Holiday traditions

I know people say this a lot at this time of the year but, I can’t believe Christmas is just two weeks away (or is it three? My math is a bit off.) I feel like Christmas always kinda sneaks up on me. I’m never prepared,  I always have hopes of sending cards and all that jazz which never happens. But there is something Christmas-ey that snuck up on me the other day on my drive back from Cranbrook, Vinyl Cafe Christmas. Stuart McLean, has one of those unmistakeable voices, so as I was scanning through the fuzz of radio waves, I came across his voice and stopped the radio. I listened for most of the drive back, and at one point, even got a bit teary. It made me realize Christmas really is upon me, and it’s one of those monumental Christmases, the first away from home. Instead I will be spending it with my cousins and aunt in Calgary, which I’m equally excited about. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m all about new experiences.

But one tradition I will never give up on (even though I’m on a diet) is Christmas baking. Because thing about Christmas baking is that it’s to give away, which is pretty fun. So I started making my list, and here it is so far.

-Grandma’s shortbread

-Mexican wedding cakes.

-Chocolate pistachio fudge

-Christmas fruit cake

-Almond-raspberry sandwich cookies

-Cardamom-orange sugar cookies

-Ambrosia macaroons

I’m hoping to have some to bring to share with my co-workers and some to bring to Calgary for my family. We’ll see how it goes. I may have to cut it down a bit, I would like to go out in the snow for a bit on the weekend.

But, I’m wondering, what are your favourite Christmas treats?

(Fig cookies from Gourmet that I made a couple years ago)

Alien

I’m not going to pussy foot around it, I was a negligent blogger this weekend. I don’t even really know why I didn’t. I don’t have a valid excuse. So I won’t try and come up with one. I’ll just apologize and assume you’ll forgive me, and we’ll kiss and make up and move on.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let me tell you about what happened to me today! Let me start off by saying, especially to all you city folk, you don’t know what you’re missing. Sure, I had a minor melt down on Saturday night when I decided walking too and from the Ghostriders hockey game in my jeans would be a good idea, oh, it was -15 degrees out. But, the thing is, when it is cold like that here, it is because the sky is totally clear. Which means you can see every mountain in the area perfectly! It takes your breath away.

Yesterday, my car got here! Driven all the way from Victoria, B.C. And let me tell you, this morning when I saw that it was -21, I couldn’t have been happier to get behind the wheel of a car. My parents asked a co-worker of my mom’s, named Monty, a former long-haul trucker, to drive the corolla across the province. So, when he got here, I had to drive him to Cranbrook so he could fly out to Victoria. I’m not a snow driver, I don’t think anyone who grew up in Victoria or Vancouver is. We just never get enough of the white stuff out there to give us the practice, so needless to say, I was a bit nervous to make the two hour drive, there and back.

The hardest parts of the drive where making sure I kept my eyes on the road and not on the mountains, rivers and other bits of gorgeous scenery, and surviving a stare down with a mountain goat. We passed the mountain goats on our way to Cranbrook. They walk on to the highway and lick the salt off the road. So I round this corner, and smack dab in the middle of the high way are about 15 mountain goats. And I don’t mean goats like you see in your local petting zoo, I mean curly horned, big a**ed goats. But they were pretty cool nonetheless. So we manage to slowly move them off the road and head off to Cranbrook. Well on the way back, sure enough, there they were in the exact same spot, only this time I knew where they would be and had tips from my new friend the long haul trucker to get them off the road. So I start inching up, and the start moving towards the side of the road. And then this big guy stops right in front of the hood of my car. He looked me right in the eye (I’m serious, RIGHT in the eye!) and curls his lips. It creeped me out for a minute, and then he shoved a female goat in the butt with his horns and they went on their way, and I did too.

I spent the rest of the day unpacking the boxes that my parents had shoved in to the car. I now have all my cookbooks here in Fernie with me. And they are taking up a pretty big portion of the kitchen, but I think it makes the kitchen look used, which is always a good thing.

