Lakeside Cottage Vacation and Birthday Celebration

Good morning. I am writing to you from home today. Lorraine (my sister, best friend, and publisher) and I returned from our cottage vacation on Saturday. Within 17 hours of disembarking the CSL Laurentien on July 31st, I booked a Lakeside cottage week to celebrate Lorraine's birthday. We were driving through cottage country on our way home, and I mentioned to Lorraine how much fun it would be to spend some time at a cottage. One month later, on August 31st, we were celebrating her birthday with friends at a beautiful Lakeside cottage. It was wonderful. Lorraine thanks everyone for the Happy birthday wishes. I am often working and away for Lorraine's birthday, so when I knew I was going to be home this year, I knew we would have to make it memorable. I often write about my Maine Ocean vacations, but this is my first Lakeside vacation. It's so different from the Ocean and waves; it's calm and quiet.

One month after coming up with the idea to vacation at a Lakeside Cottage, we were on our way to celebrate Lorraine’s birthday.

It was so quiet on the Lake, so different from being on the Ocean or on the ship.

We invited two other girlfriends (one Lorraine has known for over 50 years, the other for 30 years). Before going, we knew that there were two bedrooms on the main floor and a bedroom with two beds in the loft. Weeks before we got here, I called dibs on one of the downstairs rooms, claiming my bad ankle qualified me for that luxury. The climb to the loft is a bit steep, but it was easily decided, and our friend, who has the cutest little dog named Lexi, claimed the other main floor. I got up early every morning at 05:30 to sit outside with my coffee and laptop. I loved my early mornings on the deck, sipping coffee and writing. The table I sat at was located under a large oak tree. It is a beautiful tree, and it acted like an umbrella offering shade until mid-afternoon. The high branches with the big oak leaves framed the multiple photos I snapped from the deck of the Lake at different times of the day. The mornings were so silent with occasional calls from the Loons. The loft window is above where I sat, and I tried to be quiet while setting up my laptop and coffee, but the moment I sat down, the acorns started to fall. I think the squirrels were waiting for a target, and as soon as I sat down, the acorns fell. The acorns bounced off the wooden deck like a ping pong ball. It was entertaining. The noise would wake the girls, and I would hear the voices of Lorraine and her best friend chatting through the upstairs open window like young 12-year-old girls at summer camp. The weather was perfect and we were outside from morning till night. The wraparound windows inside give the feeling that you are still outside even when you are indoors.

The branches from the Oak tree framed all the pictures I took from the deck. We enjoyed the fire table during the cool mornings and late evenings.

I spent hours sitting under this beautiful large Oak Tree. It offered shade until mid-afternoon and entertainment when the squirrels dropped the acorns using us as targets.

The squirrels were quite accurate in dropping acorns and little branches. I jumped when this one landed on my keyboard. I wasn’t sure if they were aiming for my head or my big coffee cup. (if you zoom in on the photo, I was working on a story for the e-magazine: my favorite ship of all time. The last time I shared a photo of the project I got a few comments asking if the magazine was going to be in English, because they couldn’t read the words. When I am building a page for the e-magazine, like the cookbooks, I lay out the photos on the page and use “Place holder text” which is random letters creating words generated by the computer to give you an idea of what the page will look like once the real text is added.)

I loved my cottage room. It had the perfect cottage feel and the bed was hotel quality.

We spent most of our time outdoors, but even the time we spent inside was still like being outdoors with the wraparound windows.

