Canada Part Three

Well, it's about time I finished posting about our trip to Canada this summer (the first parts of the trip were blogged here and here). We've been back for over five months and it still feels like yesterday. And I want to be back so badly, and looking at these pictures again makes me so, so homesick. Warning: this post contains about eight hundred pictures, and is good proof that I am just blogging for myself these days.

Shuma continued to spend a lot of time outdoors, especially as it started to warm up. Watermelon season came, which is always cause for great joy for everyone except myself. It turns out that Shuma likes the vile fruit (I have no idea where that came from, as Hideaki hates it as much as I do).

Not only to eat, but to roll around. And wear.

Shuma was just learning to eat, and had some setbacks (his initial jet lag caused some serious lack of appetite) but eventually he ate well, and cost my family a fortune in fruit. I ate well too. Oh the food I ate! I didn't take pictures of every memorable meal, but here are a few in no particular order:

I finally got to try Portuguese chicken that is so popular. Wow was it ever good (as were the greasy potatoes that came with it), and now it's just one more thing I can never have here in Japan.

Here's another: tomatillo tortilla soup, made by my brother Greg and his girlfriend Sherry. I've never even seen tomatillos in Japan, so I'll just have to wait till my next visit home and hope to get served this again.

After the soup they served these beautiful steaks, with refried beans and salsa.

My mom baked some lovely halibut with bacon and leeks.

And made a wonderful rhubarb crisp. The ice cream was totally unnecessary, but what the hell.

Another Greg and Sherry meal fajitas and black bean salsa.

I think this yummy meal was a whole family collaboration: chicken souvlaki with tzaziki sauce, tomato and feta cheese salad, sauteed greens of some sort, rice pilaf and corn on the cob. 

Sherry made this blueberry pie, and it was every bit as amazing as it looks.

It's hard to tell what you're looking at, and the picture doesn't do it justice, but this is my mom's cheese bread and it's deadly. It's bread baked with butter, onions, poppy seeds and cheese, and it's rich, gooey, crisp on the outside and so so good.

Served with steak, baked potato and veggies.

This is Sherry's strawberry shortcake, with strawberries she picked herself.

I went out for sushi with my sister Julie and her daughter Zoe, and was surprised at how good it was. I think it's pretty funny that they serve this bento with sushi AND rice, and a few things weren't quite right from a Japanese perspective, but it was great. I think the salmon sashimi is as good or better than what we get in Japan (which is often imported anyway).

Zoe introduced me to the dragon roll, which has unagi (eel) and avocado. I know very little about kawarimaki (the creative sushi rolls mostly found outside of Japan) but want to try more.

This beef, barley and porcini soup my mom made was so rich and satisfying, more of a stew than a soup really. I want some right now.

Zoe made her specialty, chicken brian, and Sherry helped out by making the pasta and side dishes. Everyone loved it, including Shuma (who loves any kind of noodle).

We liked my mom's pineapple cake so much she made it twice.

And I've never liked the combination of fruit and chocolate but Sherry converted me with these.

My last dinner at home was a Korean feast cooked by Sherry. I had requested ddukbokki, a dish of rice cake in spicy sauce which is also popular in Japan (where it is called topokki). Next came pajeon (spring onion pancake, called chijimi in Japan), which was eaten up before I thought to take a picture.

Then came thinly sliced beef, to be cooked at the table and eaten with a variety of kimchi, sauces and greens.

Here is one bite: a lettuce leaf, about to be rolled up with a sesame leaf, chrysanthemum leaves, cooked beef, kimichi and gochujang (spicy bean sauce). Yum!

All those calories needed to be burned off, so we tried to get out for exercise as much as possible. Baboo took Zoe, Shuma and I to Kelso for a bit of hiking.

And even though I kept worrying they'd fall, I even let Baboo carry Shuma.

We drove down to Toronto's lakefront and spent some time walking around. Shuma loved this splash pool and Cletis (my sister's dog) loved the geese that were everywhere.

And we all loved posing for some highly original pictures with a monument to the QEW (a local highway).

Closer to home, Shuma made many visits to our local park, here with his cousin Zoe.

But it was nice just to hang out at home. Look how pretty these flower baskets are! They are mostly Sherry's work.

There was always something fun to do, like hang around with Cletis.

Or jump around on the air mattress. I couldn't get any actual jumping on camera, because any commotion would attract Cletis and then Shuma would stop jumping and play with the dog.

Cletis managed to perfect the art of the photobomb, and starred in many, many pictures intended for Shuma.

Sherry was mostly in charge of bath time, and from the sounds of it they had great fun in the big bath. But when his eczema flared up we gave him an oatmeal bath in the kitchen sink. He'd never had a sink bath before as our sink is the wrong type, but it was the perfect size. He thought it was pretty nifty too.

And of course he liked his pool time out in the backyard. Basically he likes anything involving being naked, as it gives him access to his favourite toy.

But he really does seem to love the combination of water, the outdoors and nudity.

And then came Canada Day.

We all get dressed up in our finest patriotic finery.

The hockey stick was a big hit, and Baboo has great hope that he'll grow up knowing how to use it.

We played bocce in the field behind our house, which as always was really just an excuse to mock each other. Mom, Cletis and Shuma sensibly chose to watch.

And enjoy some snacks.

We taught Shuma how to stick a maple seed to his nose, which he took to right away. He's definitely one of us.

Zoe, as you may guess from these pictures, is a model and just got back from a few months in Bangkok.

She is known for professionalism and laid-back, sweet personality.

As well as her high standards of personal grooming.

Which is something we have in common.

Dinner was outside on the patio, which was a treat as most of the evenings until then were too cool to eat outside.

Shuma really enjoyed dining al fresco.

We had a lovely seafood dinner, including these clams roasted with potatoes and chorizo, and corn on the cob that came with little baby corns attached (the mini cobs were kind of disappointing actually).

And then it was fireworks time. This was Shuma's second pyrotechnic experience and he was very brave. His first time was Victoria Day five weeks before, and he'd been a little scared at first, but obviously interested. This time he really enjoyed them, despite being a little nervous.

On our last morning we went out for one last swing. I wanted to take the swing set with me, and I'm sure Shuma felt the same.

Back home we posed for some family pictures before I got ready to go.

And then it was goodbye. The flight home was uneventful and Shuma was well-behaved, which is pretty normal for a 9-month old. I know the next trip won't be so easy, but I can't wait.

See more pictures from the visit here. Please note that many of these pictures are not mine (namely: the good ones, which are by my brother Greg Bishop, his girlfriend Sherry Park or my father Jim Bishop).

Comments

[gaijinwife]

What a great holiday and fabulous pics!! So many good times and GREAT food.

[Helen]

Can your family adopt me? Seriously, the food pictures are to die for!

It looks like you had a great time. Thanks for updating us!

[David]

You miss Canada after 5 months. It balances out pretty much because my wife misses Japan after about the same amount of time. Not only do you have several talented cooks in your family, they have many, many different recipes.
My daughter loved suika too, but I don't get it either.

[Amy]

Thanks!

David, so glad to meet another watermelon hater! It's one of the few food dislikes my husband and I agree on. I think he feels betrayed because we both used to hate avocado and mayonnaise but I've recently started liking them. But watermelon? Never.

[thesoulofjapan]

Love the grass in your nose and ears. [ suspire]

[Aspasia]

So many of these photos cracked me up! You have such a great family--want to adopt me? Give Shuma a hug for me...