Or Kispoix Music Festival, depending on whether you bought a t shirt or not. Ha. It’s no wonder those t shirts sold out as fast as they did!
I didn’t want to come home. I’m always content without the hum of electricity and with the warmth of the wood stove. I sleep easily without checking my email or using the internet. I miss hot showers but Cam took care of that this trip, rigging up a shower which will go into a newly built shower house this coming month. (You can click this picture to see what Cam made the shower out of.)
The music festival was so much fun despite a feeling of shyness that seemed to wash over me again and again, getting in the way of truly letting go and having a great time. I regret not meeting people when the opportunity arose and dancing more than I did. The music was awesome, a few musicians in particular.
Lily didn’t suffer from the same shyness and made many friends! She joined a gang of little girls that ran around and through the crowds all throughout the festival. They all wore belly dancing hip scarves so you could always hear a jingle in whatever direction they were running. I loved the freedom the kids had. I loved that everyone present, parents and non parents, accepted their presence and watched over them as much as I did. The festival was very truly family friendly.
Lily got a star crown face painted across her brow and we decorated each other with henna while listening to the music.
I didn’t take many pictures this weekend which surprised me since it’s sometimes easy to hide behind the camera. It just seemed simpler to leave it at the cabins.
I especially looked forward to and enjoyed Morlove this weekend. Miss Emily Brown and Corwin Fox with Tobias Meis on stand up bass and Jake Jenne on drums. I also really loved the Rosette Guitar Duo. Here’s a short little clip of Morlove:
We’re heading to our cabins for the Kispiox Music Festival. I always plan meals ahead of time when going to our property to keep things as easy as possible but this weekend is going to be much busier than usual. While the festival is just down the road from our property I don’t want to have to leave earlier than I’d like to in order to cook meals. Most of these recipes are really quick and easy and I’ve made as much as possible yesterday and finishing off today. We’ve got a house sitter and we’re ready to go!
What can I say about this curry? It was a big hit with my kids and I really enjoyed making it. We even enjoyed eating it as leftovers while out camping. It’s one of those recipes that you can tweak here and there with different ingredients and toppings. I think next time I make it I might see about increasing the amount of broth.
2 cups fresh Chinese wheat based noodles or about 3 oz dried thin wheat based noodles
1 cup Bean Sprouts
optional toppings and garnishes: Crispy noodles, shallots, pickled mustard greens, lime wedges, cilantro, green onion
Heat a large wok with oil. Add shitake mushroom, zucchini, carrot and sauté on high for a couple minutes.
Then add the curry paste and curry powder. Toss to coat the vegetables.
Add the tamari, demerara sugar, and coconut milk. Let the curry simmer. Then pour in water and bring back to a simmer. Taste curry and adjust tamari and sugar to taste.
Bring a large pot full of water to boil noodles. If using dried noodles, cook in boiling water till noodles are very al dente. If using fresh noodles, boil for about 1 minute. No matter what noodles you use, make sure not to over cook them. Drain well.
Add cooked noodles and bean sprouts to the curry broth.
Serve in individual bowls, topped with crispy noodles. Serve with chopped shallots, pickled mustard greens, lime wedges and cilantro on the side.
After our trip to the New Aiyansh Lava Beds we headed off for a few days at our cabin.
I love the large meadow on our property. Perfect for wild life viewing. We saw moose! This one was heading down to the river’s edge to munch on willow shoots.
We saw bears! These are two yearling bear cubs who ventured out into the meadow. We wondered if they were the same ones we saw with a mama earlier in the day.
We saw this beaver working hard all the days we were here. He had a small damn built across and down river. This day we saw him swimming out to the middle of the river and then dove not to be seen again. I stealthily (as possible) ran down the trail to the creek to see where he went. I was looking around when I noticed him *right there* about a metre away!! After my heart started beating again, I tried so hard to snap some pictures but the dense branchiness along the shore made it very difficult.
We found many snail shells. I carefully wrapped and packed them all the way home.
I have a greater appreciation for the many rocks to be found here on the beach. This rock is layered sand, mud and sand. These layers could be millions of years apart. How incredible is that?
Bath time in front of the warm wood stove is a welcome part of the day after intense exploring in the bush.
Story time is so much fun, especially when someone farts in the middle of the good part! (Click to see the hilarious sequence with Justine and the kids.)
Horsetail, nettle, mushrooms… so much lovely young growth in the spring. I can’t wait for next year when I plan to do a bit more herb harvesting.
This was my first visit to our cabin in the spring time. We usually go in the fall when the bugs are done and the fishing is good but now that we live so close we can enjoy our property at anytime of the year. We had a wonderful time, especially thanks to spending it with good friends.
I took too many photos to share here but you can see more by clicking on any of these photos above or clicking here.