For Lorraine and me, a part of our vacations is the food we will be eating. Lorraine and I made a plan for meals that we could prepare ahead and then assemble or complete with minimal cooking. For Lorraine's birthday dinner, we had garlic Rock Lobster tails and shrimp. Lorraine had packed and brought a little container of chopped fresh garlic, and I added it to the butter with a squeeze of lemon. Lorraine had also riced some fresh cauliflower and diced onions and peppers which I just added to a pan with some melted butter and olive oil and we just had to pan fry. At home, she measured out the ingredients for a new Apple crisp recipe she wanted to try, and we brought a bag of apples. She made the apple crisp recipe, shaking out the contents of each little bag she had prepared. She peeled the apples and diced them into perfect, uniform-sized pieces. The cottage smelled so delicious as the birthday dessert baked. I made a little platter with cucumbers, tomatoes, olives and my homemade Tzatziki. Our friends said it was the best Tzatziki they had ever eaten. We are all garlic lovers, so the extra garlicky Tzatziki did not disappoint. After completing our supper and almost licking our plates, we moved down to the dock to sit and watch the sun set. It was a perfect cottage day, celebrating Lorraine's birthday. I work on a ship, so I am always on the water, and I still chose to spend my vacation time on the water. The Lake offers a silence that I don't experience on the Ocean or on the ship. We were told there are 49 Loons on the Lake, and we were located not far from Loon Bay. Lorraine would refer to the evening Loons calling as the orchestra. "Listen, the orchestra is starting." It is the most beautiful sound. The weather offered sunshine and perfect swimming weather.

We brought numerous bags with ice packs and food we prepared at home to enjoy during our week-long cottage vacation. Lorraine made 10 trips up and down the 37 steps.

It’s the first time I cooked Rock Lobsters. They were delicious with the garlic butter. It went perfectly with the pan-fried riced cauliflower with peppers and onions.

The Loons would start at sunset.

Our favorite time of the evening was when the “orchestra” of the Loons started.

The sunsets were amazing.

Another beautiful evening.

The water was mirror calm in the morning.

This made me think of a movie.

We went for daily walks and finished each day with a beautiful meal.

We went for daily walks.

It was such a beautiful place to walk.

I could not believe that I didn't take more photos of the food. We had the meals planned and brought the food, but we were so surprised by how well-equipped the cottage was. I always bring my knives. Lorraine brought some of the other items that we knew would make our meals more delicious and the preparation easier. Lorraine packed the 12-cup coffee machine after we learned that the cottage had only a Keurig machine. Lorraine also packed an emulsifier and an air fryer. It's a lot of schlepping (especially the 37 stairs down to the cottage), but it's worth it. The cottage had numerous pots and some really nice serving trays.

There were 37 steps from the car to the cottage.

We invited our friends from high school for dinner. We hadn't all been together since we flew out to Vancouver in 2002 to surprise them for their 40th birthday (they are twins). It was so much fun to be together and catch up.

Five of us in this photo (1981) were reunited at the cottage: Lorraine, myself, the twins and Lorraine’s best friend kneeling in front. In the center is Dorothy who I worked with at my first real job in the motel. In the back is our friend who we were friends with and when we moved to Halifax to work on the oil rigs, she went with us. Lorraine and I moved back to Ontario a year later but our friend stayed on the East coast. It was so much fun to all be together and we picked up the conversation as if we had just been together the day before.

Lorraine suggested we make a charcuterie board for the evening, and then we could have a Greek-inspired meal. It was nice to prepare a dinner for seven. It gave me the opportunity to make a few extra things. I took a photo of the items I planned to use for the meal...and that was the last photo I took of the food. I was so disappointed because I had been pleased with the charcuterie board (oval tray). It received rave reviews, and the Tzatziki was again highlighted as being the best our Vancouver friends had ever eaten. I explained it was so easy to make. In the center of the tray lined with tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, two kinds of cheese, salami slices, kielbasa slices, was a huge mound of perfectly roasted cauliflower. Lorraine did a perfect job roasting both the cauliflower and the mini eggplants. They went very well with the Greek salad dressing I made. The eggplants were a surprise to everyone. I always enjoy eggplant and think I should eat it more often. Our friends said they had never seen the mini eggplants before. We had a wonderful evening, and at the end of the evening, there was a plan to go for a boat ride the next day.

The start of my enchiladas sauce. I bought the ingredients at our local family run grocery store specializing in fresh produce and a walk-in cheese fridge. The daughter spotted me and said “Did you see, we have poblano peppers” She said she remembered how excited I was the last time when they got them in. I added them to my enchiladas sauce and it gave it an extra authentic Mexican flavor.

