Sari Shopping and French Canadian girls bopping!

My friend Happy is going to an Indian wedding July 1st. Three outfits are needed for guests attending each portion of the ceremony so we hit Little India sari shopping. Traditional Sari's and Salwar Kameez (tunic and pants) along with jewellry to match are needed and who knew there is such a protocol for shopping. Of course jungle-footed me....walked across the platform where one is not meant to walk!!....while two servers  up on the platform revealed the patterns and beading on saris being considered. Safely seated on little stools we watched as great swathes of colorful fabric where swished around. Some fabrics had the shape of a blouse woven into it, so the top can be tailored to fit the buyer.

We had time to stop for dinner at Sweet India where we ate the best Indian I’ve yet. Chaat Papri was too die for, chickpeas, potatoes and onions covered with little circular crisps then layered with yogurt and a tamarind sauce that would make any meal heavenly. We tried a variety of samosa’s, Shahi Paneer and finished off by choosing a 1lb box of sweets to take home. OMG. Forget the waistline, these syrupy cakes dripped with silver leaf and delicate flavours are irresistible.

The following night I hosted a girls party on the balcony for Happy and Susie’s friends from Quebec. I made them pitchers of pink Cosmo’s, then we ate bacon wrapped tenderloins of pork stuffed with pesto served with a balsamic sauce and poached apricots.

Pud was lovely golden caramelised Grand Marnier Oranges and whipped cream with a Jackson Triggs Ice wine...delish! (It took me four attempts to get the caramel and toffee garnish right. Our place smelt of burnt sugar all day!) The results were worth the effort though! We had lots of laughs and tested our apalling french as we tried to keep up with the chatter.

Ballet and Babaganoush

The weeks seem to be flying by and we are still having lovely cool breezes and gorgeous warm days (rather like NZ summers) so I can't help but hope it stays this way. At least we have a brief respite from the ghastly hum of air conditioners. The noise that envelopes us when the heat and humidity descends on the city is a bit like the vavuzulas in South Africa, a swarm of bees that goes on and on and on until the snow starts to fall!!

I woke up this morning to catch the final four minutes of the NZ v Slovenia game. Amazing. I was just thinking it was a dud then that lovely boy pops a header into the net!! Fantastic stuff.

This week amongst doggie walks to Cherry Beach and rides to the Gym, I managed a drop of culture.

The Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts, Toronto

Robert and I went to the National Ballet at the glorious glass and timber Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts and saw Pur ti Miro, a world premiere by Finnish-born Jorma Elo, a gorgeous modern ballet danced a la tutu.  The second piece was Jerome Robbins’ Opus 19/TheDreamer with all the dancers  draped ethereally in blue gauze was stunningly beautiful and accompanied by a gorgeous violin soloist and originally written for Mikhail Baryshnikov  who defected to Canada in 1974. The final curtain went up on Jerome Robbins West Side Story Suite with seven of the shows most famous hits danced and sung by the cast and soloists.

We've been a few times now to view these mixed programes at the ballet, fabulous modern ballets which are really fun to watch. I've come to the decision that I far prefer ballet to opera, (a thought instigated by my  falling asleep watching Kiri in Don Giovanni years ago!!) there's something gorgeously tranquil yet vital about the ballet that you can't help loving.

The week ended with a touch of Egypt at Zanobia, where a small group of us dined and danced to North
African tunes and tastes. The event was to farewell our neighbours Egyptian boss who is leaving Toronto and we were invited along.

from top left by row. Dancer, Singer, Susan and Marisona, Happy-Asma- Ahmed,Asma and Happy, Pip, Julie, Patrick- Jonathan-Julie, Patrick, Julie and Susan.

Live Arabic and Persian music, women in head scarves, harem pants, glittering dresses and men smoking sheesha (hookah pipes with apple scented tobacco) gave the place a sultry exotic flavour. The music is infectiously sexy, the whole place gravitating to the dance floor where a group of middle eastern women moved like belly dancers.

Dancing to the sinuous sounds of middle eastern music!

