Microwaved egg with grape leafs and chili crisp

I believe that I have invented a new food treat: microwaved egg with grape leafs and chili crisp. 

I tried Google, DuckDuckGo and Bing and did not find anything that described this treat. (Of course, someone else might have already invented it and posted it to the internet, but search engines have become so bad that it is not findable. Anyway...) 

Ingredients:

• 2 steamed grape leafs
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon of chili crisp

Instructions:

1. Put one of the steamed grape leafs on the bottom of a small bowl. (In advance, you will have picked a bunch of young, intact grape leafs from the grapevine outside your porch, removed the stems, rinsed the leafs, steamed them for a few minutes and then put them in a container in your fridge.)
2. Dollop a teaspoon of chili crisp on the grape leaf. You can smear it around a bit, but you don't have to.  (Laoganma Spicy Chili Crisp will be fine if you don't have a jar you made yourself or one of the really exquisite brands.)
3. Crack an egg and drop everything except the shell on top of the grape leaf and chili crisp.
4. Either leave the yolk intact, or break it with a piece of egg shell. Your choice. 
5. Cover the egg with a second grape leaf.
6. Cover the small bowl with a small plate. (Coverage is important, the egg will splatter even with the top grape leaf.)
7. Put the covered bowl in your microwave oven, set the timer and turn it on. (45 seconds is just right for me, but you might want to experiment to get the result that is perfect for you.)

Outcome - A delicious treat

I love having one of these with my breakfast savoury oatmeal mélange. I am confident that this treat would also be a great addition to toast, fried rice, hash browns and many other foods suitable for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a mid-meal snack.

Please let me know if you try this and what you ate it with! 

It's time to hang out the laundry...

With the unrelenting heat, it seemed like a good idea to put my wet laundry outside instead of running the drier.

It occurred to me that this is the first time since June 1986 when I left Ghana that my laundry has been hung outside to dry.

1984 - My housemate Ampofu's laundry hanging in the courtyard of our staff bungalow at Okuapemman Secondary School in Ghana, West Africa.

2025 - My laundry hung on the patio of my home in Ottawa, Ontario.

You might notice that in neither set of outside laundry are there any socks. 

The Stick Library is now on Google Maps

Did you know that it is really easy to put your organization on Google Maps?

I am eager to see any feedback the library patrons or their companions have for us.

Feel free to follow this Google Maps Link if you need directions to the library. (I really enjoy choosing "avoid highways" on road trips). 

The link also lets you check the opening hours or ask a question and confirms that the Stick Library is a safe space. 

Two lesser known waterfalls of Ottawa - Princess Louise and Wateridge

The lovely Manon has been very indulgent with my affection for waterfalls and has been willing to accompany me to Hog's Back Falls, the Chaudière Falls and even the Rideau Falls.

And this past month, she agreed to visit two waterfalls that I only learned of very recently.

I must be clear that neither of these falls appear on lists with titles like Canada’s Most Breathtaking Waterfalls or The 14 Most Amazing Waterfalls in the World. However, the first one I will mention does appear on both the 15+ Waterfalls to Visit in and Around Ottawa and 8 Breathtaking Waterfalls You Need to See near Ottawa.

The Princess Louise Falls

The Princess Louise Falls might not actually be breathtaking, but they are pretty and are conveniently right next to St. Joseph Boulevard in Orleans. 

What to do there: You can get really close to the falls to enjoy them. It is a nice spot to go to have a snack or to do some thinking. There's also a path through the woods that would likely reward a little hiking. 

Parking: We parked on Taylor Creek Drive and walked about 400 metres to get to the base of the falls, but it looks like you could park across the street at the Ottawa Uyghur Center and basically be right there.

More information: 

• Lots of history from Linda Seccaspina at The Mysterious Princess Louise Falls
• Google Maps 

Wateridge Waterfall

The Wateridge Waterfall (also known as the Aviation Museum Waterfall) is across the Promenade Sir-George-Étienne-Cartier from the Aviation Museum.

It might be a dramatic waterfall in the spring, but it is definitely not dramatic in the middle of July. Especially because there is a big fence that prevents you from getting close.

I'm having trouble finding historical details about this waterfall, but it looks like it's part of municipal drainage from about a hundred years ago.  

What to do there: There are some unshaded benches along the pathway to the waterfall, so I suppose you could sit on one and read your new Louise Penny novel or jot your thoughts in your diary. 

Otherwise, it's take in the local wildlife (which in mid-July included lots of wild flowers, dragonflies and pretty yellow birds) and verify that water really is trickling down. 

Also you can pat yourself on the back for having seen Ottawa's fifth and most obscure waterfall.

Parking: The nearest unpaid and legal parking requires you to walk a kilometre each way. It is on C.H. Airport Marina Road by the entrance to a path that appears to be popular with dogs. The walk is probably very pleasant when you are not taking it in the middle of a heat wave.

The paid parking at the museum is about 300 metres closer but you have to walk next to the Promenade to get to the falls.

Google Maps 

It also looks like you can stop on the Promenade at the blocked off pathway entrance so you only have a short walk, but it might not be legal parking and doesn't look safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the Stick Library is open!

 

Happy news for the Stick Library

A confidential source has informed me that because it is May 5 "Cinco de
Mayo", the Stick Library will be reopening today for the season.

As you can see, the stacks are in good shape.

A Stones Cove snowball

 

To maintain my own sanity in the current world insanity, I've been tackling jobs that I've been procrastinating on.

One of these jobs is scanning and dealing with hundreds of old photos.

One set of these photos was in an album my Mom made for me back in the 90s. She made an album for each of her three sons that contained photos of us as well as photos from before our births.

She added captions she typed on her portable typewriter.

I was lucky enough to get a copy of this shot.

This is my mother, Jeanette, in 1942 or 1943, before her family left Stone's Cove, Newfoundland.

(The family moved to Grand Bank in the spring of 1943.)

Mom and I looked over these photos recently and when this one popped up, she said: "I worked hard saving up that snow!" 

You'll notice that although young Jeanette was holding up a snowball and wearing a coat, the coat was not that heavy, she has no mittens on and there is no snow on the ground. I'm guessing it was April, maybe May.

"How?" I asked. "You didn't have a fridge."

She snorted. "Of course not. There was no electricity in Stone's Cove."

"Did you keep it in an icebox?"

She snorted again. "We didn't have iceboxes. We had a hole with a cover in the hill behind the house. The men would get blocks of ice in the winter. Food would stay cold through the summer."

"And what did you do with the snowball"

"I threw it at my brother Bert."

"Did you hit him?"

"Yes, of course. He went running to Mom. 'You leave poor Bertie alone!' she always said. Hee, hee, she would say that to me a dozen times a day. He was always running after Norma and me."

More on Stone's Cove

Stones Cove was a tiny outport on the Burin Peninsula. Home to about 22 families. Almost all of the men were fishers. Stone's Cove was closed down in the early 50s when the Newfoundland government closed down settlements that could not be reached by road.

Mom remembers seeing some homes brought from Stone's Cove to Grand Bank on huge rafts.