Strawberry Picking

It's pretty much the end of strawberry season here, but Husband and I were able to find a U-pick farm that still had some nice berries, although we had to search for them. As we picked, I told Husband stories about the family garden we had when I was growing up. I told him about the raspberries that seemed to take over the fence line. I told him how we would sneak strawberries off the plants while we were playing outside. I told him about the hot summer days spent pulling weed after weed after stupid weed from between the plants. I told him about going outside to cut some lettuce and pull some carrots for our salad. I told him about how I hated that garden at times...okay, pretty much all the time. But standing there, in the middle of that strawberry patch, I told him how much I missed it. It's funny that you never realize how important something is until you don't have it anymore. As a teenager, I would do everything possible to avoid working in the garden. Now, I would give anything to be back there.

Mmmm...Doughnuts

In honour of the Olympic Games being hosted by Canada and in honour of me being a Canadian we decide to celebrate in true Canada style. We invited a couple friends over the other night to watch the Games and make doughnuts! These were the best homemade doughnuts I've had! By the way, if you are wondering were the Husbands are in these pictures, let's just say they weren't much help until it came to the eating part!

Our friend Alaina and I making the doughnuts.



Looking good!

She would make a good Canadian: "Don't mess with my doughnuts!"

I had to wear my Canada shirt. Go Canada!



We don't have a deep fryer, but a heavy bottom pot works just as good. The only downside to making your own doughnuts? It uses an entire bottle of oil!

Ta-da!

Here's the recipe:

Classic Glazed Doughnuts

1 package (8g) yeast

1/4 cup warm water (about 115*F/47*C)

1 tsp golden corn syrup

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

3 cups (approx) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

6 cups oil (canola or corn oil work well)

Glaze

1 1/2 cups icing sugar (or as they say in the USA powdered sugar)

1/4 cup golden corn syrup

1/4 cup warm water

1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1. Blend the yeast with the warm water and syrup; let stand for 2 minutes. Whisk the milk with the egg and butter; set aside. Meanwhile, combine flour, sugar and salt in food processor (I don't have a food processor, so I just mixed it with my hands). With the motor running, blend in the yeast and milk mixtures just until the dough begins to form a ball.

2. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface; knead for 2-3 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Sprinkle with additional flour if necessary to prevent sticking. Cover and let rise for 1 1/2 hours. Punch down dough, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. (I almost didn't see this part, and was planning on making the dough the day of. Good thing I decided to re-read the recipe!)

3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until 1/2 inch (1cm) think. Using a 3 1/2 inch (8cm) doughnut cutter, or a large and small round cookie cutter, cut out doughnut shapes. Reroll the scraps once to make additional doughnuts. Cut any remaining dough into doughnut holes. Cover doughnuts with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes (Putting them in your oven with the oven light on creates a warm place).

4. Glaze: Blend together all ingredients, set aside

5. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok or dutch oven until it reaches at least 325*F but doesn't exceed 350*F. Gently lower doughnuts, a couple at a time, into the oil. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown (Ours seem to take less time, so just watch for them to turn golden brown). Lift from hot oil and dip into glaze to coat. Transfer to rack sitting over a baking tray. Let cool. Makes 8 doughnuts (although we got about a dozen out of this recipe.

We went to the fights and a hockey game broke out!

Husband and I went to a hockey game this weekend. We watched the San Antonio Rampage play the Abbotsford Heat. It was the first game I've been to in almost 2 years. That's forever for a born and bred Canadian. The game was fast-paced and very physical, with a lot of bone jarring hits and a few fights. The Heat won the game in a sudden death shoot-out. That's always an exciting way to end the game!

#27, Brett Sutter, second generation of the Sutter Family dysansty (They are almost as famous as Wayne Gretzky)

Look at that beautiful flag! I even got to hear the Canadian National Anthem. I must admit it brought a tear or two to my eyes. Throughout the game some of the Rampage fans thought they would be clever and yell Canadian themed insults at the Heat. I was amused by what they choose to shout ("Take off Hoser" and "Go back to Canada" were very popular). I was tempted to remind them that over half of the Rampage players were Canadian, but I decided I would be wasting my time and energy.

Face-off!

I tried to get a picture of the puck dropping, but my camera isn't expensive enough to do that.

The Rampage are the farm team for the Phoenix Coyotes. (The Heat are affiliated with the Calgary Flames.)



Action shot!

No hockey game is complete without a fight!



So this guy, Jamie Lundmark, took a puck to the head late in the third period. We were close enough to the ice to hear the impact. It was not a pleasant sound. The injury wasn't too bad though, as he was back on the ice for the shoot-out. Thank goodness for helmets!

Let's talk turkey

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada. Being Canadian myself, I cooked Thanksgiving dinner, even though we aren't in Canada (To all my American readers: Yes, we have Thanksgiving in Canada. No, it has nothing to do with the Pilgrims. No, we don't have a cool story about the first Thanksgiving. No, we didn't steal it from you. You didn't invent being thankful!). Because it's just the two of us, I bought a small 2 pound turkey breast. The instructions said to cook it for 2 hours. Well, 2 hours later, when I stuck my meat thermometer in to check the temperature, the gage moved backwards! Ummm...pretty sure that is not supposed to happen. So I cut into the turkey a bit; still ice cold. This presented a bit of a problem because everything else (potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, etc) was minutes away from being done! So, I cranked up the oven a bit, and found ways to keep the other dishes warm until the turkey finally decided to be done (thank goodness for multiple crockpots with a "warm" setting!). Total turkey cooking time: 3 hours, 10 minutes. Now I am no expert on cooking turkeys (my experience is limited to the one I cooked last Christmas), but I am pretty sure a 2 pound turkey breast is not supposed to take 3 hours to cook. Does that sound too long to anyone else?

