The Weekend Roundup: F

This weekend's prompts from Tom the Backroads Traveller are: Starts with F, Flower, and Favourite.

Starts with F

Fish starts with F.  We recently joined a weekly delivery program for a sustainable seafood company called Afishionado (yes, the spelling is correct!)  Each week, we receive a pound of a sustainably-fished species of fish from Canada, most often locally fished.  We get information on the name of the fishing boat, the method of catch (mostly line caught for sustainability), and the captain of the vessel.  I like supporting local businesses and environmentally sound fishing practices, so it's a win-win for us!  This week's fish is albacore tuna, and right now it is marinating in an orange ginger soy marinade.  

It will make a lovely supper.  Other fish we've had recently from this program include smoked mackerel, cod, and steelhead trout.  

Flower

Tom sure was posing a challenge for northerners with this prompt!  There aren't any flowers to bee seen in my snowy landscape.  The best I could come up with is this little flower on my indoor rosemary plant that sits on my windowsill.  Not very big but still, it is a flower.

Until at least May, that's all the flowers I'll be seeing around here except for this lovely print on my kitchen wall, a gift some years ago from my parents.

Favourite

I recently finished knitting this cute little mouse - definitely one of my favourite knitted items so far!  It was good practice for me on the colourwork part of his sweater.  Here he is inspecting some of this week's eggs.  A number of people commented last week that they hadn't seen an egg skelter before.  I think that is probably because in North America, for the most part, people keep their eggs in the fridge, whereas in other parts of the world, they are kept at room temperature.  North American eggs are washed, which removes the protective surface coating, therefore requiring them to be refrigated.  In some countries, it is illegal to commercially sell washed eggs because the coating protects from bacteria and they are considered safer when unwashed.  In any event, it's a useful item if you keep your eggs on the counter, as I do!  Here's some more information on the history of egg washing and chilling:  https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/11/336330502/why-the-u-s-chills-its-eggs-and-most-of-the-world-doesnt

Friday's Hunt v 4.18

Another week gone and I sometimes wonder where the time goes, but I've had a lot of projects on the go and that's been coupled with a sick rooster and other various activities so it just seems that time flies and although I want to do other blogs apart from Friday's Hunt, it seems all that I can keep up with right now!

Our prompts from Eden Hills this week are:  Starts with R, Glow and Vegetable.

Starts with R
I was away in Halifax last weekend visiting my parents and having a late celebration of my mother's birthday.  We had the wonderful opportunity to see two concerts while we were visiting.  The first was the Finnish singing ensemble Rajaton (pronounced Rye-a-ton) perform with the Nova Scotia Symphony Orchestra.  Although Rajaton is not that well known in North America, they are very popular in Finland, having been around for 20 years, and are well known for their a cappella singing.  The concert was part of the "pops" series with the symphony, and the whole concert was a wonderful mix of Abba songs with the orchestra playing the music and Rajaton singing.  It was a superb show - so full of energy!  I didn't take any photographs during the concert, but here is the page from the program.  I thoroughly recommend seeing them if you have the chance!

We also went to see O-Celli, which is an octet of cello players based in Belgium, but hailing from a variety of different countries.  I love the sound of the cello, so listening to eight cellos at once was absolutely delightful.

A bonus R item - my indoor rosemary plant is blooming.  I always had trouble keeping an indoor rosemary plant alive when I lived in Iowa, but for some reason, my experience is much better here in New Brunswick.  I have now had this one inside for over a year and it has done very well.  It does not flower often, but it suddenly decided that now was the time.  The blooms are very delicate and pretty but they do not last long.

Glow
As I mentioned last week, when I went to Knit East on October 21 and 22, the weather was amazingly warm and beautiful - most unusual for the time of year.  I sat outside a lot and here I am bathing the sun's glow in an Adirondack chair in the grounds of the hotel.  I was so lucky to have such a wonderful, sunny weekend.  I think it made me glow, too!

Vegetable
I was a member of a vegetable CSA (community supported agriculture) program this year, which meant that throughout the summer, I picked up a weekly assortment of fresh, locally-grown, organic vegetables.  We ate a lot more vegetables than usual as a result of this program, and I will definitely do it again next year.  The last pick-up is on November 14, and then I have to wait until next July before it starts again.  Our growing season starts late and is short - that's why it doesn't start until July.  One of my favourite vegetables at this time of year is the Delicata squash.  This variety is very flavourful and I might try to grow some myself next year.  If you see it in your area, give it a try!