Sub-zero Alberta?

Take off to the Great White North eh. Those famous wanna-be Canucks Bob & Doug Mackenzie had the Americans convinced it was frozen up here 365.

To brave typical Alberta winter can require layering of thermal shirt and long johns, woolly socks, wind-proof or snow pants, toque, scarf or neck warmer, ski mitts, even ski mask and goggles against the wind.

It's not the Great White North for nothing and before I found Baffin -40C rated boots I remember resorting to donning multiple pairs of wool socks.

That was a couple winters ago. Currently, the dress code is still ready for shorts weather.

Penguin hosers took all the cold this year so Bob & Doug need to do a reunion tour to update on the climate.

(Exhibit A walking on ice was taken in November 2009 -- I got cabin fever that year real bad.)

Christmas Day a friend in Calgary was complaining it was green and I had no sympathy coming from Victoria BC where it's a rainy Christmas regularly. Another friend wondered if we got skipped this year for winter.

I hadn't thought twice and figured it was a Chinook wind melting the fun of the tobogganing hill.

It was perfect weather for ice fishing, nice and sunny. I even did one of my last assignments of the year out on the lake. It only snowed hard in mid-November.

Yet in the past few years, I remember not wanting to leave the house voluntarily for weeks of December or January because the windchill was so frigid. I haven't even hit cabin fever yet so far, knock on wood... cabin.

The barometer is staying balmy so I'll reminisce on the signs of winter not appearing yet.

Had to kick my car doors to unstick them after frozen twice over-night instead of nightly.
Only been scared to be driving on overly icy roads a few times.
Have only driven in one blizzard, not weekly.
My heating bill is unseasonally low and that's okay.
Haven't gotten frost-bite practically for exposing any bare skin for two minutes.
My camera lenses have only fogged up once from a long assignment outside.
I haven't made any hot cocoa or taken any with me on photo shoots.
I haven't unpacked my parka and am still only wearing a polar fleece hoodie.
Have only used my snow shovel once to clear the driveway and three times for porch.
I've gotten colder in the hockey arena than when exiting it.

It's great for now. Yet I'm scared February is going to hit with a vengeance of blizzarding in the frozen wastelands. That or we'll have late snow in May -- not entirely unheard of around here.

Supposedly it's supposed to dip down to -15C by the end of the week. For now, it's a bit confusing and I had to double-check my direction of travel as I saw two flocks of Canadian geese flying north last week.

Suits me fine when I can't go home and decide whether I should declare it pre-maturely sandal weather.

P.S. I had to go through some of my archives even just to find some frosty photos. This last one was taken in late April 2007 when it started to finally defrost. I'm hoping it won't be a repeat deep-freeze.

P.S.S. I take full responsibility for jinxing this warm-front with my observation ^_^


~~ PLR ~~

more clean Sunday school jokes

Went through a collection of jokes, and some of them are pretty decent, but some were nothing in comparison to the real wisecracks and cheeky fun heard in the pews after church. Anyhow, picked out half a dozen and the last was just something that made me smile because of some of the lil'churches I've attended over the summer on my internship roadtrip. So do enjoy.



A Sunday School teacher asked her little children, as they were on the way to church service, "And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?"
One bright little girl replied, "Because people are sleeping."


A little boy was overhead praying: "Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it.
I'm having a real good time like I am.


An elderly gentleman passed his granddaughter's room one night and overheard her repeating the alphabet in an oddly reverent way.
What on earth are you up to?" he asked.
"I'm saying my prayers," explained the little girl.
"But I can't think of exactly the right words tonight, so I'm just saying all the letters. God will put them together for me, because He knows what I'm thinking."



A child came home from Sunday School and told his mother  that he had learned a new song about a cross-eyed bear named  Gladly.  It took his  mother a while before she realized that  the hymn was really "Gladly The Cross I'd Bear,"


An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of religious service when she was startled by an intruder. As she caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables, she yelled, "Stop - Acts 2:38!" (..turn from your sin...) The burglar stopped dead in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done.