There's no place like home

I made a short trip home last week. I don't want this to be a travel-log because those can be boring. So, instead, here's some pictures: (which I admit can also be boring, but I added my own witty comments for your entertainment!)

Oh how I miss the beautiful fields!


We attended my brother's football game (He's #50). Is there anything better than a football game on a warm autumn night?

One of the local greenhouses had a pumpkin festival. This was the largest pumpkin I have ever seen! How in the world does someone grow something this big?

With my 8 month old nephew on the big pumpkin. We took a million pictures and he wasn't looking up in any of them. He has a mind of his own, that's for sure!

Pretty, pretty pumpkins

Goose on the lake with autumn leaves behind him (or her).



A maple dipped doughnut from Tim Horton's. These are definitely the reason I gained 700 pounds in 5 days. I guess 3 or 4 doughnuts a day will do that to a girl!

My nephew, Kaleb. How cute is he? (By the way, in case you were wondering, he really enjoys cookies!)




My other nephew, enjoying his hot dog.

We like to start them young on the whole hockey thing up in the Great White North.




This kids cracks me up! I kept trying to figure out how to bring him back with me. Unfortunately his parents actually love him and wouldn't let me take him. Maybe next time...



One of the emergency vehicles waiting for our plane on the runway after our emergency landing 15 minutes after take off! There was a problem with the landing gear not retracting. Apparently that's not a good thing. I guess it is standard procedure for emergency vehicles to meet planes during emergency landings. I did not know that. They say you learn something new everyday. I would have liked it if this new piece of information came to me in a different way!

Toronto

Ryan and I spent Thanksgiving weekend in Toronto. We loved it! I have never been to a city that was so clean or so quiet! The city is beautiful. Driving in it wasn't a problem. The subway system was easy to navigate and very clean. We had a great hotel, with an amazing view. And we were within walking distance of downtown and all the places we wanted to visit. But most importantly, we were right by a Tim Hortons! For my American readers, Tim Hortons is like a Dunkin' Doughnuts, only better. It is a Canada icon. I must have had at least a dozen maple dipped doughnuts (they are my favourite) over a 3 day span! Good thing we did a LOT of walking! (Side note: When did the small hot chocolate at Tim Hortons get so small? Seriously!)

The view from our hotel room!

The Hockey Hall of Fame was number one on our list (Ok, it was number one on my list, not Ryan's!). We spent a couple hours learning about the history of hockey and all the hockey greats. It was amazing to see memorabilia of events my dad talked about. Legends came to life before my eyes. It was a bit unnerving to see displays of events I remember in the Hall. Am I really that old, that things that happened when I was younger are now in a museum? Granted some of them were not that long ago (the winning hockey teams from the 2002 Winter Olympics). But others happened back when I was a teenager: I can remember when Wayne Gretzky scored the goal to set the record for most goals and that was a long time ago! And of course, we stopped to worship, oops! I mean view the Stanley Cup. There, on a stand, without any barriers, was the holy grail of Hockey. The Stanley Cup! We got to touch it, hug it, lick it (just kidding...kind of).

"My precious!"

We also visited the CN Tower. After paying an insane amount of money, we were able to go to the observation deck and get an amazing view of the city. Part of the floor is covered in glass, so you can see all the way to the ground. If you want to experience what it would be like to walk in the middle of air 112 stories up, this is the place for you. It took me a number of tries before I actually ventured out onto the floor. And even after I was on, if I looked down, I stumbled! Ryan said that walking on the glass floor was the most terrifying thing he has ever encountered (remember this guy has been to war...twice!).

Look down...waaaaaaaaaaaaay down!

Tree branches with the CN Tower in the background (I love this picture!)

In preparation for this trip, I did a lot of research. One thing that looked interesting was Habourfront Centre. It was supposed to have art exhibits, crafters, and quaint shops. Apparently, this is true only in the summer. When we got there nothing was open. So much for research! However, there was a skating pond and we decided to make the best of our trip down there. We rented skates and spent an hour skating alongside Lake Ontario, with a great view of the CN Tower.

We spent time at Kensington Market, wandering in and out of shops full of vintage clothes. We tried to go into a couple of the cheese shops there, but barely got in the door because the smell was so bad! We did find a great pastry shop and consumed way too many calories! Kensington Market is in Chinatown, and I tried to find a traditional Chinese dress. However, since the Chinese are small and I am not (I blame the doughnuts!), I did not succeed!

Our last night was spent at the Royal Ontario Museum, wandering through their natural history exhibits. Later that night, after eating dinner and returning to our hotel I got up close and personal with our toilet, spending some quality time sharing my dinner with it. (I no longer recommend the garlic potatoes at Jack Asters!) But the throwing up wasn't the worst part! The worst part was knowing that Ryan was eating the apple pie I had brought back from the restaurant to eat later on! But, being the ever thoughtful husband he is, he ate it out of my sight.

As with almost all vacations, this one ended way too quickly and we found ourselves on our way back home. As we drove out of Toronto, we had an amazing view of the skyline with the CN Tower right up front. Visiting Toronto made me realize how much I miss city life. The pulse of the city is contagious. There is so much to see and do. All you have to do in a city is walk out your front door and BAM! There it is: the city! It is so glamorous! If things go according to our plan, we should be in a city setting within 60 days. I can't wait! Only, I hope our new city doesn't have glass floors 112 stories above the ground. That is one feature I can do without!