Bich's Canadian adventures: Sunday

Sunday morning dawned beautiful and bright. We meant to be up earlier, but ... nah, we slept in. I had taken the top bunk, Rich the bottom. For a place to just sleep and shower, our hostel couldn't be beat. (I know! Me in a hostel!) It was simple, clean, full of all kinds of different people. There was even a couple in their 60s with a couple of teenagers. In fact, the night before, we hit a great pub across the street and met a guy who had driven from British Columbia (thousands of miles) to go to school at Dalhousie, didn't have his apartment lined up yet and was staying at the hostel. We bought him a pint. And he ended up talking to another guy we'd struck up a conversation with, and it turned out that they were both huge into biking. They exchanged emails and talked about a biking event being held in the city the next day.

We kept most of our stuff in the car, which we had parked across the street -- how convenient, we got the last spot -- and we got up the next day and walked across to our suitcases in our pajamas.

We shared a room with four other people. And no, we didn't speak.

The locker where we kept our stuff.

We then hit the amazing Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market. It was hyooooge. And full of delicious stuff. We grabbed brunch and an outside table.

And then we hit the road.

When we arrived at the airport the day before, the Hertz attendant cheerily informed us that they'd given us an upgrade from the mid-size SUV I'd ordered knowing we'd be on some rough terrain with a fair amount of gear. But my heart sank: I didn't want anything bigger, because 1) I hate big SUVs and 2) I knew the gas would kill us. Americans should shut up about gas prices, because we have no idea how good we have it. (They're insane in Europe, and nearly as insane in Canada.)

They gave us a Lincoln Navigator. Ugh.

Crossing the Macdonald Bridge to Dartmouth,
on our way north out of the city

Wind farm! We saw lots of these.

Rich eventually had to do a fantasy football draft over the phone, so I took the wheel for our three-hour ride to the north shore of Prince Edward Island. Just before we crossed over to PEI, we came across this amazing sign (which, like the vast majority of signs in the area, were also in French), and I came to a screeching halt:

MOOSE CROSSING!

The eight-mile Confederation Bridge connecting
Prince Edward Island with, technically, New Brunswick

"Jesus, take the wheel ...
because this thing is stupid-large and it scares me."

After a beautiful drive through the nearly unspoiled countryside of Prince Edward Island, we reached the Green Gables Shore and the Prince Edward Island National Park's Cavendish beach campground, and got to work setting up a tent in very windy conditions.

Yes, we fought.

But we got the tent up. Rich went for a run, and I headed into "town" to grab some camping nibbles and wine for the night. It was a little difficult to stay mad with this view.

We brought towels.

Five feet from our tent. Seriously.

I had made dinner reservations in nearby North Rustico, and on our way out of the campground, we met Mr. Fox. He looked at us and promptly fell asleep.

We headed to The Pearl Cafe. Zagat called it PEI's best restaurant. It did not disappoint.

Lawn art?

How adorable is this place.

Sparkling and a beer as we peruse the menu.

The super-cozy dining room

The view from our table.

Amuse bouche from the chef -- the salmon was fresh, the apple
was delish, but Rich found the blini a little too dry. I dug it.

Vermouth butter-braised Pickle Point oysters with tapenade

Fresh mushroom soup with nasturtium garnish.
What made it interesting was just how earthy and fresh it was.
Needed a little more seasoning, but it was just a fascinating dish.

Biscuits for our soup

PORK BELLY.

More specifically, crab cake with
slow-roasted PORK BELLY and smoked oyster aioli.

This was unlawfully good.

Rich's seared scallop and lobster with Tobiko roe, served
with warm new potato salad in Pernod dressing with
summer vegetables and herb vinaigrette. Some of those vegetables
included organic carrots, which were purple and delish.

Brooke's goat cheese risotto with kale chips,
pickled baby beets, roasted peanuts and honey

Oh, no ...

... we didn't like it at all.

We absolutely adored the staff. Maxine, the owner, took great care of us, and was very sweet and down-to-earth -- but very funny. We learned later she had a potty mouth, which I found delightful.

We eschewed dessert because we were absolutely stuffed, but we asked if we could have a glass of port and take it out to the deck. They gladly obliged; we were one of the last few people in the restaurant, but they didn't rush us at all. We enjoyed the strong breezes, the lights on the deck, the wide expanse of land. Maxine came out to chat with us, tell us more about The Pearl, and generally be a great hostess. We met the chef and thanked him for a fantastic meal, and thanked the staff for taking such good care of us.

We headed back to the campground, hoping the tent hadn't blown away (it didn't), grabbed our bottle of Yellow Tail (the best the island had, ha) and our plastic cups, and headed to the beach in the moonlight. The campground was utterly quiet except for the sound of crashing waves.

We fell asleep in our tent, cozy in our sleeping bags, listening to Wilco from Rich's iPhone.

