Paid Vacations

July 21st - Another early morning drive from Victoria to Hornby Island.
Ah, the sun and fluffy white clouds!

... watched a remote controlled sailboat race (July 22nd)

... visited friends (July 22nd),

... amongst them Anna and Ava (July 22nd),

July 24th - went hiking up Mount Geoffrey
with the visiting Alberta Snikles,

After our hike up the mountain, it was time to cool off and have some lunch.

That evening we went down to Ford Cove to watch Alex and Paul
swim in the rather cool water.

July 28 - Peter enjoys a much needed chair
massage at the Saturday Market.

Sunday July 29 - picnic at the beach. Here
Meka enjoys a roll in the warm sand.

Some of us attempted a game of frisbee in the frigid waters
of Whaling Station Bay.

Some of us enjoyed the warm sand ...

One of us happily got buried in the sand,

 and all of us enjoyed a bite to eat, al fresco!
Check out Alex's six-pack.

The next day the Alberta Snikles started on their journey home and Judith drove back to Victoria to go to earn her next paid vacation.  Frank and Mary Jane stayed home to recover from 2 weeks of visitors and Peter stayed on Hornby for more 'healing.'  Thankfully, we are all recovering nicely and looking forward to warmer weather in August.

Sunday Night dessert

Sorry for the poor photo -
we almost forgot to take it!

This past week we conspired with Peter's parents to share our "Sunday Night" Japanese style.  We prepared a little miso soup, rolled some sushi, sliced some tuna and salmon sashimi, and finished with freshly made Banana, Lime and Coconut ice cream. 

We've mentioned the gluten and dairy free ice cream once before and have made some adjustments to the recipe that we were most happy with.

Banana, Lime and Coconut Ice Cream

All ingredients ready to blend.

1 tin coconut milk

1/4 tin vanilla almond milk  (I measured in the coconut tin)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 mashed ripe banana

juice of 1 lime (approximately 60 ml including the pulp)

2 tsp orange zest (homemade preferably)

1 tbsp agave syrup (or maple syrup)

Put all ingredients in the blender to puree for a couple of minutes, and store in the refrigerator until cold.  This part you can make up to a day ahead of time.  Then follow the instructions for your an ice cream maker. 

 

This makes a lovely, creamy and tasty ice cream.  Next time I may experiment with coconut milk and different fruits, and, of course, chocolate!

We use the half pint Donvier that was thoughtfully gifted to me by my aunt a number of years ago.  

I imagine that if there was any leftover ice cream, one could keep it in the freezer for a rainy day.  But I can only imagine that part.  The leftover part, that is.

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.

Sunday Dinners

Today was a real winter day for us.  There was a dusting of snow on the ground and it was downright chilly at only 1 degree above zero Celsius.  However, the sun was shining and there was a little breeze. 

Tonight we had our first traditional-style Sunday dinner this year.  And, I am happy to say it was both good for us and fit our budget!  In fact, it almost met all the dietary restrictions we are trying to meet these days.  We roasted a pork tenderloin we'd found on sale at the local Thrifty's Store, then sliced it thinly to serve on top of our homemade gluten-free buns that were served open-faced, then drizzled with tasty gluten-free gravy.  There was a side of Mock Mashed Potatoes (i.e. cauliflower mashed), and Romaine lettuce with our new house dressing - which is very 'Caesar-like'.  For dessert, we ate some of the ripened (finally) Vancouver Island kiwis (which were also on sale).  Very tasty and quite satisfying.

Christmas Tree Hunting in Metchosin

Hunter and his weapon looking for prey!

First kill of the day!

Sunday Shopping, Monday Installation

$6 aerator

Last week we had a high-speed blowout of sorts.  The cheap little plastic aerator we'd installed on the kitchen faucet blew off with quite some significant force.  Luckily, it blew off into the dish water and didn't damage me or anything else. Amazing how much force the water has! Anyway, I tried to jimmy the thing back together with no luck.  Water just sprayed everywhere for a couple of days.

On our Sunday outing for grocery shopping, we drove to the famous Oak Bay Home Hardware store to check it out and purchase a new aerator.  We purchased a more expensive model this time and spent a whole $5.99 (plus taxes)! We also found out the store had recently been sold to a new owner.  Peter has been studying local hardware market so this was a bonus piece of information.

Glass door knobs

On a more esoteric note, I want you to notice the similarity between our new installation and the existing, historical theme of the apartment seen here in the wonderful 12 facet glass door knobs.  These door knobs are on every one of our interior door handles, except the front door.  Love it.

Sunday September 4th - Saanich Fair

The Saanich Fair is huge! And it was packed too! Lots to see, hear, taste, smell, and touch.

Llamas of all kinds and sizes ...

Rides ...

Fun for the whole family.

I wanted to go on this one ...

Did I mention it was really hot and dry?

A classic Ferris wheel

This woman had been doing this one for years!

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?"

The day after Saturday

We've discovered that everything tastes better housed in a homemade warm corn tortilla, including smoked tuna tacones!















I believe the original tacone creation came from chef Gord Martin of Go Fish Restaurant in Vancouver. Thanks Gord .... basically, special seasoning, seeds, shoots, slaw, fish of your choice and lots of care goes into this delicious creation! So next time you're visiting, you may want to put in your request at the PeJu kitchen for tacones. You won't be disappointed!