Summary
1. Habits
2. Canadian Sport
3. Lunch
4. Reading
5. Snack
6. Documentaries
7. Happy Hour
8. Diner
9. Movie night
Because I am sure there are millions of ways to travel, we can escape even in 100 feet square, we can recreate American in the middle of nowhere; in those weird quarantined times, I got the idea to create a file “Special Quarantine”: A reachable world. Following my wandering steps for eight months, I am offering you to stop by Ireland, Iceland, Alaska, some Western provinces of Canada, some united American States; sprinkling clothes opinions, cooking ideas, books / music / movies advice, and other surprises…
This morning, the blue sun bows and scrapes to bright sky, my legs are getting impatient, I would like to hike, I would like my birthday sunny Mount Robson to reflect on my quarantined windows, I would like Juan de Fucca Pacific’s song to break on my isolated walls; but I stay here, immobile in front of my red nails taping on my white screen, and I decide to bring you in my daydreams… I try to draw roads breaking into Rockies, golden paths crossing Okanagan Valley and mossy trails following Pacific Rim, all along my bored highway; I try to recreate our fourth Neverland in order to travel you to WESTERN CANADA.
Welcome to Western Canada!
Bienvenue dans l’Ouest Canadien !
1. Canadian manners
Today, there is no dress-code and you are totally free for your breakfast, let’s get into the thick of it right away. For a good start, let’s begin by letting our bad mood behind.
Canadians are quite impressed (to not say bothered) by the very French – or let’s be honest American – way to be grumpy about everything or to fight for different opinions. They are not really fond of intense discussions. Then, for today, let’s try the Canadian attitude: courtesy and balance.
But most of all, a Canadian is quite recognizable because of his simple and true kindness! As a matter of fact, American travelers, which tend to have a very bad reputation over the world, often pretend to be Canadian to avoid cold greetings they usually get. Therefore, if you want to become a true Canadian, one of the first step is to be as friendly as they are. Because, even in a big city, even if you are strangers to each other, people tend to greet each others in streets or in restaurants, and even in elevators!
I know we are quarantined, cut from both the world and any kind of social life, but Canadian style kinda of tunes with our quarantined time: meet your garden or balcony neighbor, take time to chat with the cashier because there is nobody in line after you…
In a word : stay nature, open and positive, and don’t forget your Canadian accent please ! It’s “aboat” and not about, “eh”!
2. Release some “molecule of happiness”
THE national sport is hockey for sure. And even more than a sport, it is an extension of the Canadian soul, a sublimation of its extreme temperatures… I then will always remember city shoes left on the shore of half frozen Lake Vermillion as a father and his child were practicing hockey.
The first organized game in History took place in Montreal in 1875. That game ended with a fight: fighting is an old old tradition! Unfortunately, hockey suffers too much professionalism nowadays and has lost its folksiness because the only game I attended awfully lacked of expected fights. Lacks of fight didn’t alter the show though. What a virtuosity! Actions are so quick and so agile. I don’t understand why we haven’t switch to that sport instead of boring football yet, it is so much more beautiful and breathtaking to watch.
For now, since winter is gone, I invite you to try the field version. It obviously implies to have a garden during your quarantine, if so and you feel like practicing your improvised stick, here are some basic rules:
– Players are permitted to play the ball with the flat of the ‘face side’ and with the edges of the head and handle of the field hockey stick. Except for the goalie when he is defending the cage, no foot-to-ball contact, no use of hands, no obstructing other players, no high back swing, no hacking, and no third party.
– A goal is scored when the ball got into the adversaire’s cage. It must be hit in the shooting area (after the 22 yard line).
– Except from that, it is quite similar to soccer or handball.
For more informations.
I am well aware that offering to play field hockey in the middle of the quarantine if you don’t have a yard is not very nice, and is, in the end, a poor ersatz for iced virtuosity. This is why, in order to be forgiven, I send you a list of the 20 best hockey movies over here. I also humbly contribute with some comments about the two I watched, knowing that I am not a specialist of hockey nor sport movies.
* Mystery, Alaska, Jay Roach: This movie could have matched my last post, but don’t mistaken it also belongs here. First, and of course, because it is about hockey! Then because it was shot in Canmore (Alberta, CA), south of Banff. Its first advantage would be to become a perfect transition in between two of our Special Confinement destinations, showing a very Alaskan way of life and the big gap in between Lower 48’s societies and a little Northern village. Then, you sink here in hockey’s true essence, the love of the game, what pushes people to skate on a frozen lake because it is an extension of who they are and not because they can gain money out of it. And finally, because in this quarantined time, this movie travels you.
