A Life, Lived

Travel Tuesdays - Baur B and B

11 years ago a three week trip to Italy with mom and Paul was winding down.

We spent some time at a b and B run by the most amazing people Diana and Mischa.

This photo came up on my Facebook memories. 11 years ago yesterday this was where I was hanging out.

No one wanted to join me at a wine bar in Acqui Terme. I have made my own wine bar at the b and b. I sat in the sun enjoying the sounds of farm equipment, max (the B and B dog) playing with the giant lobster we brought him from Canada, and crescendo of birds.

Magic.

Blackberry Bramble

A refreshing summer drink, featuring fresh muddled blackberries, gin, lemon juice  and soda or ginger beer, this is called the Blackberry Bramble Cocktail.

A spin-off the classic drink- the Bramble, first created in London in the 80’s, made with dry gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and Crème de Mûre, a blackberry liquor – here I’ve added a handful of fresh juicy ripe blackberries, muddled and served over ice, topped with soda or ginger brew for a flavorful twist.

This could easily be made into a very refreshing “mocktail”, sans alcohol –becoming Sparkling Blackberry Lemonade, without the gin or liquor, by adding muddled blackberries into lemonade and adding a bit of soda or ginger ale. The colour is beautiful.

Enjoy

Blackberry Bramble

½ cup fresh blackberries
2 ounces Dry Gin (or sub vodka)1-ounce Blackberry Liquor
1 ounce simple syrup
1 1/2 ounces fresh lemon juice
Gingerale or ginger beer
Garnish with fresh blackberries and a lemon twist

In a cocktail shaker, muddle blackberries with gin, blackberry liquor (optional) lemon juice, simple syrup or agave, until broken up and they release their juice.

Double strain, using a fine mesh strainer, to remove seeds.

Fill 3-4 rocks glasses with ice. Divide blackberry -gin mix among the glasses, and top with soda or ginger brew.

Garnish with a blackberry and lemon zest.

Travel Tuesday - Lockport

We decided to cross the border on the weekend and explore the Erie Canal where it goes through Lockport, NY. Its name derives from a set of five Erie Canal locks within the city that were built to allow canal barges to traverse the 60-foot natural drop of the Niagara Escarpment. The Erie Canal was built in the early 1800s to transport goods from Atlantic Ocean ports to the Great Lakes.

After wandering the canal area we headed south of the city to the New York Beer Project for lunch. Great beer and good food!

The Market

While most communities have a Farmers market once a week Burlington is an overachiever and hosts a market THREE times a week. Of course, not all days are equal. I have discovered that the Friday market is the best.

When I was working it was rare for me to make the market during the week. I'd have to content myself with the Saturday market which has about 2/3 of the vendors and does NOT have the amazing German bread baker.

We are lucky being so close to major growing areas of Niagara and Norfolk - this market has lots of real farmers which I like. They can tell you about the produce, when it was picked, what is coming in next. . .

Someone complained online that the market was more expensive than buying hard fruit imported from the US at WalMart and that is just about all that is wrong with the world in one sentence. Farmers have a horribly hard job. So many parts of their life are out of their control (like the drought we are currently having). I don't care if the cherries are $5 more a basket at the market (they aren't  BTW) but I will buy from a local farmer. Full stop.

When the market started up in May it was a bit sparse (which you'd expect from a local Farmers market as there isn't a lot of produce at that time . . . I mean, Canada and all).

This was the market today:

This was my haul:

Note the buns and the loaf of bread from the German bread baker. Also note the Ranier cherries which rarely come to the market. YEAH Happy Jerry dance.

Lots of good eats in the week ahead.

Travel Tuesdays - Norfolk County

Two weeks ago Paul's sister and family were visiting from Manitoba. Paul took a week off of work to spend time with them. While we were out for Paul's birthday dinner she casually said that they were going to be staying with their aunt in north Toronto for a good part of their vacation. This left Paul with time off of work and no one to spend it with other than me. Lucky me.

On one day we decided to visit some places in Norfolk county.

Our first stop was the Backus historical site. Located in a conservation area on the site of a historic mill and other buildings have been moved there to create a sort of pioneer village of local heritage buildings. Then we went to Long Point and hang out on the beach. Our next stop was Langton where we had lunch at a Southern BBQ and Blues joint that everyone has been talking about sine it opened mid pandemic. We took the long way home so we could stop at Hewitt's Dairy where they have been serving up delicious ice cream longer than I have been alive.

It was a wonderful day.

Even if Paul was forced to spend it with me rather than his sister.

Travel Tuesdays - Bologna

1o years ago I was in Bologna for work.

Here are some shots taken during my free time.

Travel Tuesdays - Verona

My facebook memories remind me that 8 years ago we loaded up our rental car in Montisi and drove to Verona. Verona was a new spot to explore. Even thought it was super hot we still managed to get out and see the sites.

Travel Tuesdays - Winnipeg

Back in the before times and prior to retirements I always travelled somewhere in Canada at this time of the year to meet up with the senior education union leaders from across the country. It was a time to share 'war' stories, seek guidance, and discuss the common issues of the day.

The Manitoba labour groups were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike and the Manitoba Teachers' Society was celebrating its 100th anniversary so there was a lot of celebrating.

Fencing it in

One of the big battles I had with the garden plot last year was with the deer. The plot is located in a large Provincial park. A large park with a healthy deer population. A healthy deer population comfortable with human presence and with a taste for the finer things in life. They treated the garden plot like an all-you-can eat buffet. Why battle the wild for edible twigs, leaves and berries when there is a supply of fresh vegetation?

We discovered that the deer loved peas, beans, lettuce, spinach and beets. Later in the season we discovered that they loved green tomatoes (this one was particular hard as I had seen the promise of a delicious crop to come in those tomatoes.

The deer did ignore radishes, corn, jalapeno peppers and carrots. They also didn't seem enamoured of RIPE tomatoes (if you were able to nurse some to that stage).

After each new onslaught I'd try to build the fence a little higher.

At first I joked that we were expecting geriatric deer unable to jump more than four feet.

Ha!

These were Olympic level athletes able to leap 6 feet.

I'm not taking chances this year. We have built the fence higher and stronger than last year. The fence is eight feet tall, the posts are placed closer together than they were last year, the wooden posts are thicker and more sturdy than the ones last year. Finally, we used 100s of cable ties in an effort to ensure that weak areas are strengthened.

Don't get me wrong. I believe that nature will win as always. I just hope that the damage done is limited compared to what we experienced last growing season. I'm actually happy top share with the deer, unfortunately their brains aren't developed enough to understand the concept of taking SOME and leaving SOME for others! :-)

Fence building was a four day process.

The first day was easy - I picked up the supplies.

The second day was more challenging - we lugged all of the supplies to the plot. Drove the metal support posts as deep into the ground as we could and put up the first four foot layer of fence.

We rewarded our efforts with our first picnic lunch of the year.

Yesterday was HOT. We split our work in two because we were getting a bit dizzy from the heat. The first part was placing the 8 foot wooden posts. Then we added about half of the second 4 foot layer. When things cooled down later in the day we went back and finished the final layer.

There is still some more to do - it won't happen today because we are getting some work done at the house and it is raining. When the soil dries I'll go and finish things off by tying down any loose spots.

 

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!