Date night! at Le Petit Bar

Last Wednesday Tim surprised me by taking me out to dinner at my favourite restaurant in Peterborough, Le Petit Bar. Every couple of months I get a really big craving for a sophisticated cocktail and cheese tasting and this is the best place (perhaps the only place) in Peterborough to get both. Besides at home, given that I visit Chasing the Cheese at least every couple of weeks and there's always cheese in our fridge and lots of alcohol in our home bar. Chasing the Cheese supplies the cheese that is used at Le Petit Bar. I need to be better about making simple syrups so that I can make actual cocktails. I've already started accumulating bitters (none of which have ever been opened). 

My handsome husband with our dinner.

Tim brought one of his Rustic Woods cheese boards to give to Shannon (the owner) as a trial for the restaurant. Currently they use dollar store style bamboo boards. It's due to cost and how easy they are to clean, but it looks so sad when they arrange all of these amazing cheeses, meats, and housemade condiments on a made-in-China piece of cr*p! I hope Tim and Shannon can work out something - it would be great to have Tim's boards being used there. We love it there and Tim takes so much pride in his woodworking. It would be great to see them move to a product made with local, sustainable materials. Fingers crossed! She brought out our cheese and charcuterie mix on it and we quickly noted some necessary changes that would make it more functional. Plus I'm looking forward to going back and checking in on how it's going - like I need an excuse!

  

Curried Oeufs Mayonnaise - $5

Tim is a huge fan of deviled eggs (eggs in any format, really), so we knew right away we needed to get this for an appetizer. We were not disappointed. These were easily the most complex and delicious deviled eggs I have ever had. They had a syrup on them and were topped with crispy onions. The red sauce on the plate is sriracha. Tim compared the flavour profile to Caribbean roti. I'm not sure what spices were used in the syrup, but it definitely had a beautiful savoury/sweet balance. When you added the heat from the sriracha, it made for a really incredible bite. 

Two meat charcuterie and four cheese board - $10 for the meat and $16 for the cheese

The two salamis are both from Niagara Food Specialties - one is the abbruzzesse and the other is the nostrana. The cheeses from top to bottom are the Chateau de Bourgogne, a goat beemster, an applewood smoked cheddar, and the Tomme de Gross Iles. The sauces from top to bottom are honey, a ginger chutney, a spicy mustard, and a sweet cherry mustard. 

I love mixing and matching the cheeses, meats, and condiments! The Chateau de Bourgogne is one of Tim and my favourites. It's very mild and buttery. It's perfect to try with the different condiments and a little bit of apple. Tim loves smoked cheeses, but I didn't love the applewood smoked as much as the Bothwell smoked cheddar or the smoked gouda that Chasing the Cheese regularly carries. It was a little too smoke prominent for me - more than a little bitter. The Tommes de Gross Iles also wasn't my favourite cheese we've ever tried there, I found it almost non-existent on the palate. Notably, I am a fan of really funky cheeses. I like my cheese to have taste to it! This was just too mild. The surprise winner of the evening was the goat beemster. It has a beautifully smooth texture with a nice, sweet barnyard finish. I generally love goat cheeses, but even Tim said this was his favourite. He usually does not love goat or sheep cheeses. It was especially good with the chutney. I loved both of the salamis as well, although I don't think I could tell you the difference between them. They were both sweet and not too hard (I don't like really tough charcuterie). I thought they both tasted very strongly of honey. One was more peppery than the other, but I don't know which. 

For drinks, Tim just got a beer (I don't remember which one). I had a maple bourbon sour ($8.50). It was a little more sour than I was expecting. A bit of a duh moment for me, considering the name, but I think I just saw maple and bourbon and thought sweet. It was good, though, and grew on me the more I had. Ha - one could say that about most types of alcohol. Shannon was also a real sweetheart and let us try the 2008 Lillypilly Noble Blend. Shannon is really well-informed about the wines she carries and it was so neat to hear about this particular wine. It was very similar to an ice wine, only the concentration in sweetness is caused by a fungus that only occurs in very specific conditions. While I'm not a huge wine drinker, I do appreciate a good sweet wine and this one was lovely.

Afterwards we went home and cuddled on the couch while watching Pan Am. Perfect date night!

Morning walk to work!

