odds and ends

Let me tell you some good things I have discovered so far on my travels:

Salt Spring Island Coffee – this is good. Very, very good.  Not only that, but we have a fabulous little corner shop/deli at the top of our road and they sell it there, not just in packets to bring home, but in huge, steaming cups, on site, so you can sip as you shop.  This is so civilised. I love drinking coffee while I am buying groceries. It may turn out to be one of my favourite things ever next to sex and books.

Chukar Cherries – This is a company we discovered in Seattle at Pike Place Market.  Their stuff is delicious.  Truly delicious.  I am not usually a big fan of dried fruit, but this is in a league of its own.   They do fruit, and chocolates. The chocolates are also amazing.  I bought a bag of No Sugar Added dried cherries labelled Totally Tart. They are exactly that, and unbelievably moreish.  I love tart tasting fruit and I have had to ration myself with this bag for fear of giving myself colic.  Mmmm.  I also bought a bag of their milk chocolate pecans and they are also mmm.  Hideously expensive, but worth every single penny.

Beacon Books – A second hand bookshop in Sidney, about three miles from our house.  They are brilliant because they not only have an awesome selection of books, but they also have a guard cat, a log fire, an excellent children’s section, complete with miniature chairs and tables and an overflowing toy box, but today and tomorrow they are offering 25% off on all stock.  Get there if you can.  They also offer a fantastic buy back scheme where they take back the books you have read and give you money off the next ones you buy.  We have already done a staggering amount of reading and traded in six books today which gave us a starting pot of $20.    Even after that, and with discount we spent $80.

Red Barn – These are small supermarkets scattered about Vancouver Island where the food is locally sourced where possible, organic where possible and delicious all the time. I think I mentioned them last time we were here, but they are so good they are going in again.  They also allow you to sip and shop if you are a coffee fanatic, and most of them have prize winning deli counters.  Well prize winning for us anyway.  If you are sick of what the regular supermarkets offer here, or just alarmed at the frankly tiny selection of organic produce in them, try Red Barn.

Fish on Fifth – A fantastic fish and chip restaurant on Fifth street in Sidney. Very small, in a kind of shack, and with limited seating, but well worth a visit.  The food is all freshly caught, freshly cooked and brought to your table steaming hot. There is an excellent seasonal selection of fish, and as well as fish and chips they also do more exotic fare.  It is always busy and you cannot book, so get there early if you can, and be prepared to wait if you can’t.

The Panorama Recreation Centre – Just outside Sidney, this is our local pool and leisure centre.  Since we last came it has been torn down and rebuilt to a very high standard.  There is a long water slide which goes outside the building, a lazy river, a great toddler pool, lots of toys and floats and a decent sized lap pool for serious swimmers.  You can get entry for a month for $20 dollars if you are an adult, which is a steal.  Only downside being you have to have your photograph taken for your pass.  And if you’re me this makes you cry.  Otherwise you’re sorted.

In local news:

• Oscar spent a happy afternoon filling his buckets with shredded tourist leaflets and pretending he was at the seaside.
• Tilly is feeling much better. She is only light grey now, her appetite is coming back and her fever is finally gone.
• Oscar and Tallulah created an homage to Canada dance which looks much like all their other dances and involves a great deal of shaking bottoms and giggling.
• Jason cooked his first pancakes complete with maple syrup and whipped cream.  The verdict was ‘not bad’.
• I did not cry all the time, and in between concentrated bouts of self-loathing and weeping I am having a lovely time.  I took lots of photographs this afternoon and eventually I will work out how to load them for your viewing pleasure.

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