“Mommy, I’m bored.” I don’t know about you, but I cringe every time my children say these three dreaded words. I have all sorts of snappy comebacks but none of them has ever worked, except for, “Oh, then let’s practice your piano.” Hearing these words usually means that some kind of action is required on my part. When it comes to my kids, I find a good offense, being prepared, is better than a defense, trying to come up with something on the spur of the moment.

Recently, we spent a week at my brother’s cottage on Crooked Lake, Saskatchewan. Packing to go to a cabin always leaves me in a quandary, especially when it comes to deciding what to bring for the kids. Clothing is one challenge, toys and activities are another. This time I decided to let my children decide what they wanted to bring. Big mistake. Two hours into our visit and my son was already complaining, “There’s nothing to do.”

Here is a list of things I wished I had packed for them and didn’t. I would love to hear what other people take along to help keep their kids or grandchildren amused.

1. More Puzzles - I found the adults loved doing the one puzzle we did bring
2. Arts & Crafts Supplies - scissors, tape, glue, sparkly things from dollar stores, heavy construction paper and string for kite making
3. Paint by Numbers - these are inexpensive and a great activity to pick up and put down
4. A good chapter book to read out loud to the kids - Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder would have been ideal
5. Play Dough - or the ingredients to make it.
6. DVD’s like RV, Blue Planet, Happy Feet, Sound of Music, Wizard of Oz
7. Read-Along stories either tapes or CD’s
8. Bingo Game
9. Dollar Store Prizes for scavenger hunts
10. Sticker books

My sister-in-law, Nancy, saved the day with an over-sized purple ball she bought at the SuperStore for $0.93. We played a lot of soccer tag over the course of the week.

As you prepare for this Labour Day Weekend, hopefully these suggestions will help you with your packing.

Cheers,

Julie

It’s late in the day as the sun’s rays light up the golden wheat fields that fill our horizon. The tall ripen grain is everywhere, as we follow the never ending road of the Trans Canada Highway. Suddenly and dramatically the landscape changes. The flat plains give way to large green oval drumlins, left behind from the last glacier over 14,000 years ago.

The glacier’s melt once filled this deep gully known as the Qu’Appelle Valley. The water’s slow retreat left a thick green carpet of trees and small dense shrubs, that now line the walls of the vale. Deep on the valley’s floor flows the Qu’Appelle River, which feeds into Crooked Lake, our destination.

This lush green valley and narrow lake are teeming with wildlife, as we watch a flock of American white pelicans take flight, their noisy chatter and that of the other water fowl fills the cooling night air.

Shrieks of laughter echo off the water, as my brother and his children struggle to reel in walleyes and perch. It’s almost dark now, but the fish are biting and they are reluctant to leave the alga rich water.

There is a feeling of abundance as I stand on the dock and gaze out over the calm still water. This pristine wilderness is teeming with wildlife. It is like stepping back in time, the way Canada must have looked and felt to the early settlers. The waters, shores and sky are filled with fish, animals and birds.

Crooked Lake, set in this valley, is an oasis in the prairie; it’s beauty still intact despite the ravages of civilization.

More from our adventures on Crooked Lake tomorrow.

Cheers,

Julie

Is it a sin to covet your brother’s new Mastercraft wakeboard boat (pictured above)? Actually, it’s not brand new. He bought it used from a dealer in the United States. With a strong Canadian dollar, a lot of loonies are flocking south of the border in search of cheaper boats.

But are boats really less expensive in the US? And how much hassle and cost do you incur bringing them through customs?

Are Boats Cheaper?

To find out if boats are cheaper, I decided to go online and do some price comparisons. The first boat I looked at was a used Malibu 2005 XTI. It is listed on a Canadian site for $52,995. The same model is listed on Boats.com for $39,999, that’s difference of $13,000. With the exchange rate and trailer fee of $207 (you don’t pay duty on boats manufactured in the US), the boat works out to about $42,600. You still have to pay PST and GST, but you would have to pay these regardless of where the boat is purchased. Buying the Malibu XTI in the US would save you over $10,000.

The second boat I compared was a 2003 Mastercraft X30. One is listed on AutoTrader.ca for $55,000; the same model is listed on boattrader.com for $46,000. With exchange and trailer fee, the US boat works out to $48,967, a savings of $6,000.

I also checked out eBay.ca for used boats, but most of the ones listed there are from US dealers. Our neighbor at the cottage bought his boat on eBay. The bidding had closed but the boat had not sold, so he contact the seller directly. He got the boat for a great price, but he also had to travel to California to pick it up.

There are more boats built and sold in the US, resulting in lower prices. When I tried finding used boats for sale in Canada, there was very little inventory and it was hard to find them, as least online. Autotrader.ca and boatdealer.ca were the only online sources that I could find. A lot of marinas also list their used inventories online, but this can be a time consuming process.

