North to Alaska

This summer, we went on a cruise to Alaska.  It was our first cruise.  And while I wouldn't rush back to take another cruise and will be very selective regarding location if we take a cruise again, it was the perfect way to see the sites on our way from Vancouver to Anchorage.  The fact that you can't get to Juneau by road is just part of the reason to travel here via cruise.

Alaska is stunningly beautiful.  The air is clear, the skies in late June only got as dark as the picture here, which I could really get used to.  Fortunately the curtains in our room were very good at blocking out the light so it didn't impact sleeping.  Since I can sleep most places, that might not have bothered me, but glad we didn't have to test it.

We had fantastic weather until the end when we were in Denali National Park and the mountain did not show its face for a second.  But that's how it goes with travel.

Our excursions off the boat included kayaking in the ocean near Ketchikan (fantastic), hiking in Juneau (also fantastic), and a jeep ride into the Yukon from Skagway (slightly less fantastic … two jeeps broke down, the off road part was not terribly exciting, but on the positive side, we saw two bears and got to go to the Yukon).  I purposefully picked excursions with a some physical activity involved.  Never being on a cruise, I wasn't sure how much activity this trip was going to provide but I was pretty sure that there would be a lot of food.  The activities were great, and with a couple of visits to the gym combined with walks around the deck, I kept active and felt a little less guilty for enjoying dessert after dinner!

The towns of Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway were nice to wander around and I had fantastic fish for lunch in Juneau and Skagway.  I had Halibut tacos in Juneau that I am still dreaming of.  The fish was so fresh and the tacos so creative and tasty, I would go back just to have them again!

Without much difficulty (thanks to the internet), I managed to find yarn stores in all of our ports.  In Juneau, I bought Alaska-themed fingering from Blue Moon Fibre Arts and some fabric with Alaskan motifs at the fabric store next door.

In Skagway, after much deliberation, I bought a skein of Qiviut fingering which was not inexpensive but the cowl that I've essentially finished is so soft that I almost can't wait for winter so that I can wear it … emphasis on the word almost.

The main benefit of going to Alaska on a cruise was the trip into Glacier Bay National Park and the College Fjords.  Breathtaking.  Our ship is one of the ones allowed to go right into both of these areas so the views were stunning.  It is so difficult to describe.  And to see these properly, you need to be on a boat.

So the trip north to Alaska was well worth the money.  I would love to go back and spend some time in one of the villages or at a camp in the bush.  I've added that to my very long places to go list.

Vancouver

A very delayed post on summer vacation which consisted of a few parts and which will hopefully get posted before our next vacation.  This year we went on an Alaska cruise.  More on that at a later time.  This post is about Vancouver.  Before and after the cruise, we spent a little bit of time in Vancouver.  Our approach to city sight seeing is to walk everywhere, which we did.  

On our first day there, before catching the ship, we spent most of the day in Stanley Park.  But on our way there, we stopped into a concourse shopping mall to pick up umbrellas and find somewhere for lunch.  And we found a fantastic place … the best Dim Sum I have ever had.  As a very in-the-moment kind of traveller, I have no idea what it was called or where it was.  This is the same for the fabulous Chinese dinner we had when we flew back into Vancouver at the end of the trip and the pub lunch by the cruise ship dock and Gastown that we had the next day.  Oh well.  Everyone needs to make their own memories, I guess but I'll try to do better in the future.

After lunch, it was on to Stanley Park, with the umbrellas we didn't need for the rest of the day and very satisfied tummies.  Stanley Park is beautiful.  There is no other way to say it.  And we only scratched the surface, walking about 6 km round trip through one section.  

After a stop back at the hotel to change we popped over to Gastown and looked around.  Very touristy but we found some great shops with Native Canadian art, spent some time talking to a man carving a totem pole and watched the clock steam away with all of the other tourists.  

On our return trip from Alaska, we spent most of our time walking again, this time in a steady downpour.  The purchase of the umbrellas was not a waste!

