Sun in the morning, Clouds in the afternoon

It was sure nice getting up to a sunny sky. I even took some pictures.

unfortunately the sun did not hit the road yet and I wanted to wait until the whole road was in sunlight to take some more,  but.... then the sun decided to take leave and that was it for the day. It was 1 PM.
This afternoon we went for our Sunday afternoon get-together with our friends. We were hoping that we could sit outside but that was not possible. I am really looking forward to it when that time arrives.
On the News tonight I heard that the month of January was the second warmest January on record. No surprise there, we enjoyed every day of it ☺
Today was the last day to take advantage of the home improvement tax credit here in Canada and apparently the stores were crowded and are staying open longer than normal. We did not use it even though the house could use a few improvements.
Cliff is still chopping wood and it looks like we will have enough for at least one more winter possibly even longer. It is a very good feeling.
That was my day and it was good.
Good night everybody ☺

Fiddling with Skype

We finally installed our webcam on Cliff's computer. Had a bit of trouble doing it but all is well now, except now I don't have one :-( Hmmmm, we might need another one because making video calls is better than just calls.
We had a full day. Went to the hospital in Victoria again but first we picked up a fireplace tool set and went to Canadian Tire and Walmart. Quite a feat to find our way. I am so glad I live in a small community. The drive over the Malahat was a bit scary because it was raining and there was dense fog in a lot of places. On the way back we picked up some more oranges at Thrifty's. I am sure they will last a long time. We sure love our Navel oranges and these ones were particularly good.
We got home in time to watch the News on TV and after that it was time to play on the computer.
Now it is time to read again.
Good night everybody ☺

Books

I have been reading or listening to quite a few books lately. When I heard on the News yesterday that J.D. Salinger died at 91 years old I ordered the book they were talking about "The catcher in the rye" from the library. I had never heard of him or it. It sure did not take long to arrive, I picked it up today. At the same time I went to Thrifty. They had navel oranges on special for $ 2.99 for 8 pounds. What a good buy. We bought 2 bags because they seemed to be nice and solid. We tried one as soon as we got home and they are juicy and very sweet. We sure hit the jackpot.
When we came home I took a quick trip to the garden to take a picture of the daffodils and snowdrops that are peeking through the dirt. I also found rhubarb that is coming up.

The roads were dry today but it started to sprinkle when we  came back home. We sure have been lucky with the weather. No wonder the plants are coming up already. Hopefully no bad weather will destroy them.
Good night everybody ☺

Baking Bread

When I went to get a loaf of bread last night from the freezer I found out that there was no more so this morning I baked 6 loaves or should I say 12 half loaves. This afternoon we had to drive to Country Grocer to buy a gallon of milk. Seems we ran out of a few items ☺
Tonight we will have baked beans with an egg on top and a slice of fresh bread.
It was a nice day, no rain and mild temperature. We are so lucky this year with the weather, wish it was like this every year.
Of course the organizers of the Olympic Games would love to have the snow from last year. I hear that at Cyprus Mountain they are trucking the snow down to the venues from the higher elevations and are making snow as well. The snow will be placed over a bed of 3 feet of straw or hey, I am not sure which. That must be a heck of a job.
I also heard on the News that a drove of pick-pockets are expected from various countries to attend the games. Lots of people from Vancouver have booked into hotels in Victoria to get away from the crowds during the games. I am sure there are lots of people to fill the void ☺ but I will not be one of them.
Good night everybody ☺

 

Getting a haircut

I got up fairly early this morning because I had quite a bit to do. First a bit of housework and later on cooking the noon meal. Of course the very first thing I did was looking to see what everybody is up to on the computer. ☺
I was going to make Hungarian Goulash but in the end it turned out to be Beef Stroganoff ☺ That happens to me quite often. I start out with cooking a particular thing and then half way through I change my mind and it ends up to be something different or I add a little of this and a little of that and I get a totally different taste.
A long time ago I bought a large jar of very hot mixed pickles at Smart and Final in Blythe. They were so hot that nobody wanted to eat them when I finally opened the jar. It sat in the fridge for a long time then I had a thought flash. I threw the whole thing in the food processor and ended up with a manageable jar in the fridge. Now I add a spoon full  to lots of dishes and I am down to only one pint left. I hate to throw food out.
After lunch I went to town for my haircut. Since I was in town I did a bit of shopping. I need to buy a gift for Hubby's birthday but so far everything that came to my mind was not available. The man is very hard to buy for because as far as he is concerned he has everything he needs already ☺, now it is back to the drawing board.
No rain today to speak of.
Good night everybody ☺