Bich's Canadian adventures: Saturday

Growing up, I was a huge fan of Anne of Green Gables. Perhaps the story of a spunky orphan girl (who had none of the fear that I did) who was smart, funny, loved to read and write, and didn't know how beautiful her red hair really was resonated with an insecure kid with strawberry-blonde hair who just wanted to stay in her room all day and read.

Nearly 30 years later, that little girl got very excited when her husband said, "You know, I'd like to go to Nova Scotia someday." (I thank TripAdvisor, which named Canada's Maritime Provinces one of 2012's top 10 Places to Visit.) And Nova Scotia is nice and close to Prince Edward Island, home to Anne Shirley.

Well, I hear the words "I wanna go ... " and you can pretty much bet your trip is booked.

So Bich flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for a weeklong trip -- one I didn't plan the hell out of, with to-the-minute schedules. I called it the "anti-Paris trip," as it was definitely more ... in nature.

If you've met me, you know I don't do nature.

But Anne does.

Anyway. We reached Halifax and, after a way-too-long visit to FedEx*, checked into our hostel (yes, hostel) and got some area suggestions from our hostess. We headed down to the harbor and hit the Waterfront Warehouse for our first taste of Garrison and some grub.

First stop: Waterfront Warehouse.

Garrison: killer craft beers you can't get outside Nova Scotia and
Prince Edward Island. (Nut Brown Ale and an Irish Red.)

Rich's snack: pickled herring.

My snack: seafood chowder with massive chunks of fish.

Then we got to walking. Halifax (fun fact: they're called "Haligonians") is a beautiful city on the bay with a rich maritime history. While I wouldn't call the city "diverse," it's great for all ages, and with a big university in town, it's vibrant in the way college towns are. And the water is the star.

City on the water.

Next stop: Salty's, with a table on the bay.

"Where's the beer?"

Rich makes another bird friend

Not our best picture, but ...

Halifax's wharf and harbor areas are pretty awesome.
And empty at that moment.

We hit the Spring Garden section next, near the university,
and these are what greeted us as we walked in the door of a sports bar
called Bubba Ray's. (Sidney Crosby is a native Haligonian.)

Your Father's Moustache: great rooftop patio.

Rich dug the urinals at the Moustache ...

In the basement of the Moustache was an upscale bar called
Rockbottom, and this was their tasting flight -- itty-bitty beer glasses!

On the campus of Dalhousie University
(it's not Winston Churchill)

Awesome place called The Maxwell's Plum.
For $5, you get a pound and a half of steamed mussels
with garlic and butter. We later found coupons that brought that price to $3.99.
We went again. And their beer selection was amazing.

We hit a few more fantastic places, just hopping around the city, and making one surprise stop for Rich: I picked up camping gear at Mountain Equipment Co-Op for our trip to Prince Edward Island the next day.

*We discovered one day before we left that Rich's passport was expiring in the middle of our trip. You can no longer fly to Canada without one ... so a new, expidited passport sort of threw our budget for a loop. But he had to FedEx his passport from Canada (so he could get into Canada) to the service, which meant we had to delay the fun a bit. Lessons learned.

Update: The outdoors

The backyard is slowly coming along, but we're pretty sure that next year will require a major overhaul -- ripping up the grass, putting down sod, proper borders for the mulch. Some things just don't turn out right on your own. At night, though, when the candles are lit, the torches are burning and the string lights are on, it's quite pretty.

Rock Garden No. 1 -- with cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and two flowering baskets that are hangin' on

Basil, straight ahead -- 10 minutes later, all was turned into pesto

Rock Garden No. 2, side of the house: Green lettuce, red lettuce, and two more players to be named later

Sage and rosemary

Update: The basement

Ah, the basement -- the project I once thought would take me a couple of weeks is stretching out to almost a year. But now, there is progress. First, the before:

Inspection day, May 2010 (!!!)

And here we are today...

June 2012

Always a kitteh (he sort of follows me around like a dog)

Section by section ...

Look at my super-neat and clean laundry space!

Woody absolutely loves his rugs

Blackout curtains for all four windows

Runners from Crate and Barrel

Getting closer to finishing ...

Fun corkboards (also Crate and Barrel) for above the laundry table

Kitchen overflow (anything I don't use often -- keeping it dust-free)

Shelving

Benny checks out the kitchen unit

Who, me?

Update: The bedroom

OK, OK, OK -- I'll get back to blogging already. (You're welcome, Mom.)

I'm still angling to get new bedside tables, and Leeza has been commissioned to paint a piece for above the bed, but otherwise, it's just about done. Ricca came in and installed new plates, switches and plugs, as well as our new (itty-bitty) ceiling fan. I put up curtains, more pictures, and generally made the room look less like a spare room we barely live in.