Photos and Food

 

I was treated royally on Father's day last weekend. Andrew had just returned from Victoria and brought me a bag of chocolate goodies. The photo is a caramel and chocolate covered apple with a spray of white chocolate and marshmallows on the top. There was more.

I got a nice shirt and some monster cookies from Rachel and her family, plus a nice drop-in visit in the afternoon.

busylizzy took me to a Tuscan Garden in Mt. Lehman and told me to bring my camera. The garden is only open in the middle of the day when the light is at its worst, but I still got a few worthy photos, as you can see from below.

I have treasured my roll as a father throughout the years and without taking any credit, I am more than thrilled to see and experience the wonderful family I now have. I am proud of each and everyone of them and love them all to bits. And, because I also had a good father, this day is a good day for me, something that not everyone can say.

 

 

Cherry Run

 

A last minute decision was made and off we were to the interior for our annual cherry run. We heard that the cherries were very early this year and we did not want to miss them.

We went to Cawston and found the fruit stand where we purchased the Christalina variety two years ago. They are so much better than the Vans of last year. We missed them by three days, but the Lapins were coming on strong so we purchased 100 lbs. of them and then it was back on the road.

We had only left home at noon so we did not have too much time to dally, however, we did stop in at our friend's in Hedley. The 'good' restaurant was not open Mondays so our friends graciously invited us to share a meal with them. We also had a box of cherries for them.

We noted how much greener it was in the interior than in the Fraser Valley. This is a reversal of the usual pattern. We drove through numerous showers on the way home.

The next day we canned all the cherries we kept for ourselves, 42 quart jars. Of course, we still have a good supply of fresh ones in the refrigerator. These Lapins keep really well and are very firm and juicy. One of the best things about summer is all the fresh fruit and produce that comes on stream. We have certainly got off to a good start with the strawberries and now the cherries.

Wild Berries

 

This is a wild Salmon Berry. This is not a good specimen as they are usually larger and plumper. Many people who walk in the woods do not know that these berries are not only edible, but they are tasty. There are also Thimble berries and Huckleberries that ripen about the same time. They are all quite delicious when in their prime. Their time is now coming to an end, and then you know that it is Raspberry season. I drove past several fields of them today on my commute and the picking machines were going strong. I'm not really interested in Raspberries. I have Cherries.  

Cherries

 

We took a quick trip to Keromeos on Tuesday. It was a gorgeous day and there was only light traffic. Our destination was a Cherry orchard, any Cherry orchard, that had ripe Cherries for sale. We drove a bit further to Cawston and found a great deal. The Cherries were $4 per lb. everywhere, but we found a place with freshly picked, cold Cherries for $1.98. We took everything they had at the moment, about 80 lbs. It was around 38C so we laid them in the bed of the truck in shallow boxes and I soaked a big bed sheet in water and threw the sheet over the Cherries. Even after the long trip home in the heat, the fruit was cold and had a layer of condensation on it. Perfect. We started canning them immediately.

 

The kitchen heated up quickly as we boiled and bubbled, toiled and troubled. busylizzy says that Cherries are the easiest of the fruits to can. This was a new variety that we had never heard of before, Christalinas or something like that. They are very large, firm, and juicy, with nice colour and great flavour.

 

We now have 35 jars plus a huge box full in the refrigerator. Fortunately, Cherries are my favourite fruit.

Pomelo

 

I'm not quite sure why, but I have never eaten a Pomelo until a few days ago. They originate from Southeast Asia and are about the size of a Cantaloupe, weigh close to two pounds, and are elongated on one end. They sort of look like a very large Grapefruit, and actually, the grapefruit is a product of a Pomelo and Orange cross. The ones we bought were labelled "Honey Pomelo" so at least, we thought, it would be sweet, even if it did not taste good.

 

Getting at the fruit is a challenge. 44% of the Pomelo is rind and pith and membrane so one has to cut quite deep to get the outer skin off. Cutting it in sections to begin with as in the photo above is the only way to do it. It is a tough job and one needs strong hands and fingernails. The sections, similar to the sections in a Grapefruit, are strong and do not crush and juice up easily so one can be rough when pulling the section apart.

 

After the sections are separated, the membrane has to also be removed as it is tough and bitter. When one gets practiced at it, one can peel the membrane without damaging the fruit, as in the photo above.

