Thanksgiving Weekend

This year Thanksgiving falls on Sunday 12 October, in French Canada it is called L'Action de Grâce, an old Feast Day which has European roots in the harvest festivals which are upon us now.

I love going out to the grocery store and shopping for a pumpkin or pumpkins. We are also looking at our menu for the Thanksgiving lunch on Sunday. I got pieces of turkey this year instead of a big bird.
I also have chestnuts and Brussels Sprouts, will do something along the lines of roasting them instead of the usual boiling. Heritage carrots, yellow and purple and red all mixed up together. The potatoes are Russian Blue, I do not know why they call them by that name since all potatoes come from Bolivia originally and the so called Russian Blue is a favourite of the Andean Natives in the highland of Bolivia. Will is going to make Pumpkin Spicy or Smokey soup and for dessert we will have a special dessert for the occasion made by Pastry Chef  Michael Holland at his store Holland's Cake and Shake by the Parkdale Market at 229 Armstrong street in Ottawa. See their web site http://www.cakeandshake.ca

This is a great place for pastry done in the old famous traditional way but with a modern twist and lots of imagination. All of it is made fresh daily no day old or stale stuff there.

The weather is crisp and cool now and the trees have started to change into a wide array of vibrant colours.

 This year's pumpkins on our balcony.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Sunday in Autumn

Today was a beautiful sunny Autumn day. The air was crisp and the colours bright in the sunlight. The Rideau Canal has been emptied over the Thanksgiving Weekend another boating season has come and gone. It is now full of ducks and Canada geese who just sun themselves and pick at the fish in shallow waters.

Took a few pictures of the Canal now drained for winter, ready to be turned into a skating rink. Hopefully the weather this coming winter will be cold enough for skaters. Last year we had good weather for skating, one of the best season in 20 years.

In the meantime we can enjoy a beautiful day. I looked at the weather for Rome and it appears that 20 to 22 C is the norm at this time of year. Warmer in Spain up to 25 C. easy to take, but still at night around 14 C so a sweater is in order. I got my European Nokia phone out today and charged it. I bought it in Italy 2 years ago for a fraction of what it would cost here in Canada. This way I have a local cel phone with a Roman number so I can call friends easily in town. I also bought a chip for the UK which I can use in the same phone. The phone and chip cost next to nothing when compared to what you have to pay in Canada.

 A rose bouquet brought to us by our friend J.H. the other night, beautiful

 The water in the Rideau Canal is very clear and you can see the fish swimming about.

 One of the many old and beautiful trees along the Canal

 The George Patterson inlet branching off from the Rideau Canal

Looking South towards Lansdowne Park

Sunday in Autumn

This is the first day of Autumn and today starting at 7am we had the Canadian Army Marathon all over Ottawa and Gatineau. Upwards of 22,000 runners, we saw them running up and down the Rideau Canal towards the finish line which is near the Governor General's Guards Drill Hall.

It is a fall day, cold and grey, the trees have started to change colour and leaves are falling in droves. By the end of the afternoon, the sun came out and gave this strange effect over wet streets and damp leaves a bit like a painting by Turner.

Last night we had friends over for dinner and I had asked our favourite florist Minou at BelFiore on Elgin street, if she could do something for our table centre, www.belfiore.ca. She has such talent, here are the photos of what she did. The orange flowers are called Star of Bethlehem, usually white. We had Maigret de Canard and roasted potatoes. For dessert peaches in white wine, though the season for peaches ended 2 weeks ago. The Appetizer was a salad of greens with a slice of watermelon sprinkled with cracked pepper and goat cheese.

So on this first day of Fall, a bit of music by Johann Melchior Molter, Concerto for trumpet

Automne, Autunno, Autumn

We were able to have dinner outside from 21 June to 31 August this year, a short period of time but we love this tradition of dining on our terrace looking at the Rideau Canal.

Since 1 September the weather has been sunny but cool and in the evening chilly. The days are noticeably shorter now so we are slowly moving towards Autumn.

