A Sweet Tooth

Lately, I've been craving apple pie so I purchased a few small apples last week in anticipation of making it.  Today I noticed the apples were going a bit soft and as I wasn't up to making pie crust, I decided to make some apple crumble instead.

This was my first attempt at making this dish though I have eaten it from time to time. I knew before hand that it is not too difficult to make so I googled a diabetic recipe.  The following recipe came up but somehow I don't think it is that diabetic friendly. I'll have to look for another one but in the meantime, this one will be eaten.  I did reduce the sugar and the oil and increased the oats so that will help a bit.

Recipe from IFood

Ingredients

* 4 large cooking apples

* 4 tbsp olive oil

* Zest and juice of 1 large lemon

* 3/4 cups of sugar (any kind will do). I like brown.

* 2 pinches of ground cinnamon

* 1/2 cup of cold unsalted butter

* 1 cup plain flour (I increased this slightly by about 1/4 cup)

* 5/8 cup sugar (I reduced this to about 1/2 cup)

* 1/8 cup porridge oats (I increased this slightly). 

Directions

1. Peel and core the apples and cut into large chunks.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the lemon zest and juice, sugar, cinnamon and then add the apples. Cook for 5 mins to soften slightly.
3. Tip into a large baking dish.
4. Place the cold butter and flour into a food processor and pulse until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency.
5. Tip into a bowl and stir through the extra sugar (1/2) carefully. Spoon over the top of the stewed apples and sprinkle over the oats.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 mins or until well-browned. Serve your apple crumble plain or with custard or ice cream.  Today we had French vanilla ice cream to go with the crumble.

This dish was delicious and I highly recommend it. It was made special by the addition of the lemon juice and lemon rind which really enhanced the overall flavour of the dish. 

Bon appetit!

Driving to Marigat

I know I've posted some scenes about this drive before but I didn't think it would hurt to post some again as I re-start my travel series about my Kenyan travels.

My travelling companion and I are on our way to a mission station in Marigat, Kenya.  Marigat is a small town about 100 kilometres north of Nakuru.  Actually where we are going is off the highway a few hours east of Marigat.  However,  Marigat is the place that you can find on the map. We are going there because I first travelled there several years ago to see this very arid place and to learn about their need for water. I am travelling now to see the borehole that has been built and to learn about what progress has been made and the still outstanding need for water. I'll write more about that project later. For now I want to show you the countryside.  You can click on the maps and photos to make them larger.

Can you find Marigat? How about Lake Baringo and Bogoria as that is where I am headed after going to the village closer to Marigat.

I love the stretches of countryside. I noticed that the closer we got to Marigat which is a smaller town, the narrower the highways got. I assume this is for a few reasons.  One being that the road is less travelled to these less populous places.  Another possible reason is that the road is not new.  Since my first trip to Kenya several years ago I have noted that the highways are much improved and I'm sure that these improvements will continue.

I'm always struck by how many people are walking in places where it seems like no one lives. I know there are villages and habitations everywhere so I'm assuming that is where these people are headed. Many people in the villages of course cannot afford a car so they must walk or take matatu if they can afford the transport fees. A matatu is a small van which transports you for very little money. Sorry for the blurred photo but we were travelling quite fast.

We had to slow down for this little creature who decided to take a nap in the middle of the highway.

More open highway. I love the blue sky.

This is a typical scene along highways and roadways. You will come across signage pointing the way to schools and churches primarily. You will also come across stalls like these ones with the corrugated metal. There are usually stores in these stall but these ones don't look too busy that day.

Here we are driving through Marigat, Kenya. We will stop for refreshment before carrying on.

We are stopped at a restaurant that I've been to before. We usually have some stew and milk or tea here. People like to sit on this veranda and eat as well as people watch.

This is the view from the veranda/patio of the restaurant. From here you have a good vantage point as to the buses, the shops and the roadside market.