 

Ours looked very much like the one above. After a lot of tugging and pulling, I took my first bite and was more than pleasantly surprised. The taste is sweet and the flavour is like a grapefruit but without the acid and the bitterness. I ate way too much! I got good at it after a few sections and then noticed that even a small amount of membrane left on the fruit sections made it a bit bitter, and don't lick your finger after. BITTER! The small nodules of goodness inside the sections are juicy but they do not burst and get all over your hands as you work with it.

I highly recommend this fruit. 2 for $5 at Kin's Market and one will feed two to three people for a nice snack or dessert.

Not a Corny Joke

 

Bureaucracy (Big Brother) has never been stopped by reason or common sense. Rules, regulations, agendas, dogma, and pig headedness are the guiding lights. Take the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in the USA for example.

It is commonly known that the drought throughout most of the USA Midwest this summer has decimated the corn crop. The corn shortage has driven up prices for anything corn, including both animal and human food. One would think that would precipitate an action to reduce the Green driven agenda of using a designated amount of corn for ethanol, which is mixed with our gasoline to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. The effectiveness (or lack thereof) of this initiative is a story by itself.

The mandated increase in corn consumption for ethanol for 2013 brings it to 40% of the total corn produced on US soil.

Why are we burning our food?

A few days after his election, President Obama declared 1.6 million acres of potential oil producing, government owned lands, off limits to oil extraction. Another agenda by the Greens.

Would not common sense dictate that in order to keep food prices down, that some of that ethanol could be foregone by extracting a little more oil from the ground? After all, the USA is declared to have become the country with the richest oil reserves in the entire world.

Don't you think some of it could be used for a rainy day*?

 

*I use "rainy day" as a euphemism for drought. Rather clever, don't you think?

An Apple A Day

 

I love apples! I eat one a day, at least. The Gala apples are at their prime right now and they are one of my favourites. Actually, my number one favourite is Ambrosia apples. The farm where we buy our apples are only now planting Ambrosia trees and they informed us that it would be three years before the trees produced. Meanwhile, we will get them from the market when our Galas are gone. I really can't think of a better guilt free snack, for any time of the night or day.

The old saying about apples and doctors just may be true because I am in very good health, for my age.

 

I think I will have one right now.

Transformation

Going to Oroville at different times each year affords us a chance to sample a variety of fruit. Early August is Apricot season and this year's crop was bumper.

We have four or five of these trees in our own orchard and each one is a different variety with a different flavour. Four of the trees were so ripe we felt obligated to clean them right off and either eat or process all of them. You can see in the above photo that there is a bit of shrivelling happening from the extreme heat.

No, this is not a mooning contest at a baby convention. The fruit was really hanging that heavy. This was the 'greenest' tree and we only picked a few ripe ones from it, saving the rest for next week's guests.

busylizzy got busy and canned four cases of quart jars full of Apricot mash, mostly for her dad who eats it on his porridge in the morning. He no longer comes here so he appreciated it greatly. We also had some that she sweetened and we had it in abundance on waffles and toast.

This is a typical Oroville breakfast in Apricot season.... toasted squirrely bread and coffee. This comes either before or after the waffles, bacon, and scrambled eggs. Did I mention that I gained some weight?

Which Came First?

Once again, it is confession time. As I was looking down on this scene, a question popped into my mind. Was I on the treadmill because I had just eaten a twenty pound chocolate bar (well, it was almost that big), or was I eating a huge chocolate bar because I could afford to do so after doing time on the calorie burning machine? Yes, I know, kind of the like the chicken and egg question except we are talking about addictive chocolate, not breast meat or eggs. Don't ask me to share, because it is all gone. At least I was washing it down with water and not Coke.

I do have SOME self control, you know.

Breakfast in the Sun

I am not big on taking photos of food. If I had a pocket camera it would be a different story, but lugging around a big Nikon DSLR in a restaurant is a recipe for theft or a sticky camera. On this particular morning, we were just back from a walk and were so famished we went straight to breakfast instead of stopping in at our room first. I took a photo of what was my typical breakfast in paradise.

I could write a very long blog on the food at this place, but I will control myself.

