A souflade of Vegetables

Just another picture of food, what we like to call a "souflade" (pr. soof-lard) of vegetables, cooked alongside the turkey in the oven on Christmas day, a portion of which will be used for our boxing day fry-up and subsequent repeats over the next day or so.

Make Fire, drink, eat..

Goodbye Cable

The blog is a journal about where we are, sure we still have nature stuff (when the weather permits) but just today I will add a technical bit about our media delivery system.

Netflix (Canada) via any of the three boxes shown, left to right, dual Atom based mini-itx PC (eight inches square) running at 2.13GHz with HDMI out, next, Roku 2 XD streaming box and last, but certainly not least, the 3rd Generation Apple TV.

Attached to the PC is a Hauppauge 850 Hybrid ATSC/NTSC stick, for PVR capability and OTA through the Atom if we want it. The Atom is running XBMC as it's primary media centre. That little dongle at the base of the PC is a unifying remote for a wireless Logitech K400r with full size keyboard and trackpad.

Of course, our TV has an ATSC/QAM tuner, so we're grabbing any OTA with that.

More TV than we will ever need in this lifetime, goodbye cable....

Merry Christmas via Skype

Another great first today, a Skype session with mum and dad, probably about forty-five minutes without any technical problems, discussion about all sorts, an appearance from the new cat and ramblings about family, food and cheese.

We drank a sherry or two of course (at this end) and they were drinking what looked like vodka at their end, although they insisted it was water.

Oh no...Rod Stewart

This year we have started a new tradition, Cable TV and Satellite TV have been discarded and we have "cut the cord" on the big companies. Six months ago we thought Satellite would be the answer, but as we discovered, if you're angry with one massive corporation, the next corporation is really not going to be any better. So, we now receive about four useful channels OTA (over the air, digital HD) and use Netflix, Apple TV, Roku and a PC streaming box to fill in the rest.

Today though, the morning Christmas offering from PBS was "Merry Christmas Baby" and by golly, we thought we had a lot of cheese in the house until this delivery...

Was that a year since the last bacon buttie?

Here we are again, Christmas in the workhouse, well, no work as usual except the toil and trouble of planting the turkey in the oven after eating the obligatory Canadian back bacon sandwich and drinking a few cups of excellent Christmas coffee.

Merry Christmas

It's a few days away, but before we forget in a drunken moment, Merry Christmas Everybody!!

Appropriate Weather

A lot of the Christmas booze has been bought, we have the turkey, stuffing and sausage meat. Mincemeat, shortbread and Thorntons Special Toffee.

Today, the Christmas tree will be going up, Karen will be finishing off her shopping and I may be wrapping.

So, it's appropriate that it looks like this outside:

Sea Bus

The sea bus over to the North shore, and the potential for more festivities, allowed us a close up of a couple of huge container ships as we threaded our way across the water to Lonsdale Quay.

Memories of Wigan

It was fitting and quite a coincidence that as we were married in Wigan, Lancashire, a quarter of a century ago, here as we enjoyed beer and food in a pub in downtown Vancouver, Wigan Athletic lost three nothing to Newcastle United.

The match was live, not recorded.

Steamworks

Lunch, a microbrewed IPA (Empress Pale Ale) along with good food, Chili and Butter Chicken with a coconut curry sauce, chips, cheese bread, naan. It was all very yummy, a great way to spend an anniversary lunch at the Steamworks, downtown Vancouver.

Steamed Buns

After the ferry, the bus, the train we wanted some breakfast and headed to the nearest Starbucks, while waiting in line a couple of locals were tucking into these amazing things, we walked outside and next door was a little Chinese bakery that sold these steamed, spicy meat, buns. Like a dumpling with the meat, vegetables and sauce inside.

It was the first time, it certainly won't be the last.

Cheese and Duck thing

This was the small selection of delicious cheese we purchased today, plenty of cash left on the voucher.

The duck thing is a rillette, something we enjoyed with mother at the Fairmont Hotel at YVR when we had a charcutarie board (a selection of cheeses, meats, duck thing, flat breads) so we decided we would have another.

More food of the day to follow.

Cheese Shop

Monday morning, Vancouver.