Our main focus this time was Granville Island.  I love it there.  Neat little shops to look around in, the food stands and the water.  I found a great quilt shop and another place with art supplies that I wish I could live close to for their classes.  I am pretty sure I could pick up some new hobbies there.  

We went on one of the cute little people ferry boats just because and ended up touring another part of Stanley Park as we made our eventual way back to our hotel.

My favourite thing about the area, aside from these guys painted on storage tanks … a bakery that I read about on the internet when researching, Beaucoup Bakery.  The peanut butter cookies are apparently the best things ever.  Not that I would have any idea.  I fully intended on the peanut butter cookie as we walked in but, on the counter, shouting my name, were chocolate rosemary cookies.  I love, love love chocolate and can say the same about rosemary, although perhaps with a little less passion.  Chocolate and rosemary together?  Rosemary used in a sweet preparation?  I had to try this mysterious combination.  And it was fantastic.  Super rich, almost like a brownie,  with a hint of rosemary and salt that just make the cookie sing.  

I vowed that I would get creative, suffer failures, but work to figure out how to make them when we got home.  And I did figure it out, but without any blood, sweat or tears.  The recipe is online!  And just as delicious made by me as I remember them being in the bakery.  Thanks to the owner for sharing the recipe with Food Network Canada.  And I should add that the bakery also makes good coffee and my husband quite enjoyed his chocolate croissant, but I'm glad I had that cookie.  

Washington

I've been telling myself for a while that I'll get back into posting to this blog.  So here I go, trying again.  This year, to date, has been a mix of big challenges with some very nice things in between.  I guess that is the experience of life compressed into the last 10 months.  After a really rough period at the end of last year and beginning of this year, I've had some travels that have really given me that mental rest that I so desperately needed.  While I'm not out of my mourning phase, I feel like things are starting to right themselves again.  Things will never be the same, as they never will be with big loss, but a new normal is on the horizon.

In addition to a lot of upheaval, I had one of those milestone birthdays that is an upheaval in itself!  I still feel like I'm 30ish, not my real age which I'm not even admitting to myself, let alone my blog!  So in between bad things, we went for a very nice trip to Washington DC.  It is a long drive from Toronto but not unreasonable so we set out.  I loved Washington.  As a Canadian, we can't help but be exposed to US history, politics, pop culture and so on.  So most of the sites in the city were "familiar".  We spent our 3 days there walking, walking and walking.  All along the mall (my favourite spot was the arboretum but I also recommend the Museum of the American Indian and its cafe for lunch), to dinner at Restaurant Nora (a delicious restaurant, conveniently located near Looped Yarn Works, a very nice yarn store where I managed to spend a bit of money, quelle surprise).  All of the war memorials were moving and my favourite presidential monument was the FDR Memorial.  Beautiful and not seemly well known based on the limited number of people there.

At one point on day 2, we rented bikes from the bike share (manly because my feet were killing me and I whined until we rented bikes).  And wouldn't you know it, my bike was a lemon.  I ride my bike all the time and this piece of less-than-stellar engineering made me look like a rookie.  The gears wouldn't change without a good amount of persuasion and the steering was suspect.  I'm not sure how much of the issue was the need for bike repair and how much was the part where I'm used to a very nice road bike … I'm blaming the bike but I guess you also get what you pay for.  We rode from just outside the Capitol,  through the parts of Arlington Cemetery that you were allowed to ride bikes (which was not very much) to Georgetown where, after a couple of tries to find an empty rack, I said good riddance and got back on foot.  I really liked Georgetown but, on a Saturday, so does everyone.  There was a bakery I was hoping to try but the line up out the door dissuaded me.  I considered that to be a positive thing in the end.  Given the other gastronomical delights we experienced while we were there, baked goods, no matter how good, were not really necessary.

On another portion of our DC hike, walking back to our hotel from the mall, we happened upon the Canadian embassy.  No matter where I roam, it is always nice to see a bit of Canada.

