Tuesday, July 1, 2008

A Grey & Dreary Canada Day Weekend


Poppa & Boaz at Camp

All last week, that sunshine and warmth got us very excited about starting our tradition...is it a tradition if we only just started to do it last summer? I mean, last summer was our first living in Halifax, Nova Scotia and it is the most beautiful province to drive through. Look out the window on one side and it's the ocean with rugged coastline of smooth, gigantic boulders, weathered by the crashing waves or friendlier coves with sandy beaches and quaint fishing towns. Look out the other and it's vibrant green forests (Christmas tree capital of the world) that allow peeks of too many fresh water lakes to count.

Last year we barely scratched the surface... Lawrence Town Beach, Lighthouse Trail, Mahone Bay, Evangeline Trail through the Annapolis Valley, stopping at our favorite haunts... The Tangled Garden, right beside the orchard we go to pick our own apples...all within an hour from Halifax.

So we were very excited to expand our horizons....and Saturday started out well enough, not sunny and hot, but not raining either. We were going to head north, but my daughter called from Camp Kadimah where she's the Director (her husband also works there and this year, my younger daughter is Boaz's nanny for the summer), and invited us up for a visit. Who could say no to that-no matter what the weather!!

But Sunday was different...too rainy and grey to want to do much exploring, so we did what we would have done anywhere....went for a short walk in town, picked up a few videos and necessities and hunkered down for a lazy weekend indoors.

And here's what we ate...because, let's face it...hunkering down for a lazy time requires lots of comfort food.

The morning started off with a frittata that I threw together but scribbled down the ingredients so I could share them with you. If I don't jot it down as I make it, I usually forget what I did...and now my secret is out. And then I discovered that this frittata I thought I made up on Sunday...well I made it up before!

Then I whipped up some delicious Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies - this time adding some dried cranberries (for health purposes...right! and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you). By the way, it's Tuesday morning as I write, and all the cookies are gone. So today, because it's still crummy outside, I'll be whipping up a batch of Norene's awesome Chocolate Zucchini Muffins, because they're easy and sooooooooo good.

One thing I love about weekends like this...no schedule...absolutely none...no regular meals, no breakfast-comes-before-lunch-which-must-come-around-noon. So, in no particular order, we ate...


Grilled Tomato, Goat Cheese & Pesto Sandwiches

Steamed Dumplings (no photo - and just dipped in a mixture of 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 1tbsp grated fresh ginger, the last of the rice vinegar (not enough really), 2 tsp sesame oil and a heaping spoonful of peanut butter. I probably should have added some sherry or rice wine, but the dumplings were ready and so were we.

Stuffed Parathas with Indian Pickle relish (parathas and dumplings are always in the freezer).

Cheesy Mushroom & Onion Quesadillas (The Griddler got lots of use this weekend)

Toasted Tuna Salad Sandwiches on homemade Dakota Bread (which sounds harder than it is...throw ingredients in a bread machine -5 minutes or less, let it do it's magic for one and a half hours, form into a loaf - 2 minutes, let it rise for an hour and throw into a hot oven for 30 minutes - the hardest part...waiting for it to cool enough to eat.)

Homemade pizza (the dough was also in the freezer) - boy, after this weekend, I'll be doing a lot of work to restock the larder! This time I used roasted red pepper pesto as base, some Genoa salami and some grated Mozzarella cheese.

And today is another crummy day...not sure what's on the menu, but there will be some ready-in-no-time pasta, that's for sure.

Speaking of which (good segue, don't you think)...this week I'll be hosting Presto Pasta Nights right here. So email me your delicious dishes at ruth@4everykitchen.com and then come back for the roundup on Friday.

Check here on tips and guidelines for posting and...if you're interested...hosting a Presto Pasta Night roundup yourself.

Happy Canada Day everyone!

2 comments:

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

Surprisingly, here in Vancouver, we're having beautiful, sunny weather on Canada Day. (The past three Canada Days were not so good.)

daphne said...

i'm finally back in the kitchen! can't wait for the round up and hopefully I will post an entry soon.

ps-love all those comfort food> looks like fun!