Text 34996, 91 rader
Skriven 2016-01-10 21:05:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: Holiday Trip 1
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Because of our complicated blended families, the logistics were a
tad complex. We first flew to Fort McMurray to spend Christmas with
Raine and her family. As Raine's second husband also has kids, Lexi
and Charlee now have a big brother and a big sister who is the
mother of a cute little four year old boy they spoil horribly. Big
sister's partner has two older kids as well who are forced to call
Lexi and Charlee "Auntie". They are my step-step-step great-
grandkids! We got to see all of them at least briefly as they
shuttled back and forth between their respective various parents and
other grandparents.

On the 27th Raine's immediate family (that is to say hubby Lyle,
Lexi and Charlee) drove us to Stoney Plain where Ray and Neekha
reside. Ray's current squeeze Rebecca has three kids: Helen, who is
Lexi's age (10), Seth (8) and Jeremy (7). Lexi and Helen are tight:
BFFs and cousins, while Charlee hangs out with and torments the
boys. Helen was AWOL as she was visiting her maternal grandmother in
Calgary. On the 29th Lexi and Charlee went off to visit their
father Chuck, who has moved to Edmonton and Raine and Lyle went
home. Helen returned on Jan 1, and so missed Lexi's visit and we
flew home on the 2nd.

Oh yeah, Roslind's ex, Raymond, and his lady were in Stoney Plain
simultaneously. (We all get along quite nicely.)

Some holiday food and drink highlights (and low lights as well):
      
Chili's chili: Short version - Avoid! You guys will all know Chili's
Texas Grill but it's new to Canada. There was one in the Edmonton
airport where we had a 2 hour layover on the way to Fort Mac so we
thought we'd try it as the alternatives were Montana's Cookhouse, a
Harvey Burger owned casual dining chain and Hudsons Canadian Tap
House ("Canada's Pub") both of which are pretty mediocre.

Now you would think that a Southwestern and Tex-Mex themed 
restaurant would make a pretty decent chili, especially as it's
built right into the name of the place. Well you'd be wrong. It is
soupy thin, overly tomatoey, and extremely bland with no cumin aroma
or flavour and very little chile flavour or heat. It is also nastily
acidic and I suspect they use Frank's hot sauce to make it. So I
called for hot sauce. You would also think that a Southwestern and
Tex-Mex themed place would have a large assortment of wonderful
sauces and perhaps a house one as well but no, I was offered a
choice of Tabasco or wing sauce. Of course the Frank's based wing
sauce made their crappy soup even more objectionably acidic. Wendy's
makes better chili. Newfys and Dogribs in Yellowknife who have never
visited an Internet food forum in their life intuitively make far
better versions of it even if they do tend to add kidney beans and
mushrooms. I give it a D-, as close to an F as it comes.

One of the highlights of the Fort Mac visit was homemade moose
sausage from one of Lyle's friends who is an old time trapper and
an avid hunter. His recipe calls for 75 pounds of moose meat, 75
pounds of trimmed leanish pork, lots of mustard seed in the spice
mix and no saltpeter or other nitrates/nitrites. It was heavily
smoked. It was quite good although I thought it could use more fat
in the mix. Of course I didn't say that out loud to the guy as he
was very proud of his product and the family recipe.

A tale of two turkeys ...

We had two turkey meals in a row but the sides and desserts were so
different that things didn't get boring at all. On Dec. 24th Lyle's
brother Wayne hosted a turkey and ham dinner and their mom (a
Ukrainian farm girl and retired rural caterer) brought homemade
moose Kielbasa (she hunts too!), perogies, cabbage rolls and
Nalysnyky (rolled up crepes with a cottage cheese based filling and
a sour cream sauce poured over). Her trade mark is tons of dill in
the Nalysnyky sauce which I disagree with. But I'm not Ukrainian so
I shut up. Wayne handled the main meats and the bar; his girlfriend
provided the rest of the sides: two salads, carrots in butter sauce,
Brussels sprouts with bacon bits braised in chicken broth, mashed
potatoes, gravy etc. Lots of people contributed desserts, cookies,
other sweet confections, wines, beer and/or whiskey. All in all a
delicious feast and a very pleasant visit too.

There were about 30 people in attendance; the stars of the night
were Wayne's 7 week old grandson and the little boy's 8 week old
cousin. They look like identical twins and both got cuddled and held
in turn by every female, of every age, in the room from Charlee
on up to the Matriarch, Wayne's mom.

To be con't
 
YK Jim
        
... Dihydrogen Oxide is an acid with a pH of 7, higher than any other acid!

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