Scrumping....

Last week I ventured out into the big wide world and returned to my cosy nest with a bag full of grapes and a mushroom bigger than my head. And all for free.

The grapes came courtesy of an afternoon in a stranger's backyard, organised by the fabulous Hidden Harvest. People with an over abundance of fruit/nuts, offer up their wares to volunteer pickers. On this occasion 7 of us turned up, picked the vines bare, and came up with this mountain of grapes:

The bounty is then divided up between the home-owners, the food bank, hidden harvest projects - and the pickers!

These are concord grapes I think, very fruity - they taste exactly like the grape juice you buy in cartons, quite a kick. I spent the next afternoon peeling grapes. Well squeezing really. Then into a pan with water and a little sugar.....boiled up, sieved to remove the seeds - and I now have 3/4 of a jar of grape jam. Very tasty grape jam it is - but you don't get a whole lot of return for your labour with these puppies!


I wasn't deterred by this though, and on my second mission, cycled off to Rockcliffe park to pick myself a mushroom - check out this beauty:

Dog available for photoshoots on request

It is a 5lb puffball. And yes, I knew it was safe to eat. According to my research it is pretty darn difficult to get puffballs confused with any other fungi (but do your own research if you want to go mushroom picking, I am no expert!). The main disadvantage of picking mushrooms in the wild is the extra stage of preparation required - bug removal. Thankfully I am not a squeamish girl, which is a good job as there were 15+ slugs, 20+ woodlice and 4 centipedes to pick off this fella before I could get to the cooking (I may need more protein in my diet, but I'm not that desperate).

Once peeled I decided that soup was the way to go, and found simple recipe to follow.....added milk and garlic. Cooked up a very fragrant soup - which looked horrendous! I could have taken photos for you, but I wouldn't wish that on you, be you family friend or stranger. Suffice to say - it minged.  I managed a bowlful (I felt obliged), but the rest has gone to that beloved home of all my cooking disasters - the compost bin.

I'm not giving up on this scrumping/free harvest idea.....but I am hopeful that my next adventure will yield better results. Watch this space.

Just missing goldilocks....

This is not a bear, it is a city-beaver:

This is not a bear either, but I bet you've not seen a cuter fake-bear-with-human-torso-wearing-a-skirt in a long long time.

This is not a bear, it is a note stuck on a post-box.

That is all. x

As is tradition....

Today we have a Bank Holiday to honour our beloved Queen Victoria's birthday (news of her sad demise has been slow to reach Canadian shores. We like it that way so please keep quiet!).

Breaking with British Tradition, Ottawa has organised three days of glorious sunshine with the current temperature 31 degrees with a nice light breeze.

I am fighting back against this mockery of the English system, and have spent the afternoon baking Blue Cheese flavoured Cowboy boot biscuits. As is tradition.

Long may she rein.  

An Easter Sunday hike....

 

 
A morning walking in the woods in Gatineau Park .....spotting deer, evidence of a very active woodpecker, an off-road Unicyclist, second breakfast of Beetroot sandwiches (yummy)......and then we had ice-cream.
 
A fab morning all round. X

We have a winner.....

The snowbank is no more. Here is the little that was left yesterday morning (with dog for scale, not because he is an attention seeking muppet):

And now the space is bare. It survived remarkably well considering the temperatures last week, we rocked up to 27.4 on Wednesday according to the Ottawa Citizen. Craziness, apparently 9 weather records were broken, all I know was that I got to get back on the bike, spin on the front porch and even got rosy cheeks in the sunshine. lovely.

And this morning? It's -4. Yep, that's a 31.4 degree drop. Winter coats and thrummed mittens back on for the dog walk this morning, but crikey it's beautiful out there:

So, I am casting on my knitted vegetable, sat with the sun shining in the window. Steve (Paul's brother) won the competition, commiserations to those of you who had been banking on receiving knitted veg....you can always commission some!

And while I'm here, a very Happy Birthday to my wonderful (cheeky sausage of a) Dad, and my fab brother-in-law Tim. Hope the sun is shining where you are too. X

Snowbank update....

It is still there, but diminished dramatically over the last three sunny days. This is the view this morning:

More gone during the day, but will definitely be some left tomorrow morning, and the temperatures are dropping now so I have no idea how long we have left!

Not much else to report, work, and play, and spinning......oh and a lovely lady who came up to me while waiting for a traffic light to change this afternoon, and shared her umbrella with me. Thank you lovely lady. X

(Oh, and I have been reminded that I stole the idea from another local-knitting-blogger, who I've never met....but you can find her here.)

Sharing the wealth....competition time!

I went for a beautiful walk in the mist this morning. Not quite as idyllic as it sounds, as I ate the most enormous breakfast beforehand (it was a 10 sneezer!), and didn't exactly feel light on my feet, but the fog added a mysterious air to the city centre which even in my stodgy state I could appreciate:

Anyway, on the home stretch, the sun began peeking through, and now that I'm home and buoyed by yet more coffee, I thought it was about time I re-introduced a competitive edge to this blog. No, Guess the duck is not back (thats a Wednesday competition, pay attention!).....its time for...... When Ever Will Amy's Snow Bank Disappear? (W.E.W.A.S.B.D  - catchy isn't it?!).(*)












This is the snowbank outside our back door, photographed at 11:30 this morning (March 19th). All you need to do to enter, is guess the date on which, when I head out with the dog for the morning walk, the snowbank is no more.

Some possibly handy hints for those of you not residing in Ottawa:

• As the observant among you will notice, we have the hammocks out on the back porch already. We are in the midst of a heatwave, with temperatures in the 20s predicted for most of this week.
• Despite this, experts are suggesting that the ski season on the other side of the river may last into April.
• Erm........snow is unpredictable! There may yet be more coming. If this happens, then I'm still counting it as the same snowbank. 

And the prize? I was lucky enough to receive a fab new knitting book in the post this week (thank you Lucy!), so have a wealth of new patterns for knitted vegetables at my fingertips. You could be the lucky recipient of a woolen artichoke, or perhaps you'd like a plush radish to snuggle up to? The winner can select from the available vegetables, and I will hand-make them a special cuddly veg of their very own. you can even decide if you'd like it realistic, or with a face and features like the munch bunch.

So, leave a comment, either on this post or on facebook, with three bits of info:

1) The date on which you think the snow will be no more.

2) Your chosen vegetable from the following selection: Peas in pod, parsnip, cauliflower, sweetcorn, leek, artichoke, pumpkin, beetroot, courgette, pepper, mushroom, asparagus, celery, carrot, chilli pepper, butternut squash, aubergine, cucumber, radish or a plum tomato.

3) Face or featureless?

Good luck! Closing date for entries is Saturday 24th March. Dates are first come first serve, so if someone has already chosen April 1st and you want it, tough!

(*) I have stolen this idea of another blog I read. Someone ran a very similar competition last year, but I can't find it now, if someone lets me know who it is, I''ll give them the credit they deserve! Thanks.