The first course (or appetisers as they call them here) was amazing. Best Babaganoush I've tasted. I spoke to the chef and he confirmed they roast/smoke the eggplants to get that wonderful smokey flavour into the creamy dip. Little dishes of hummus, labneh, tiny sausages with spicy tomatoes, tiny spiced roasted potatoes, cumin spinach topped with slithers of fried onions were served with fresh pitas. Later came grilled kofta and chicken topped with onions then baklava.

Oil Wells, Smoking Tobacco and The RedBull Flying Circus!

Southern Ontario Oil

Who knew that the worlds first commercial oil well was registered in Oil Springs, Southern Ontario by a carriage maker named JamesWilliams back in 1858. The local First Nations peoples had been waterproofing their canoes and clothes for centuries with the stuff found in gum beds, pools of oil that seeped to the surface. Saturday morning, bound for the Red Bull Air race, we came upon some of the 1100 remaining wells from the worlds first oil boom that spurned the beginning of the motor industry in neaby Detroit just a few miles away. (read more about Ontario Oil here and here)

Leaving the main highway 401 out of Toronto, we took Route 2 (Major Talbot Road0, along the shores of Lake Erie (a lonely looking lake, with rough blustery shorelines) through the farming belt famous for its Peaches and Cream Corn.

Quickly noticing tall windowless barns clustered together, all with woodpiles of spit logs in front, we set to wondering what these could be. Pip suggested smoke houses, due to the little hooded chimneys ranged along the apex of each roof. Finally stopping at Maw and Paws diner, an unprepossessing looking greasy spoon, for a late lunch, after exhausting all hope of finding a kiwi style country cafe serving healthy fodder or great coffee, we chatted to some local farmers while chowing down on the best BLT I've ever had!!!

Turns out this is tobacco country, known as the Ontario Tobacco Belt!! The barns were smoke barns, for smoking tobacco. It's a declining practice but fired cured tobacco is still being produced along the northern shores of Lake Erie. They layer the leaves up on racks in these tall buidings, build a fire in a pit and smoke away. Our friendly farmer suggested we come back in fall when this'll be happening and to pick cherries which the area is renowned for. Cherry pie is to Canadians what Apple Pie is the Americans. Bit like Pav to a Kiwi I think!

Hurtling along the highway we spotted four DeLoreans and the original DMC-12  used in the Back to Future movie!! Now that's not something you expect to see in the countryside, they were heading for a car show near London.

Rolling into Windsor, Ontario, the site of round 4 of the Red Bull Air Race we checked into our hotel and then headed for the airport for a gander at the race planes and a Lancasater Bomber being restored to flight.

Red Bull Airport at Windsor

Later we headed a few miles upriver to the mouth of Lake St Clair for dinner at Lizzie Kazilly's, a crab shack at the Marina there. King crab was my dish de jour and whilst merrilly cracking long orange legs a tiny little Hummingbird flew onto the hanging basket above our table. I'd never seen one before and was amazed at how tiny these cute little birds are.

 Hummingbirds at Lizzie Kazilly's

The National anthems of Canada and USA were sung as skydivers descended with huge flags over the Detriot River.

During the night a Tornado rolled through just a few miles away in Leamington, a quiet rural town where we'd filled up with gas just hours before. You can watch the news cast about it here. Regardless of the nights devastation the day cleared and the Air Race went on to schedule. First up was an air show which included F18's from the US Navy, Canadian fighters, a Corsair and stunt Helicopter display which was mind boggling as the copter pilot had his chopper doing loops, flying upside down and literally falling out of the sky in spins that had the crowd on its feet.

Red Bull stunt Helicopter.

The race was almost an anticlimax after that!! Almost but not quite! Seeing these nippy little planes....equivilent of Formula one race cars....doing their radical turns pulling 12Gs, flying knife edge through the red gates and wings level through the blues was amazing. Won by the Austria Hannas Arch the race had not been without drama. Matt Hall, the Aussie pilot, G stalled on turn 13, dropped both wings and wheels in the water during qualifying but managed to pull his plane up and out safely..due to his expertise and the sheer grunt of these little machines. You can watch this here.

