Myra Falls

Last week some fellow cooks and I took off for an afternoon to explore Lower Myra Falls.


It was such a gorgeous location. I was in awe of the thundering waters, and view of the mountains. The perfect place for a photoshoot :)
I love being out in nature.

MouseAdventures

After a long day of work yesterday (11 hours...ugh) I arrived home to find a neat little mouse turd right smack in the middle of my bed. Just a pleasant reminder of my little mouse friend, Houdini's, existence.
After his close call with the mousetrap, the nights in the Annex have been pretty quiet. I thought he had finally decided to leave.
It was not to be.
He woke me up sometime between 12/1AM, scrambling around like a maniac. I turned on my light and watched him scurry about the room, revolted, irritated, and a little squeamish. I wanted to throw my hiking shoe at him and squish him. But I didn't want to get too close, and I didn't want to wake everyone up.
Eventually my roommate did wake up, and we plotted the mouse's demise in the darkness. We set our traps in strategic places, but he just kept running back and forth between my half of the room, and hers.
Then he went next door and woke our neighbours up. They have peanut butter.
My roommate knew this, and quickly ran over there to get some. We baited our trap and waited...

Sure enough, even Houdini cannot resist the temptation of peanut butter.
He didn't go down without a fight though. Oh no, not this one. He couldn't die a quick, peaceful death. He had to thrash around for five minutes and make sure we were good and awake before he bit the bullet.

I thought maybe he had escaped again, because later I heard another mouse sound. I think it must be Party Mouse's cousin. Also known as...victim #12. Muahaha!

Project #1

I love being surrounded by so many creative people...its so inspiring!
With the help of some friends, I am doing a couple "projects". I am halfway through a sewing experiment, and the other work of art will begin next week. This winter will be one of trying new and creative things for me, I think. Mom, I will even allow you to teach me the art of knitting.

I'm not going to tell you what this will be...but I will post a picture when its done!

Internet Deprived

The internet has been down at Strathcona for the last couple days, and since I was away Sunday night to Tuesday morning, I have been without Facebook, email, or blogs for nearly 5 days...
and I'm starting to feel the withdrawl symptoms.
Thus, I am at Karissa's house in Courtenay, using her computer.
How sad am I?
I have a lot to blog about, but it requires pictures, which are on my laptop back at the lodge. So you will have to wait til they fix the internet connection. poor you.

What I Do

I put these together yesterday for a private group of 18-ish. It was fun, but a little stressful. I'm always a little nervous about doing "fancy" stuff, because I don't feel confident or qualified. At least there was no one else around when I was arranging it. That is the worst, because I just freeze.
The critical side of me is analyzing everything that is wrong with it...but in spite of myself, I like them, and I wanted to take pictures and show them off a little. So here they are:

The Cheese Platter
-Blue Brie
-plain Brie (by Qualicum Beach Cheeseworks)
-Smoked Cheddar (yummy!)
-Goat cheese in paprika, tumeric, and cracked pepper
-organic crackers
-grape tomatoes

And the Fruit Platter
-Watermelon
-Cantaloupe
-Plums
-crasins

AWOL

Sorry I've been so bad at blogging lately.
I feel like I haven't got much to say these days. Nothing super exciting has happened (besides Karissa's 21st Birthday! Happy Birthday!!), and I actually slept through the night last night. No mouse stories, no adventure stories, no kitchen stories...
I do have a question though. I've been thinking about acronyms (I think that is the word), and I was wondering what they mean. MIA is Missing in Action, right? What about AWOL? Is that Absent WithOut Leave? And what is STAT? Like, "I need that scalpel, STAT!" Does it mean anything? Or is it just fun to say? I dont' know.

Games I Play at Night with Mice

In the wee hours of the morning I chased Houdini around the ceiling with my flashlight. I guess he is scared of the light when it shines through the cracks.
Then he and I listened to music from 4AM-unknown hour when the playlist finished. I think it put us both to sleep. At least it put me to sleep, and kept him away. I hope.

Houdini

While I believe Party-er Mouse met his demise at the fangs of Daphne the Cat, there is a new annoyance to keep me up at night.
Party Mouse's young padawan is not as noisy, but a mouse in your house, is a mouse in your house, and hearing him shuffle about "upstairs" is not the kind of sound I like to fall asleep to.
Eventually, however, I did drop off, until about 4 in the morning, when I woke up to a loud "SNAP!!!"
Of course that jolted me out of never never land, and I listened with wide eyes as there was the usual thumping of what is (usually) a partier's death throes.
Then something that had never happened before, happened. I heard the squeak of springs, and the thumping stopped. Did he escape? I wondered, groggily, before drifting off again.
When I investigated this morning, the trap was indeed set off, and empty.
Houdini escaped. I don't know how. Maybe he is wandering around missing a limb...and hopefully he won't come back.

