A Stefan Klopp Weblog

Yesterday I re-launched kloppmagic.ca my alternate home on the Internet. In the past I had simply used kloppmagic.ca to link out to my other areas of interest, such as this blog, my Flickr account, or websites I was trying to promote. With the relaunch I am giving myself an outlet to write about more technical related issues that are on my mind. It also gives me an place to showcase some of the projects I am or have worked on in the past. If web development, scalability or web technologies are of interest to you, go check it out.

Last weekend I went blueberry picking with my friend Oliver at John & John’s certified organic Blueberry Farm in Langley. I had found the farm online via the BC Farm Fresh website. Then double checked the farm at the Certified Organic website to make sure the farm was indeed organic. A quick call to find out they charged $1.50 per pound, and Oliver and I were off picking.

The farm was relatively easy to get to and was about 10 minutes off Highway 1 taking the exit for 232 street. The farm was small, but had a good bunch of blueberry bushes that were loaded with berries. They say the best way to tell if a blueberry farm is organic, is to look at the rows between the bushes. You will often see grass growing in the rows, and around the bushes, while at non organic farms it is generally a lot more muddy, and often filled in with straw or hay. My brother asked me what it means for a farm to be certified BC organic. I found the this website useful, specifically the following lines:

Organic farming promotes the sustainable health and productivity of the ecosystem – soil, plants, animals and people. Organic foods are farmed in an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible way, focusing on soil regeneration, water conservation and animal welfare.
…
Produce and grains are grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers or GMOs (genetically modified organisms)

In about an hour and a half Oliver and myself had picked roughly 21 pounds of blueberries between us. I think Oliver probably ate a good 2-3 pounds while picking as well! At this point we had run out of buckets and decided to call it a day.

John and John’s Farm was a quick drive out to Langley, and a great place to spend a few hours picking organic blueberries. Their prices were reasonable, and the fruit delicious. You can find John and John’s at: 4015 244th Street, Langley, British Columbia, and can contact them via phone at: 604-803-9185.

I highly recommend going out during the season and picking fruit at either a u-pick or in the woods. It creates a better connection between yourself and the food you eat, and a stronger understanding of how and where your food is produced. Now time to go make some jam!

Last Saturday I went for a hike with some friends up Mount Brunswick. Mount Brunswick’s trail begins at the same place where you start when hiking the lions in Lions Bay. We started bright and early and started powering up the mountain.

The ascent up Brunswick was steep; much steeper than the Lions, making it not the easiest hike. We would take quick 5 minute breaks every 100 meters or so before continuing to push on higher. We did make it up the mountain quickly however and were at the top within 2.5 hours. The last little section of the ridge you have to scale across to get to the final peak (or what we thought was the peak). It was a little sketchy, but nothing outlandish.

The bugs were pretty bad on top (I got one in my eye, Rob swallowed a few), however none of them were biting. If they had been feasting I don’t think we would have made it out alive.

Overall with our lunch break we did the full hike in about 5.5 hours, which was good as we wanted to get back into the city at a reasonable time before the fireworks. Here are a few photos from the hike:

A few weekends ago I made it out to Victoria for the first time in years. I had lived there previously with my brother Tony for 5 months while going to school at UVIC, before making the move to Vancouver. It was nice to make it out to the island again.

Tony picked me up at the ferry terminal and we headed straight out to the Victoria Golf Club. He wanted to show me the course he was a member of, and get me to take a few photos. We grabbed a bucket of beer, a golf cart and drove out to the holes by the water. After taking some photos we ended up playing some of the holes. I even managed to par one of the par 3′s! It was a blast to get out onto a course again, something I wish I was able to do more often. Here are a few shots from the course:

The next day we went for a hike up the Juan De Fuca Marine Trail. We started at China beach and made our way north with stops at Mystic Beach and Bear Beach. The hike began pretty casually, however after Mystic Beach the grade began to pickup with a lot of up and downs into valleys. After about 13 kilometers into the hike I had to tell my brother we needed to head back. I was having some problems with one of my knees recently especially when hiking downhill. The constant up and down of the hike caused my right knee to be in a lot of pain. I made it out alive with a stiff knee but nothing serious. The Juan De Fuca Trail is really a beautiful trail to hike on, and has some amazing beaches that you can camp on. Highly recommended. Here are a few shots I took from our hike:

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed. We checked out the movie Inception, which was good, but a little too James Bond at the end, and pretty similar in concept to Canadian film ExistenZ. The Victoria Museum was also a must, and we finally finished up with beers and tacos at The Oyster Bar downtown. Finally it was off to the ferry where I rushed to get downtown Vancouver so I could catch Wolf Parade that night with my buddy Vincent.

A really great weekend on the Island, and one I will have to do soon again.

