Friday, January 23, 2009

Roadside Statues, Trailers and Whitefish

Not to be outdone by Glenda Larke's post today about a big sheep statue in Western Australia (Tropic Temper link, this page) I thought I would add a couple from Ontario. The Wawa Goose is particularly well known and is seen upon entering town. Wawa is considerably up North from here and above the shores of Lake Superior. A little further south is Sudbury where they have the Sudbury Nickel. A nickel, by the way, is a 5¢ piece. In Sudbury they have nickel mines as it is the site of two meteor strikes, one which left the rich nickel and metal deposits and the other formed Lake Wapiti. On our one trip up to this part of Canada, we saw both these statues. We did this trip as our first major voyage around Ontario and rented a camper trailer something like the one in this picture although not as big. I enjoyed it, but it annoyed me that you had to pack stuff away every time you moved in order to wind down the tent part of the trailer. When we finally bought a trailer, it was not that kind but a regular trailer, or caravan in the UK. We had a lot of fun travelling with it and in a way, we are sorry we don't still have it. One thing that always stands out in our minds is our stop at a trailer park quite near to Thunder Bay. We borrowed a small rowboat and went off pretty early in the morning to a recommended lake, Jessie Lake, fishing rods and lunch in hand. Having launched the boat we trawled for a while with nothing happening and then decided to stop rowing and just cast our lures over the side. Suddenly we got bites and ended up catching 7 huge fish. We had no idea what we had caught until we got back to the camp site later and were told they where Whitefish which we had never heard of. We gave two of them away and grilled the on our little Hibachi. They lasted us a couple of nights. They were delicious eating. Had we had the right equipment we could have caught more, not that we needed them, but we were not geared up for such big fish. It was probably on that trip that we first heard Loons. I have mentioned them before, but on Jessie Lake that morning, with the mist still clinging to the water, you could hear them calling all around you. It is an incredibly haunting sound. I wish I was as lyrical a writer as my son-in-law (Scolopax Chronicles) he would have made that sound as wonderful as it was. The loon is such an archetypical sound of Ontario. We even have one pictured on our $1 coin. Which is known, funnily enough, as a Loonie. We used to have paper bills for both $1 and $2 but not any more. The $2 is a Toonie and you never hear either coin called anything else. How about something for breakfast? From the Three and Four Ingredient Coobook. Crunchy Oat Cereal Serve this tasty crunchy cereal simply with milk or, for a a real treat with yogurt and fresh fruit such as raspberries or blueberries. Serves 6 1 1/4 cups jumbo rolled oats 1 1/4 cups pecan nuts, roughly chopped 6 Tbs maple syrup 6 tbs butter Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F. Mix all the ingredients together and spread on to a large baking tray. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden and crunchy. Leave to cool then break up into clumps and serve This crunchy cereal will keep in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Store in a cool dry place. You can use other types of nuts if you prefer. Try roughly chopped almonds or hazelnuts, or a mixture. Have a great day.

3 comments:

  1. I lived in a thirty-foot caravan for a while with a husband and three childre. It was fun. Housework was done in a hour and everything was to hand in compact storage. I always hope to do the round Australia caravanning trip so beloved of this country's "grey nomads" but having no husband, no money and no driving license, I've had to give that idea away:-)

    That cereal looks yummy. All other toasted oats recipes I've seen have had oil and honey in them and were very fattening as a result. Did you find these stuck to the baking try, not having any oil?

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  2. He's a lovely goose isn't he?

    The recipe does have butter in it Satima.

    Maybe its time you learned to drive.

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