Vic Summer

Not often do you get woken up to the sound of someone outside explaining architecture in great detail. I was curious enough to get out of bed and investigate and to my pleasant surprise outside was a tandem pedicab and a rickshaw on what looks like a very early Sunday morning city tour. You know you live in  a tourism district when this is outside your front door, and you know its a university town when the pedicab driver is a student, studying to be an architect!  Just another day at PeJu's...

BuckPeteZa

Step one: Mix 0.5 cup of rice flour, 1 cup of Bob's Red Mill Buckwheat Pancake Mix and mix in 0.5 cup water and roll out real thin

 Step Two: Drop on some thinly sliced tomatoes

 Step Three: Add goodies (Example: Grilled peppers, onions, garlic, eggplant and goat feta cheese)

 Step four: Add more goodies (Example: olives, cheese, spices, olive oil)

 Step five: Slide in oven for 15-20 minutes at 400-425 C

 Step six: Cut and serve

Result: Happy Wife = Happy Life!

Even better with a Raw Cacao Chocolate chaser

Sunday July 10 2011

We made it to the top of Mount Work!

Judith's brother Graham has the best birthdays!  We decided to do something really special today for him starting with preparing our "signature birthday breakfast" for the whole family including Lavazza cappuccinos, fresh fruit and smoked tomato salsa, homemade warm goat feta cheese and farm fresh eggs wrapped up in a fresh homemade tortilla, followed by a great hike and swim in the lake on the way home, just in time for strawberries and tea.  Now, if only Graham was here to enjoy his PeJu birthday ;)

Peter waiting for Judith.

Judith resting on a cool
(to the touch) Arbutus Tree.

View from lookout - Pease Lake on left and Bamberton to the right.

View from summit of Mt Work, looking toward Victoria.
Note that the development you see in the middle is Bear Mountain.

The mountain is covered with lots of rock and Arbutus trees.  Judith especially loves the Arbutus trees and thinks she has found 4 distinct species:  Arbutus olde mans beardicus, Arbutus normalis, Arbutus miniaturum, and Arbutus blondus.

Arbutus olde mans beardicus

Arbutus normalis

Arbutus miniaturum

Arbutus blondus

Thursday July 7

 We took advantage of this sunny but windy evening to walk down to the beach through our backyard, um, I mean Beacon Hill Park.  There were 11 windsurfers and 1 kite surfer out there having a ball!

Tuesday July 5 2011

I have to say, the weather has been absolutely fabulous!  Seriously.  After dinner, we went for a ride on our mountain bikes, with no real plan for a route.  We ended up out at the breakwater, so locked up the bikes and walked out to the point. 

We weren't the only ones out there it was so nice.  Here is a picture of the Blackball Ferry on it's way to Port Angeles.  Nice ship.

After we got home, Peter decided to do some maintenance on the road bikes as we have been talking about riding them one of these days.  We'd been having so much fun on the tandem, it seems the road bikes got left behind.  Nice to have the light, some space and a warm breeze to do this at 9 at night!

Sunday July 3 2011

We knew the Sunday Farmer's Market started at 11 am so after breakfast (and lattes) we rode our singles downtown to see what we could see. I think we did very well - Salt Spring Island Cheese (soft goat cheese and their hard Montana), lots of fresh veggies, and from Camille's we bought smoked tomato salsa and antipasto. We rode home with the saddle bags full and in anticipation of a wonderful fresh vegetable juice for lunch.

Frank and Mary Jane came over after church to go for a Sunday drive about town. First, we stopped at Jazz Fest in Centennial Square for a free concert. We parked the car, pulled out the folding chairs and enjoyed some quality people watching and to soak up the sun a bit. From there we drove out towards Oak Bay, picked up some quality Fujiya sushi and headed over to Willow's Beach for a picnic on the sand. The water can be very tempting to some people ...

"Aw, don't you wanna play?"

Saturday July 2 2011

We woke up today to a wonderful surprise - it was only Saturday and I don't have to go back to work until Monday!! So we got on our trusty steed and rode out to the Saanich Fair Grounds to see the Peninsula Country Fair. We followed the Galloping Goose/Lockside trail most of the way, then rode up some brutal hills and across some new, loose gravel (construction).

We got there a little late (it closes at 1 pm) but we had a wonderful fresh lunch - small cucumbers, yellow tomatoes, sweet pepper and sweet salmon jerky. Nice.



After a quick tour of the country fair, we got back on our bike and took a different route back. This time we followed West Saanich Rd and Interurban back into the city.

At the corner of W Saanich and Prospect Lake Road, I used the excuse of being completely out of energy to stop. As luck would have it, we were right across the street from Tia's Heritage Cafe. After some refreshments, Peter crossed the street and got some fresh picked strawberries. They were selling them right outside the Cafe!

From there it was a quick ride back to the Goose and home. As I have said before - life is good. A sunny, warm day, my sweetie and I on a bicycle, and good food. It doesn't get much better than that!

Happy Canada Day!

Once it started to get dark, we walked down to the Inner Harbour to take in the festivities in front of the Parliament Buildings and watch the fireworks, which were to start at 10:20 pm. There were tons of people, most of them teenagers and almost all of them dressed in red and white and/or draped in a Canadian flag. There was live music - a band called Current Swell - and they had blocked off both Belleville and Government streets. Did I mention there were hundreds and hundreds of people?

And then there were the fireworks! Awesome.

Friday July 1st 2011

I know you want to know what we did on Canada Day. Well, it was pretty quiet here at Chez Judite. After a leisurely morning coffee, we decided to wander around the downtown harbour with Frank and Mary Jane. We saw lots and lots of people wearing red - red hats, red t-shirts, red shorts, even red jeans. There were lots of people everywhere, the usual market stalls, artists of all kinds, music, food, kids, jewellery, boat tours, free stuff, knitted stuff, hand made clothing, chair massages, coffee ... well, you get the idea. Quality people-watching by all accounts!

Back to our place for lunch and a cup of tea, and then Peter and I decided to stroll through our backyard, um, I mean Beacon Hill Park. Parks really are such a wonderful thing! Room to run, to play, to picnic, snuggle in your hammock (so jealous), walk a tightrope, pet and talk to the animals, spend time with your family, spend time with friends and other families, watch the ducks, peacocks, llamas, play frisbee, barbeque, read a book, listen to music, people watch, and smell the flowers.