The Essence of Escoffier

A while ago, I traded the ironing of my son's shirts for some of his tech savvy.  I decided, the other day, to cash in a few of the points I had accumulated and have him set us up on Netflix. "Take that, Rogers on Demand." Even though my husband and I are polar opposites as far as tastes in movies are concerned, I felt that I could make it work by trading off documentaries for Baseball movies every other session.

Unfortunately, we had watched every baseball film listed. Scrolling down the list, I found a documentary on the Knuckleball - he wasn't interested, he doesn't like documentaries. I was about to give up, when I saw the title "Julie and Julia." OK, it's not Baseball, but it is food and he does like food!! He also likes Paris and maybe even Meryl Streep!! I thought, I'll give it a try. "Sure, I don't mind," he yawned, thinking that he could always sleep through it!!

Of course I loved the film. It was all about cooking and writing - books and blogs, with wonderful scenes of Paris and dinner parties in New York. This is a movie, I could watch again and again, without him of course, although he did manage to stay awake the entire time.

Before the film and the "blook" - a book based on a blog, I remember my friend Brenda, who also loves food and Paris, mentioning Julie's blog. The concept was mind-boogling. To cook a meal a day based on Julia Child's, Mastering the Art of French Cooking and then to blog about it, was an incredible challenge.

Picnic Dinner

I've been itching ever since to do some marathon cooking. I remembered that my brother-in-law had given me Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire, in translation, about ten years ago. I also remembered that, at the time, I took one look at it and realized, not only was it too difficult, but also every recipe, it seemed, had enough fat content to line both the inside and outside of every artery in my body!!

Hmmmm, maybe I could find a low fat or at least lower fat entry or two. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the case may be), I found the book and began leafing through it - there are 16 chapters - the first of which is Sauces, listed as: stocks, roux, basic sauces, small compound brown and white sauces, cold sauces, English sauces (in a French cook book!), marinades, brines and savoury jellies. In fact there are 280 sauces, beginning with Estouffade - Brown Stock, which is simmered for 12-15 hours (could I stay awake that long?) and ending with Red Wine Fish Aspic Jelly. Where does one begin?

The picture? A cold, mostly uncooked dinner. OK, I cooked the potatoes for the potato salad :)

Have a great day!!

Toronto Traffic

I try to avoid rush hour in the city. I am not a patient person in a queue and I am always looking for an escape.

Unfortunately, last night, I had to take my son downtown about 6:00pm to deliver a piece of artwork to a client. That meant gridlock down and back, sigh! I could avoid most of the traffic on Mt Pleasant by taking the side streets. The extension through the valley was fairly quick too, because the construction on the bridge was finally over. It was Jarvis St. that was the problem. City council, in all its wisdom, has decided to prevent left hand turns on most north-south routes during rush hour. How do you ever get to go east, when southbound or west when northbound? I was southbound on Jarvis St.  OK, how do I get over to Parliament St?

If you can't turn onto a major cross-street, and you don't want to drive 3 or 4 miles out of your way, you can either -
1. Pull into one side of a gas station on a strategic corner and drive out the other side.
2. Find a driveway to pull into. Back out carefully into northbound traffic and reverse your direction, so that you are able to make a right hand turn onto the cross street you need.
3. Make an illegal left-hand turn. This is how crazy it is.

Executing one of the above, I got us to where we had to be - Carlton St. about a block and a half west of Parliament. Fortunately, I could park on the street and wait for my son to deliver his art and return to the car. I busied myself taking pictures and watching the traffic build from the lights at Parliament. I was also planning my return journey. Technically I had to go straight ahead into the back up at Parliament, because the side street in front of me was one way going north. I couldn't turn into it. However, I could pull ahead and back into it, making it look as though I had just driven up the street, maybe :)

The trick now was to make a left hand turn into the gridlock. I pulled ahead. The car to the right moved up slightly, however, to my left was a streetcar and they don't (or can't) back up. So there I was stuck between two vehicles waiting for a light to change. Well, I had to wait for several lights to change - not sure why. Finally, I was able to pull through the opening and fortunately, there were no cars speeding past me in the westbound lane, to hold me up. Streetcars are unforgiving and they make this horrible clanging noise, when they are angry!!