During my latest visit to my parents place in the West Kootenays I spent the majority of my time out at my parents camp site on the lake just south of Fauquier. I spent a good portion of my time out in a canoe exploring the lake, and taking in all the nature. Here are a some photos (and a select few stories) from my time back home.

One fun story is about a beaver I happened upon. I was paddling the canoe up into the mouth of Taite Creek slowly sneaking up on a blue heron. As I approached the heron quickly spotted me and flew off; too bad. However as he flew away I noticed a object slowly moving towards my canoe. On closer inspection it appeared to be either an otter or a beaver. He quickly disappeared under the water, so I decided to continue to circle through the mouth of the creek. As I was coming back around the mouth, I heard a strange gnawing sound. I navigated the canoe over to where the sound was coming from, and found the beaver sitting on a small island taking down a tree. I continued to watch (and follow) the beaver as he took the tree and dragged it to shore where I am assuming he was going to use for a damn.

The beaver became pretty familiar with me quickly and didn’t mind my presence, so I continued to watch him as he swam around and did his thing. Eventually my Father and nephew showed up on land to let me know it was time for dinner. I quickly canoed over to the bank where they were and let them in on the secret. we continued to watch the beaver as he had a late dinner himself. Eventually my nephew got restless and broke a stick, which spooked the beaver. The beaver then jumped into the water, gave us all a nasty look, then dived into the water with a big tail flap to show his displeasure. At that point we decided to give the beaver his peace and left to go for our own dinner.

Another fun story is of an osprey. One morning I woke up early for a sunrise paddle. The lake was so calm and glassy it was a perfect morning for the trek. I paddled south from Taite Creek (where my parents camp is) on my way to Octopus Creek. Along the way there is this fantastic old log that juts out over the water. On top of the log an osprey has built a nest on. As I passed by the log I noticed one osprey sitting in the nest guarding her eggs I assume, and a second osprey standing guard on a nearby tree. As I continued to paddle by I noticed two ravens fly in attempting to get at the ospreys nest. The osprey that was on the nearby tree immediately took action and flew with talons out at the ravens. It didn’t take long before the ravens had retreated.

On my return from Octopus I got really close to the nest to take a few photos. The osprey in the nest did not enjoy my presence too much and began chirping at me. The osprey did this funny head bob every time he would chirp, which I found somewhat hilarious. Eventually the bird got a little too fed up with me and took to the sky. I had thought I had chased him away, however within a minute the bird was dive bombing at me with his talons ready for action. At this point I decided I wanted to keep my eyes and paddled away as quickly as I could.

I have to say it is really awesome to see such a return of animals to the arrow lakes. When I was growing up the trend was towards the opposite. The lake was being abandoned by the ospreys, fish stocks were dwindling, and you were lucky if you ever saw an eagle. There has now been a great turn around, with osprey nests on every telephone poll, kokanee and trout in full abundance and larger than ever, and animals we never used to see like the beaver.

Hopefully I can return again before the summer is over to enjoy the solitude of the Arrow Lakes and all it has to offer.

An activity I love to do in the Kootenays during the summer is to forage for huckleberries. This past week while visiting my parents I had the opportunity to go out to our favorite spot in the Monashee Mountains and pick. The berries are abundant this year and within an hour I already had half a pale picked. Since I had left after work for picking, I decided after a half hour more it was time to head home.

A huckleberry is similar to a blueberry except that it is a little smaller, and tastes more tart, with a very intense flavor. Personally I prefer them to blueberries. I wanted to make something easy with the huckleberries (eating them on my granola was a little too easy) as I was spending most of my time on the lake at my parents camp, so I decided some huckleberry waffles were in order.

Here is the recipe I used:

2 eggs (yolks and whites separated)
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh huckleberries

Start by mixing the yolks and the whites in separate bowls until they are light and fluffy. Then mix in the remaining wet ingredients into the yolks until well mixed. In another bowl combine the dry ingredients until well mixed. Then slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the egg whites until just mixed in. Finally add the huckleberries.

That is it, pretty simple. You can keep the batter in the fridge or use it right away. If you are to keep the batter in the fridge make sure not to mix in the huckleberries. To cook you simply just want to put the batter in your preheated waffle maker and away you go. My family all agreed, huckleberry waffles were a great way to start the day.

Went for a hike yesterday with my Brother Rob, and my buddy Rob in Lynn Canyon. It was my first hike of the year so I wanted something pretty easy with the option of going a bit harder if I was feeling up to it. Norvan Falls and the Coliseum provided just that. The initial hike up to the Falls was a pretty easy hike on a low grade trail. We made it to the falls in a little under 2 hours. At the falls there was this really kick ass bridge across the creek.

