The Long Road

… and welcome to the world Patrick Hughes

He’s gonna be a good boy I think. Though he took his time in coming (which Ally probably didn’t like), he did pick a day that Brazil wasn’t playing (which Paul probably did like). Congrats guys!

Yay!! So apart from a staff breakfast and photo tomorrow, my summer has begun. Got my fishing licence today!!

Henry Thomas - Fishing Blues
thanks to Captain’s Dead for the MP3

Today was fresh Cherry Pie! Yum. Good with vanilla ice cream! (isn’t everything?)

The CBC is reporting today that gas prices have risen 2 cents over the last week to an average of a buck o’ five per litre. However, I found myself cringing today as I drove by station after station here in Kamloops that are proudly advertising petrol at a bargan basement price of $1.17/litre. **Thursday Update: I saw $1.18 today - the highest price I’ve ever seen in Kamloops. Coincidence that we are heading into a long weekend during which a lot of people will be travelling?

Well, we have WAY too many cherries (see yesterday’s post), so we’re gonna see about trying some new recipes… So aside from copious amounts of fresh raw cherries going right down the hatch, tonight was a hot cherry reduction sauce drizzled over coconut ice cream. Mmmmm. Oh, and we’ve pitted and frozen about 6 lbs of berries already for future use too!

Samorost is a pretty cool flash game… and a total time sucker - You have been warned.

Well, our cherry tree in our back yard is very young. We picked it clean already. Mmmmmm. So the Roberstons, knowing how much we like fruit, hooked us up with their neighbors who have a 30 year old huge tree that is having a banner year! In half an hour we scored this bananza! We’re gonna have to buy those home teeth bleaching kits to get the cherry stains out! Yum!

Well as the temperature here in the Loops reaches the mid to high 30’s, some people seek the shelter of air conditioned spots like Costco, or the mall. That’s cool by me… less folks out where I wanna be! This is Mich and I on Lac le Jeune on Sunday. And yes, our bright white farmer tans show that we’ve gotta get out more too!

You might not know this, but according to the formula O + (N x S) + Cpm/T + He., today is the happiest day of 2006. Find out more here

Thanks to Blakey D over at Now You See Us for tipping me off to Pandora and the Music Genome Project. This is super cool. It’s internet radio that is totally programmable by you! Just start by typing in yer favorite band/artist and they will steam music that is very similar to your pick. It’s expandable from there. And it’s fast loading! Check it out!

Well, it only comes around once a year, but really, that’s not even close enough to properly show appreciation to all the dads out there. From day one, my dad has gone out of his way to do awesome things for me and my siblings. And like most of us, I don’t get around to thanking him nearly enough. Thanks Dad for all you’ve done, and all you do - Happy Father’s Day! Um, I’ll be calling you later, but I’ll let you sleep in and have a coffee first!

Well, the good news of the week for us is that Kev has landed a continuing contract at Brocklehurst Secondary! Yay! Let the summer begin with me being relaxed in the knowledge that I have employment for the fall. I’ve really enjoyed Brock and am quite happy to return. The contract is part time to start ( but did I mention continuing?), but I’ve been promised more blocks are to come. Looks like I could have returned to Logan Lake Secondary also if I had wanted to. And as much as I enjoyed the staff and students there, I didn’t enjoy the amount of time spent driving back and forth. Anyway, that’s the news! We are off to the Adams River for the day!

**Pasta Update** (June 7) Coincidentally there is heartwarming first time pasta cooking story over at Now You See Us. Check it out.

Well, a few weeks back Michelle got me something I’ve wanted for a while - a pasta machine! Got it at a garage sale. Nice. So we finally got around to making some noodles the other night. Now I’m part Chinese so noodles are in my blood. Heck the Italians got noodles from the Chinese… so I should be a natural at this noodle thing. What a gong show! Actually, everything was going well until we got to the final cutting stage. The rollers don’t quite cut all the way through. Grrr. So we ended up with kind of a perforated noodle kit. We tried to pull them apart as best we could and ended up with a rat’s nest of fresh spaghetti - all starting to stick together. Yeesh. We sprinkled with flour and that helped. We cut the rest of the flattened dough into fatter noodles with the other cutter which worked a bit better. Wish we had thought to take a pic for you. It all tasted pretty darn great in the end and was kinda fun in a frusterated-tear-you-hair-out kinda way. Reminded me of those days in Dalian with Adrian Conradi telling me how to make sour cream or cottage cheeze with milk and vinegar. Or us making hand made tortilla wraps. It’s a nice way to cook.