A Life, Lived

Garden Plot - Preparing the Soil

Gardeners know that a lot of work at the beginning yields a highly productive garden throughout the growing season.

Last year it was simple. I raked it deeply, added some sheep manure and mixed it in. We were good to go.

I hit a bit of a wall this year early on.

But first some back story. The plots are located in a provincial park dedicated to preserving rural history from the Victorian era. The park itself is made up of five old farms. The park employed a farmer who tended the farms, the machinery, and the livestock.

Last year he plowed the plots and did a beautiful job.

Unfortunately the farmer retired and in the Ministry's infinite wisdom was not replaced. Instead the position was outsourced.

This is what the soil looked like after it had been 'plowed'.

What a difference. There is no way anything could be planted in THAT!

On Monday I tried to turn the soil with a garden fork. After about 30 minutes and only managing to get about 2 square feet ready to go I gave up.

I found a place in Milton that rented tillers. This was going to be an adventure! I drove to Milton on Tuesday and picked it up.

You might think that tilling would be easy. While it certainly is much easier than trying to prepare the soil manually it was still hard work. Three hours later the soil looked like this:

My arms were 'jelly' well into the evening from the machine vibrations, my back and arm muscles ache, I forgot my hat and sunscreen so I have a bad burn.

Nonetheless, the soil is getting there!

Today as I was driving back from Milton I stopped in at the dump. They were having their annual compost giveaway. It is a great service - they collect brown bag garden material throughout the year, compost it, and then give some of it away to local residents to assist with their gardens. They offer compost in the fall and spring.

Seven 'containers' were filled.

After dinner Paul helped me carry it to the plot and spread it.

Tomorrow we will add 20 bags of composted manure to the mix. At that point the soil will be ready to go.

The next big job will be the fence. :-0

Travel Tuesday - Spencer Smith Park Cherry Blossoms (Burlington)

No, I didn't travel far for this one.

Spencer Smith Park is probably Burlington's premier spot for folks to hang out. It used to be the location of a famous hotel and dance club back in the day. While this may be long gone the magnet still pulls people to the area.

Today, after some back breaking work at the garden plot, I decided to head to the park and view the cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms might seem an odd mix for Burlington but there is a logical connection - Burlington is twinned with the Japanese city of Itabashi. To celebrate the twinning of the cities this grove was planted. It is a popular spot in the spring with the trees are covered with soft pink blossoms.

Lunch at Eataly

One of Toronto's big anticipated events in the 'before times' was the opening of Eataly.

Food fiends who have visited one of Eataly’s 40 other locations worldwide have been counting down the days until the beloved brand arrives in Canada. Eataly Toronto does not disappoint with its three-storey, 50,000-square-foot space dedicated to Italian cuisine. I was one of those fiends having beem to Eataly outposts in Torino, Bologna, Rome, and New York.

In addition to aisles of both local and imported products (+10,000, including close to 100 varieties of extra virgin olive oil from producers that exclusively harvest in Italy), there’s an array of fresh produce, seafood, cheese and meat to shop for. In addition there are multiple restaurants scattered throughout the space.

When Eataly first opened I was super busy at work so my only visits were in between work activities. The restaurants were so busy that it was near impossible to get a table earlier than 9:30 at night.

Then the pandemic happened and everything shut down.

There was a brief period when patios opened up in Toronto and Eataly set up a large outdoor eating area. We secured reservations and headed in to the city. Traffic came to a complete stop - apparently the main highway into the city was closed. Then the rain started. Even if we could get into the city we had no interest in eating lunch in the pouring rain.

We finally made it in for a meal a couple of weeks ago eating at La Pizza & La Pasta which is their pizza and pasta restaurant (duh). Because we had been anticipating this for such a long time I was worried that all of that pent up anticipation would be crushed by a less than stellar meal. Happily this was NOT the case.

Now before I talk about the food some context is needed. At the time of our reservations were had a number of friends visiting Rome. Their social feeds were full of pics of the seasonal foods that they were eating as well as some classic Roman dishes.

For example - in Rome right now artichokes are in season and chefs prepare them in a variety of ways. When I was there in March 2019 one of my favourite ways to eat them was fried - the outer leaves turned crispy by the hot oil and the inner part of the artichoke soft and delicious.

One of the appetizer specials when we were at at La Pizza & La Pasta was fried artichokes which were served with a lemon aioli. Done!

