My goodness.

I went to the post office today and I was handed a huge box by my favourite post office lady. And inside that huge box...

...was all of this stuff:

Even the box is cool. Look at all those awesome stamps!





















All of this is from the Lovely-Lynda-and-Shauna, as a thank you for hosting them here earlier in the summer. It really wasn't necessary to send so much, and it's all so awesome! I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. I'm just overwhelmed. So awesome. Thank you! I had a great time when you were here. Come back anytime!

Last night was the season finale of my favourite show. It was a great episode, but now I'm wondering how I will last till August or whenever they start season four. That's a really long time to wait, don't you think?

In the meantime I will be watching this. It can hardly compare to Mad Men, but it's still pretty great, and it's Canadian. I always loved The Cutting Edge, so it makes sense that I would love this show, too. Even Darc likes it. Hehehe...

There is this walk that we like to do with Carley. It's the Train Park walk. Trains haven't run on this island for almost 20 years, and all the tracks have been torn up. Our town has a train "museum" to commemorate the loss of the trains - it's just a few cars: a plow, the engine, a passenger car and of course, the caboose.

The plow is huge. But with the amount of snow that falls here I now understand why.

Darc decided I should be in more of our pictures so here I am.

And again. With more enthusiasm this time, as you can see. I follow orders very well.

Anyway. I was talking about the walk. The train museum is next to a stream that runs into Burnt Bay at the southern tip of town. There is a lovely trail that starts at the train park and follows the meandering stream northwards, away from town. This is where we like to walk.

The colours are all muted now. The bright reds are gone, replaced by feathery greens and browns and yellows. The larches are all turning colour now, and dropping their little larch needles all over the place.

Even though it has been cold lately, Carley can't wait to get into the water. We've had a lot of rain lately so the stream is fuller, and faster. We keep a close eye on our little swimmer but she's usually fine...

I like this particular spot - it has nice little rapids and a picnic table that used to be nice as well, but which is now being re-purposed for firewood by delinquent teenagers [or adults, who knows] who come out here to do delinquent things. And oh look, there I am again, and it has started to snow.

[I have reclaimed the camera.] Everything is delicate and soft.

If you look closer, you can see that things aren't as muted as they first appear. Christmas colours! Reds and greens.

Slippery leaves over black shiny roots.

D: What's taking you so long? Do you really have to take a picture of every single leaf on the trail?

A: Yes. [Click, click.]

A: Don't worry, I'll catch up. You just continue....

.....

....don't worry...

...

...just look at all the moss! It's so sumptuous and velvety and soft...

...don't worry. We'll be back...

Carley hurt her paw. We think she must have stepped on a sharp branch or twig while she was tearing through the woods the last time we were out. Anyway. It's hard to teach a hyper active dog the meaning of convalescence, but we're trying. [This lying down pose you see below really only lasted just long enough for me to take the picture.] Darc fashioned a very nice bandage - which was promptly covered with a make-shift sock and then lots of tape to keep it from slipping/being chewed off - and Carley didn't even seem to mind wearing it. We're definitely going to have to look into getting her some booties for the winter. All that salt on the roads really irritates her paws....

In other news, I have finally cooked a Newfoundland dish.

This qualifies as news because since moving here I quickly decided I didn't appreciate the cuisine of this island. It's just too bland and...bland for my taste. However, I do like casseroles, especially any that have cheese on top, so how could I not automatically like cod au gratin? I did automatically like it! So last night I decided to cook it for myself. [We currently have a couple hundred pounds of cod in our freezer because, well, we live in Newfoundland now.] So here is how I made it:

 

Cod Au Gratin

2 lb cod, filleted and cut into chunks

1/2 c + 2 T butter

1/2 c flour

2 1/2 c milk

1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped

1 T dried summer savory

salt and pepper, to taste

1 medium onion, chopped

1 c cheddar cheese, grated

3/4 c coarse bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 365 degrees F and grease a 2L baking dish. In a heavy saucepan, melt 2 T of the butter. Add onions and sauté until lightly browned. Scrape onions into a small bowl and stir in the parsley, summer savory, salt and pepper.