Here along the busy highway the woman sell produce of fruits and veggies. From what I understand, a lot of produce must be transported from elsewhere due to the arid nature of the land. However, there is now a major irrigation project, Perkerra Irrigation scheme.  I'm guessing that more of the produce needed in the area can now be grown. I did see the project as we drove further to the village eastwards.

Another street scene.

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Farewell Kenyan Skies

These were the skies over Kenya as I made my way to Nairobi on my most recent safari to my beloved adopted country.

As you can see, it was a very hazy day on the day I departed.

The countryside around Nakuru has some beautiful country scenes.  I love that the landscape is dotted with red rooftops.

And that cows live and roam freely.

This is a scene from the highway.  You can just make out the mountain tops near Lake Elementeita. You can read more about Lake Elementeita in an earlier blog post here.

My driver, Julius is focussed on the road ahead.  He is perhaps one of the most fastidious drivers I've had in Kenya. The other driver I really like is also named Julius, lol.

There are a lot of lorries in Kenya. You can see them here though this is by no means the most I've seen in any one place.

You can also see fruit stands selling oranges along the roadway.  I didn't stop as we were planning a luncheon stop in Lake Naivasha at the Golf and Country Club (more about that in a future post).

This is the final photo of the day. When I took this near Naivasha I said out loud that this would be my contribution to one of the Skywatch Fridays posts. I thought it was an interesting shot given all the birds and they don't seem to be in any particular formation. I wonder if they saw some food below?

 

I hope you've enjoyed the drive with me. For more Skywatch Friday photos, click here. I think this photo also qualifies for Blue Monday and I will see if I am able to add it later.  Join Smiling Sally and the others here. Please say a prayer for Smiling Sally as she has recently had surgery and endured some complications.

Canada Day & the Maple Leaf Flies Abroad

I started a series on my Kenyan travels several months ago but for various reasons have taken a hiatus.  One of the reasons included having to continue the recovery process of most of the photos I took on my trip.  Recently, I made some time to complete the photo recovery process for the trip I took to Kenya in November/December 2010.  I hope now to re-start my travel series on Kenya.

I thought this particular post was fitting given that it relates to Canada's flag abroad and the fact that Canada just celebrated it's birthday on Canada Day, July 1st. I hope you enjoy it.

One of the delights of travelling in Kenya is crossing the equatorial line.

The latitude of the Equator is 0° (zero degrees). The length of Earth's equator is about 40,030.2 kilometres (24,873.6 mi). To calculate the actual length of the Equator would require taking into consideration that the Equator goes up and down various mountains and hills in South America, in Africa, and on various islands. The Equator is one of the five notable circles of latitude on Earth, with the others being the two Polar Circles and the two Tropical Circles: the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The Equator is the only line of latitude which is also a great circle. The imaginary circle obtained when the Earth's equator is projected onto the sky is called the celestial equator.

The sun passes directly over the Equator twice each year, at the March and September equinoxes. At the Equator, the rays of the sun are perpendicular to the surface of the earth on these dates.

Places on the Equator experience the quickest rates of sunrise and sunset in the world. They are also the only places in the world where the sun can go directly from the zenith to the nadir and from the nadir to the zenith.  Such places also have a theoretical constant 12 hours of day and night throughout the year, though in practice there are variations of a few minutes due to the effects of atmospheric refraction and because sunrise and sunset are measured from the time that the edge of the Sun's disk is on the horizon, rather than the center of the disk.  (source: Wikepedia)

A new tourist centre has opened up at the Equator. Jointly sponsored and funded by the Government of Kenya and the European Union it is a wonderful addition to Kenya's growing efforts in supporting tourism in the country.

It is a beautiful site with many flags of various countries flying there in the stiff wind.  There is a stylized metal globe standing next to the flags.

I found the Canadian flag was hanging upside down and I let the tourist official know that.  He was good enough to promptly correct the problem and we shared a laugh about it.

Here is a scene of the premises and the buildings on the site.

 

You can see our van as we were the only tourists stopped there at that moment. The Kenyan flag is waving in the background.

