thunder bay and lake superior 2011 – a photo-blog of our vacation

our one week vacation was spent traveling to thunder bay to visit my in-laws, as well as stopping at some key points around lake supeior.

sunset in sault ste marie

our first stop was in sault ste marie – a halfway point we normally use for one night when we choose to drive to thunder bay. we found a nice restaurant along the harbour called Docks’ Restaurant. it’s a casual place but the food was amazing! the price was also very reasonable.

afterwards we took a walk along the harbour to catch the sunset.

on the road to thunder bay

a lot of the drive around lake superior was breath taking. the winding roads, rock formations, green forests and sparkling lakes and rivers.

we always stop to see the goose in wawa

one of our many stops from sault ste marie and thunder bay is wawa. we learned soon after arriving that they were taking down this goose after 50 years of it being a major landmark in this small town of 3,200 people. they are hoping to raise enough money for a new one. we bought a pin for chaeli’s collection – proceeds of the pin goes towards the project.

national monument of grand portage

during our stay in thunder bay, we took a day trip with my SIL, BIL, niece and nephew to minnesotta. we first stopped in grand portage – a national park – and visited a historical site where they replicated what use to be vital fur trading post and anishinaabeg ojibwe heritage.

my baby nephew

my baby nephew – he’s about 15 months old and this is the first time i had a chance to meet him. and what a hoot he is! if only we could see this guy more, i would babysit him and take him to the zoo and feed him lots of animal crackers. or as he calls them, “coooo-ka!”

docked boat

chaeli posing on the dock at grand portage

there was this lovely long dock extending from the national monument area. we took a walk down to the very end and all the time, i was so tempted to reach down and feel the water. of course, it was fairly high above the surface but i managed to find this bottom landing which brought me closer.

the water was cold! but refreshing. apparently, no one can survive past 20 minutes at most in lake superior. hyperthermia doesn’t take long to set in.

cousins collecting rocks – grand marais

here’s chaeli posing with my niece as they hunted down rocks at grand marais.

this town of 1,350 people centres around a harbour. it’s a very pretty place but a shame that they operate more around a very short tourist season. i have driven by in the winter and the place is dead during those cold months. everything shuts down by 5pm (if not earlier).

hobbes prowling alone shore of five mile rock beach

after leaving grand marais, my niece and nephew fell fast asleep so my SIL/BIL decided to just head home. doug, chaeli, hobbes and i stopped along the shores across from five mile rock (a wee island five miles from grand marais). it was a good spot to let hobbes go off leash. and for him to take a sip from the cold waters of lake superior.

neys sandy beaches are filled with driftwood

at the end of our week in thunder bay, we all went to neys, a provincial park midway between thunder bay and sault ste marie. this was also a historical location. at the east end, called prisoner’s cover, they use to keep a prisoner war camp of WWII. apparently, high-end german officers were held captive here. and as bad as a war camp sounded, they weren’t treated so poorly (so long as they cooperated). after the war ended, some of them even returned to canada to live.

the beauty of the place also attracted some key painters from The Group of Seven, such as Lawrence Harris who found Pic Island and transformed the natural formation into his subject and famous Pic Island paintings.

the new trailer we inherited

here’s our new sad and old little trailer – inherited from doug’s late grandfather.

it’s very little. and very old. and very, very little. but it does the trick! and we look forward to making some solid memories from this trailer.

some old timber boats sitting on top of an inactive volcano

the above is a photo of a look-out point at the end of our hike. it’s actually above an inactive valcano.

in the very far distance, at the tip of the other shoreline, you can see a couple of tiny bumps. that’s Pic Island. one day, i hope to get a much closer look.

the view from our campsite

the final sunset before heading towards home again.

rest of photos can be found here.