We had our heat wave of the summer last week with tempertures soaring to 28′C. That’s not overly hot for most of you but with an average temperature here of 15′C, we were left feeling melty. Of course my garden thrived, particularly my tomatoes.
Lily also thrived under the hot summery sun. She was in soccer camp all week. Leif and I spent some time together watching Lily, running errands, going to the library and playing in the garden at home.
We’re back to milder temperatures which make going for a run and sleeping soundly at night so much more enjoyable and yet I wish my garden could get a bit more hot sun.
We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. ~Frederick Keonig
One of the things that makes me most happy, no matter where I am, is eating good food. This week I’m making:
I have to admit, once I started making this quiche I was a little worried. How can you have quiche without eggs? I love eggs! I was also having bad memories of a “yeast pie” I made years and years ago. It wasn’t actually a yeast pie but a veggie pot pie with a tad too much nutritional yeast in the crust. It was inedible. Cam and I have only thrown out two uneaten meals in our ten years together and that yeast pie catastrophe was one of them.
After a quick call to Paxye for moral support and I was back at it with confidence. This meal turned out great and I look forward to making it again. It was truly delicious, especially with home made crust.
I used Joy the Baker‘s Buttermilk Pie Crust but adjusted the recipe and instructions a bit to suit my needs. I only needed a bottom crust and instead of buttermilk, I used almond milk. I was also pinched for time so I cut a few corners. Despite the changes the crust turned out marvellously. It was flaky and delicious! Here’s what I did:
Almond Milk Pie Crust (double for a top and bottom crust)
1/2 cup cold Unsalted Butter (or vegan version), cubed into 1 inch pieces
1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Almond Milk
Put the cubed butter in the freezer to chill for about 15 minutes. Measure out the almond milk and pop it in the freezer for a few minutes too.
Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor with the dough blade in place. Take the cold butter from the freezer and process it with the flour mixture until lumpy.
While the machine is processing, add the cold almond milk. Once the dough has come together, wrap the dough in plastic wrap in disc shape and put in the fridge for an hour (or while you are making the quiche filling). (Can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.)
Roll out into a circle big enough for pie pan (preferably deep dish or cast iron skillet).
Transfer the pie filling mixture to the pie shell.
Broccoli and Caramelized Onion Vegan Quiche
1 block Firm Tofu
2 tbsp Veg Oil (I use non gmo canola)
3 Onions, sliced into half moons
4-5 cloves Garlic, minced
1 bunch Broccoli, chopped into small florets and stalk into small cubes
3/4 cup Nutritional Yeast
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup Water
1 tsp Salt
1/2- 1 tsp Garlic Chilli Paste
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
Cracked Pepper
Preheat oven to 350′F
In a food processor process tofu until smooth and creamy- adding water if necessary, to help with the texture.
In a saute pan, heat oil on medium heat, add onions stir and let caramelise.
Add the garlic and broccoli, saute until soft.
In a large bowl combine tofu and broccoli mixture along with the rest of the ingredients.
Roll out pie crust and put in pie pan or make smaller versions with muffin tins.
Fill pie crust with tofu mixture and bake until golden.
Waiting in line was never so much fun thanks to a friend sharing her cookies. We all were waiting in line with our buckets to help release Coho Salmon in the stream behind the local hatchery.
Lots of fish loving friends were made today.
The local sushi restaurant, Opa Sushi was on hand to offer tasty samples. Oh so good.
Lily was so excited to release her little Coho. Instead of just pouring him out in the stream she reached in and carefully held the fish the way she’d been taught. I love her lack of fear. I love her interest and care. She quickly put him in the water and let him swim away.
This festival was about a month ago now. We’ve been fishing since and caught a Coho that had been raised in the hatchery. We were invited to go back again by the fish surveyor where we were cleaning the fish to see how his life began.
As many of you know, I’m not much of a seafood eater but I appreciate that my family loves it and what we catch we eat. It’s fresh, local and affordable.
We are all about zucchini these days. Zucchini Cranberry Muffins, Peppery Red Wine Capellini and now Chocolate Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are some of our favourite new zucchini recipes. This muffin is quick and simple to make.
Chocolate Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
3 Eggs
2 cups Sugar
1 cup Veg Oil (I use non gmo canola oil)
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 cups grated Zucchini
3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Cloves
1/4 tsp Cardamom
1 cup Chocolate Chips
Preheat oven to 350′F. Lightly grease or line two 12 cup muffin tins with paper liners.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom.
In a large bowl beat the eggs. Beat in the sugar and oil. Add cocoa, vanilla, zucchini, chocolate chips and stir well.
Add the dry to the wet and mix until just moist.
Pour batter into prepared muffin tins filling 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
When muffins are baked, tip muffins sideways in the pan so they don’t sweat underneath.