The falls were gushing pretty good with all the snow melt going on. We made our way up close and snapped a few pictures. Rob decided he wanted to stand in the pools in front of the falls. The water was pretty ice cold, so he didn’t last longer than a good 20 seconds before having to step out of the water.

It was still very early in the day, and we all had lots of energy left after the Norvan Falls portion of the hike so we decided to see how far up Coliseum we could get. An hour and a half up we found a really pretty smaller waterfalls and pool where we stopped and broke for lunch. On a sunny day it would be a fantastic place to take a little dip and have a picnic.

We continued to push on forward up the trail. There was a section through a boggy area that would have been a lot worse crossing if it wasn’t for some recently built steps made out of slices of wood. As we got higher up there was more and more patches of snow. Finally we made our way up onto the ridge of the mountain. From the ridge there was a bit of a view down, however nothing great at this point. We continued to push up higher up the ridge, which was now fully covered in snow.

Eventually we got high enough that we were stuck in dense fog. The layer of fog was thick and we didn’t see the point in continue up any further than we had, as there would be no better view. So we decided to call it about 100-200 meters from the peak of Coliseum, with a vow to return again when the weather was a little better.

The way down was a challenge on our knees due to the steep decline. By the time we got to the parking lot at Lynn Valley all three of us were a little hobbled. Really fun first hike of the year, and one I will definitely have to do when the sun is shinning.

One of the things that I always love about visiting my parents in the summer is getting to eat my mother’s fresh fruit flans. When I went back to my parents place recently, strawberries were just starting to get ripe so my mom put together her patented German Erdeertorte for us.

The basic recipe for a torte or flan is to make the flan base, then fill it up with fresh fruit, and optionally cover the fruit with a glaze. My mom used a pear juice cornstarch glaze on her particular flan which turned out quite nicely.

What I love most about my mother’s torte is eating them a few days after they are made, after the juices from the fruit has seeped into the flan a bit, and made it a bit mushy. I know most people hate this, but for me this is heaven.

On my way home from my parents I picked up 2 flats of strawberries from my favorite farm in the valley, Zelaney Farms. I had to crank my air conditioning the whole drive home just to make sure the strawberries stayed cool. The day after getting home I went to work on putting together my own version of my mother’s erdbeertorte.

The flan I created was a bit different than my mothers. It turned out a little more solid, and a bit skinnier. Here is my flan recipe:

5 eggs
3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cups soft butter
pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Start by mixing the eggs in a stand mixer until they become frothy. Then slowly mix in the sugar and vanilla. When the sugar is fully mixed in, add the butter and mix until creamed. Finally sift in the flour, salt and baking powder and fold into the mixture and fully mixed. Grease an 11″ flan pan, and sprinkle with white breadcrumbs. Pour the batter into the plan plan and bake for 12-15 minutes until the flan is a nice golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack.

Once the flan has cooled you can load it up with fruit. I went a little overboard with the number of strawberries I put on my flan, mainly because I had so many. Finally you will want to cover your fruit with a glaze. I made a lychee/strawberry glaze. Basically I mixed 1/2 cup lychee juice, with 1/2 cup strawberry juice from my cut strawberries. Added 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and 3 tablespoons of gelatin. Heated the mixture until it became nice and thick. I let the mixture cool briefly before carefully spooning it over the strawberries. The glaze turned out really nice. It had hints of lychee, yet was not too overpowering of the strawberries.

Of course no German Erdbeertorte should be eating without lots of Schlagsahne (whipping cream). Overall I am happy with the results of my flan. Probably not as good as my Mom’s, but still pretty delicious.

During my time back in Fauquier I made a day trip with my nephew Mateo to Vernon to visit my brother Michael and his family. It was a really nice summer day, so Mike decided to take out his boat on Kalamalka Lake to do a little wakeboarding, and just enjoy they hot summer day.

Here are a bunch of photos I took during the day. First up was Mateo who had never wakeboarded before. He was up on his first try!

Next up was Kalin. He started off on a wake skate, goofed around on that for a while then switched to the wakeboard.

My sister in law Angie and Kalin’s friend Johnny also went for a board. I went too, but nobody remembered to take any pictures of me. Maybe it was for the better!

However it was my brother Mike who showed us all how it is done.

After we all got a little wakeboarding in we got a little silly. We put Kalin in the dry-suit and filled it up with air so that he would float on the water. We then pulled him behind the boat!

The rest of the day we spent cruising around the lake enjoying the sunshine. Kelsie (Mike & Angie’s dog) was sure enjoying it.

It was a great way to spend the day, as it is always fun hanging out with Mike and Angie.

Every summer my nephew Mateo comes out for about a month to visit my parents and the rest of the family out west. I used his arrival as an excuse to make it out to my parents place in the Kootenays for a visit. Simply put, the Kootenays are absolutely glorious in the summer. Loads of fresh fruit and vegetables from the garden, hot days and cool nights, and a big lake to jump into for a swim.