All this capped a cool weekend which started with a do at the Legion club Friday night, put on by one of the companies at Pips office. We sampled Serbian delicacies like Kajimak, a cream cheese made by boiling full cream milk, skimming off the top and stacking the skimmed milk into a container which is then strained and chilled, this was smeared on specialty buns, rather like large soft baps and served with a delicious Serbian sausage, which was grilled while being misted with water every few minutes, then added to finely chopped onions to steam. The whole thing was delicious, especially as we were lakeside on the patio above a sailing school.

Being spat on and other harbingers of Good Luck!!

Riding home from a doctors appointment Monday, a nasty little latino man spat on me. Yes spat right in the middle of my back!! Our paths crossed at a busy intersection. I'd hopped off the road and onto the pavement and he walked up behind me and let rip! Obviously he has an aversion to well dressed middle aged white women riding bicycles!!! Needless to say I was horrified dumbstruck by the grossness of his act. By the time I'd gathered my wits he'd scuttled off into the traffic.

This nasty little incident was the beginning of my good luck for the week. Not only did the doctors results turn out to be peachy keen but good old Uncle Sam let me back into his good books and I was awarded a ten year visitors visa for the US of A!! After stressing about going through another interrogation at the hands of Homeland security I waited nearly two hours for a 4.5 minute interview in which my visa application was approved! I now wonder why 4 Border officers at LAX wasted 6 hours traumatising me last year!!!! Apart from the adventure of it all I really could have done without the stress...and... I missed out on visiting the J Paul Getty art museum that day, the reason I was stopping in LAX, because of the drama.

I did a little happy dance when I got home, suitable portions are pictured above!

Pip and I celebrated with a night off our diet. We bbqued ribs, going the whole hog and slow roasting them doused in a spicy rub then bbqued to sticky perfection mopped with a chipotle and honey mopping sauce then served with a chipotle and yogurt dipping sauce. Apple coleslaw and Leffe Brun completed the ensemble!

The weather here is being really kind, we're into gorgeous sunny days hovering between C22-30 degrees. Eating outside each day on our little balcony is such a joy after the cloistered summers of 07, 08, 09 where we had no access to the outside world from our cheerless abode. Mcgregor is a pig in it, sunbathing to his hearts content then waddling back inside to cool off. He and I walked this morning just after 7am while it was still cool, I enjoyed the gardens in full spring glory with peonies blooming fat and gorgeous, the air full of scent from this funny little bouvardia like plant, it was hard to believe we were in gritty old downtown Toronto!

Another fine weekend passed and we spent all day saturday on our Bikes, leaving home at 8am to ride downtown to the waterfront then along the newly upgraded path along the lakefront. You can pretty much ride to Niagara along these paths.

After a couple of hours in the saddle we hoved into a lakeside cafe at the Summerside Pool for brunch. Later we trolled an art fair happening in the old deco building that houses the care and pool complex.

Riding home we took the route up Spadina to Chinatown, bustling and full of fruit and vege stalls along the pavement. We hoved to at our fav pork place where I bought my ribs. The chinese community is huge in Toronto and this area is full of color and noise and great smells from the char sui (bbq pork) joints.

Friday night we'd been invited to Fondue Chinoise at our neighbours house. This is a Quebec favorite and is a fondue of broth, wine, mushrooms and bay leaves to cook paper thin slices of bison, red deer, beef, shrimp and chicken. Joined by the girls Egyptian friend they all enjoyed smoking sheesha, (hookah pipe using water to cool the fruit or spice flavoured tobacco) on their patio. I've tried it before and thought it was lovely but declined as I'm never inhaling smoke by choice again. EVER!

Sunday night I took control of the leftover meat unused in the fondue and created thai tapas. The hits of the evening were the bison and peach meatballs with chilli peach and kaffir lime leaf dipping sauce and the thai beef and mango salad.

Earlier in the week I walked through Yorkville taking some snaps of spring in the village.