The rest of the trip home should have been a breeze, except that there was a fire in an apartment building at Jarvis and Charles, which drew about ten fire trucks and closed the road. All traffic was detoured east to Sherbourne, where I had to double back along Bloor St. This is how a twenty minute drive can take over an hour in Toronto!!

Have a great day!!

What to Write?

I felt today that I needed to write something - but what? It was actually easier to write last year when I accepted a challenge to write a blog a day for the year. In fact, I did write 365 blogs in 2013, maybe not everyday, but sometimes I wrote three in one day. This is often how the creative process works - sometimes there's nothing and sometimes there's a whole lot :) Somehow, when you know you have to write, you dredge up a topic or two and just start. When you don't actually have to do anything, you tend to wait for the perfect combination of topic and enthusiasm!

So maybe I have the enthusiasm today, but not the topic :) When all else fails, make a list!!

1. I could write on the new recipient of the Ignoble prize. He was written up recently in the local newspaper under the heading, "The Father, Son and Holy Toast." He's a researcher who has studied people who see images, often of a religious nature, in common, everyday items, such as food. I thought, oh, this is great! I can take some pictures at breakfast and bingo have a blog post. Except that I didn't see any images, religious or otherwise. Somehow, my toast was just that, toast. The milk in my tea hadn't curdled, so there was nothing there. Alas, the agnostic in me has prevailed and I am doomed to lead a life governed by practical science. Sigh, I did so want to believe in fairies :)

Killer Coleus

2. Maybe it's time for cupboards again. Now, that's not closets. There is a lot to write about, when we start stirring up the dust in closets. No, I was thinking kitchen cupboards and what they have to say about our personalities. You know, what is kept and what is discarded says a lot about a person. For example, I have a mason jar full of small candy canes that were left over from trimming a Christmas tree many years ago. Why are they still in the back of the cupboard and how come I can't just throw them out?

3. I could write about my new ballet class. Yes, I decided that I needed a little exercise and a lot more "grace," so I have enrolled in an adult ballet class on Wednesday mornings. I will leave this post for another day, when I can look a lot more graceful in those walls of mirrors that seem to be in every dance studio!!

4. I could write about an attack of the giant Coleus. Well, it's September and I stop gardening in July, so everything has grown out of proportion. The plants that take over, have and the plants that don't, have succumbed. It's the perfect analogy of life - in the ungoverned state, those that use a lot of manure thrive!!

5. Finally, I could write about, how I managed to solve the mysterious mechanics of a digital timer and get a program re-set for the furnace to come on again - the joys of Autumn :) Well, I can't really write about it now, because it hasn't really been solved. We are still battling temperatures of 27ºC at night and 10ºC in the morning. Time to call Honeywell.

Have an awesome day!!

Hanover...How did this happen....?

As predicted, it was raining Monday morning when we set out to drive back to TO. We would have planned another walk, except there was little chance that the weather would change, so we just hunkered down and accepted "the wrath of God."

Anyway the plan was to have coffee and a muffin at the little restaurant (which BTW doesn't do breakfast) attached to our resort. Sorry they only do muffins on the weekend and this was Monday morning. But there was this place on the highway near the golf course. A twenty minute drive brought us to a sign that said they opened at 11:00am...hmmmm. What about the bakery another 10 minutes away - also closed. That is how we managed to leave the Bruce Peninsula on empty stomachs and drive all the way to Wiarton for food!!

It was still raining when we walked up one side of the main street and down the other of this very typical small town, which makes headlines every February 2, when Wiarton Willy, the gopher turned meteorologist, comes out of his hole, or not, as the case may be. Obviously Wiarton's answer to Monday morning depression is to simply not go to work - almost every business on the main street was closed - sigh! Actually we did find a little coffee shop at the end of the strip which had coffee, muffins and a very eclectic decor in black and red that would wake anyone up on a Monday morning.

