Jer’s Continuing Adventures…

Not directly related though.

Had a lovely evening last Sunday at Rob and Amanda’s to celebrate Rob’s birthday. What fun! Fantastic food, great conversations and a few tasty libations created by DC squared. (That’s Deputy Chief Doug Chinnery). While I brought a simple Ground Venison, Beer Tomato Spaghetti Bolognese; there was a yummy Homemade Caesar Salad, Grilled Steaks and Roast Vegetables, and Grilled Prawns with Spicy Miso Sauce. Mmmmmmmmmm. And Lindy is back! She’s looking good and taking a break before her new job starts now that she’s done school. Way to go!

Speaking of bikes, this Sunday is the 4th Annual No Horses Challenge! Come on up to the top of Strachan Road at noon on Sunday to either race or cheer on the competitors! We’re expecting a few more riders this year and lots more spectators. Lee will be riding his new Banshee Wildcard and is super stoked about it! Even Arly is coming back to improve his time. Thanks to Jody and friends for timing! See you there!

Yummmmmmm…

I’ve been inspired over the last few days to put some extra effort in to my food, even if I’m cooking for meselfs. Prawns and Scallops sauteed with dried Tomatoes and Chilies over Pesto Pasta one night, Ground Venison cooked with fried egg and Garlic over toast the next. And tonight, Doug and Rachelle brought a fantastic Wild Mushroom Soup to go with the Venison Sausage over Risotto I prepared. So good! And thanks to them, we finished off with fresh grapes and some killer Christmas Fruit Cake. I’m practically in a food coma. It doesn’t hurt having the very tasty cider that Steve & Carrie made. Thanks Steve! It is so much fun and surprisingly easy to make good food with the right ingredients. What’s next?

In other news, my Dad and I have started working on databasing his artwork. It’s my first real experience of studio photography and I think I like it. Unlike shooting nature where the challenge is composition and light, studio shooting is more about getting the technical stuff right. With the right light set up and everything in fixed positions, I can concentrate on learning the subtle differences between f11 and f13 at .5 second. Fascinating stuff! And I get to see many years of my Dad’s work and hear him talk about what they mean to him. I’m looking forward to more tomorrow.

The bottle of Tutenkahmen Ale arrived the other day. I’m looking forward to the next Supper Club to share it with Ian and Doug. And any other beer appreciators.

One of the nice side effects of Supper Club is the tasty leftovers. Angel and I had left over Nalysnyky for breakfast this morning and it was yum!

Apparently (according to the recipe Angel used) the French copied Nalysnyky from the Ukrainians to come up with crepes. Whatever you call them they are a great flavour and texture. Stuffed with either savory or sweet they were a hit at the supper last night. Amanda’s labour intensive Varenyky (perogi) were awesome, Bethany made a dreamy light bun with cheese and dill filling, and Elaine’s Borscht was a treat! And I can’t forget the very tasty Cream Ale produced by Ian and Doug. Smooooooooooth.

The highlight of the evening was making pysanky (Ukrainian Easter Eggs). What a hoot! Everybody tried their hand at it and there were some amazing designs. It kept us going till midnight before the last of us left and the hosts could get to bed.

I’m looking forward to the next adventure in dining.

Budmo! (This means approximately ‘shall we live forever!’ Usually, one person says ‘Budmo!’ and everybody at the table/party answers ‘Hey!’ (the meaning is straightforward). This repeats for up to 3 times depending on the mood of the crowd. Only then, everybody empties their glasses.)

What a hoot!

The Social Climbers Social held at my place was a blast! Some excellent food, a few tasty beverages and much lively conversation was had. Thanks to Gayelle for the brandy and apple/pear juice drinks! Sara, being the instigator, brought a yummy lasagna, Jules made it after her private Salsa dancing lesson with chocolate dipped pineapple, Elise brought the awesome pumpkin pie, who can forget Elaine’s fantastico salad dressing and Amanda’s coleslaw was a hit. I had told Angel that I would do the cooking so I put some pesto on a fresh spaghetti squash. Too much good food. And we do it again on Wednesday for the supper club!

The conversation was flying thick and fast. Too fast for this token male. I abdicated my seat at the table and retreated to the couch when Jules showed up. Discretion is the better part of valor and all.

Besides, I had to work on the shop website. You may have noticed that it’s offline right now. I upgraded the CMS software that handles the site and, of course, now the site has to be rebuilt. Doh! It’s not all bad as I was wanting to upgrade the template and clean up the mess left by my learning curve. And if Doug wants to play along we can build an awesome site for the local cycling community.

Parker puts on a great spread! Buffalo Chicken Wings, Chorizo Sausages and Bratwurst, French Fries and lots of Blender Drinks! What a feast! And I made $5 in a bet with Jethro! Better pay up, buddy..

