Where are they coming from?

It’s like an invasion. Every day new ones are coming. I’m trying to control them, but it seems useless. First there were only red ones, now the big, grey are moving in. I’ve been catching them and relocating them, but it seems when one is gone, another one shows up. They are a big nuisance.

What am I talking about?

#Squirrels.

Is there an underground movement among the squirrel community? I wonder. The moment I catch one it seems word must get around in squirrel-land that space has been opened up and there is room for a squirrel to move in. Let’s face it, they get sunflower seeds, that are actually meant for the birds, and peanuts that are supposed to be for the Bluejays. It’s like squirrel heaven here. There are no dogs or cats on our property, just shrubs and trees for protection and, of course, all that free food.

Yep, they keep on coming. It is well known that they get free housing, start-up money, free health care, and, best of all, a fortune for every child they have. And they have them. At least six in every family. That’ll get them enough money so they don’t have to work for a living. And an incentive to produce more children that put a strain on our education system. They need teachers and schools, which means higher taxes for the working class. They even get free transportation across the ocean.

Oops! Where did that come from? What has that got to do with squirrels?

Actually nothing. So let’s get back to the squirrels.

I don’t know where those grey ones are suddenly coming from. We’ve never had them and now they come in droves. I caught one yesterday and another one today. When I came back another one had already moved in. He walked around the cage but didn’t go in. I also caught a red squirrel this morning and a Bluejay in the afternoon.  That bird was not happy. That’s what you get for going after the peanuts in the cage. Just greedy, I suppose, because I put plenty of peanuts into the birdfeeders. No need for them to try to steal the ones designated to catch squirrels.

Some people I talk to kill the squirrels. I don’t. I relocate them to a less populated area on the other side of the river. The only way they can come back is across the bridge or, in the winter, across the ice. I hope they don’t come back with revenge in the little brains.

Why don’t I want the squirrels? Well, first of all they eat the peanuts and seeds from the bird feeders and one winter they completely destroyed one of the fancy feeders I bought for 30 bucks from Costco. Even though I do have a soft spot for them, they are not welcome on our lot.

When we had a cottage we used to feed them. One was so tame he came onto the porch and took the peanuts from our fingers. He even jumped onto my lap and onto my shoulder and went as far as scratching on the door when we weren’t outside. Actually, it was a she, because when she had young, she pushed them up the stairs to meet us. One year she didn’t come back and my neighbor told me he shot a bunch of squirrels in the winter.

#Mice are another problem this year. When we bought our traps the sales lady told us that they can’t keep the traps in stock, because so many people buy them. Apparently, you can get ‘humane’ traps so you can release the mice again. Now, that’s more crap I can stand. First of all, where do you release mice? And why would anyone do that? They breed like rats…I mean mice. They do plenty of damage and carry diseases. The traps I buy are also humane traps: They kill them instantly. I feed the mice to the crows. They are a happy bunch on our lot. A bit noisy at times, but better than an invasion of mice in the garden or the garage. There are limits to my tolerance.

#Carrot/Ginger Soup

Today I made Carrot/Ginger soup. Actually, there are more other vegetables than ginger in this soup, so it should be called just #'Plain Vegetable Soup featuring Carrots'. I've made this soup before but with different ingredients. I have Kale in the garden which I wanted to use up.I also wanted to use one of my super chili peppers, which was perhaps not such a smart idea, because the soup is very hot. Not for the weak of stomach, but it tastes delicious and is full of good vitamins.

Anyway, here is the recipe:

Carrot/Ginger Soup:  (Made September 3, 2016)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
• 8 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 4 smallish stalks of Celery, washed and chopped
• 2 parsnip, peeled and chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1  medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 4 medium sized leaves of Kale (chopped very small)
• 1 – super hot chili pepper (no seeds. Minced.)
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• ½  teaspoon turmeric
• ½  teaspoon ground cumin
• ¾  teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups vegetable broth: Knorr: 1 cube

Note: Instead of broth made from a cube use an additional 2 cups of low sodium chicken broth. Instead of chicken broth you can use vegetable broth.