Hi again to all,


And yes I am writing two days in a row... shock horror does this mean “the week that was” is winding up again into its former glory...

So there I am riding my bike to work this morning (yes you heard it correctly) I ride a bike to work, it was a balmy 22 degrees at 6.30am... I chose to ride through the beautiful old Toronto University as it brings out my inner academic. As I ride I quote Shakespeare and hum Wolfgang's early works (or as I know him Wolfy) I also ponder the theory of relativity “general relativity” that is..........

(General relativity is a theory of gravitation developed by Einstein in the years 1907–1915. The development of general relativity began with the equivalence principle, under which the states of accelerated motion and being at rest in a gravitational field (for example when standing on the surface of the Earth) are physically identical. The upshot of this is that free fall is inertial motion; an object in free fall is falling because that is how objects move when there is no force being exerted on them, instead of this being due to the force of gravity as is the case in classical mechanics. This is incompatible with classical mechanics and special relativity because in those theories inertially moving objects cannot accelerate with respect to each other, but objects in free fall do so. To resolve this difficulty Einstein first proposed that spacetime is curved. In 1915, he devised the Einstein field equations which relate the curvature of spacetime with the mass, energy, and momentum within it).

........and low and behold I round the corner and come upon this picturesque nature vista (see attached photo)...

two things are strange here;
(1) is simple... Racoons are not usually out during the day
(2) Why do Racoons always look like they have been caught in the act and or like burglars...?
Regardless of that he was so hot and thirsty that apart from keeping an eye on me the little fella let me get about 10' from him before lifting his head and snarling...

For those of you who are obviously wondering (and will more than likely ask) what is the other Theory of Relativity?? It is “Special” now there are some big words in here so some may have to do homework... there will be a pop quiz tomorrow...

Special relativity is a theory of the structure of spacetime. It was introduced in Albert Einstein's 1905 paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" (for the contributions of many other physicists see History of special relativity). Special relativity is based on two postulates which are contradictory in classical mechanics:
1. The laws of physicsare the same for all observers in uniform motionrelative to one another (principle of relativity),
2. The speed of lightin a vacuum is the same for all observers, regardless of their relative motion or of the motion of the source of the light.
The resultant theory agrees with experiment better than classical mechanics, e.g. in the Michelson-Morley experiment that supports postulate 2, but also has many surprising consequences...
.....you look it up as I’m sick of telling you everything...

So that’s all for now, I look to the fore to communicating with you all presently... and no I have not been drinking...
Cheers
Toronto Pip
Global Bloke of Ambiguity

Moose Hunting in Algonguin Park

Its spring, the perfect time for Moose Hunting (avec camera NOT gun) in Algonquin Park. Early Saturday morning we gathered the girls next door, Happy and Susie, their two dogs Snoopy and Zora, and our Mcgregor and headed for Huntsville, just north of Muskoka , southwest of Algonquin, the huge wilderness park on the Canadian Shield, with eyes out on stilts for our first view of a gangly fifteen foot Moose. (Our quest for Moose began in 2005, though we've hunted them in Cape Breton,Nova Scotia; Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, upstate New York, Ontario and Quebec, we are still without a sighting!)

First stop (and unlikely Moose sighting venue) was the newly zooped up area around the wharf at Lake Muskoka to see the RMS Segwun, the oldest steam ship still operating in North America. In 2005 we took a gentle 3 hour cruise on her with my parents and happily discovered the joys of a Canadian iconic beverage served on board.....the Ceasar a mix of clam juice, tomato juice,vodka, spiced with Tabasco, the glass rimmed with celery salt and garnished with lime and a long stalk of celery avec leaves.

Muskoka is the heart of Cottage Country. Everyone has a Cottage (bach at the lake) and everyone bails from the city Friday night and heads for Cottage Country ( to get away from the fetid humidity of the city during July and August when temps can hover easily for weeks around the 30+C.) It's the thing to do and magazines, TV programmes and books stock the shelves at this time of year purporting the coolest and best for your cottage this summer.

