"R"  is for Roger & Rana

Now, I don't want to bore you and I certainly don't want to be accused of using my blog as a "brag rag"----but I have to be honest and post about the first two things that popped in my mind for the letter R---my husband Roger and our beautiful daughter, Rana.

Roger relaxing at out hotel in New York City--night before our cruise (Sept 2011)

Roger, right in his element--he LOVES the outdoors!

Rana, enjoying a glass of white wine

Roger & Rana cod fishing-summer of 2011

.......and  "R" is for Red Lobster!!

Roger, enjoying a cold beer at Red Lobster in New York City

Seafood platter at Red Lobster, NYC

Lobster platter--Newfoundland style!!!!

 Have a great day everyone!

"Q" is for Quinoa

I first heard about quinoa (kin-waa) about two years ago...one of my manager's at work brought a quinoa salad to a "pot luck" function during Public Service Week.  It was quite different to look at---sort of like tapioca, but it was delicious!

Here's a recipe I use:

  

Quinoa-Vegetable Salad

1 cup quinoa

1 each red onion, julienned

1 each clove garlic, chopped fine

½ cup carrots, peeled and sliced thin

½ cup thinly sliced button mushrooms

1/3 cup canned corn, drained

½ cup zucchini, diced

½ cup yellow squash, diced

½ each green pepper, diced

1/4 cup green onion, chopped fine

1/3 cup tomato salsa

salad oil

To taste-salt and pepper

Rinse quinoa with cold water in a fine sieve

Bring 3 cups of salted water to a boil and add the quinoa. 

Reduce heat immediately to simmer and cook until the quinoa 

looks “popped.” About 15-20 minutes.

Once the quinoa is cooked, drain through a sieve, rinse with cold 

water and set aside until ready for use.

Place a large pan over high heat and add just enough oil to barely coat the bottom. 

Add all the vegetables except for the green onion and corn, and cook, 

stirring constantly for 5 minutes.

Add the corn and cook for an additional minute just to heat the corn up. 

(You do not want the vegetables to brown-if they start to brown, add just a splash of water.)

Place all ingredients and 1 T of oil and the salsa into a bowl double the size of the 

ingredients and mix with a spoon.

Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serves 4-6

Quinoa-Vegetable salad

My niece Tonya also introduced me to chocolate covered Quinoa this past Christmas.  Now anything covered in chocolate, I'm in!!  Check it out if you a chance, it's delicious....sort of the texture of really tiny chocolate covered nuts.

Chocolate-covered quinoa

Lastly.....

"Q" is for Quat

Do you quat much???
I quat a lot when I'm berry picking!
Quat is an old Newfoundland term in my region.

When you go to the link for Quat, select the letter Q at the top of the page,

come down the list and find quat...then decide if you would be 

comfortable to quat while eating your Quinoa salad!!!

What are some Quaint sayings or terms in your area??   I'd love for you to share some with me!

Have a great day ;o)

"P" is for Pea Soup and Polar Bears!!

First, my pea soup.  Pea soup is a very old traditional Saturday meal in rural Newfoundland.  I remember being a kid and absolutely hating it!!  Now, I find it is one of my favorite "comfort foods".... Pea soup and green onion dumplings---Yuuummmie!!

I made a small pot last Saturday and I remembered to take a snap...here's how it looked:

Here's my recipe..

Pea Soup

1  cup salt beef (diced) -- or a ham bone
2  cups yellow split peas
1 cup each of onion, turnip and carrot--all chopped to desirable size for soup
1/2 cup diced celery
2-3 potatoes, chopped in large chunks
Pepper -- to taste

Soak salt beef and peas, separately in cold water overnight

Drain meat and place in pot, add 3 cups of cold water and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 40-50 minutes.  Add drained split peas and onion and pepper.  Simmer gently for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, until peas start to get tender.  Add more water, to desired thickness.

Add turnip, carrot and celery, simmering for another 20 minutes.  Add chunks of potato and simmer on a very low heat for another 10 minutes before adding dumplings for last 15-20 minutes.

Dumplings
1 cup flour
1/2 cup margarine
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion

Mix, flour, baking powder and green onion together in a medium bowl, then cut in margarine until all margarine is no larger than pea size.  Add enough water to form a soft dough that is easy to shape into golf ball sized dumplings.  Drop the dumplings into the slowly simmering pot and cover.  Cook for remaining 15 minutes or so.  Remove cover, lift dumplings out with slotted spoon onto a large plate, serve up soup and place a dumpling on top.  Delicious.

