Comings and Goings

The Adolescent

As much as the Adolescent's antics give me grief, I am surprisingly sad that he has just gone off to camp for the summer. He is a junior counselor at the camp where he has been a camper for many years. I'm not going to see him until the end of August! I really can't believe I'm feeling this but I miss him! To make myself feel better I try and remember all the aggravation he's caused me this year. But even that doesn't make me miss him less!

Blueberry Pancakes

I make him Blueberry Pancakes on the morning of his departure. So he'll remember why he should come home.

Brothers enjoying a goodbye hug

Although it doesn't look it from this face, the Beamer is really going to miss his brother too!
 

Even the Hubby is feeling sentimental!

The Adolescent has been thinking a lot these past few months about what he would like to do for his future career. It's come down to two things of equal interest. He wants to be an astrophysicist. And he wants to be rich. Seriously?! What the heck does an astrophysicist do anyway? And hasn't he been listening when I tell him that to be Rich in LOVE is what he should be striving for in life?! I suggest he get some books to read during downtime at camp. I'm thinking Hunger Games or something of that nature. He packs A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, Cosmos by Carl Sagan, Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. Who is this boy?!

The Daughter, Claire, Charlotte, me

Charlotte and Claire have come from France for a visit. Charlotte lived with us for 3 months in 2006. Now she has come for her first visit back and has brought her younger sister Claire. Claire has never been on an airplane before! She eats corn on the cob for the first time! Their visit highlights yet again how little I cook. I vow to not let them leave this country again with a skewed view of how Canadians cook and eat.

Glass Noodle Salad with Edamame

Amidst all these comings and goings I have the strange and untimely urge to make a feast for Father's Day a couple of weeks back.

Asparagus Mimosa with capers and hard boiled egg

I make three dishes I've never tried before from the vegetarian cookbook Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi.

Four Fathers - The Hubby, my Dad, Brian, and Richard

Lots of cooking and lots of eating leads to lots of cleaning up. Unbelievably, the dishwasher breaks. The groaning and complaining from the children when they realize they might have to wash a dish reminds me of yet another way I've failed as a parent. The only weapon left in the Kitchen Mess arsenal is the Hubby...but it's FATHER'S DAY! I struggle with a dilemma of conscience...

Did he or didn't he have to wash dishes on Father's Day???

The only outcome that you need to know is that THIS weekend we use paper plates and disposable glasses. I feel guilty about the waste but apparently my conscience can only deal with so much.
 

The family welcomes Charlotte and Claire

For Charlotte and Claire's dinner with my family I make Hamburgers. I read an article that the secret to the best burger ever is the ratio of meat to fat which should be 80% meat to 20% fat. The ground beef I get is 85/15 and it is excellent. Another thing I learn is that a great burger doesn't need any seasoning other than salt and pepper. No onion, no worcestershire sauce, no egg or breadcrumbs. Just some really great condiments and a good bun. The burgers are delicious and relieve my guilt just a bit!

The Comings are always something to anticipate and enjoy. But dealing with the Goings has never been my strength. I will likely get used to having the Adolescent away for the summer. I will likely learn to enjoy the peace and quiet that is only possible in a home without an Adolescent in it. I will in time find another motivation for baking. But until then, I will savour the unfamiliar feeling of missing the Adolescent.

Stories from the Road

The Hubby is quite proud of his special black Ride to Conquer Cancer jersey. While the majority of the 4800 riders in last weekend's event toil along in our regular yellow Ride jerseys, the Hubby dons his black one with "Ambassador" written down one side, happy in the knowledge that he has special ambassadorial qualities.

At the starting gate: Amanda, Beatrice, Barb, Sabina, the Hubby

I have no ill will toward this gross miscarriage of justice because he certainly earned the honour. He did organize the design and making of our team's uniform. Helen actually designed it but the Hubby did organize it all.

The night before the Ride: looking up to the Hubby, just the way he likes it!

 
And he did lead all of our team's training rides. Well, it's probably more accurate to say that he rode ahead of everyone else on our training rides. No need to wait for the team. That's why GPS was invented! Comes in handy when your captain yells "I'll meet you in Streetsville...! Just another 30kms that-a-way...!".

And how exactly did the Hubby think that the team knew where and when to meet for the weekly training rides given that he never actually informed them?! It must be his ability to telepathically communicate that makes him so darned special. And the tips! I emptied my brain to the team of all the knowledge I had from my experience last year! But the Hubby had not one tip to share because he's never done the Ride before! Not that you'd know it looking at his special black Ambassador jersey! But I'm not bitter.