On the road again, as Willy Nelson would say, we headed home. Well, at least we thought we were heading home. The road was straight, what could possibly go wrong. Well, as Napolean met his Waterloo, so too did we meet our Hepworth. Somewhere, in Hepworth, ON we missed a sign that said, for highways 6 and 10 turn East here. Unfortunately, we didn't!!  Yes, we were travelling on a road marked "10", however, it was a township (or county) road not a provincial highway, even though it looked to all intents and purposes like your regular highway.

It wasn't until we were almost in Hanover that we realized our mistake. By then we were an hour and a half off course and completely lost. Not to mentioned embarrassed!! Well, Lord Simcoe, bless your little grid-locked heart, because technically we should be able to take anyone of these concession roads going east and get over to what would now be number 10 highway. No, it doesn't work that way. We may have a grid system for our roads, but they are still a labyrinth. I secretly believe that this is how they populated most of southern Ontario. Trap people on the grid and they'll just give up and start a town!!

We were close to that. After what seemed like an eternity we stopped at a conservation area for a bathroom break. The place was pretty much deserted except for one person in a car, in the parking lot. Normally, I would not approach anyone just sitting in a car, in the rain, at some random conservation area, in the middle of no-where, on a Monday morning, but we were desperate!! We tapped on his window. He was reading. We asked how to get to Flesherton. Well, our resource person wanted to know more. Where were we going? - Toronto. Were we from Toronto? - yes. Where abouts (local dialect) in Toronto? This was going to take a while - sigh! Finally, he got out his map, and together with our map, we both worked out a way to get us, at least, to Shelbourne!!

The rain by now had stopped, however, I took no delight in the scenery. After all, I was the navigator and I had failed!! It's best not to talk at these times, especially since it was now about 2:00pm and we were both starved. Finally we saw the signs for highway 10, found a roadside diner, had a bowl of soup and headed South to Orangeville. An adventure, yes, but one I could have done without!!

The picture? - It sums up the experience of the day!!

Have a good one :)

Another "Oh no, what have I done moment?"

This oh no! moment came after lunch. There are these times in life, when we seem to move from the tediously mundane to the very cliff edge of existence in just a few minutes (OK, maybe half an hour). Let's begin with the mundane, lunch. It was difficult to find a decent sandwich shop in Tobermory for lunch. Everyone seems to do either wraps or pizza. Unfortunately, unless you have kitchen facilities where you are staying, it's hard to make a simple lunch for the trail. No one seems to do boxed lunches either, well, it isn't wine country!! Anyway, I did manage to find a coffee shop that had bagels and my husband settled for a wrap.

Rocky trail

Fed and watered, or at least "coffee-ed," we drove out to our next trail. This was in the national park just beside the one we were in this morning. Obviously the Bruce Peninsula has come to Ottawa's attention. We left our paid entrance voucher from the first park on our dash, hoping that there was some arrangement for day passes between the two facilities, because we didn't want to have to pay again.

With an air of complete confidence, we strolled up to the billboard at the entrance to the trail. This is where trail conditions are posted and a lot the other information, such as, notes about snakes and bears, just in case. Then we read the fine print. Paraphrased, it went something like this - "Please note that this trail is one of the most difficult on the entire Bruce Trail system. Know your skill level." Gulp! I was ready to turn back. I had visions of a path skirting rock faces, with no obvious means of hanging on!! This was not going to be fun!! My husband was not deterred. "When it gets too difficult, we'll turn back," he said. Whew! now if there were an accident, it wouldn't be my fault. He was given an opportunity to back out and he didn't - "Oh no moment" responsibility dodged again!!

Steep descent

OK, deep breath, move on. Actually, although the trail was narrower than many, with a number of patches of loose rock and one very significant rock face to climb down (and up on the return journey), it wasn't that much more challenging than the paths around Limehouse, which we had done before. "Say not that the struggle naught availeth," it did (availeth, that is)!! The magnificent views were worth every twisted footfall!!

The trail did not actually skirt the cliffs, as I had imagined, so there was little danger of falling onto the rocks below unless, of course, you got too close to the edge at the various look out spots. In fact, there were trees on either side of the path to cling to. Even with hiking polls, a little more support was needed at times, at least by us. We did, however, meet some young hikers with heavy backpacks, who were virtually "running" along the track - show offs :)

It was a great day and given that rain is forecast for tomorrow, we were happy that we had caught a window of good weather for this particularly stunning part of the Bruce Trail. Time for dinner, at the Grandview, again. Their blackened local white fish is amazing!!