Benton Brothers on Cambie Street, fine, fine, cheese shop. A wedding anniversary present (not the shop, some of the contents) so we shopped and filled our backpack with some lovely cheeses and a duck thing.

Silver

Today we have our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, amazing that the events of that day a quarter of a century ago are still fresh in our minds. Waking up early for an instant coffee, making sandwiches in a miniscule kitchen for those coming back to the tiny Barratt House, the registrar office in Wigan, the smiles, the giggles, the Poacher pub in the afternoon and then the evening "do" at the Smithy Pub in Billinge.

Seems like yesterday.

Saturday Night at the Fish

Great night of Blues music at the Blackfish with James "Buddy" Rogers and his friends.

Where's the Beef?

Saturday was shopping day and, because of our local supermarket having a fantastic deal on inside/outside round of beef, we just had to crank the oven up and have a couple of roasts.

It's late afternoon as I type, there are a few icy cans chilling in the freezer, and tonight, we are expecting to eat some of this, along with the obligatory taters, brussels sprouts and carrots and of course, something that Karen absolutely insists on in circumstances such as this.

Gravee (tm)

Never Forget

Sandwiches and Beer

On the left Russell's Pale Ale, on the right, Angry Scotch Ale.

In the background, about six hours old, the remains of a vintage plate of sandwiches.

Remembrance Day

This was the sixth time that we have attended the proceedings for Remembrance Day. It is a very thoughtful day and always, a very human one.

The outdoor proceedings, indoor proceedings and then the drinking proceedings, which, this year actually took up almost the entire day. The Canadian Legion is the last bastion of the $4.75 pint of beer and it's too much to resist for the likes of us.

A happy day, many friends and familiar faces, lots of talk and memories, sandwiches and beer.

Cactus Club

It's been quite a while but plants are starting to move back into the house once again, something to do in the winter months as the garden becomes a frozen wasteland.

Karen used to have cactus when she was a teenager (yes, looong time ago) and we found a suitable container and she has created a little garden on the kitchen table.

Almost, but not quite...

Birthday girl in the morning, today a nice walk, tomorrow we have a steak planned, with lashings of red wine and chuckles of course, it will be a special giggle as we watch the "gripping" race to the Whitehouse and the next POTUS (President of the United States) - we really do hope that it will not be President Mitt.

Autumn Walk

It's bonfire night in the old country and round about the time everyone was getting crispy we had a nice walk down to the front, I thought I'd take a picture of Smitty's from a different angle for a change. The next door steak house "Bull" did not make it to prime time this year, hopefully we will see the place open early next year.

Mac Attack

There have been strange goings on in the household over the last month, musical chairs computer style as my old laptop wings it's way towards Ontario and it's new owner, I'm typing on my off-lease Dell i5 laptop, Karen has an off-lease Dell core2duo and mysteriously, a couple of Mac computers have appeared in the abode. The music has stopped for now and we'll settle back into using computers instead of endless setting up thereof...

Freedom Fifty-Five

Felix Baumgartner, October 14th, 2012
Chuck Yeager, October 14th, 1947

Dave Weldon, October 14th, 1957

The only sound barrier I'll be breaking today is the absolute snoring threshold here in the compound after a good portion of the following.

Happy Birthday everybody!

Gibsons Goats

In this weeks Coast Reporter there is an article about the goats we have been seeing while we paddle towards Granthams Landing.

Biologist Paul van Poppelen released his herd of six cashmere goats for another round of invasive plant maintenance on Squamish lands in Gibsons.

Photo : John Gleeson

White Rabbits

We know, it's not a white rabbit, however, it is the first of the month and this guy dragged me out of the house, barefoot and in my jammies, to snap a picture before it scarpered.

As we have just said "Good Morning Deer!"

Upside Down

In August the paddle club were supposed to do a huli practice, but they didn't so we arranged a huli today, we enlisted four of our regulars for a safety boat (OC-4) and managed to recruit six for our huli boat (OC-6) and paddled out to the breakwater and all agreed, at the same time, to turn that canoe upside down.