Sabina and me

It was an inspiring sight as we rode west from Toronto to see the road turn into an undulating ribbon of yellow (and one black) jerseys. Good spirits and a sense of camaraderie prevailed as we pedaled our way up seemingly endless hills, through pouring rain, and past hundreds of cheering well wishers lining the route. Two cyclists lighting up and smoking cigarettes while riding baffles with its disrespect. A woman labouring up a hill behind Sabina literally wailing "I CAN DO THIS!" is annoying but inspiring at the same time. One survivor pedals the entire 200km with one leg on a modified bike. The oldest rider at 84 is blind so rides a tandem bike with his cardiologist because he has heart problems too! Sabina, a first-timer and one of the slower riders on our team during training, surprises me at every pit stop as she keeps pace.

Our Team

In the end, the Daughter is unable to do the Ride after falling off her bike and fracturing her elbow. The Boyfriend pinch hits for her and joins the Ride without any training. But because he's young and naturally in good shape as only the young can be, he easily finishes the Ride more than 2 hours before us. Very impressive. And annoying. All at the same time.

The Daughter and the Boyfriend

The Hubby is a machine. Powering up hills with barely a downshift. Barreling through all 200 kilometers hardly out of breath. He can ride circles around me. But he doesn't. I know without a doubt that even though he's far far ahead and out of sight that at one point soon he will appear, either slowly pedaling so I can catch up or waiting for me at the side of the road. So sweet. So Hubby-like. Okay...fine....so Ambassadorial! (I gagged a little writing that).

Jon, Sabina, the Boyfriend, me, the Hubby, Joe, Helen, Matthew, Colin: at the finish line in Toronto

It's always so sweet at the finish. Smiling familiar faces cheering us in. My dad and Sinikka are there. So are my sister and brother-in-law and Scarlett. Relief to be off the butt, on the ground, out of the shoes, helmet-free. 

My niece and most excellent cheerleader Scarlett

The Hubby, the Daughter, the Adolescent, the Beamer and I go out to dinner that night at our favourite neighbourhood restaurant. We sit outside on the patio enjoying the warm evening, feeling tired but accomplished. As the meal is ending our waiter tells us that our entire meal has been paid for by an anonymous stranger in a random act of kindness. Very disorienting at first. But then just really so much appreciated. A wonderful ending to a very meaningful weekend.

Pain in the Butt

I've been trying to write this post for weeks. I write a would-be post but when I go to review it a day or two later it just doesn't meet with my own approval. I re-read what I had spent an hour writing and I practically fall asleep mid sentence as it's so ho hum! For the last year and a half I've rarely had any difficulty coming up with a weekly post. It just seemed that my brain was full of thoughts and observations and proclamations. It was simply a matter of harnessing all this brain activity into a coherent theme. But for the past few weeks I appear to be thought-less! This has started to worry me. I think all my creative energy has become misdirected to my Butt.

Maureen punching the Hubby! Even THIS did not inspire a blog post!

The Hubby and I have been training for the Ride to Conquer Cancer - a 200 km cycle over 2 days next weekend to raise money for cancer research. I'm not worried about my heart or legs going the distance. But my Butt is what needs the training! To build up my Butt's endurance, we have been riding increasingly longer distances over the past few months. We use whatever external Butt supports we can. We have padded shorts, ergonomic bike seats, and most precious of all we have Butt Butter! The problem with all this training is that it takes a lot of time and there's not a lot of energy left for much else. I think my Butt has annexed all my creativity!

Paul, Matt, and Geoff are smiling because their Butts are NOT sore...or maybe it's because of the martinis...?!

Looking back on the past month I have surprised even myself by the fact that in the midst of all this attention to my Butt I actually did some time in the kitchen. I am amazing. So here's the best I can do for you today: the month in pictures...

Dinner on the back patio with Cathy and Jon

One of the Daughter's favourite meals is hamburgers. In sympathy of the fractured elbow she got from falling off her bike, we have a BBQ one Sunday evening. They are delicious!

Burgers topped with grilled onion, salsa and guacamole

I fell off my bike in April. While the massage therapist is working on my sore shoulder, she chats to me about her baking exploits. She raves about the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook. It's a very fun read and inspires me to make Cornflake-Chocolate-Chip-Marshmallow Cookies which are crisp but chewy and salty and sweet...

From Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook

...and Chocolate Chip Layer Cake that is made up of chocolate chip vanilla cake, passion fruit curd, chocolate crumbs, and coffee frosting. This is a gorgeous creation and so deserves more than just a passing mention here. But even THIS did not inspire words of worth! That's how bad it is!

Awesome

The Boyfriend too falls off HIS bike (wait...maybe there's a THEME here...?!).

The Boyfriend's leg...the Daughter's arm!

He gets Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler...

I also made a rhubarb coffee cake but I am so far gone I didn't even take its picture!

I make this Chocolate Mocha Ice Cream Cake...

Chocolate and coffee ice cream on a chocolate wafer crust

...for a dinner in Colin and Sarah's backyard to celebrate one of the first warm spring evenings.

Our hosts Sarah and Colin along with Jon

So that's it. This is what you've been waiting for all these weeks. No pithy comment to end. No bon mots to tide you over until next time. Blame the Butt.