10 years of hiccups, maturing and love

while chaeli was with my in-laws for a week, doug and i had the perfect opportunity to celebrate the 10 years we’ve been together as a couple. in fact, that friday night – july 22nd – was the exact night when our relationhip went from platonic to romantic.

so, we went to kultura‘s, previously owned by roger mooking, famous for his chef-celeb status from the food network (i hadn’t realized when i made the reso that he sold it last december – menu is the same and food just as good, though).

it’s a shared/tasting menu. i actually found it funny while reading some reviews on restaurant forums/discussion group. people either loved it or hated it. but the critisizm was not on the quality of the food. the hate came from the prices. apparently, one commentor was disgusted that the waiter had to advise her and her dining partner to order two entrees per person in order to feel full. she stated that that was unheard of.

i guess some people do not do their research. otherwise, they would have learned that tasting menus have been around for awhile now in the foodie industry. and that kultura’s prices are actually quite reasonable when comparing to other restaurants with the same concept within our city.

anyway, this is what we had – both with our own glasses of wine (red for doug, white for me):

Appetizers

Salmon Poke
Macadamia Nuts, Sweet Soya Sauce, Lava Salt, Nori Cone

Antipasto Stuffed Naan
Roasted Artichokes, Black Olive Dust, Prosciutto

Pasta

Mushroom Orecchiette
Malivoire Pinot Noir Pear Chutney, Aged Cheddar

Mains

Stuffed Cornish Hen
Tempura Green Tomato, Miran Beur Blanc, Wild Mushroom Pesto

Anchovy Crusted Cod
Coriander Cream, Pickled Cucumbers, Ginger Purple Potato

Desserts

Chocolate Box
Flourless Chocolate cake, Caramel Foam, Chi Tea Ice cream

Beignets
Sake Blueberry Jam, Green Tea Ice Cream, Salted Chocolate Sauce

random thoughts in the midst of 118 farenheit

it’s mid-week. chaeli’s with her grandparents and doug had class. so i decided to take hobbes to a dog park at the beach.

it was perfect. a light breeze helped to relieve us from the rising humidex (peaking today at 118F/48C).

hobbes had a good time too as he ran circles and chased other dogs.

i think i might go back tonight – or at least, to another dog park. and i think i want to suggest to doug that we should go for sushi or something that doesn’t require cooking in the house.

with this record-breaking heat, it would be nice to just have something cool and light.

or we can go for vietnamese – not for warm food but for some of their cold noodle variety.

if we had more money, i would go back to that raw restaurant. but it’s too expensive and we’re already going out tomorrow night for our 10 years anniversary.

am dim sum, pm irish stew

considering we’ve had the week to relax, as usual, our week ended up being jammed pack.

yesterday, a bunch of my girlfriends and i got together for lunch. it served a dual purpose – the kids got a few hours playdate and i got a chance to meet up with some girlfriends whom i haven’t seen in 2011 yet (i had to miss out the last two gatherings).

this morning we had dim sum with family and now we’re about to have a traditional irish stew with fresh potato bread for st. Paddy’s day. doug is going to have Guinness. i’m not a fan of it so i’ll stick with wine.

not starving at “starving artist”

We’re sitting here at Starving Artist (http://www.starvingartistbar.com) after the most delicious waffle and espresso brunch I have ever had. I got the potato waffle benny – first time having waffles with potatos in it and first time having benny on a waffle rather then the traditional english muffin. Definitely worth the experience! We’re now going to another dog park to expend some puppy energy.

randomnous valentine

• i’m not a big fan of valentines and if it weren’t for chaeli, i would do anything for this day. but like a good mom, i did whatever needed to be done to prep for her valentines day party at school – including a 30 mini spring rolls contribution for their food list. as for doug and i, we did get a chance to go for sushi this past saturday while chaeli stayed with my parents. it wasn’t for valentines – just a regular date-night/outing because we haven’t had one for so long.

• i’m glad that justin beiber didn’t win last night. nothing personal against the kid – well, except for his hair – but it felt good to see esperanza spalding take the award for best new artist. she might have not won the hearts of teenie boppers more interested in getting a date with bieber, but her talent and lovely personality was definitely dserving of such an award. bravo, esperanza! bravo!

• so i got chaeli to point out her new boyfriend – i must say, he’s the best looking kid in class. way to go, chaeli! but i learned that he’s also one of the students that gets into trouble often. so young and she’s already going after the bad-boy image.

