This has been a busy but fun week as we prepare for the Moncada Day pig roast we are having tomorrow. As well, I've fit in a little (lot) of socializing.
Wednesday was our day to 'do lunch' and we three old childhood onwards friends had a wonderful meal and catch up. Bistro 138 was great, although it was a busy spot. We made sure to have lunch + desserts and our soon to be retired friend treated us. Ahhh life is good. That evening the shore captain headed to Yarmouth for a meeting with scientists and fishermen on George's Bank fish stocks. He was home at 11:30 pm (well past his usual bedtime) after the meeting ran late. Apparently the fuel light came on as he left Yarmouth (90 km away) and so he stopped at gas stations on the way which were closed and then drove very conservatively home on what must've been fumes by the time he arrived. Good thing he made it as he'd let his cell phone go dead. I can't believe he was really a Boy Scout or was it just Girl Guides who had the motto 'be prepared'? I asked his plan for the morning (as we're at least 25 km from a gast station) and he mentioned calling one of his employees to come rescue him, so taking pity I said "you can take my car if you have it back by 9 am as I'm going to get a haircut". When I got up in the morning (thinking I'd have to remind him to return the car) it was in the yard. I walked out through the mud room and the poor dog was lying there with her nose all wrinkled up due to very strong gas fumes. I looked out the window and the trunk of the new car was in the air. I marched out to the vehicle and the gas fumes knocked me over. I was very unimpressed, and when I called mister to complain he insisted that he'd had the gas can in a cardboard box and only spilled gas on himself pouring it in to the truck and hadn't gotten back in to the car. Yeah right. Then he whines that with the weather forecast giving wind the boat which was going fishing isn't, he'd tried to cancel the ice order but his brother-in-law hadn't answered the phone and now 15 tonnes of ice needed to be stored inside. When they were moving it, the hydraulic hose on the forklift broke and hydraulic fluid sprayed everywhere so they were cleaning that up. Okay you win for bad day story.
I get my haircut and then call the summer neighbour to come with me to the wild blueberry u-pick which has opened. It's not the best of picking days being early in the season and drizzly but we manage to pick about six and a half cups each in about an hour and a half. As we head to get them weighed, it occurs to me that I've not brought my wallet. Yeah, yeah good excuse eh? But, no I've written a cheque for the haircut and didn't bring my purse. Thankfully my summer neighbour generously paid for my berries. Wouldn't want to be accused of a blueberry heist. My goal was to get fresh berries for a recipe that I'd found online for blueberry lemon cream cheese pound cake. It was delicious when I baked it that afternoon:
Blueberry Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Yield: 1 Loaf Cake
ingredients:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
4 oz PHILADELPHIA cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
PHILADELPHIA cream cheese frosting:
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups icing sugar (AKA powdered sugar and confectionery sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter the parchment paper as well (or simply grease the pan!) Set aside.
In bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
With hand mixer beat together cream cheese, butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing each time. Add vanilla extract and lemon zest, mixing until combined.
Pour flour mixture over the batter mixture. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold in the flour until it’s completely mixed in and there are no pockets of dry flour. Lastly, gently fold in the blueberries.
Transfer batter to prepared baking loaf pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let sit until cool, at least 30 minutes and then remove from pan.
Cream Cheese Icing:
In a stand mixer or large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until frosting is smooth. Beat in vanilla extract.
Carefully frost on top of the cooled pound cake and store in fridge until ready to serve.
Thursday evening I picked up the dog walker and we attended a local evening of Cuban music by Lost Tourists. This is a Cuban guitarist/singer and a drummer (who is actually Hungarian) with computer generated backup. Transported me directly to the land of sun, fun and rum. Ahhh After the intermission there was a documentary shown called Cuba: Island of Music by a film maker who lives locally:
A wonderful evening and after a chat with the Cuban musician, the brainstorming of how to have them play live music for our next Moncada Day pig roast. Next year.
Time to go to bed and get rested up for the big day tomorrow. The teacher daughter and I have just had a little bedtime snack of camembert and strawberries. Not sure how that fits into her half marathon training regime, but it was delicious. We'll see how good an idea it was on Sunday when she runs the local half marathon.
