Tomorrow morning I'll take one of my clients to the Stampede. It's our usual tradition. He loves to see the animals in the agricultural exhibits, delights in the midway food and has a great time seeing all the sights. Here's a picture of him from last year in his very best western duds.
We'll be home with full tummies and tired feet but we will have had fun.
Monday I'll be rushing around trying to get my house in sufficient order that I wont be too embarassed when my friend Jim arrives. Jim lives in Vancouver and has flown to Calgary to spend a few days with other friends here. He'll be at my place for Monday and Tuesday then we'll drive to Vancouver on wednesday. He's really excited to take the trip through the mountains. He hasnt traveled that route by land in ten or so years. We planned on taking my mini-van. Using it gives us plenty of space so we were going to take a few things that are sitting around here to give to my kids in Vancouver. Jim also has some boxes stored at another friends' home that he would like us to take back. That was the plan.
Now backing up to earlier this week I'll try to explain how things have changed a bit. The man who owns the company that installed my ceramic tiles is just a nice guy. A few days ago we were chatting and he told me how much he likes living in Canada but that he misses his mother, sister and brother. We talked about food and places to eat out. He wishes that there was somewhere here he could get Romanian food like his mother makes but that he'll happily settle for Chinese food. We continued having a pleasant chat and he assured me his crew would be here at the appointed time. (They were and they did an excellent job of a tedious project.)
My curiousity was peaked. What the heck is Romanian food? I couldn't think of a single dish that I would associate with Romania. So of course I had to get to surfing a few recipe sites to see what was intriguing. Sure enough a couple of recipes lept out at me. One is for a delicious tomatoe and sweet onion salad that requires no dressing. The other is a skinless sausage recipe that has caraway seeds and paprika. They looked easy enough so I tried making both of them. They turned out not to bad when we had them for supper last night.
Supper was over about 5:30 and we made short work of the salad and sausages. Just enough left for one meal which of course made its way to the fridge inspite of the complaints from Radar and Biscuit (they wanted the sausage). About 6:30 the tiling contractor called to check if his crew had done a satisfactory job and to ask if he could stop by for payment. He showed up about 8:30 and I showed him the job. He inspected it with a critical eye and declared it acceptable. As I was handing him his due and praising his workers I asked if he would care for a glass of wine. He accepted but mentioned that he hadnt yet had supper so he could only have one.
I poured him a glass of wine at the dining table, excused myself and nuked the remaining sausages, added the salad and couple slices of taste French bread. As I sat the plate infront of him he looked at it with interest. He sampled the sausage and said, "My mother makes these all the time!" He was overwhelmed when I told him that I'd searched the recipe because he had piqued my curiousity.
We chatted for awhile during which time I told him about my plan to go to Vancouver. He said he really wanted to see the West coast but hadnt gotten there yet. In an off hand comment I countered with "Come on with us." We continued chatting about other things and just before he left he asked what day I would leave and when I would come back. I told him our departure is set for Wednesday and that I needed to be back in a week or less. He paused for a moment and said that he had a construction job he needed to complete on Tuesday but that his planned project for the next few days has been delayed so if the offer to come with us was sincere he would like to take us up on it.
His stipulation was that he would prefer to take his car. It's brand new and he wants to play with it on the mountain roads. Brand new Beamer, that is, as in BMW. Thats what I consider travelling in style. He wont know for sure if he can get away until Tuesday gets here. Either way is fine. The extra stuff that Jim and I were going to take in the van can wait until the next trip. I really hope he does join us. I dont relish the return 12 hour drive by myself if he doesnt go. I also really enjoy being tour guide to someone who has never seen the parts of Canada that I consider my home territory.
All that to say I likely wont be online after Tuesday for a few days.
