Falling Back on Island Time

[Beth Wilson]

I was always amazed at how quickly the sick bags appeared and how quietly the staff go about doing it on the ferry.  Had one stormy trip that I thankfully did not drive onto with my car.  After the choppy ride I was saved the fate of all the car passengers....they had a cattle truck down below with the cars...can't imagine how that smelled after a VERY Choppy boat ride.

 

I am so looking forward to another Manitoulin visit.  When do you head out to see Max?

[Kerry Beal]

I was always amazed at how quickly the sick bags appeared and how quietly the staff go about doing it on the ferry.  Had one stormy trip that I thankfully did not drive onto with my car.  After the choppy ride I was saved the fate of all the car passengers....they had a cattle truck down below with the cars...can't imagine how that smelled after a VERY Choppy boat ride.

 

I am so looking forward to another Manitoulin visit.  When do you head out to see Max?

Strangely there wasn't a single transport on the ferry!  We were thinking about that as we were pitching and yawing and pondering how the car was moving down below.  

 

Not sure when we will get down to Burt Farms - I did speak to Johanna on the phone the night before we came up when she called to tell me the size of the turkeys this year and ask if I wanted one.  She's the one who told me that it had been raining for two weeks and asked me to bring some sunshine.  Looking at what's coming down this morning - we have not succeeded.

 

A little side note - there is a new bed in the condo - and the owner mentioned that she didn't have a mattress cover as she hadn't made it to the 'big' city to get one.  So I headed out the night before we left to pick one up.  Mentioned to the woman in the bedding store that the warranty issue would be moot as the mattress cover would be heading to Manitoulin.  She then told me that she was good friends with the woman who had a chocolate store in a place called Kagawong!  Small world Beth, small world!

[Kerry Beal]

 

Hoping to get to the NEMI market today before I'm called in to work.  When I do go in I have some butterscotch squares to take - one of my quickest, easiest things to bake (that is after I figure out where the spatulas and pecans are buried in our stuff).

 

 

 

[rotuts]

noticed you went for the CuisiSteamBoy first thing.

 

Interesting.

 

 

looking forward to further adventures.

[Kerry Beal]

noticed you went for the CuisiSteamBoy first thing.

 

Interesting.

 

 

looking forward to further adventures.

Anna did say "this is for Rotuts" when she did it.

[Kerry Beal]

Apparently it's the last market of the year - did a drive by and didn't bother to get out of the vehicle as we could see there were no vendors there that we wanted.

 

So hit the grocery store again - 

 

 

 

 

[andiesenji]

I'm also looking forward to your culinary adventures during the next three weeks. 

 

Incidentally,

The following just happened to be mentioned on the local news this morning.  Apparently one of the news people is from Ontario so the weather person sometimes notes the weather from that area.

Southern Ontario - several days mostly cloudy with rain.  Northern Ontario - mostly cloudy with snow - possible blizzard conditions, road hazards. (The news anchor quipped that she moved to California because she was tired of moss growing on her north side...)

 

Stay safe, both of you, at home and on the road. 

[Beth Wilson]

When I lived in Thunder Bay we had snow by Hallow'een and it usually stayed til spring.  Lets hope you are spared the weather from winters past :-)  Canadian Thanksgiving is just around the corner so I imagine some nicer weather is coming.

 

I imagine the boats are being hauled out of the harbour for winter storage now. 

 

What is the first dish planned with freeze dried food? The haul of supplies in the vehicle must have been quite light with all the freeze dried products.

[Anna N]

So before we headed off to the market I mixed up some rye flour, some A/P flour, some molasses and water to make a sour dough starter. I am following a recipe by Richard Miscovich. I have killed so many starters that if it were a felony I'd be spending centuries behind bars. Sentient creatures survive in my house only because they have ways and means to remind me they need food. Here's hoping this one survives long enough for one loaf of bread.

[Anna N]

After we returned from the market I made the dough for a loaf of white sandwich bread. With the homemade bacon that Kerry brought up and the tomatoes we just picked up from the supermarket I see bacon and tomato sandwiches in our future.

I also butchered and vacuum packaged the pork we bought ready to be sous vided for tonight's meal. I brought up some tiny potatoes which I will roast in chicken fat in the steam oven and season with the Dutch spice we used last year.

Tomorrow beginning at 9 AM and lasting until 4 PM there will be an island-wide Hydro outage. Like many other Islanders we will head to Espanola for most of the day where the lights should still be on and the stores open!

[Deryn]

Rooting for you and this starter, Anna!

 

When I was moved to the Yukon when I was 12 (1962), my mother acquired some sourdough pancake starter from a neighbour who apparently had had it going for about 10 years before she dipped out a bit for us. Every Sunday morning for 5 years, my mother dished up sourdough pancakes, from the same starter. My parents moved back to Ottawa in 1967 and the starter went with them. 10 years later she was still serving my father (and me when I came to visit with my kids) sourdough pancakes, still from the proceeds of that 'original' batch. She gave me some at that point and I took it back to the Yukon - and killed it in 2 weeks (so I feel your pain when it comes to starter).

 

When my mother died in 1986, I think my father left it in the back of their fridge and no one ever made anything from it again. A few years later, helping Dad defrost the fridge, I found the jar with its contents all dried up and we tossed it. I wish I had known back then that it might have been possible, even at that late stage, to resurrect it. Had I done that and had it worked though, I am sure I would have felt more guilt when it only made it through a couple of Sundays before it was declared dead for good, under my obviously less than careful watch.