First of all, the coffee has improved vastly over the years at this resort. It actually tastes like coffee now and it is piping hot. I would ask the waiter for coffee and orange juice and by the time I was back with a plate full of sustenance, it was there. The waiter had to do something to earn his tip, but really, I could have got my own orange juice. Oh, the orange juice! Simply the best. Then, if I did not order a custom omelet, with cheese, tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms, or order two large eggs over easy, I would cruise the buffet to see how the eggs were done there. On this morning, they were scrambled with huge mushrooms so I dished out some of those. I also have on my plate two potato croquettes (with a cheese ingredient) a small spinach puff pastry, some very crisp bacon, large slabs of Papaya, a piece of Honey Dew, and a fresh from the oven raisin cinnamon roll.

Compare this to my usual breakfast at home which, on a work day, would be a half bowl of mini-wheats, a glass of milk to wash down all the vitamins, and a small cup of coffee.

Sure, I gained some weight, but I was on holidays. Like my tan, most of it is gone already. Good thing looking at the photo is not fattening because I look at it a lot.  

It's Greek To Me

Our business this year was down substantially, but being the President and Chief Executive Officer of my company, I decided that the down turn would not prevent me from treating those near and dear to me to a company dinner. Being a democratic boss, I let the underlings decide the venue and "spare no cost", said I.

It was a local popular Greek restaurant that was thusly graced with our appearance last evening.

Surrounded by Greek ambiance and excellent culinary fare, we did due diligence in regards to the Income Tax Act that states that an entertainment tax write off must concern business. To meet the requirements, there was much talk of business matters, both past, present and future, and the guests at the table were treated to a few speeches, regarding business, of course.

I, as president and CEO, gave an annual report on trends, goals, and some motivational pep talk. The chief financial officer (me) then gave a report which amounted to an excuse why nobody was getting a raise and that they should be grateful they got lamb chops. The chief estimator (me) then gave a report as to why he was not able to wrestle more business in tough economic times, which amounted to telling the audience why he is not inclined to excessive aggressiveness. The chief purchasing agent (me) then gave a litany of price increases on supplies and urged the CEO to build these into his prices so they could be passed on to the customers, to which the CEO replied that he could not do that in order to stay competitive. "Suck it up and just be more efficient" was becoming a theme. The bookkeeper (me) gave a detailed breakdown on where the money was going, and it became evident that the government was getting most of it, leaving very little for such things as Tim Horton's coffee and utility bills.  

When the journeyman lead hand asked if he could procure a new paint brush, the Chief Financial officer handed him a roll of Duct Tape and told him to make it last one more year.

All in all, it was an exercise in 'belt tightening', until the President bought everyone a round of desert, whereupon we reached under our over sized bellies and actually loosened our belts. We left the restaurant feeling a little confused.     

Complain, Complain

We often stay for dinner when we go to Bellingham. Billy McHale's restaurant was recommended to us so we thought we would try it, even though it was a busy Saturday night and the place was packed. We got a table right away, and found the service to be very good. What I had a complaint about was the food. I ordered the Coconut Shrimp entree and was looking forward to something I would never get at home, but loved. The menu stated that I would get 5 jumbo coconut shrimp with steamed vegetables, cheese bread, and a twice baked potato. Our food came very quickly but I was immediately disappointed when I saw the "Jumbo Shrimp". Maybe baby shrimp, or son of jumbo shrimp, but jumbo they were not. One small bite each was all there was. I guess 'Jumbo' is a relative term, say compared to popcorn shrimp, or perhaps microscopic shrimp or shrimp embryos.  Not to ponder too long over semantics, I will say that they were tasty, but rather inadequate. The steamed vegetables were on the verge of overcooked, but edible. The cheese bread was dried out, the size of a credit card, and had no taste. The twice baked potato had been baked more than twice by the look of it. It was dried out, pasty, and the penny sized chunk of bacon on the top was only slightly less tough and chewy than a penny.

Due to a lingering hunger as result of not enough shrimp, I went out of character and ordered a restaurant dessert, Rusty's Butterscotch Brownie Sundae. The brownie was vastly under baked and was basically a butterscotch cookie dough with a bit of baked crispiness around the far edge. It turned me off a bit, but I ate it. (Sweet tooth, you know)

The top photo is a depiction of a larger version of my shrimp. The lower photo is more like what I thought I would get, but was hoping for even larger.

Because this place gets pretty good revues on trip advisor, I should not be too hasty and say I will never go back. But, if I do, I will not order anything with Jumbo as a prefix.

A New Addiction

Admit it, we all have addictions.