• our roof is leaking again – propery management didn’t fix it as they said they would two years ago and so now, we’re looking at a worse leak then before. i’ve been spending a lot of my free time communicating back and forth with them – and basically nagging them to do it right this time. they are responsible for not only fixing the roof but also fixing any water damage the leak might have caused (and not just the cosmetic parts of our interior – but any material inside the walls and/or attic that the water has touched so they are not hotbeds for mould spores).

• we have now acquired an ipad and have been wasting our time with plants vs zombies.

vinyl cafe, udon and more baking

i’s been a really, really, ultra-short weekend. simply because it’s been just so much fun that time flew by way too quickly.

chaeli stayed at my parents place for a 2-night sleepover – and i so needed this. a break from motherhood even if just temporary. doug and i did a lot – things we had to do and things we wanted to do. after all, it’s all about striking that balance:

• friday night, we went over to my aunt’s and uncle’s where hobbes was staying during the day. since chaeli and my parents were not joining us this time, we took the opportunity to get some spicy indian food. of course – yum! winter and spicy food (especially if curry is involved) is my comfort food from the cold. sure, sure – i love a mean stew every now and then. but it just doesn’t beat some of my favourite spicey foods – indian, west indies, thai, just to name a few.
• i did take saturday morning to do things on my to-do list – p90x cardio-x and cleaning the house. afterwards, though, doug and i got to doing some more baking which we will finish up today and then sort all six kinds into several tins to be handed out this week. feels good to almost be done. as much fun as it was, it does take up a lot of time. i’m not at all sure if we’ll be doing this each year. but if we do, i need to try and do it in november and then just put the cookies in the freezer. it’s nice to have one less thing to do in december, since preparing for the holiday festivities is already jam-packed as it is.
• we went to see stuart mclean‘s christmas tour last night and like last year, it was not at all a disappointment. what i love about his stories are that they are not just hiliarious but touching and humble and down-to-earth. they are fictional characters but over the many, many years (close to two decades?) these characters of dave, morley, sam, stephanie and arthur the dog have become so real and so very much part of our lives.
• before heading to the show, doug and i stopped at the grange for some japanese noodles. same place as where we went last time. the service is fast and with our two dishes and two appetizers, the whole meal came out to less then $30 after tax and tip. plus, the piping hot steam coming from the food was like a warm blanket from the winter evening walk.
• hobbes was a great sport. we rarely leave him on his on for more then five hours – if even that! but due to the show starting late and the traffic coming home, he was pretty much on his own for almost eight hours. but he did really well – no accidents and the kitchen wasn’t in a mess when we got home (well, his toys were everywhere but that was to be expected).

so we’re now off to do a little shopping and to go meet up with my parents and chaeli for some all-u-can eat sushi! hopefully, if the weather does not get too crazy, we’ll also be picking up our tree on the way home.

RAW food

so, tonight was date night for doug and i. and we had our very first experience with RAW, vegan food.

we went to a foodie restaurant called live food bar – they mainly serve raw (preparations for every ingredient is uncooked – at most their flat breads are made from dehydrators) but there is a section for cooked vegan options. i suppose the idea of raw-ism is still just a small niche within our city so in order to sustain their business, they needed to be flexible.

it's a good idea. while doug and i loved our experience (we only ordered from the raw section), i don't think i could survive on uncooked food. this is something i would have once in awhile. i mean, if i had some one cook like this for me regularly, i would go raw at least once or twice a week. but… the preparations, as i've researched, is just crazy. i don't think i could do it. and buying pre-made raw food can be pricey. everything is organic, too.

anyway, we ordered the following to share:

Pecan 'Tempura' Sushi
Scrumptious pecan and sunflower seed pate rolled with carrots, sweet potato 'tempura' in crisp Nori sheets with a tamari Miso glaze.
   
Caprese Bruschetta
Balsamic marinated tomatoes, baby spinach, basil hemp pesto, and a cashew 'chevre' on our almond 'baguettes' sprinkled with a ground almond 'parmesan'.

