roasts the potatoes and the carrots.

Mince pies and clotted cream are the English treat, while Canada tucks into butter tarts. I need Carol's recipe, her butter tarts are freakin awesome.

What are you cooking for Christmas this year?

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This makes me sad

The dogs and I just returned from a lovely hour long walk in the forest behind our house. The last km of our walk was along the road, which is a no-through road 17km from the highway. Around and in the cattle guard was a whole load of cigarette butts and ash. Presumably someone was driving along and thought "hey this is a great place to empty out my car ash tray".

It makes me sad to think that a person could be out here and so ignorant of the beauty of this place that they chose to do this. Gross. Gross and sad.

Hopefully they aren't dumb enough to do the same thing in the summer and cause a wildfire.

Stinky bum

About 3 weeks ago I changed Johnny's food. Since we got them both dogs have been fed Orijen Regional Red. However, I was recently advised that there is too much protein for Johnny so I switched him to Acana Ranchlands, which is made by the same company and uses the same ingredients but is 60/40 meat/vegetables instead of 75/25.

Of course it may be entirely coincidence, but I have noticed some bad bad smells of recent. I haven't got up close to check who farted but Blaine said that Johnny had gross breath the other day. So maybe another change is in order. They also offer fish, chicken and duck based feed so maybe one of those will make him less stinky.

Maybe it is something they are eating during their adventures... Maybe the smelly one is Sage... Stay posted to find out what happens in the stinky pet saga.

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Northern Lights

Even though I now live in the south it is still possible to see the Northern Lights. Indeed there was a spectacular display on October 8th. I didn't see it but plenty of people told me all about it and posted photos during the following days.

Determined not to miss out again, I now follow the activity forecast for Edmonton, AB. Tyee Lake sits at 52.3 degrees, Edmonton at 53.5 so it is a reasonable guide.

My dream is to relax in the hot tub with my baby and a glass of champagne watching the aurora display. Our house faces North so it is entirely probable, just not tonight. The sky is clear and the Milky Way looked amazing when I went out to the car, but the geomagnetic activity is low.

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What a jerk!

I certainly hope that is what Blaine will exclaim in delight as he tucks into tonight's feast.

I exhibited uncommon restraint and only used one habanero pepper in my jerk marinade (leaving the seeds in though) so I think it should be enjoyable. To take the edge off the heat of the jerk pork shoulder kebabs I made a pineapple coconut salsa. I also made a pineapple, mango, coconut and mint salsa. Blaine has to judge which goes better with the dish. Our carb component, and another palate cooler, is beans & rice.

Once Blaine gets home I will fire up the BBQ so that it is smoking hot when he throws the kebabs on. I am looking for a light charring on the outside while retaining moisture inside. Say NO to dried out pork!

If Blaine likes it all I will share the recipe.

24 hours in Prince George

This morning I enjoyed the luxury of laziness. Blaine needed a ride back from Prince George so I went up last night and we spent the night. He had to go to the office at 8am but I didn't have to check out until 11. The dogs were with Judith at Wildwood Pet Resort. I did a short yoga routine then watched the Food Network while lying in the middle of the king sized bed.

After an hour of Jamie Oliver cooking Christmas related stuff I slowly got ready then drove into town to find some stuff to photograph. The absence of photographs in this post can be taken as evidence that I found nothing worth stopping the truck for. In Prince George's defence it was an unseasonably mild day so the city was awash with dirty slushy snow which is a hard look for anyone to pull off.

We ate sushi for lunch then attended a work awards ceremony. I got my Starbucks fix (venti, non-fat, half-sweet, 200 degree, creme brûlée latte) then we hit the road home. Judith had fed the dogs but sure enough as soon as we got them home they put on their "feed me I'm starving" act. Blaine played along but fed them only 2 pieces of kibble each. They were not impressed.

 

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iPad WiFi

I am in a hotel using the wifi but my iPad is getting a pathetic signal. This is annoying because Blaine is studying so I want to watch Netflix. I have entered the search parameters "iPad WiFi antenna" into google in the hopes of finding the optimum angle at which to hold my device... 5 minutes later and I am still awaiting my search results. Perhaps Google is running slowly in protest at being called a corporate tax cheat?

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Clearing the Driveway

This morning it snowed a few inches.

Our driveway is pretty long and kinda steep, then there is another stretch of shared road that is not maintained.

In total we probably have about 450 metres / 1,400 feet from our door to the catleguard. This is the view from the top of our drive down towards the house.

Before he went away last week Blaine hooked up the plow on the Rhino and gave me a quick plowing lesson.

It can be a bit tricky getting the angle of the plow right, especially since the road surface is uneven, but it really is quite fun. Certainly a lot easier that doing it the hard way with a shovel!

An alternative advent

Inspired by a YouTube video shared on Facebook by a friend I am setting out to practice yoga for at least 5 minutes every day for the whole of December.  

And since I have been such an inadequate blogger, I am also committing to publishing a blog post each day.

It is 7:30am which is not too early for yoga, but I am snugly tucked up in bed watching Food Network so I will tackle that part of my pledge later today.

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