Driving Through the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Winter

I have been having a discussion with myself if I was going to write this post.  It is a very personal journey through the Rocky Mountains and I was not sure if anyone else would be interested.  But since I am not  cooking while I am still under renovation, and I am having withdrawal symptoms from blogging, I thought 'Why not?'  The picture above is Banff, Alberta.

My drive is actually from Mile 83, British Columbia to Swift Current, Saskatchewan.  While I did not stop to take any pictures, I have found some that depict the areas.  It was winter and a long drive and was not easy to stop for photo ops.

Mile 83 is near to 100 Mile House in the interior of British Columbia.  It is a blend of mountains, ranches, lakes and meadows.  The summers are not that warm and gardening is a definite challenge.  My father and his wife enjoy the hummingbirds every summer.  In the winter the chickadees are always there.  Otherwise, there are lots of ravens, owls, hawks, foxes, bears and game animals such as deer and moose.  It is a very out of the way place to live.  It is very much country life.

My father is almost 85 years old and still enjoys doing everything that he can.  They also spend their vacations in Africa.

Along that road from Mile 83 to Kamloops it changes from more lush mountain to very dry mountain terrain.  I am reminded  of the time that my sister and father walked off the road to look at some ramshackled old cabin only to find a rattle snake.

The farms irrigate.  Ginseng is grown along with many typical vegetables and even a vineyard.

You pass through the western mountain town of Cache Creek.  It is so adorable in a rustic way.

Kamloops is a hub.  It has all the shopping a country person needs.  It has colleges and all.

The drive from Kamloops west wends through rough countryside.  It is lush and productive land again and with some irrigation.  There are towns with specialities like cheese and ice creams, fruits and vegetables and a lavender farm.

The road winds along the edge of the Kootenay Lake.  You pass through Three Valley Gap.  Although touristy, and I have never stopped there, it adds to the intrigue.   I love the whole rustic hotel complex by the water.  There are hot springs along the way.

You gradually find yourself climbing through the mountains and arrive at Rogers Pass and then Kicking Horse Pass.  Rogers Pass has a nice stopping place.  There is a hotel, restaurant, service station and trinket shop.  I always stop there for a rest.  It is the summit as driving through the mountains.

There are a half dozen or so snow sheds to drive through.

Kicking Horse Pass, in my humble opinion, is more scenic.  You drive over the river and the canyon, around mountains and there are lots of switchbacks.  It is lovely in all seasons.

Craigellachie is an historic stopping place.  That is where the Last Spike was driven on the trans Canada railway in 1885.  It is a very simple roadside stop but as a Canadian, it was a part of my grade school history that stuck in my head.

I love the ancient cedars and hemlock groves.  There are boardwalks built so there will be no impact on the environment.  The trees are hundreds of years old and absolutely huge.  I love the air in the forest.  It is so fresh.  I love the streams.  And the solitude.  You can truly feel connected to nature even on this tourist stop.

Revelstoke is another favourite rest stop.  I have only once stayed overnight.  It is so quiet and really in the mountains.  Golden is the next stop.  We always gas up there.  Today they are building a lot of ski runs and resorts at Golden.  However, my absolute stop is Field.  It is a gem of a stop with mountains all around.  The river passes right by the town and braids  shallow but wide along the highway.

At this point you pass by the ever popular and famous Emerald Lake.  It is a must-see if ever in this part of the country any season.  Actually you don't view it.  You get a room and stay.

After Field is Lake Louise.  There is nothing to see from the highway.  But I love the area!  It is my favourite ski hill.  I is small and intimate.  The Chateau Lake Louise overlooks the lake.  It is one of those lovely old Canadian Pacific Hotels with lots of charm and character.  Every winter there is a world class ice carving competition.

Next will be Sunshine Village ski resort, Castle Mountain, Red Earth Creek for hiking and cross country skiing and....Three Second Peak!  I lived and skiied in the area for years before anyone told me about Three Second Peak.  You can only see this Matterhorn-ish mountain for three seconds from the highway.  I always try to catch the glimpse when I am on the road.

This pretty much sums up the trip through the mountains.  Banff is world famous and what can a person say in a blog about this jewel of the Rockies.  It is exquisite.

Continuing on to Calgary you pass by Mount Yamnuska, which I have climbed!  There is a little lake called Lac des Arc that is wind swept clean of snow and used to be a favourite spot for ice boating.  I have not seen them there recently.

The landscape abruptly changes into ranch land and gently rolling foothills into Calgary.

To continue past Calgary takes you into the Canadian Prairies.  There are the prehistoric hunting grounds of Dinosaur Provincial Park.


We pass by the general landscape of Grasslands National Park and the sand dunes in Saskatchewan.  This is where antelope roam.

And finally I am home!  Swift Current is a little city on the Canadian prairies.  It is winter and the driving was white knuckle.  But I arrived home safely.  Until next time...

My Apologies

I must apologize for being a lousy blogger this past month.  Between the complete demo of the main floor of my house, me being the painter for the entire project and cooking for my cousin's Christmas, I haven't had a minute to catch my breath.

