Blackberry and Apple without the Blackberry - An Early Autumn Bike Ride

Along the Elora Cataract Trailway

We've been planning a ride along the Elora Cataract Trailway for a long time and yesterday we finally made it out there. We drove to Orton, zigzagging across from Highway 10 along country roads and dirt roads, unclipped the bikes from the back of the car and off we went.

The Trailway follows the route of an old railway line

The trail follows the route of a former railway, so is fairly flat and straight. It runs through pretty farmland and passes by Belwood Lake. The length of the whole trail is 47km or 29 miles, and we planned to do a twenty kilometre section. We started pretty much in the middle at kilometre 25 and cycled towards Fergus and Elora. It was perfect weather, bright blue sky with a slight autumnal nip in the air. The late summer flowers, golden rod and purple asters, brightened the edges of the trail. Fields of sweetcorn stretched towards the horizon.

The trail is quiet and peaceful, just a few other cyclists enjoying the early autumn air and towards Fergus a few walkers strolling the path. Around 14km along our route we reached the Belwood Lake Conservation Area, where the Shand Dam dams the Grand River, creating Belwood Lake. We admired the view from the top of the dam, then continued on our way.

View from the Shand Dam

Other trail users cross the Shand Dam at Belwood Lake

Shand Dam at Belwood Lake

On our way again, the sight of this sign made us smile as we headed towards Fergus with thoughts of tea and sustenance keeping us going.

The trail stops at Fergus, although you can pick it up again at the other side of the town and continue on to the end of the trail at Elora. We cycled on streets into the town of Fergus, to be greeted by the welcome sight of a Tim Hortons, where we treated ourselves to well-earned large steeped teas and cinnamon doughnuts. Another Tim's patron was sitting with her feet up having cycled from Forks of the Credit, the start of the trail. She had called it a day and sent her husband back on his bike to fetch the car. Wise woman. After that we had a brief stroll down to the river bridge and along the main street (where J informed me Jeremy Paxman had once trod, whilst filming a TV series about emigrating Brits). Stroll is perhaps the wrong word, given how stiff I felt after 20km of cycling, but I limped along in the footsteps of Paxman before mounting my trusty bike once again to ride the 20km back to the car.

By then the shadows were lengthening and the countryside looked beautiful in the evening sunlight. We stopped to gather some fallen apples from the side of the trail. In England the wayside would be full of blackberry bushes covered in fruit at this time of year - in Ontario they don't seem to exist, so we will have to make do with stewed apple. The sight of the 25km marker post was an eagerly awaited moment and I climbed stiffly into the car for the drive back to the city.

Maize Fields

Foraged Blackberry and Apple - without the blackberry

Spring Walk at Crawford Lake

The last time we headed out to Crawford Lake Conservation Area http://www.conservationhalton.on.ca/ShowCategory.cfm?subCatID=909 there was deep snow on the ground and we hired snowshoes.

Yesterday there were blue skies and glorious sunshine highlighting the profusion of wildflowers along the trails. We decided to head down into the valley, then up the other side towards Rattlesnake Point. But first we had a quick look around the Iroquois Village, worth a little detour.

Door detail at Iroquois village

There were a couple of buildings with information about archaeological digs in the area - the village recontruction is on site of a 15th century settlement. They have organized tours, but we just wandered around and read a few of the boards.

Furs detail at Iroquois village

Stylised trillium in the official Ontario logo

Everywhere was lush and green and we saw hundreds of different wildflowers, most of which we couldn't name. We did see lots of trilliums, the provincial flower of Ontario, along the valley floor.

White trillium

Haven't managed to find out what these are

Foamflowers

Not sure what this is - it has a big leaf like an umbrella and the flowers hide under the leaves

We'd never seen such a huge fungus - it was about a foot across

It looked just like a bird bath!

http://www.conservationhalton.on.ca/uploads/Maps/Crawford%20Trail%20map.pdf

Please Walk on the Grass - a Trip to Toronto Island

Arriving at Hanlan's Point

Toronto Island is probably my favourite part of the city, perhaps because it's not very city-like. I do love all the convenience and excitement of living in a city, but I need to escape to somewhere green and pleasant every so often.

Even after so many trips over there, I still look forward to the ferry ride, with its amazing views of the cityscape. And even though I already have probably hundreds of photos of the same view, I can never resist having my camera to hand. I want to go over in the evening sometime, so that I can get some night time shots of the skyline.

Edward (Ned) Hanlan, island resident in the 19th century and champion rower

Taking the ferry to Hanlan's Point gives you a great starting point for a circuit of the whole island. The ferry also has the advantage of not being as packed as the others. It's a five kilometre cycle to the other end of the island, at Ward's. We passed swiftly by the clothing optional beach (J once had a strange encounter with a drunken nudist who attempted to help him land his sailing dinghy but that is a whole different story).

