the jam rockstar
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Last weekend we had a curry party at our place. We cooked three vegetarian curries, rice and a cucumber yogurt dip as well as partaking in chai and yummy desserts from Pushap. It was a really fun time.
Yesterday Dan and I joined some others at the Oka Abbey for a day of silence, meditation, appreciation of nature and stocking up on goodies from Oka. The weather was perfect - not a cloud in the sky and warm without being hot. The Abbey itself had very nice grounds but by far the best part was the little path off the grounds that led to a small river and a path leading to some fields. We were there quite early in the morning and there were hundreds of frogs hiding out under the grass in the path as we walked to the field. There were also all kinds of wild berries including some raspberries which looked awfully tempting. On the way back we saw some small chipmunks playing in the drain by the path - oh my were they ever cute! We had lunch beside the stream next to a few frogs and with a chipmunk watching us from the other side. Dan just about sat in a pool of tadpoles! In the afternoon we visited the Abbey store, which features products the monks from this and other abbies harvest/make. Of course there was Oka cheese, but also a large variety of chocolates, honey and bread. On the way to the abbey store was an impromptu farmer’s market in the parking lot where we got a very nice loaf of sourdough bread. But here is the best part - in Montreal we have been buying this wonderful homemade jam from a lady in Oka (some of you have received it as Christmas or birthday presents) - and the husband was selling jam at the market!! It was like meeting a rockstar - of jam. I bought a jar of strawberry rhubarb jam (a flavour I haven’t seen in Montreal) but decided against saying anything, as “I’m a big fan of you wife’s jam” would probably sound really lame in French.
It’s “harvest week” in Quebec so we took a trip with Sanan to Marché Jean-Talon to stock up on fruit for the winter. We bought big flats of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, two baskets of grapes and a basket of kiwis (which only cost a dollar!) and hung out with Dave and Sanan while we prepared them for freezing. They’re in Sanan’s deep freezer right now, so now we just have to go and buy a freezer for ourselves. The little one in our refrigerator just doesn’t do the trick.