Cousin power

 Four weeks of delicious fun for the four cousins (much of which was spent in the branches of this willow) is coming to an end for another year - so long dear willow, so long dear cousins.

The lake!!

What would a summer be without the Slocan lake??

A day at Bannock point

An evening pick-nick at the beach.

Slug and Chris

Molly and the setting sun

Suffer Fest

About a week into our stay the girls discovered that there was a 10k race approaching -  The Kootenay Sufferfest. The race is a easy 10k of slight down hill along the beautiful Galena Trail - the old railway grade that follows Carpenter creek from three forks to New Denver. We thought that it was within reach to sign up the whole bunch of us. So we set to our two weeks of serious training!

Here we are on one of our training runs to porter lake. 

And the four cousins, all cookie winners!

Two happy sisters after the race.

Lily and Eric streaking in the final stretch. 

Alice and Ellen were first and second in 10 and under girls.

Lily 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in 11-12 girls.

Devon also the only competitor in his boys 13-14 category. Also the 6th man overall! Yay Devon!!

Thomson won his category as well as the whole race after claiming that he took it easy due to a sore achilles tendon. Thomson's 'easy' is faster than the rest of us.

There is not a picture of Molly but she had an amazing run and won her category (13-14 girls) as well as finishing the third  woman overall and 9th overall. Yay Molly!

Mt. Carlyle

This was our mountain adventure this summer - three days at Mt. Carlyle. This is a first for us, to stay in a lodge up a mountain. How very nice it is not to have to shlep a tent and all the cooking stuff up the mountain and to find such a comfortable place waiting for us on top! We set off 10 strong: myself, Éric, Mum, Dad, Chris, Devon Durickan, Ellen, Molly, Lily and Alice. The kids are all good hikers now though Eric and Chris and I were definitely doing our share of food transportation. I think that next year we need to fit up the kids bigger packs! Mum and Dad made it both up and down though Dad was seriously questioning the guide book's claim that this was an 'easy' hike.

Dad, making his way up the final stretch of up on tiered legs. 

Another patch of snow behind him.

Mum and Dad having just made it to the saddle. Some contentment though also some alarm when realizing that they were now going to have to descend 350m to the lodge.

Day two, a smaller group of us set off to climb one of the peaks nearby - Misty peak, a fun hike up and a beautiful view from the top. There is something special in being at the top of a mountain and seeing more mountains in every direction as far as the eye can stretch.

At the top, our party of hikers. Meo and Doco and Alice and Ellen stayed in the meadow below looking at flowers and watching the hikers above.

With so much rain this year we could even have a camp fire at the top complete with smores and songs.

Breakfast at the Carlyle lodge. Chris is on deck for breakfasts, assisted by Devon - burritos and pancakes. Yum!

At the saddle on the way out.

And the long descend has begun. Meo has requested Devon to help her down the first steep descent after he did such a good job at helping her up the same incline.

The remains of the Con mine bunk house. This was the highest altitude mine in the area. Two prospectors lost their lives here in a November avalanche.

Stopping for a refreshing dip in a beautiful icy lake on our way down. I can't remember the name of the lake - Mum?

Meo, getting nearer the bottom!

BBQ Granola recipe

While on vacation in New Denver, it has become a habit of mine to make granola in the BBQ, since the electric oven is rather small.

Should anyone want to take over from me after I've left, here are the instructions to produce two jars of perfectly cooked golden "dessert" granola.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 fats: 1/4 cup vegetable oil + 1/4 cup butter
• 2 sugars: 1/4 cup honey + 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 flakes: 4 cups rolled oats + 1 handful unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 nuts: 1 handful slivered almonds + 1 handful broken walnuts
• 2 seeds: 1 handful pumpkin seeds + 1 handful sunflower seeds
• 2 fruits: 1 handful dried black currants + 1 handful dried cranberries (optional)

PREPARATION:

Warm the oil, butter, honey and maple syrup together in a large pot until the butter has melted.  Remove for the heat and mix in all the other ingredients except the dried fruits.  Stir well.

Spread out the mixture onto 2 small baking sheets very evenly, right to the edge and to the corners.

COOKING:

Pre-heat the BBQ to 285°F, which can be approximately achieved by bringing the built-in thermometer to a reading of 440°F by firing the three burners on low (see picture below).

First place one empty baking sheet on the grill, followed by the 2 granola-filled baking sheets on top in a crosswise fashion (see picture below).

Lower the cover of the BBQ very gently, as it will likely hit the edge of one of the baking sheets.

Cook for about 10 minutes and then open the cover of the BBQ very carefully to retrieve the two top baking sheets and stir the granola evenly, making sure all of the bottom and corners have been scraped.  I use a metal spatula for this.

Put the two baking sheets back into the BBQ in reverse order, so that the sheets alternate between the top and middle positions.  Cook for another 10 minutes, and repeat the stirring and switching procedure.  Continue until all the granola is evenly golden and crisp.  It takes about 40 minutes.

Allow to cool down, and pour the granola into a large mixing bowl, where you then incorporate the dried fruits.  Finally, transfer the finished granola into hermetically closed jars.  To avoid losing the crispness of it, do not delay this last step for too long, especially if the room has a high humidity level.

Canada day in Silverton

The start of our annual Slocan Valley pilgrimage begins with canada day in Sliverton. We arrived at the ranch directly from Montreal on June 29th feeling a little shell-shocked but by the 1st of July we were well arrived. Alice and Lily, true to form, were well prepared for festivities!