Driving to Victoria

This afternoon we paid another visit to our friend. The driving was not too bad, it only sprinkled a bit at times. The top of the Malahat drive was quite foggy though. On the way home we stopped at Thrifty's and at Pharmasafe. I needed Sierrasil which I have used before. It is supposed to help the joints in my body. I sure hope it will do the job. The jury is still out on that!
It was nice coming home to a warm house just in time to watch the News on TV.
Yesterday I had a look in the garden because even though it rained the temperature was mild. Sure enough, I saw 2 of our daffodils were peeking out of the ground. It is hard to believe since it is only the end of January. I sure hope we don't get any more snow. In former years we sometimes had snow after coming back from the winter in Arizona.
Good night everybody :-)

Westcoast Drizzle

and rain in the early afternoon and after that a dry period. We had it all except snow. I am very thankful for that.
As usual I did the laundry but it was quite a bit later since we only got up at 7.30 AM, very unusual.
At lunch time I used the George Foreman grill again. I am still impressed with it. Pork tenderloin steaks only take 2 1/2 minutes to do and they taste great.
After lunch I puttered around and Cliff went to see our neighbours to do a job. At about 2.30 PM I made some waffles strictly from whole wheat flour that I grind myself. They turned out really tasty. I waited for Cliff to come in the house forgetting that he went to the neighbours but instead I got a call inviting me over for Happy Hour. So it was a pretty nice afternoon.
All told it was a good day, clean bedding on our beds and clean laundry in the cupboard. Very nice.
Good night everybody :-)

Sunday Rain

I guess our good weather is gone for awhile. It rained almost all day sometimes very hard.
Early this morning we went shopping to Farmer's Market and to Superstore. It is great to do that early on a Sunday morning since then the stores are not so crowded. We were only gone about 1 1/2 hours getting home just in time to make lunch.
We purchased some great red and yellow peppers, green onions and mushrooms and together with sliced fresh tenderloin I stir fried it in a yummy sauce. Potatoes, mashed squash and a green salad finished the meal. Just writing this makes me hungry again :-)
The other day Cliff informed me that in one of my earlier posts I made a BIG mistake. I mentioned Appaloosa beans that we grow in winter, which of course should have been in SUMMER. I wish we could grow veggies in winter but I don't think we can. It's kind of nice though not having to think about the garden for awhile.
Yesterday I finished the book "The lost Quilter" by Jennifer Chiaverini. It is about Slaves during the time around the civil war in the States and the quilts they used to stitch which were called "Freedom Quilts". The stitches within those quilts were actually maps that showed the road to safe houses in the Northern States.  Since it is a work of fiction I looked it up on the Internet and it is indeed true.
Now it's time to go.
Good night everybody :-)

No Blog tonight

I fell asleep during a TV program :-( and now I'll go to bed.
Good night everybody :-)

Last sunny day???

I hope not. We took advantage of the nice weather and went to Victoria again for a hospital visit. Our friend is slowly getting the feeling back in his left arm but the right one still needs a lot of work. He is in a room by himself and it must be so boring.
This morning I did quite a bit of paperwork. There is always lots of that at the end of the year and the beginning of the next. Pretty soon it will be tax time which I always dread.
We had the scallops I bought last week for lunch. I just steamed them with a bit of garlic in the water and we dipped  them  in a cocktail sauce I made of Chilli sauce with creamed horseradish. We also had creamed potatoes, winter squash and a big green salad. Tonight we had toast and  prawns to dip up the rest of the cocktail sauce. Now I have to think of an encore for something to serve tomorrow. I like cooking but I don't like figuring out what to serve. I have done that for so many years but I guess I can't retire :-)
That was my day, hope yours was good too.
Good night everybody :-)

Thank you, thank you, Mr Weatherman

for another sunny and warmish day. I did not go outside though because I made applesauce this morning. A lot of our apples started having brown spots and I knew if I did not do something with them they would end up in the compost. We have an apple every morning for our break. Cliff comes in the house from the garage around 10 every morning and we sit by the fire munching on our apples. After cooking the apples I canned them.
I also made a very large pot of Chilli. When I went shopping yesterday I picked up a 3 lb. package of extra lean ground beef and all the fixings to make it. I use the Appaloosa beans that we grow in the winter and then dry.
I managed to walk to the mail box though. The end of the year bank statements etc. are rolling in and I hate to leave them in the box longer than necessary.
When I was at the library yesterday I picked up 3 books and I started one this afternoon and now I better go and do some serious reading :-)

