August 11
Leaving Truro the next morning, we headed to a winery, the Grand Pré. Graham and I very much enjoy discovering decent wines in small wineries. Just because a winery is not large enough to distribute their label regionally or nationally or internationally does not mean they don’t make good wine. Some distributed wine labels everyone knows are not as drinkable as these tiny wineries produce. I guess we are reverse snobs; when we were in Napa last summer we refused to go into any winery whose name we recognized. *G* After that trip, by the way, we promised
Sam we would only go to one winery per state. We went to that one in Bar Harbor, Maine while he was hiking and now this was our chance in Nova Scotia.
Leaving Truro the next morning, we headed to a winery, the Grand Pré. Graham and I very much enjoy discovering decent wines in small wineries. Just because a winery is not large enough to distribute their label regionally or nationally or internationally does not mean they don’t make good wine. Some distributed wine labels everyone knows are not as drinkable as these tiny wineries produce. I guess we are reverse snobs; when we were in Napa last summer we refused to go into any winery whose name we recognized. *G* After that trip, by the way, we promised
Sam we would only go to one winery per state. We went to that one in Bar Harbor, Maine while he was hiking and now this was our chance in Nova Scotia.
We picked up several bottles including some ice wine. Ice wine is made when the grapes are left on the vine until the first freeze, which results in a high sugar content. Normally we don’t drink sweet wines, but ice wine is a wonderful dessert wine and is made in small quantities, again, another yank to our reverse snobbery. LOL
After that stop we headed to Digby. Located on a river leading to the Bay of Fundy, Digby touts itself as the “scallop capital of the world”. There are so many scallops in the shallows there because of the rich sediment brought in with the tide flow, that they have a huge scallop fishing fleet. We had been enjoying scallops the whole week, but had anticipated our lunch and it was really yummy. The tidal change in Digby is about 30 feet…note the difference in the photos.
The boats are currently on the low tide, but the pier behind them shows the high water level. The photo to the right has a floating dock (canoe on top) which rises to the level of the boat which is sitting in the mud. It is actually a museum and not a working boat at this time.
The boats are currently on the low tide, but the pier behind them shows the high water level. The photo to the right has a floating dock (canoe on top) which rises to the level of the boat which is sitting in the mud. It is actually a museum and not a working boat at this time.As it was coming dow
n the afternoon then, we needed to get moving. We aimed ourselves to our last Nova Scotia B&B, Water Wood. Located on a small lake about 20 minutes outside of Yarmouth, this one had perhaps the nicest setting of all that we stayed in. Built as their personal house, with the basement finished out for her ailing mother, our hostess turned the basement into the B&B after her mom passed away. As the land sloped down to the lake, the back of the house had tremendous views of the lake from all windows and sitting in a chair on the downstairs patio or the upstairs deck was very relaxing.
n the afternoon then, we needed to get moving. We aimed ourselves to our last Nova Scotia B&B, Water Wood. Located on a small lake about 20 minutes outside of Yarmouth, this one had perhaps the nicest setting of all that we stayed in. Built as their personal house, with the basement finished out for her ailing mother, our hostess turned the basement into the B&B after her mom passed away. As the land sloped down to the lake, the back of the house had tremendous views of the lake from all windows and sitting in a chair on the downstairs patio or the upstairs deck was very relaxing. 
And then it was time for one of the events that actually drove a lot of the timing of our trip. You know, when I planned the trip I wanted us to see the tides on the Bay of Fundy and had discovered the rafting opportunity. I forgot to mention that their schedule indicated three types of rides: Regular, High, or Extreme…all related to the level of the tidal change based on the moon phases. Trying to catch an extreme tide was the main reason we drove the 8 houses from Pittsburgh to my sister’s house in Connecticut in one day..we “NEEDED” to be extreme tidal adventurists. LOL
The other event that drove the schedule in Nova Scotia was what happened next. Many of you know that all of us like to cook. I always considered myself a decent cook until I joined Graham, who has a phenomenal way in the kitchen. So, when we have a chance, we really like to learn about local recipes. Early in my trip planning I came across a website for a place that has week-long gourmet cooking classes in Nova Scotia. That is not what we wanted when we only had 6 days, so I kept searching and finally found a caterer who organizes cooking classes in 4 towns in Nova Scotia. The classes run 2 hours each and his menus sounded good, but were not anything we couldn't cook anywhere. So I started an email dialog with him and pretty soon he agreed to offer a class teaching Acadian cooking!