Directions

• Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pot. Sauté the onions for about 5 minutes or until translucent.  Add the carrots, the parsnips, the kale, and celery and sauté for another 2 minutes.

• Add the ginger, garlic, turmeric, curry powder, paprika, cumin, super hot chili pepper, and honey into the pot of vegetables. Stir the whole mixture and sauté for two minutes.

• Slowly pour the 2 cups vegetable broth into the pot. Add 4 cups of chicken broth. After bringing it to a boil, turn the heat down to a low setting. Cover the pot and simmer for about 40 minutes, or until the carrots are tender.

• Blend the soup in a food processor or blender. Before you blend it, let the mixture cool down. Don’t blend the whole pot-full at one time.

Time for whole process:  1 ½ hour + ½ hour to cool down and then liquefy.

Note: Soup is very spicy. For less spicy don’t use the chili pepper.
Makes 8 servings  

#Hot Salsa

It’s that time of year. The garden is almost coming to an end. The beans are already finished so is the lettuce. I already tilled them under for compost. The tomatoes and peppers are ripe and waiting to be used. So yesterday we made Salsa. Amazing, how little you actually get from so many tomatoes. We’ve been using this recipe for a few years now. Every year I try to modify it a little. I must say, this year the Salsa is the best we’ve ever made. If you’re not careful and cook it too long it turns mushy. We got it just right this time.

Usually I use Hot Hungarian peppers to put some bite into the Salsa, but this year I grew Superhot Chillies. I never grew them before and didn’t know how hot they’d be. I touched a piece with my tongue and thought I’d die. They are hot. So we used only two of the Chilli peppers and the Salsa is hot enough. When I used the Hungarian ones I put in seven peppers and it was not hot.

Here is the recipe I used this year.

Note: This recipe makes a hot salsa. For a milder salsa use less hot peppers.

Ingredients:

Chop:
*5 - quarts ripe Roma tomatoes (2 Ice cream pails) (Roma are the best because they don’t have so much liquid.)
*12 - sweet peppers ( I used red and yellow ones, even one green one)

*2 – super hot chilli peppers (finely chopped)

*2 1/2 - medium sized onions
*5 - tablespoons fresh parsley (finely chopped)
*Dry basil (fresh would be better. 1 tbsp)
*2 - teaspoons dried Oregano   (or fresh, better)

*5 - cloves garlic (crushed)
*1 - tablespoon salt
*Juice of 1 lime

Boil chopped tomatoes for about 15 minutes in a large pot (We use a 6 quarts steel pot). Once it boils remove most of the liquid to decrease cooking time. Dip a ladle into the boiling tomato pulp and let the foam run into the ladle. Using a sieve helps to save pulp.

Add the rest of the ingredients.

Boil for 20 minutes on medium heat stirring frequently. (Don’t overcook, otherwise Salsa will turn to mush.)

In the meantime:

Sterilize 9 – 500 ml mason jars (I use Sodium Metabisulfite. Used in Winemaking.)

Sterilize new lids.

Fill hot water into jars to make them hot.

Ladle salsa into hot mason jars

Put sterilized lids onto jars. (Don’t over tighten the screw bands. Just fingertip tight)

Put filled and sealed mason jars into 250 F preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Remove jars from oven. Lids will pop and seal when they cool. No need to keep filled jars in fridge.

Enjoy.

The not-so-perfect Storm

I guess it was inevitable; extreme heat for a few days will spawn a thunderstorm. We had one last night. It started at about 8:30 PM and it was an extreme storm. High winds and plenty of rain. It came down in buckets. We watched it from our sun-room and it was scary—like a tropical storm. To top it off the power went out shortly before 9:00 PM and didn’t come back until 3:30 AM. Apparently, 35 000 Hydro customers lost power. This morning about 17 000 still had no power.

Electric power for us is important and not just for the lights. The Air Conditioner doesn’t work; the fridge and freezer don’t work. And in this heat it is crucial to have them working. In addition for us we have no water, because we have a well, which means we can’t use the toilet. We also have to worry about our sump pit filling up and running over. For that I actually do have a generator which would power the pump. Unfortunately, the well pump is 240 Volts. Our generator produces only 115 Volts.

