Personal Buzz « Gold River Buzz

Barred Owl / Hoot Owl

On the way home from Muchalaht Lake a few nights ago my daughter and I came around a corner and saw something sitting on the side of the road ahead of us. We slowed down, but as soon as we got close it flew up into the trees.

We looked at each other and both said, “was that an owl?”

It was pitch dark so I just started taking pictures in the area I thought it flew, and got lucky!

I think this was a Barred Owl as (from what I’ve read) they are the quite common on Vancouver Island. (Also known as a Hoot Owl.)

We thought it was pretty cool – the first time either of us had ever seen an owl in the wild!

Email This Post

Home sweet home….

Just a quick note to let those of you who have emailed me know that I’m just getting home now and sorting through all my messages.

We headed to Cranbrook over the long weekend for my Mother-in-law’s wedding – it was a great time! So cute to see the old bird tie the knot again!

Please bear with me while I play catch up!

PS: What’s with all the smoke? Yuck!

Email This Post

The great 2010 Rib-Off

Old Rose was arguing with her boss a couple weeks ago about their rib recipes and which was better, so she decided to put him to the test and declared a rib-off! The invitation said to bring your best ribs to the party and each person would vote on the winner.

Now, I’m not really one for ribs as I don’t like eating meat off the bone, but I decided to play along, especially after stumbling across the ‘best rib recipe ever’ on StumbleUpon. (If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a fantastic way of finding the best random stuff on the internet.) I’ve never made ribs before, that’s always been the hubby’s domain, but food editor Ian Knauer proclaimed this rib recipe to be “the best thing he’s ever come up with”, so I figured I was a sure winner!

I started the day before, nearly taking off the ends of my fingers while mincing garlic and fighting off the big flying ants to collect fresh rosemary from my garden.

I minced.

I chopped.

I bled.

I perspired.

But as I put my ribs in the fridge to marinate overnight, I was pleased – knowing they would be the best damn thing to ever come from my kitchen!

The big day arrived, and just as I was thinking it was time to put my delicacy into the oven to slow roast, my husband came home with two racks of ribs from Super Valu and declared he was entering the Rib-Off too. He haphazardly threw some salt and pepper on them, and smothered them in bottled BBQ sauce and tossed them in the oven.

After a couple hours slow roasting, my ribs came out of the oven looking like this (note the fresh rosemary and minced garlic):

I then scraped the roasting pan and made a reduced glaze in which to brush on while barbecuing.

Here are my baby back ribs after being barbecued and glazed to perfection:

My husband’s ribs looked like this with some ketchup on them:

And guess who won first prize at the 2010 Rib-Off???? He did of course.

Next time maybe the judging should happen before the cocktails. Obviously everyone’s judgment was grossly impaired!

(Click here for step by step instructions and great pictures of the recipe I followed for Balsamic Ribs.)

Email This Post

GR Girl missed GR Day

I’m so disappointed that I wasn’t able to take part in any of the Gold River Day festivities yesterday! Hockey season has been extended in our house, so it was off to Victoria for me and the youngest child for practice.

I’ve been looking through all the photos on Facebook – it looks like it was an amazing day!! Congratulations to Sheila and everyone who helped out!

I’d like to add a few photos to the Gold River Day page, so if you’re willing to donate a couple or a few, please send to infoATgoldriverbuzzDOTcom.

Email This Post

We're home!

What did I miss? Besides storms and power outages?

We had a really nice time in Puerto Vallarta, although I don’t think we’ll ever go back to the same hotel. (The Krystal Vallarta) It was fine – nice pool, very comfortable room, but the staff were miserable! It actually floored us how miserable they were – you couldn’t get a friendly smile out of anyone! It’s more of a 3-in-1 resort with all-inclusive guests, European plan guests and time share owners. Even if you’re on the all-inclusive plan you have to sign off on a bill every single time. Made for a lot more work for the staff – maybe that was why no smiles?

Other than that, we had a fantastic time. We called our buddy Nacho again and he took us on two different excursions. One day we just went to Mismaloya Beach and the next day we rented a jeep and drove out into the Sierra Madre’s and toured around three different little towns. We even got pulled over and searched by the Mexican Army! Mucho fun!