Stepping back here---the French were the first to settle this region, and the people soon called themselves Acadians. When the British took over the area that is now Canada, there was the usual stupidity when people say my way is better than yours and the British expelled the French. Many Acadians fled, and heading to Louisiana, became the (a)Cajuns. Remember back to the Wadsworth poem Evangeline we all had to learn in high school and the history lesson will ring a bell for you. Well, some of the Acadians hid out and after the expulsion rule was lifted a couple of years later, they came out of hiding and there are parts of Nova Scotia where the culture is quite strong and road signs are in English and French.
We then spend a delightful 2 hours learning to cook, and then eat, recipes that we will be happy to reproduce here at home. The foods are simple, things that were easy to find or grown. Potatoes are a staple and the other veggies tend to be roots (parsnips, for example) because of the growing season. The chef prepared a wonderful chicken soup with a type of potato dumpling that we thought would remind us of gnocchi but was very different, a rappie pancake (only because rappie pie takes 3 hours) which is made with finely grated potatoes with the starch squeezed out and pieces of quahog (large clams), a parsnip dish, and a bread pudding for dessert. The local people who regularly take the Monday evening class were besides themselves, enjoying it as much as we were.
The class was held in the community room of Sobey’s, the local grocery store chain. (Kroger could take a lesson here!) The teaching kitchen was amazing, complete with the mirror over the work surface so we could see inside the pots, just like on tv. After the class, everyone went out to the store and bought ingredients (we bought other things, as the rappie would not travel) so the store has nothing to lose letting the cooking classes be held there.
The other event that drove the schedule in Nova Scotia was what happened next. Many of you know that all of us like to cook. I always considered myself a decent cook until I joined Graham, who has a phenomenal way in the kitchen. So, when we have a chance, we really like to learn about local recipes. Early in my trip planning I came across a website for a place that has week-long gourmet cooking classes in Nova Scotia. That is not what we wanted when we only had 6 days, so I kept searching and finally found a caterer who organizes cooking classes in 4 towns in Nova Scotia. The classes run 2 hours each and his menus sounded good, but were not anything we couldn't cook anywhere. So I started an email dialog with him and pretty soon he agreed to offer a class teaching Acadian cooking!
Stepping back here---the French were the first to settle this region, and the people soon called themselves Acadians. When the British took over the area that is now Canada, there was the usual stupidity when people say my way is better than yours and the British expelled the French. Many Acadians fled, and heading to Louisiana, became the (a)Cajuns. Remember back to the Wadsworth poem Evangeline we all had to learn in high school and the history lesson will ring a bell for you. Well, some of the Acadians hid out and after the expulsion rule was lifted a couple of years later, they came out of hiding and there are parts of Nova Scotia where the culture is quite strong and road signs are in English and French.
We then spend a delightful 2 hours learning to cook, and then eat, recipes that we will be happy to reproduce here at home. The foods are simple, things that were easy to find or grown. Potatoes are a staple and the other veggies tend to be roots (parsnips, for example) because of the growing season. The chef prepared a wonderful chicken soup with a type of potato dumpling that we thought would remind us of gnocchi but was very different, a rappie pancake (only because rappie pie takes 3 hours) which is made with finely grated potatoes with the starch squeezed out and pieces of quahog (large clams), a parsnip dish, and a bread pudding for dessert. The local people who regularly take the Monday evening class were besides themselves, enjoying it as much as we were.
The class was held in the community room of Sobey’s, the local grocery store chain. (Kroger could take a lesson here!) The teaching kitchen was amazing, complete with the mirror over the work surface so we could see inside the pots, just like on tv. After the class, everyone went out to the store and bought ingredients (we bought other things, as the rappie would not travel) so the store has nothing to lose letting the cooking classes be held there.
1 comment:
Ack!!! Where are parts 1-7? This sounds like it was an awesome trip and I can't wait to hear more about it.
Nadine
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