The Big Bowl
A high protein salad mix of field greens, and kale topped with carrots, beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, mixed seeds, black beans, avocado, and sunflower sprouts tossed with your choice of dressings.

Soft Shell Tacos
Corn tortillas filled with fresh salsa, guacamole, jalapeno jelly and spiced walnut 'taco meat'.

i believe the only thing that wasn't raw was the sun flower seeds in our salad (toasted) which one can sub for additional black beans (just soaked in water for a long time – not cooked).

i must stress again – everything was yummy. i especially liked the pecan sushi. the caprese bruschetta was also amazing.

the only option i could have done without was the big bowl salad. not that it wasn't great but it's something we could have easily created at home. it was doug's choice, though, so i went with it. had it been up to me, i would have chosen this combo, taste platter which contained the following, smaller portions which are, on their own, main entree options from the menu:

Mediterranean Pizza
A buckwheat and flax crust topped with a sundried tomato red pepper marinara, marinated baby spinach, black and green olives, mushrooms, and a crumbled cashew 'feta cheese'.

The Unstirfry
Jicama and parsnip rice topped with teriyaki tossed veggies, mixed seeds, and spicy almonds. A perfect way to get your veggies!

Pepper Poppers
Sunflower seed pepper Jack 'cheese' and corn pepper salsa stuffed into fresh sweet peppers,served with sesame mayo and an almond cacao mole.

Garden Lasagna
A cashew herbed ricotta 'cheese' layered between zucchini 'noodles' filled with marinated tomatoes, basil pesto, and baby spinach. A Live favourite!   

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

sushi, wine and the zoo

chaeli was sick last week and still recooperating this weekend – we opted to let her skip her soccor and karate class.

to be honest, it was a nice break not having to get up early saturday and rush out the door. it felt good to sleep in past 8am both saturday and sunday morning.

on saturday, we headed out to our favourite, local japanese restaurant again and ordered some sushi, sashimi, shrimp and veggie tempura, edamame (mainly for chaeli), miso soup and some bulgogi over steamed rice (this one being a korean dish). they also gave us some very small dishes of spicy seaweed, teriyaki tofu and corn-congee soup – all extras. that is one of the perks of going to a japanese restaurant run by koreans. they give you all these little, small dishes as extras.

the euphoria of this delicious meal lasted all the way through most of the afternoon, btw.

before heading home, we went to wine kitz to order two sets of 30 bottles of wine; their traditional vintage pinot noir and their traditional vintage chardonnay. both should be ready for bottling by mid-july which is just enough time for six months aging before christmas.

tai and trish introduced us to their pinot noir and it is heaven. the danger here is that i can suck it back like juice!

the quality of wine is fairly impressive, especially considering that in the end, it's only $4 a bottle (this was also due to their sale – regular price would be around $5 per bottle). doug and i enjoy our daily glass of wine for most months so this process saves us, on average, $6-8 a bottle. not a bad deal if you ask me!

sunday morning, we went to the zoo. we were stuck home for most of saturday and needed to get some fresh air. the weather was beautiful – i'm glad we took advantage of it. it was the perfect spring weather. blue skies with just a touch of clouds, a very light breeze and the temperature was nice enough to walk around in jeans and short sleeves but not hot – very comfortable.

the gorillas were all outside, as well. and with the weather not being hot and humid yet, they were quite active, as were most all animals we stopped by to visit. that is the one thing about going to the zoo in the summer time that i'm not fond of. it's crowded and so hot that the animals just lie there and sleep, trying to stay cool as much as possible.

we spent the greater part of sunday afternoon outside with my parents, aunt and uncle, just soaking in the sun.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

raw

raw

http://healthyshy.vox.com/library/pos…

i actually scoffed at woody harrelson (because he’s easy to scoff at) when he announced to the world that he lives off stricly from a raw diet. i was definitely on the same side of anthony bourdain’s camp about the whold raw-foodie phenomenom. plus, i could never give up my occasional filet-o-fish….

Read and post comments | Send to a friend