Christmas in Ontario

Hello legions of faithful blog readers. How are you?
I've just come back from Chistmas in Ontario. My mom's house is very Canadian. Notice the neighbour making a hockey rink on the lake

Numerous birds visited my mom's yard including a pileated woodpecker, numerous red polls including a hoary redpoll (!), and my favourite event, a flock of 50 or so Bohemian waxwings.
Note the yellow stripe down the wing which you would not find on a Cedar waxwing.

I visited Kathryn in Ottawa. As a surprise treat, Mark took us on a tour of the Supreme Court of Canada. We had more fun than you could possibly imagine in Canada's highest court.

Ottawa was cold as an ice cube in a deep freezer. I almost froze waiting for my poutine in the -22 cold after falling out of the bar at 2 am. Here we are pretending not to be Jewish (actually, Shauna's not pretending).

Off to Montreal, for a visit with Eddy so brief I haven't any photos. However, while stuck in gridlock for 3 hours I did manage to capture the chaos on Montreal's streets
I also had a chance to visit the amazing Amy Norris, her mom, and Maya. Fun times!
Finally back to Peterborough just in time to get an extreme close-up shot of mom.
And now it's time to go skiing. Happy New Year EveryOne!

Snow

I feel ridiculous getting excited about snow. But in Vancouver, one must enjoy the snow while one can. The forecast calls for 60-80mm of rain between tonight and tomorrow night! Storms are so exciting.

The Transient Magic of Aroma

On Sunday I leaned over my bubbling thyme-glace sauce and took a deep breath. The smell was incredible, but I can't share it with you. Unlike digital cameras which can capture images with greater precision than my measly eye, or mp3s which can encode all of human hearing and beyond, we haven't made the slightest bit of progress in capturing and replicating aromas. Is this why I love my whisky collection so much?

A weekend of cooking

The forecast called for rain all weekend. I volunteered to cook Sunday dinner for the house, and learned a thing or too about French cooking along the way.

Saturday's task was to make a demi-glace. I roasted some bones and then prepared to simmer the stock


Six hours, some shallots, garlic, basil, and vermouth later, and this was the result



Yikes! I almost lost my sauce in the reduction step. I stopped paying attention while the sauce was bubbling happily away. When I next glanced at the pot, there was a mere 2 cups of sauce where there should have been 6. Luckily nothing had burned and you can always add the water back in. A close call.

Sunday morning brought a hunger for some waffles. Chopped Orenco apples from the UBC apple festival, whipped cream, freshly grated cinnamon, and generous splashes of maple syrup, made for a divine breakfast.


Dinner was delicious.




I think this shot says it all:




Baked apples with pecans, raisins, and a maple syrup reduction ended the day. Yum!