And so begins the third year...

Wake up seedlings! It’s a bright, blustery day on the Rusty Coast.

If you look closely, you can see the mountains on the mainland:

What’s that infernal racket?

EEK! It’s the garbage truck!

I’ll be back in a minute.

(inaudible muttering and cursing, running down front steps in my Mashimoro jammies, garbage truck pulls up just as I get the garbage to the curb, smile sheepishly, realize what I'm wearing, blush and scamper back up the front steps, muttering and cursing some more.)

Excuse me while I battle the swarm of pollen that’s attacked my eyes and lungs

Who’s stinking idea was it to have all the trees in a mass orgy all at the same time? It’s a botanical bacchanalia out there. A girl can’t go to put out the trash without getting in the line of timber jizz. I'm constantly amazed at how much mucus my body is able to produce during allergy season. It's like Slimer has taken over my body. Next thing you know, Stay Puft Marshmallow man will take up shop in my brain.

On that note, we had our 2^nd wedding anniversary dinner last night. Supposedly the traditional gift for the 2^nd wedding anniversary is cotton. We opted for beer and wine instead ;)

Here’s the wall of empties from last night’s anniversary dinner:

We had our friend P. come over to help us celebrate. He, as usual, brought over a great selection of local brews to contribute to the meal.

Dinner was homemade grubs, otherwise known as gnocchi, with local chorizo and greens from the garden.

The gnocchi was made with russet potatoes from Saanich, True Grains’s sifted organic flour and a couple of Shady Mile’s free-range eggs. It was the first time P. had ever had gnocchi and I’m glad I was there to be part of this momentous gastronomic discovery for him. Gnocchi is such an easy and versatile pasta to make and one of our favorite comfort foods.

Our anniversary dinner stretched all the way to nearly midnight as we finished off the evening with a local cheese and fruit plate and enjoyed a few more bottles of beer and wine. P. is a fellow lover of local cheeses and we waxed poetic about the wonderful cheeses we’ve been trying. It’s gotten me yearning for a trip down to Cowichan Bay to pick up a wedge of Hilary’s Sacre Bleu and a small round of his version of Camembert.

BTW, there’s rumors of someone growing grain in the Campbell River region for scotch whiskey. If anyone has any idea who’s doing this, please send me a note via the comment box. I guess it can’t really be called scotch, since we’re not in Scotland. I don’t care as long as it’s good.

Enjoy the day!

Jen

Nanaimo's 100 Mile Diet Challenge