In the same saucepan, melt the remaining butter. Stir in the flour a bit at a time till smooth. Remove from heat. Gradually stir in 1/2 c milk. Return to heat and whisk until smooth. Gradually add the remaining milk, onions and spices. Cook, stirring until thickened.

Layer the fish and the sauce in the baking dish, starting with the fish. Mix grated cheese and bread crumbs in a medium bowl and then sprinkle on top of last sauce layer.

Bake covered for about 20-25 minutes, till the sauce is bubbly. Then bake another few minutes uncovered, till the cheese melts nicely. You could turn the broiler on for a few minutes to nicely brown the top. Alternatively, you could bake the casserole in single serving oven-proof dishes. Serve hot, with a crisp green salad [dressing recipe follows].

Italian Dressing

1 T sugar
2 T dried oregano or marjoram
1 t ground black pepper
1/4 t dried thyme
1 t dried basil
1 T dried parsley
1/4 t celery salt
1 T coarse salt

Mix all of the above ingredients together. Since this spice mixture makes about twice the amount of dressing that I normally like to make, I store the rest in a tightly sealed container and have it ready for the next time we want Italian dressing.


1/4 c apple cider vinegar
2 T water
2 T finely chopped white onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
a scant 2/3 c olive oil [start with 1/2 c first]

Whisk together vinegar, water, onion, garlic and 2 T of the spice mixture. Slowly pour in the olive oil, whisking till emulsified. Store in the fridge and shake well before using.

One more thing. I desperately want to knit a scarf like this one. What a beautiful colour.

This is what I saw when I looked out the window this morning. Whoa.
It snowed. Like a lot. 

I was worried about the trees, so heavily laden with wet wet snow. Some branches did break, and the power went off a bunch of times.

Oh no. Look at my dahlias. Carley sees them, too. They are goners. Casualties of the storm.




















What else. I guess I won't be doing any laundry today. Today is NOT a good day for clothes.





















And the car looks like it doesn't want to go anywhere. Not a good day for cars, either.

But what's this? The neighbour girls sure know how to make the best of things! Look how hard at work they are, clearing our driveway for us by making snowmen balls!

And who do I know that loves snow more than anyone else in the whole wide world?

Our dog, that's who. I told her it wouldn't last but she doesn't care. She would stay out there all day long if I let her.

Instead, I am going to make muffins and hope the power doesn't go out too many times while they're baking.

Kina's Pumpkin Bran Muffins
2 c sugar
1 c oil
4 eggs
14 oz pumpkin purée
2 c flour
2 c bran
1/2 t salt
3 t cinnamon
2 t baking powder
2 t baking Soda
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips (I skip these because I don't like pumpkin and chocolate together, but you go ahead and add them if you feel inclined to do so.)

Beat sugar, oil & eggs together. Add pumpkin. Combine flour, bran, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda (and chocolate chips) and add to the wet ingredients. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until done - do not overbake these. Makes about 2 dozen medium to large muffins or more smaller ones.

So because it is now officially fall, I'm knitting something. Can you guess what it is? I can't tell you because it's a surprise, and it's for someone who sometimes reads this. And now that I think about it, this might be giving away a bit too much...Anyway, if you click to enlarge the images you will no doubt notice quite a few fibres that don't belong to the knitting. They belong to Miss Carley.  I tried to get all of them out, but it's futile. In the spirit of acceptance, I am willing to give a knitted prize to the person who correctly counts the number of Carley hairs in the photo below. I'M SERIOUS. Count away!

Sunshine! Finally! It's been a very damp and dreary fall so far, but today the sun is shining. Or it was, until about 2:00 this afternoon. We'll take what we can get, I think. We spent the sunny part of the day outside because it was just too good to waste. And we finally got to pick the damsons! Now we have about 10 litres of plums sitting on the counter, waiting to be used. I think I will attempt to make some jam. If only my Mom were still here [she came for a visit! That's why I haven't been posting - we were too busy relaxing - but more on that later]. She would know how. I will have to do some research.

