Return to Steveston BC

Last weekend I went on a short return trip to Steveston, BC. I had three reasons for my trip: 1) a respite girl's weekend out, 2) a chance to meet my blogging friend Susannah from Wanderin' Weeta in real life, and 3) to pick Wayne up early Sunday morning at Vancouver Airport. Don't you just love multitasking?

I made a reservation at the Historic Steveston Hotel for Saturday night. I called them direct and was given several options. I chose the standard room for less that $75. The rooms have all been updated and of course, there are larger and fancier ones. That's my room over the word "Hotel." The rooms are upstairs. Downstairs is a wonderful cafe serving hearty breakfasts and lunches to locals and visitors alike, and a full-service liquor store. Here's a quick tour of my room.

The Village of Steveston is located at the mouth of the South Arm of the Fraser River as it enters the Strait of Georgia. It has a long history as a fishing port, with the Gulf of Georgia Cannery which is now a national historic site. It was built in 1894 followed by what was then called the Sockeye Hotel (apropos wouldn't you say) next door, Today, you will also find the Buck & Ear pub, a great place for a brew, sports TV, and food.

I met my blogging friend Susannah and her good friend Laurie out front. With the drizzly rain, we opted to go into the hotel cafe for coffee and tea. When the skies cleared, we wandered the streets looking into some of the fun shops. Steveston Marine got most of our time, then we went over to wharf to see the boats and the busy fish market.

The next morning it was an easy 20 minute drive to Vancouver International Airport to pick Wayne up. It was a great weekend getaway. Stop by Steveston and see for your yourself. -- Margy

Working Boats of Steveston BC

As you can tell, I really enjoyed my trip to Steveston BC. Today I want to share about the working boats you will find in the harbour. While there are a few pleasure boats mixed in, the majority are fishing boats and tugs.

The Steveston Harbour is a bit unique. It's located in the mouth of Fraser River.

It's close to the Strait of Georgia to get tidal effects, but it also gets lots of fresh water from the river outflow. This is good for boat hulls and engines. Salt water is more corrosive. Plus, the location gives more protection during the fierce fall and winter storms we get with high winds. Here's a short clip I took from Garry Point Park.

Go on weekends during the winter or most any day in the summer and buy fresh fish off the working boats. Can't beat that for taste or price! -- Margy

Kite Buggy in Steveston BC

On Tuesday I shared about my overnight trip to Steveston, BC. While I was there, I went to Garry Point Park where the Fraser River enters the Strait of Georgia. It has a nice trail along the river and ocean's edge. In the middle is a large grassy area with an undulating surface. It surprised me, but here is what I saw.

I saw this man launch his large kite on the brisk breeze, when I looked back he was hurtling towards me. Looks like he was having lots of fun. -- Margy

Canning: Canned Spiced Apples

With a minimal garden this year, I didn't get to do any canning. I was out of canned apples, so I decided to buy a bag at the store and use the same simple recipe from last year. To make them more to my liking, I changed the flavouring from vanilla to spices and added some red food colouring for a crab apple look.

Canned Spiced Apples

10 medium apples
4 3/4 cups sugar
4 cups water
4 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon red food colouring

Fill a large bowl with water then add one tablespoon salt and one tablespoon vinegar. This will be a "bath" to keep the apples from turning brown while you get them all peeled and cut.









Peel, core, slice then put apples in the water bath. Mix sugar (I ended up using a cup less to reduce the sweetness), water, food colouring and spices wrapped in cheesecloth in a large pot and bring to a boil to make a heavy syrup.

Drain and rinse the apples. Carefully add them to the heavy syrup and cook for 5 minutes or until they become translucent. Stay just under the boiling point to prevent foaming. Spoon the apples into clean hot jars, cover with boiling syrup leaving 1/2 inch head space. Seal the jars and process in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes.

The syrup is very sweet, making the apples a good side dish or topping for ice cream. I had a lot of syrup left over and hated to waste it. It had a spicy apple flavour, so I tried putting some in 7-Up and it made a tasty fall drink. Later, I got some club soda and that was even better. Do you have any favourite fall apple recipes? I'd love to hear them. - Margy

Sunspots

After the storm, spots of sunshine came out over the Strait of Georgia.

Each time there was an opening in the clouds, it was like a spotlight highlighting the water and islands below. -- Margy

Cabin Cooking: Restoring a Cast Iron Frying Pan

I've mentioned before that my favourite thrift store is the Powell River Hospital Auxilliary Economy Shop. Every chance I get, I pop in to see what's on the shelves and racks. Over the years I've found lots of "treasures." This week I scored big time. I have a regular route. First the caps, next the baskets, then the kitchen items. There on the bottom shelf was an 10 1/2 inch cast iron frying pan.

The price was right at $2.00, but when I picked it up the old oil was gummy. It felt really yucky, but I knew I could take the pan home and restore it.

I looked online and found "The Irreplaceable Cast Iron Pans." It wasn't exactly following the directions, but the first thing I did was get out an SOS pad I knew was hiding under the sink. I also grabbed the Comet even though I knew it was a drastic move. I ran some really hot water, soaked the pan for a few minutes, and then started adding some grease of my own, elbow grease.








