Halloween House Partying In Victoria: It Got A Lot Crazier Than This!

Cookin' With Cassie: Traditional Thanksgiving Meal Done By A Chef

This fall we have been quite busy. Some of the highlights of the last month or two has been the removal of all of Matt's wisdom teeth, Aunt Eileen's Visit to Victoria, Matt's Half Marathon, and Alissa getting her school bus licence (get off the road kids!).

Thanksgiving was also a very interesting one this year. We spent it with Alissa's work pals. The meal was, sorry Grandmas and parents, the best home cooked Thanksgiving meal we've ever had!

Alissa's co-worker is a fully trained and experienced cook (not to mention a perfectionist) she was hosting us in her mother's house a few blocks away.

The meal was a week in the making. Everything was made from scratch and purchased from local farms. Alissa was the acting sous-chef so met with Cassie, the head chef, to pound out the details of this epic giving-of-much-thanks meal a few times during that week.

The pumpkin pies were probably the most tedious as they involved slow baking, pureeing, setting, curing, crust making, and baking. They turned out phenomenal though- a few traditional pumpkin pies and a few not-so-traditional pumpkin torts. The crust was perfect the filling was fluffy like a cloud but with depth. MMMmmmm...

The turkey was juicy, not a dry piece of meat on the whole bird, the stuffing a flavourful addition that also was far from being dried out, the buns were fresh out of the oven. Everything turned out perfect, that alone is something to be thankful for.

A Quadra Island Party

Matt took a weekend in September to head to Tony's cabin on Quadra Island. Jess packed the car up and we all headed down. The ferry ride from Campbell River was made nice by the colours of sunset. Matt spend a day as Tony's sidekick, preparing a clearing in the forest for the big party the next day. There were projected images on a screen, a D.J. booth, a dance floor, and, of course, a fire pit. Great times. These pics were snapped as we were leaving.

Hye Jung's Last Visit (For A Long Time)

At the end of August our good friend Hye Jung left Canada for a few month long backpacking of Europe then home to Korea. She came up at the end of August for one last visit. We went for fresh local oysters at Pescatores, then took in some live music at the Scottish pub, Bard & Banker. The next day we chilled out at the Oak Bay Marina, then had some sustainable seafood at the ultra popular, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

Have a fun, safe trip Hye Jung.