31 days of being vegetarians (at home)

Meatless May has gone well. No meat was cooked in our house all month long! We have eaten meat, however, but only when we've gone over to someone else's house or gone to a restaurant.

One of the best parts of the month was using a new cookbook:


"Vij's" is a world-famous Indian restaurant located in Vancouver. I had seen and browsed this cookbook many times in the local bookstores, but May was the month that it was my turn to check the book out of the library! I've made three vegetarian dishes - Long Green Beans and New Potatoes in Mustard Seed Curry, Coconut Curried Vegetables, and Cumin Basmati Rice - from the cookbook so far, and I'm looking forward to making both veggie and meat dishes from it in the future.

But using the cookbook was only one of the best parts of the month. Another awesome part was going to Vij's with friends. Even though we got there before the restaurant opened, we didn't get a seat immediately because of all the people! So, if you don't get a seat right away, you are welcome to order drinks and sample appetizers! Yum. Our meal was delish - I had marinated and grilled sablefish and zucchini in a mango-reduction curry. Then, when we were all done, I tried to be brave and asked Vikram Vij - the man who owns the restaurant, the man who started it 16 years ago as a little 14-seater cafe, and the man who created almost all the recipes with his wife - if Sam and I could have our picture with him. He said yes.


It was a great meal and a great night, and May was a great month.

WCSwK League Results

Another checkered flag has been waved at the brickyard. We would have preferred seeing Tony Kanaan win since he did start in the last position and he was having such a great race, but since the winner did lead 155 of the 200 laps - 387.5 out of 500 miles, the winner did earn it. Congrats to Dario Franchitti on the W, but perhaps more congrats should be given to his wife Ashley Judd since she got more live air time than he did. And while Mike Conway did have an incredibly scary accident, we're glad to hear that it's looking like he'll be okay.

Here are the WCSwK League prizes to be awarded:

John - $.35 for having the winning driver and having the lead driver at lap 91 (both Dario)
Katie - $.10 for having six drivers finish without being lapped
Charlotte - $.05 for having the first driver out of the race

WCSwK Indy League

The long-awaited weekend is here, meaning Sunday is race day! In case you haven't already marked it on your calendar, the Indy 500 starts at noon CT. The traditional league up in northern Minnesota will be holding out to see who wins our Dad's shiny dime, but we three West Coast Sibs without Kids have decided to up the ante.

Prizes to be won:
$.25 – Winning driver
$.10 – Most drivers who finish without being lapped
$.10 – Driver who is leading at lap 91
$.05 – First driver out

This morning we picked drivers via Skype. Here they are:

John’s Picks:
3. Dario Franchitti – one time winner, but it was in the rain
4. Ryan Briscoe
10. Townsend Bell
11. Justin Wilson
12. Raphael Matos
15. Mike Conway
18. Dan Wheldon – a close friend of Dad’s
20. Tomas Scheckter
26. Alex Lloyd
28. John Andretti – cousin of Michael
30. Vitor Meira

Katie’s Picks:
2. Will Power – with a name like that, something good is bound to happen
6. Scott Dixon
7. Graham Rahal
16. Marco Andretti – Mario’s grandson & Michael’s son
17. Ryan Hunter-Reay
21. Ana Beatriz - fastest rookie on Pole Day & a female
23. Danica Patrick - not a family favorite
24. Bertrand Baguette
27. Mario Romancini
31. Takuma Sato
32. Sebastian Saavedra

Charlotte’s Picks:
1. Helio Castroneves – going for his fourth win to tie with the greats
5. Alex Tagliani - the only Canadian in the field
8. Ed Carpenter
9. Hideki Mutoh
13. Mario Moraes
14. Davey Hamilton
19. EJ Viso
25. Bruno Junqueira
29. Sarah Fisher – the woman who drove our dad around the track at 180 mph
33. Tony Kanaan – crashed twice in qualifying but still a family favorite

Let the race begin!

Banana Slug Up Close and Personal

One of the first West Coast bugs we saw was a banana slug with my siblings in Golden Ears Provincial Park. We have seen many of them since then. Yet, we had never seen anything like this until John went hiking this weekend with our friend Dan (whose voice you will hear on the video).

The Future

It's as official as it will be until November. John received his bound thesis - Word Order in the War Scroll (1QM) and Its Implications for Interpretation - a few weeks ago, meaning he's completely done! He has his masters degree.


Well, except for that event called a graduation ceremony, but we won't be here for that.

We're moving to Toronto!

You weren't really expecting that, now were you? To be honest, neither were we. We moved out to British Columbia two years ago with the plan to move back to the States. Yet, John has been accepted into the PhD program at the University of Toronto, so Toronto here we come.

The "Who Knew?" Pizza

These five ingredients make a fantastic pizza. Who knew?

Preheat the pizza to 450. Grease a cookie sheet. Take eight sheets of phyllo pastry and olive oil. Lay a piece of phyllo out, then lightly brush with oil, then repeat seven more times. Roll the edges of the crust up to form an edge, and brush with olive oil. Mix 2 Tbsp. of pesto with 4 oz. of ricotta and spread over the crust. Place thinly sliced tomatoes on top and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until crust bottom is crispy.

Recipe adapted from "Phyllo Pizza w/ Ricotta & Pesto" from MinuteMeals Vegetarian

Reasons to Make the "Who Knew" Pizza:
1) Five ingredients
2) Crust is different (& less expensive than you think)
3)Pesto sauce - need I say more?
4)So easy!
5) DELICIOUS!

Best Blueberry Muffins of John's Life*

We have probably eaten a new variety of blueberry muffins each month for a long time, as I've been on the search for the quintessential recipe. Last night John labeled these muffins "the best blueberry muffins of his life."

