Pictures!!!

i took this picture on saturday.. it was hot hot hot... 34 celcius is 93.2 and it had already gone down a couple of degrees cause i was on the road... was too toasty to stay in the house, poor puppies needed some fresh air on their faces...






this carving was in Michael Biggs park.... it scared Dora to pieces.... the late Michael Biggs was a world class researcher/photographer in the world of Orcas... just a note, (trivia) that when i grew up the Orcas were called Black Fish .. it wasn't until the first capture of them in the 60's did the name change.. there is a sound at the mouth of Knight Inlet which is called Black Fish Sound...




i've not got a clue what this peice of machinery is, but thought it was pretty cool....





in case your wondering what the heck that is... its a flower tea ball that opened... was a delightful white tea bundled with some rather dainty flowers .... and it was delicious tea!!



this set of twins and mama were in Qualicum... went on an adventure on Monday... went to Qualicum to find a store called The Bulk Store, which has a little bakery and specializes in Celiac breads etc. i got a loaf of Cinnamon Raisin bread and some made up little pizza shells... and both were exceptionally delicious!!!



Qualicum Beach....








we had a good rainfall last night, some wind and general earth cleansing... my garden looks well watered, am thinking it might be a good day to plant some peas... i'm going to try and get a fall crop in this year... weather permitting of course!!
i've been on the hunt for fall crop transplants but nothing in yet... perhaps later this week... now that the hot spell has come and gone those transplants won't bolt as soon as they get plunked in the ground...

the sun is out this morning and am hoping that it will hold out for a while and warm us up just a bit... apparently our stormy weather is unseasonal.. hmmm what else is new these days...
global warming, cooling.. who knows... i prefer to call it global changes...

Tasty Tuesday....

woke up feeling like the truck ran over me... mmm neck troubles... so laid low for awhile...

those pickled onions just couldn't wait for me... soooooo up i got.. turned on the canner and got cracking... i now have 3 beautiful pint jars of pickled onions... yum yum...
here's the recipe if your interested...



Ingredients

5 lbs silver skin onions ( i only had enough for 3 pints)
1 cup pickling salt
4 cups granulated sugar
4 cups white vinegar
2 tablespoons whole allspice, spices

Directions
1 In a large pot, add onions, cover with boiling water and let cool.
2 Peel and discard skins and water.
3 Rinse onions and return to pot.
4 Sprinkle onions with pickling salt.
5 Cover onions again with boiling water and let stand for 24 hours.

6 Drain and reserve salted water.
7 Rinse onions with cold water and return to cooking pot.
8 In a separate pot, bring reserved salted water to a boil.
9 Pour over onions.
10 Repeat this same process for another 2 full days.

11 At the beginning of the 4th day, drain and discard water.
12 Rinse onions thoroughly.
13 In a cooking pot, add sugar, vinegar and spices that are wrapped in a cheese cloth and boil for 2 mins.
14 Pour this liquid over the onions.
15 Cover and let sit for 24 hours.

16 Drain off liquid, save and reheat.
17 Pour this liquid over the onions again.
18 Repeat this process for a total of 3 days, which is now the 6th day.

19 On the 7th day, which is the last day, drain and reserve the liquid.
20 Wash onions thoroughly.
21 Reheat the reserved liquid.
22 Prepare and sterilize jars.
23 Fill jars with onions and pour the hot liquid over the onions in the jars to within 1/4 inch of the top.
24 Wipe tops of rims very clean.
25 Place prepared lids on top and screw on screw lids just finger tight.
26 Place jars in a hot bath in a canner and boil for 5 minutes.
27 Remove from bath and place on a towel.
28 Cover with another towel to cool.
29 Jars are sealed when the tops"pop" and are concave, (turned down.).
30 Wipe jars clean, lable and store in a cool, dry place.


yum yum...

i figured that now the weather has broken and no longer blazing hot that a good baked dinner was needed... so made a delicious veggie casserole...

the basis is any veggies you have in your fridge, cupboard or garden... chopped and sauteed in olive oil, with a chopped onion and 3 or 4 cloves of garlic... throw on some leftover cheese or sauce and bake...

for today i had
1 onion
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
couple of potatoes
zucchini
green beans
celery
carrot
eggplant
spinach

fresh tomatoes
canned tomatoes

i put the canned tomatoes on the bottom, added a layer of eggplant, then the sauteed veggies, added a layer of some leftover pesto sauce, some slices of fresh tomato and topped it off with some leftover mozzarella and some other hard cheeses..
and baked for 350 till bubbly and browned.....

well i think that the dreaded 'fall' is on the way... i saw geese in formation and some of the maple leaves are starting to turn.... and it's chilly and raining hard... sighhhh
seems like summer just got here.. 2 weeks of warm and poof, it's rained away....

MMMmoisture.....

it finally rained.. but not a lot so ended up watering the garden a bit ... ah well only another month then i won't have to... picked a few ripe tomatoes today, some cherry tomatoes and 4 beekfsteak... now that i'm home and watering more regularly the next batch should be more uniform in looks, no cracks or signs of lack of water.... am lightly fertilizing once and week as well... my newly transplanted carrots are doing well too.. seems carrots and my soil are enemies tho.. not exactly sure why...

so yesterday was another scorcher, but later in the evening it clouded over and we had a few drops of rain... i drove down to Maple Bay to see if i could find somewhere to take the dogs to the water... apparently i'm not too good in the water department since once again, we came home dry.. there were a few places but filled with dogs, kids and rowdies... ah well, didn't need a wet dog or 2 anyways i guess...

another day of checking my pickled onions, boiling the liquid, and putting back in the crock.. yay... i tried one, tasted delicious... tomorrow i should be able to can them.. i will only get perhaps 3 pints.. but will be a tasty treat later in the year...

am going to make some veggie antipasto i think... that is a LOT of work.. but ooooh so good... not terribly cheap either but well worth the work....will have to haul out my very old recipe and get too it... it has 18 ingredients so will be a lot of chopping and putting together.. mmmgood...