Have a wonderful day!!

Sunday Sunny Sunday...

Finally a day of almost complete sun. After breakfast at Craigies in Tobermory, we drove to the Fathom V National park, paid our entrance fee - less than $15.00 - sorry I can't remember it exactly - sun fever no doubt :) and began our walk. Here you have a choice of trails to take to the very popular grotto area. The easiest and most direct route is a wide crushed stone path good for strollers, wheelchairs and Sunday walkers. The "road less travelled" is a more traditional Bruce Trail trek - narrow, winding, and just so pretty. Part of this trail also crosses a very stony beach with gorgeous views of the sapphire waters of Georgian Bay.

Blue lake, rocky shore, billowing sky!

A very stony beach which I found a challenge. Needless to say my husband didn't!!

Further along the coast is the very popular grotto area.

This is a photographers dream. Can you see the clouds reflected in the still water of the cave?

A beautiful sunny morning!  Another hike this afternoon.

Have a wonderful day!!

Tobermory

I can't say Tobermory without thinking of the character, Uncle Tobermory, from the Wombats of Wimbledon, but that's an aside. Tobermory at the end of the Bruce Peninsula, where the ferry leaves for Manitoulin Island, is a very popular spot. Its main recreational activity seems to be underwater diving. We saw several groups of divers preparing to explore some of the many shipwrecks just off the rocky coast of either Georgian Bay or Lake Huron. It's the perfect activity for a rainy day and yes, it was raining.

We were staying at Big Tub Resort, which is a five minute drive outside of Tobermory and since we don't dive, we were looking for things to do in the rain.

1. Lunch is always an option. I could easily drown my depression with a large char-broiled hamburger and french fries - and I did :)

2. We could take a ferry ride in a covered boat to Flower Pot Island when the rain eased. We did this too. Had it not been raining, we would have left the boat and hiked for an hour or two around the island, which has many groomed hiking trails. This was obviously meant for another time and a better day.

3. We could moan about the cold and the rain. We did this too!!

However, all was not lost, the sun finally appeared at the end of the day, so we could take a walk from the end point of the Bruce Trail back towards the start - just 900 kms away :) We didn't get very far, though, because we managed to lose the blazes, which are often not that obvious in built up areas. Anyway it was time for dinner at the Grandview Hotel, which really does have a grand view of some amazing sunsets. In fact these sunsets are a "product" unto themselves. They are marketed everywhere - paintings, pictures, place mats...the list goes on...

A good sunset, though, is the promise of a better day tomorrow and another post.

Have an awesome day!!

The Cat's Pajamas

In Lion's Head, on the Bruce Trail, we stayed at a lovely B&B called "The Cat's Pajamas." Located in a delightful old house and maintained by a wonderful hostess, who fed and entertained us, The Cat's Pajamas is one of several B&Bs in the area, listed on the B&B network.  Lion's Head also has a sand beach, a marina, the Bruce Trail, a wonderful old inn, The Lion's Head Inn, and a number of other amenities. We couldn't get into our room, however, until 6:00pm because the owner of the B&B also drove the local school bus and given that her run was up to Tobermory and back, with lots of stops along the way, making a 6:00pm opening was a challenge for her. Hence, we had plenty of time to explore.

Here is what we saw.

These are some of the caves and grottos that are quite numerous on this part of the trail.

Another spectacular view!!

Wild Sweet Peas to soften the rocky landscape.

The Bruce Peninsula is a really pretty part of the country. The rugged but accessible walks along the Bruce Trail make it particularly appealing. Here you get a mix of wilderness, tamed by the challenging but carefully blazed hiking trails, and civility, afforded by the many small communities dotted along the way, that are delighted to have you visit!!

Next stop Tobermory!!

Promises Not Kept.....

I promised that I would let people know when were going to do some hiking on the Bruce Trail, so that you would have a head's up about the weather. Sorry I forgot. You see, we seem to attract rain!! Whenever we have planned a holiday or a few days away this year, it has rained. And yes, it did rain this last weekend. However, I have been getting used to it and learning ways of making the best of it!! Here's how it works.

