Haven

by

How to Get Rid of Extra Veggies (and I might have too much cheese!)

I’m leaving for Mexico next Friday.

I’ve been doing very well at eating down my stores, but somehow found myself with a giant bag of broccoli and a huge package of cheese that I’m not sure I can get through. Mark this day in your calendar, that I have cheese I don’t know what to do with! 😀

Last week, I bought a whole pre-roasted chicken and turned the carcass into stock. I had planned to make chicken soup from the stock, but then realised that I had the perfect base for cheddar broccoli soup! I don’t normally advocate drinking your calories, but, really, a vegetable potage is the easiest way to offload tons of veggies without making it feel like a chore.

Stock day was Saturday, a surprisingly hot afternoon that was not ideal for simmering a chicken carcass on the stove for hours. But the hot work paid off and I was left, after some time in the fridge, with a bowl of very flavourful chicken Jell-o.

Normally, I wouldn’t use a recipe for something like this, but I’ve been craving Panera’s cheddar broccoli soup, so I looked for a copycat recipe and, based on the comments, picked the one at Averie Cooks.

I got to work on the broccoli soup this morning, starting by microwaving my broth to make sure it would liquify properly (yes).

After sautéing the onions and garlic, I set to work on the roux that would serve as the thickening agent for the soup. This was probably the most lovely roux of my life, silky smooth and without a lump in sight.

IMGP2466

And this was even with the half broken whisk I was working with. I am well overdue for a new whisk!

IMGP2468

I didn’t have any cream on hand, so I used unsweetened plain almond milk, which worked beautifully. I didn’t have all the spices recommended in the recipe, so I just added salt, pepper, and the dried mustard.

Once the soup base was quite thick (since the frozen broccoli would add lots of liquid), I added the veggies. I had an extra piece of celery left from my scrapped plans to make chicken soup, so it went in the pot, too.

IMGP2470

To further thicken the soup and better distribute the veggies, I puréed about half of the soup before adding the cheese. Then I gently stirred in some Cracker Barrel extra sharp cheddar (Cracker Barrel? I must have gotten one heck of a deal because I always buy Co-Op!).

And tah-dah:

IMGP2471

Verdict? Better than Panera. And I’m pretty sure I have my stock to thank for it!

I’ll be eating this for the next few days!

by

October 2015 (Oh, What a Night)

Southern SK had a bad windstorm yesterday. I think the record was gusts of 120KPH in Swift Current. We were gusting around 85 to 90KPH here. It didn’t scare me the way past windstorms have frightened me in the past. It was just more of an annoyance since the evening was a write-off.

And then bedtime came.

The winds were letting up enough that the rig had stopped rocking, but the tarp was flapping badly in the wind. It’s actually very secure and held up beautifully, but there was extra material at the front that kept slapping against the overhang. After two hours of trying to sleep and even going out in my pajamas to add a little more reinforcements, I stalked off to the office with my pillows and duvet. Yay for the second bed! And even more yay that the weight loss means that said bed in the back was actually super comfy!

An RV is not suitable Saskatchewan accommodation… 🙂 I think a project for next summer will be to find someone who can help me really get the RV secure so it doesn’t rock so badly in the wind, whether we put it on blocks, strap it down, whatever.

It should be a pretty quiet Thanksgiving today now that the storm has passed. I want to make some soup that I would have made last night (…). C&C invited me out to Fife Lake for a steak dinner tonight (grill your own), so that should be fun. I just have to stress that I can’t be back toooo late. What with last night being mostly a write-off, I can’t afford for tonight to be, too.

The countdown to departure is really on. After today, I’ll only have one Monday left before I leave. And speaking of Mondays, one week, and 12-some hours left till we know if we have a new government or not…

by

(Advanced) Voting Day

With all the shadiness, corruption, and fraud surrounding the last few elections (so bad that we’re getting an international observer this time around), I wasn’t taking a chance with not being able to vote in this one. So I took advantage of advancing voting this time around and headed to town today to cast my ballot…

Polls opened at noon, so I got in quite early to get propane first since I was turned away the last two times. The manager was there and was quite upset when I told her this, saying that her staff had been advised to call her if anyone needed propane. Someone is going to get a talking to!

I then went out in search of the polling station. It was buried deep in town with absolutely no signage except right on the door. It was only 11:15 and there was no one in sight, so I went for an early lunch. By the time I got back to the polling station, it was bang on noon. One of the returning officers works for the Willow Bunch Museum and knows me very well, so she had me witness the putting together of the ballot box. Then, I got in line to vote. There was only one person ahead of me and one person behind me.

Then, the fun began. Despite all the time I spent on the phone with Elections Canada and their confirmation, both verbally and on the website, that I’m registered to vote, I was not on the list today! I was registered on the spot and, just to make doubly sure that there wouldn’t be any issues, the lady who knows me also signed an oath to that effect and that there is no doubt that I was voting at the correct poll. I was then able to vote. All told, the process took a measly 10 minutes. I don’t know what it would have been like if there wasn’t someone there to vouch for me. And I can’t believe there was someone who could vouch for me!

The outcome of this election won’t change my plans to move to Mexico next year, but could very well be the deciding factor in whether I keep ties here (ie. Haven) or decided to tell this country to go fornicate with itself and put Haven on the market. I’m that fed up with the ever increasing gap between my values and that of the the average Canadian voter. If Canada and I were in divorce proceedings, which I suppose we are in a way, I’d cite irreconcilable differences.