In the docu/movie "Super Size Me", a drug addiction therapist talks about a drug given to heroin addicts that prevents the brain from 'up-taking' the stimulant and soon the heroin has no power over the user as it does nothing for him/her. Apparently, they can give this same drug to chocoholics and they soon lose their taste for chocolate. This therapist has not experimented with the latest creation from Herhsey's, the Oh Henry Peanut Butter chocolate bar. There are now three Oh Henry bars to chose from, the regular, the fudge, and the peanut butter. Why do 'they' keep coming up with these saturated fatty calorific inventions that I have such a weakness for? This stuff is so good you cannot eat one, but rather you must devour several. If you have no will power, you must eat many at a time because one just cannot get enough of this yummy goodness.

I opened the above photo to import it to my blog post and the mere visual image of it brought a wonderful aroma to my olfactories and I immediately began to salivate. I think it was just the photo that did that, or maybe it is the bag of bars on my desk, and the pile of wrappers lying at my feet. I cannot be sure. I am conducting my own experiment here. All in the name of science, you know. I want to, no, I need to find out how many bars a chocolate addict can eat at one sitting before the mere thought of any more makes it inconceivable to eat even one more. I'm not even close yet.

My next post may be from a recovery house where I will be in the throes of a 12 step program.

The Butter Story

My grandfather had a general store in the prairies back in the 'good old days'. There was a story, one of many, about a butter incident that has always intrigued me. Apparently a customer from the farm, one of many, would supply my grandfather with butter, milk, cream, and eggs and would exchange those products for such things as flour, sugar, salt, etc. . One day she brought in a batch of butter, but told my grandfather that she actually needed it for herself. The reason she was bringing it in was because a mouse had dropped into the churn and although she fished it out and the butter was perfectly clean, she was horrified by the thought of eating it herself, even though she was sure it was just fine. She pleaded with my grandfather to simply exchange it for other butter that he might have in stock. He gave her his business man's smile and assured her that he could accommodate her wishes. He disappeared to the back of his store, re-packaged the ladies butter, and brought it back out to her. With eternal gratitude, she clutched her 'new' butter and scurried off home.    

Now, fast forward to Saturday afternoon. While visiting with my father in the care home, he got a visitor that I had never met. We introduced ourselves and I asked what his connection to my father was. He told me that he grew up in the same area as my dad did, and indeed he knew my dad's family. Then he told me how his mother used to bring butter to my grandfather in exchange for other grocery items. Of course, that triggered a question. After relating the butter story to him, I asked if he thought there was even a remote possibility that his mother could have been that woman. He said he doubted it because his mom was sharp. I let him think that, and did not challenge him. After all, how would she know she had been duped. As sharp as she was, I believe my grandfather was even more clever. Besides, these stories lose their intrigue when the mystery is solved.

It's OK To Be Blue

Due to the cold early summer we had, all fruits and produce were late in arrival. We could not wait for our Blueberry feed so we bought some of the early variety berries and enjoyed them, but found that just a little handful would leave a sour feeling in the stomach. They tasted a bit tart and certainly had a very high acid content. We are now at the end of the Blueberry season and brought home 25 pounds of the delightful little things yesterday. In a word, they are amazing! I am eating them by the handful and finding that they leave a peaceful, contented feeling in the stomach. It is one of the rare fruits that one can eat 'tons' of at a time and have no ill effects. At least that is true for me.

I had a banana blueberry smoothie for breakfast this morning and it was wonderful.

No this is not "Mennonite Guys Cannot Cook" blog, but I will give you my version of the best smoothie ever. One ripe banana, at least a cup of blueberries, three tablespoons of plain yogurt, and two ice cubes. Put them in the blender and there you have it. If your blueberries are not really sweet, you can add a bit of honey to taste. It does not get more healthy than that, and I have no idea why my font is suddenly in Italics. Is this what happens when one eats too many blueberries?  

Squares sans Photo

Today there is no photo. It is not for lack of trying. You see, my daughter posted a photo of some Peanut Butter Chip Squares, that she had made, on her blog. I commented that instead of sending me the recipe, like so many others were requesting, she could just bring me some. 
I am watching the Canucks lose their game when in walks my daughter with a huge chunk of these 'to die for' squares. They were so good that I thought that I would blog about them. I tried to 'lift' her photo off of her blog, to no avail. The program would not allow it. Then I went to Flikr and 'searched' for a photo of those squares. Every one I found was copyrighted and not down loadable. Then I 'Googled' them and searched 'images'. Again, none were down loadable. Not having all  night to fool around like this, I eventually had to do it with text only. Of course I could have taken my own photo of said squares, but by the time I thought of it, they were down the hatch. So  now you are not even left with crumbs. 

