Year Two, Day Seventy Three - First Day of School

Dear all,

This is a post-within a post.... It's the first day of school ( aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag) - to try and verbalize my excitement would be a challenge. I am in heaven. I caught wind of a competition to find a 'blogger on campus'.. 'my my', I thought, "could it be... could it be my chance to shine online???".

So this is what I came up with... I am still thinking though... maybe a theme??? Unusual Things That Happen To Me At Georgian College?

It's the First Day of School! The melting pot of feverish students cascades onto Campus, after basking in oodles of weeks of summer sun. I arrived, with my lovely friend Jenny, at 8:30 to discover that the idle threat of traffic delays had developed into a rather grim reality and after weaving through the dedicated picketer's, I found a parking spot while Jenny ran off into the haze to find her orientation.

I had a couple of hours to kill and while drifting through the college found myself joining the gym (and at $30 a semester: this is a sensational deal), failing to purchase a parking permit (more on this later) and finally settled in the library to review the situation and check Facebook. Once in the library ( feeling serene and also studious), I started to probe deeper into Georgian College using the almighty 'Blackboard' and 'Banner' system ( EVERYTHING is now online.. a big change from the late 90's where we had a 'computer lab' in the 'library' that was intended to service all 20,000 students in Full Time education at The University... my my have times changed.


I then tootled off to the main orientation where we all sat in the expansive gym listening to important bullet points about Georgian from the energetic staff and singing a Bumchalakakaka song. Throughout all this, I was aware of the increasing number of students milling around the campus in particular, the size of the queues that were protruding from various key offices ( Registrar; Parking; Finance). The strike is of great importance to all the support staff and I am firmly supporting them in light of the long term future at Georgian but Goddy God, it's causing a severe bottle neck with admin starting to shoot out of the college like an erupting volcano. 

After the colour-coordinated bonanza in the gym, ( we all had to wear t-shirts according to our course. Mine was black *phew*, [I have never been able to pull off lime green]) we were syphoned off to the department of Art and Design where I sat, bathing in the glory of the Gallery, the Studios and the Faculty as we were given our formal introduction from the Dean.

We were then whisked off into smaller groups with just our fellow course members in the drawing studio. It was wonderful. I was totally inspired. I absolutely cannot wait to get started!!!!!!!

It's chaos out there.. but I am in heaven. I am back at school.. and studying Fine Art. I can think of very few places I would rather be.. 

Year Two, Seventy Two - Skot's Wedding Shower

Dear all, 

It's Skots Wedding Shower! My fabulous hairdresser is getting married to Douglas ( in 26 days!!) and Strands threw him a huge shower to celebrate! http://www.strandssalonandspa.ca/

It was a fantastic evening! I just popped in to drop off a gift and say hello ( Darren had chicken on the BBQ.. it's too good to miss) and had a fabulous time seeing Skot and all the Strands Crew. 

They had made an amazing effort - There was a beautiful spread with food and drinks everywhere. Skot looked like a movie star and was in his element at the party. I was also very pleased to meet Douglas after hearing so much about him and ( of course) he was wonderful. I also got to meet Gilda - their gorgeous Shitzu pup... here modelling a new short crop and pink tail. She was a total delight!

Skot and Douglas (and Guilda) started to open their gifts while the eager crowd watched on - it was such a great evening and MAJOR congratulations to Skot and Douglas on their impending wedding!

Year Two, Day Seventy Nine - Devilled Eggs

Dear all, 

For some reason, we have ended up with two cartons of eggs in the fridge so (and on Darren's request) I used this opportunity to make up some 'Devilled' Eggs. 

I found a very useful website dedicated solely to the making of devilled eggs - http://www.deviledeggs.com/ so got to work straight away.. This, I might add, involved retrieving the eggs from the fridge and leaving them out for one hour to establish room temperature - I realized quickly that this was not a 'quick fire' recipe. 

First up, I covered the eggs in cold water and bought them to the boil - Once they reached boiling point, I removed the eggs from the heat and covered... for 30 minutes.. (in the interim, I watered our newly housed plants as seen below - our Jasmin found herself face down on the floor a couple of days ago so I took the opportunity to re-pot and re-house **i.e. bring inside before the snow falls).

I also added a tablespoon of vinegar to the eggs ( apparently it helps with the peeling of the egg shell).

After 30 minutes, I transferred the eggs to a bowl of cold water - I was supposed to use some ice but sadly we didn't have any.. so I had to make do with plain water. 

After 20 minutes of cooling, I started to peel the eggs shells - they slipped off like a dream and meant I could them slice the eggs into neat halves while gently squeezing the whites to allow the egg yolk to fall out into a separate bowl. Everything was going so well, I thought something was wrong.. (but I charged on regardless). 

To make the filling, I forked through the yolks to form an 'egg crumble' and then added mayonnaise and mustard. I then added some chives (from the garden!), paprika, hot sauce and seasoned with salt and pepper. 

I mixed everything together and then spooned the yellow paste back into the egg white shells. 

 It worked! I couldn't believe it! Darren loved them ( although next time, I will veer away from too much salt) and, as you can see, they have nearly disappeared! Hurray!