It was challenging deciding on my main course because there were so many wonderfully sounding choices. However, so many of our friends in Rome had been enjoying one of the classic Roman pasta dishes - Cacio e Pepe (pasta served with a cheese sauce and black pepper) that I decided to try that to see if the chefs made it properly. This is a simple dish with no fancy ingredients - pasta, grated cheese, pepper and pasta water. NO butter, garlic, olive oil, cream or any of the other things i have seen North American chef's add.

At Eataly they did it right.

After eating that big bowl of pure comfort I didn't really want dessert however Paul was determined to have some limoncello and tiramisu so I had an espresso (Jerry was driving so no more alcohol for me) and fried sweetened ricotta balls (Castagnole). The espresso was the only disappointment of the entire meal - it wasn't nearly as hot as it should have been (likely the first pull of the day). The castagnole were amazing - light, fluffy and dazzling in their simplicity. The contrast between the fluffy filling and the crisp crust was wonderful.

This was a wonderful meal. We won't be joining all of our friends and travelling to Rome any time soon but our lunch at Eataly was a good culinary substitute!

Chicken Fonda

Years ago when I was a kid my mom's aunt came to stay for a bit. She offered to cook dinner one night and placed a mouthwatering chicken meal on the table. It was so loved that mom asked her for the recipe and it was soon a regular on the DeQuetteville table. Over the years it was lost but it still existed in mouthwatering memories. A few weeks ago I turned to google and a recipe popped up.

I have no idea if this was the exact recipe that Aunt Mary made but it sure smelled similar. When I tasted the finished product it was as if I was taken back to a simpler time.

This recipe looks a bit odd - who would think of combining mustard, honey, and curry powder?

Looking at it as an adult I am a bit shocked that we liked it since we were the house that bland loved.

Loved it we did so I encourage you to give it a try.

Of yes, about the name. Apparently the actor Henry Fonda (I had to add in the actor bit because no one under the age of 50 knows who the heck Henry Fonda was) was quite a cook and this was his signature dish.

There you go - two recommendations for this one.

Enjoy!

Chicken Fonda

3 lbs chicken, cut in parts ( or your favorite parts)
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt

Mix milk, melted butter, mustard, honey, curry powder and salt in bowl until you get a thorough blend.

Roll chicken parts in this mixture, making sure each piece is well coated.

Place coated pieces in roasting pan and put in preheated 350 degrees oven.

During cooking, baste chicken several times with mixture from roasting pan.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until pieces are golden brown and juices run clear

Cuteness Overload

Jake and Lucca having a nap.

Travel Tuesday - Venice

We have a lot of friends who are making up for two years of no travel right now. Five sets of friends are in Venice right now and the pics theya re posting to Facebook have me thinking of the times we have been there over the years.

I've been lucky enough to have been in Venice on six separate occasions and would loev to go back again - no matter how many times you are in the city there is always something you've not seen before.

Here are some pics from previous trips.

Indoor Cats

Our two are a bit like this.

Time to Garden

Well, in lieu of the last post, perhaps not immediately.

Nonetheless, we signed the lease and paid for the garden plot last weekend. We take possession of 'our' land on Sunday.

For the next six months we'll be 'farming' this:

Seeds are bought.

I have also bought onion 'sets' and planting fingerling potatoes to try something new (although I think the soil is going to prove too heavy for them).

We will buy tomato and jalapeno pepper plants from a local farmer.

Last year I didn't take the warnings from the experienced gardeners about hungry deer seriously.

I will not make that mistake again.

This year I won't wait until AFTER they have treated the tender seedlings as a buffet to build a fence. I have one all planned out, drawn to scale on graph paper.

Don't ever say that I refuse to learn from my stupid mistakes!

I've also mapped out the plot. Mind you, I seem to have repeated potatoes twice so we'll either plant a few more rows of something or just spread other things out a bit.

The next 6 months will be busy!

Spring?

Another frost advisory tonight . . .

Travel Tuesdays - Ancaster

Funny, I have driven through Ancaster 100s of times yet never taken the time to stop and wander around. A few weeks ago we had some spare time so off we went!

Founded as a town in 1793, it immediately developed itself into one of the first important and influential early British Upper Canada communities established during the late 18th century. By 1823, due in large part to its easily accessible water power and location at the juncture of prehistoric indigenous trading routes, Ancaster had become Upper Canada's largest industrial and commercial centre. 

Given its history we expected to find some old buildings on our wanders. We were not disappointed.