This morning we surveyed the damage the storm left behind and it wasn’t a pretty sight. One of our lilac bushes had broken off and the worst was the Mountain Ash Tree, our pride and joy. The storm had broken it and that tree can’t be replaced. It had already so many beautiful berries. The birds love them, especially the Robins. Also, much of our yard was covered with broken off willow branches. The place looked like a war zone. Now we have all this work to clean up. I already loaded up one truck with branches to take to the dump. Another disappointment: All our apples are on the ground. No apples this year. And I was looking forward to getting some. We only have two Goodland trees and one old Battleford tree, which also got split in half by the last storm we had.

The vegetables in our garden have been flattened, but they are resilient and are already lifting up. Today is another hot and muggy day.

Just one corner of our yard. Branches everywhere.

Chanterelles

We are in the middle of a heatwave. Today it is 34 C plus high humidity. A killer combination. This morning I spent a couple of hours in the garden doing more weeding. With the rain we’ve been having, the weeds are growing profusely and are taking over. My garden is not as weed-free as I would like. The heat, the humidity and the damn mosquitoes—what a combination to make life miserable. I didn’t spray myself but I wore a mosquito net, which makes your face even hotter. Even though, those critters keep buzzing around you looking for a way to get you. Anything close to your skin like a sweat drained shirt they find and their stingers are long enough to poke into your skin.

After two hours of sweating and pulling weeds I felt exhausted and had to quit. My face was red and my shirt wet from perspiring. Water never tasted so good and the cold shower felt like having died and gone to heaven. Better than those 72 virgins the suicide bombers expect to meet after they blow themselves to smithereens. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself! Stupid beliefs like that just confirm that a majority of people on this planet are morons. Good riddens!)

Before I went into the house I still managed to pick the first beans of the season. This is the time of season where we don’t know what to eat first. We have Kohlrabi, we have Kale, we have Swiss Chard. All those wonderful fresh vegetables.

Yesterday I went searching for mushrooms. I was after Chanterelles. We used to go to a place about 30 years ago, but then we sold our cottage and built one in Ontario, where we found new spots with mushrooms. But that is nearly three hours away. Too far to drive. So yesterday I went back to this place from 30 years ago. It takes me 45 minutes to get there from our house. I found it again, even though the area has undergone drastic changes in those 30 years. Many old conifers have been cut down to make way for younger trees, which meant many wonderful mushroom producing spots are gone. The fewer spots the more pressure they get from mushroom hunters. The road into the forest wasn’t any better than I remembered. It might even have been worse than 30 years ago. It took me 14 minutes to driver 3 km. My truck jumped constantly like a boat on high waves. I am surprised I didn’t get seasick.

I was lucky to find and pick about 2/3of an ice-cream pail full. Plenty mushrooms for my wife and me. We ate some last night. What a culinary treat. You can’t get them in any restaurant I know of. Not here in Winnipeg. I bet if you find them it would be in a place that charges exuberant prices and you wouldn’t get many mushrooms in a meal. Not Chanterelles.

Searching for mushrooms or blueberries is not for anyone who doesn’t enjoy it. In fact, you have to love it. I do. You can’t be bothered by the bugs, the heat, the humidity or even the cold. I love the forest but the forest doesn’t love me. As soon as I enter the forest I feel a pressure building up in my neck. It’s like a vice. It’s my old bones and the arthritis. I’ve had problems with my neck ever since I injured it 1979. My head also feels the pressure. The forest is telling me to get the hell out, but I’m as stubborn as a mule. The forest or Mother Nature will have to bring out much bigger guns to discourage me.

When you find the mushrooms it is such an exhilarating feeling. That orange/yellow color on the forest floor is a wonderful sight. Now, you don’t pull them out. You have to cut the stem below ground and leave the rest for more mushrooms to grow. Unfortunately, they don’t always come out nice and clean, but that’s okay.

I also managed to find a nice bowl of blueberries, but there were not many there. It may still be too early.

The forest did finally get to me after 4 hours of searching and picking. The humidity, the heat, and the bugs won out, but I was happy. I had enough mushrooms for a couple of good meals. As mentioned, we ate some yesterday, fried with onions and accompanied by left over boiled potatoes with gravy. And to celebrate we drank a glass of aged Chardonnay. A feast! Not even 72 virgins can top that. Oops, there I go again!