I wanted to bake something fun with my nephew while I was back home. Since we had so much fresh fruit around I fell back on old habits and decided a pie would be best. However to make things more fun, I figured we could try our luck at mini pies, or pielettes. We had fresh strawberries, huckleberries, gooseberries and a few apples. A good variety of fruits to make some fun treats.

Mateo really enjoyed filling the pie crusts and making special tops for each pielette. We did a few lattice tops, a couple regular tops, and even a special top we made by making one big sheet of crust.

With all the remaining crust dough and fruit I put it all together into one big pie. As I was arranging the apples in the pie I realized they were starting to look like the vintage CBC logo from the 60′s. So I had fun with it. The pie itself wasn’t the best tasting I have to admit, as the gooseberries really tend to overpower all the other fruit, but it was still fun to make and try.

As far as recipes go I just made a simple butter pie dough for the crust in a food processor. For the fillings I did a variety of things. Brown sugar/cinnamon/butter for the apple, white sugar for the huckleberry, ginger/honey for the gooseberries, and a simple glaze for the strawberries. Of all the pielettes I think the apple turned out best, however the strawberry was also really good.

It was a really fun activity to do with Mateo, and I think he really enjoyed it. Next time I will be sure however to keep the gooseberries separate!

In October 2009 I flew out to Philadelphia to experience seeing the Philadelphia Flyers play at home, as well as to see Pearl Jam close out the historic Spectrum. After that trip I didn’t anticipate making it back out to Philadelphia anytime soon. However when the Flyers finished off the Montreal Canadians in 5 quick games to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals I felt compelled to make the trip out east once again.

After the finals schedule was release I realized two conflicts in my schedule. The first was the Sasquatch Music Festival, which was taking place during the first two games of the finals in Chicago. The second was a Metric concert at the Malkin Bowl in Vancouver. I was alright with missing the Metric concert, but wasn’t about to skip out on the always fun Sasquatch. So I looked at flights, and found a red eye the day after Sasquatch that would put me into Philadelphia the morning of game 3. A quick reality check, OK’ed the trip with my boss, and the trip was booked.

Before leaving for Sasquatch I was able to find a single ticket to game 3 on the Flyers official ticketing website. This took a little pressure off for the first game. Arriving into Philly on little to no sleep, and a full day of work scheduled, I wasn’t in the best shape to be hunting down a ticket to the game. Work day done, a quick nap, and a whole lot of nervous excitement filled me. I hopped on the subway down to the stadium. On the subway I met two guys from Ottawa who drove down that day just to watch the game in a Philly bar. One of several Canadian Flyers fans I met during my time in Philly. When I was walking into the arena, I ran into my friend Phil from Vancouver, who just so happened to be in Philly for the game also. We exchanged contact info and agreed to meet up the following day for beers.

When Everything Goes Right

Game three was everyone I could have asked for in a hockey game, and made the trip completely worthwhile. It was a back and forth game, that saw the Flyers take an early lead only to lose it early in the 3rd period. The Flyers fought back and scored quickly after the Hawks to tie the game and send it to overtime. In OT the Flyers had a heart wrenching goal called back, minutes before Claude Giroux scored the winner to move the Flyers with one game of a tied series. Such an amazing finish and great way to start my trip. After the game I was going to meet up with the guys from Ottawa for a beer, but when I got back to my hotel I simply crashed out on my bed after a good 40+ hours of no sleep.

Game four I was without tickets. However from previous experiences with concerts and events I knew that if I showed up at the venue box office a few hours before the event I would be bound to get something. So after work I headed down to the arena where I stood in line with 25 other fans in the sweltering 33 degree heat hoping to get a ticket. An hour later I had a ticket which came with access to the Lexus Club which gave you a free food buffet as well as free beer.

Game four was a lot more dominant by the Flyers than the previous game. They came out strong and held the lead throughout the entire game. Despite a late charge by the Hawks, the Flyers were just too strong and ended up winning 5-3. That night I hooked up with a friend Andrew who I met through Joe in October. We went out for a few beers to celebrate the win and catch up. He invited me to a Phillies game and to show me around town the following week.

A Brief Interlude

After the game three win, I received an email from Jason who was currently in Hungary. He had sent me his Expedia itinerary and told me I should meet him in New York. I had never been to New York before, and while I would have liked to spend more than a weekend there, I figured a weekend would give me a good first taste. So Saturday I hopped on a bus, and 2 hours later I was downtown Manhattan.