We upturned our outrigger canoe, tipped it back and then, one by one, climbed back into it. It certainly was not textbook, but we all managed to do quite well. Afterwards we discussed what was right and what was wrong with the huli with our (dry) buddies in the support boat, and agreed that we learned more from what we did wrong than what we did right, I think we all thought it would be beneficial to do it all again, but as a group wisely decided that the pub was a better venue for discussion and getting wet.

Great day, soooo tired (and now a little drunk). 

Thanks everyone.

No Contest

Whole Wheat Muffin : 25 cents
3 slices Canadian Back Bacon : 38 cents
One large Egg : 24 cents
Olive Oil : 11 cents
One Cheddar Slice : 14 cents
A squirt of HP sauce : 10 cents

Electricity : 10 cents
Walk to shops for supplies : zero cents

That works out at $1.32 (no taxes on groceries) which is cheaper than McDonald's, tastes fresher, better, less squashed than McDonald's and of course, all packaging in our house is recycled down at Gibsons Recycling Depot.

And we're still in our jammy's...

Monty Python (again)

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh?
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
A cup o' cold tea.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Without milk or sugar.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
Or tea.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
In a cracked cup, an' all.

It's funny, twenty five years ago, just before we came to Canada, who would have thought we'd be drinking Château de Chasselas while touring through Kelowna, near to where the "mighty rivers of British Columbia"  run and indeed, the lumberjacks rattle about. We remind ourselves that all this we see should never become commonplace, but we see amazing sights every day, we travel and paddle in amazing landscapes and the scenery never fails to impress. I thought of this while drinking this fine "Chasselas" from a Kelowna winery and it wasn't the wine talking when I realised that we have it all.

Red and White

Oy, get off my tractor!

Yes, farmyard impressions abound as we toured the orchards, played on the tractors and stuffed ourselves full of goodies. Oh, and there was honey mead too, but that really was not that impressive.

Uh-ho, must be nearly October...

Crazy Goat Lady

Yes, Karen was in her element, Goats, cheese, beer, overhead walkways.

Beer and Bowling

Oh yes, did we mention that there was beer, and bowling too?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

At the end of the wharf, past the hotels and the walkway, western painted turtles were wondering what all the fuss was about.

Lake Okanagan

Amazing, right at the shoreline of Lake Okanagan, fish the size of basketball players shoes, trout, carp and catfish, all running about as though it's all perfectly normal.

Joey Kelowna's

Yes, ten dollar jugs of beer, three dollar Bellini's and delicious flatbreads (and more) kept the pair of us at Joey Kelowna's for most of the nights out there.

Escaping Chorley

I think Karen's mum will get a kick from this, here, in the hotel in Kelowna, via the magic of Android and wireless internet, Escaping Chorley was read, while planning out the next days events...

Kelowna - Turkey Vulture

Karen insisted that we drive fifteen kilometers to find the best goat cheese that Kelowna had to offer, so of course, we did. As we left the place (with a bag full of various cheesey goodness) we noticed a turkey vulture on a lamp standard, sitting there like a pigeon. So, of course, photo's were in order...

Just one cornetto....

Here's a nice shot of my young lady, I'm jammed in at the back trying to maneuver the canoe while juggling with the camera, the dry bag and my paddle and fortunately, managed to capture a great picture as we drift slightly out of control towards the Shelter Islands along the shores of Keats.

Karen is crackers

Sorry, should have said "Karen is eating crackers" - here with Jess over at Plumper Cove on Friday.

Bear doing his rounds

I managed to snap this blurred shot of "our" bear in the back yard this evening, Karen shouted that he was out in the front yard and I raced down the stairs and of course, taking a photo through the downstairs back window, especially in the fading light of the evening, results in something like this:

He has an injured paw, was not limping as much today, which is a good sign and it is obvious that he is putting some weight on as he prepares for the winter. 

August Clean Up on Keats Island

Hanson Marine got involved with the big clean up over on Keats Island last month, quite a few of the larger items stayed on the float for a few days.

Townhouse Progress

The houses down at the base of Crucil are now pretty much completed, all they have to do now is sell them. We know they have sold two so far (there are four in the picture and eight in total) - they are a bit on the expensive side at just under $400,000 bucks.