Friday, October 9, 2009

More Tales from the Campfire

As Lara floated back towards camp, all aglow on Mister Man's pontoon boat, us earthly mortals plodded over hill and dale towards our beautiful camp. And when we landed, who should be waiting patiently but our luncheon guests: Bob and Merilee.

So we quickly sprang into action and got our gourmet meal underway. Merilee had brought some lovely Italian sausages which we cooked up and tossed in the sauce. I mean how could Italian sausages be ANYTHING but brilliant in a vodka tomato cream sauce? And we were over the moon when Merilee announced that she'd brought one of her (world famous) apple pies. She'd cooked it that morning and *gasp* IT WAS STILL WARM. Because Merilee, being the pie genius she is, had packed it in an insulated bag surrounded by towels and even (I believe) a heating pad.

We all know what happens when yours truly gets excited about an unexpected culinary surprise - SHE FORGETS TO TAKE A PHOTOGRAPH! So I'm afraid there is no proof about the excellence of the hot apple pie around the camp fire. But you can cast your eyes on this photo and extrapolate about the pie thing.... (you can get a wee look at my penne with vodka cream sauce and Italian sausage..)

After lunch, we did what is MANDATORY when camping: we sat back and did absolutely nuthin', but contemplate life, love and the Canadian dream.

Our contemplative state was interrupted by Doug the Demon Squirrel - a feisty little guy who was building a nest close by. Oh he was busy-busy-busy: collecting moss and scampering behind a tree, hell bent on building his home. So Mister Man decided he should creep over towards the squirrel on delicate tippy toes and snap a few photos. But woodland creatures have uncanny ears, and Doug the Demon Squirrel was aware of Mister Man within about half a nano-second of his landing on the squirrel's turf. Mister Man stood his ground, and snapped snaps.

Doug the Demon Squirrel would have NOTHING to do with this, and started to give Mister Man the what-for. He chattered angrily, and I'm pretty sure I saw him lift his little fist and pump the air. We were anticipating that, at any moment, he was going to lunge for Mister Man and go all "Alien" on him and do the flying squirrel manoeuvre on his face.

So, of course, we all had a few laughs at Mister Man's expense. And then took some lovely shots of all of us for posterity. I wish that Blogger didn't willy-nilly chop a little corner from my medium sized horizontal photos, because I'd love to run this at a larger size.

Merilee took the next one. I guess it's kind of proof that I was really there! She also gave me some really helpful pastry making tips. And after the Great Pastry Debacle, I really need all the help I can get! So now, armed with a better attitude and some new found pastry tips, I plan to become the PASTRY WHISPERER. I did kind of agree to make 2 pies for the big thanksgiving feast this weekend......

And then we bid adieu to Bob and Merilee and decided to spend the afternoon learning a brand new (and highly rated) game called PANDEMIC. So Annie bravely read the pages of instruction aloud as we listened.



And then she let us think that it was all fun and games...

Before revealing her true fighting spirit.

The game turned out to be a really interesting one, because you don't actually play against each other, you strategize to keep the world disease free. It was fun to see how seriously Lara took it, as she pleaded with us to help save the world. She was like our own little Mother Theresa.

At one point later in the day, Lara and I went to the delightful FLUSH TOILETS in the campsite, and came back to find Annie waving an array of snacks in the air.

Unfortunately, Mister Man's alter ego "Bubba", had a different idea of what to snack on.

Bubba was a halloween costume from a few years back. In it's original iteration, it involved wearing a mullet as well. Scary, I know.

I was just happy when Mister Man came back to the table. Who doesn't like some kisses?

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