* Miracle, Gavin O’Connor: Based on the true story of the 1980 Olympic Games American hockey team, in the middle of Cold War then, it is not only about sport but also the politic symbol behind the Giants’ fight between USA and USSR. As you might guess, it is very very (VERY!) American… But if you put aside the “showy” patriotism, you will enjoy this hockey-fiction movie full of fraternity between players that used to hate each other.
3. Lunch time!
And I must confess, I am not very inspired… I won’t invent anything extravagant then, and follow my travel book’s advice for a basic salad offer:
* Caesar salad: Roman salad, parmesan and croutons, with, in deluxe version, chicken or large shrimp
* Cobb salad: green salad, tomato, grilled bacon, chicken, avocado, hard-boiled egg and blue cheese
* Kale salad : trendy emblematic dish based on kale
But mostly, I would like to take the opportunity of this lunch time to make a bit of fun about bad Canadian translations… Indeed, in Canada, French being the second official language, food packages must be translated in French. According to some studies, Canada actually represents 10% of the worldwide translation market. Problem: it is often translated haphazardly, including for official institutions, and I had quite some laughs during my trans-Canadian promenade.
It is then time for your favorite grocery store‘s virtual tour in order to discover funny translations, which might not be funny at all for you… On th other hand, it might still give you an opportunity to work on some bad French!
4. Canadian prose writing revealed
As I said in my last article, as I was trying to travel you to Alaska, I didn’t read a lot during my wanderings, my list will therefore be short. I still have some interesting propositions to inhabit this day escape in between Canadian Rockies and North Pacific…
* Friend of My Youth, Alice Munro: When I traveled for the first time in Canada, it was East and I was willing, like always, to tune my reading with my destination. Yet, I failed a bit… One author was calling for me: Alice Munro. I felt like I had heard a lot about her as THE Canadian author, I then start to read her short stories, even if it is not my favorite genre. I failed with my geography – indeed, Alice Munro usually sets her stories in Western Canada – but not completely since she definitely gave me the idea to go there. And when I finally reached those far lands last fall, my wandering matched my unperfect and biased memories of Alice Munro’s youth friend, that had reconciled me with short stories for a few weeks.
* Margaret Atwood: I would say she actually is the emblematic Canadian author. You like or you hate, there is no middle ground apparently. As for me, completely dizzy from Vancouver Island second hand bookstore, I bought there: Cat’s Eye and The Blind Assassin; and only read a couple pages of each. It was not a matter of taste, I was not available for reading that’s it! From Margaret Atwood, I mostly know two pieces’ adaptations then: The handmaid’s Tale (TV show) et Alias Grace (Netflix film). Margaret Atwood does know how to bother you to your soul and, if I had to give away my books for too havy luggages, she definitely is in my bucket list TOP 10.
* The Children of the Panther, Amber Hayward: I confess I haven’t read it (yet!) but I don’t resist the opportunity to advertise Amber, owner of the Guest ranch where I worked for two weeks in Alberta. This epic trilogy talks about love, hope and the power of family as Manoel, one of the heroes, inherits of a supernatural healing power.
5. A piece of Heaven
Cobblers, a kind of crumble, are one of the favorite Canadians’ treats. You’ll find here a bunch of recipe ideas.
But the real feast, the one that gives you fireworks in your belly, stars in your eyes and a piece of Heaven in your soul, is the Chocolate Fudge Cake, don’t linger more and try, to quote Jamie Oliver, this “naughty treat”!
CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE RECIPE
Sources : Jamie Oliver
200 g quality dark chocolate , (70%)
175 g unsalted butter , plus extra for greasing
120 g soft brown sugar
100 g blanched almonds
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 large free-range eggs
150 g self-raising flour
100 g fudge
crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream
PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F/gas 2. Break up the chocolate, put it into a food processor with the butter, sugar, almonds, 1 tablespoon of the cocoa powder and a pinch of sea salt, and whiz until smooth. Crack your eggs, one at a time, into the food processor and add the flour. Whiz again until smooth.
Get a deep baking dish roughly 25 x 25cm in size. Butter the dish really well and sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of cocoa powder over it. Shake it around a bit so it lightly coats the whole surface of the dish. Pour the cake mixture into the dish, using a spatula to scrape it all out of the processor. Break the fudge into pieces and sprinkle these over the top of the cake mix, pushing any larger pieces down into the mixture.
Pop the baking dish into the preheated oven and cook for 18 to 20 minutes. Take the cake out of the oven and stick a fork into the middle of it. If there’s a little bit of cake mixture on the fork when you pull it out, that’s okay – you want the cake to still be a little moist inside so that it’s nice and squidgy. However, if it seems a bit wobbly, pop it back into the oven for another 3 to 5 minutes to firm up a bit.
Let your cake cool slightly and serve it warm and gooey. Lovely with a dollop of crème fraîche, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a bit of double cream.
