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Alberta trip
Frankin and I flew up on Wednesday afternoon, arriving in Calgary a little after 22:00. Of course, that's midnight EDT, so it was a long day. Thursday morning, we (Frankin, Kirsten, her two children, and I) drive up to Blooming Fields, a PYO farm and cafe between Didsbury and Olds. There, we picked saskatoons (which the iPad wants to spell "sadist one") and had a late lunch. The weather that day, and each day so far, has been splendid: sunny, warm but not hot. It has been a wet year in Alberta, so everything is lush and green. The canary grass is 7' tall and the barley clothes the land in gold-green velvet.
After lunch, we went to the Farm, where Mom had prepared baked beans for dinner. We picked over the saskatoons, and I made a Saskatoon-raspberry cobbler for dessert. We also had a wilted lettuce salad, using lettuce fresh from the garden, and bread fresh from the machine.
Saskatoons are small, purple berries which superficially resemble blueberries, but they are entirely different. Those who grew up with blueberries, find saskatoons dry and weird tasting; those who grew up with saskatoons, find blueberries watery and insipid. I have never encountered anything that tastes like saskatoons, and the combination of saskatoons and raspberries is the best thing in the world. The cobbler was delicious, exactly what I had hoped for: not too sweet, intensely flavorful, and more fruit than cobble.
Today was a Farm day. Mom and Dad are retired from farming, so there's no heavy labour; but they still keep a gorgeous garden. Dad and I picked up chairs and tables from a neighbor, and Frankin and I washed them this morning with the hose. Mom and Dad have a large German Shepherd named Gabriel, whom everyone calls Gabe. He's a fearsome looking dog, but he's as gentle as they come. He's a bit starved for entertainment, living with two older people, so he loves to play--and one of his favorite games is to pounce and snap at the stream of water from the hose. So cleaning the chairs was half cleaning, half entertaining the dog.
This evening we had grilled steaks, from a cow grown on the farm; potatoes, carrots and Swiss chard from the garden; and rhubarb pie, with rhubarb from the garden. I made the pie, and it was exquisite.
Oh, and as you can see, I have Internet access. My parents now have high-speed Internet, including a wireless network. Life is good!
After lunch, we went to the Farm, where Mom had prepared baked beans for dinner. We picked over the saskatoons, and I made a Saskatoon-raspberry cobbler for dessert. We also had a wilted lettuce salad, using lettuce fresh from the garden, and bread fresh from the machine.
Saskatoons are small, purple berries which superficially resemble blueberries, but they are entirely different. Those who grew up with blueberries, find saskatoons dry and weird tasting; those who grew up with saskatoons, find blueberries watery and insipid. I have never encountered anything that tastes like saskatoons, and the combination of saskatoons and raspberries is the best thing in the world. The cobbler was delicious, exactly what I had hoped for: not too sweet, intensely flavorful, and more fruit than cobble.
Today was a Farm day. Mom and Dad are retired from farming, so there's no heavy labour; but they still keep a gorgeous garden. Dad and I picked up chairs and tables from a neighbor, and Frankin and I washed them this morning with the hose. Mom and Dad have a large German Shepherd named Gabriel, whom everyone calls Gabe. He's a fearsome looking dog, but he's as gentle as they come. He's a bit starved for entertainment, living with two older people, so he loves to play--and one of his favorite games is to pounce and snap at the stream of water from the hose. So cleaning the chairs was half cleaning, half entertaining the dog.
This evening we had grilled steaks, from a cow grown on the farm; potatoes, carrots and Swiss chard from the garden; and rhubarb pie, with rhubarb from the garden. I made the pie, and it was exquisite.
Oh, and as you can see, I have Internet access. My parents now have high-speed Internet, including a wireless network. Life is good!