I love being able to walk to work now! It's only 10 minutes from our new place to Savage. Even with the colder weather, I've been so happy. Especially since I walk across and along the river. I love the water and the dams. I love the birds - there are three herons and an osprey nest along my walk. Well, the herons aren't always there, but there's usually at least one of them and I love looking for them. I love to look for fish and think about how much my Mom would love it here. I like to watch the construction team at work rebuilding the one retaining wall on the bank. I love living in a small town again!

The river this morning as I walked to work. It was a one heron day today.

The osprey on it's nesting platform. I've seen both of the mating pair, but not the chick I've been told they have. Apparently it is mature now and flies around. They make the most noise of any bird I've ever heard - more than seagulls!

This photo from last week shows a two heron day - can you see them both?

Storm clouds over Savage a couple of weeks ago.

The crane lifting materials down to the work site for the retaining wall last week.

Friday night when Tim and I walked to the grocery store, we actually had a three heron day! Two on the south side of the bridge, and then this guy hanging out by himself on the north side.

All bundled up for the walk this morning. It was 0 degrees when we woke up and it's not much more than that now!

Have a great day!

Mini Honeymoon Pt. 2 - The Old Station

All day on Monday as we were hoping for the weather to subside, we were hearing radio reports on the cottage traffic. 

          "It's a parking lot on 35 from Lindsay." 
          "Traffic isn't moving on the 400 south of 89."
          "It's bumper to bumper on 11 from Gravenhurst all the way to Barrie."

Needless to say, neither Tim and I nor Matt and Teri were looking forward to the drives back to Peterborough and Mississauga. We knew we could backroad into Bracebridge, so we decided to do that and then find a place to stop for dinner to kill a little more time. We drove in circles in Bracebridge for a little bit looking for the top-rated restaurant, which is a little place called the Griffin Gastropub. Unfortunately, once we did find it, it was only to learn that it is closed on Mondays. We had passed another place that was definitely open, so we went to the Old Station instead. 

Interior shot courtesy of www.oldstation.ca

I had assumed this place was brand new. It was super clean and looked like it had been styled to be the perfect cottage restaurant. I was quickly informed by the server and Tim, who had read the plaque, that it was actually started in 1985. It's aged well! The exposed brick and gigantic tree trunk pillar are very on trend for design these days. The clientele was a good mix. A few older couples, a group of young friends, a family. The menu was big, but absolutely full of things I wanted to try. I usually find the opposite - a large menu full of mediocre items, or a small menu full of crazy things that you get really excited about eating. I had difficulty picking between the Oven Roasted Pepper Squash, the market pasta of the day, the Crackling Skin Chicken Supreme, the Chicken Curry Masala, and the Fish & Chips. Tim wound up ordering the Chicken Curry Masala ($18), so I ordered the Crackling Skin Chicken Supreme ($18). We also ordered the Deep Fried Dill Pickles ($9) to start. 

Hot apple cider at the Old Station in Bracebridge

I was so happy to see hot apple cider on the drinks menu. We ordered a full round of these, and it was a great way to warm up after the rain. If we hadn't been at the end of the long weekend, I would have ordered mine with a shot of spiced rum! The deep fried dill pickles were really neat - I had never had anything like this before. They were SUPER hot on the inside, though. I'm glad the guys warned me about that. But the coating was crispy and the pickles were soft. Really, really yummy. 

Chicken curry masala at the Old Station in Bracebridge.

Tim's chicken curry masala was alright. Nothing really spectacular, but it hit the spot. I thought their spice blend had too much cumin in it. It made it taste a little more Mexican than Indian. Not a bad plate of food, though.

My chicken was easily the best dish. (Matt and Tim helped me polish it off, they thought so too.) The chicken was moist, the skin was crispy, the toasted pecan sauce was delicious. The mashed potatoes didn't blow my mind, but the rest of the plate was spot on. I loved it! I would go here again in a heartbeat the next time we head up to the cottage!

Mini Honeymoon Pt. 2 - Tia and Graham's Cottage on Skeleton Lake!

One of the bittersweet moments at our wedding was saying goodbye to our friends Tia and Graham, who have moved out to New Brunswick for a new job at a private school there. We'll miss them, but it's a great opportunity for them and a great excuse for Tim and I to make plans to visit the east coast! They also graciously offered to let us use their cottage on Skeleton Lake when we have time until they get back late next spring. With Tim teaching Saturdays at Lakefield College, I don't know how often we'll be able to make that happen, but we're definitely going to try!