Streusel Topped Blueberry Muffins
(from www.allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, diced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Combine 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. In a small bowl, sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons flour over blueberries, and set aside. (This simple trick will keep you from having "purple" batter)
3. In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter with 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, and stir in vanilla and lemon zest. Fold in dry ingredients alternately with milk. Fold in blueberries. Remember, fold gently, don't stir. Spoon batter into prepared cups.
4. Combine 2 tablespoons flour, 5 tablespoons sugar ,and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles course crumbs. Sprinkle over batter in muffin cups.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack. These muffins freeze really well, and re-heat in the microwave successfully. Hope you enjoy!!

Changes:

1) In my quest for this recipe, another recipe had recommended using Mott's Blueberry Applesauce (in place of the oil or butter) to give it an extra blueberry taste. While the batter was a wee bit purple, the baked muffins looked very normal.
2) Per reviews on the website, used 2 cups of (frozen) blueberries.
3) Used the lemon zest of an entire lemon instead of 1/4 tsp. This was very nice but may be too much if I hadn't used the blueberry applesauce.

*As soon as John found out I'd replaced the butter, he decided that these couldn't be the best after all. He figures everything must be better with butter. Why can't he just be content to say, "I can't believe it's not butter!

The City of Victoria

Let's get back to British Columbia basics.


The blue peg is where we live.
The red peg is the city of Vancouver.
The island to the west of Vancouver is Vancouver Island.
The green peg is the city of Victoria.

Do you feel knowledgeable?

Here's a bit more for your noggin. Vancouver Island is near the San Juan islands in Washington. Victoria is the capitol of British Columbia and is a city that is described as being British.

Now that you are geographically intelligent about this area of North America, read on. We went to Victoria this past weekend because John was presenting a paper at the Regional SBL Conference. To get to Vancouver Island, you take a ferry.


Victoria is most famous for the following:

Butchart Gardens


Tea, High Tea, Tea Shoppes, Tea You-Fill-in-the-Blank


The Empress Hotel


Parliament at Night

What I did with my friend Sam while the others were at the conference:

Climbed Mount Finlayson, where at the top you can see Victoria, the mainland (what I'm pointing to), the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, and the far-reaching Pacific Ocean

Took part in a protest at the Capitol against Norwegian Salmon Farms

A should-be major highlight of any trip to Victoria:

A walk along the huge jetty in the Juan de Fuca Strait
(Olympic Mountains in the background)

Wow, now you know a lot about Victoria!

A Pacific Northwest Vacation

To celebrate John's master's degree completion, we took off for the island (known to all non-BCers as Vancouver Island) and the Olympic Peninsula last Friday. We had a fabulous time together, getting back into the adventure mode of our round-the-world trip. Yes, we even chose to sleep in our car once, and it was luxurious with pillows & sleeping bags - items we did not have when sleeping in the car in New Zealand.

Below you'll find pictures of the trip. I tried to keep the descriptions short :)


Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park - a great place for shell searching. We found a bunch of sand dollars, which was really special to me as my grandmother found and collected seashells and the sand dollars were always the most special to her. Now I've found some, Nana!


Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park. When Columbus sailed to North America, that tree behind John - the one still alive and growing - was 300 years old.


There were all kinds of foreboding signs like the one above in the parks we visited. A coastal park sign had this beautiful picture with a man on rocks & a huge wave crashing into the rocks below him. The captain read "The next wave nearly killed this man. Stay off the rocks." It was a bit daunting. Nonetheless, there are around 15 people killed annually on the island's west coast due to waves on rocks or high tide moving driftwood that then crush people on the beach, so the signs are necessary.


The view from the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet, British Columbia


A beautiful flower? Yes. A smelly one? Yes. It's called skunk cabbage.


Our favorite hike was through the Shoreline Bog. There was a booklet to explain everything you saw and really, the place was fascinating. I'll keep my explanation simple. The trees you are seeing are 1 to 2 meters tall and up to 200 years old. Outside of this bog, the same kinds of trees are giants. It's all because of the amazing plant sphagnum moss.


Just to give you something to compare to those tiny OLD trees.


The trees of the Pacific Northwest are truly giants. Here's an example. This entire staircase on the Juan de Fuca Trail is made of one tree. There are 40 steps, each around 20 inches long and 3 feet wide. Besides the steps, there was a good 50 foot section that was flat. Do the math.


We stopped in Joyce, a tiny town on the Olympic Peninsula, to see World War II bunkers that faced the Pacific Ocean. They were placed there to protect the United States & Canada from any boats entering the Juan de Fuca Strait. It was a really neat historical place to visit, as there are no signs explaining anything, yet there are two huge bunkers set into the side of the hill. Here's John posing with the shells (we're guessing - anyone know?) from the guns.


Banana slug. Gross.


The forest of Sol Duc in Olympic National Park. Do you see anything else?


Rialto Beach on the northern coast of Washington. This is one of the beaches where at high tide a person could be crushed by driftwood because the driftwood was made up of gigantic trees. It was literally a graveyard for trees. In the distance you can see some seastacks, which are rocky outcroppings that are close to the coast. We came here at dusk and it was breathtaking.


Again Rialto Beach but looking south this time. The island to the far left was used by Native Americans to escape slave-raids by neighboring tribes.


Seastack up close, this time at Ruby Beach. You get a sense of the size when you realize that that's my head poking up in that hole that opens up to the ocean.



Last stop - Deception Pass State Park, connecting Whidbey Island to Fidalgo Island. This bridge is an incredible engineering feat.

There are so many other fun and interesting things that we saw, but you need to come out and see them for yourself! Here are two tour guides who'd be happy to show you around.

Drumroll please...

The new month is officially Meatless May!