I don't even have pictures of my lovely painted walls.

I have been feeling rather harried.  My Christmas cooking for my cousin began with a 6am shopping trip to Superstore and ended at 9pm that night.

What better time to shop for groceries than 6am?  It was blissfully quiet.  However Superstore does not have everything I want.

I shopped until about 10am and then cooked until the guests arrived at 6pm.  Then we ate and laughed.

It was exhausting.  And that was only the party on December 23.  Two more dinner parties until we can call it a day, er, I mean, a year.

I am sure you are expecting this was a 'Partridge Family' Christmas!  Hah!  Are they ever?

I learned a lot from this Christmas dinner.  I learned why we should always serve a starter salad and never put the hot food on the table until all are seated.

I could not believe that we placed all the hot food on the table, called the guests and then another cousin decided to completely rearrange the seating plan! 

Hot food...haggling over the seating plan...see Sarah seethe!  I have never seen anything like it!  Hilarious!

Finally I just sat down and let them all work it out, hot food be damned.

Tomorrow I drive out to British Columbia to visit my father and his wife.  Perhaps I will get a few pictures?  One can only hope.

I hope your Christmas was blessed and I wish you much contentment and many successes in the new year.  Thank you all for following me so faithfully over the past year.  I promise to be a better blogger when I am nicely settled in my new kitchen, whenever that may be!

Christmas is for Giving

I have packaged my sugar cookie stars with evergreen boughs and giving them to co-workers rather than cards.  These were so much fun to make that they will be on my agenda next year, too.  People are so delighted to receive them and I loved giving them.  See this post for the recipe and instructions to make them.  They kept very well decorated in my cold room.  Do not freeze after decorating but the cookie keeps well before icing.

Crockpot Lamb Stew

Still renovating and have no kitchen.  I took shipment of my lamb a week ago and was dying to try some.  I took some stewing meat and this was delicious.

Crockpot Lamb Stew

1 lb lamb stewing meat
1 cup beef stock
2 carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces
 2 potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces
1/2 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

Grease the crockpot with olive oil or a cooking spray.  Add in the lamb, onion, salt and pepper, rosemary and beef stock.  Cook on low for 4 hours.  Add the potatoes cut into large pieces and the carrots, also cut into large pieces.  Cook for one more hour.  Serve with a nice glass of red wine.

Making Gravlax at Home

This looks like ice, doesn't it.  But it is a salt and sugar curing mixture.  With my lack of a kitchen due to a renovation, I am not cooking much these days.

But you don't need a kitchen to make gravlax.  I wanted salmon but I couldn't find the cut I wanted and instead bought steelhead trout.  I think it will be amazing.  It cures in this mixture of sugar, salt and spices and herbs for 3 days.

Then I will thinly slice it and freeze in packages for a quick and easy hors d'oeuvre for Christmas.  I will serve it with finely diced red onions, capers and creme fraiche on thin rye rounds.

My renovation is moving right along.  At the moment I am painting.  I have primed all the new ceilings and new walls.  Tomorrow I will be applying the first coat of paint to the ceilings.  They look fantastic!  I have new drywall and smooth, flat ceilings.  Pictures are a little boring so I won't post until I get some colour on the walls.

Steelhead Trout Gravlax

1 fillet of steelhead trout with skin on
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons juniper berries
1 1/2 tablespoons fennel seeds
1 tablespoon black peppercorns

Remove any pin bones that might be in the fish.

Mix the salt and sugar together in a bowl.

To prepare the curing mixture, grind all of the ingredients in a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder and grind until quite fine.  Add to the sugar and salt mixture and mix well.

Place the fish skin side down in a baking dish.  Pour the curing mixture over the fish to completely cover it.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Remove the fish from the curing mixture, turn it over, then cover with the curing mixture.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a second 24 hours.

Remove and turn over as before and refrigerate for a third 24 hours.

Remove the fish from the curing mixture and rinse under cold running water.  Pat dry with paper towels.  Place uncovered in a pan in the refrigerator for 24 hours to dry out the surface.

Slice thinly and arrange on a plate.  Serve with creme fraiche, finely diced red onions, capers and small thin rounds of rye bread.

Moving Right Along

My last renovation was the same as this one.  I could not sleep for 2 days after the cost became real to me.  All of my penny pinching with the work I was doing myself just goes right out the window.   Drywallers here for 4 days....  Electricians here for 3 days.......  Plumbers here for two days (plus one hour)..........And a partridge in a pear tree!

In my last post, these walls were just studs.  Voilà!  See the gas hook-up for my new stove?

 My ugly old stippled ceilings (that I was unsuccessfully scraping) have been re-drywalled.  Now they will be smooth.

In an attempt to distract myself, I am also taking an online photography class.  It is quite a basic class, thank heaven.  It is all I can handle right now.  This was my assignment using different focal lengths.  I used 28mm and 100mm.  I usually just guess at all of my settings and don't actually plan things.  This will be a good exercise.  See how that lamp post moves closer to the subject?  Neat!