I have to admit that a Super Bowl Party doesn’t sound appealing to me, but it’s such a good time the way it happens at the Fire Hall that I’m looking forward to the next one. This one started at about 1400 after I came out of the woods from marking the potential trail diversion on Slickrock with Yana, Doug and Steve. I invited Steve to come to the party and meet everybody. And while he was there we took his bubble hockey game out and loaded it in to his truck. He had bought it from the Fire Department. After that excitement we settled in for some earnest eating and drinking. The game was even exciting as the score seesawed back and forth up to the last 30 seconds with the underdogs, the New York Giants, taking the win. Woohoo!

Yum!

Slow on the updates this week. My humble apologies.

So, what’s been happening? Well, the supper club went very well I thought. We had 16 people for dinner! The house was rockin’! Everybody brought amazing dishes from Morrocco. The MacKenzies brought 3 dishes, Amanda and Rob had a very tasty stew, Sarah had an awesome hazelnut, chocolate mouse dessert thing goin’ on. Elaine and Wayne, Jules (no Ian), Doug and Rachelle (yummy rolls), Peter and Judith (more yummy rolls). I made my first ever batch of baklava, my favourite dessert. It won’t be my last…

Next up for the Supper Club is Tapas Night. My favourite way to eat.

There’s been lots of things happening at the Fire Department recently. We had 2 calls on Thursday, one of which I went on to transport someone to Denman, and a call on Friday night. Busy, busy. Things really started changing once I made Firefighter. New pager, new responsibilities. I was teaching Marc and John at practice. It kind of reawakened my interest in teaching again.

Speaking of teaching, my Dad has got himself a computer. I helped him get a new Macbook from Jerry at Big Island Computers in town. Now the notebook is here I’ve been giving my Dad lessons on the basics of using a computer. It’s an interesting position, teaching a man who has taught me so much. I think the both of us are learning a lot. And once he’s all dialed on it, I’m probably going to be teaching Mary. What a trip!

The Sunday ride today was sweet. I picked Doug up and we met Sara, Elaine and Judith at the top of Slade Road in the snow. It was Elaine’s first ride after her return from three weeks in Mexico. A nice welcome back!

The ride progressed up Washing Machine, Northwind, Colddeck and out to the cliff for a break.

After the pause that refreshes we rolled down Hot Rims to Ozzmosis, Lox’s Bagel and Northwind. We went down the top part of Slickrock to Milo’s Meadow. We stopped at the intersection of Milo’s Meadow and Spasm Chasm so everyone could take a look at the chasm that gives it it’s name. Continuing on we followed Milo’s Meadow to Logging Railroad. The creek crossing had washed out. Doug and I cleared some of it out as the snow came down faster. Thanks, Doug, for the loan of the dry gloves. A last jaunt through Beulah Creek Trail and back to the truck. Awesome!

Well, today Doug and I were the first to put rubber down on the new Sawyer/Watertower trail section. While it’s still a bit bumpy and soft, I think by the time summer is in full swing it’ll be packed in nicely. Thanks for everyone’s great help in making it happen! Next Trail Day is Slickrock on April 13th (though I’m sure we’ll be out there before that.)

The ride today was awesome! Doug and myself rode to Slade and met up with Sara, Jules (first time riding to the top!), Roberta and Olive Jules’ 10 month old poodle. Nice puppy and well on her way to becoming a great trail dog. We rolled right up Washing Machine, Northwind and Colddeck to the view. The mountains were so clear out to the north. No one had a camera so we’ll be happy with having experienced it. A big group of Moms, Dads, kids, and dogs were out for a hike as we climbed. Awesome! And I was stoked to be passed on the way up by some unknown rider ripping the climb with a big grin!

After a snack break we headed up Slalom to Four Dead Aliens. Doug hit the drop on the Cedar Grove sidehill. Very smooth! Smoother than my slow motion, in front of everyone, endo into the creek. Doh! The biggest bruise was to my ego. After that everything went downhill, well, the trail went downhill. We hit Test Tube to Chris & Brad’s to No Horses. Sweet run. I have to get up there with Doug and Irah and just giv’r the whole way without stopping. Wahoo!

Now Jethro is coming over to play vids with Angel and I on my folks ridiculously big plasma TV. Earthworm Jim Rocks!

It’s official. I did most of my FF evaluation on Tuesday night and finished it off last night.
The quorum voted me in and voila, I’s a FireFighter again! Now I can vote and abuse rookies! Wahoo!

In between (Wednesday night) we had a very nice dinner with Doug and Rachelle. Pat Perry had some dressed ducks for sale and I picked one up. I spent most of the day preparing Peking Duck! What a neat process. The poor headless, plucked bird spent the day hanging forlornly outside my front door. I sort of wanted to invite folks around during the dayjust to see the reaction. Evening came and I put it in to roast and prepped the Mandarin Pancakes that go with it. It turned out well, from all reports. Some duck was et, some applejack was drunk, a fine time was had by all.

It fell on the same night as the first supper club of 2008, so we missed that one. We’ll be hosting the next one at my place. Any ideas for theme? I am thinking something really challenging, like only foods from above the 60th Parallel. Iceland, Greenland, Aluetians, Scandinavia, Northern Canada, Northern Russia. Maybe that’ll be too much of a challenge. How about Africa?