Today it was back to work, and I decided I was going to have spicy oven-fried chicken for dinner (ala everybody loves sandwiches), I asked my co-worker about the butcher near work, and she advised me that Backcountry meat and sausage is better, and cheaper. I didn’t even know there was another butcher in town so I was pretty excited about this. And after work on my way home, I stopped in at Backcountry meat and sausage.

I should have wondered when I pulled up and there was a row of pick-up trucks in the parking lot, but a lot of people drive trucks here. So I zip up my coat and hop out of the car. When I walked in, it became clear that I was the only woman there, and also the only one not wearing camouflage. To be honest I wasn’t really phased by this. I just looked in all the cases, while I was eyed up by all the camo-clad men. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any chicken legs, just breasts. So I was sore out of luck as far as oven fried chicken goes. But I learned a valuable lesson, if you are looking for good meat and sausages, follow the camo.

Friday morning

Just a picture for now. I’ll talk to you after work! Have a great day!

The unexpected

I’m sorry I haven’t been around lately. I have been thinking of you though. It’s been a busy couple days with learning my new town and learning my new job. But I’m starting to feel more settled and more at home which means I’m getting more comfortable making fun meals. But let me tell you what has gone over the past few days. First of all it has snowed, but I’m sure as you noticed in my past pictures, there was snow her to begin with. But it’s funny, as a girl who grew up on the coast, I’m not used to walking up, day after day to new snow. But that’s how it goes here. And guess what’s underneath all that snow, ice! And I bailed pretty bad on my way home last night. But I took control today and bought myself some Yak Traks, which are basically teeth you put on the bottom of your boots to help you grip the ice. But back to the food.

Do you ever have those nights where you want something quick and easy? But for me, I try to steer clear of the pre-made, “easy”, “fast” meals. Because lets face it, those things have nothing good for you in them. One of my favourite ways to fill my belly on a lazy evening is with brinner, what is brinner? you ask. It is Breakfast for dinner. And, I admit I had brinner twice this week.

The thing with the GI diet is that your meals need to be made up of grains, protein and most importantly a lot of veggies. It’s hard to think that way sometimes when a lot of our meals are centered around a lot of pasta, or a lot of meat. I’m still working out that balance. Also, I’m not supposed to have eggs. I’m supposed to have the liquid eggs in a little jug. But I just can’t bring myself to do that. Anyways, what I ate, right. I had a piece of high fiber toast with grainy mustard, some back bacon (yes, it’s on the diet), poached egg and as you can see, some steamed green beans and some lovely Roma. I know you’re probably thinking, “well, that isn’t very exciting!” And my response is, there is beauty in simplicity, and some of the best meals on earth are the simplest ones.

Like last night for example, I got home late after an meeting in town and needed something in my belly that was quick and tasty, basically I ate what I eat for breakfast every morning: blueberries, low-fat, no sugar added yoghurt, and Kashi Go Lean cereal. It’s basic, but delicious and has everything I need.

There it is. My Wednesday night dinner. Isn’t it beautiful? I know you’re wondering what that yellow stuff is. Well I have introduce Udo’s Blend of Omega fatty acids into my breakfast. It actually tastes pretty good. And I don’t mind the oily-ness in my cereal. I also added Chia to my breakfast this morning, my mom told me to, and well I do what my mom says (within reason.)

But all good things must come to an end, and brinner three nights in a row would have been absolute madness. And I was feeling wild tonight.

I can’t have potatoes right now, or I can but shouldn’t, or something like that. But I love gnocchi, and found a recipe for Ricotta gnocchi on thekitchn a few months ago. Ricotta gnocchi, that can’t be bad, right?

I thought I followed the recipe, and I dropped them in the pot, and do you see what happened? They pretty much fell apart int he pot and floated to the surface in gross little clumps. I thought maybe I could salvage it. But well, it would have been pretty mushy. So I abandoned ship, flushed the pot of gross clumps, and went for the whole wheat pasta in my cupboard, and pulled a pork chop from the fridge.