Good night everybody :-)

 

Another sunny day

This morning my friend Joyce and I went to Mill Bay to do some grocery shopping. Afterwards we went to our favourite coffee shop for a great cup of coffee. When I came home I had to rush to fix lunch. We had a very easy chicken dish. I like making that when we have company too. It is simple and does not need finishing touches so that I can have fun with my friends and not hang around the kitchen :-)
Maybe someone would like the recipe:

Easy Chicken

3 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 cup Ketchup

3/4 cup Salsa

1/3 cup Honey

1 1/2 tbsp. Dijon Mustard

1 1/2 tsp. Chilli powder

1 tsp. Ground Cumin

1 1/2 Tbsp. Cornstarch

Whisk together all ingredients except chicken in 9 x 12 baking dish. Place chicken in baking dish, turning once to cover with sauce.

Bake uncovered at 400 F approx. 45 minutes.

If using a glass baking dish you can serve the chicken in the dish.

This can be prepared early and baked later on. It freezes great.

The day was so nice and sunny that I decided to go to Duncan to finally buy a pair of jeans for myself. I absolutely hate buying pants, they never fit right but I think this time I got a pretty good fit. They need to be shortened though. So far that is in the "planning stage" ;-) The sales girls at the Jeans store were pretty unprofessional. They were trying on tops and pants themselves and the heck with the customer but when I asked for something they complied cheerfully, so it was not too bad.  
I also hit a few other stores and did quite a bit of walking. I usually park at the Mall parking lot and walk everywhere from there. Now I am pretty tired.
Good night everybody :-)

A drab day

It did not rain but it certainly was not cheerful out there. Other than walking to the mail boxes I stayed inside.
Yesterday, after the stormy night, the snow plough came down our road!!! It had the blade down. The only thing I can think is that it was trying to get some branches off the road. Crazy to bring the plough I think, it should have been a brushing machine. Mind you, I did not see too many branches on the road even before the plough came around. ;-)
Other than cooking I spent my day at the computer. I had to make a few birthday cards. February is heavy with birthdays and anniversaries. Another busy month is November.
Tonight I mad a rice stir-fry with some of our great prawns. It was quite yummy.
Today was Cabinet shuffle in our Federal Government. We were warned that the Government will tighten the belt to get the deficit down. I hope they will succeed without too much heartbreak for the people.

Good night everybody :-)

Great Weather

After quite the storm last night the sun came out in full force and it was quite warm too. Our power went out sometime during the night for a few hours. This morning I had the task of setting all the clocks again which really is a pain in the neck. The DVD recorder needed the settings changed too. Whenever the power goes out it reverts back to Jan. 1. 2001. I have done that so often now that I don't even have to look in the manual now. That is at least one plus. We also have an electronic picture frame. I always have it set to the clock rather than pictures. I like it that way because it has hour, minutes and seconds. I like the seconds part. Changing the time on that is a little more involved.
I was busy with all kinds of little jobs and it is amazing how quickly the time goes. While I was doing that I finished one of my audio books. Kept the little jobs from being too boring.
We are still keeping the rec. room fire going all day but let it burn out later on in the evening. What a difference from last year when we kept it going all night long.
Hope everybody is enjoying life.
Good night everyone :-)

Sunday Evening

It rained last night but during the day it was not too bad. I was busy getting things ready for our company this afternoon. As always we had a great time. My croissants were a hit and we had Sour Cherry tart with whipped cream for desert.
I still have to do the dishes but maybe I'll just wait until tomorrow morning.
Now I will kick back and watch a bit of TV.

Good Night everybody :-)

 

A sunny afternoon

After lunch we went for a walk and this time Cliff reminded me to take the camera. Shawnigan Creek is almost up to the road. 

In the summertime it is only a trickle but now it is flowing furiously.

Later on we went to Duncan to pick up another part for the Pink Elephant. On the way we saw the Prawn Truck parked and I was hoping it would still be there when we got back. It was and I bought one bag of cooked prawns, one bag of raw prawns and one bag of scallops. I am looking forward to cooking with my loot.
Since I had defrosted some chicken broth already for Soup, the prawns will have to wait. I don't think I ever prepared scallops, so I have to look for a recipe on the internet. Sometimes that does not work out so well. I have had a few failures when I thought a recipe looked scrumptious and it really was not as tasty as I had hoped.
Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow so there will probably be no walk.
Good night everybody :-)

.