As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, "Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a scripture to you."

"Scripture?" replied the burglar, "She said she had an AXE and two 38's!"


YOU MIGHT BE IN A COUNTRY CHURCH IF . . .
1. The doors are never locked.
2. The Call To Worship is "Y'all come on in!"
3. People grumble about Noah letting coyotes on the ark.
4. The Preacher says "I'd like to ask Bubba to help take up the offering" - and 5 guys stand up.
5. The restroom is outside.
6. Opening day of deer hunting season is recognized as an official church holiday.
7. A member requests to be buried in his 4-wheel drive truck because "I ain't never been in a hole it couldn't get me out of".
8. In the annual stewardship drive there is at least one pledge of "2 calves".
9. Never in its entire 100-year history has one of it's pastors had to buy any meat or vegetables.
10. When it rains, everybody's smiling.


thanks to the wonderful people who have collected these clever and cutesy jokes over the years:
http://louisvilleemmaus.com/jokes.html

Bachelor breakie

Warning, this meal is not cholesterol conscious nor something my woman wouldn't let me make for that reason. Apparently heart disease runs in the family or something.

Lazy and wholesome, this makes for comfort food, therefore one of the best meal ever for a bachelor.

It's pretty simple and takes about 10-15minutes to put together and only requires an flipper and a skillet of awesomeness.

Fry up the sausages then the perogies -- boil first for more speed. Throw some sauerkraut to fry for a moment.

If making this for supper, crack a beer open and enjoy the quick & easy grub.

Some would say that ketchup is no good compared to sour cream but I lacked sour cream at the time.

My German roots account for the sauerkraut. As a bachelor meal, this classifies the fermented cabbage as a veggie still.

So between perogies, full of cheese and potato, sauerkraut far outweigh getting scurvy.

Comfort food is good when I'm home-sick as I made lots of it during college and high-school.

It may be heavy, but it does the trick after a long winter day or to get you through another one for breakfast.


Enjoy and beware of orcs in case your skillet is still in use.

~~ PLR ~~

Tomato, Eggplant and Feta Penne

What do you do with an eggplant? I didn't know what to put it in, other going to the deli for baba ganoush, musaka or grilled. Eggplant is simple to fry. And lower cholesterol, more on that in a moment.

Just need a few other ingredients and grill things real fast and throw it together and pretend it's all fancy.

In case you've never dealt with eggplant, wash it and chop it like a potato -- seeing as both are night-shade plants and part of the same family.

It has a bit of a spongy consistency, but when it cooks up it shrinks.

As you can see, list of ingredients are a few tomatoes
a small can of tomato paste
an eggplant
1/4 cup of cilantro
1/2 cup of feta cheese
a few grilled sausages

Boil 3 cup of penne at the same time as prepping other stuff.

Cube up eggplant to throw in the frying pan until fried up good.

Chop in tomatoes and paste, cilantro and sausage to fry it up good. Crumble up the feta into the mix and stir into penne noodles.

Just a FYI of awesome random facts from good ol'Wikipedia because eggplant is pretty nifty.

The plant is used in cuisines from Japan to Spain. It is often stewed, as in the French ratatouille, the Italian parmigiana di melanzane, the Turkish karnıyarık or musakka, and Middle-Eastern and South Asian dishes. Eggplants can also be battered before deep-frying and served with a sauce made of tahini and tamarind. 


The fruit is botanically classified as a berry, and contains numerous small, soft seeds, which are edible, but have a bitter taste because they contain nicotinoid alkaloids; this is unsurprising as it is a close relative of tobacco.

Studies of the Institute of Biology of São Paulo State University, Brazil, have shown eggplant is effective in the treatment of high blood cholesterol.


There's some other nifty history and fun so check it out if you like. Other than that, it's pretty tasty.

All else you need is some good company and a bottle of red wine.

Bonne appetite!