The pasta sauce saved the meal. It was one of my best. I was eating it with a spoon right for the pot while I was waiting for the pasta to cook. So, sure my gnocchi fell a part, but that’s life. Sometimes, things just go awry. Sometimes, the unexpected hits you right in the face and knocks you on your butt, but it’s how you deal with it. It’s the old when life gives you lemons thing, only in this case, it’s clumpy gnocchi.

Short on words

Sorry lovely, this is going to be a short post. The first day of work kinda knocked it out of me, plus I am eager to get into bed with my book! Don’t be offended, it’s not like I’m choosing sides, well I guess I am.

I woke up today and opened the curtains, and guess what? (I’ll just assume you said “What?!) I could see the mountains. I know what you’re thinking, but today I could see all of them, and not just the parts that weren’t covered in clouds, but ALL of them. They unveiled themselves to me and let me say, they are pretty magnificent! I don’t know that I’ll ever get sick of staring at them, maybe I will, but not anytime soon.

And when I finished work, and was walking home with groceries in my mitted hands, I could still see the outline of the mountain, and the white of the snow punched out in the darkness. I could still see it for almost thirty minutes, but then in slipped into the darkness. But there is something comforting about knowing, when I wake up, it will be there again tomorrow. I think I’ve got a crush on the mountains.

Anyways, I made a good dinner tonight. G.I. Diet friendly too, believe it or not. This is what it was. I don’t have a recipe for it. I kinda just through it together, it is half inspired by Nigella Lawson’s mustard, apple cider, cream sauce that my lovely friend Blair, back in Vancouver, loves so much.

It was damn tasty, and damn filling. Roasted Brussel Sprouts are the bees knees.

That’s all I have for tonight, Lisbeth Salander is calling my name.

Good night

xo

Slow Sunday

Here’s where I may start to show the signs of my city slicker side. Today, Sunday, I woke up early, I don’t really sleep in anymore. I decided I would head in to town in the afternoon to pick up a few things that I forgot to get at the store yesterday, and to sit with my book and a coffee.

I geared up and started my walk towards town. The clouds had lifted a bit so I was hoping I could get some good shots of the Mountain. But those coy beasts wouldn’t show themselves to me fully.

I took this picture near Rotary park, and buried beneath the clouds is Mt. Fernie. I’m hoping eventually I’ll be able to get a clear shot, but the clouds move like clouds in Vancouver. One minute they’re over on the North Shore, the next rain is pouring all over the city. Here, it feels like by the time you reach for your camera in your bag and get the shot lined up, the clouds are covering the mountains. But I’m gonna keep trying.

As I walked up the street towards town I noticed that things seemed strangely quiet. Then I remembered that it is opening weekend for Fernie Alpine, and it is Grey Cup weekend (like the Superbowl for Canada). By the time I reached the main street downtown, I started to realize something may be off. There were probably five people on the entire street, and it was very quiet.

As I started looking at the store windows I started noticing a common theme “Sunday – Closed.” This Vancouver girl is not used to that! In Vancouver, things are always open. Christmas day, New Years Day, Easter, stores are open. Now, I am actually not complaining about this, it was just a bit of a shock. I like the idea that instead of shopping, or working in one of the shops or restaurants, you spend the day with your family.

So, I ended up just walking up and down the street, doing a little window shopping and eventually went to Overwaitea to get some groceries and then I made my way home. And check out this picture.

By the time I walked by Rotary park on my way home, the clouds had moved in and hidden the mountains again.

With everything (or most things closed) I decided it was an afternoon for baking and for general laziness. When I got home I collapsed on the couch for a bit, and then whipped up a batch of whole wheat drop scones.

I’m a big fan of biscuits, particularly savoury ones. As I’ve mentioned in the past I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. But the nice thing about these biscuits is that if you want them sweet they can be sweet instead of savoury!

Whole Wheat Scones (G.I. Friendly) (Recipe inspired by Emily Richards’ recipe in the Living the G.I. Diet book)

1 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour

1/3 cup of oat bran

3 green onions, chopped

3 tbsps pumpkin seeds (Emily’s recipe had flax seeds or sunflower seeds, I couldn’t find them in the store).