2nd post

Gypsy asked if she could make the croissants without a food processor. I think it can be done although I did not do it yet.
I would cut the cup of butter in with a pastry cutter and beat up the rest with a whisk and proceed as described in the recipe. It should come out just fine. For the mixing I use a large spatula and do not knead it.
I mixed up a batch early this morning and kept it in the fridge until 2 PM. Used 1/4 dough and made 4 plump croissants which we had for supper/lunch tonight. We have our big meal at lunchtime so this hit the spot.
We visited our friend in the hospital in Victoria. He is doing better but has to stay for awhile longer. On the way there we went around Shawnigan Lake and were astounded by the many waterfalls coming from the mountain. In places the water ran across the road.
Just after lunch the sun came out and a little later there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a sight for rain-sore eyes. The forecast is for another sunny day. We can sure use that.

Our 4 croissants

Now go ahead and make a bunch :-)

Goodnight everyone :-)

Fresh Croissants in the desert

Here is a recipe that you might like. It is very easy to make. If you have a food processor and electricity, either in an RV park or with generator, it is twice as easy as by hand. I love having fresh buns and make these quite often.

Quick Butter Croissants (Food processor)

4 c flour

1 c hard butter (230 gr.)

pulse in food processor to peas or bean consistency. Put in large mixing bowl.

In food processor pulse 2 x:

1 c warm water

1 T dry yeast

add:

¾ cup evap. milk (1 sm. Can + whipping cream to ¾ c)

1 ½ tsp. salt

1/3 c sugar ( ¼ )

1 egg

1 c flour

¼ c melted and cooled butter (60 gr.)

Pour over butter flour mixture, fold in with spatula until moist. Cover w. plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours up to 4 days.

Turn dough onto floured board, press into ball, knead briefly to release air. Cut into 4 pieces and process each.

Put on ungreased baking sheet 1 ½ “ apart. Cover lightly, let rise at room temperature until double in bulk, about 2 hours. Brush with egg-water mixture (1 egg, 1 Tbs. Water)

Bake at 325 degree F for 35 min.

Enjoy :-)
It is still raining here but I see some blue sky so that is good.
Nothing earth shattering is happening here, so this is all for now.
Goodbye everybody :-) 

Raining, raining, raining

I think we have enough of that!
We had another run into town. I had to exchange the shoes I bought a while ago. I really liked them at first but they did a number on my left foot. In the end it hurt even when I was not wearing the shoes. So we took them back today and Mark's Workwear World exchanged them without a problem. I had only worn them a few times to go to the mail box and in the house a bit to break them in, but instead they broke me. I got a different type now and they feel really good. I will wear them in the house for awhile before using them outside.
We had a pretty good weekend and I even went for a walk (different shoes :-) but other than that nothing interesting to tell you.
As a matter of fact, I will take a bit of a break from posting but I will surely read all my favourite Blogs.
Bye bye for awhile.

TGIF

not really something I look forward to any more because every day is a Thank God day :-)
It was grey on grey today. For most of the day the air was laden with moisture but it only started raining at about 4 PM. It was 4C so not cold. I only went up the road to the mail boxes and that was the extend of my walking.
We had the second jar of Chinook salmon and it was very tasty again. Too bad there are no more :-) but I still have some ones that I canned a couple of years ago.
I was in the cold room thinking of getting one of our squash and saw that quite a few had rotted and some were on the way to the same. They look great on the top but when I pick them up the rest of them is rotten. On some of them parts are still salvageable so we will eat squash every day now for awhile. There are a few good ones left too. Good thing we both like it.
We just had a Navel Orange and it was so sweet and juicy and big so we shared it. We bought them yesterday for 49 cents a pound. They are that price all over. I hope they last for a long time. When we wintered in Arizona we used to pick them ourselves around this time of the year. At the farm we were issued a large bucket and that's the way it was paid too. We tried some about a month ago but they were still pretty sour.
Hope your day was great.
Goodnight everybody :-)

