Dinner is a success when everyone appreciates the marriage of  ingredients and the melding of flavours to produce a fragrant and good tasting meal. Meals are appreciated to different degrees, and last night's met the expectations of both cook and diners. I had grated a large garlic clove and a medium-sized onion into the lean ground beef I used to prepare meatballs. Instead of breadcrumbs I used steel-cut oats, an egg and a complement of herbs and spices.

We had quite a bit of red bell peppers from our last shopping trip, so I thought a gravy featuring small cuts of red pepper would do very well as a flavouring and texture agent, as well as a gravy-booster. Chopped onion and garlic, as well as jalapeno pepper was sauteed in olive oil, then sprinkled with mixed herbs and when that was flavourful, a few tablespoons of flour and a beef bouillon cube was added, the oiled vegetables absorbing the flour. Once the boiling water was added and stirred to thicken, in went the red pepper and the meatballs.

The concoction was stirred a few times in its large covered pan, and halfway through the cooking period,the meatballs turned over into the gravy for another fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, kokuho rose rice was cooking, and so was a steamed pot of Brussels sprouts. I had earlier baked a few apples stuffed with cinnamon, brown sugar and raisins which made for dessert. The two men at the table dug in and made me happy.

Tonight dinner will once again be a two-chef meal, since Jordan suggested we have stuffed tortillas. Black beans, vegetables, cheese will make up the filling. So he'll be directing the kitchen and I'll be there as staff, to help with ingredient preparations. He enjoys cooking and usually when he's around one or two of our meals owe their appearance to his recommendations and efforts in preparation.

We left early this morning to do our grocery shopping. Despite that Jordan was in the house with them, Jackie and Jillie set up their usual sorrowful begging routine; PLEASE, don't leave us! The howling and yowling commenced the minute we put on our coats, and we could hear their pitiful pleas from the garage. Joy and jubulation on our return!

At the supermarket we didn't know what we'd encounter, but we soon discovered that like us, the store personnel and most of the shoppers had decided to continue wearing masks, despite that Monday marked the first official day of the provincial relaxation on mask-wearing in most indoor venues. There weren't many shoppers and that could be attributable to more people feeling relaxed enough about   lower transmission rates not to bother shopping early. And it could be among that contingent there will be fewer mask-wearers.

It would be difficult to even guess whether the CPR rail strike has yet impacted product deliveries. We saw some empty shelves, but nothing spectacular. Oddly, it's been bread and cereals that have been in short supply. Fresh fruits and vegetables continue to be in ample supply. And today for the first time ever that I can recall, you could get any type of laundry detergent you wanted ... as long as it bore the Tide logo.

Weatherwise, the day was typically early spring, a beautiful day stretched ahead of us. By afternoon the nippy morning air had relented to give us a temperature of 4.5C, and the cold wind had receded somewhat. The sky was a wide and deep cerulean blue, the sun intense and brilliant. Circumstances that have teamed up to usher out the winter snowpack. In the backyard, more and more of the garden is being revealed, although there's not yet anything to look at other than the freed, still frozen soil.

The hillsides of the ravine reveal a patchwork of snow and dark forest floor. The creek is a raging turbulence of clay-infused meltwater, its ferocity scraping up Leda clay from the streambed. The sun is so bright, even observing it at an angle results in a momentary imprint on the lens of one's eyes. Underfoot, the trails are a mix of melting ice and deep slush, with the occasional brief interspersal of bare forest floor, slick and greasy.

 

Jackie and Jillie stop hopefully in remembered areas of the trails where on previous occasions Irving has happened to dole out cookies. They're given an initial tiny cookie for encouragement, and once we run across other dogs that hasten to approach, from long distances off, the serious doling out of goodies begins.