Archive for ◊ 2008 ◊
I’m doing six weeks of laundry, all today. Tonight, even, while the eight people crashing at my place are at a party a few blocks away. They all tried to drag me out, but you know what? I’m tired. I’m happy at home right now. The cats have been hiding all evening, and now that it’s quiet they’ve emerged from their nests on the piles of fresh laundry, which serve as a cat magnet.
Sometime during the four-day trip at the rented cottage in Haliburton, it occurred to me that the group of eight of us were like the United Nations on a mini-break. Armed with slippers, bins of food, a recently-purchased shovel, and dog treats, our two cars (only one with winter tires; hint: not mine) set off across snow-covered hills to a place we only knew existed from an online brochure and a rental agreement. We weren’t seeking adventure, exactly, we just wanted to get out of the city for a few days. It just so happened that we were a diverse and delightful mix of Bosnian, Israeli, Italian, Indian, Australian, French, Canadian-raised Filipino, and Canadian-raised Irish-Canadian, which made playing board games all the more hysterical and the discussions even more lively. Add an Arab and an Aboriginal and watch the discussions heat up even more!
“Cottaging” — and I cringe just saying the word — is really an Ontarian thing to do, what with the zillion lakes around here, some of them large enough to be called Great Lakes. We invaded this abundance of freshwater like the cliche of filthy Torontonians with our urban pollution. In our case the owner lived in another small town to the west, so we sort of dodged the cliche, especially since we were visiting in the winter rather than the summer, when everyone in the GTA clogs the 400 highways to reach a cottage. We left on Christmas Day in somewhat inclement weather, avoided traffic, we saw hardly anyone while we were there, and enjoyed the pristine silence of the winter broken only twice by snowmobiles.
We also ate very well, as you can see: pancetta-covered chicken! I made salmon marinated in homemade Saskatoon berry syrup (made in someone else’s home, not mine, in case I misled you to believe that I pick and process Saskatoon berries and not boast about this particular culinary skill on my blog). If you look through the photos, you’d think we were eating six meals a day…
Of course, what would a trip be without at least one mishap, right?
Unlike The Old Bean, Miss Xena was very cooperative and very quiet. Ah, I should’ve known this was too good to be true. Because the vet found:
Blood work, vaccinations, and a check-up later, it turned out to be a rather expensive afternoon but it won’t even equal what the dental work will cost. It’s a good thing they found the heart murmur before the dental appointment, because she’ll go under general anaesthetic. How do I know this? I have a heart murmur, too…
(Geeky Note: I tried to post the photo this afternoon, but I can’t send any data to email for some reason. I can’t Bluetooth it to my computer, so I got this photo off the camera by uploading to the Telus photo album and emailing from there.)
I’m still going through the Haliburton photos, so a couple of uploaded videos for now.
Yesterday I drove over to my friend’s house in Mississauga for a visit, and she brought me to a wonderful South Indian restaurant, the likes of which I have not yet sampled in Toronto. I must’ve been distracted by all the dishes new to me, because it didn’t occur to me to take any cameraphone photos. I can’t even remember the names of anything, except I ordered something called a “mini tiffin”, a traditional lunch item in South India.
According to this LA Times article, it’s described this way:
Imagine an Indian-style bento: A meal of many little dishes arrives on a highly polished steel tray the size of a door mat with a golden masala dosa (crepe) balanced across the top. Shatteringly crisp and hot from the grill, the furled crepe enfolds an inch-thick layer of buttery masala-laced potato redolent of cumin.
Yum yum. Exactly my style of eating — lots of variety, small portions. However, it didn’t stop me from falling into a deep, deep food coma after I arrived home. Which made for a totally unproductive evening aside from catching up on sleep, but isn’t that what the holidays are for?
More of the Christmas scenery that adorns my friend’s family home (I was impressed with the nativity scene!):
We’re back! I’m back! But, most importantly, the power is back! During our last breakfast at the lakeside cottage this morning the power went out due to high winds that began last night. Apparently those winds ripped through the entire region, because two hours later the catsitter SMS’ed me that the power went out at my house, too. Apart from some minor inconveniences such as not being able to clean the cottage properly and a few people forgoing showers it didn’t detract from our highland trip, and when I rolled up in front of my house this evening I was pleased to see lights on, so it all worked out in the end.
Now, to go through the photos…
Backtracking a bit, a couple of ones from the Christmas Day dim sum at Bright Pearl in Chinatown. Because nothing says Christmas quite like a gigantic dragon and enough red to make everyone glowy:
The morning of Christmas Day was a bit rough for me (starting off with several wake-up alarms), after an afternoon of grocery shopping the day before (ever done a big grocery shop for seven people hours before a major eating holiday when the stores close early??), dragging the groceries up to my fridge, followed by a big dinner, a late night, dragging the groceries back down to my car in the morning, packing my stuff, then trying to make it dim sum. Whew, I was due for this break!
The cottage getaway was very relaxing. It was like camp for adults, without the agendas or staff. We didn’t have to do anything, but we sure had a lot of fun with what we didn’t have to do. Photos to follow!
Am posting on the fly again, some photos of Christmas Eve dinner at Lisa and Clint’s place which was all decked out in Christmas finery — seriously, it was like a Christmas store in there! — and a kitchen brimming with homecooked food. Oh my! The title refers to a hammy crowd to sing Christmas tunes with, play games of bluff cards with (you are guaranteed at beating me at a game which involves lying), and eat heartily with… especially ham! It was the Ham To Beat All Hams:
There were, of course, Secret Santa presents:
And a few rounds of Hedbanz:
No time to edit any pictures, so I’ve posted a few of my favourites and then the rest you can view as a set, either as [thumbnails] or [slideshow] or a clickable album in the Pictobrowser below:
I’m going to be off the grid for a few days unless I can mobile blog with my cameraphone, but the cabin is rather remote so we’ll see.
In any case, The House of Fielding (Xena and Beano and The Human) wish you a happy and healthy and most of all safe holiday!
Encountered some rather strange merchandise for sale, as you can see. I suppose people will buy anything, even in these days of budget-tightening.
You know what else is absurd? I went out for some simple errands and thanks to all the snow it took me NINE HOURS to accomplish those tasks. I was debating whether to buy snow tires, but in the end I didn’t. Hopefully, I won’t be regretting this decision!
images & text © 2002-2010 All Rights Reserved by Gail Edwin-Fielding.
Wordpress Theme Made Free by Web Hosting Refer
Recent Comments