I mentioned earlier that it was hot in Philadelphia. New York was no different. 30+ degrees and extremely humid. That type of heat really makes the smells of the city a lot more pronounced, especially when you have a city as busy as New York. I decided I would venture north from the bus station until I hit Central Park. I ended up walking straight through Times Square, which was a bit of an experience. A few too many people for my liking, which made Central Park such a good target. More than any other park I have been to in a city, is there ever one needed more than Central Park. It is a haven from the craziness of people, tourists, and smells of the city. While it was a little busy in many areas of the park, it was easy to find more secluded areas where you could be by yourself. I found a great bench in the park and spent a few hours reading waiting for Jason to arrive from Hungary.

After meeting up with Jason, we dropped off our bags at his girlfriends sisters place, and headed out to get some food and hit the town. We ate overpriced sushi, and drank beers at a hockey themed restaurant. New York, New York. Sunday we wandered around the city and saw a bunch of a the sites. More Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, Empire States Building. Before long it was time to head back to Philly to catch the Flyers game five.

When Everything Goes Wrong

Game five was an absolute ass kicking by the Hawks. The Hawks came out hard and fast, and finished the first period up 3-0. This was not how I had anticipated this game to go. Whenever the Flyers would get anywhere near to making the game close the Hawks would score to put the game back out of reach. The game ended 7-4, leaving Jason, Andrew, and Myself a little heartbroken. It meant there was no chance the Flyers could win the cup at home, and an even worse fate that Chicago might win the cup in Philadelphia.

Fast forward to Wednesday, game six, Flyers needing to win to have a chance to win the cup. We spent the day looking for tickets online for the game. We were trying to get 3 tickets together, which was becoming a hard feat. Eventually we found someone on craigslist who said he had 3 seats together for the price we wanted to pay. We exchanged a few emails and phone calls, and eventually waited for him to arrive from ‘Virginia’. Two hours turned into four and a half, and Jason and me began to get worried. Eventually the guy called and let us know he was close to our hotel.

We met him outside the hotel. A short black man, with a bit of a hunch, who appeared a bit on edge. My first impression of him was of his hand shake. It was weak; the kind of handshake where the other persons hand just falls out of yours. Second impression was that he got really nervous when I questioned why there was no date on the ticket. Despite the warnings, the tickets looked pretty legit. Jason and I had a quick chat, then decided to buy them. As we handed him the money he told Jason “Hold onto my number, if the Flyers win tonight, I will be heading out to Chicago and will have some more tickets for you…” Last impression was of Jason handing over the money in an envelope, and the guy walking away briskly without even counting it. When that happened all I could think of was we had been had.

As we walked away I brought this up with Jason. He said he noticed that too. We double checked the tickets again. They looked pretty legit. However I noticed the seat numbers he told me via email and the seat numbers on the tickets were different. Perhaps he just read the wrong ticket. As Jason and I had dinner before the game you could tell we were both on edge, and a little nervous that we bought fake tickets. Only time would tell.

We arrived at the venue and walked past a scalper who was holding up a single ticket for sale. The ticket looked really similar to the tickets we had. This put me a little at ease, as I thought that maybe I was just being paranoid. We walked our way up to the gates. Went inside the building. Held out my ticket to the usher. He scanned the ticket. Written on his scanner in red was, “STOP”. He scanned the ticket again. Same result. Scanned it a third time. Same thing. He instructed that I better go talk to the box office about my ticket. Jason had the same experience. Yup we were hosed.

The box office confirmed the tickets were fake, which brought forth a mix of emotions. Anger, humiliation, self-pity. We were not in a great mood. Insult to injury, the skies opened up and started to pour down rain. Eventually we picked ourselves up, and headed over to the bar at the ball park. We were both in no mood to watch the game, let along with a bunch of other people. However by the end of the second period and a few beers later, we realized 2 things. One, what happened happened, and there wasn’t much we could do about it. Two, the Flyers were playing a hell of an exciting game.

The third period started with the Flyers down 3-2. It took them until late in the period to tie the game 3-3 and send it to overtime. New hope emerged. However four minutes into the overtime period the greatest letdowns happened. Patrick Kane scored a short side goal against the Flyers. It was such a bad goal that nobody knew he had scored. It took about 20-30 seconds before everyone clued in that the Hawks had just won the Stanley Cup and the Flyers season was now over.

That night we head back to our hotel, had a few drinks in the lobby bar, while guests from Chicago celebrated. The only thing that made that night somewhat memorable was meeting the real life version of “The Dude” (a story for another day). “Sometimes you eat the bar and sometimes… well, he eats you”.

Last Few Days

My final days in Philly were spent doing some touristy things, like running up the Rocky steps, taking in a Phillies game, eating too many cheese steaks, exploring the 9th street Italian Market, and sampling many of the fine craft beers from the area. I wasn’t as upset about the ticket anymore, and enjoyed my time in one of the most historic cities in the US.