Fall Relaxation

We had a very nice few days at a family cottage this weekend.  We threw the cat into the car and off we went.  The cat travelled very well and seemed to be content with the cottage.

The weather this weekend was fabulous and I went kayaking twice.  Saturday morning, the lake was quite glassy for the most part and I was out for at least an hour, exploring a bay I hadn't really plumbed the depths of before.  It was so peaceful and makes me forget why we don't go to the cottage more often (the horrendous traffic).  The leaves are about 1/2 down and the lake was covered with pine needles.  There were other people up there but it was not crowded with signs of habitation at about every 4 or 5 cottages.  That early in the morning, the only motorized boats are those of the fishermen moving from one spot to the next.  The sound of a passing train across the quiet lake sounded like the train was going to run me over it carried so well.  I saw (and heard) a few loons enjoying the morning and had a conversation with some cottagers outside on their deck doing some repairs.  It was fabulous.

This morning was even quieter.  It rained last night and the sky was still cloudy with further threat of rain.  But I went anyway.  As the husband says, I love kayaking and only get to do it very periodically so I went.  While the weather wasn't as nice, the cloud cover makes the colours more saturated and even nicer to look at.  I spent more of my paddle this time floating and looking at the scenery.  Fantastic.

We came home this afternoon to avoid the Monday traffic and get a few things done here and I'm trying to remember that relaxation for at least a few more days.

We went on our seemingly semi-annual tour of the Beamsville Bench today.  The original plan was to go yesterday but the pouring rain made us re-think our plans.  And we're glad we did.  It was beautiful out there today.  Lots of clear skies with little to no smog.  The vines were full of grapes and the wine tasting was great.  This picture is from the patio outside the Flat Rock Cellars boutique.  I love how the straight lines lead all the way to the lake.  

We went for lunch at Vineland Estates.  I would have to say that I wouldn't rave about it but it was good.  I had a mixed green salad with peaches and other fruit to start with a lobster risotto as the main.  Again, good but I found both a bit on the acidic side.  The dressing in the salad could have been a little bit mellower to offset the fruit and I'm not sure what the acidic punch was in the risotto.  

During the drive I managed to finish another hat for the Warm Hands Network.  That makes five adult hats and one baby hat and a bit less stash.  I've spent some time this weekend organizing some of my stash and would have to say that the sense of accomplishment from using stash to make these hats is somewhat dampened by the fact that I've barely made a dent.  The good news is that I have tons of partial balls so will not run out of yarn to make more hats for the next shipment.

I'm also using Ravelry to try to inventory what I have.  Hopefully this will come in particularly handy for hat making (and other projects) to come.

More Niagara

While the iPod photos are not the greatest, I snapped these this morning on a brisk walk around Niagara-on-the-Lake.  The one with the hazy buildings is of Fort George (which you can barely see given the lack of telephoto capability, or maybe I should say lack of ability to figure out whether the pod has telephoto capability).  The other is the pathway running along the beach.

There are a lot of very nice houses in Niagara-on-the-Lake with beautiful gardens and big verandas.  I could easily imagine living there.  If it weren't for that pesky need for a job with a salary large enough to pay the enormous home prices.  Oh well.  That's why they call them fantasies.

I stopped in at Bee Modern Fabrics and Yarn after the meeting today and resisted buying anything except for a couple of black and white fat quarters.  I looked for a while at a Kaffe Fassett pile of fat quarters and some really very nice Noro Silk Garden.  Really very nice.  I waffled about that for a long time but left without it when I remembered my stash reduction focus and telling myself that I am going to take a break from Noro for a while.  Well done me.  This time anyway.

On the road again

I could never be one of those people who travels constantly for work. I work with people who commute weekly, by plane from work to home. Not for me. I don't even like an overnight stay for a meeting at the very lovely Niagara-on-the-Lake. It could be that I don't really know the people that I'm here with. Also, the nature of my job always makes me the kid brother that hangs around when you don't really want him to. But your mother told you that you have to look after him today so you are stuck.

