VIA Rail and Coffee

This year Christine and I took the train from Montreal to Vancouver. We wanted to go see her family in Quebec this summer and she took the train 2 weeks before me and I arrived by plane on August 15th and then we were scheduled to go back by train leaving on August 25th arriving back in Vancouver on August 29th.

Christine next to the train

We talked all through the start of her trip until she got into Ontario where there appears to be no internet and wireless access. However, she did tell me a few things about the train ride and one thing she warned me about was the coffee.

On the train going through Ontario

Not many people drink coffee the way I do. I take a dark french roast, I grind it fresh and then put it in my stovetop espresso maker. It makes about 4 shots of espresso and then I warm up the cup and add organic cane sugar and coffee cream to get it just the right colour. I remember asking Rick at Continental coffee (Commercial Drive and 2nd in Vancouver, BC) if I should try a lighter roast and he said, "Janet, if you like your coffee burnt, just have it burnt." So, I have stuck to the Dark French roast and never looked back.

I also travel with my stovetop espresso maker. If I could I would knit it a little waterproof travel bag, but knitting and waterproof don't go together. At Christine's parents there was a coffee grinder, so that was not an issue, but on the train, there is just hot water and no stove for me to put my coffee maker on and the coffee that is available on the train is not bad, it is just not, well, the kind of coffee that will kick your butt in the morning and sending you running down the halls ready to take on the world, like mine is. So, we needed a solution. There was no way I was going to survive 4 mornings with a gentle reminder that coffee was a distinct possibility somewhere in the world. I need my "woohoo, good morning, time for a ride" cup of coffee. Full of flavour attitude and the distinct possibility that scotch is the only "stronger" flavoured drink you can find. That is my kind of coffee.

So, we decided to try the Starbucks coffee in the little envelopes. I got a Dark French and a Mocha version and Christine got the Columbian. We were so impressed. It may not be quite like at home, but that was a damn good cup of coffee with a beautiful fresh flavour. It wasn't until the last day on the train that I realized that this Starbucks coffee was called VIA.

I am easily amused and this discovery totally amused me. So I had to take this picture and I will say if you like a good strong cup of coffee and you are planning a cross Canada train ride, grab some VIA for your VIA rail vacation. Both the train ride and the coffee were fantastic and they go together!!!

Bye bye old mac

Some days are just like that. where you have to say good bye to an old friend who has helped you along the way and been there for you through thick and thin. They've helped you when you were down and when life was good.

They have held you together and even given you information you did not want to know.

That is how it is for me today. Today my very first Macbook that was bought in 2007, finally quit. She was a good one though, she quit just after backing up a whole bunch of information somewhere on a cloud in the middle of the ocean and it is time for me to get a canoe and paddle out there and get it.

Off I go on a whole new adventure with a new macbook pro and a canoe. I am still a little bit lost with the whole clouds in the middle of the ocean thing. It really isn't like it use to be.

As many of you may know,  I love to knit. I have been knitting since I was 8 years old when I use to take the MacDonald bus up to my Grannies house from Carnarvon Elementary school up to 33rd and then walk to her house every Wednesday afternoon for at least a month. Knitting is something that has been done by the women and some of the men in my family for generations. Both my mother and father learned how to knit.

However, I also like to do minor house repairs and one of the things that I learned through doing house repairs is that often times, for both cleaning and maintaining, a knitting needle is extremely useful.

I have used my knitting needles for caulking a tub. I find it works better than most products on the market and I ALWAYS have a knitting needle that is not hard to find.

Today I cleaned out the lint screen from the dryer and that hard to reach spot that stops the lint screen from sitting properly in the dryer.

I have also been known to use knitting needles to make a row in the garden for carrot, beet and lettuce seeds.

They are great for untying knots, just wiggle the needle right in there and you can untie almost any knot.

The larger ones are handy for making a small hole a bit bigger in drywall.

Knitting needles are an incredibly versatile tool and between them and my swiss army knife, I can do just about anything...

I just hope that there are now some knitting needles that I can take on the plane, maybe bamboo ones?

Life, life, life. It seems that we all have our own ideas of what life is and what life should be and then life happens.

Yes, you can direct your life and yet at the same time, those around you are also directing their lives and sometimes the direction that they take is in direct conflict to the direction you took. That is when things can collide.

Sometimes things happen that weren't really what you were looking for and all of a sudden you are faced with a set of circumstances that you did not want.