The delicious Tzatziki got rave reviews.

This was my before picture but I forgot to take the after photos of our Greek inspired meal. We roasted the cauliflower and placed it in the center of our charcuterie board. It went so well with the Greek dressing and the Tzatziki. We sliced the mini eggplants and roasted them. They were a hit and I was happy that I bought them. We boiled the mini potatoes and when they were cold, we smashed them, put on a little olive oil and then crisped them up in the air fryer. The avocados and tomatoes were strategically placed between two different cheese, cucumbers, olives, salami and kielbasa .

The husband of one of our friends said he would be happy to take us for a tour of the beautiful Lake. We went out the next day, and I could not believe that we were on a lake; it looked like I was in the 1000 Islands on the St Lawrence River. It was so much fun. Unfortunately, I only took a picture of Lorraine's new birthday shoes on the boat. She was so surprised with her birthday shoes. I had designed them to add to our Ship to Shore Chef merchandise. The sample pair was delivered in time for her birthday. The size was perfect and she said they were comfortable. I took the photo to add to the E-magazine and our Shopify Store. The shoes and other items will be available when the New Ship to Shore Chef digital e-magazine comes out at the end of September.

Lorraine loved her birthday surprise Ship to Shore Chef deck shoes. She said they were comfortable and wore them the rest of the week.

This is the only photo I took on the boat. I was so distracted with conversation and laughter. The shoes will be available to order end of September when the e-magazine comes out. They got Lorraine’s seal of approval.

The next day, we had two other friends come for an afternoon. The cottage was close to Brockville, so it wasn't a far drive, and it made for a great place to visit. We had asked our friends if they would pick up a head of cauliflower for us on their way. We had a fun afternoon. We steamed the cauliflower so that we could make mashed cauliflower to go with the Osso Bucco I had made for a special supper. One of our friends said the mashed potatoes were so good, she didn't believe us when we said they were mashed cauliflower. I said it happened on the ship, too. The texture and look are so similar. On our first day at the cottage, the fridge was full, and on the last day, the fridge looked almost empty. I took the few leftovers to make a frittata on the second-to-last day and, on the last day, made a stuffed hamburger pinwheel with the last of the mushrooms, green onions, and onion. The girls loved the pinwheel idea, especially using what you have in the fridge. We served it with a Caesar salad.

I was inspired to make Osso Bucco when I saw the package of meat in the grocery store. When I suggested it to Lorraine, she thought it was a great idea.

The mashed cauliflower was delicious with the Osso Bucco in the tomato sauce. Our friend said the mashed potatoes were delicious. She wasn’t convinced right away when we said they are not mashed potatoes. They are mashed cauliflower.

A frittata is a great way to use up leftovers in the fridge. I added the little bit of watercress, a couple of mushrooms and a some bacon bits. We had brought the bacon bits to go with our Caesar salad. I know that Lorraine’s best friend loves bacon with her Caesar salad. I served the frittata with spicy mayo, merguez sausage with a little of the Greek garlic dressing to dip the sausage.

Lorraine packed up her birthday flowers and we headed home.

We had a great time.

We stopped in Brockville on our way home and went to Block House Island. I always feel close to my parents there. So many wonderful memories. We didn't see any ships, but we stopped at another location along the #2 highway, which follows the St. Lawrence River. What a nice surprise to see a ship just as we were about to leave. I have been home for just over 5 weeks. I look forward to sailing in late fall. I hope to get called for November and December. I will keep everyone posted when I get a call. I will also keep you posted on the launch date for the E-magazine. It is a fun project, and I am learning as I go. The magazine will be interactive with video clips available with just a click on an image. Lorraine just called and we set up a time to go for a walk. I asked if we could walk along Lac Mercier. I miss the Lake. Have a wonderful day.

I was excited to see a ship on the St Lawrence from one of our ship watching spots.