I am currently waiting for the pre meeting dinner, having a coffee at Balzac's (which was quite good) and thinking about hopping over to the wine store to pick up a couple of bottles to take home. The quilt store closed too early so I can't make it there today but maybe on the way out tomorrow. 

I did stop at the nice lavender shop and the organic grocery (neither had what I was looking for but at nice to look around anyway). 

Off to get a picture for the post and dinner. 

And in truly typical "me" fashion, I just dropped a basket of corks all over the wine store. At least it wasn't glassware!

Let's go to the Ex

We're on vacation this week so decided to go to the Ex, something we haven't done in forever.  It was good to walk around but it is an expensive day for what you get.

The food building is as good as always, if you count more ways to make french fries than one thought possible and other stellar dietary offerings (which I am counting as good for this one day in the summer and never again for the remaining 364 days of the year).  The one thing I did find is that the food choices are no longer all that unusual.  It used to be, as an example, that the Thai counters were unusual.  Now we have at least five good Thai restaurants to choose from in a very small radius.  I did enjoy my 10 am snack of perogies (which bore only a passing resemblance to the real thing as I understand it - deep fried didn't seem to be a part of our Polish neighbour's recipe when I was growing up).  And then for lunch I had a Korean-themed wrap.  With cheese and a corn tortilla - definitely fusion.  But again, tasty.  The sampling of Dutch frites that I stole from my husband was also very good.  Fresh out of the frier with lots of mayo.

The rest of the buildings weren't terribly exciting but we checked them out.  I was disappointed that there didn't seem to be a horse show this year.  That was usually good for entertainment and a place out of the sun for a few minutes.

My favourite bit - I beat my husband at one of the games and won a little smurf.  Smurfs are obviously in this year.  You could win one at every stall.  Last time I was there, the item at every game was a stuffed flower (of which I have 2 or 3 somewhere).

All in all, it was a nice day but a $16 entry fee for expensive junk food, a couple of games and ok exhibits seemed a bit over the top.  But compared to the multiple-thousand dollar vacation we aren't on because of cat care challenges, it was a steal.

New Internet Distraction

I exercise regularly.  I hate it but I firmly believe in all of the positive reasons to do it.  One of the things that helps me through most workouts is music.  I have a small shuffle and a workout playlist with more to choose from on the computer.  But, despite the large selection of songs in my workout file, I was getting a bit tired of the same old songs.

Just in time, I read about the Jog.fm website in a copy of Real Simple I picked up at Philadelphia airport a couple of weeks ago.  It is great.  So now I don't have to scroll through my thousands of songs looking for some that might be good for a workout.  I can look up songs with beats per minute similar to songs that get me jazzed during a workout, I can look up good cycling songs for the stationary bike or good running songs based on my speed.  I have actually given up running but that is a whole other story.

What does all this have to do with the beer bottle clock picture?  Nothing really, except this was taken in the Philadelphia airport with my iPod.  Art pops up everywhere in Philadelphia, including near duty free in the International portion of the terminal.

The other photos were taken during a previous trip to Philly a couple of years ago.  They are all from random strolls around the city which is one of our favourite ways to explore a new place.  Above is a sampling of decoration that was covering the walls of an alley we walked by while searching for Loop, a really nice knitting store and its next door neighbour, Spool, a fabric shop.

The stained glass is actually the side of a bus shelter.  So much nicer than the ads the plaster bus shelters in Toronto.

And the cat, another random find. Isn't he great?