How many Brompton bikes get ridden out to Gibraltar Beach?

Dunes at Gibraltar Beach

Canada Geese

Stopping off at Gibraltar beach, we watched the skeins of geese flying low over Lake Ontario. J paddled his feet in the water, but it was still very cold. In the summer we love to swim from this beach and J has landed his sailing dinghy here on several occasions; he brings the picnic and the less hearty sea dogs in the party come over on the ferry and meet him there. The ants are a problem on these beaches - they have a vicious bite that continues to throb and sting long afterwards.

Gibraltar Point lighthouse

We passed by the Gibraltar Point lighthouse, purportedly haunted by the ghost of the lighthouse keeper following a Neil Oliver-style grisly murder back in the 19th century, involving whisky and soldiers.

As we neared Centre Island the multi-passenger bikes with their inexperienced and inexpert riders started swerving about in front of us; we saw one with a family of at least nine on it. Admittedly some were babes in arms, but I believe they're only meant for four.

We crossed the frisbee golf course, and on Ellen's instructions, crossed the bridge to Snake Island to see where she had camped back in October on her school trip.

  

View from Snake Island

Continuing on past the Rectory Cafe, a great restaurant with our favourite patio, we stopped at the Island Cafe for a quick bite, then headed back via St Andrews Church at Centre Island to the ferry docks at Hanlan's Point, where there was time for quick ice cream before boarding the boat back to Toronto.

We did. And we biked on it too

I love Spring!

 It's been a long winter so the sight of all the spring flowers is even more welcome this year.

These are next door's tulips, just stunning!

Lilac

Stacey loves spring too - she spends all her time outside

I planted 200 bulbs in the Autumn and finally I get to see the fruits of my labour!

A Cornish Cream Tea in Toronto

In my last post I mentioned Cornish cream teas. These are culturally very important to my husband, who although from Devon, has a good deal of Cornish blood. I have no Devon or Cornish blood, but I have taken cream teas to heart (probably literally, as the fat content of the cream is ridiculously high) and they are my favourite afternoon treat. A decent pot of tea (preferably Yorkshire Tea) made with boiling water, left to brew long enough to get a decent colour, a fresh scone, spread thickly with clotted cream and topped with jam, either strawberry or raspberry. You can't beat it.

There is a difference between Cornish and Devon clotted cream - one is thicker than the other. And apparently one county spreads the jam first, whilst the other spreads the cream first. I can't remember which, but frankly, who cares - they both taste amazing. Incidentally, my daughter has told me that in the USA clotted cream would be classed as butter, due to its excessive fat content. Just as well it's not easy to find in Canada, eh?

Now that I mention clotted cream, I was recently introduced to a delicious cream by a Syrian friend of mine. It was a lot like clotted cream and you can buy it in Toronto! I have yet to get round to heading out to Arz Bakery http://www.arzbakery.com/ on Lawrence, but when the Rodda's has all gone and the cravings return I will go.I believe it is called something like Kaymak, but my friend mentioned another name for it that I have since forgotten. I will know it when I see it! Incidentally, the Arz baba ghanoush (aubergine dip) is absolutely delicious and I will pick up some of that too.

And on the subject of scones, the recipe I now swear by is based on a Julia Child recipe given to me by my American friend Christina, who is married to a German. I know that as a diplomatic spouse from good old Blighty I should possibly not admit to using an American scone recipe, but I comfort myself with the fact that Julia Child was herself a diplomatic spouse, and these scones are so blinking good I am sticking to it. Until yesterday, I had always baulked at using the melted butter to brush the tops, replacing it instead with beaten egg. However, the slight crispy crunch added by the butter and sprinkled sugar topping just adds that perfect finishing texture.

Here is the recipe and I apologize for the mixture of imperial, metric and cup measurements; that is what comes of travelling the world and picking up recipes from all over the place, then converting them in my own slapdash way. I always prefer to weigh baking ingredients rather than use cup measures and I would not be without my trusty digital scales. These scones are best eaten on the day you bake them.

Scones

(adapted from Baking with Julia Child)

Ingredients:

1.      3 cups flour (450g)

2.      1/3 cup sugar

3.      2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

4.      ½ teaspoon baking soda

5.      ½ teaspoon salt

6.      1 ½ sticks (6 oz) cold unsalted butter, cubed

7.      1 cup buttermilk  (or 2 Tbsp sour cream + milk to equal 1 cup)

8 Melted butter for brushing

Granulated sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1.      Heat oven to 400F

2.      Rub together flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt and butter pieces.  (Use the K beater on the Kitchen Aid or Kenwood if you have one, or Pulse in a processor (or mash) until you get a mealy, crumbly sort of mixture.  Don’t over-mix, lumps are OK.