Wedding Weekend

So the last couple days I've been super tired...just zero energy. Which normally wouldn't be weird, but the past month I've felt better energy-wise than I have in the last year or so. Probably due to the aforementioned good food, fresh air, and exercise.
This has brought me to the conclusion that I am probably getting sick. I've been trying to fend it off by getting lots of sleep, drinking lots of tea and water, and all those good things. I had a sore throat this morning, and nausea in the afternoon, so I don't know what this is all about but it had better go away QUICK, because I'm catering a wedding tomorrow!
I did a lot of prep for it today, but there is still plenty to do tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous!
I am treating myself to a massage today though...one of my friends here is a massage therapist and she's giving me a sweet discount, so hopefully I will be a perfect picture of health and relaxation tomorrow! Can't wait.

I don't know what it is, but lately I have just been so genuinely content. Lets take a closer look as to why I am happy...

-A job I like, that is frequently changing, and challenging, with co-workers I like and have fun with.
-A whole week of mouse-free, mosquito-free nights.
-Great summery weather, and a lake at my disposal.
-Sweet awesome friends to visit all over the island on my days off!
-Green lush scenery!
-Pretty reliable internet access to keep in touch with all you special people!
-A frickin sweet car that works, (even if it does need a few small repairs) with enough personality for the both of us.
-Not worrying about the future at all, even though maybe I should be...a little.
-Plenty of good food, exercise, and fresh air every day!

Life is good!

Could it Be?

My ceiling has been party-free since Monday.
Not a scritch, nor a scratch.
I've been sleeping peacefully.
It has also been noted that Daphne, the neighbor's cat, has been on the prowl. And a large, over-size mouse was discovered dead on their path early this week.
Coincidence?
I hope not.

Summer Weather

It blows my mind to think that four short weeks ago I was swaddled in numerous layers of clothing, shivering under the covers of my wool blanket, my feather duvet, and my sleepingbag. I was completely frozen, and the rain was thundering on the roof, while an icy draft seeped under the door frame.
I thought to myself, What have I done? Have I forsaken warmth forever, to cook on this frozen mountain? When I went to work in the morning I would bundle up, and huddle by the oven to keep warm.
How things change!
These past few days summer has charged in with a vengeance! 30 plus degree weather, not a cloud in the sky...perfect vacationing heat.
But not perfect cooking heat!
The kitchen staff have been suffering. With both ovens, burners, and dishpit running from 6AM-8PM, and recently cut-down shade trees missing...well, it gets pretty toasty in there. Especially since I am wearing socks, and shoes, long pants, a tanktop, and my long-sleeve cook jacket! Sometimes it just comes over you like a wave and you think you're not gonna make it.
Inevitably tempers get short, and everyone is just wanting the day to end.
I have been guzzling water, as well as seeking refuge in the walk-in cooler whenever possible. My appetite is completely gone in the heat, so I haven't been porking out as much...that is at least one positive :)
After work I get changed into my bathingsuit and jump in the lake. Its sooo cold, but sooo refreshing. And then I think, How lucky am I to be able live here? Pretty lucky, I think.

One Month Anniversary!

I've been gone a month!
Already!
Its gone fast, but at the same time I feel like I've been here forever.
The terrible "newbie" feeling has mostly worn off, and even though I still haven't explored much of the property, I have a much better sense of where everything is. There are still staff I haven't met, but with such a large crew and such different hours and areas of interest, I think that is inevitable.
I've made some good friends among the kitchen/serving/housekeeping staff, and I am enjoying my chef and fellow cooks very much.
My instructor from school called my chef today, and apparently he is coming up some weekend to check it out! I suddenly got kinda nervous. I can't believe my "practicum" flew by so fast! I feel like I haven't been learning enough...I'm going to start reading books on gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan diets now so that I will be all knowledgeable when he comes.
We have 2 more weeks of buffet-style cooking for school groups, and then everything changes...which makes me excited and anxious at the same time! When the summer season officially begins, I will be doing more of al a carte style cooking for guests who come to stay at the lodge. The food will be a little fancier, and there will be "plating" involved, which has never been a strong point for me and my shaky hands!
I am excited to be stepping it up in the culinary department though! As much as I love the buffet cooking, it gets a little redundant after a while.
In my free time I've been doing a lot of reading (supplied by my friend with a personal library...BARB!), facebooking, hiking, visiting friends, watching hockey games, and hanging out. Its a blast. This whole month has been fantastic and I am so excited for the rest of the summer.
Also...my lovely mother just sent up my laptop cable so now I have my own computer in the staff room, and you know what that means....PICTURES! I've just uploaded a bunch to my facebook, so go ahead and take a look. You can see a little bit of what I've been up to on my days off, and I'm also putting up some videos of Tim's hockey and such. Check it out!

The Partier Lives On

I may have been hasty in proclaiming that casualty #9 was the partier mouse.
I should have known better. He won't die so easily.
The night after the "ant incident" I caught one more mouse (that brings us to a total of 10)...the snap woke me up around 3 AM. And then the Partier Mouse was awakened as well. He kept me up until my shift at 6AM.
I've been wondering if he is indeed a mouse, or maybe something larger like a squirrel, or (heaven forbid) a rat.
Anyway I was tired the whole day, but I got to sleep at Barb's last night, so I did get some peace and quiet. Maybe he will be caught in the trap when I get back...or maybe I just need to get a cat.