We have so much information about how we can create the life we want. We have the Law of Attraction that tells us that we attract whatever we think about. We have our own ability to create whatever we want out of life by not allowing fear to stop us. We have positive thought.

We also have circumstances that occur even if we are not thinking about them. Why? Who knows. Some call it destiny, some call it coincidence, some call it an anomaly.

Sometimes I feel like we are spending so much time thinking about how we want our life to be that we forget how to get up and do things. Sometimes I also think that we have forgotten how to enjoy the little things. So today, I will knit a baby sweater for someone special who is scheduled to enter our lives in the coming year, knowing that who they are and who they will become has nothing to do with me and everything to do with me. We never know how much of an impact we have on those around us, but if we behave as if it could be huge, we might just be a little nicer, to ourselves and those around us.

More and more bread. Yes, I love bread and I love making bread. I have been playing with all of the different options of how I can make bread and my latest is ciabatta burger buns. Stay tuned for photos and the recipe!

SPELT HOT CROSS BUNS!!!

Spelt Hot Cross Buns Recipe

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups of milk (rice, soy, hemp, almond, cow, goat, etc.)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (of your choice)
1/4 cup cane sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups white spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 1/4 cups currants or raisins pre-soaked in hot water for 5 minutes before adding to mixer - 1/2 added before mixing, the other 1/2 added half way through

Apricot jelly or jam to cover

Method: Use kitchen aid mixer.

Place ingredients in mixer in order listed - except for 1/2 the dried fruit and the apricot jelly or jam.

Mix on low speed (#2 on kitchen aid) for 5 minutes, add remainder of raisins, then mix on next speed up (#4 on kitchen aid) for 5 minutes. The dough should be well mixed and away from the sides of the bowl.

Remove the hook and let rest in the mixer bowl for 15 minutes, then take it out onto a lightly floured counter top and divide into 12 even balls.

Place balls on a cookie sheet with parchment paper on it, lightly brush with oil and cover with saran wrap to maintain moistness during proofing.

Proof for 1 1/2 hours.


Before baking, draw the cross on top of the buns:

Cross ingredients:
3 tablespoon of white spelt flour
2 tablespoon of cold water.
Mix well together into a paste with no lumps.

Put it in a pastry bag with a little hole and draw cross on the top of the buns, be careful not to flatten the dough on top; be gentle.

Then bake on middle rack in pre-heated oven at 350∘for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile lightly heat up apricot jelly or jam with a bit of hot water on low heat, for glaze on hot cross buns. After the buns are baked, brush each bun with glaze and let sit for 10 minutes.
Happy Easter!!

Granddaughter...

I just had a whirlwind trip down to Northern California to visit my beautiful granddaughter, my son and daughter-in-law. Christine came up with an idea for a great gift for Lilja that was just perfect - A little baking kit with a mini muffin tin, tiny tulip cups for muffins like we used to have at the bakery and cookie cutters, mini cupcake papers and a little tool kit with rolling pin, whisk, wooden spoon and spatula.

On Thursday morning we left and drove to Portland, Friday morning we got up and drove to Fortuna in Northern California driving through incredible Vancouver like rain. Driving past the big trucks is always hard in the rain, but on the I5 were these massive three trailer long trucks. Passing one of those in a torrential downpour certainly takes some skill and effort. They spew alot of water out their sides and visibility becomes incredibly difficult. Then we arrived there and had dinner and time to open the gifts. She was so excited every time she pulled something out of the bag, she would open her eyes wide and make a noise of delight and her Mama, Britta said that she loved to help cook and bake. Christine, back in Vancouver was on skype and Lilja sat in her booster chair so that Christine could watch and see the whole thing on computer. She was so happy and excited. How lucky we are to hold such delight in small things.

The next day was time to bake with Nan (That's me) and Lilja and I made some little tiny blueberry muffins for everyone to share for breakfast. Lilja has to be the best two year old egg whisker I have ever met. There were adults who worked at the bakery who couldn't whisk an egg as well as Lilja. Britta told me that she loves whisking eggs and now she has the perfect size whisk and bowl just for her. I was impressed and she even helped me fold the dry mix into the wet and then add blueberries. We put them in the little cups and then into the oven.

Out they came and Lilja still in her pajamas sat down in her chair for breakfast. I have to say the highlight of my trip was making muffins with my granddaughter and it was well worth the 2 day drive and 2 days back with only 2 days to visit. Next time I will aim for a little more time down there. In the meantime we will continue to skype and hopefully they will come here soon.