And my zinnias are still trying to bloom. They made a valiant effort but I don't know that they're suited to this climate. What was I thinking, trying to recreate my Oma's garden, anyway. I will have to go talk to some local ladies and find out what I should be planting next spring.

The mint from Winnipeg is still growing nicely, but lately something has been trying to eat it.

Something like a great big sleepy WASP!

I found this guy dozing under some velvety soft mint leaves, just a few feet away from his actual nest. I guess it got just a little bit too cold for him so he decided to have a little snooze. And then he probably got hungry and decided to have just a little nibble...and maybe another. Well. I should have evicted him there and then but I couldn't do it. I just felt so sorry for him out in the cold. So I took his picture, covered him back up and hope he'll keep warm. I hope you do, too!

It's only fair: if Carley gets a new pillowcase, then so should we. I made these today, out of a mix of new and re-purposed fabrics. The striped fabric actually used to be a pillowcase, but it didn't have a matching partner, and I wanted two that are the same. So there you have it.






















































[We'll see if the seams are annoying to sleep on...]

Fall is on it's way, that's for sure. The nights are cool - downright chilly, sometimes - so much so that I closed the bedroom window last night, which is something I almost always refuse to do, even if the furnace has been running, because I like the fresh air. But it's been cold.

Today when we woke up it was a cloudy, foggy, cool Sunday. In other words, it was a perfect morning to try something that's been on my list for a while now - pumpkin ginger waffles. I first read about them here, and then yesterday I was browsing one of my favourite sites, and there they were again. There has been a can of pumpkin puree way in the back of the pantry shelf for a long time, probably since last Thanksgiving, just sitting there, begging to be used. So today we used it. These waffles are so delicious and scrumptious that I would recommend everyone make them, even if you aren't sure. You will love them. And even if by some minuscule chance they don't totally delight your taste buds, the heavenly aroma wafting out of your waffle iron will be worth it. Totally the smell of autumn. To me, anyway.

Yesterday, Saturday, was sunny but still cool. It seems Saturdays should be spent baking. While reading that same favourite site of mine, I had also flagged this recipe. And wouldn't you know it, we had exactly 3/4 cups of apricot jam in the fridge. It was just sitting there, so lonely. Darcey doesn't really like it and I usually reach for the raspberry jam, because it's sweeter.

Well. The apricot jam finally had a purpose. That purpose was to simmer deliciously with some ginger between layers of crumbly, buttery dough. So perfect with an afternoon cup of coffee on a cool autumn day.


















Now, astute readers may have picked up on a little trend here lately. I will give you a clue. It's orange, and it has ginger in it. Basically everything we've been eating lately seems to fit that bill.
And here's one more: Lovely Lynda's Carrot Ginger Soup. I call it that because it was the Lovely Lynda who introduced me to it. It's a lovely silky creamy Autumn Delight. This time I made it with some sweet potatoes, because we didn't have quite enough carrots kicking around. It turned out a bit sweeter than usual, but we liked it all the same. You can find the carrot recipe, sans sweet potatoes, here.


















I get pretty excited about food. Maybe a little bit too much, sometimes. My mom is coming for a visit soon, and we are going to cook and bake and eat, and maybe do a little sight-seeing in between. I'm pretty excited about her visit, and not just because of all the food we're going to eat. She's never been to this province but I know she'll like it, even if it rains the whole time. So in preparation for her visit, we bought a new air bed for us to sleep on, so that she can have the bedroom. I told Darcey that we had to test the new mattress to make sure it didn't have any leaks. There is nothing worse than waking up in the wee hours with your bum touching the floor because the air has slowly leaked out of your mattress all night long, don't you agree?


















So far it's holding up well. Carley has jumped on it and wrestled Darcey on it and even had a few naps on it, and I think she gives it her Seal of Approval.