Families spend up to 8 weeks at their cottages while the kids are off school for the months of July and August. Canadian Mums really know how to take summer break with the kids, graced with reliable heat and fine skies. There are huge family traditions attached to these cottages and it all revolves around the outdoors and lake, socialising in party boats, around fire pits and grilling (bbqing in our speak......although bbq up here is smoking your meat off direct heat, low and slow, spice rubbed then mopped with sauce to blackened smokey deliciousness). It's not uncommon to see float planes peeling off to land at remote or close by bays, the family pouring out with dogs while Dad ties the plane to the dock or mooring! Celebrity hideouts and the tucked away retreats for local multimillion/billionaires abound amongst the more modest cottages, with over 600 lakes even the most world weary celeb can hide out up here and do!

Needless to say our float plane remained parked in never never land  and we took the more usual route via four wheels on Hwy 400 to Cottage Country.

There is more water in these parts than land so finding a cute lake to hike around the first day was easy peasy. Huntsville, now famous as the site for the coming G8 meetings, is a quaint lakeside village with open public access to beach and the waters edge. Teens were swimming from the town dock whilst smart fizz boats tied up at lakeside pubs and restaurants.

After poutine and a burger grilled lakeside at the "Cabin" (a local burger shack) we headed for a walking track nearby which took us through pretty woods carpeted with forget-me-nots and wallflowers along the lake edge. Not officially summer yet, this was our first chance to break out the swimmers and both Pip and I took advantage of a floating dock attached to the walkway to chance the black lake waters for a swim. My boyfriend took the plunge first, meaning I had to save face and follow. A kid further along the dock was trying to get her big brothers to go in with her so she and I teamed up and jumped in together....brrrrrrrrrrrrr!! it was pretty frosty beneath the surface but after another couple of jumps we were having fun. Air temps were already above 26C so pretty yummy really.

Pub on the Docks at Huntsville; Pip and Ju apres swim with Snoopy, Mac, Susie and Zora the Sheltie

With no Moose sightings to report and the doggies tired out from walking and swimming we left them sleeping at our digs at days end and headed to town for dinner. We scored a table on the top deck of the Pub on the Docks, drank cooling beer and ate pub grub until the sun set behind us. The view (our stunning blonde waitress added to Pip's enjoyment of the event) and warm air were so lovely. Its hard to describe how amazing it is to sit out like this over the water when you live in a downtown building with 120 other families surrounded by high rise every which way you turn. Being out in the countryside, amongst trees and water is shockingly wonderful. Also shockingly wonderful was our stop at the Nutty Chocolatier for gelato and ice-cream for the afters! (Our second stop there that day...ooops!)

Next day dawned perfectly and we loaded up our tribe of Moose Hunters and headed for the Algonquin Park. Our drive took us past Delta Grand View Resort Golf Course which look fab set along the lake, Native Indian stores and Lakeside lodges and campgrounds. All of which we hope to explore later this summer.

Sadly no browsing Moose loitering along the highway but hopes were still high.

Canoe Lake Map

Fifteen dollars buys the park permit needed to drive in the park, another thirty bucks per canoe saw us set for our adventure on Canoe Lake. Kitted out in life jackets we hefted the doggies amidships in each canoe and set forth for Tom Tomson's Cairn about 4ks up the lake, where a headland sporting a totem pole is dedicated to Tom, the most famous of all Canadian Artists.

Canadian canoeing is not the most comfortable sport I've ever undertaken, more partial to the one man kayak than this upright one sided paddling action. Anyhooo its a great way to see the great outdoors and means that Mac, to his complete horror, gets to share our adventure. Settled unhappily on his 'faux fur' rug he panted the whole day away desperate for the torture to end, poor darling, though once ashore he was a pig in it getting dirtier than Snoopy (tiny black poodle) or Zora (very pretty sheltie) within five minutes of his swim.

Idling the day away paddling, we cruise past two famous Algonquin Summer Camps for kids (just exactly as depicted in all those movies..the girls camp on one shore and the boys camp on an island just a damn good moonlight swim away!) These old camps were wonderful and in six weeks time will be thronging with city kids getting their summer vacation sans parents and concrete jungle.