The grounds are quite lovely considering that this is a dry area. These fields lay just beyond the tourist centre.

On the other side of the highway you will see the original site marking the Equator. This is where I stopped several years ago to take photos on my first trip across the Equatorial line.

Here is the tourist official re-hoisting the flag.

While I visited the site the young man called his superior on the cell phone and asked me to speak with him which I promptly did. The boss was very engaging and had no problem speaking to a complete stranger. He asked me if I would be so good as to find a new Canadian flag for their centre as the one they had was getting a little worn. I promised to see what I could do and I haven't forgotten my promise. I need to get on this and see if one of the government offices could send our flag abroad.

Here is a map I found in the centre. I wanted to study it as we were on our way to Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria.

July 1st, is the national holiday of Canada on which we celebrate the anniversary of the July 1, 1867 anniversary of the enactment of the British North America Act (today called the Constitution Act, 1867).  This year the celebrations were extra special in our nation's capital city, Ottawa.  The reason is  because the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are here on their first royal tour together. I couldn't be there because Ottawa is a 5 hour flight to the east, but I did manage to catch the festivities on television. I also managed to enjoy some of the fireworks in our city. This latter part was a huge and pleasant surprise for me.

Canada Day 2011, fireworks from my patio. I wasn't aware that I could even see the fireworks from my home until after they began. It's too bad I didn't have a proper video camera for taking night shots.

To read earlier installments of my Kenyan travel series you can go to this post where you will find links to most of my Kenyan travel posts. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this series or any of my other posts. It's great to hear from readers!

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On Spanish Banks

It has been such a long time since I've been to the beach or the ocean here in my city though I don't live so terribly far away from it. It is a shame really since I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. On one side is the beautiful Pacific Ocean and on the other side stand the majestic mountains.  In the middle is the pearl, the City of Vancouver.

Today I went to capture some photos at a place called Spanish Banks.

Named by the earliest European Spanish explorers in the 1770s. Spanish Bank is home to three of Vancouver's superior beaches, far from the madding crowd. Here you can feel truly "away" as you scan the open waterfront to the west or turn your glance back to one of the most beautiful city skylines anywhere. (Source: Vancouver Park Board website).

I enjoyed my visit so much. The sights, the smells....I could smell the seaweed and the sound of the waves lapping against the shore is always such a soothing balm. Also one can't find better scenery and city skyline even with the overcast sky. I hope you enjoy my slideshow of the beautiful scenes.  You need to click on the slideshow to open a separate screen. There you will see some slides set to music.

From Movies

For those of you who can't watch slideshows with music, I've added a slideshow without music. If that still doesn't work, try the link to the photo album here.

Click here to see more of Watery Wednesdays.

Day Trip to Kamloops, My World Tuesday

Driving to Kamloops, BC. We are at the highest elevation of the mountainous highway.

Passing by Merritt, BC.  One hour left to go before we get to Kamloops.

Today my brother, my cousin and I took a day drive to Kamloops to visit my mother.  We left around 7:45 a.m. and arrived in Kamloops at 12:30 p.m. after a leisurely drive and several stops. I only took a couple of photos along the way.  After stopping for some lunch we arrived to visit mom. She was waiting in the dining hall anxiously keeping watch for us and was so happy when we arrived.

We visited for a time in the dining hall and I showed her the shawls and dresses I had brought for her. She loved them all.  After visiting for awhile my brother went to pick up my niece who lives about a half hour from where mom now resides.  When he returned, we left my brother to visit my mom in private while I took my cousin for a look around the facilities and took my niece to see the new rose garden that is now open at the facility.

As soon as we opened the door to the garden, the fragrance of the roses was heavenly.  I took a few photos as the blossoms were so lovely.  There were about 6 or 7 varieties of roses in the garden but I took photos of these beautiful red blossoms only.

