Hawaii & 22 Months Old

Grandma Martin and Grandpa Maclean rented a condo south of Kona on Hawaii for a month and invited Loren, Vicky, Madeline, Bowen, Davis, and our family to visit for a portion of their stay.

On February 18th Janet and I packed up the twins and boarded a plane for Hawaii. This would be the last time that the twins would be flying on our lap as opposed to having a seat for themselves and thank goodness for that! The flight to Hawaii was horrendous. Despite the fact that it was a late night flight, and well past the twins bedtime, they were both up for most of the flight with constant screaming and flailing and writhing and whining. Eileen in particular is not big on being held so holding her on your lap for 6+ hours is simply a recipe for disaster. However, we survived, rented a van and headed south into the country to find the condo in the middle of the night.

excited?
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Hunting 2018

Davis, Loren, Dad and I all made our way up north to deer camp near Valleyview Alberta on November 10th this year.

Deer Camp 2018
Deer Camp 2018

Davis and I arrived first and helped the last remaining owner Remo and his friend pack up their stuff so they could get on the road home and then Davis and I squeezed in a quick evening hunt to get the lay of the land, look for sign and hopefully even shoot an animal. While we didn’t see any ungulates, we did see tonnes of sign on the property and on all the adjacent/nearby fields that we like to hunt including a plethora of tracks, rubs and scrapes.

Warning: numerous large and graphic images ahead. Proceed at your discretion.

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Thanksgiving & Wine Making 2018

As is always the case in October we made our annual pilgrimage to the Okanagan to spend Thanksgiving with the Maclean/Martin/Suuban family and also to pick grapes and make wine.

The drive went pretty well considering we had 17 month old twins in the back seat and as usual, the mountains and fall forests did not disappoint.

Sunrise over Skaha Lake and the vineyard
Sunrise over Skaha Lake and the vineyard

Fortunately, timing worked out perfectly and both the Gewurztraminer and Merlot grapes were ready for picking right on Thanksgiving weekend. It wasn’t long before we were put to work picking grapes.

Gewurztramine Grapes ready to harvest
Gewurztraminer grapes ready to harvest

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Vancouver Island August 2018

We just got back from a two week trip to Vancouver Island where we spent most of our time at the Shivas fishing cabin.

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Janet Eileen & Ewan Overlooking Nootka Sound
Janet Eileen & Ewan Overlooking Nootka Sound

Shivas Cabin with Low Cloud
Shivas cabin with low cloud

Heading out fishing
Heading out fishing

Large videos after the break, best viewed while connected to the internet on an un-metered connection

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Babies’ First Burn!

Last weekend the twins turned 14 months old and we took them to the Alberta Regional Burning Man Festival – Freezer Burn. We went with our good friends Sara P and Levi and their daughters Piper and Lennox where we built our annual contribution; Camp Faerie Tribe and served our legendary home made soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Our soup this year was fire roasted tomato and basil soup with roasted garlic and caramelized onions. The theme for this year’s Freezer Burn was Fighter Jets vs Laser Sharks and Camp Faerie Tribe was on team Laser Shark.

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Baby Feeding Frenzy Upon Arrival
Baby Feeding Frenzy Upon Arrival

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Grandpa Maclean and Grandma Martin’s 70th Birthday Party in the Okanagan

We flew out for a super quick visit to Kaleden in order celebrate grandpa Maclean and grandma Martin’s joint 70th birthday party along with friends Yvonne and David.

The party itself was lots of fun with excellent food, wine and dancing in the historic 1912 restaurant in Kaleden.

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Grandpa Maclean and Grandma Martin 70th birthday
Grandpa Maclean and Grandma Martin 70th birthday

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Making Sausage 2017

Last year our friend Levi showed me how to make sausage so this year Davis and I thought we would give it a shot on our own using the sausage stuffer that Janet bought me for my first father’s day.

Fortunately for us, Levi lent us his heavy duty grinder and mixing tub which definitely saved us some time and effort.

Step one was pulling 55 pounds of elk and whitetail deer trim and pork fat from the freezer to thaw.

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Thawing elk, whitetail and pork fat
Thawing elk, whitetail and pork fat

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Snowshoe Hare Stew (Lagos Stifatho)

On our 2017 hunting trip my brother Loren snared enough hares to share a couple with Dad and a couple with me.

Snowshoe Hares
Snowshoe Hares

Snowshoe hares are a little bit more flavourful and tougher than their cousins cotton tail rabbits, as such they are very well suited to stews and braises.

I decided to use the snowshoe hares that Loren snared and subsequently shared with me to make a hare stew inspired by Theo’s Restaurant in Penticton, British Columbia. Theo’s has long been a family favourite and every time we go I can’t help but order their Lagos Stifatho which is the most delicious Greek rabbit stew with lots of onions and tomatoes and cinnamon and the most incredible depth and complexity of flavour.

Lagos Stifatho (snowshoe hare stew)
Lagos Stifatho (snowshoe hare stew)

Below is a rough recipe;

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