Framed

Proof is in the pudding

A secret and trusted recipe. I watched Karen pour far too much Brandy into this, hey, who is complaining about that?

Convergence

Everything has come together, 3.45pm, the Christmas dinner is complete, the gravy is ready and the feast has been assembled. Time to eat like it's Christmas Day.

On schedule.

It's 1.20pm and the vast array of vegetables have been installed in the oven for about twenty minutes now, we leave them alone for an hour and then turn them. Potatoes, Carrots, Turnip, Parsnips and onion all in a shallow roaster pan. The brussels sprouts will be steamed later. Now it is time for a traditional "Brandy and Babycham" equivalent for the missus and a straight shot of twelve year old Canadian Rye Whisky on the rocks for the mister (in my dad's glass) .

It's all going to plan.

Beer O'Clock

Almost 11.30am and the yule log is burning, Karen's choice of tipple is a German pilsner called Radeberger and I have a darker brew, Holsten Festbock, again from Germany. The turkey has had two of it's designated ten twenty minute periods and we're settled for a quiet hour by the fire. It's cold and raining outside but it's toasty in here.

Cheers!

Christmas day in the workhouse

The day is being consumed as we type, the turkey has just gone into the oven at 10.45am and we're drinking sherry and coffee at the same time. Twenty minutes ago the Canadian bacon ritual was completed after we had opened the prezzies. Christmas day is all about pacing and medium indulgence, too much of anything can spoil the rest of it. In about ninety minutes, the vegetables will go in, in fifteen minutes we hope to have a roaring fire in the grate and soon a Christmas beer will be started. Merry Christmas Mister Scrooge!!

A well deserved lunch

We both had the Gumboot Hash for lunch, free range eggs, hash brown potatoes, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, avocado and home made toasted bread with fresh strawberry jam.

Cliff Gilker New Bridge

New Construction

They have built a bridge to join the red and yellow trails in Cliff Gilker park, nice, solid construction.

Cliff Gilker, Sunday

Karen was stretching her injured leg in Cliff Gilker park today, a little cold but a healthy walk with a promise of a Robert's Creek Gumboot lunch.

Late Fall, Gibsons Harbour

A third in the series, I was testing out the new camera.

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Late Fall, North Shore from Vista Ridge

The North Shore Mountains from Vista Ridge, Gibsons.

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Late Fall, Howe Sound

Here is a panoramic view of Armors Beach with Howe Sound and the North Shore Mountains.

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Christmas Skyping

A December Skype session with the family in New Zealand, topics (besides drinking) ranged from healthy and unhealthy eating, nursing and doctor topics, sickness, health, cheese toasties, cat habits, West Coast touring and microbrewing. A good four hours of yakking across the world.

Public Transit

The Seabus arriving to take us over to Vancouver from the North Shore, they run every fifteen minutes.

Seaspan Eagle

Over on the North Shore, at the Seabus terminal, this is the Seaspan Eagle. A ship assist and harbour tug, this was built in 2011 and has a bollard pull capability of 157000 lbs. Nice Toy.

Fajitas

Taking pictures of food, we'll be walking along canals and blogging next....

Cheers

After more shopping we ended up at Cactus Club at Park Royal, more beer and fajitas.

Cheers!

Steamworks

Saturday was our 24th wedding anniversary, we took a trip into Vancouver, shopping and drinking. The first drinking hole was at Steamworks, a brewpub. Karen had a pint of signature pale ale, I had a pint of Heroica oatmeal stout.

Then we had another....and another...