You might think Chicago had done everything it could to try and disrupt my trip. My flight home, which was routed through Chicago, got delayed for close to 3 hours due to a thunderstorm in Chicago. Finally the plane arrived and everyone boarded. Our plane made it to the tarmac, at which stage we sat for another hour plus on the tarmac as the thunderstorm had now moved south to Philadelphia. Good times.

I missed my connecting flight home, but was bumped up onto the last flight back to Vancouver. They put me in their executive plus section of the plane to make up for my troubles which was a nice gesture. Finally I arrived in Vancouver to find my bag was left in Chicago. What more could I expect?

Final Comments

Despite some bad luck I really had an amazing time in Philadelphia. I got to spend time with some really great people, and explore some of the more historic cities in the US. Without a doubt I will definitely make my way back to Philadelphia sometime in the near future.

One final little story. On the Tuesday after game five, I had performed a major release of our website at work. It was eight months of development, and a complete rebuild of our website. After launching the site I had to checkout of my hotel room and check into a new hotel. I did some final tests on the launch and everything appeared to be working correctly. Since my new hotel was half a block away I didn’t think it was a big deal to go offline momentarily to change hotels.

I arrived at the new hotel only to be told I had booked the room for the following day. I had just performed a major release of our website and now was told I had no place to work or stay. I scrambled and eventually found free wifi at the local market, where I spent the rest of the day working. Everything turned out fine with the launch, but it was a moment of complete panic when I found out I didn’t have a room that night.

Finally I just wanted to say a big Thank You to Andrew who helped us out with a place to stay when we had no hotel, as well for being such a fantastic host and tour guide.

This was the third year (second in a row) that Lester and I made the pilgrimage from Vancouver down to the Gorge in Washington State. Both Sasquatch 2009, and Sasquatch 2006 were great times, so I didn’t expect anything different this year.

We left a little after 1pm from Vancouver and made it into Seattle in decent time. Lester had told me about this burger place in Seattle called Lunchbox Laboratory that apparently made some of the best specialty burgers around. I can’t remember which burger I got, but it had so much bacon in it I actually had to take some out as I felt my heart was on the brink of failure. Overall though it was a really fantastic burger, wonderfully presented. My only complaint is that is was just too over the top, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

After stocking up on groceries, we hit the road for the final stretch to the Gorge. The traffic was pretty horrible, however Lester used his super powers of driving in a lane that was apparently closing. I think he probable shaved a good 45 minutes off our trip with that maneuver.

Unfortunately once we hit the Gorge access road we weren’t as lucky. We got to the access road at around 11:30pm and the lineup of cars was something I had never scene entering the Gorge. It was somewhat reminiscent of our 4+ hour wait getting into Bonnaroo. By about 3:30am we had finally got into the camping area. We had a pretty good idea from last year where we wanted to camp, so despite the warnings that it was full, we made our way to the area. We were finally able to find a decent spot (albeit tight) close to the entrance, showers, and bathrooms. Once the tent was setup, we slammed a few beers, had a pull of whiskey, then crashed in our tent.

The next three days at the Gorge rank up there with the best of them. The music was fantastic. I think I spent the majority of my time on the main stage, however made the switch over to the side stages on occasion. Some of my highlights were Mumford & Sons, Vampire Weekend, Broken Social Scene, The National, My Morning Jacket, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, LCD Sound System, Massive Attack, The New Pornographers, Band of Horses and Ween.

Festivals are more than just the music however. Getting to party with old friends and make new ones along the way is all part of the fun. While it was just Lester and me who made the trip down together, between us we probably knew a good 15 other people who went down to for the festival. A bunch of them we didn’t even end up seeing!

Another fun pass time during Sasquatch (or any festival for that matter) is people watching. Last year Lester and me player hipster bingo which was a load of fun. This year we didn’t do the bingo but the people watching was just as good. My favorite this year was the dancing viking guy! The next day he showed up as the dancing chef. Unfortunately we didn’t catch him on the final day. Second favorite would probably be the group of people who dressed up as power rangers and other super heroes. One final costume I have to bring up was the couple who dressed all in black and used glow sticks to make them look like stick people. Very cute.

Another fantastic year at the Gorge for Sasquatch shared with some really great friends. Barring any unforeseen events I don’t see myself missing this festival too often in the future.

Here are a few more random photos from the weekend.

Still on my rhubarb kick, with a few stalks left in my fridge I decided to make a rhubarb pie on Monday. So off to my book of 300 Pie’s I go to find a good recipe.

I found what looked like a recipe that would taste great and got to preparing. Since I wanted to use my Emile Henry pie plate Kasie so awesomely gave to me, I had to bump up most of the ingredients a little more. What I quickly realized was that I didn’t have enough Rhubarb to fill my pie plate. So rather than going out to buy more I just filled the remainder with strawberries. I mean who doesn’t love strawberries and rhubarb anyway?

