Happy Thanksgiving!

Most of the ingredients I used

Every thanksgiving since I arrived in Canada, I have made Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Pecan Pie. The first recipe is from my talented Chef friend, Anne. Although the recipe itself comes from the back of the Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie can that she received from her mother whilst living in Japan, every time I make it I know that the spirit of Anne's baking ability is channeled through the recipe that I have painstakingly stuck in my recipe book.

The recipe hand written in my recipe book

Pie Crust 
(double the recipe if you are making both the Pumpkin Pie and Choc. Pecan Pie on the same day)

1 cup flour
1 tablesp. sugar
1/8 teasp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1 1/2 tablesp. cold water
1.2 teasp. vanilla

Directions
Place dry ingredients in bowl. Combine well. Add butter and mix until crumbly. Add water and vanilla. Pulse until dough just comes together. Form a disk and cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for 15 minutes. Roll dough crust out on a floured surface into a 12 inch circle. Fit the dough into a 9 inch pie plate. Refrigerate.

It isn't a good idea to use an electric mixer to 'pulse' the dough. It worked a little too well. Be prepared to spend some time unsticking it from the whisks.

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie 
Prep Time: approx. 10 minutes. Cook Time: approx. I hour.

Anne's recipe complete with 'Anne-Esque' note

1 9 inch deep dish pie crust (see recipe above)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teasp. ground cinnamon
1/2 teasp. salt
1/2 teasp. ground ginger
1/4 teasp. ground cloves
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce) Pure Pumpkin (Libby's if you can find it...)
1 (12 fluid ounce) can NESTLE CARNATION Evaporated Milk

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Celsius
2. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour in pie shell.

3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 C. Bake fore 40 - 50 minutes or until knife inserted near centre comes out clean. Cook for 2 hours on wire rack. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Chocolate Pecan Pie
1 1/4 cup lite corn syrup
1/2 cup lite brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs, beaten
3 teasp. dark rum
1/2 teasp. vanilla extract
1/4 teasp. salt
1 3/4 pecan halves
3/4 cup choc chips
whipped cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Celcius.
2. In a large bowl whisk the first 8 ingredients. Stir in the pecans. Scatter the chocolate over the prepared pie crust and cover with the filling. Bake until the centre is set, approx. 40 - 50 minutes. I ended up baking mine for 60 minutes this time. Cool or refrigerate completely. If you cut the pie when it is still warm, it crumbles and goes to mush.

The Finished Results, Half-Eaten

Analysis and Reflection
The pumpkin pie was velvety, but I thought it was too 'clovey' for my taste. Also, I forgot to add the cinnamon during the mixing and then tried to add if after it had been in the oven for 20 minutes...it didn't mix very well, and the finished product looked like it had mold was growing on top. Eek!

The pecan pie was sweet and intense, but it wasn't cooled properly, so when I cut it, it mushed in the middle. Also, I think I went a little heavy handed on the dark rum. Hiccup! However, Chad's relatives ate the two and showered me with compliments. If it were my own family, I'm sure they would've been more critical...I Heart Canadians!

I am not an expert baker - if you have any tips, please post in the comments section below.

Jody

An Ox a Beaver and a Bison walk into a bar...

No more jokes for now...I promise.

For my birthday this year, I managed to meet an Ox, a Beaver and a Bison, but not in that order.

Goretex in Summer is a Must

 Chad and I woke to a blustery cold 11 degree day. Apparently, I missed the memo about summer finishing in August and was suitably disheartened. With chagrin, I dressed appropriately for a rainy Vancouver day and we packed a lunch and swiftly drove the hour east to Elk Island National Park. Initially, I was a little disappointed by the park. After 7 years of BC parks, I was expecting large fir and cedar. But, my spirits brightened when on the side of the road was a very large bison feeding on the grasslands. There are approximately 800 bison in the park. Images of Kevin Costner in  Dances with Wolves flashed in my mind. I was impressed, not only with Kevin, but the size and softness of the Bison. He was eating little purple flowers in a green marshy area that looked very similar to Twilight's love field. It was almost romantic. I looked over at Chad. He was checking his messages on his cell phone.