If anyone has purchased a boat recently, I would love to hear from you, especially if you bought it in the US. On Friday I will discuss the best time of year to buy a boat and what you need to do if you bought your boat in the US.

Cheers,

Julie

To all the participants in Warkworth’s Perfect Pie Contest, this blog is dedicated to you.

Every year for the past 28 years, the Order of the Eastern Star hosts the annual Perfect Pie Contest held in Warkworth Ontario. It was during the last five years that the Warkworth Business Association decided to publish some of the winning entries, Simply Pies Savoury and Sweet is the name this cookbook, and according to my mom, copies of this cookbook are scarcer than hen’s teeth.

But when it comes to making pies, perfect pies - this book is the holy grail. So today, I would like to share with you some of my favourite fruit pies from this book.

The first one is Carol’s Apple Pie - Carol Hamilton is a two time winner in the Perfect Pie Contest for Best Apple Pie

Ingredients:

pastry double crust pie 9 in (see Wednesday’s blog for great pie crust recipe)

• 6-8 Northern Spy apples (if Northern Spy not available try Melbas, Yellow Transparent, McIntosh, Spies and Courtlands)

• 3/4 - 1 cup sugar

• 2 tbsp all purpose flour

• 1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon

• dash ground nutmeg

• dash salt

• 2 tbsp butter

• sugar to sprinkle

Preheat oven to 400F

Peel, core and thinly slice apples - you will need 6 cups apples. Combine sugar, flour and spices. Mix apples.

Line pie plate with pastry. Fill with apple mixture. Dot with butter. Add top crust, cutting vents for steam to escape. Seal. Sprinkle top with sugar. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes.

Raspberry Pie - Norma McCleary ( awarded the most prizes in the Perfect Pie Contest)

Pastry for double-crust pie

• 1 1/4 cup sugar

• 2 tbsp quick-cooking tapioca

• 4 cups frozen raspberries, unsweetened, partially thawed

• 1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 425F

Mix together sugar and tapioca. Add raspberries and toss together, set aside.

Line pie plate with pastry; do not trim. Spook filling into pie, dot with butter. Moisten rim of shell and cover with top pastry. Trim and flute edge, cut steam vents in top.

Place on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and bake for 30-40 minutes longer or until filling is bubbly and pastry is golden. Let cool on rack.

Blueberry Pie - Doris Goheen’s

pastry for double pie crust

• 3 cups of blueberries - fresh

• 1 cup sugar

• 3 tbsp corn starch

• 1 cup water

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• butter

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a sauce pan mix, 1 cup of blueberries, 1 cup of sugar, 3 tbsp corn starch and 1 cup of water. Heat on top of stove until mixture is bubbling and it has turned a deep purple. Remove from heat and add remaining blueberries and lemon juice. Pour into pastry lined pie plate. Dot with butter and cover with top crust.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400F. Reduce heat to 350F for 20 minutes.

This is the last of the pie recipes. I seem to have gained some weight researching this topic. hmmmm - wonder how that happened.

Cheers,

Julie

The sweet smell of baking pastry wafts through the cottage. The golden sticky syrup bubbles up through the pie’s crust signaling it’s cooked. My family hovers around the stove, like bees to honey, eagerly awaiting the pie’s arrival.

My mom, Dorsi, is the queen of pie pastry. Raised on a farm, and later married to a farmer, she can turn out two to three pies a day, apple, lemon, blueberry and my favourite, rhubarb, are among her specialties. Last week in Saskatchewan, she took up the challenge of producing a pie a day. Monday was blueberry, Tuesday- Banana Cream, Wednesday- Peach, Thursday- Apple, Friday- Lemon Meringue, and Saturday we finished with Pumpkin.

The topic of the day was always what kind of pie we would be having for dinner. Fortunately, my mother took this opportunity to teach us how to make pie pastry, her granddaughters, her daughter and her daughter-in-law. We watched as she cut in white chunks of shortening, working the pastry cutter around the edges, carefully mixing the flour with the Crisco .

When quizzed as to how much water to pour in, Dorsi was evasive. She goes by feel, “If the pastry stays together when you pinch it and it feels greasy to the touch, then you are ready to roll it out,” was her response.

I have tried my best to capture her recipe and technique. Wednesday’s peach pie was the undisputed favourite, listed below is the recipe.

Does your family have a favourite pie? Please send me the recipe and any accompanying stories - they will be posted on this Thursday’s blog.

Peach Pie Pastry:

Heat oven to 400 degrees

• 4 cups of Robin Hood Cake & Pastry Flour

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1 cup of Crisco All Vegetable Shortning - divided into 1/4 cups

• 2 tbsp white vinegar

• 1 egg - beaten

• 1/4 cup of cold water

Directions

In a deep bowl that tapers in, pour in flour, salt and first 1/4 cup shortening - mix well, add next 1/4 shortening and mix well, add 1/4 cup of shortening and mix well and add last 1/4 cup shortening and mix well. Pastry should be clumped together into small peas and feel greasy.

