Great day to be inside cooking......

It was a beautiful day actually, nice and warm.....but those darned little black flies.....eeeeeecckk!!!

I took advantage of the outside conditions (the flies) and decided to make a double batch of Cod au Gratin....

This is the recipe that I use...minus the onion.

Look at this amazing cod---we caught this last year during the annual fall "food fishery"........

 I always make some extra cheese sauce---great on steamed broccoli or brussel sprouts...

I make my own breadcrumbs, using a variety of oven-toasted breads from my freezer.  This time the addition of some cheese breads made the crumb mixture extra chunky and delicious.....

Here's how it looks coming out of the oven........

Mmmm.....a nice light meal with a large glass of dry white wine and a fresh brewed decaf......

I love this funky tablecloth that my great friend, Kathy, brought me from Mexico.

What's your favorite fish dish??

Cheers

:o)

Pretty in Pink........

The rhododendrons are bursting with these pretty pink blooms......

 This bee made me think of the popular saying......"busy as a bee...."

 Aren't they pretty???

 I couldn't resist taking a small cutting to bring a little color inside.....

The azalea is coming along nicely too, after about three springs of me thinking it was an unusual, but pretty weed.  It would be about 5 feet tall had I realized that it was something that I had actually planted there......duuuhhh!!

The gooseberry bush is loaded with little marble sized berries....mmm-mmm, can't wait to be able to pick these.

My snowball tree is loaded down pretty good too---they are a real pale lime green color now...when they turn white, they are just like big fluffy snowballs!!

Cheers from my garden to yours!

:o)

Food for the Soul

Well, it has been a long, long time.

I have been working in St. John's since mid-January, but my contract is completed and I can now get back to my old routine, with lots of photography and lots of blogging!!!!  I came home every weekend, but there was just never enough time to blog---I hardly had time to keep up with checking my own favorite blogs.

It has been an "on and off" sort of day here.  One minute it's raining and the next it seems to be clearing off, only to begin raining again----a great day to cook a traditional Newfoundland and Labrador meal------

Stewed Beans and Fresh Rolls.  Yumm :o)

 Old Fashioned Stewed Beans

• 2 cups Thompsons white beans
• 5 cups cold water
• 5 pieces salt meat (2”L  x  1/4” thick)
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 1/4-1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/4-1/2 cup chopped parsnip
• 2 cups each of chopped carrots & turnip
• ground pepper to taste

Method

Wash beans thoroughly and let soak in cold water for 1 hour.  Dump water and place beans in a large saucepan.

Add water, onions and salt meat. Season to taste with pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 1 hours, then add all vegetables.  Stir occasionally.  Cook until tender.  Serve with piping hot fresh bread or rolls and a good cup of steeped tea.

Hubby really enjoyed this treat after a good day of work.....

To top that off, I made Date Squares, a favorite of mine from as far back as I can remember.  Mom used to have to make up extra crumb mixture and give us kids each a little bowlful while she made these gems and we waited for them to bake.

They turned out great, what do you think?

It is awesome to have the time to cook treats like these......I'd better get back on that bicycle of mine too, if I want to be able to continue to eat this stuff on a regular basis!!

Cheers all!

;o)

 

Wordless Wednesday

Beans & Bologna at Shitty Cove Angle

What a beautiful Saturday!!!!!

Sunny--2 Degrees Celsius--lots of snow down----perfect day for a ride on snowmobile.

We headed out around 10:00 am first took a run into First Burnt Pond.  The scenery is spectacular and there were lots of people out, doing exactly what we were--enjoying the glorious winter sun.  We stopped and chatted with some trout fishers, who happened to be catching some great looking brook trout. After a brief stop there, we went off and did some fabulous trail riding for about an hour or so.  We were starting to get thirsty and hungry, so we headed  back for my favorite lunch spot---the prettiest little spot on Square Pond---known by the locals as Shitty Cove Angle.

What do you think????.....

When we drove up, we startled two black ducks...I managed to get a shot of them in flight, but I 

should have had a different lens on my camera, but didn't have time to change it.

Just before we got to our lunch spot, we came upon this......

It looks like someone drove into the water......but upon  a closer look, you would see the 

snowmobile  tracks on the other side of the open water.....SCARY stuff in my books.  

This is a common practice among the young drivers on the real fast snowmobiles...

they call it "Water Skipping".  

They approach the small body of water at high speed, continue across the water and (hopefully)

reach the other side and drive off----like I said.....SCARY STUFF!!!!!

--------------

We found a good sunny spot with some old dead trees that we could take down for fire 

work and set up to have a great meal.......Beans, bologna and toast on an open fire.  

I perked some extra strong coffee to bring in a thermos, so when we boiled the kettle we just 

had to add  some boiling water and it was just right.....yummy :o)

  

Fine Dining---Newfoundland Winter Outdoor Style

Hope you all got to do something fabulous this weekend too...have a great week.

Cheers

:o)