Tonight we’ll eat headcheese with plenty of raw onions. My wife made it a couple of days ago from pork hocks. Another culinary feast! Can it get any better?

 

Surviving the Heat

Summer is finally here. We’ve waited so long, especially after all that rain we’ve been having. Now I’m not so sure if I am excited over the arrival of sunny and hot weather, because it is hot. 32 C outside and 32 C in our sunroom.

My wife and I are getting over a cold. Summer colds are no fun; difficult to get rid of. If you stay in the heat you suffer because of the sweating and if you go into an air-conditioned place you may get your cold back because you are sweating. Where we got this cold we don’t know. Who can we blame? Many times we get colds from our grandchildren, but this time it could also have happened at the funeral we were at last week. Funerals are sad affairs and it would be appropriate to walk away with a cold. It also possible we got it while eating out. But we are getting better.

Yesterday I felt pretty good and had a steak for supper, with a baked potato, steamed mushrooms and corn on the cob. And let’s not forget the beer I drank. A feast for a King (and Queen—my wife had a steak also). Well, this universe we live in is a trickster. Last night I barely slept because of the nauseous feeling and the lump in my stomach. Nothing is ever truly enjoyable.

Today I made a soup. We still had turkey bones in the freezer. I added a couple of chicken thighs and plenty of vegetables. Even used some of the Kale I’m growing in the garden and my own parsley. When my wife boils broccoli she doesn’t throw away the liquid. We save it, put it in the freezer and I use it for my soup instead of just plain water. It’s like a broth, but I still have to add spices. I don’t really have a recipe. I sort of just put everything together like a dash of this and a dash of that. I don’t add any salt. That comes later. If the taste isn’t strong enough, sometimes I add a carton of Chicken broth, again also later.

Speaking of broth. I’ve been reading in recipe books and on the internet how to make broth. They always cook the vegetables and then they disregard the vegetables and use only the liquid. What a waste! We throw nothing away. The vegetables end up in the soup.

We don’t throw much away. If it is usable we keep it for another day. It is probably our upbringing. We grew up during and after the Second World War and food was scarce. We were happy with anything we had and our parents made due. Nothing ever got thrown away. So many people today, especially in Canada or the US, would never survive the conditions we lived through. When I see all the waste in restaurants or other places I cringe. Also, many people don’t know how to make good-tasting meals with few ingredients. Perhaps they’re also too lazy to bother. They’d rather go and buy readymade unhealthy foods instead of making their own. Soups are the easiest to make and they are always good and healthy. Also cheaper than buying cans. There really is no excuse for not cooking your own food. You can find all kinds of recipes on the internet or just buy a cook book.

I enjoy making soups. Especially on a hot day like today. Also, it gives my wife a break. I told her to get out of the kitchen and just relax in the sunroom while I ‘slave’ in the kitchen making soup. Washing and cutting and slicing the vegetables is grueling work and I need the whole counter for that. I admit sometimes it gets a bit messy, but I always clean up after. By the way, we have a pressure cooker and you don’t have to simmer the soup on the stove for hours like in the old days. Once the soup boils then it takes about 15 minutes until it is done. Wonderful invention these pressure cookers.

Today, I don’t know who got the better deal—my wife or I. While she relaxed in the sunroom with 32 C, I spent a couple of hours in the air-conditioned kitchen where it was a comfortable 24 C.

While we were sitting in the sunroom, we got a small thunderstorm and it rained quite a bit. Fortunately, no hail, but the temperature dropped about 4 degrees, which made it more bearable sitting here.

We had a couple of bowls of the soup for supper. My wife is always the one who cleans the meat from the bones, which we discard. We eat the meat. We also add rice to our bowl and have a good meal. This soup tasted delicious, one of the best I’ve made in a long time. Of course, I haven’t made soup for quite some time. I didn’t have to add any spices. The soup tasted great the way it was, right out of the pot. I must say: I am a Soup-Smith.

Enjoy the Summer.

I’ll be back.