1. We pick a weekend and extend it by taking both Friday and Monday off work. This is easy!!

2. We research an area - both on-line and in "Where to Eat in Canada." Book a B&B or two in an area with good restaurants and plan to head out on the appointed weekend - rain or shine or in our case - rain or rain.

3. For us the area we select has to have some recreational activity, such as, kayaking, hiking or biking. Hiking is cheaper because we don't have to rent bikes or kayaks.

4. Check the weather forecast a little closer to the time and moan. Chance of rain on Friday - we're driving, so that's OK. All day rain on Saturday - sigh. Sun and cloud on Sunday - not bad. Rain on Monday - we're driving home, so OK, maybe.

Windmills in the Mist

Actually we rarely cancel our plans, because, although it has rained a lot on our outings, we have found that the sun shines sometimes in between the squalls and if we time it right, we can salvage the day.

So it was that we left Toronto early Friday morning - OK 10:00am is early for us - to head to Lion's Head on the Bruce Peninsula. As predicted, it started to rain around Orangeville, getting heavier the further north we went, sigh. We travelled through some pretty miserable stretches, bleak countryside, where the only redeeming feature was a windmill here and there. Nothing looked promising!! I amused myself by reading road maps - exciting stuff!!

Inglis Falls

It was the squeak of a dry wiper blade on the windshield that brought me back to the moment. Had it actually stopped raining!!! It was close to lunchtime and yes, there was a ray - only one mind you - of sunshine up ahead. We began looking for picnic spots. Of course we had forgotten one of the rules of the road. The closer you are to having lunch, the fewer the picnic spots - rain or shine. Oh look! a sign for a conservation area. We turned off the road, hoping that we weren't going to have to drive an hour or so to the park. After all they do post the signs to Algonquin Park on the 401 near the airport - it's only 300kms away!!

Bruce Trail at Inglis Falls

Well, we nearly missed the driveway into the park, because it was right there - Inglis Falls and it just happened to be right on the Bruce Trail, as well. The area had been an old mill situated on a wonderful waterfall with several gorgeous hiking trails, all glistening in the sun. Now it was only about 12º C with a wind chill, but it wasn't raining. After lunch we hiked down to the base of the falls and back up again - a total of about 3kms - it was wonderful!!

Next stop Lion's Head!!

Words Worth Writing.....

.....I love words. I love them individually, on their own, out of context, just sitting there in my mind, waiting for the right moment to be given life - spoken or written. That's why my interest was piqued when I came across this post entitled, "The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English." They are listed here on Pinterest. I must admit it is a compelling list and most of them are quite beautiful. I was also surprised that there were 17 I did not know. Ailurophile - cat lover and Chatoyant - like a cat's eye - I should have known these, given the years that I have been in the company of cats!!

Fugacious - fleeting - I am not likely to use, even though I now know its meaning, because I prefer, ephemeral and evanescent, words with a similar meaning. Fugacious sounds too much like fudge, which can be sticky and hang around a little too long. And although, Halcyon means carefree, the word itself is a little too stiff and proper to be completely without care.

Lagniappe - a special kind of gift - sounds a little over worked, when the word "talent" would suffice. The same could be said for Mondegreen - a slip of the ear and Palimpsest - a manuscript written over earlier ones.

There were, however, words that I knew but rarely, if ever used, such as, Susurrous - whispering or hissing. I think I could use this one a little more. Also Emollient - a softener and Dulcet - sweet - are words I rarely use, but should. The rest, barring a few exceptions, are words I use often and love. Labyrinthine - twisting - is currently my favourite, however, Diaphanous - filmy, Gossamer - thread like and Quintessential - essential - are right up there.

Finally, I can tell I am with a kindred soul when I find on their list the word, Tintinnabulation - tinkling. I have one, if not two posts dedicated to this word from the poem, The Bells.

Have a sumptuous day!

Zen and the Art of the Knuckle Ball

Can you tell a family by the conversations they have? I wonder then, what could be said about our family from the following topics? Yes, we still have dinner together, when we can, and the conversation is almost as important as the food!!