[rotuts]

"  roast in chicken fat in the steam oven "

 

looking forward to this.

 

don't know what dutch spice is though.

[Kerry Beal]

Beth - you know me well enough to know how distracted I get by anything new - so not sure what I'll do first with the freeze dried stuff.  Squirrel...

 

Anyway - how long have I been coming up here and yesterday is the first time I've noticed there is an apple tree just across from the back of the condo.  So off I went through the soaking wet grass and weeds - and discovered there are a lot more than a dozen and a half apple trees of various varieties up there - all covered in apples.  

 

 

Picked a couple off of each tree.  Some are like little Delicious - and unlike the ones you buy in the store - they actually are delicious.

 

Girls from the hospital are looking to find me a cider press to borrow.  

 

[Kerry Beal]

I'm also looking forward to your culinary adventures during the next three weeks. 

 

Incidentally,

The following just happened to be mentioned on the local news this morning.  Apparently one of the news people is from Ontario so the weather person sometimes notes the weather from that area.

Southern Ontario - several days mostly cloudy with rain.  Northern Ontario - mostly cloudy with snow - possible blizzard conditions, road hazards. (The news anchor quipped that she moved to California because she was tired of moss growing on her north side...)

 

Stay safe, both of you, at home and on the road. 

Yeah - heard that there was snow in Ottawa a few days back and that snow was predicted in Sudbury.  Still came up without boots or a decent coat.  You'd think I'd learn wouldn't you?

 

Actually the coldest I've been up here was at the beginning of one of the summers!

Edited October 4, 2014 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Anna N]

"  roast in chicken fat in the steam oven "

 

looking forward to this.

 

don't know what dutch spice is though.

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/149057-manitoulin-test-kitchen-part-2/?p=1980631

[Anna N]

Rooting for you and this starter, Anna!

 

When I was moved to the Yukon when I was 12 (1962), my mother acquired some sourdough pancake starter from a neighbour who apparently had had it going for about 10 years before she dipped out a bit for us. Every Sunday morning for 5 years, my mother dished up sourdough pancakes, from the same starter. My parents moved back to Ottawa in 1967 and the starter went with them. 10 years later she was still serving my father (and me when I came to visit with my kids) sourdough pancakes, still from the proceeds of that 'original' batch. She gave me some at that point and I took it back to the Yukon - and killed it in 2 weeks (so I feel your pain when it comes to starter).

 

When my mother died in 1986, I think my father left it in the back of their fridge and no one ever made anything from it again. A few years later, helping Dad defrost the fridge, I found the jar with its contents all dried up and we tossed it. I wish I had known back then that it might have been possible, even at that late stage, to resurrect it. Had I done that and had it worked though, I am sure I would have felt more guilt when it only made it through a couple of Sundays before it was declared dead for good, under my obviously less than careful watch.

Thank you for your vote of confidence. I feel your pain especially about your mother's starter.

[Smithy]

Woohoo for free apples! I'm glad you found those. Are they all intended for cider?

[Kerry Beal]

Woohoo for free apples! I'm glad you found those. Are they all intended for cider?

Jury still out.  Perhaps a bit of baking.

[rotuts]

do you have a Cuisinart there ?

 

if so, you can use that to process the apples in batches.

 

apples need to be 'ground' before they are pressed to cut through the fiber thus releasing the juice.

 

it a lot more work that way.   then you press in some sort of clean cloth  a cotton pillow case ?

 

or you just hang it up over a bowl and wait.

 

non pasteurized 'cider'  kept at room temp until 'fizzed out' makes a mighty fine autumn drink

 

N.E. back in day, and probably Canada, was famous for Each 'pubs' home made hard cider.

 

then better yet, find a cider place 'near you' that does not pasteurize the juice.

 

the cider changes as the different apples become ripe over the fall season.

 

this hard cider is outstanding with local fried calms w 'bellies'  

 

you wont time the clams, but maybe a local cider maker.

 

you could of course  make that hard cider into   Canadian calvados.

[Tri2Cook]

Yeah - heard that there was snow in Ottawa a few days back and that snow was predicted in Sudbury.  Still came up without boots or a decent coat.  You'd think I'd learn wouldn't you?

 

Actually the coldest I've been up here was at the beginning of one of the summers!

Flurrying snow and strong wind here today. Finding a free-range apple orchard is a nice score, look forward to seeing what you two get up to with those.

[Anna N]

Flurrying snow and strong wind here today. Finding a free-range apple orchard is a nice score, look forward to seeing what you two get up to with those.

You can take a hint from this. When the hospital called to inform Kerry that a patient had come in who would need her attention, Kerry's first question was not about the patient's condition but about who on the island might have a cider press they would lend her! Seriously though she did quickly hustle out the door and her patients really do come first. But she is hell-bent on finding a cider press.

[Anna N]

So the sandwich bread is out of the oven:

And the pork is happily swimming in the yellow sous vide pool:

I am thinking with all these apples:

something appley will have to appear on our dinner plate with the pork. I am no fan of applesauce so I am thinking sautéed apple slices.

[Smithy]

It looks like you have a goodly share of little bitty apples (a.k.a. applets). I'll be interested to read how you prep them. I'm considering roasting some and then doing something to extract the fruist, instead of cutting the seeds out of all those little guys before cooking.

[Kerry Beal]

 

Lunch - heated up in Steamboy - was just as crispy skinned as yesterday.

 

 

[rotuts]

As it So Should Be.