Afterwards, my cousin and I took mom to her room where we tried on her dresses as best we could given she was sitting in her wheelchair. My guess is that the staff will cut the new dresses up the back to make them easier to wear. Hopefully they won't wash them. I will have to retrieve them later and sew some seams up the back.  She loved both dresses but I think the red one particularly caught her eye.  While we were trying on her dresses my brother drove my niece back to her home.

We visited awhile longer with mom and took her back to the dining room for dinner before calling my nephew to come and meet his auntie for a quick visit. We visited with him briefly in the parking lot before we departed at 5:45 p.m. for the drive back to Vancouver. He usually wants a real quick visit so we were careful to take little of his time. This time he asked why the rush, lol. We may seem him this weekend when he makes a trip to the big city.  Soon he will be moving to my city permanently as he has given up his job to return to university and complete his Bachelor of Arts degree.

We made it home at approximately 9:45 p.m.  We were all very tired as none of us slept well last night but all in all we had a fruitful and pleasant visit.

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Three Bags Full and Two Dresses

For some time I've been meaning to clean the cushion covers of 4 Kapok filled cushions I purchased a long while ago. I finally got around to it today. Kapok is seed hair fibre from a Kapok tree and looks and feels very interesting.

The job was a little more difficult and time consuming than I bargained for but thankfully it is all done now.

I had four cushions to open and empty of it's Kapok contents. Kapok grows on trees and has a cotton like consistency. It is rather soft and fluffy and this made the work of removing it a bit of a challenge.
You can read more about Kapok here.

Particles of kapok dust flew all over the place and got on the freshly vacuumed carpet. My cousin who is visiting and who had vacuumed was not so happy with me but the job had to be done. After a few years of wear the cushions were becoming flattened and that was the other reason I needed to open them. After refilling the cushions I was left with three. I need to buy more Kapok to fill up the remaining pillow.

I've left one cushion open so you can see a glimpse of the kapok. I've basted the other two cushions to ready them for stitching.  Given the cushions were now filled to the brim, it was challenging to stitch them closed but I managed. No need to be perfect as they will likely go into cushion covers.

Another sewing project today was to sew over the seams of two dresses I had made for mom while I was in Kenya recently. Before I left I asked her if she wanted anything from Africa and she said she would like a dress.  So I got her two of them as they were such pretty colours and her birthday is coming up at the end of the summer. I will deliver them both to her tomorrow.  She knows they are coming and she is rather excited about getting them.

Isn't this a pretty colour green? I almost kept this fabric for a dress of my own. I had big pockets placed in front of both dresses so that when mom sits in her wheelchair she can still reach into her pockets without any problem.

This red colour is beautiful. Mom will love it. The red pockets are not visible against the deep red background of the dress.

Now mom will feel that she can experience a taste of Kenyan culture. Though I'm not fully sure if this patterned fabric is really African, my friend there said it looked like some fabric they call a star pattern. I hope he is right.

This same friend teaches me a lot about Kenyan culture and about his own Kalenjin culture. I learn something new all the time. Recently on his own blog I learned about Kalenjin burial customs when he lost his uncle whom he called elder father because he was the eldest male sibling of his father.  Please read more about it here .

Meeting Jo

What a wonderful treat I had when I visited Kenya recently. I got to meet a blogging buddy and she is a treasure.

I met my blogger friend Jo in Nakuru Town when she and her husband made a pit stop on their way back from Nairobi to Kimwarer Valley. I was so grateful because it would have been a pity to be so close to her and yet not meet her. Through God's design and Jo's perseverance we were indeed able to meet and see one another in the flesh.

This is Jo!

Our meeting was brief but long enough for me to sense the special treasure that Jo is. She really is a delightful, gentle spirit.  Jo and her husband hail from South Africa but are currently living in the Kimwarer, Valley near Eldoret, Kenya.  I had a moment to introduce her to the three boys I was treating to lunch and they were thrilled.  In case, you don't know Jo yet, please see her wonderful blog here.

From left to right:  Martin, Hillary Joseph and Moses. You can read more about them here.

Thank you Jo for making time to meet with me. I hope we get another chance to talk in depth some day, Lord willing.