You can experiment with the texture of your soup...some like it really thick, some not so thick.  This is controlled by you and the amount of water you add as it cooks.    

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"P" is for Polar Bears

In my husband's job, he sometimes is involved with relocating stray or wandering polar bears.  This usually happens around March and April.  These bears come down from Labrador on drift ice and sometimes find their way in to land in coastal communities.  There has been several incidents this spring so far.  The bear is usually tranquilized and brought back to it's natural habitat by helicopter, using a net/harness.

Here are a few photos of one such adventure.  Every precaution is taken to ensure the bear is not harmed during this process.

Approaching the bear by helicopter--the bear is shot from the air with an immobilizing dart.

He looks pretty cozy now--notice the tranquilizer dart in the bear's side.

Here, the bear has been prepped for his flight back home.  The covering over the eyes is for protection while in flight as well as to help reduce on the amount of stress, as they remain awake, but totally immobile during this exercise.

Fly, fly away!!!

"O" is for Orange Tea Buns & Ouananiche

This is a recipe from my neighbor, Kim, who happens to be an awesome baker and cook!!

Orange Tea Buns

1 cup coconut                     1 cup margarine

4 1/2 cups flour                   2 eggs

2 Tbsp baking powder        1 can mandarin oranges

3/4 cup sugar                      1 tsp vanilla

Mash oranges in the juice.  Set aside

Mix together coconut, flour, baking powder and sugar.  Rub in margarine.

Add eggs, oranges and juice mash & vanilla.

Mix just enough to keep together.  Put onto a lightly floured surface.  Cut out and 

place on  a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350* for 12-15 minutes.

Delicious!!

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Ouinaniche

Part of my husband's job is as a member of a research team that does lake trout research in Northern Labrador every summer.  They fly in to really remote northern areas.  They trap lake trout for their research and the ouinaniche is a by-catch. 

Here are a couple of photos....

 

These were all taken at the Conrad Fjord in Northern Labrador.  They usually go in for a two-week excursion.  

He has brought back some awesome scenery shots, like these......

This photo was taken right from the tent site for this trip---looking east at the Conrad Fjord 

 

A late evening shot from the beach

With a job like this...who needs a vacation????

"N" is for New York !!

I don't know where to start....but I have to say how much I loved visiting New York City last September.  We flew into La Guardia airport  and stayed for one night before we left on an awesome 7-night Canada/New England cruise on the Carnival Glory.  It was glorious!! Our first night in New York, we stayed at a beautiful hotel, The Sheraton, near the airport and took a shuttle to the cruise terminal the next day.

Here is a shot Roger & I at the hotel that first night---can't wait to get on the cruise ship tomorrow!!

We were so excited, it was awesome to be doing this cruise with our best friends--Dave & Sharon.  We had planned, researched and discussed the entire trip many times over many drinks and bottles of wine.  That tradition continued for the entire trip, as you have seen in many of my other photos.  Here is a shot that is unmistakeable---I love this picture!!  This was taken as we cruised out of New York City Harbor.

The nights and days on the entire cruise were jam packed with memorable activities.  We all had a blast, but we also stole some down time each night..the scenery from our balconies at the back of the ship were magnificent.

Being from an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is probably what kept drawing us out onto our balcony, just to look at the beautiful views of our ocean, every chance we got.  Here is a shot of Roger enjoying a little pre-dinner drink before getting dressed for dinner one evening.  Dave & Sharon had the balcony suite just two doors away.

We had a ball on the cruise, but we were anxious to get back and explore as much of New York City as we could in five days and five nights------we needed another week at least--ha ha!
          

Now, for a few of my favorite shots of NYC!!!!!

Church at Ground Zero that survived the 9/11 terrorists attacks

Roger, Sharon & Dave at Ground Zero--very moving to be there.

I loved Macy's!!!!

My favorite building in New York--I must have 50 photos of it!

Beautiful!!!!!

 

View from the observation deck at the Empire State building--Dave & Sharon took this shot---I do not like heights!

On our last night in New York City, we went to see Lion King---spectacular!!

  

I have almost two thousand pictures of our visit to New York City, so this was a new form of torture to have pick just a few of my favorites.  The entire trip was magical--maybe someday I'll get back there!

I wish I could sit down with you and show you my scrapbooks and photo albums!!