The word Autumn in English comes from old French Automne and it seems that prior to the 16th century the word Harvest was much in use since most people lived on the land and Harvest meant that time of the year, Season, when most food is harvested. Only as of the 16th century when more people moved to Cities and learnt to read and write did the word Autumn gain prominence.

With Autumn new activities take place, Thanksgiving falls on Sunday 13 October, meaning that we decorate with various types of coloured corn, pumpkins and a variety of squashes. Last year I found a pumpkin which was a bluish silver colour, a heritage variety. There is a lot of so called Heritage vegetables on the markets now and many people love this new choice. Just outside Ottawa, the Gatineau Park has spectacular colours and it is wonderful to drive up into the hills and on a sunny day see the multi-coloured trees.

Of course many will cook a turkey and have the traditional stuffing and vegetables, potatoes, brussels sprouts, carrot, turnip and squash. I do not know what we will do. It all depends who is in town during this long weekend.

We are booked for our cruise in November from Rome to Seville, with stops in Sorrento, Trapani, Barcelona, Valencia, Gibraltar, then across the Strait of Gibraltar and along the Guadalquivir river to Seville. We also plan a side trip to Granada. This cruise is to celebrate our 35 Anniversary. We had such a great cruise last year from Amsterdam to St-Petersburg and Stockholm through the Baltic Sea. This will be our gift to each other and a wonderful way to celebrate. AZAMARA is tailoring the cruise for our anniversary and giving us little extras to make it memorable.

This will be our second cruise with AZAMARA, smaller ships, called mid-size with 700 passengers and higher level of amenities and service. The food was excellent and the wine list impressive, I also liked the fact that they poured drinks not measure them, so you got a nice stiff drink to make any sailor proud. We have never been on the super-size ships carrying thousands of passengers and I do not think we would like it. Also from a point of safety, I prefer a smaller ship. We were also able to dock in town where larger cruise ships had to dock often far away in sea ports. One final point that sold me on AZAMARA was the number of Canadians on crew on board, a nice touch.

Azamara Quest

Poulenc

One of my favourite composer of the XXth century is Francis Poulenc. Today we had a little bit of Poudrerie, a dusting snowfall which lasted all of 4 minutes and quickly disappeared under a returning bringht but cold sunshine.

I thought of these pieces from Poulenc's Suite Française went well with the weather today in Ottawa.
Also today the Rideau Canal is being emptied in preparation for winter. That is a sure sign in the Capital that the Seasons are changing. It will take about 3 days to bring the level of the water down sufficiently so that just the right amount remains to form a long skating rink. The big pike fish will gather in the depth of Dow's Lake to hibernate until Spring. Time to change the wardrobe from summer to winter, come out sweaters, mittens and scarfs. Time to think to buy snow tires, ouch!! they are not cheap.  Boots also for the children of Cerberus, so the paws don't get cold.

Edwardian house at the Canal on McLeod Street and Queen Elizabeth Drive.

John's Pumpkin cheese cake with pumpkin seeds dipped in chocolate.

the herons are still fishing around for small fish despite the level of the water slowly going down. 

Autumn 2012

Here are some pictures of Autumn delights.

Such exuberance is pure pleasure.

the children of Cerberus enjoying the morning sunshine, a daily tradition in our house.

our little street in colour.

Autumn

We have so far had a very nice Autumn in Ottawa, lots of sunshine and the morning air is crisp at 6 C.
The trees have changed colour and with the sunshine it makes for a festive look all around. The walk to work in the morning is pleasant walking to work down quiet streets. Only the last portion about 3 blocks do I enter the central office district.  It is true that the streets in Ottawa are very clean and the sidewalks even which is a good thing given the number of old people in our neighbourhood.

The view from our kitchen window.

Along the Queen Elizabeth Drive

The Rideau Canal water level has already been lowered by 2 meters leaving just enough water so that come winter freeze the Canal will become the longest skating rink in the world.