Mix together liquid ingredients and pour very slowly, mixing well a little bit at a time into the middle of the bowl and fluff with a fork. Be careful not to over mix. If it’s too wet or sticky add a little bit more water. Once pastry is moist, form it into three balls. You only need two for the pie, but you can make a lemon meringue pie with the third crust.

Let the pastry chill for a bit in the fridge. Prepare your surface by sprinkling flour and putting some on your rolling pin.

Roll out one ball of dough until is is thin enough to cover the entire surface of your pie plate. The tricky part is getting the rolled out dough from the counter into the plate. Use a flipper and go around the edges to scrape it off the counter. Fold the pastry in half and move it onto the pie plate.

Preparing the Filling

• Peaches - skinned and sliced thinly (the amount of fruit will depend on the size of the pie plate)

• 1 cup of white sugar (taste the mixture - add more if peaches are a bit sour)

• 2 tbsp of flour

• 1 tbsp almond extract

Directions:

Mix sliced peaches with almond extract and then add sugar and flour. Coat thoroughly and pour into pie plate.

Roll out the second dough ball and lay across the peaches. Trim the edges with a sharp knife and using your fingers, pinch the pie’s edges to seal the dough together. Using a sharp knife - make little pricks on the top of the pie to let the steam escape.

Cook at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and then for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. You will know the pie is finished when it starts to bubble over. Always place a cookie sheet under the pie to catch the drips.

Don’t worry about leftovers - there won’t be any left.

Cheers,

Julie

With Labor Day weekend just around the corner, cottage season is grudgingly coming to an end. For some, this will be their last year as they make the difficult decision to sell their recreation property.

Before you lay out the MLS welcome mat, here are five things you can do to help sell your cottage, according to Chris Winney, a sales representative from Royal LePage, who specializes in the Land O’Lakes region in Ontario.

The five things Winney recommends are:

• Get rid of the clutter. “Often things end up at the cabin that are not bad enough to throw out, but good enough for the cabin,” she explains. Winney provides clients with a cargo trailer to help with the process and advises them to use hotel rooms as an ideal. Personal effects and knick-knacks need to be cleared so potential owners can envision their treasures lining the shelves. Less is more.

• When asked about spending money to fix up the cabin, Winney cautions sellers. Focus on the outside, specifically, the dock. Make sure you have a good dock, “Spend $10,000-$15,000 and build a dock to die for,” she recommends. The first place she takes buyers to is the waterfront. Investing money on your dock will yield a good return. “Don’t pour a whole lot of money into anything but the dock; the new owners are going to change the cottage anyway.”

• Make sure the property looks great. Rake, take away refuse, trim tress and spruce up the privies. Don’t get rid of the privy, people want them.

• Fix what needs to be fixed: baseboards, steps, and replace the deck if it is rotten or broken.

• When it comes to selling your cottage or cabin, it is all about first impressions. Everyone wants privacy first. Make sure the natural growth provides privacy but doesn’t impede the view.

Making the decision to sell your cottage is a very difficult and emotional process. But once owners make the decision, the rest becomes easier. Hopefully these five tips will help you sell your cottage.

Cheers,

Julie

If you were asked to name top cottaging destinations, Saskatchewan might not be one of them. But you might want to think again. With average national price of a standard waterfront property reachable by land costing $427,589, according to the 2007 Royal LePage Recreational Property Report, cottaging on the prairies might be a more affordable option.

There are three cottaging areas in the province, Regina Beach, Qu’Appelle and Last Mountain Lake, all boasting beautiful lakes with ample beachfront. A standard waterfront property in these regions averages $250,000, up from $155,000 to $160,000 in 2006. Like everywhere else in cottage country, the demand for waterfront properties has resulted in significant price increases over the last couple of years.

But if you’re willing to pay more, $380,000, you can get a nice year-round home on a lakefront property. Compared to Vancouver’s housing prices, that does sound like a bargain.

A number of friends have recently built “cottages/homes” in these areas. Despite having to commute by plane, they love the area and the beautiful scenary. I am off to explore the region of Qu-Appelle next week and will be blogging from my brother’s waterfront home. One thing I did notice was how inexpensive a round of golf costs. With the average price for 18 holes costing approximately $20, I might just have to sneak in a few rounds.

Here’s to exploring new territory.

Cheers,

Julie

Tubing is arguably one of the most popular cottage activities. From the young to the not-so-young, many have enjoyed this bumpy sport. But this past week has resulted in two tubing tragedies, both involving children.

Sydney Robis, a seven-year-old from Hamilton Ontario, was a passenger in a boat that was towing three children on Chandos Lake, near Apsley, Ontario, when the metal tripod holding the tow rope collapsed.