The drive home was wonderful. I spotted a coyote in broad daylight who was not afraid of me. I took many pictures of him from several angles because he was blocking the road and I didn’t feel comfortable moving past him.

IMG_0704

Then, a short way up the road, I had to brake hard to let someone else cross the road. By the time I managed to get my camera up on my phone, this is all I could capture of him:

IMG_0706

(That’s an antelope (pronghorn), by the way!)

Today coincided with some of the most amazing weather we’ve had since I got home in May, very HOT and sunny. Wow! It’s downhill from here, though. No worries, I will be somewhere in Colorado this time in two weeks!

by

A Gift of an Afternoon

After several days of grey, damp, and cold weather, plus a grey, damp, and cold morning, this afternoon erupted with sun and temperatures in the high teens! And it’s not just a one-off, we might hit the low 20s by the weekend. I love Indian Summer!

I made a sale on eBay today and decided to head out after work to ship it. I was going to go to Willow Bunch when I realised I had enough errands to make it worth doing a couple of trips to Assiniboia this week. So that’s where I headed instead. And I wore sandals! 😀

This week has been so different from last week, energy-wise. I pretty much lost the Monday to Tuesday night of sleep last week and didn’t recover till the weekend. I spent the whole week in a bit of a fog where all my energy went to work, of which there was an inordinate amount. This week, I’m caught up on sleep and doing full nights, so I’m awake before my alarm. Not being woken by it makes all the difference. I’m productive during my day, have good focus, and still have energy to spare to do overtime, although it looks like I’m done putting out fires and I can take it easy the next couple of days…

The trip to town was a bit frustrating as the Co-Op gas bar has had some staffing changes and they rarely have anyone available to do propane. So I haven’t been able to get my 30lber refilled in my last two trips! Thank goodness we’re going into a warming trend or I would be seriously concerned about freezing! And I’d be really worried if I was going to be spending the winter here. I’m going to have a chat with the manager next time I see her.

One of my stops was to order two new tires for my truck. I had priced some at Walmart when I was in Moose Jaw and Kal Tire’s price of $122 per tire installed was competitive enough for me to feel that I wasn’t being a schmuck for supporting my local store.

Off to make dinner. I know I’m almost a week early for Thanksgiving, but the roast chickens were on sale today, so I’m doing a bird with a few trimmings for dinner tonight. 🙂

 

by

18 Sleeps Till I Leave For Mexico

BRR. It’s been very cold and damp here the last few days. I’m trying not to heat too much so I can acclimatise, but it’s hard. I’m dreaming of palm trees and beer on the beach!

My neighbour Caroline asked me to come over yesterday afternoon to see her latest purchase for the kitchen and we had a nice chat by their wood stove (lovely) while sipping black current tea (yum!). She then presented me with a gift that showed an extraordinary amount of sympathy to how I feel about the current weather:

IMGP2465

Yes, that’s a union suit, complete with rear access flap. 😀 Every time I look at it, I burst out laughing. I do have to say it makes for wonderful pajamas! I usually wear pants and a top to bed, but then the top rides up and my lower back gets cold. With a union suit, you remain covered no matter how much you wiggle in bed. I was pretty comfy until about 6:00 this morning, when I had to turn on the mattress warmer.

We should have a warmish afternoon tomorrow, so that will be my chance to give the truck bed a good wash and then I can start working on filling it. I’ve started doing a bit of packing, but with nights heading below freezing, everything is staying piled into the RV. It’s getting pretty cramped in here!

The payment I wasn’t expecting to be here before leaving landed on Friday (!), so now I can leave with complete peace of mind and not be on such a strict budget for hotels. I am going to have to average 775KM per day between here and Nogales to get there by the Monday afternoon, so I’ll be glad to not have to hunt too hard for the cheapest motels along my route.

It’s going to be a very fast trip to the Mexican border! I am going to be somewhere in Wyoming the Friday night (probably Gillette, unless the border crossing goes exceptionally well and I decide to push on to Cheyenne). Then, I’ll probably be in Walsenburg, Colorado, Saturday night. After, things get fuzzy because I took a heck of a lot of my time between Nogales and Walsenburg in the spring! I’ll probably be somewhere around Deming, New Mexico, on Sunday night. Monday, I’ll hit the Walmart in Benson for as much of my shopping as I need, then get to Nogales by mid-afternoon.

Work in Arizona is going to be brutal as I will be starting work at 5:00 a.m.! I am considering the possibility of staying in New Mexico to work, getting the bulk of my errands done there, and then doing a run to Nogales on the Thursday afternoon after work. I’d finish at 2:00 and could be in Nogales by 6PMish. I’ll see how I feel as I get closer. The weather will play a role in my decision as will whether or not I can buy some pesos wherever I land in New Mexico.

It’s really good to have a firm departure date as it is making it so much easier to work through my massive to-do and packing list. The bulk of it will likely be done when I get off work the day before I leave, but there are a few things I can do ahead of time. I’m playing a lot of the ‘what are the odds I’ll need this before I leave?’ game and putting things into totes only to pull them out again! But I think it’s safe now to put away all the summery clothes. 🙁