Another Snow Day

Where's the Driveway? We woke up this morning to find that there was a lot of snow in the Driveway this morning. I say a lot. It is more like 8ft of snow at the end of the Driveway. Here is a picture of Tom tunnelling his way to the end of the Driveway. You can see how high the snow is on Tom who is 6ft.


Where's the Car? You can see the wind mirrors of the car poking out of the snow. A Hyundai Elantra.


Here is Lewie for scale. You can see the snow in the background is up to his head. It was a lot of snow in one storm. 40 cm accumulation in total. But the winds were high at 90 km/hr so the snow really drifted in places. All business, schools and offices were closed this morning. The Main highway was closed in sections because of drifting snow. It brightened up in the afternoon and turned into a nice day off from work.



A Good Job finally completed. It took us both, well I say both, Tom mostly with a little bit of help from Lewis and I all day to shovel out. We took it slowly and took some breaks but it took a good 4 /5 hours. You can only just see the tracks on the road from the cars, mostly snow mobiles.



Well Tom was supposed to be heading off today to Corner Brook. He is supposed to be doing a quick job out there. He couldn't go obviously but is hopeful to head out tomorrow.
I am just Hopeful that we don't get any more snow like this lot!!!

North Pond Loader's 5 mins of Fame.

We have all had a busy couple of weeks. I started some training for Public Health which means I have been working full time hours this last week. It is really great but also means that other things get left on the back burners for a while. The training is really interesting and involves a lot of new information for me. I will be working with a completely different population from which I am used too. Exciting stuff! I found out that I am gonna be an Auntie which is fabulous news. The Best News really. We are planning a trip home for Christmas to see the new arrival to the family. At the end of this week we were asked by a friend to be interviewed by the local TV channel to promote there gym and talk about Physical Fitness. Initially I thought we weren't the best choice really because come on I am not exactly the ideal image of physical fitness but we agreed. There theme was families who are physically active together. I guess we fit that image. We were interviewed on Thursday at the gym and she took a lot of footage of us climbing together. It was very nerve racking being interviewed as we were not sure what to say but I think we came off OK. Hope so it is due to air on Living Nfld on CBC next Tuesday. Here is the link http://www.cbc.ca/livingnl/

Snow Day

The One day all Kids and some Adults alike in Northern climate in the Winter look forward too. This morning was a Snow day. The weather had not been too bad overnight with only 6cm of snow having fallen, but deteriorated rapidly. We had a blizzard with blowing snow and near white out conditions. The wind was high so the snow drifted everywhere. Lewis laid in bed this morning with baited breath listening to the radio, for the announcements of school closures. A delighted Whoaaa Hoooo rang out from his bedroom when they announced that all schools in the Metro region were closed. The List went on and on as Business, Doctor's Surgeries, Government Buildings and University all announced that they were not opening this morning. The sound of snow mobiles and snow blowers rings out throughout the neighbourhood as people get to have an unanticipated day off. Lewis looks forward to getting outside and building a snow fort, snowman and having snowball fights with his friends. Something that he can do in this place where we live. I think mostly he looks forward to coming back indoors and having a mug of hot chocolate, as is his tradition. I stop for a moment and am grateful to all those people that despite the weather still have to go to work......

Patchwork Quilt

Update from Last Blog.
I had managed to go through all my clothes and decided that some were pretty old and falling apart in desperate need of throwing away. They were certainly taking up too much space in my room. I had them bagged up and the bag sat in my dining room all week. Wednesday night I asked my Husband to put out the Rubbish for me as the Rubbish Collectors come on Thursday. It was too cold outside (-16c) and I really didn't want to go outside. He unfortunately spotted the fat heavy green bag, that had been sitting in the dining room all week and asked how come there was so much rubbish. I told him how I was throwing away some clothes!. He looked at me with those sad eyes and asked if he could go through the bag to see if there was any clothes that could be made into rags. I should have known what would follow!!!!
We now have the makings of a patchwork quilt on the floor in our living room.
Stay tuned for the results.

Waiting to Work.

It is funny really. I spent most of the week waiting for my work to call me. I finally got a call to work on Friday and the weekend. Which wasn't the best way to work but what can you do. I spent the whole of last week organising and sorting out stuff and have come to the conclusion that I am a Pack Rat. My Husband cannot criticise me because he is just as bad as I am. We tend to keep a whole pile of stuff that May come in handy one day, only Our house is not big enough for all the accumulation of stuff. We are literally outgrowing our house. It made me think is this interesting phenomena an inherited thing??. You see my Mum is just as bad, if not slightly worse then I am. She keeps a whole manner of stuff, it just looks like more as she has had more years to accumulate stuff. She, unlike me, is married to a man who likes to have his house organised. He unfortunately doesn't get to have it this way very often!. I felt I was doing really well sorting out stuff, organising them into boxes, Chucking stuff out. Only now I have boxes of stuff that I know we will not need but we cannot throw out "Just in case". I have to try and store these boxes somewhere. It makes me think where does this need to keep so much stuff come from. I mean we don't really need 5 years worth of electric, phone and visa bills, but why do we keep them. What is the rationale behind it. Why is it so hard to simply throw stuff away, or give it to those people in need of it????

Contradictions..............

Today I was struck my the contradictions there are all around us. I was recently given some very beautiful Tulips. They are beginning to open up and show us the simple beauty which lies beneath. I am sure they will be photographed by other more talented photographers then I. Outside it has been snowing. We had a fair amount ~10 cm of the very sticky, ideal for snow ball fights, kind of snow. The weather is sunny and the temperature is rising so the snow will melt. It makes you think how temporary everything is. Something we often forget in the midst of our busy work day and the depths of a long winter. Everything we take for granted all around us is only temporary and can change in an instant...........

Kofta Curry

Ok, Well My Husband and I really like cooking Indian Food. We have no formal training or anything but follow different recipes. We have got to the stage in our cooking where we can adjust the recipes and they still come out tasting really good. I have decided to post a recipe we have for Kofta Curry. It is really delicious. My Husband made this recipe while in the wilderness using a lot less ingredients and says it tasted really good!!! My Picture is not as good as the recipe. I am not gifted with the art of photography like the rest of My family.

Ingredients for Kofta: (Balls)
31/2 cups of Shredded Cabbage
1/2 cup of Carrot
250ml (3/4 cup) Chickpea Flour (Besan)
1 tsp Ginger
11/2 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Garlic Pepper Seasoning
1/4 tsp Tumeric
1/4 tsp Chilli Cayenne (Powder)
1/4 tsp Garam Masala
Salt to Taste
For Frying 21/2 cups of Oil.

Ingredients for Curry Sauce:
1 cup Chopped Onions
1 clove Garlic
2 tbsp Oil (Any kind)
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1/4 tsp Tumeric
1/4 tsp Garam Masala
Cayenne Pepper to Taste
Salt to Taste (~2 tsp)
2 tsp Tomato Paste
11/2 cup Water
1/2 cup Cream (optional)

How to Make:
Kofa Balls: Mix all the Ingredients for the Kofta Balls together and form round balls. You don't need any water. When they are formed deep fry them in oil over a medium heat until they are brown. Remove from oil and set aside.
Curry Sauce: Fry Onions and Garlic in oil until brown. Add Coriander, Tumeric, Garam Masala. Fry for a bit making sure not to burn the spices. Add tomato Paste, Cayenne and Salt. Add the Water and bring to a boil. If you like add the Cream, it gives the sauce a richer taste and changes the colour slightly.
Now: Add the Curry Sauce to the Kofta Balls and allow to soak for a few minutes before eating.