Spring Snowstorm
When I went to bed last night, it was Spring; when I woke up this morning, it was Winter. I went through the four seasons in my head: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. Winter does not come after Spring. I know from years of experience that Winter Storms in April and the odd ones in May are to be expected. Even though I know this I am still surprised to see the big white fluffy flakes fall in Spring. I have to admit that it is a beautiful snowfall. There is no wind, so the snow is falling straight down. It's Tuesday, my favorite day of the week and I look forward to spending some time with Lorraine (my sister, best friend and publisher). The snow-covered roads will keep us home but we will have fun just the same.
I shouldn’t be surprised to see a Spring snowstorm, but I am. I think it’s my optimistic belief that Spring means warmer weather.
Yesterday we went for a beautiful walk in our little town of Mont Tremblant. Lorraine always gives me the option of when and where we go for a walk. I had said 15h00 would be perfect. I was working on my laptop when she called me and said "I'll be there in 40 minutes." I could not believe it was so late. I had wanted to make kale and sausage soup and stuffed mushrooms to use up the last of the kale and huge mushrooms. I knew if I waited until after the walk, these items would spend another night in my beautiful all-fridge. I thought for a moment and decided if contestants on a cooking show challenge could come up with a great meal in 30 minutes, I could complete my meal in that time frame, already knowing what I was going to make. I usually chop all the ingredients for my soup by hand and thought to save time I will use my food processor to chop the leeks, onions, celery, and kale. The Italian sausage was already browning in my beautiful red Le Creuset as the food processor did the job. Another of the first things I did was remove the stems from the mushrooms and then lined them side by side in my air-fryer. I left all the soup vegetables to cook together with the sausage. I removed my leftover sauteed pancetta and kale (my version of Utica Greens) from the fridge and put it into the food processor. I didn't have a lot left over from the other night and had been toying with the idea of using it as a filling for stuffed mushrooms. I added ground almonds and parmesan to the pureed kale and pancetta in the food processor. I sampled and knew right away it was going to be great in the mushroom caps. I took the mushroom caps out of the air fryer and tilted each mushroom cap individually over the sink to drain out the water that had cooked out of the mushroom. I used my 1 oz cookie scoop to fill each and put them in the fridge so I could pop them into the air-fryer for my supper. (I told Lorraine I had more than enough to share with her too.) I looked at the clock as I stirred the soup. Perfect. I completed what I had set out to do. I neglected to factor in the time to get dressed for our walk so I was a few minutes late but was satisfied to have prepared the two dishes in record time.
This was my supper that I enjoyed after our walk. I added some grated parmesan cheese and cut up a slice of pepper corn raclette cheese. (that was a great find in our local family run grocery store Bourassa. They feature beautiful fresh reasonably priced produce and a walk-in cheese fridge. I found this cheese on sale. The sale price was $3.00 and I bought multiple packages of this normally expensive raclette cheese imported from Switzerland.
I put the stuffed mushrooms into my all-fridge and planned to pop them into the air-fryer when I returned from our walk.
We had a wonderful walk on the main street and stopped into the local Metro store to pick up bacon which was on sale. I don't need to research the weekly sales; Lorraine does that and always shares the highlights and mentions items she thinks I might like to buy. During our walk I shared with her that I received a phone call earlier in the day from a second cook I sailed with a few times in the past. There are two second cooks that I wish I could sail with again and he is one of them. If I could create the perfect job, I would definitely include him in that idea. He and I chatted and got caught up on the latest. After I hung up, I thought about sailing and how excited I am to get my next job/ship. I just need to be patient and wait. Lorraine and I wanted to share with you that we have not received our Import number yet. We will have to postpone our trip to Algonac, MI this Saturday, the 12th. We had fun when we went last year and look forward to coming again in the future. We will keep you posted when and where we have our next book signings.
We had a wonderful Spring walk in our hometown yesterday. It was nice knowing that I had a nice bowl of Italian sausage and kale soup and stuffed mushrooms waiting for me when I got home.
As soon as we receive our Import Number we will also be mailing an order of books to the Toledo National Museum of the Great Lakes. They ordered both cookbooks and the Children's book. We had a great trip there last September 2024. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit, and met wonderful people. It's a beautiful museum. It was also my first speaking event with a PowerPoint presentation. Click on the following link if you would like to see a video of the presentation. You may need to pour yourself a drink, it is one hour and 19 minutes.
As soon as we get our Import Number we will mail all three books to fulfill the order for the Toledo National Museum of the Great Lakes. Below is the link to the PowerPoint presentation that was recorded when we visited in September 2024
Two weeks ago Lorraine sent autographed children's books to Michigan to the Michigan Maritime Museum: 260 Dyckman Ave, South Haven, MI 49090. They should arrive soon. We are speaking with them about doing an event together in 2026. I just looked down to the bottom right-hand corner of my laptop. My second cup of coffee is empty, and I can hear the snowplow making a pass outside my window. I will quickly add the photos to share with you. I also have the photos of where I was last year on April 8, 2024. I was in Quebec City on the Spruceglen and it was the Solar Eclipse. I remember it was a beautiful day as it slowly turned dark in the middle of the day. I wish you all a wonderful day. I will keep you posted.
A year ago today April 8 2024 I was on the Spruceglen in Quebec City. It was the day of the Solar Eclipse.
We will happily mail out your book orders. You can order online at www.shiptoshorechef.com