Sydney, who was seated at the back of the boat, was struck in the head by one of the metal bars. Despite life saving measures, she died later that day in Kingston General Hospital.

The second tubing tragedy took place earlier this week on Rice Lake, Ontario, when an eight-year-old boy and his 10-year-old sister were slammed into a stationary boat after their father, who was towing the pair, was forced to make a sharp turn.

The boy sustained major head injuries and is still in Toronto hospital his sister, was treated and released.

While tubing is not an inherently dangerous sport, things can still go wrong resulting in tragic consequences. Below are a few safety reminders with a special note to people (myself included) who use metal tripods. According to Sgt. Darren Little, of the Toronto police marine unit, tow bars create excessive drag and should only be used for wakeboarding or waterskiing.

Safety Reminders

• Have a spotter - someone should always be watching what’s going on behind the boat, allowing the driver to keep an eye out for other boats, swimmers or objects in the area.

• Make sure the tow line is secure and replace it if there are signs of wear and tear (I am guilty of this one).

• Beware of wakes – it’s fun to see people bounce up in the air, but what goes up must come down. Tubers can suffer back injuries especially if you cross the wake at high speeds and the tuber is stomach down.

• Drive sober – the police have stepped up their patrols and have zero tolerance for drinking and driving behind a vessel.

My heartfelt sympathies to the Robis family,

Julie

The white edges quickly turn golden and then black as you hurry to remove the burning mass from the stick. Gently you slide the gooey blob onto the wafer, supported by a piece of milk chocolate. Sandwiched together, the marshmallow oozes out the sides. Sliding the awkward crumbling cookie into your mouth, you are enter s’mores heaven.

At a recent campfire, Jan, our gracious host, used homemade chocolate chip cookies instead of chocolate biscuits. These were a big hit. Below is a chocolate chip recipe from my favourite source, Epicurious.com. These cookies, loaded with chocolate chips, flatten out in the oven making them a ideal biscuit for s’mores or ice cream sandwiches, oh yes, they are also awesome on their own.

Other variations on the mighty s’mores include, using Caramilk chocolate bars and raisen and nut chocolate bars. I am curious if anyone has tried anything else on their s’mores?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, soften
1 3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (16 oz)

Preparation

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or wax paper.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add lightly beaten eggs. Stir in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and mix in flour mixture until just blended, stir in chips.

Scoop 1/4 cup batter for each cookie, arranging mounds 3 inches apart, on 2 baking sheets. Flatten mounds into 3-inch rounds using moistened palm of your hand. Form remaining cookies on additional sheets of parchment.

Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until golden, 11 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool and continue making cookies in same manner using cooled baking sheets.

Top with roasted marshmallows and enjoy!

Here’s to wanting s’more.

Cheers,

Julie

Hearing Oprah’s calm soothing voice float over the lake, as she describes her relationship with Gayle King, I feel somewhat reassured. Here on my dock, with no electricity, Internet, or newspapers I am still able to stay “connected” with civilization. Earlier in the day, Bill had been enjoying the CBC.

Despite wanting to escape from it all, I still want to take some of it with me, and that means music. Oprah is just an added bonus.

Our first attempt to bring music to the cabin consisted of a Grundig Crank Radio. We would wind it up for about a minute and get an hour of music, AM or FM. It worked OK, but often we would forget to wind it and we still had to endure poor reception and the never-ending commercials.

We started off this year with my iPod and Logitech portable speakers. Great sound, no commercials, but after a while, I found myself wishing I had downloaded more iTunes before heading off to the lake.

Our latest musical attempt and by far the best, is XM Satellite radio. It took Bill about five minutes to tape the thin black wire to the skylight, run it down the wall, and plug it into our converter. At last, we were connected, and not just to music but news, sports and of course, Oprah!

The great thing about this service is, you can take it with you - anywhere in North America, according to Chris, a service representative with XM Canada. The package we purchased (similar to the Delphi Sky Fi3) comes with a home and car kit. I’ve also loaded it on my laptop – free with my subscription; I just need to have Internet access to play it. You do need to make sure your receiver, a tiny little device the size of a toonie, is facing south and has direct line of sight.

The hardware starts at around $50 and goes up to $99 depending on what you need. It can be purchased from any electronics store, Future Shop, Best Buys, London Drugs or Circuit City.

The activation fee is $14.99, but only if you go online and activate-it-yourself, talking to a customer service will cost you more. The monthly fee is $14.99, and if you are willing to prepay, you can get up to five months of free service.

“The service is very popular with people who grew up listening to the radio, that would be the 24 years and older crowd,” explains Chris, “The decade channels are popular too.” My personal favourite is Flight 26, but I also enjoy listening to Oprah’s sound words of wisdom on channel 156. Who says you can’t take it with you?

Hears to music!

Cheers,

Julie