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp sugar substitute (I use Splenda because I can’t find Stevia)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup non-hydrogenated soft margarine

2/3 cup skim milk

1 egg

1. In large bowl, combine flour, oat bran, onions, pumpkin seeds, baking powder, sugar substitute, and salt. Using your fingers, rub margarine into flour mixture to combine. Add milk and toss with a fork to make a soft dough.

2. Make a ball about an inch and a bit thick and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with some egg wash. Bake in a 425*F oven for about 12 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom

Makes about 8 scones.

Settling into the snow

I wish I’d taken pictures for you, but when you’re on a small Dash 8 plane headed to the Rockie Mountains, you don’t get as much carry on space. I made room for my book, a few magazines and some other small things that would fit in my purse (like my mitts and a tuque). Let me rewind for a moment…

So after my little hiccup yesterday, my dad and I set off to the airport (yet again). I knew I was going to fly today. No delayed flights, no snow, just rain. But that didn’t mean I didn’t wear my Sorels, a scarf, a down coat and as I mentioned mitts and tuque close at hand, it was still snowing in Fernie after all. At around 11:15 am I went through security. It was all going great until I got pulled aside. “I’m going to need to search your bag,” the friendly airport security woman said. “Sure, no problem, ” I answered with a smile. The backpack that I was using to hold my computer, laptop and other stuff I couldn’t fit in my backpack, had my primary vessel for holding my stuff for school last week, including bits of silverware for lunches.

So after going through every pocket of my bag, the woman pulls out a butter knife. “Oh crap, I didn’t even know that was there.” I said to her. “Do you want me to throw it out or ship it to you?” she asked. “Toss it!” I answered. So I shoved everything she’d taken out of my bag back in it and headed for my gate.

I’m gonna fast forward a bit. So I boarded my flight to Cranbrook in Vancouver and we took off across British Columbia for the Rockies. Now, if you haven’t heard what’s been going up in this part of the world weather wise, let me update you, Snow, and LOTS of it, and not just in Victoria and Vancouver, but right across the province. So, that means the view from the plane wasn’t all that impressive. But, what was impressive, is that every once in a while when you were over one of the mountain ranges these jagged white teeth would poke through the layer of cloud. These great beasts breaking through the cloud. It takes your breath away.

Eventually, I got to Cranbrook where I met my lovely guide and driver, Terri. And we headed for Fernie. It was slow going as most of the area is burried in snow, even the parts that Terri said never get snow like that. On the way to Fernie, we passed the St. Eugene Mission, a former residential school turned casino/resort/golf course, we saw Elk and mule deer, and Terri shared some of the history of the area with me. Like the story of Elko, people at the time thought it would be the Chicago of Canada, people from Fernie would come up on the train to take part in the what was going on. Apparently, people believed that eventually Elko would be the site of where (I believe Terri said) five trains would meet. Well, that never happened, and Elko is basically now just a gas station.

It was dark by the time I got to Fernie, and it was snowing, so I couldn’t see much of what was around me. I unloaded my very heavy bags and started settling into my place.

Now instead of going into all the gory details of what has gone on since I got here I will share pictures and bits and pieces.

- I thought I lost my roommates dog. This was reminiscent of the last house I lived in where I thought I lost my roommates cat. Only, this dog ran like eight times faster than me. I spent most of the morning chasing this dog and praying that it wouldn’t get hit by a car on the crowsnest highway. Eventually, with the help of a neighbour and a handful of treats I lured (and dragged the dog back inside). And this was all before I had my morning cup of coffee.

-After I finished unpacking I walked downtown, which is about 7 blocks from my place. Now, Vancouverites and Victorians, let me tell you something about the snow that we HAD. It’s nothing compared to the multiple feet of snow here. The snow drifts are up to my hip in some spots. They do their best to plow the roads but when it snows every day, you just tough it out. Oh and the ski hill opened today, but I don’t have my pass yet and my leg is still recovering so it may be a bit till I’m on the hill.

-I’m always relieved to see a butcher. I hate buying meat at a big supermarket. I feel sad because I know it’s not good meat and I know it’s not sustainable. Thank God for butchers!