Since the colors of the strawberry and rhubarb filling would be a distinct red I decided a lattice top to the pie would make for a better presentation. If you have never done a lattice before you will find it is pretty easy once you get the braiding technique. I could explain it to you, but I think it would be easier just to show in pictures. So find below how to make a lattice-top for a pie.

Pretty easy right? I like to use wider strips personally. I find skinnier strips look a bit funny on a pie, and are also harder to cut later. Plus it is more working doing the lattice!

I enjoyed this pie, as did my number one taste tester Oliver. However I quickly realized with this recipe and the rhubarb berry crumble I made the other day, that I don’t like citrus in my rhubarb desserts. Oliver quiet enjoyed the orange tang this pie had, but I found it detracted too much from the rhubarb flavor too much, which for me is the main reason to bake with rhubarb. Regardless the pie still tasted good.

Recipe

3 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter
1/2 cup cold lard
1/2 cup cold water

5 cups rhubarb
2 cups strawberries
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
zeset of 1/2 orange
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold butter

First step with most pies is to prepare the pie crust. You will want to do this at least 1 hour (if not longer) before you start to bake your pie. I have come to find the best and easiest way to make pie crust is in a food processor.

To use your food processor, put the flour sugar and salt into the bowl, and pulse a few times to mix. Then scatter the cold butter throughout the bowl and pulse 5-6 times. Fluff with a fork, then sprinkle the lard throughout the bowl, and pulse again 5-6 times. Fluff once more, then drizzle in 1/2 the cold water and pulse again another 5-6 times. Fluff, add remaining water, and finish with a final 5-6 pulses. The pie pastry should be crumbly at this point. Dump the pastry into a bowl and work into two balls, one a little larger than the other. Then flatten each ball into a disc about 3/4″ thick. Cover each with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.

Once the pastry has spent at least an hour in the fridge take larger disc out and put on a floured surface and roll out to be a good 12 inches. Gentle fold the pastry twice and place into the pie plate. Once in the plate you can unfold the pastry to fill the plate. Tuck the pastry into the pan by lifting around the outside so it slides in. You do not want to stretch the pastry. Let any remaining pastry overhang the plate. Put the plate and pastry back into the fridge while you prepare the rest of the pie.

Cut the rhubarb and combine with strawberries in a large bowl. Add the sugar, orange juice, zest, salt and nutmeg. mix well then set aside for 10-20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl combine your corn starch and an additional 2 tablespoons of sugar, then mix into your bowl of fruit. By this time there should be a lot of juices from the rhubarb to mix into. Take the pie plate out of the fridge, and pour the fruit into the pie shell. Dot the top of the filling with butter.

Now it is time to do the lattice. Take the second disc out of the fridge and roll it out on a floured surface to be about 10 inches. Cut the rolled pastry into 8 wide strips. Now apply the lattice to the top of the pie as per the photos above. Use a pastry brush and some water to attach the lattice to the sides of the pie. Then cut off any extra overhanging pastry around the pie plate. Lastly brush the top of the lattice with milk or water, then sprinkle sugar on top. Now we are ready to bake.

Put the pie into the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes. It should start to be getting a nice golden color. After this time rotate the pie 180 degrees. At this point you may want to put a pan under the pie plate on a lower rack to catch any bubbled over juices. Finally bake for an additional 25 minutes or so. You will want to see the filling and juices starting to bubble up. Remove the pie from the oven and let stand for a good 2-3 hours before eating. That is it, Rhubarb Strawberry Pie.

Notes: In the future I would not add the orange juice or zest out of personal preference. Also I find that rhubarb has enough juice on it’s own, that adding the orange juice just made the pie a bit runny. If you decide to keep the OJ in, I would suggest adding a bit more corn starch to counter act the additional liquid in the pie.

I am definitely going to give this recipe a second try. Next time without the orange juice and zest, perhaps with a bit more cornstarch. I would also like to try this recipe without the strawberries, and have the filling be all rhubarb. If you try this recipe post a comment and let me know if you liked it or not.

I love this time of year. Not only is it getting warming outside, the weather getting nicer and the days longer, but also some of my favorite fruits and berries are getting ripe. Specifically rhubarb. I remember when I was a kid; my brother and me would go to the garden, pick out big stalks of rhubarb, dip the ends in sugar then chew on them for the rest of the day.

So after finding some fresh rhubarb in the grocery store I knew I had to make something. Inspired by Helen and her wonderful blog Tartlette I decided to make a rhubarb crumble. Helen recently had a recipe for Rhubarb Crumble in which she made it in personal sized ramekins. I thought it looked really cute that way and decided to do the same!