New Jersey

I just came back from a business trip to New Jersey.  The business part went well but the purpose of the post is to a) wonder why clothes are so much cheaper in the US than in Canada and b) mention two restaurants that I very much enjoyed.
a) I don't have much to comment on regarding the first item except maybe because the market is bigger, prices can be lower.  Import duties might have something to do with it too.  The difference in the dollar can no longer be used as an excuse.  Anyway, I bought a cute skirt, a long sleeve burgundy t-shirt for under jackets (moving away from the 15 black ones I own into something a little more complementary to my skin tone) and a pretty blouse all for under $100.
b) On the restaurant front, I enjoyed two really nice dinners.  The first was at Seasons 52, a great spot that serves dishes under 450 calories.   Tasty and relatively guilt free at the same time.  They also have  avery nice wine list that, of course, increases that calorie count.
The second was Bonefish, also a good spot where our grilled fish could be had with a delicious mango salsa.  The waiter told us that a similar recipe for the salsa was on their website which is where the link takes you.  This was great too because I met up with my oldest friend Heather who lives in the area and we had a great time catching up.  It's amazing how you can link up with someone you haven't seen in a couple of years but those years melt away as you start talking and it feels like it has only been a few days.

More food and even more beverage from Southern Ontario

Vacation continues!  On Tuesday we did another tour of Southern Ontario and saw some more good things.

1.  First stop was Morningstar Mill in Thorold, an historic grist mill and saw mill.  I think this is better visited in the spring or winter when the leaves are off the trees.  The mill itself is pretty but there are some nice falls that can't be seen well due to the leaves.  The mill also links up with the Bruce Trail so a hike would go well with a visit to this location.  We walked for a little way but only had our sandals on so didn't make an outing of it.  Next time.  They also sell flour there.  If my pantry wasn't already full of whole wheat flour, some would have come home with me.  Again, next time.

2.  Next up, Lake Land Game Meats - another nice meat supplier.  In addition to farmed game meats, they also have chicken and beef from their farm.  In the store I met a man and his mother who were using the same book I was to tour around the area.  The highlight of this place was the dinner made when we got home of pasta with smoked duck and various veggies from the garden.  Yummy.

3.  Our first of two beverage stops was Hernder Estate Wines.  Someone had given us wine from this winery a few months ago and we really enjoyed it.  So we decided to visit and try some more.  This is a very pretty setting and, in addition to wine, they sell various wine vinegars and grapeseed oil.  One of the ladies who works there claims that a nightly application of grapeseed oil around her eyes makes all the difference in wrinkle prevention.  I would have to say that something is working for her - very few lines around her eyes.  I bought some but have so far only used it for the above mentioned pasta dinner.

4.  Inn the Pines is another farm with a road-side stand.  Since we have a lot of veggies ready to eat in the garden, I didn't buy too much here but could have.  Everything looked so good.

5.  We were going to drive by Nokara Farm in St Catharines but had the windows open in the car and got a smell of fresh baked pies on the way back so turned around and went in.  We brought lunch with us but hadn't packed dessert.  A perfect excuse to buy some mixed fruit tarts.  Yummy again!

6.  Upper Canada Cheese Company - this place is excellent.  They have their own and other local cheeses and have a great little tasting set up that definitely helps them sell their cheese.  I brought a tasting tray of 2 cheeses I picked up there and one from Longo's to a dinner party last night and we all enjoyed ourselves.

7.  Malivore Wine - Another very nice winery with very nice wine.  A few bottles were purchased here after a tasting.  And their Pinot Noir went very nicely with the smoked duck veggie pasta.

The things to see and do in Southern Ontario are endless.  I focused on food but the general scenery driving around is lovely.  You wouldn't know that densely populated areas are very close by when you get out into some of these areas.

Southern Ontario Food Tour Part 2

Friday we decided to take in the Niagara region, mostly.  In terms of food finds, it wasn't as good as the first tour but we had a good time.  This time I used the Ontario Table and Niagara Cooks as guides, both written by Lynn Ogryzlo.  I bought the first one at Springridge Farm when I picked strawberries there a month ago.  I picked up the second when I went to a book signing by Lynn, also at Springridge.