She made me promise to not complain about heartburn, as I ate the delectable creation a little late in the evening. OK. I will not complain.

Mix

I was at Costco the other day and just before I found my place in the long line at the check-out, I grabbed a little Dixie cup full of something they were handing out at the end of the candy isle. You know, something to munch on while I was waiting my turn. I entered lane 8 at position 10 and was in for a long wait, but I had my little snack. I popped a few morsels into my  mouth and ... Wow! I put the rest of the mix in my mouth and before I swallowed it, I was heading out of the line back to the sample station to see what it was that I was eating. Yes, I eat unknown things. (I had just had a microwaved bit of sausage sandwich in the freezer isle and almost gagged.) 

I discovered that the samples were 'Wildroots 100% Natural Trail Mix'. Let me tell you, this is good stuff. I grabbed a package without looking at the price, much as you would when choosing an ice-cream cone at Ben and Jerry's. 

Fast forward to the hockey game last night. We had a terrific dinner of pork chops with all the fixin's, with Lemon Pie for dessert. Oh yes, busylizzy feeds me like that every day. How do you think I maintain my growing pot belly. 

We were back in front of the TV for the second period and the game was a bit of a nail biter at times and a snack was needed. I hauled out the trail mix. Mistake. I was not hungry, and I was placing a highly addictive food form in front of my face and there was a hockey game on. This is a recipe for disaster. I could not stop, and I don't mean cheering. This stuff is so good. Oh, I guess I said that already. 

It will never replace chocolate, but this mix has the appearance, at least, of being healthier than chocolate. 

Now excuse me while I grab what is left of that trail mix and have just a tiny little handful before I run off to Costco to 'stock up'. They have some exercise equipment on sale there too. That might make a good combo.     

Winner!

Friday night at the "Nutcracker" performance I bought some fund raiser raffle tickets. I placed all my bets on this little puppy and I am sure you cannot guess why.

So this is how life works.

You talk about chocolate.

You blog about chocolate.

You gamble for chocolate.

You win chocolate.

You photograph chocolate.

You blog about chocolate.

You eat chocolate.

Ahh. The rhythm of life.

Chocolate Cake

I mentioned two posts ago that we had a 60th anniversary party for busylizzy's parents. Chris's comments on yesterday's post triggered a memory from that night. One of our responsibilities for the dinner was purchasing the big cake. It was a lemon cake, very tasty, but not my choice. It was decided that not everybody liked chocolate. My theory, which was overthrown, was that the majority would like chocolate so why not get a small lemon cake for those that do not like chocolate. When we went to pick up the cake from the bakery, we threw in good sized chocolate fudge layer cake for good measure.
At dessert time, I picked up a piece of the lemon cake and I thought I would get a piece of chocolate later with my second cup of coffee. I hate to say "I was right" all the time, but once again I have to say it. The chocolate was the first to disappear. I did not get a piece.
We would have done ourselves all a big favour had we stuck with chocolate, according to this recent news about chocolate:  

Eat more: Dark chocolate (daily!)

Disease-fighting antioxidant compounds in cocoa also help regulate blood flow, researchers believe. Previous studies have indicated that high doses of cocoa can reduce blood pressure and boost mood in the short term. Yet a mere 6.3 grams of dark chocolate (just 30 calories) daily over a 4 1/2-month period was enough to reduce hypertension by 21 percent, according to a Journal of the American Medical Association.

Good News

As I cruise through my various favourite news sites, I scan the headlines, looking for something interesting, something that will catch my eye. As you well know, most of what we read, see, and hear on the news is negative. Many have advocated for more 'good news', thinking that it will boost our moods and attitudes into the positive range. But what kind of 'good news' would attract you? "Boy Scout helps little old lady across street"? "Homeless person finds a home"? "Carbon 'footprint' found to be irrelevant"? 

How about "Chocolate found to reduce heart disease"? Bingo!

That is what a Scandinavian study has concluded after a lengthy study. It actually reduces blood pressure much like drugs do, but with the only side effect being that your caloric intake has increased. So, now you can be fat and have a healthy heart. 

Now that is news I can get excited about.