Summer is Hanging On!

Two kinds of local sausages
on the indoor BBQ.

The weather this past week has been pretty darned nice. Nice?  How about swell? Okay, awesome.  A little bit cooler first thing in the morning, and the sun is definitely setting earlier these days, but the sun in the middle day is glorious. Absolutely glorious.  Makes one want to sing.  And skip, and ride one's bicyle.  Even when tired.

And tired, I was.  I don't know about anybody else but I was tired all of this past week.  Peter was too.  All that virtual travel with James and Eve, I guess.

I have to say, Friday ended well. A quick bike ride to the Cook Street Village and voila!  Dinner ingredients were purchased and ready to go.  Peter was hoping for bangers and mash and I did my best to please.

We ate tasty local gluten free sausages grilled on the indoor BBQ, local organic baby potatoes, sauteed zucchini and mushrooms,  and savoured a glass of our favourite house wine.

Oh yes, and some refreshing sliced cucumber on the side.  I had fun using our fancy slicer thingy.

We finished it off with some fresh fruit.  Then we had to sit still for a while to let the week (and the meal) settle in.  Life is good.

Local peaches and plums. Okay, the kiwi isn't local!

Ah, September

Well, it seems I mispoke.  Summer is not over.  It may be winding down, but it is definitely not over.  Thankfully.

Tickets and a backstage pass.

Last weekend we had the great pleasure of spending time with our friends James and Eve from Vashon Island.  They'd come to spend the weekend visiting Victoria before the k.d. lang concert on Sunday evening.  James is a part of k.d.'s crew, and the Sunday concert begins a month of touring for k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang gang.

James and Eve had their road bikes with them and Peter joined them on Friday for a nice ride out through Saanich to Sidney and back.  Friday evening was spent sharing salad rolls, some wine tasting and stories and a slide show of their recent bicycle tour of New Zealand, as well as a different trip spent in France.  Nothing like some awesome photos and good stories to get the travel bug active again!  Not that it ever is very far from the surface in this home.

View from the Laurel Point Inn.

Saturday was a lazy day for me.  I'd had a hectic week with 3 days on-the-job training, meeting new people through work, and walking the picket lines for a day (Wednesday - a first for me).  I even got to fly to/from Vancouver Friday via Harbour Air!  Peter met me at the terminal and had a good laugh that it was now my turn to be getting on/off planes, and him greeting me at the terminal at the end of the day.  In any case, Saturday was my down time; time to catch up.  James and Eve, on the other hand, checked into their hotel (great view), changed into their cycling clothes, fueled up with a good cuppa joe and rode off towards Sooke for a ride.  We met them later for some great tapas and live entertainment at The Superior.

Sunday morning was a lazy one for us.  Midday was spent wandering around downtown Victoria, checking out the Eat Here Now: Victoria Harvest Fest, and popping in and out of stores we don't normally venture into.  More stimulating conversation and some of the best coffee around.  It's at Habit on Pandora.  Then more stimulating conversation, some noodles at a Thai restaurant, then off to see k.d. lang at the Royal Theatre that evening.  The show was fantastic - what a character that k.d. is;  and that voice!  Boy, I wish I could sing like that.  Actually, I wish I could sing. Period.

More Food

Sunday dinners used to be a fairly formal get together for me when I was growing up.  Perhaps it was for you too.  In any case, it seems I still have a little bit of that same urge these days to take the time and make something really nice for Sunday night dinner.  Yesterday we surprised ourselves and had a fabulous one - almost without planning it!

Steamed local mussels in a white wine sauce, tossed green salad with Mamma's Marvelous Dressing and home grown sprouts, finished off with a homemade coconut lime ice cream topped with fresh strawberries (ripe and on sale).

The entire meal was gluten- and dairy-free, nutritious, colourful, and, best of all it tasted really, really good!  Peter was lovingly nurturing the sprouts all week, and I had made the ice cream Saturday evening on a whim.   Well, not exactly a whim as it had been inspired by a local artisan ice cream maker (Cold Comfort) whose Rum, Banana and Coconut Ice Cream I managed to taste a month ago, and I'd seen some coconut based ice creams at the local Lifestyles Market.  After reading the list of ingredients I made up my own recipe and it worked out quite well as the taste was almost spot on.  The strawberries and mussels were on sale, and the wine, well, it was the cheapest bottle in a specialty wine store. What can I say?  Luckily there was enough wine for us as well as the mussels.  Life is good.