Bumper Crop of Basil

We don’t have much room for a vegetable garden in Canada so we do a little bit of container gardening here and grow herbs and tomatoes on our deck.  The tomatoes have been delicious, the cherry tomatoes tasted like candy.  The big boy tomatoes tasted the way tomatoes are supposed to.  Not those square hard ones that we find in the grocery store.  I learned from an acquaintance who owns a tomato farm in South Carolina that they pick them green, gas them to make them turn red and then ship them.  Eww, not nice.  Next year, more tomato plants.  For some reason this year, my basil has been a huge success.  Not so in past years but this year definitely so.  Thus, I decided to make pesto.  You must know I am not much of a cook or chef.  I like to try things but really it is not my forte.  So I figured the recipe was easy, I had the ingredients on hand the requisite food processor so I decided to give it a go.  I don’t plan to use it all at once so I found that with the recipe was a suggestion about freezing the pesto and just using it when I wanted to flavor soups or sauces of any kind.  I didn’t have pine nuts but the recipe said I could substitute with chopped walnuts of which I had a plentiful supply.  Messy yes because John always gets hysterical when I cook because I use every tool and pan in the kitchen.  I do clean up after myself so I guess it’s ok.  The suggestion to freeze the pesto mentioned ice cube trays.  Well I don’t have any because I have an ice maker but I do have little miniature muffin tins so I lined them with the plastic wrap and put them in the freezer.  They are about the size of an ice cube tray.  Do you get the idea that I might not be quite as pulled together as one probably should be when doing this kind of cooking.  Anyway, I think it will be fine.  I actually thought of using shot glasses (I have 385 of them but that’s another story) but the muffin tins are fine.  Also, am advised not to put the Parmesan cheese or Romano cheese in until I thaw the pesto as the cheese does not freeze well.  And, I forgot the salt and pepper.  I did taste it and it tastes like pesto.  Here is a link to Simply Recipes for the recipe I sort of used Fresh Basil Pesto.  Basil is very good for you full of vitamins and minerals, garlic is full of allicin which helps fight infections, walnuts are full of Omega 3 and are heart healthy and good for blood pressure too.  So enjoy some walnuts whenever you can and enjoy this pesto.

Walking with Miss Q again

On Thursday of this week, after a couple of weeks of shorter walks that were gradually lengthened, I gave Miss Q a chance to walk one of the long walks with me.  I kept it to just over four miles and she was terrific.  She trucked along, most of the time in the lead, and didn’t slow me down hardly at all.  She stops to mark territory, I guess she learned that from Buckingham it really is a male thing but she does it anyway, and we stopped for her to get some water twice but other than that she kept up just fine.  I know she was happy, you could see it in her trot.  Her tail was wagging and she was interested in everything going on.  I have always loved walking with the dogs, mostly I prefer to walk them off leash in the woods, but it is always fun to see how people interact with you when you have a dog versus when you don’t.  People smile at you and look at the dog.  They greet you and say good morning, nice dog or what kind of dog is that?  It’s a little like the icing on the cake when you have a dog with you.  At 11, this month, Miss Q is getting on in years but she and I both seem to be coming out of our summer of being a little sad at how our household shrunk in fur babies.  As we contemplate a new addition it is good to see that we both are in better shape and perhaps we are now ready to take on the challenge.  The puppies were born this week and we are off to meet them and the mother next week. Pictures will be forth coming.  Look out Miss Q – life could be about to get interesting.

Fog, it’s almost Autumn in Canada

Mornings are becoming more interesting as we move from summer into fall at the lake.  The water temperature is now warmer than the air temperature at night so we wake up in the morning and don’t even know there is a lake out there.  This morning was a complete blanket of white.  We couldn’t see much more than the hand in front of our face.  It is really beautiful and sometimes looks as if someone has dumped a scoop of white fluff into the valley.  This was especially true yesterday as we rounded the corner at the north end of the lake and looked back towards Black Point.  Fluffy white fog was just sitting there.  Sky above, water below and this cloud resting before it dissipated into the atmosphere.  We had heard the geese earlier in the morning and saw them fly in and out of the fog in an eerie, misty, and faintly disturbing way.  It portends that autumn is here and winter cannot be far behind.  We are not ready for that but the trees are starting to turn so it is inevitable.  The good side of all this is that it is a perfect temperature for morning walks and our steps have quickened and we are bouncing along as we walk around the lake.  I am not a bird aficionado but am told that the migration has started.  The hummers are still here but I suspect they will disappear any day now.  The other birds are still around for now but who knows when they will start their southern trip.  We start ours this week.

The Last Lobster Roll of the Summer

Mum and I have been on the great lobster roll lunch this summer.  Our favorite author, Louise Penny, released her latest book “A Great Reckoning” this past week.  Mum and I head over to Knowlton to Brome Lake Books to get our autographed copy.  We have done this for several years, especially after meeting Louise here in North Hatley a few summers ago.  We make a day of it and this was no exception.  We picked up our books and then walked up the street to a new, small restaurant that is near the water fall.  They had an unusual combination on the menu.  It is Matane Shrimp season here so they were offering a combination of 1/2 lobster roll, 1/2 shrimp roll plus salad.  Truly, I cannot tell you which one was better.  They were both delicious.  The Matane shrimp are tiny and sweet and these were lovely and fresh.  The lobster was big chunks, not too much filler and equally delicious.  Either way, Mum and I had a fabulous lunch.  Our hosts were worried about Mum (at almost 92) being a bit chilled so they brought over a heater which took that slight September chill out of the air.  We were welcomed and made to feel as if we were their most important customers.  It made the day and was the icing on the cake of a wonderful summer.

Tailgates Up! We can move you.

Our dear friend whose husband died last week, was in the middle of a move when her husband became ill.  It took a group of dedicated friends with good sized cars, strong young helpers and a couple of hours to empty the house of all but the largest of items and move things back to their original home.  In what must be a miracle, the house they were moving to sold in record time – I mean hours here, and the new owner wants to move in. Thus, our friend needed to move out.  I cannot imagine a greater team to work with.  Five cars, seven people who were determined, my daughter and granddaughter who are very strong, and we did it.  The large items come Tuesday and then it is done.  Sometimes things just work out the way they are supposed to and this was one of those times.  I love it when a plan comes together.

I cannot believe it is September and school is back in session.  We head off to check on our house in South Carolina after the hurricane.  No damage has been reported other than tree limbs down but we need to see for ourselves.  Wishing you and yours a wonderful week, a cozy fall by the fire, and if you get a chance, get that book and curl up with it and enjoy.