The First Bison

The Second Bison

We went in to ask the ranger about where to go, what to do. He guided us to an easy trail around a marshland. Usually it is a great snow-shoe trail, but it is still pretty in summer, he reported.
Will I see a Moose? 
Probably, he replied, which usually means 'No'. 7 years in this country and I'm yet to see a bear or moose.  I didn't like my chances today. I guess I would have to be satisfied with Mort, the moose from Northern Exposure.
Bears? I asked. No bears in this park.

The hike was beautiful. It lead us through marshy lands on boardwalks, through light scrub and undulating hills.

We didn't see wildlife, just the remnants of them. Plently of pellet-like brown nubs the size of coffee beans on the trail. Google confirmed it was probably Moose or Bison poop. We also saw berry-infused poop. I thought it looked like bear poo, but the ranger explicitly stated 'No Bears in the Park'. I want to tell you a fabricated story about how we came face-to-face with a bear. Chad wrestled it to the ground and tamed it using Crocodile Dundee's pinky finger/thumb hypnotizing technique:

Hoisting it onto the roof of our celica we carried it home and are now training it to wear pink tu-tu's and clean our house.  But instead we finished the trail without incident. Just as we neared the end of the path, we were greeted by three singing, stick-bearing ladies who emerged from the beginning of the trail flustered and ready for action. Did you see the bear? There's scat on the trail! one lady yelled in our general direction. No bears. Lot's of strange looking poo, one lot that had berries in it, I nonchalantly reply. SCAT! SCAT!  She cries. The scat was confirmed by three elderly ladies. They were so freaked out by the poo that they wouldn't even walk the trail that we had just completed. They got half way, saw the 'scat' had to sing as loud as possible to scare away the stalking, shitting bear. What's the big deal? Bloody chickens, I thought.  Yeah, I talk big now, but I haven't come face to face with one. I've just stepped in their shit.

I didn't get to see a real living beaver, but I did see a beaver hut. The real beaver didn't come out until later.

Astotin Lake

Astotin Lake is the largest in the park. It is a sizable lake, flanked with large trees and marsh land. On a summer's day when it wasn't 11 degrees it would be lovely to swim or kayak in if it weren't for the warnings around the lake of 'swimmers itch'. Yikes. During winter, you can snow-shoe the edges. We had lunch overlooking the lake from the Sandy Beach hut. Warming up in front of the wood fire recharged us to keep hiking around the lake. We managed to see no bears, no moose. Only a single bison. I wanted my money back.

 Again, the landscape of the drive home reminded me of Australia, it's only giveaway the red barns. A rain storm came over the valley. The rainbow after was so vivid and  intense that it made me forget the cold blustery birthday. It was a bookmark to a great day of walking in nature.

Our night time plans were a mystery to me until we arrived at the restaurant. The Red Ox Inn is a real gem. Small, quaint and cosy it had a real charm and warmth. The meals were comparable to Vancouver restaurants, but they were the size of an Albertan meal ('A meal fit for a hungry cowboy'). I started with Australian (!) prawns, crispy corn shrimp dumplings, scallions and a chipotle mayo. The shrimp dumplings were crispy and tasty, the prawns melted in my mouth.

Crispy Aussie Prawns

Chad had the filo crusted crab cake, tomato chutney and mascapone mousse. Similarly, tasty and hearty.

Crab Cake

I have had a fascination with duck ever since I ate it at Bistrot Bistro and Le Faux Bourgeois in Vancouver. Ox Inn's duck was a grilled breast butternut squash caponata, crisp risotto cake, red wine reduction.

Donald Duck

 Chad opted for the honey mustard crusted rack of Australian lamb, house gnocchi, vegetable mushroom ragout and Moroccan demi glace. Both were cooked to perfection, and de-lish.

Aussie Lamb

We finished with a bread pudding and a pecan pie.

All courses had perfect wine pairings; a mix of US, BC and Australian wines. I had too much, so I can't remember what I drank, but it was topped off with a Seppelt's Grand Muscat.

For my first Edmontonian dinner and day out, it was surprisingly fun and delicious. Chad did a good job once again. If you come visit, we promise to take you to both locations!