Monday, June 24, 2019

Pieces of History


I went for a walk in Point Pleasant Park the other day and instead of following the paths through the park and along the shore of the harbour, I walked down to the large monument of the anchor to take a photo. I discovered that the chain attached to the anchor trailed off down the rocky beach, disappearing into the water as if a sunken ship was out there under the surface. It was an interesting photo, but what I noticed were the many man-made items scattered among the rocks on the beach.

Walking among the rocks on the beach, it is hard not to wonder what these objects were once part of. I found granite slabs cut into perfect building blocks, some showing the drill holes used to split the rock. There were chunks of brick walls and single bricks smoothed round by the waves. I found timber with bolts still attached and large pieces of rusted metal of unknown origin.

How did these relics from former Halifax buildings get here? Did they just wash up on the shore, or were they dumped here when buildings were demolished to make room for new ones. Did these chunks of Halifax history originate here in the park as part of it's heritage protecting Halifax Harbour during times of war, or were they dumped here?

Hundreds of people enjoy Point Pleasant Park every day but most simply walk on the paths in the park,(You are encouraged to remain on the paths I think), but you find some interesting things when you stray off the beaten paths and experience the unexplored areas. 

Below are photos of some of the 'Stuff' I found. 












Sunday, June 9, 2019

Cooking With Angela

Cooking with Angela


You may recall reading about my Italian Haircut from the cruise to New Zealand. We met a wonderful Italian lady on this trip who volunteered to trim my beard and hair on our stateroom balcony, and have developed a friendship with her and her husband. They live in Toronto so we always try to visit when we are in the city.

Every time we visited her, she insisted on cooking a delicious Italian meal, so we knew that although she was a hair stylist by profession she easily could have switched to the food industry. After visiting them in Toronto a few times we convinced them that a trip to the maritimes would be a good idea and finally they agreed to come spend a week with us here in Dartmouth.

Tomato, Cheese & Basil - salad!
Angela loves to cook, so when we knew she was coming, we suggested we wanted her to cook some Italian food with us. She misunderstood and though we just wanted her to cook for us – I'm surprised she was willing to come visit thinking this, so you can see how much she enjoys cooking. She was a bit surprised to find that we insisted on cooking and learning how to cook Italian with her instead of just enjoying her delicious food.

She is used to preparing her meals in her small Toronto condo kitchen, so was pleased to have room to work with prep chefs and kitchen apprentices here in our large kitchen designed to accommodate multiple cooks.

We had some problems finding ingredients so Chinese eggplants had to fill in for the Italian variety, and the rapini just did not pass her inspection, so we did not get to sample her pizza. As well although her English is excellent, her request for a “Bigger” pot to simmer stuffed eggplant in took me a while to accommodate as I did not realize that our saute pan was a “Pot”, but when finally after no pot I
Pasta drying on the rack
pulled out was big enough and I pulled the saute pan out she was happy.

I made fresh pasta, she made a fresh pasta sauce, we worked together to make stuffed eggplant, and some of our delicious Nova Scotian Lamb was made “Italian”. Regis and her created authentic Italian osso bucco, and we learned how to create some delicious Italian Salads. We hope to work together to create some lasagna before they head back to Toronto, so I can use some of my home-made ricotta and demonstrate my pasta making skills . The food was delicious and our cooking skills have improved through cooking with Angela.
Stuffed Eggplant in sauce

Italian style Lamb