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.

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!

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?

Well, we filled the thing up and we have the pump on. Within a couple hours we’ll be soaking or turning the thing off. After so long assuming it wasn’t working, it’ll be awesome to have it up and running. Come on by and have a soak! Sample some homemade bread and beer at the same time. Damn if the bread machine isn’t one of modern civilization’s best inventions.

I dropped my Dirt Jump bike off at Doug and Rachelle’s so that Rachalle can give it a whirl on the trails. I have an ulterior motive in that Angel promised if Rachelle rode on the Thursday morning Social Climbers ride, she’d have to go too. Here’s to the ladies getting out and riding!

While dropping my bike off I gave Doug a hand moving a fridge and a stove. Their place is coming along steadily. With the stove in place it’ll feel more like a home for sure. Happy Birthday, Doug!

Annnnnd we’re live!

Just got back from an adventurous trip to the Denman Craft Fair with Doug and Rachelle . Lots of snow these days and on the way down the big hill on Denman a minivan had bumped uglies with an abandoned hatchback. We stopped and helped them out before heading down the hill to the Fair.

Angeleah found some cool things, as did Doug and Rachelle. My score of the day was a very nice birds-eye maple burl bowl for $10 from the nice man. There’s something about wood bowls that call to me.

On the way back we almost got stuck, though thanks to Doug’s years of East Coast winter driving skills we made it out fine. Now it’s time for a quiet evening of laptops, backgammon and fireplace glow. And posting the first blog!