1. The Knuckle Ball - This was a somewhat serious discussion of the Knuckle Ball in Baseball. The premise was that, as a pitcher, if you can't be fast, be tricky. A Knuckle Ball apparently has a mind of its own. Sometimes even the pitcher doesn't know how it is going to twist, veer or stop and drop. A philosophical treatise flashed through my mind - Zen and the Art of the Knuckle Ball, with aforementioned sub-title - If You Can't Be Fast, Be Tricky. (I'm not sure that tricky is really Zen, but what do I know?) Watch for it on Amazon :)

2. TIFF - The Toronto International Film Festival has been going for years and has apparently reached its own "star" status!! I have said before that we don't watch a lot of movies, largely because we can never agree on a film, so we have never been to TIFF. The kids have never mentioned it and since I have seen the line ups everywhere, I have avoided going on my own.

The conversation muscle

This is the first year it has been even mentioned in the house.  Our youngest raised the topic at dinner, with the question, "Is anyone going to TIFF?" A long discussion ensued about several very mediocre Canadian actors. Fortunately or unfortunately, one of them, Keanu Reeves, went to Northern, (the school two of my kids attended) at the same time as the father of a friend did. We like to claim celebrity status by proximity to even mediocre stars. Not to mention that that proximity, in itself, is often mediocre.

I suggested that not-so-great actors probably have great agents that keep them working as long as possible, in spite of very obvious limitations. I also raised the idea (again) of the youngest getting head shots and trying to look for an agent. Hope springs eternal.

Art as dessert - miniature treats in Sculpey 

3. Johnny Depp - I don't make dessert and now I know why people do, because it keeps the kids at the table longer. People tend to hang around for dessert. I like to think of Johnny Depp as dessert. He can keep a conversation going at the table for almost longer than the meal itself. He might be the Edward Scissorhands of spaghetti and meatballs or something like that. How could he have failed as the Lone Ranger and why didn't Tonto bail him out?

4. Kijiji - My eldest announced that he had just uploaded several of his artworks to Kijiji. I was skeptical. Do people really buy Art on Kijiji? He said that there were tons and tons of pieces there. But were they selling was my question? Then I remembered that I had sold a lot of my old office furniture and equipment on Kijiji, including cartridges, partially filled with toner. Not art, I know. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see if his Art sells there.

Food with wrinkles

5. Ironing - I have traded some of my son's tech savvy in exchange for ironing his shirts. I really don't mind ironing in small doses. It connects me with my mother and my grandmother. So it was, that since I needed some tech advice and my son needed to know that his shirts would look as good as store bought, after they had been washed, (there was a period there when I realized that he hadn't been washing them) that I arranged the exchange.

Everything was going well, until he asked one evening at dinner, "How old is your iron?" Irons haven't changed much, since they added a steam component. At least, I don't think so. Perhaps the newer ones make dinner as well and maybe I have to check these out. But this is an aside to the real issue. Do older irons really take out the wrinkles or do they actually add more wrinkles? I often wonder at the thought processes of younger generations. Just because it is old doesn't mean it doesn't work and conversely, just because it's young doesn't mean it does work!!

The pictures? Food for thought and my son's dessert art. It's the Mad Hatter's tea party, which he created from Sculpey.

Have a thoughtful day!!

A Ramble of Ravines....

Toronto is known for its many ravines and underground rivers. This is a geological phenomenon apparently created after the last ice age. Fortunately most of the ravines and their rivers have been preserved, so they make for pleasant rambles through the woods.

Sunday we went for a walk through the ravine that runs behind the Glendon campus of York University. We've walked Glendon ravine before, but it is often quite muddy, so we avoid it in winter and early Spring. However, a few dry days clears up the worst of the mud and makes for quite an amazing country walk in the heart of the city.

A yellow wood

Yes, the Goldenrod was out in full force.

Two roads diverging in a yellow wood. I love the poem by Robert frost. But I love even more Yogi Berra's  famous quotation - "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;         5 Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,         10 And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.         15 I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.         20

We took the right fork for this.

and this.

Have an awesome day!!