Day 102 – Still quite windy this morning but the rain had stopped & it was clear & sunny. 55 degrees. We took a morning walk, our first of many I’m sure, out to the mail boxes. I clocked it on my VivoFit – just under 1-1/2 miles round trip (1.48 mi.), a nice walk to do daily when the weather allows it. We actually had mail – a flyer. Our first mail here. Never thought we’d be excited to see a flyer! LOL.
We ran into Suzanne on the road as she was returning from town. Chatted a while and this conversation about mushrooms reminded me to mention that Michael had told us that we had quite a collection of Chanterelle Mushrooms growing on our property (and around the peninsula) this summer. We’d noticed since we’ve been back some different mushrooms coming up. Yummy! Chanterelles. But I’d be afraid to try one unless I knew for sure…..
Back at the RV, Rob put the address numbers on the pole & poured the concrete. While he was out at the driveway, Dana, came by when walking out to their mail box. She & her husband got a place here last year. She stopped to talk. (She was the person who discovered the Chanterelles on our land. She agreed to come back another time to look at the ones we were curious about.) Then Kari & Simon drove by, they were heading into town. They saw Dana & Rob talking, and they stopped to chat. They have a place they got from her Aunt who was a long-time resident here, and they are here on their two-week vacation. All of them said they want to come by & see the RV. For an isolated little dirt road, it sure is surprising how many people you run into!
Eventually, Rob finished with the pole & then tried out the repaired chain saw. He took down several dead trees so he could proceed with the new connector pathway. The chain saw worked great. He brought down some more fill from the upper pad where we’d had the gravel delivered in June, and worked on the pathway. I cut some vegetables for lunch sandwiches & then went out to tie off & mark more potentially removable dead or dying trees. Just taking out a couple of trees for the pathway really nicely expanded our view of the water.
A beautiful day, 65 degrees, sunny with a breeze. After lunch we went out to the screened tent. We tried out the new pathway which is finished except for woodchips on top to preserve it. We did not take wine & beer out, ho ho, but we did see that it would be much less precarious when we do. Spent the rest of the afternoon out there.
Tonight we made a new dish called “Jansson’s Temptation”. We ended up renaming it “Jansson’s Torment”. We both like anchovies. This is a baked casserole that layers potatoes, onions, anchovies & spices with heavy cream. I had discovered this recipe when reading a Swedish mystery by Helene Tursten. The dish was mentioned several times as a Swedish favorite often served at Christmas. I looked it up on the internet & copied the recipe, modified the dairy ingredients to lower the fat & added some other ingredients. It’s all supposed to be baked at a low temperature for 1-1/2 hours. It smelled really good as it baked. But it became “Jansson’s Torment” when, after 90 minutes, the potatoes had not finished cooking (even though quite thinly sliced). By this time we were really hungry. So we stirred it & baked it another 15 minutes at a higher temperature. Still not done. We finished off the beer & wine to help stave off the appetite while cooking it yet another 30 minutes. (Then it really didn’t matter if it was done or not, we just wolfed it down. No really, it was quite good & we have enough for three more nights.) At the end of baking, we added some fresh scallops for protein. Awesome.