Here are a few photos – hover over the image to see the description:

Can’t wait to go back!

His own cake...

Many of you have asked if poor old Dad ended up getting his own cake or not. I’m happy to report that YES he did, although it was decorated with pink and purple!

No, that’s not a spelling mistake – it’s a long time joke between Dad and the girls. When we lived in Boston Bar, there was a place called ‘The Bad Dad Ranch’, and the girls got such a kick out of it, that they’ve called him their ‘Bad Dad’ ever since.

The cake was delicious! The middle was filled with chocolate pudding – out of necessity, I think, as they had over indulged in icing and ran out!

Rose & Edna go for a Sunday drive

My best friend moved here from Alberta a few months ago, and it’s been so amazing having her close again where we can go for walks, have coffee or just hang out and laugh like teenagers!

We’re nearing our forties, and always joke and laugh about how our bodies are falling apart before their time. She nearly threw her hip out in the Legion last weekend, and I’ve developed all kinds of lovely digestion troubles! (Geeez – 40 is the new 80 around here!) Because of this, we’ve taken to calling each other pet names – she’s Rose and I’m Edna.

Anyway, old Rose is much more craftier than I, and during our walks around town she spied one of these west coast driftwood mobiles, and wants to make one:

It was such a beautiful day yesterday, so we took advantage and headed out to Muchalaht in search of driftwood.

We definitely hit the jackpot out there – I couldn’t believe the amount of wood washed up on shore!

I think we got enough wood for a good dozen of those mobiles!

The lake was absolutely gorgeous, and being out there immediately made me want to go camping:

Rose had two big bags full of driftwood and declared that her hip was feeling good enough that we should find something else to do, and take full advantage of the day.

I heard that someone had constructed a big inukshuk on the road to Tahsis, and we decided that would be a good ending to our day, so we went in search of the elusive inukshuk.

Of course, Rose and Edna’s vision isn’t what it use to be, so we ended up all the way out at the Nesook sort and still hadn’t spotted the damn thing! Coming from Alberta, poor Rose hasn’t seen the ocean all that many times, so was pleased as punch to be out there and proceeded to look for shells. (Hey, don’t laugh – she found a bunch!)

Luck was with us on the way home, and we managed to spot what we were looking for:

It’s actually a pretty good size – I have no idea how we missed it the first time? I’m guessing I was paying attention to the road, and that must have been when Rose was digging in her purse looking for her Arthritis medicine.

All in all a great day! The sunshine and warm breeze was most welcome! Thanks for the fun day Rose!

Email This Post

Virtual flowers for Carol!

Sending out a big bouquet and get well vibes to my good friend Carol Donaldson.

Carol was in the Campbell River hospital last week, and is back in again. She had surgery yesterday and is doing well so far. She’s expected to be in the hospital for another week or so.

Get well soon Carol!

Email This Post

Ahhhh…..we’re home!

It’s definitely been a long couple of days getting ourselves home, but it sure was nice to turn that last corner and see Gold River!

Our poor cat has not stopped talking to us (loudly) – obviously giving us hell for leaving her for so long! Our dog has been much the same – walking from person to person all night and morning – full of wags and slobbery kisses

Having teenagers meant I didn’t even have a chance to get a load of laundry in last night before whisking them off to their friends houses. Although it did give me a chance to see all the gorgeous Christmas lights and displays around Gold River.

Now to catch up on Gold River news and put a dent in that laundry pile!

Back to Canada tomorrow

As sad as we are to leave Mexico, it will sure be nice to get home.

We had a great Christmas yesterday – we had our friend ‘Nacho’ and his family over for dinner, and we managed to pull off a full turkey and mashed potato dinner even though we were working with the bare minimum of kitchen items.

The night before we had dinner in San Pancho at Maria’s Restaurant & bar. It was hands down the best meal we’ve had so far in Mexico. I had the shrimp which was stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon – unbelievable! It was a very intimate place with only a handful of customers, which made for a lovely evening.

The day before we went on an ocean excursion to the Marietas Islands and I was floored at the number of humpback whales we saw. They were literally everywhere. I took over 500 pictures….. mostly of the whales!