Planning a Lakeside Cottage Vacation

Good Sunday morning. This is already my second Sunday at home. I think I slept through the first one. Getting off the ship after midnight in the rain and then taking a car service to a Toronto hotel and checking in at 05h30 took me a couple of days to recover from. I feel great now and as much as I love sailing and being on the ship, I also love to be at home. Lorraine lives just 1 km from me, and we see each other every day. As usual, as I sit down to write to you, I start by opening my Google Photos file to select the photos I think are worthy of sharing with you. Imagine my surprise when there were only two, and they were not really worthy of sharing. I looked back at where I was last year, August 10, 2024. I was on the Atlantic Huron. No, I've already shared those photos with you. I looked at my current photos again and was reminded of the little video that I made as we drove from Toronto to Tremblant after I got off the ship. Lorraine's birthday is at the end of August, and I was trying to think of something fun and casually asked her what she thought about the idea of renting a cabin. I know I would love it, but I wanted to make sure she was on board before secretly making the arrangements to invite our friends for a surprise birthday celebration. In general, if you ask me to keep a secret, I can keep it. When I have the secret and I'm excited about it, and I'm telling myself not to tell anyone, I am less likely to keep my own secret. I messaged our close friends and very quickly put together a group of 7. I told them I found a beautiful cottage (The idea of a rustic type of cottage with creaky doors and mismatched cupboards in the kitchen was quickly replaced when I found the most beautiful cottage during my Google search. I could not believe that there was one week available, and it fell over Lorraine's birthday. I wrote to the owner right away to secure the reservation.) I sent the photos of the cottage to the group of 7 and said it's a surprise birthday party for Lorraine. I was so excited and lasted a whole 24 hours before I spilled the beans to Lorraine. She loved the idea and said now she has something to look forward to. That was my thought, too. We can plan together. I like planning the meals that I will prepare for our friends. I like to prepare the food in advance so there is little work while on vacation. I know that one of the meals for our week-long vacation will be my famous chicken enchiladas. While I was on the CSL Laurentien (old Louis R), I made homemade pickled jalapenos for the first time, and they were so delicious. Lorraine tried them too when she came on board for a visit in Quebec City and agreed. They were excellent. I asked her yesterday if she thought it would be fun to pickle some jalapenos and take them along on our cottage vacation. I was delighted when she thought it was a good idea. She suggested we go to our local Canadian Tire Store to buy some mason jars, and we could buy the jalapenos at our local produce store (Bourrassa, they have beautiful produce and a walk-in cheese fridge. Its family run and we have been shopping there for over 30 years.) Lorraine said she would like a jar of the jalapenos for her fridge too. I will take note of the ingredients so that I can share them with you. We have been to a few roadside vegetable stands and picked up fresh yellow beans, radishes, tomatoes, berries, cucumbers, cauliflower and potatoes. I have to control myself not to buy too much, but it all looks so delicious and so fresh. We are expecting a heatwave over the next few days, and I can't complain because my first 10 days at home were the perfect temperature, not too hot and not too cool, the perfect Goldilocks days. I sit out on my balcony each morning and I am writing to you from my balcony now. I have another 25 minutes until the sun comes around the trees and it becomes too hot for me and my laptop. I then move inside to my beautiful office desk. I received a comment from my last post last week that my office chair doesn't look very comfortable. It was intentional to purchase a new chair that forces me to get up more frequently to stretch my legs and walk around. I am famous for immersing myself in a project for hours, so the new chair encourages me to get up often. I am currently working on two big projects. I am preparing the second cookbook "More Recipes and Stories as we Navigate Healthier Eating" to an e-book version. I have had many requests, and I will let you know when that is available. I am also working on the premiere edition of the Ship to Shore e-magazine. It is a fun project, and I will share my pickled jalapenos in that first issue. I like the fact that the e-magazine does not have the restrictions that a printed book has. I am free to add as many photos as I like. My right arm is now fully in the sun, and I will have to pack up my laptop so that it does not overheat. I want to wish you all a lovely day and I hope you enjoy my little video. I have my best ideas while driving in the car and this is no exception. Stay tuned for details of the cottage vacation. See you next time. Click on the following link to view the video or go directly to YouTube and enter Ship to Shore Chef to land on my page.