Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad

On March 4th this year my parents will celebrate their 41st wedding anniversary. 

Wow - congratulations!

I can't be there to prepare a meal for them, so instead I devised this menu for mum to cook. My idea was to create something healthy but that felt decadent rather than measly to eat. I hope I have succeeded.

Click on the pictures to open a bigger version.

Diamond Jubilee Medal

I am incredibly proud to share the news that my husband, Blaine Wiggins, is a recipient of the Diamond Jubilee Medal. He was awarded this honour in recognition of his many years of work on (the often seemingly insurmountable challenge of) improving fire safety on reserve in Canada. 

Congratulations baby.

Medal

Certificate

Cover Letter

Thank you Paul!

Today I awoke to another beautiful morning in the Cariboo and I knew I had to get out there and enjoy it. But how? Walking the dogs is lovely, however we are limited to being in the forest which takes away from our enjoyment of the sunshine (of course in the summer I will be craving that shade). The lake is a bit too scary for me to venture out on alone since my last walk took me past way too many open patches,  the only other option for open skies is Indian Hill. However, my skidoo is in the seacan which has snow piled up in front of it that would have to be dug out to get the doors open.

I posted my dilemma in my facebook status. Paul posted "dig out the machine". It took about 20 minutes to get the doors open as the snow was actually ice disguised as snow.

Snow-bound seacan before

and after

I went back inside and dressed Johnny in his jacket and boots, he doesn't wear them so much for the cold as to stop his legs from becoming snow/ice balls. I threw on my camo dungarees, CG jacket and hat, mittens and Sorels then went to start the sled. Fail. It wouldn't start. I fiddled around, tried the choke half and full on and wore myself out with the pull start. At this point I might have given up but Johnny and Sage were beside themselves with excitement, bounding around and running in circles. 

Using my awesome skills I set about checking stuff... Gas, yep; Oil, yep; What else...? spark plugs I guess. Thankfully a skidoo is a simple machine so I was able to identify the plugs, then I went and rummaged in the shop for new plugs and tools. There were several boxes of two types of plugs, one type had RMK written on it so it took the others. After some time I got the correct size wrench thingy and set about removing the old plugs and installing the new ones. I was really quite proud of myself, even more so when my sled started up!

 

The ride over was interesting as there has been a lot of traffic, followed by warm weather, then cold weather. This resulted in frozen ruts and bumps that made the 1800 road ride like a series of rollers in the terrain park. Sage did a great job of balancing on the back seat then hopped off to run once we arrived at the meadow. My machine seemed to struggle with the hill climb, could be my poor driving or maybe the belt needs replacing.

As always it was worth coming, the silence and the view combine to make this a very special place.

The frosty trees looked spectacular against the clear, deep blue sky.

more skidoo adventures

I used the "Map My Run" app on my iPhone to track our last two skidoo adventures. Naturally both involved a run over to the gas station at Big Lake, and a trip up Indian Hill to enjoy the view. 

37 miles on January 20th

On January 26 we explored mostly to the South, where I got my sled stuck on a hill in the woods. 

 

54 miles on January 26th

The following Saturday we went North and I got stuck in the powder on the shoulder of Beaver Lake road, and then tipped over completely less than a mile from home. Blaine looks forward to my incidents and thoroughly enjoys getting me and my machine out of our predicaments :-)

some of the dreary views I have to endure ;-)

Sundowners on Indian Hill

Shredding Sun Peaks with Shalla

OK Tire

When I first moved here I went to OK Tire to get the wheels balanced on the Suzuki. The owner, Chuck, is so unbelievably kind and helpful. He said that I could come to him for local advice as well as car related issues, and true to his word he has always welcomed me and cheerfully provided help. One morning he switched over the tow hitch for me, he connected us with the lawyer who handled our house purchase. This week I noticed one of the tires on the Tahoe was a little low, I drove into three gas stations but the air was off in each one... So I headed down to impose upon Chuck's generosity. True to form he cheerfully came out and filled the faulty tire, then checked all the others. Not only is he a lovely man, but he has skied the wall at Kirkwood so he is proper hardcore too. Thank you Chuck!

Posted with Blogsy

Recipe: Ginger Beef - Calgary Style

Ginger Beef - Calgary Style

★★★★★

Prep Time: 2 hrs 5 mins | Cook Time: 35 mins | Makes: 2 | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 500 grams good steak ie top sirloin, New York strip
• MARINADE
• 30 ml China Lily soy sauce
• 15 ml Sherry
• 30 ml ginger juice (grate and squeeze fresh ginger)
• 5 grams caster/berry sugar
• BATTER
• 65 grams cornflour
• 60 ml water
• 1 egg white
• SAUCE
• 30 ml sherry
• 45 ml Ketchap Manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
• 30 ml rice wine vinegar
• 10 ml sesame oil
• 30 ml water
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 inches finely grated ginger
• 1 tsp red chilli flakes
• Plus
• 1 tsp cornflour combined with
• 15 ml water
• OPTIONAL
• 1 carrot cut into fine matchsticks
• 4 spring onions sliced diagonally
• 1 l peanut or canola oil for frying
• Plain white rice

Directions:

PREPARATION
Finely slice the steak across the grain.
Combine marinade ingredients in a shallow bowl, mix in the steak and refrigerate for 2 hours.
COOKING
Put rice on.
Combine sauce ingredients except cornflour & 15ml water.
Heat oil in wok or deep frying pan over high heat.
Whisk together egg white and water then stir in cornflour. Remove meat from marinade and stir into batter. Pour remaining marinade into sauce.
Fry meat for 2 minutes, working in batches (keeps oil hot and prevents from sticking together). Drain on kitchen towel. Repeat. Double frying makes it more crispy.
In a large frying pan bring sauce to boil over high heat. Boil rapidly for 2 minutes, then stir in cornflour & water. You want the sauce to have a honey-like consistency.
If you are using the carrot and spring onion stir that in now.
Add the meat and stir to coat completely. Serve over rice. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds if you like.

Notes:

Use fresh ginger & garlic, not the minced in a jar stuff (changes the consistency of the sauce)
Source: My Collection

Sent from Paprika Recipe Manager