Several soaks and scrubs got me down to a clean, smooth surface. The next step was to lightly oil the pan inside and out. Then it went into a 450 degree oven for thirty minutes.

After cooling in the oven, I repeated the oiling and baking process two more times. Now I have a clean, well seasoned cast iron frying pan that will serve me well for many more years up at the cabin. Thank you to whoever donated it to the shop. Both the hospital and I were winners. -- Margy

All Off-board

Mom just finished a month's vacation with us in Powell River. October was beautiful with some sunny warm days, and lots of colourful leaves. Mom stays in our town condo. When Wayne and I can go up to the cabin, we get home care attendants from We Care in Courtenay. Attendants ride the ferry and Mom gets a kick out of watching them arrive right from her living room chair.

Last Saturday Mom and I packed up Bertha (her big white Buick) and drove back to her home in Bellingham. When we got to the Saltery Bay terminal thirty minutes before departure, I was shocked to see no other cars. My first thought was I had goofed on the time. but it was just the off-season quiet.

Since we were #1 in line, we got the #1 spot on the ferry. From the comfort of our car we got to see the passing scenery. That was great for Mom since getting to the passenger deck wasn't possible. And when we arrived at the Earls Cove terminal, we got to really see what happens when the ferry docks and prepares for offloading.

Taking a ferry to and from Powell River is commonplace for residents, but it's hard to become immune to the beauty of the experience. -- Margy

You'll Get a Charge Out of This

Yesterday was the last day of Daylight Savings Time (DST) across Canada and the United States. Today at 2:00 a.m. we turned our clocks back (Fall back) one hour and began using local standard time, a big reminder that the days are getting shorter and darker earlier.

With less sunlight, we've learned to manage our power up at the cabin. Our electrical system has grown from one solar panel to three, backed up by a wind generator (for stormy nights). We've also grown from two to ten deep cycle batteries to store the energy for cabin use. But it isn't enough, especially during short cloudy winter days.

Consequently, we use alternative light sources for evenings. One is propane, but it isn't bright enough for reading. Thus, we turn to battery powered lights. But we were using lots of batteries and were concerned about both cost and the environment.

Now we use rechargeable reading lights. With bright LEDs they give plenty of light and have lots of power to last through long winter nights.

The first ones we got (on the left) were made by NexxTech from The Source in Powell River. We still like them best, but they're no longer available. Last Christmas, Wayne and I (unknowingly) got each other new ones made by ReLight from Amazon. They have four LEDs and are OK, but aren't quite as bright.

So, if you're a reader and need a little extra light, go rechargeable and help our environment at the same time. -- Margy

Shared Storage

Each fall we get visited by Bushy-tailed Woodrats. They leave their "calling cards" on Wayne's chaise pad, and help me harvest the last of my veggies from the garden and pots. They are so organized that they nibble plant stems and then pile the leaves to dry before storage. When we know one is in the area, we use our live trap and work out
a relocation.

Just above the high water line, John built a wonderful shed for us to use to store those things that don't fit into the cabin. He even gave us a window, just to see what might be going on outside. Of course, we have to be careful what we put inside. One reason is that the woodrats think it's there just for them.

Woodrats are notorious for taking and hiding bright shiny objects. When I clean the shed after an invasion, I'm always finding objects from the shelf mixed in with their food items. This time a yellow paint brush was placed on top of the dried weeds. What a decorative flair they have.

When I took the woodrat's cache out, I found lots of dried ferns, moss, and salal berries. Mixed in, it looked like some of my lettuce and sage. I felt bad about destroying the cache of food, but our shed isn't the best place for the mess. Fortunately, woodrats are known to create multiple food caches surrounding their nest. Losing this one shouldn't make winter devastating. -- Margy

Three Buckets Full

One of my last chores in the floating garden was to dig up the last of my old strawberry plants. The mother plants are about nine years old, and they have stopped being productive. I started the job at the beginning of the month, but wanted to finish it before I have to leave the cabin in early November. I approached the task using the three bucket method.

I used one bucket to save rooted runner plants. I put them in my strawberry nursery pots on the deck. In the spring I will use them to help start my new beds.

I used another bucket save the leaves to use as mulch for my asparagus roots.

The last bucket I used for stems and roots for the compost pile. It's tough for them to decompose by spring unassisted, so I use my nippers to cut them into small pieces. Having a small garden allows me to do things like this on a small scale. Now the soil can rest all winter. -- Margy

Preserving: Picking Thyme

As I put my garden to bed for the winter, it was time to trim back and take my last picking of thyme. It's one of my favourite herbs for cooking. It's so versatile in soups, stews and marinades. My thyme plant is about five years old now. One side has died back, but the other still produces tasty leaves. I'm hoping the haircut will stimulate new growth come spring.

I tied the stems into bundles and now they are hanging in my new bathroom to dry.









After a few weeks the leaves will be dry and ready to store. A quick run of my fingers down the stems easily removes the tiny leaves. Here you can see my sage and rosemary ready to be stored. I've saved Crystal Light plastic canisters for bulk storage. And now I have my new pantry to keep them out of the light. I put small amounts into hand painted spice containers to keep next to the stove. -- Margy