Our first destination was Niagara-on-the-Lake which is always a nice spot to visit.  We stopped at Southbrook Vineyards, a place we have passed before but never stopped at.  They produce their wines biodynamically which means it is an organic farm but goes a step further to look at the farming process holistically - treating all elements on the farm - soil, plants and animals - as one living entity.  Their website explains it better than I.  And the wine is good.  We bought a couple of bottles of Chardonnay and a couple of Cabernet Merlot.  We will definitely return to Southbrook.

Our next stop, from the books, was Busy Bee Gardens, Ontario's only manufacturer of food grade essential oils.  They sell dried lavender, beauty products, food grade lavender and many other things.  I bought some dried lavender to make sachets, maybe for Christmas gifts, and some very nice lavender shave gel.

The Organic General Store was also worth a stop.  I bought some great looking dried cranberries and walnuts as well as some specialty flours that I've tried unsuccessfully to find locally in the past.

Other than a quick stop at Cheese Secrets, we didn't stop in the town itself but passed by to Kurtz Orchards which was ok but not my favourite kind of place.  They sell loads of different kinds of jams and other condiments.  While I'm sure a lot are really good, I've learned from One of a Kind Craft Sale experience that these tend to clutter up shelves in my house or, worse, get opened for an occasion and languish at the back of the fridge to be thrown out 6 months later when rediscovered looking less than appetizing.  That could be just me.

We continued on, picking up some peaches and plums at a road side stand, past Niagara Falls, to Ridgeway where we bought corn on the cob at Sexsmith Farm - thanks for the baker's half dozen - and then to Port Colborne.  Here we stopped at Muileboom Greenhouses, a hydroponic cucumber and tomato farm.  The tomato plants in the green house were amazingly tall and the tomatoes very tasty.  Our next and final stop was at Minor Fish for some fresh pickerel.

What did I enjoy about the day?  We saw some parts of Ontario we hadn't seen before, met some very nice farmers and enjoyed an outstanding dinner of fresh corn-on-the-cob, pan fried pickerel and Southbrook wine.  Simple and delicious.

On Vacation!

For the first time ever we don't have a big trip or a cottage veg-out planned for our vacation.   We have a sick cat who needs a sub-contaneous fluid treatment every second day so we don't want to go too far.  To non pet owners, and even some pet owners, this sounds a bit crazy but we have been accused of being a bit crazy (or at least I have) in the past so there you have it.

I took a trip up to North Bay for a few days at the beginning of this week.  Highlights included:

1.  The best butter tart I've ever tasted when I stopped for a snack in South River.  The cafe, whose name I can't remember, is on the north west corner at the stop lights.  Anyone who travels through there will be able to find it.  Very, very good butter tart.

2.  Dinner at the White Owl Bistro.  This place looks like nothing from the outside - just a little cottage.  But inside, yummy food awaits.  I had a wild boar tenderloin with a very tasty pommery mustard and cranberry sauce and basil mashed potatoes.  My only complaint - they insist on trying to feed me cauliflower!  Actually, one other complaint - their air conditioner either wasn't working or doesn't exist and it got a bit hot towards the end of the evening.

3.  Homestead Stitches - this actually used to be a favourite place but it, sob, has closed.  I loved this little store but I guess others must not have and it is gone.  I was so upset when we walked up to it and there were workmen doing renos inside.

4.  Stix and Stones - the local knit shop with the lovely dog Cusco.  This is a nice yarn shop and I really like her new location.

5.  Greco's pizza - while I had their Cannelloni this time, which was delicious, this place has the best pizza anywhere.  I'm not kidding.  A guy I know at the office has a friend with a plane and sometimes, they fly up to North Bay, just for Greco's pizza.

6.  Art on Main - I didn't go there this time but this is a lovely store that is an artist cooperative essentially.  A number of local artisans have lovely pieces for sale here and I've contributed to the local artists on a number of occasions!

7.   Zenone's - this is a clothing store whose name has changed to something else recently but it has nice clothes that fit me properly.  I have been particularly successful with shorts there lately but have picked up a couple of nice things for work too.