I have to say I am very happy with the way it turned out. They look great, but more so they tasted amazing. The only thing I would change next time is to use a little less lemon juice and zest. The still tasted amazing though. So much so that when I started eating one to get a few shots of how they looked inside, I couldn’t stop eating it until it was done. I just love that rhubarb tartness!

Recipe

Crumble:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup honey

Filling:
3-4 Large stalks of rhubarb
2 cups of mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Juice and zest of a small lemon
2 tablespoons honey

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

For the crumble I just put all the ingredients in a large bowl then used a pastry cutter to cut the butter up until it was small and pea sized, and the ingredients were … well crumbly.

For the filling I also just mixed them all together. I then spooned the filling into buttered 3″ ramekins. Finally I spread the crumble on top of the ramekins to cover.

All that is left to do is bake for about 25-35 minutes, or until the crumble is a nice golden brown and the filling is bubbling through. It is best to put a pan on a lower oven rack to catch any boiling over juices.

That is it, an easy delicious rhubarb berry crumble!

Last Thanksgiving I helped out my parents by gathering all the walnuts from their walnut tree. I did a pretty extensive job of it, and was able to collect a giant basket full of nuts. I made the deal with them that I would be able to keep half the nuts I collected, as I love to use walnuts (especially fresh ones) in my baking.

Over the past few months I had made quiet a few different treats with the walnuts, however still had a large amount of nuts left, and really wanted to find a very walnut heavy recipe to use them on. From the recommendation of a blog I read, I picked up the cookbook “Maida Heatter’s New Book of Great Desserts”. What did I find as one of the recipes in the book? A walnut tart recipe!

Basically the way the tart is constructed, was to make a shortbread style crust that you would fold around a caramelized walnut filling. You basically roll out the crust and lay half of it into a flan/tort pan. Then you fill crust with the caramelized filling, and finally add the second half of the crust on top to seal it all together. Once you have baked the tart, and it has cooled, you spread it with chocolate.

Now I wish I could tell you this tart turned out perfectly, but I can’t. The day I decided to make the tart, I was a little bit tired and hung over, not to mention I had to meet some friends for a concert. So basically I had no concentration and was in a big hurry. Not the best time to try a new recipe you have never done before.

Basically the biggest problem I had was with my pastry. My biggest problem was that after I had mixed it, I didn’t knead it enough so that the pastry balls were fully mixed. This became problematic when I went to roll out the pastry as it started to break apart and cause holes. For the most part I was able to fix things with water and left over pastry dough, but it was still a depressing looking. Luckily after covering the tart with chocolate a lot of the mistakes were hidden.

As far as taste goes, the tart was very delicious. I served it up the day after I made it with whip cream and fresh strawberries. This added an extra layer of decadence to the already decadent tart. Unfortunately now I am fully out of walnuts, so I will have to wait until the fall to try this recipe again. Definitely is worth a second crack.

Recipe

Filling:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
200 ml butter
1 cup milk
1/3 cup honey
3 1/2 cups walnuts

In a saucepan bring sugar and water to a boil. Stir until the sugar is fully mixed into the water. Let the mixture slow boil for a good 7-8 minutes until the syrup starts to caramelize and turns a rich brown color.

Remove from heat and stir in the milk and butter. Watch out for the steam this will produce. Stir the mixture until fully mixed together. Return to the heat and let simmer for a good 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. After the 15 minutes stir in the honey and the nuts, then pour into a large bowl. Let stand until cooled to room temperature.

Crust

4 cups sifted flour
1/4 cup suger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold butter
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup ice water

Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and the water and egg yolks in another bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until pea size. Slowly pour the egg yolk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until dry and crumbly.

Knead the dough with your hands until it holds together. Be careful not to overwork the dough and melt the butter. Separate the dough into 1/3 and 2/3 parts and roll each into a ball. Place in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 475 degrees.

On a floured working surface roll the larger portion of the dough until it fills a 11″ x 1″ removable bottom tart pan. Make sure you roll it wide enough to have about an inch of overlap on all sides. Place the dough into the tart pan with the excess overhanging the pan. Spoon the filling into crust.

Roll out the second dough to be the size of the pan. Fold the overhang onto the filling then wet the top of it. Place the second dough piece on top of the crust and filling. Where the pieces connect squeeze them until pasted together.

Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. Make sure not to over bake. Let cool until room temperature.

Icing

9 ounces dark chocolate
100 ml butter
16 perfect walnut halves

Heat the chocolate (chopped) and butter in a double boiler over moderate heat. When it begins to melt whisk until smooth and silky. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Pour the chocolate over the tart. Using a large chef knife or a skinny metal spatula spread the chocolate around the top of the tart until perfectly smooth. With a regular spatula spread the remaining chocolate around the outside of the tart. Finally place the walnut pieces around the tart to decorate.

Not as difficult as it sounds. Just make sure you take your time. If you make this let me know how it turns out!