-Sorry that is kinda a crap picture but that is a glimpse of the main street in downtown Fernie, 2nd Avenue.

-Those are some (bad) pictures of the view from my backyard. The clouds are pretty low so I tried to get the best shot I could. The minute they really show themselves, I’ll be out there getting a picture for you!

So that’s a bit from day one in Fernie. So far, I like it. I love the old buildings. I love the fact that my neck hurts from looking up at the mountains. And, I actually love the snow. I also like that I could get the Girl who kicked the hornets nest from the local book store (the one and only copy of the book there).

My lovely guide Terri, gave me her notes on the restaurants to check out here in Fernie so I’ll be sure to share that with you when I get there. As for groceries, not much local at the Overwaitea, and I went to Extra Foods last night which was pretty depressing, no high fiber bread makes me sad. I’ll probably be getting my basics at Overwaitea and I will be checking out the organic market and natural food stores soon too. So much to share with you in the days a head. Stay tuned.

Bits and bobs I want to tell you about

So if you hadn’t figured it out yet, I’m moving to Fernie B.C. If you don’t know where that is, don’t feel bad, it’s a tiny town about an hour away from the Alberta, B.C. border, and about an hour from Cranbrook. It’s also really well known for it’s skiing, which starts this weekend (a whole week early!) While googling stuff about Fernie, I came across a really cool blog called Small town social – A Fernie Experience. It basically shows all the awesome stuff that Fernie (and the area) has to offer in one spot; food, fashion, shopping, music etc. It’s definitely helped me get a bit more jazzed about the move.

The other thing I wanted to show you is Doi Chaang Coffee (and MORE!) If you’re up in Canada, you may have noticed Doi Chaang on Global News. The story behind Doi Chaang is pretty long, and I will probably get it wrong so here is the Cole’s notes of what you should know about Doi Chaang: It’s beyond fair trade products, it supports sustainable agriculture, it supports the economy of a small town, and it helps the towns kids get an education (among many other things). It’s a great story, with great products, and my mom told me you can find Doi Chaang coffee at Costco if you live near one. Or of course, like I may do, you can order online. And I believe there is a store in Vancouver.

I hope you enjoy those little bits, and I will have more to share with you, including a new look, soon!

Snowed in

I tried! I really did, but mother nature had other plans.

All morning I was checking the airport website, and my flight to Vancouver said “On Time.” My dad and I packed my (very heavy) bags into the car and slowly made our way to the airport through the snow. When we got there, it was still “On Time.” Earlier flights had been cancelled and delayed, but mine was still on time. I was still hopeful. We quickly made our way to the front of the line and the stressed Air Canada employee tells us to watch for announcements because “there is a good chance your flight will be delayed too.”

My hope melted, unlike the snow. My dad and I sat for about half an hour before I noticed that my flight had changed from “On Time” to “Delayed.” I shuffled over to the screen and sure enough it was delayed till 1:24, and my flight to Cranbrook was scheduled to leave Vancouver at 1:20, so that clearly wasn’t going to work.

We rescheduled, I decided to try again tomorrow instead of making the trip late at night. So I came home, borrowed sweat pants from my dad and heated up left over rice. I spent the rest of the day enjoying the crap T.V. that I usually watch, and of course praying that it would start melting. Sure enough, the snow is almost all gone in Vancouver now, and it’s raining here. Oh well, at least I don’t start work until Monday.

Good bye ocean; hello mountains.

Well lovelies, it’s my last night in Victoria. For the past couple years I’ve been writing and cooking local, showcasing all the good and tasty stuff that Vancouver Island, and Vancouver has to offer, maybe not all, I really just scratched the surface. And now, I’m off to a new place, with new tasty food to explore. It’s going to be a new and exciting adventure in a small mountain town. I’ve lived near the ocean for my entire life, and now I’ll be wedged in the Rocky Mountains. I can’t wait to share all of this with you. I’ve loved sharing my adventures in Victoria and Vancouver, but now it’s time for something new. I’ll write when I’m settled.

Good night!