Lunch at Tom Tomson's cairn; our canoes; views south on Canoe Lake

Wildlife, which you would expect to abound in this wilderness park, seems very sparse and shy. Birdsong is ripe in the air but no waterfowl yet, whatever birds that migrate to this lake haven't got here yet! We reach our camp spot for lunch without sighting even a flutter of Moose ears and set up camp. Pip spots a fish in the clear water by the dock and the dogs swim like mad. Once again the Big Boy beats me in so once again I inch my way into the copper brownish lake water, this time its a lot warmer...maybe its shallower than yesterdays black depths.

We chat to passing canoeists returning from 5 day excursions, portaging their canoes (carrying between lakes) to 6 different lakes, camping out in the wilderness. It sounds so romantic but...not so sure about the carrying the canoe and all the gear bit!

Later we hike up to the Totem on the hill and take in the still lake view. The air here smells like fresh air...something Happy remarked on in the car driving here this morning. "I like that smell" she said sniffing at the open window.  I replied.,"That's called fresh air!" Crazy but when you get into a fresh air zone you really really can smell the difference. Then its exaggerated when you drive past the groves of wild Lilac on the roadside which perfume the air like some exotic paradise.

Pip hiking to Totem Pole; Dirty little white dog; lunch; Mac sunbathing; chowing down on the dock.

After lunch we paddled across the lake to an inlet well known for browsing wildlife. We came upon a Loon, preening itself in the sunshine. The call of these birds is the most Iconic sound of Canadian wilderness. Its eerie high call sounds across the lake in the evening and morning. Their long beaked heads and distinctive black and white markings are unique. Apart from our Loon we flushed out a small family of Canada Geese and some songbirds in the trees but alas no Moose.

At the end of the day I was glad to see the Portage store appear around the corner. We gave back our sturdy double ended aluminium canoes and headed for the beach to swim and let the dogs have some more exercise.

Portage Store; campers returning; Pip in the swim; Susie; Pip and Zora

After a cultural stop for the benefit of Quebecers Happy and Susie at the Kawartha Dariy Company for more ice-cream, (famous in these parts) Pip steered our chariot homeward and into static traffic..suddenly our 3.5 hour trip was looking scarily like 5-6  so we hightailed it off into the countryside at Barrie,(Lake Simcoe) and drove all the way home down Yonge Street (we live at Yonge and Isabella). Supposedly the longest street in the world Yonge Street took us through grain farms with huge old barns and soaring silos, then the upmarket suburb Forrest Hill then down past the Toronto Ladies Golf Club and into our neck of the woods.

Celebrating Victoria Day and commiserating on the lack of Moose we drank a little wine on our balcony, grilled (bbqued) some hot dogs and onions, smeared these between bread with mustard and ketchup, pickles and sauerkraut and called it a day!

Mothers Day and other more ordinary events

Mcgregor has a new BDF (best doggie friend). Meet Henry Briscoe from across the street. Henry and his mum Lori join us for walks around the streets and parks of Rosedale and Yorkville . Its soooo nice for Mac and I to have friends to walk with! Henry is up front in the shot above, Mac is looking a bit sulky in the back coz Henry just scarfed half a brie from the cheeseboard while we had our backs turned and he missed out! A few days after this shot Pip and I took the shears and sissors to Henry and gave him a spring clip. We've been grooming Mac for years now but this was our first 'other dog'. Pip does the shearing with clippers then I do the tail, ears, head, skirt and legs with these lovely blunt ended curved sissors. Now the two westie boys look very smart, like twins, though Henry has one floppy ear which is the giveaway!

Monday night Pip hit the kitchen and whipped up THE most delicious pork tenderloin stuffed with prunes and gouda, sweet potato mash and salad with balsamic dressing. OMG...so yumpalumpious! Ontario pork is the best we've ever tasted (unlike the lamb which is not), its so luscious and lean and delish! My boy cooked this to perfection....no recipe... just winged it. Gotta love a man who can cook like this!!