an Indonesian incident

New Years eve I thought about an incident that happened on that day in 1984. Cliff and I had taken the catamaran out on the ocean to celebrate the New Year by ourselves. It was a nice day but later turned pretty ugly with high waves and wind.
We tucked into one of our favourite spots, 3 Palms cove we called it, quite early that afternoon.
It was not long and we got company of a few young guys  on a ketinktink , an Indonesian outrigger canoe. They were hoping for an invitation on the cat, but because it is sooo  hard to get them off usually and you never know what they might have in mind,  we did not bite. They hung around for quite some time looking over what was on the cat and saw we had a radio, scuba gear, mattresses, nice big ice igloos and all kinds of other stuff. They finally left and we walked around the shore for awhile and later on got to bed when it was dark, not waiting for midnight. The weather was getting rougher all the time.
Around midnight Cliff woke me out of a deep sleep and told me to be very quiet. He snuck to the front of the boat and hauled up the anchor line very slowly as not to make noise. Then the chain came and it clunked so he heaved on it as fast as he could and started the engine. He had seen those guys from the afternoon come, cut their engine and swim the ketinktink towards us. We flew out of that cove, the guys in hot pursuit. The water was really rough and since there was lots of coral I had to be at the front of the boat looking out for that. It was very shallow. One moment I was looking up at Cliff on the stern with the engine and the next I was looking down on him.  We were lucky that the stars were out and we could see where we were going. We were also lucky that our outboard was more powerful than theirs because after quite awhile we were able to outrun them and they turned back. We ran for a long time before we felt safe enough to anchor again but believe me neither one of us slept that night.

ThreePalm cove

Another anchoring spot

Coral in the water (the camera does  not do it justice)

That was my story for tonight.

Good night everybody :-)

Going to town

I got up fairly early this morning because we had an appointment in Duncan at 9.30 and wanted to do a quick shopping before that.
When I got up the coffee was made but I was able to make the porridge. Cliff was in the process of starting the fire downstairs. The upstairs was already blazing. Coffee was great and we sat downstairs watching the fire while we drank it.
I had to wash my hair this morning so I had to hurry up. As usual lately we took the pink elephant and it worked well. It amazes me when I think that just a few weeks ago the engine sat in bits and pieces on the workbench in the shop. It sure keeps Cliff busy but I wonder what he will do when all the kinks are rectified???
We had a good chat with the lady we had an appointment with and she presented us with 2 jars of white Chinook salmon. We had one of them for our lunch and it was terrific. The first large salmon (27 lb) we ever caught was a white Chinook. We had never had one and were not too thrilled when we saw it was white, so I canned it but kept a few pieces to eat fresh. It was so delicious that I was sorry to have canned just about all. Live and learn I guess. 
Cliff went to Victoria this afternoon. He had 4 old batteries to get rid of and amazingly enough he got $ 20.00 for them. There was a time when they were worth nothing. He also stopped at an auto wreckers to try and find a part for his WE but was not able to find one. All the Hondas that were there had that particular part missing. That must have been a weak point in them. Now he'll probably have to order a new one. I stayed home, I was not feeling too well., but all told it was a good day with only a bit of rain.
Good night everybody :-)

Not much to write about

It was a rainy day again and not much going on. I did my usual Monday job - laundry and not much else. I read most of the afternoon. Good thing I had soup to serve from the day before. Cliff took the pink elephant out for a drive. It works pretty good now but he still tinkers with it.
We would both like to be in Arizona  where it is getting nice and warm. Too bad we sold our 5th wheel last year. On the other hand we are cozy here so it is not hard to take as long as there is no snow.
Tomorrow it's off to town again.
Good night everybody :-)

Saturday

We had some sun today, actually quite a bit and it got to be 8 C. It was nice to take a little walk . We also went to Mill Bay, I had to take 2 books back to the library. When I got there, the books were still at home!!! Darn it, but good thing they are not due until next week Wednesday.
At around 10 in the morning we usually have a bit of a break with a couple of our apples. They really taste good this year. In the afternoon we have another break with hot chocolate and cookies. That is, that's what we used to do. I gained 10 pounds last year, so that has to come off and so no more hot chocolate and cookies for me.
When I read the RV Blogs in the mornings I am envious but when the time comes to go to bed I am very happy to be in my very own bed. I usually turn on my electric blanket and the bed is toasty warm when I climb in. I don't keep it going all night, just enough to warm the bed.
That's exactly where I am going now :-)
Good night everybody :-)

Start of a new year

and it rained nearly all day long. At one time the sun came out but it was not for long.
I never got to see the Ball drop in New York, I could not even make it till 9 PM. I should have known better because it is very seldom that we can stay awake until midnight.
Even though it was raining we hoofed it to our friends this afternoon. Good thing they don't live far. It seems silly to start a car for that distance.
We had my favourite buttermilk biscuits with ham pâté or onion and garlic cream cheese. I have the recipe for the biscuits from my friend but I cannot make them as nice as she does. I have no idea why not !!! It's maddening.
Today was the last day for the Christmas decorations and tomorrow they will be packed away for another year.
Nothing else is new so,
Good night everybody :-)