We were happy to head up on the Labour Day weekend before Tim started teaching. It's only a couple of hours away if we beat the cottage traffic, which we managed to do on Friday by leaving work early. I was more than a little worried when the rain started pouring down in Bracebridge - we could hardly see the cars ahead of us! That didn't bode well for us canoeing in and of course, Tim hadn't brought a tarp. We tried to find somewhere to buy one in Bracebridge, but no luck. Luckily by the time we got to the launch point on Skeleton Lake (their cottage is water access only) the rain had tapered off to almost nothing. We (and by we I mean Tim) are chronic overpackers. We were only going for three nights! Why did we need this much stuff! We had a cooler, two big bags of food, a bag of booze, a bag of mix, the laptop, two duffel bags of clothes, and the camera and tripod. Our canoe is a beast - almost three feet wide in the middle, fully fifteen feet long, weighs around 90 lbs. Even with that kind of transport, we were LOW in the water. I wasn't sure how far it was to the cottage and, I'll admit, was a bit nervous. Skeleton Lake isn't your typical Muskoka cottage lake. Rather than being a glacial lake (long and narrow), it's a meteor crater, so it is deep and wide. At one point we came over a shoal and I remarked to Tim about how much better I felt when I could see the bottom. His completely NOT reassuring response was along the lines of, "Oh, actually, we're still really deep here - it's just that the water is so clear!" Thanks, tips. That makes me feel MUCH better. Just like his comment about how the water was much rougher than he had thought it would be and that we were moving up and down in about six inch swells with only four inches of water clearance at the middle of the canoe. I told him six inches was an exaggeration (that's what she said!) so he proceeded to bounce up and down in the back to make it worse. Jerk.

The rain pouring down in Bracebridge.

We did manage to arrive safely after about a half hour of paddling, which is really short. It's also a great paddle - the shoreline is beautiful and the water really is crystal clear. So when you can see the bottom, you can see everything. We spent the evening getting situated, relaxing, having a few drinks, and having lots of cheese! 

Did we pack enough for one weekend?

Don't worry, one of those is mine - a gift from Carley and Pete for the wedding!

Sad face! Tim knocked me into a wall when we were moving a mattress. Plus I have a weird mohawk bump thing going on in my ponytail. That makes everyone sad.

Crostini for cheese!

Mmmmm - Grey Owl!! I don't care if you think it looks gross, I don't know why everyone feels they need to tell me that. The external coating is not mold, it's vegetable ash. And with my homemade cherry mustard, even Tim liked this and he is NOT a funky or a goat cheese type of person. And yes, insulting my favourite cheese is somewhat like insulting my as-yet-unconceived firstborn child.

Great selection! Clockwise from the crostini: aged gouda, cherry mustard, Bothwell smoked cheddar, Grey Owl, Hatch Chili mustard, an aged sheep's milk cheese, maple ice jelly, pear jelly. The cheese and pear jelly is from Chasing the Cheese, while the hatch chili mustard and maple ice jelly are from Firehouse Gourmet. 

Delicious cheese face.

While people elsewhere may have been cursing the cold, wet weather on Saturday, Tim and I were loving it. We slept in, made a leisurely breakfast. Tim continued to read Shantaram (looonnnggg book, he's been picking through it for most of the year) while I powered through the backlog of magazines I've been accumulating and not reading for the last couple of months due to wedding planning. It started to clear up in the late afternoon, so we enjoyed some dock time. Drank champagne with the gorgeous blown glass goblets Tia made us as part of our wedding gift. After making dinner we headed to the neighbouring cottage, which is owned by Graham's parents. They were having a big shindig with family and other cottagers. It always amazes me, how small the world is. Out of the dozen or so adults there, one was a geologist who had worked extensively in Nunavut, and two of them had visited or lived in Morocco. We had a great discussion about the north and relations in Africa with all the problems right now in Egypt, as well as talking about Syria. When the sun started to go down, most of us went back to Tia and Graham's dock to watch a really beautiful sunset. Tim cracked open his scotch and shared it around. After the sun had gone down and everyone had left, Tim and I couldn't stop exclaiming over how perfect a day it had been. We were just so relaxed. Hard to remember the crazy amount of stress we were under not too long ago.

Opening the first of two bottles of champagne we drank this weekend!

Mimosas in the morning!

Tim attempting to make guacamole.

Guacamole fail. Icky avocado.

Our incredible new customized Badger paddles!! We loved this wedding gift from Jess, Mike, Tobey, and Andrew!