8.  The Ultimate Kitchen part of the Trans Canada Store has really good kitchen gadgets and I can spend a good chunk of time browsing there.

9.  Twiggs - this place has very good specialty coffees and other good looking stuff.  The only thing I've eaten there is the Hawaiian pizza, which was good, but they have other great looking things too.

10.  Leisure Farms - strawberries are done in Southern Ontario but not in Sturgeon Falls, just a 1/2 hour drive from North Bay.  We went picking strawberries and not only were they cheaper, they were bigger and sweeter.

That's a summary of the first vacation excursion.  More to come.  And the picture of the flower - just because.

Southern Ontario Food Tour

I recently bought a copy of a book called the Ontario Table  "featuring the best food from around the province".  As I was reading through it the other day, I was inspired to go visit many of the places mentioned so planned a road trip for yesterday.  Based on the success we had, we'll be trying to visit more of these over the summer and beyond.

Our first stop was Paron Cheese, 400 Hwy 20 in Binbrook.  This place makes various, no preservatives added, cheeses, including one called Montasio which when aged, they say is a good sub for parmesan.  Since I'm not even halfway through a Costco Parmesan cheese (which translates into - I will be using this cheese for another 6 months), I bought the milder version of the cheese and another butter cheese called Casata.  We sampled both in the store and popped open the Casata yesterday afternoon and enjoyed.  This is not a comfortable shorts and t-shirt environment.  The customers and the staff join the cheese in the refrigerator.  Brrr.  And they only take cash.  Fortunately, my dad was with me so could spot me the $5 I needed to complete my purchase.

Next up, Fenwood Farm in Ancaster.  This is an organic chicken farm with an on-farm market. They sell other meats as well and we bought a bunch, glad we had thrown the big cooler into the back of the truck.  The farm supplies a number of markets and restaurants including the Organic Garage in Oakville.  Buying directly from the farm felt great and without the markup that a store has to put on the products, was less expensive.  There was also a small veggie stand outside the store with garlic scapes for sale.  I haven't had these for a couple of years because our local farmer's market does not sell anything that doesn't look like the supermarket.  In fact, I'm pretty sure at least half of the booths at the farmer's market around the corner from us get their produce at the food terminal.  The bananas give it away.  Anyway, back to the scapes.  I made a very pungent pesto with these that I drizzled over roasted asparagus and then threw it all back in the oven for about a minute.  Yummy.  I still taste the garlic this morning so won't stand too close to anyone today!

Our final stop was Morden's Organic Farm Store in Dundas.  Most of the food is from local farms and one of their biggest draws is their gluten free product suite.  We picked up a number of game meats and some fish from this store.  They have a walk-in freezer that made the cheese place seem like a day at the beach.  Next time, I'll bring a jacket.

I think the bottom line of this kind of shopping is that we got to meet some really nice people either selling their own food or selling the food of their neighbours.  This made for a great day.

More Peru

I posted about crafty Peru a couple of months ago with the intention of doing another post shortly thereafter about the places we saw in general.  Well that didn't happen as quickly as I'd planned, but here, finally, is Peru Part II.

I'll concentrate on Machu Picchu in this post since this is the reason we wanted to go to Peru.  I will say that as I researched the country and travelled to a few other areas, there are a lot of other reasons to go to Peru and it is still on my wish list for a return visit at some point. There is still more to see.

Despite seeing thousands of pictures of Machu Picchu, including the one shown here that is everywhere, nothing prepared me for the sheer awesomeness of the place.  Our travelling companions did not want to hike the Inca Trail so we took the train to Machu Picchu Peublo instead.  Since we had a limited time budget, this method of travel provided us with an opportunity to spend more time seeing other things besides Machu Picchu - Lima, extra time in Cuzco and the Sacred Valley.