3.      Pour in buttermilk and mix just until mixture holds together. You don't want to overmix - it will go leathery (I think it is something to do with the gluten)

4.      Put out onto floured counter and press until dough just holds together, flatten into a 1-inch (2.5 cm) disk. I usually make them slightly higher, so that you can cut the scones in half and still get two good sized rounds. 

5.      Cut into little rounds and place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

6.      Bake for 12 minutes or until tops turn light brown.

Serve with clotted or double cream and strawberry jam

Beautiful, tart and nurturing

The dedication on this crab apple tree said that the lady to whom it was dedicated was beautiful, tart and nurturing, or words to that effect. I'm not sure I'd want to be remembered as tart, but it was a beautiful tree.

A Spring stroll yesterday from Wilket Creek (Eglinton and Leslie) took us up to Edwards Gardens, where we admired the spring flowers and spotted a blue jay in a tree (the bird not the baseball player). There was a babel of different languages, English probably being the least heard. J and I with our sad linguist minds always like to listen in and debate what language we may be hearing. We heard a Spanish speaking family discussing the frogs and tadpoles (I now know the Spanish for frog is rana but the limits of J's Spanish were revealed by his ignorance of the word for tadpole). We picked out Korean, Russian , Mandarin and Tagalog for sure as well as a possibly Chinese language whose rhythm sounded somewhat Korean. There were lots of others that we couldn't identify. There were big family groups sitting around under the trees grilling delicious-smelling meat on the barbecues. We always notice that it is mainly new Canadians using the barbecue pits and walking the trails and wonder why that is.

The park was packed, but with it being two days before Victoria Day, the little tea room was closed. They would have done a roaring trade. But they don't open before Victoria Day and they close for the season on Labour Day and they're not going to change that for anyone, even if the weather is still amazing outside that season and people might like a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake on the terrace in the sunshine. Good job we had already had a proper Cornish cream tea on our patio before we went out, with real Rodda's clotted cream and homemade scones, but that's another story and I'm not telling anyone how that Rodda's came to be in my fridge.

Quilts and countryside

On Wednesday with my patchwork and quilting group I visited two quilt exhibitions and a quilt shop out in Mennonite country; Fergus, Elora, Elmira and Kitchener. Shame the slog back along the 401 into Toronto is such a pain or I'd go out there much more. Still, it was a glorious spring day, bright sunshine and a brisk wind and it was refreshing to escape the city for a while.

Homer Watson House and Gallery

 We visited the Grand National Quilt Exhibition at the Homer Watson Gallery in Kitchener. I loved the location; an old house, the former home of the artist Homer Watson, set in beautiful gardens which were showing off their bright green spring foliage. The curator told us that Watson's big break came with the purchase of one his works by Queen Victoria. The painting returned to the gallery last year on loan; the curator told us how surprised she'd been at how obliging the staff at Windsor Castle were when she asked to borrow it. Apparently the AGO would not let their Watsons out of Toronto. The curator also told us that the house is said to be haunted by the ghost of Homer Watson's sister Phoebe, but she didn't appear to be home when we called.

We also visited the Wellington County Museum between Fergus and Elora. I hadn't visited Fergus before, and loved the setting with the deep sided river running through the town. We didn't have time to stroll around, but I will definitely go back. The County Museum used to be the poor house, and there were some excellent photographs of some of the former residents; they must have led very harsh lives. I would have liked to spend longer there, but we had such a packed itinerary that it will have to wait for another day.

Detail from a quilted silk kimono at the juried exhibition Threadworks, with the theme of Water, at the Wellington County Museum in Fergus. The seams were joined with tiny beads.

My friend Jennie Wood had exhibits in the Threadworks and Grand National Exhibitions. We were awed and inspired  by her talent, and that of all the other fabric artists. Here is one of Jennie's pieces.

On our drive through the countryside we passed lots of farms, many with boards out to say what they had for sale; maple syrup, eggs, quilts... It would be good to have a more leisurely drive around and visit a few; as it was, we had to drive past the tempting signposts.

The staff at the lovely quilt store, Quilters Nine Patch, in Elmira, must have been pleased to see us - we were like children in a sweet shop, looking at all the beautiful fabrics and buying quite a good amount! The staff display kits and bundles of fabrics that go well together - this is great for overwhelmed beginners like us, who don't really know where to get started with choosing good fabric combinations. There were so many amazing fabrics and quilts to look at. I chose some vintage-style prints in reds, creams and blues to turn into Union Jack cushion covers.

My union jack cushion covers in progress

When I got home I looked up walks around the Fergus and Elora area, and discovered the Elora Cataract Trailway - this has gone straight onto my list of places to explore. It's a 47km long former railway, now partly gravelled and available to hikers, bikers, and in the winter, cross country skiiers. We will return with our bikes strapped to the back of the car.http://www.trailway.org/