Badger, badger, badger, badger - MUSHROOM, MUSHROOM!

Twitter at the cottage? Tim's in heaven.

Frog One of Five.

Frog Two of Five!

Couldn't believe the perfect reflection of Tim in the frog pond.

Tim posted this to Facebook with the caption, "Reflective Pond-ering." Har-har.

Watching the frogs!

What a gorgeous day!

Rum and magazines!

Oh, the bracing lake water really makes a man feel alive!

"Come hug me!" "No." "Pleeeeaaaassseeee?" "No." "You'll like it!" "No."

Falling over face!

Whale tattoo! Wedding ring! Lake!

Enjoying our champagne in the afternoon.

Tia is so great - aren't these goblets amazing?!

Enjoying the afternoon.

The start of an absolutely gorgeous sunset.

I wish we saw sunsets like this every day!

Cassiopeia.

The big dipper!

Sunday was the nicest day we had, so we got up earlier to enjoy the sunshine on the official last long weekend of summer! We canoed out to a couple of small islands that show the edge of the impact crater. The first was really strange - just covered in seagull carcasses and bones. It was actually really creepy. The second was a lot smaller and obviously was where all the live seagulls went, because the entire island was painted in long streaks of bird poop. Ew. We didn't get off there. We paddled over to the far east shore of the lake and worked our way back along the shoreline. Tim caught three progressively smaller rock bass. I wanted to hike up the one cliff face to where there was an Inukshuk perched on the top, but there were big no trespassing signs and I'm a wussy when it comes to that stuff.

Tim trying to get me to swim again. The water was beautiful. Just too cold. No thanks!

Tim rounding the point.

The water is actually twenty or thirty feet deep here, but Tim found a huge boulder to stand on.

Canoeing to the islands!

That is a nice paddle you have there!

Fishing, but no luck.

Here, Tim, you paddle. I'll be lazy and take squinty-eyed photos of myself.

Yay, Tim finally caught a fish!

Oooo, he has another one on!

And it's a monster!!

This lake is huge, it has to have bigger fish than this!

 . . . Nope. 

I spent another afternoon on the dock with a rum and coke and more of my magazines before Matt and Teri came down from the cottage they were visiting near Sudbury. The boys went fishing with no more success than Tim had had earlier while Teri and I hung out on shore and caught up (not that we hadn't just seen Matt and Teri on Thursday). After the boys got back we made a gigantic supper of BBQd steak and vegetables and corn on the cob. Matt almost immediately passed out into a meat coma, but we roused him long enough for Tim and I to lose at Pictionary. It was an easy concession because Matt and Teri are MUCH better artists than Tim and I.

Tim continuing to fish after we got back to the cottage. He got his line stuck and had to take the canoe out to get it out. Only he didn't take any paddles with him. 

Again with the rum and magazines. This is my ideal life.

After Matt and Teri got there, at least Tim had someone enthusiastic to fish with.

Teri and I would rather enjoy the late summer sun.

Awww - family cuddles. It was so exciting that the baby was moving!

We made too much.

Sunday dawned extremely crappy again. The boys got up early to go fishing, but I just went back to sleep. Matt made us a big breakfast once they got back with bacon, eggs, and steak. A man's breakfast! We all just vegged most of the day. Played puzzles, read, I blogged and worked on the computer. There was a strong northwest wind coming in and we were worried about how we'd get back to the arena. It did not look canoeable, which had been the plan. Luckily Graham's parents were okay with Tim driving them into the marina in their boat and then coming back for the rest of us. Matt volunteered to sit in the canoe as we towed it back to the marina. It was SO rough! As long as he stayed in the wake of the boat and didn't do anything ridiculous, it was perfectly safe. However, it's Matt and that just isn't the way he does things!! At one point he gave us all a heart attack when he managed to rock himself out of the wake. He almost flipped, and then when Tim stopped so we could get him back in the wake, his momentum pushed him into the back of the boat and he almost turned over again! Ah! Rollwagens! 

Opening the second bottle of champagne.

So exciting!

Ugh. Brrrr. You really can't tell from the photos here just how rough it was. I'll put up a video later.

Tim and Matt assessing the situation.

Might as well enjoy what little dock time is left!

Tim actually paying attention to his driving in the rough weather.

Our super safe plan to get the canoe back. At least Matt is wearing a life jacket!

Hi! Hi guys! How's the boat? The canoe's great!

Look at me! No hands!!

*sigh* Rollwagens.