Year Two, Day Seventy Seven - Winkler Sausages and Strange Bunker-House

Dear all, 

Darren and I took a wonderful whistle stop tour down to Simcoe to visit Bob and Mary Lou! After stopping off at 'Len's Automotive' in Jarvis (More on this to come... http://lensauto.ca/) we arrived home to a fabulous feast of Winkler Sausages!! http://www.winklermeats.ca/home

They had the most AMAZING flavor, quite honesty, the best sausages I have ever had and fresh from Winnpeg. Such a treat! We had an absolutely lovely lovely evening with Bob and Mary Lou - I wish we could have stayed longer!

The next morning, Bob took us to the site of his new project - it was one of the most fascinating buildings I have ever laid eyes on. The story was quite tragic - the couple that owned the property died in two separate incidents and the house had been left derelict. But this was no normal house... oh no, this was INSANE! It was like a bunker in the forest... long and narrow and virtually all underground, built in the hillside. The building was made from layers and layers of cement and even had a tree growing from the roof. 

 
The inside was like something out of a horror film: mould had covered everything wall to wall and the place was chaos having been ransacked by intruders searching for treasure. The most bizarre element to all this was the rows and rows of shelves full of home made ceramics - pots, urns and figurines.. They had a professional kiln and one other kiln as well as at least 200 ceramic moulds that lined the walls of the window-less bunk house. It was surreal!

It is hidden in a beautiful wood full of bountiful walnut trees ( *see above) and these strange webs full of caterpillars. We also had to watch our footing for the dreaded Poison Ivy.. but Bob will go in soon and blast them all with a weed wacker. It was the most peculiar house I have ever seen and I am keen to see how the work will progress with it - it's the most incredible project to undertake!

Thank you Bob and Mary Lou for an absolutely lovely stay - we will be back soon!

And in other news:

1. Just a couple more pics from the cottage folks... we have been chopping a LOT of wood of late.. 

 I am building various log piles... here is Darren's 'axe-trail' ( i am useless at splitting logs..) and one of my many log piles that are springing up over the property

D dug out the fire pit in order to make room for more brush... that lasted about 10 minutes.. it just keeps on coming! 

Year Two Day Seventy Six - Chimichurri Sauce and Banana Cream Pie

Dear all, 

It's time for another fabulous feast with Vince and Kerry and after Vince had pulled out some steaks, he sent us on a mission to find a worthy accompaniment. 

 We are die-hard Ted Reader Fans so sifted through his book 'Sticky Fingers and Tenderloins' which called for the following: **Ted is renowned for using ingredients that are more than usually difficulty to find in the grocery store.. especially in lil' CWood and lil' Owen Sound.. Thankfully, after harvesting a couple of jalapenos from the neighbors garden, we managed to collate all the necessary ingredients for this recipe - often a reason for the individual recipe selection..

So, we assembled the following:

• Green Onions
• Flat Parsley 
• Garlic
• Jalapenos
• Olive Oil
• Fresh Oregano
• Red Wine Vinegar
• Black Pepper
• Cumin
• Salt

 We basically put everything in the blender, gave it a quick pulse using the 'puree' setting and we were good to go! The sauce was a triumph and after ladling it on to our fabulous 'baseball' steaks, we gave the rest to Todd and Kristy next door. It was a winner!

To imagine we had room for dessert was incomprehensible but 30 minutes later and Kerry threw it out there.. She had a Banana Cream Pie in the fridge! Darren leaped into gear exclaiming that he was no longer 'full' and Banana Cream Pie was his favorite.. 

And it was so delicious, we all finished in around 3 minutes flat (no one talks while eating banana Cream Pie...)

Year Two, Day Seventy Six - Pesto

Dear all, 

The nights are closing in *sob* but this provides a great opportunity to cook up from treats form the garden before they are savagely destroyed by snow/frost/ -40. 

So, after pruning our (expansive) basil bush, I rinsed the leaves (which meant my body smelt like I had rolled around in a herb garden) and 'stuffed' *this was the exact words used in the recipe* them in the food processor. http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fresh_basil_pesto/

I added pine nuts and ground them using the 'pulse' feature of the food processor (very important or you end up with a strange herby slime). 

 I then added oil, garlic and salt and pepper and with a couple more timely pulses, the pesto was ready!

As usual, I had made a 'little' too much so the immediate implication of the Pesto into our cuisine was vital in order to maintain the freshness of the sauce. We dug out some Tortellini from the freezer, sauteed some onions and jalapenos and chucked it all in a pan. 

Darren was very involved during this stage, throwing in a splash of wine and seasoning with esteemed finesse. 

And here is the finished dish ( the pesto has turned red due to the 'red wine' we had to use in place of the more desirable 'white wine' - it still worked a treat, just turned everything burgundy)

So, we now have a kilo of pesto in the fridge sitting in a large pint glass.. I love it!

And in other news:
1. We had a fabulous night at The Admiral's Post for Trivia! http://simcoedining.com/admirals-post
John and Aaron serenaded us all night with their band. ooo and it was 80's theme... including costume. It was awesome! If  you are interested in finding out more... Tel: 

705.445.1833