And for a little tribute to the cidrery I worked on Vancouver Island, I invite you to follow this snack with a glass of cider. Canadian ones would be ideal, Vancouver Island‘s perfect, but if you can’t, do with what you have, do with what you like!
6. Fill up the gap
This Western Canada post will inevitably taste like unfinished business, I will feel like I didn’t match my desire to share Western Provinces’ majesty to your couch. There are places like this for which words are a lack and a living-room is too small of a place to travel where you want. I keep trying though, sharing how I can, my mesmerized love for Canadian landscapes, my endless peace made by Canadian soul. And I count on my unperfect allies to help.
To travel a bit further in your living-room, watch a documentary:
Or open your travel book:
But most of all, get lost in your daydreams and recreate your own land, let the mute eagle’s song, the absent Pacific wind and the mystic Western haze guide you…
7. 5 to 7
You have guessed, it is now time for the traditional happy hour. What will your poison be tonight?
Will you choose wine, if you are lucky enough to have access to new Canadian experiments? Or will you be wiser and stick to a Canadian craft beer that might have crossed borders to you? You really can’t choose?! Here is a short lecture about Canadian wine so you might decide to be more audacious…
The Okanagan Valley in BC produces good sparkling wines. A spirit of adventure and experimentation opens to good surprises, especially for white wine (Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Chardonnay), even if the Canadian red (Pinot Noir is the most common variety) is clearly progressing.
Source Guide du Routard
However, the miracle – and the major commercial success – of Canadian wine remains ice wine, produced from grapes that froze in early winter. The sugar is thus strongly concentrated, giving a very sweet wine. The ice wine is mainly made from a white hybrid variety, vidal, because of its high sugar content and the very thick skin of its grains that allows a very late harvest.
8. Diner, you said?
Canadian cuisine is quite similar to the US – hamburgers and/or multicultural food-, therefore, there is no real typical dish. I still invite you to taste a traditional meal, from one particular ethnie: Eastern Europe. Indeed, in the middle of the 18th century, barren land and cold weather didn’t attract a lot of farmers to Canadian prairies. Good prices and advertisement were good enough of a deal for Ukrainians though, allowing me to taste, two centuries later, delicious pierogis that you should definitely cook tonight.
PIEROGI RECIPE
Source: taste of home
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
3 large eggs
1/2 cup butter, softened
Filling:
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 medium onions, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
5 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Additional ingredients (for each serving):
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon butter
Minced fresh parsley
DIRECTION
In a food processor, combine flour and salt; cover and pulse to blend. Add water, eggs and butter; cover and pulse until dough forms a ball, adding an additional 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed. Let rest, covered, 15 to 30 minutes.
Place potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10-15 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute onions in butter until tender; set aside.
Drain potatoes. Over very low heat, stir potatoes for 1-2 minutes or until steam has evaporated. Press through a potato ricer or strainer into a large bowl. Stir in cream cheese, salt, pepper and onion mixture; set aside.
Divide dough into four parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll one portion of dough to 1/8-in. thickness; cut with a floured 3-in. biscuit cutter. Place 2 teaspoons of filling in center of each circle. Moisten edges with water; fold in half and press edges to seal. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
Bring a Dutch oven of water to a boil over high heat; add pierogi in batches. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer; cook for 1-2 minutes or until pierogi float to the top and are tender. Remove with a slotted spoon. In a large skillet, saute four pierogi and onion in butter until pierogi are lightly browned and heated through; sprinkle with parsley. Repeat with remaining pierogi.
Freeze option: Place cooled pierogi on waxed paper-lined 15x10x1-in. baking pans; freeze until firm. Transfer to resealable plastic freezer bags; freeze up to 3 months. To use, for each serving, in a large skillet, saute four pierogi and 1/4 cup chopped onion in 1 tablespoon butter until pierogi are lightly browned and heated through; sprinkle with minced fresh parsley.
9. On your sleepless dark screen
David Cronenberg is one of the most famous Canadian movie directors throughout the world. Of him, I have watched, each in a very different style and that I recommend for very different reasons, those movies:
* A dangerous method: the encounter between Freud and Jung, what made them close, what made them best ennemies. Why? Because of both Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender amazing performance.
* A history of violence: Tom Stall, quiet father, kills, in order to defend himself, two assailants in a diner restaurant. He becomes a very media character whose life is changed forever. Why? Everything is said in the name…
* Cosmopolis: Closed door movie in a very rich young guy’s limo. Why? I must confess I only watch this movie because I wanted to see Robert Pattinson in something else than a teen movie. I was profoundly disturbed, sometimes for free… But maybe we need to be a bit more bothered by cinema?
Otherwise, you might recreate Banff Mountain Film Festival in your living-room and watch one of last fall movies: p.38-39 in the programm.
Have yourself a wonderful evening!
Passez une merveilleuse soirée !
Fleeting Wor(l)ds 