Making the most of the warmer weather we dined outside again, this time it was my turn to produce. I love making these little pizzas using whole wheat tortillas for a super thin crusty base. Homemade parsley and coriander pesto, goats cheese and finely sliced beef made a good combo, as did chipotle red sauce,  caramelized onions, red peppers and goats cheese.  These little gems are my lazy night option, using whatever I have in the fridge to create diff combos each time. My super fav is tiny nuggets of pork sausage, caramelized onions and fresh sage over a chipotle bbq sauce!

Our lovely neighbours Happy and Susie invited us for an Indian Banquet on friday night. The night before I'd gone with them to a Halal market to buy the ingredients. Very Cool. This place was mecca for spices, flours and rice and a whole range of veggies and herbs that I'd not seen before. We came away with bags of Gram (Besan) flour for the Pakora, spices to make garam masala, beautifully decorated cotton bags of rice, fresh chutneys like the very green hot mint chutney, sweet chunky mango, deep smooth hot mango and tamarind. Last stop was the dessert store where for $8.00 a pound you choose from a selection of luscious, syrupy tiny cakes, some gilded with silver leaf, others with hints of coconut or rosewater.

Happy,a Punjabi from Quebec, showed me how to make the best Pakora I've ever eaten. With her bare hands she mixes the gram flour and spices like garam masala, cumin, tumeric, paprika, chili, coriander seeds (which are the singing note in these crispy vege treats), coating finely sliced onion, potato,eggplant and spinach. She gradually mixed in water and plain yogurt until she had a fairly runny batter. Deep frying little clusters of veggies in batches until deep golden brown, she sopped up the last of the batter mix with bread cut into cubes and fried these too. OMG. This is a true good for you bad for you mix. All those veggies spices and yogurt balanced out by the frying but the end result is soooo divine. Served with a mix of chutney's and spiced yogurt they are a meal in themselves.

We celebrated Mothers Day on Saturday (NZ time) with breakfast with the girls. This time Happy's flatmate Susie cooked us French toast to die for. Susie is French Canadian from north of Quebec city and it showed. Her french toast was sublime. Her secret was to use one egg per slice of bread, just a dash of milk, cinnamon and a tablespoon of maple syrup which helps to get that incredible crisp carmelized crust and soft delish centre. Served with bananas, Maple butter from the Isle d'Orleans,Quebec and real Maple Syrup it was the perfect taste Quebec.

My Mothers day outing with dog and dogfather was to the Big Bass Pro shop!!! The mecca for outdoorsmen (and women) in North America. This huge store, kitted out like a hunting lodge displaying  wildlife, game and fish native to these parts was actually very cool. All animals displayed, except the fish like the longnosed Gar seen above swimming in the huge freshwater tank, were long dead!!

We were quite taken by the cute raccoon, especially as Pip had just encountered its very large cousin on the way to work one day this week. We occasionally see him stealing eggs from nests in the trees behind us! Moose are the big deal up here too and its sad to say that hundreds are shot for sport each year. The Moose get their own back and kill a few motorists everyear in the spring. These funy looking creatures who browse in lakes and marshy areas, can be seven feet high at their shoulders, their heads massive and can be as tall as fifteen feet!!

The Big Bass Pro store is so huge this seaplane was dwarfed. There were speed boats, canoes and kayaks, party boats (glam floating pontoons set up with all around seating, tables and booze fridge), atvs that looked liked jeeps, more fishing rods and lures than is sane, guns, guns and more guns!!, crossbows, hunting fashion gear, decoys of every type of wildlife to use for target practice, a laser shooting range, camping gear with rows of tents set up, amazing smokers that look like small steam engines, huge fish tank, etc etc etc.!

We'd thought we'd buy a fishing rod for the lake but were bamboozled by the selection. Some research is needed before we make a purchase. We saw 15ft surf casters for $80 which seemed very reasonable and these great reels that have depth counters and covered spools so no tangles. Pip left muttering someting about a shopping spree before we return to NZ!