2 Fans....

that i brought back from Oregon... were a godsend yesterday.... sally ann specials..... in Oregon i could actually have bought them cheaper, BRAND NEW, at wallyworld.. ahem.... i actually saved $15.00 each, because here they are $35.00 and i paid $20.00... anyways.... it was so darn hot i actually had to gather the 4 legged children and scoot them off to cooler places.... in our travels we hunted for a cool watery spot.... good luck on vancouver island... this is probably one of the most unfriendly dog places i know of...well maybe water/people unfriendly too... there was no where that i could take them to the river, in town no dog is allowed on the beach in the summer, whether it be lake or ocean... ah well... we had fun driving around wasting gas.. making a bigger carbon footprint...
on the return trip, i had a bear run across the road in front of my car.... unfortunately he/she is aweful close to 'civilization' and is almost certainly doomed to die... in the past week, we've had 3 bears destroyed, that we the public know about.... and i know of another case in Port Alberni where the poor bear will be destroyed when he's captured....not a nice world we have created... time for mass birthcontrol of humans...

Another hot day....

wheeeeee the temperature's been soaring.. yesterday was HOT and muggy... today is just plain HOT, already at 9 am it's 80... so i know by the end of the day, this trailer's gonna feel like an oven... ah well... wait a couple of months and i'll be crabbing about the cold ...

so in my internet journey i came across this very cool idea.. of which i hope it comes to fruition... solar curtains.. what a concept!!! about time i'd say.. so in my fantasy world.. the solar curtain could supply enough energy to even heat my house at a low level.. which would cut down on my use of home heating oil... ummm gee, i suspect that the big oil companies are going to balk at such a thought... cynical i know... but for years now the technology has been here, and it's a very slow process it seems, with pitfalls and hurls that are unending... HMM i say...

mmm pickled onions... how 'basic' is that.... mind you, after 4 days of brining, i'm now to the vinegar, sugar and whole allspice stage, another 3 days of straining once a day, boiling the liquid and pouring onto the onions ... then i can cheerfully can them.. and i HOPE that the weather has cooled a bit... nothing like canning when it's already 90 plus in the kitchen.....

mmm brined cucumbers... are almost ready!!! did a test yesterday.. one bite and i can tell if they are brined enough.. nope not yet.. they are so close to being ready... including the lovely scum at the top of the jars.. mmm not so tasty looking, but i know it's all a part of the brining/fermenting stage... a bit like kim chi maybe... anyways maybe today... when they get to the yummy eating stage, thats when they get popped into the fridge.. tada.. 1 1/2 gallons of brined 'deli' style dill pickles...

so i'm experimenting in the yogurt department... if you've ever had Trader Joe's Cream top, plain yogurt, you'll know what i'm aiming for... the closest thing it that i've found in Canada is Astro brand.. BUT it's filled with geletin and other assorted goodies... i just want yogurt culture and milk... nothing else... not only do i eat it, the dogs get a dollop of it on their morning breakfast... mmm yum they think!!
i've made yogurt for many years, but homestyle yogurt tends to be a bit twangy to the tastebuds, but i think i can master a more subtle flavour... where there is a cook, there is a way.... at least in my mind!!

just a little wacky... but interesting site... 'green' cartoons' from europe... its a site called Climate Cartoons ... enjoy ... or not...

A Thursday twist...

wow... how much more twisted is this... Julia Child, our wonder woman of the cooking world.. was a spy ... during WWII was an agent of Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The OSS was the United States intelligence agency during World War II ,and precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. mm swell have a little spy in your martini? gotta watch out for those Olives ya know!
i did know a lady who was a spy for the Resistance.. she was an amazing lady when i met her, her flaming red hair, gaudy jewellry and brassy but fun clothes... she was infectious with her laughter and wit...
apparently she was wisked out of Denmark, to England, because her cover was going to be unearthed... she was a 'lady of the evening' for German officers... i can't imagine some of the stories that she 'didn't' tell!!!

speaking of 'political' things... gotta love this one!!! Hotflops with Obama and McCain.. please check it out... i wasn't able to copy and paste a photo and unable to find another one elsewhere on the net.... but anyways... feature your wee head or umm heads on the strap of a flip-flop... errr thong ( as in flip-flop not underwear) in my generation!!! all in a name i guess... better to be on one's foot, than up one's ass... umm well ... cast your vote here ....

Wacky World...

uhuh... that it is... just read in the news about the Olympic ceremony and it's fakery... how sad that a little girl was cheated from her night ... and btw if you didn't see hear her... she had a voice that would melt butter... she was absolutely terrific.... the other girl was as cute as a button and did a good job of lip syncing... sad sad to think adults are that foolish...and that the struggle for 'perfection' is so great...
the whole Olympic 'race' seems more political than sports minded.. i guess competition is competition whether it be in the sport arena or the political arena... we try and teach our children fairness in competition but what they see is a different thing altogether... and we wonder why our world is the way it is... rant rant rant!!!

on to a new note... the Millet Oat Bread (minus the Oat flour, cause i didn't have any) was cheerfully eaten by daughter as well... now if i can just convince the wee one that its yummy bread... atm she's away in Calgary.. its terribly quiet here, peaceful even... but miss her wise beyond her years comments...