A Visit to the Prairies

Harv and I spent the past 2 weeks in the Prairies.  Our daughter, Chris had invited me to see a play “Welcome To Mitford” that was being performed at Bethany Bible College. (Where I attended many years ago and where each of our children also spent one or two years.)  I was excited to go – we hadn’t been at their place for at least half a year and it was time to make the effort and go.  Harv was able to schedule several meetings in Edmonton and near Regina which made the trip even more feasible.

We had a lovely drive over there – the weather was great and the roads clear.

Chris and I headed off to the play Saturday afternoon and had a lovely afternoon’s entertainment.

We got back from the play and headed out to a local farmer’s place where the boys were all riding dirtbikes.  After church on Sunday we headed back for more riding.  I took lots of pictures and will share a few on a subsequent post.

After a great weekend with warm and dry days, we woke up to 6 inches of snow on Monday morning

 

Of Course the grand boys were ecstatic and eager to walk to school.

At the end of the day, we drove by the school playground.  I wish I’d had my camera.  The schoolyard boasted a crowd of snowballs and snowmen of every size and shape – many much larger than the children who’d made them.

One afternoon, Chris and I headed to Hague where we spent a couple of hours in a great scrapbooking and quilting store.  Once again we had to  acknowledge how small the world really is.  The “Prairie Chick” who owned this store used to live a block from our home. Chris and I also spent a day shopping in Saskatoon,  something we love to do each time we’re together. 

There is always a lot of activity around their home.   Chris teaches preschool one morning a week and is on call as an EA at their local school. Dave always has a number of projects on the go which Harv was able to ehlp a bit with.

We watched the boys play hockey,

And then watched first Dave and then Chris play on their respective teams.

 

Harv got to watch the boys at their Karate lesson

and we celebrated Dave’s birthday with dinner out.

These were just a few of the activities we got to share as we spent this very special time with our family

Eating Cake

While at my Daughter’s last week I read a library book she had checked out called “Eat Cake” by Jeanne Ray.

It’s a novel about a woman living with aging parents, a teenaged daughter and a husband who’s just lost his job.  She finds her peace and security in the baking of cakes which plays a large part in helping her to cope with the crises that come her way.

I’d like to quote one of the paragraphs that struck me, however I don’t want to be guilty of pirating copyrighted material so I will try to paraphrase what Jeanne Ray said.

Basically she comments that Cakes have gotten a bad reputation and that those who can turn down a piece of cake seem to be more virtuous than those of us who accept the cake and enjoy it.  She goes on to say that the person who passed on the cake isn’t really a person with more discipline than the rest of us but is someone who has “lost touch with Joy”.  Afterall, we don’t eat the whole cake and one piece of cake never made anyone fat .  Cakes are served on happy days; birthdays, weddings, and baby showers – they are celebratory and they make you feel safe and that all is right with the world.

She says it much better than I do on Page 2 and 3 of the book.  But don’t you agree with the jist of it?

There is something wonderful about a beautifully baked cake.  This book is well worth a read.  I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

Otters

This post is a little late as these pictures were taken several weeks ago but I'd like to share them. We had alot of fun watching the otters in our creek. There were 4 of them and they were making quite a splash. Literally! Harv grabbed his camera and followed them up the creek a ways. They were hungry fellows, gobbling up eels by the mouthful. Who knew there were so many eels in our creek? There's always something happening down by the creek.

A Primer on Nuts

If you were to come visit me, you would notice a small orchard at the front of our property and would have to pass under these large trees planted on either side of the driveway.

At other times of the year you might wonder what kind of trees they are. They must be almost 70 feet high with thick sturdy trunks.

However at this time of the year, it's not hard to figure that out. As you walk up the driveway you will feel a crunch under your feet. Looking down this is what you'll find.

Walnuts.

If you look up into the tree you will see green globes hanging from the tree

But nature has made it easy for us so we don't have to climb the tree to harvest the nuts. Most fall to the ground, shedding their green casing on the way.

I found one that was still nestled in its cracked case.

Picking them up, it's better to wear gloves as the fibers inside the green case will stain your fingers a dark brown. (our great grandmothers used walnut skins to make brown dye) Each year we would gather the walnuts, dry them, crack them, toast them and eat them but in recent years I've developed an allergy to them so the crows and squirrels are now the grateful recipients of nature's largesse.

If you look to the right, you'll see the orchard floor covered in very prickly pods.

Picking up nuts in our orchard can be hazardous. These prickly pods can incur sore fingers and because they litter most of the orchard you'll want to wear thick soled shoes.

Looking up into the tree above you will see the green pods and brown tassles of

an English Chestnut tree.

In spring this tree is gorgeous with light green tassels highlighting it's bright foliage.

This is what the chestnuts look like after they've fallen to the ground. This years crop is not as good as last year so the chestnuts are smaller, but each pod contains 3 chestnuts with the centre one being larger than its bedfellows. These are the type of chestnuts that the song says are "roasting on an open fire" and that go into chestnut stuffing. I haven't used these chestnuts although I keep intending to.

The nuts I use most often are the ones that grow on these trees on the edge of the orchard.

Again, if you look up you may still find a few nuts on the tree, although most have fallen by now.

These are hazelnuts and they grow in these clusters which look like babies in blankets.

They are prolific trees, producing far more nuts than we can eat. And, yes, you might want to be careful as you pick these up as well. You may pick a wild mushroom by mistake as they thrive under the thick foliage and in the slanting fall light can easily be mistaken for nuts..

Or, far worse, in my estimation, would be grabbing or even touching one of these BC sized slugs. (Ugh!)

What do I do with all these nuts? Well, I share them with friends and relatives, I use them in baking of course, and for fall decorating.

(Those horse chestnuts came from a tree up our road which I didn't get a picture of.)

And last but not least, I use them in a favourite pasta dish at our house:

Chicken Linguini with Hazelnuts.

• Linguini noodles
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 or 3 boneless chicken breasts cut into slices
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Alfredo sauce (or you can use a prepared Alfredo sauce)

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1. Boil a pot of water and add salt and enough linguini noodles for your family.
2. While the noodles are cooking, heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil in a fry pan.
3. Add minced garlic and the chicken pieces.
4. Saute until nicely browned and well cooked. Set aside.
5. In a small pot, melt butter.
6. Add heavy cream and heat without boiling, stirring occasionally until slightly thickened.
7. Add grated parmesan cheese and stir until melted.
8. Drain pasta, toss with Alfredo sauce and place on a large platter.
9. Top with chicken pieces, chopped hazelnuts and freshly chopped parsley.
   Serves 4-6