When we arrived at Machu Picchu, it was fairly early in the morning and the clouds still hung over the mountains.  There was a feeling of peace, calm and quiet hanging over the place despite the many tourists and the cheers from the Inca Trail walkers coming into the site from above.  As we rounded the corner of this pathway onto the site, I was hit with a combination of wonder at the site itself and the feeling of "I can't believe I'm actually here".  There is an aura there that I have felt at other ancient places; Stonehenge is an example.  I can imagine that the people who were there all of those years ago still inhabit the place somehow.

We had an excellent tour guide (we used Gap Adventures and had guides limited to the four of us for 95% of the organized part of the trip) who told us a lot about the known history and the theories of how the site came to be.

These ancient sites were very well built.  This is earthquake country and the sites were built to withstand the tremors.  In Cuzco, the gateway city to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley, there are Spanish buildings on top of Inca ruins.  When earthquakes hit, the Spanish buildings were destroyed but the Inca foundations were still standing.

The Inca people built these terraces for growing crops.  Different crops were on different levels of the terraces depending on the altitude they could best grow at.  The terraces were carefully placed during building to ensure the correct amount of sunlight for growing and had irrigation systems built in.

 As an aside, Peru has hundreds of kinds of potatoes and many kinds of corn.  Compare that to the grocery store here where you can get about 4 or 5 different kinds of potatoes on a good day.

The roofs were added to these buildings to approximate what they would have looked like in Inca times.  The quality of construction of the buildings depended on the intended use of the building.  The stones of temples and royal houses were very carefully assembled and the stones are smooth and very evenly joined.  Other buildings of less importance were roughly finished.

There is so much more to say about Machu Picchu than my 30 second tour in this post.  I would recommend a visit here to anyone.  Peru, in general, is beautiful.  The people that we met were extremely friendly and the weather was fantastic.  If it's on your travel wish list, make sure you go.  If it isn't on your list, consider adding it.  At the very least, it's worth checking out your local library for a book on the Inca people to learn some of their fascinating history.

Crafty Peru

 We recently returned from a trip to Peru.  What a beautiful country!  We were only there for 10 days so barely scratched the surface.  We spent 2 days in Lima and walked all over Miraflores (I see flowers, one of the more affluent neighbourhoods) and also went on a bus/walking tour of old Lima.  We saw many great things but my favourite was the Love Park.  Walls like the ones in the photo covered with tiles and messages of love snake through the park and surround a statue of a couple sharing a passionate kiss.  The park overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is really fun.

After Lima we flew to Cuzco, got altitude sickness, took the pills and felt better, then went on to the Sacred Valley.  The Sacred Valley, besides being lovely countryside, is the home to several Inca ruins - we stopped at 2.  More on that in a later post.  It was also home to a little village that had a little demonstration of yarn dying, knitting and weaving.  Gap Adventures sponsors the village and brings tours in.  One woman showed us how the yarn was dyed.  The bowl below is crushed bugs.  The yarn shown here was dyed with crushed bugs plus additives like lemon juice and salt.

 The women were also spinning with drop spindles, knitting and weaving.  I, in geek-like fashion, pulled out my knitting to show them too.

There was also, of course, a market where they had lovely finished products.  We bought a few things and thoroughly enjoyed talking to the ladies.  We realized quickly that they were very good at sales!  One young girl had an extremely cute puppy which they skillfully incorporated into the sales process.  I loved every minute of this place and could have stayed longer but we were on a schedule.

The baskets to the right show various fibres by degree of softness - from left to right - vicuna, baby alpaca, alpaca and sheep.  As a knitter, I'm obviously already pretty attuned to the hand feel of yarns but I haven't really spent any time with the raw fibre and touching them one after another really highlighted the differences in softness.

I didn't see much yarn for sale on my trip - mostly finished goods in the tourist-focused places we visited.  But I did manage to buy enough dk weight for a sweater and a couple of nice skeins of a variegated yarn that will be perfect for a scarf.  As I said, we barely scratched the surface.  I'm sure there was more yarn to be found and next trip will find it!