Text 19605, 80 rader
Skriven 2012-01-06 22:47:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: Holiday trip 1
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The holiday trip to and from Peace River and Fort McMurray was a
snap despite the high mileage (a little over 3400 km) with warm
temps, bare dry highways and light traffic coming and going. On the
way down we stopped for lunch and supper at the usual places: the
Big River truck stop at Fort Providence and that nice restaurant in
High Level with the French chef that I have spoken of before.

At the truck stop we ate heartily indeed, starting with a nice
housemade beef and barley soup for both of us. Roslind had a huge
Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes, both smothered with a peppery
mushroom and onion gravy while I had a steak sandwich (a 10 oz rare
sirloin on garlicky Texas Toast) with sauteed onions and mushrooms
plus a side of chili fries topped with chopped onion and grated
Cheddar. The portions were appropriately truck driver huge and to
our surprise we actually finished everything, without having to ask
for a doggie bag, as we so often do there.

In High Level we went for lighter fare with more veggies. Roslind
had an interesting variation on Greek Salad with calamari,
artichokes and no lettuce (the chef puts his own signature spin on
all the standards) while I had an excellent (and fiery) vegetarian
Kung Po with a modestly sized shrimp garnish. Chinese-Canadian
restaurants are notorious for their wussy, overly mild King Po but
this one was perfectly spiced, to my taste.

We hit PR about 4 hours after Ray, Neekha, Rebecca and her three
kids had headed out to Calgary to visit some of Becca's relatives,
found the hidden key and made ourselves at home by a cozy wood fire.
They hadn't cleaned out their fridge prior to their 8 day trip so we
nibbled on whatever looked the most perishable, an eclectic mix of
leftover treasures in Tupperware containers including venison
Bolognaise, fresh and semi-fresh fruit and a spinach salad. For
breakfast we had cereal and finished off their milk for them before
hitting the road for the second leg of the trip. As Slave Lake and
Athabaska don't have any decent restaurants that I can discover, we
lunched on sandwiches from the IGA's deli dept. in Athabaska.

The pre-Christmas meals in McMurray were all simple and quick with
lots of good things to drink at all times. We all took turns working
with whatever was on hand. Resident were ourselves, Raine, her new
hubby Lyle, her ex, Chuck, who had come down to see his kids, Lexi,
Charlee and Lyle's boy, Jason, who is 20. As well Lyle's daughter
Melissa, her boy friend, the cute little grandson Jaxson (yes I'm a
great grandfather now) and Lyle's parents, Bob and Mary dropped by
frequently. The blended family all got along famously, even Chuck
and Lyle.

The family Christmas dinner was so large that it was held in two
houses. Raine hosted one and Jenny, Lyle's oldest niece, the other.
There was of course lots of visiting back and forth before and
after. Jenny's guests included a boy friend, a brother, his
girlfriend, two bachelor guys from his workplace, her dad (Lyle's
older brother), his girlfriend who was Raine's best friend back in
high school (that's how she met Lyle), her kids, her parents and a
few more who seemed to be relatives of Jenny's mom (who wasn't
present but was hosting a third dinner across town.)

Both dinners were the usual roast turkey and sides (very similar to
a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner). But there were several
interesting extras, drawn from the favourite traditional dishes of
the many nationalities in the two extended, blended families. Chuck
made Inuit doughnuts (deep fried bread with a sprinkling of cinnamon
and sugar), Roslind brought a Quebecois tourtiere and English
shortbread (my mom's recipe), Mary (who is Polish/Ukrainian and
married to a Dutch guy) brought cabbage rolls, varenyki (perogies)
and nalysnyky (cottage cheese stuffed crepes in a creamy dill sauce)
and Raine, a Newfy Jiggs dinner (in between Chuck and Lyle she dated
a Newfoundlander for a while and fell in love with that dish.)


Cheers

YK Jim


... Another holiday based on gluttony and candy.

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