Last week I spent one entire day inside. I knew there was quite a rainfall. It turned out that the city was plagued with a severe ice storm. The next day I stepped out. I saw no evidence of an ice storm in my area.
It was big news that over one million people were without power. We were totally fine. My partners parents just got their power back the other day after 4 days. They were cold and in the dark.
We offered our outdoor lamps, 24 hour candles, butane burner for cooking, blankets and even a small power station with a small solar panel. They said no. They thought it would be back anytime. They are 75 and 80 years old.
On Sunday we had decent weather, by Montreal standards. It was not totally freezing. A high of around 12C was good enough to have our first barbecue in a popular park. They said people should wait for a while to go to the park because of the fallen trees. When we got there, we realized people didn't listen. They had enough of the winter.
There was still some ice on the man made lake. It was a contrast to the rest of the scenery. Although there are no leaves on trees and the grass is yellow green mixed with mud, there were still blue skies and sun.
I was amazed at the damage caused to the trees. There were branches everywhere.
I just wished that we could have a pile of wood and have a bonfire somewhere. We are not allowed to do that in the city. I guess if we were, it could get out of control.
I couldn't believe the damage cause to some big trees. This park is a 15 minute walk from my apartment. I didn't hear any wind or evidence of any kind of storm that could cause any problems, let alone this kind. Many people were hospitalized and a few were killed. One poor man had a tree fall on him as he stepped outside to clean his front yard.
This park is very beautiful in summer. Seeing it like this was shocking.
People were out in droves. Some were without power in this neighbourhood and some in the city are still without power now. They were ready to get out of the dark and enjoy some air despite the mess on the streets.
The sun was glistening and many took the opportunity to bask in it.
I was happy to see two young people sitting in the sun. One was studying and the other was reading. Neither of them were looking down at a cell phone which I found quite shocking. The entire city is looking down at their phones most of the time.
Many people brought their hammocks and relaxed in the trees. I have hammock envy. A couple of guys even brought a small tent which was strange to see in a city park. Not a bad idea if you have small children but these were grown men.
Anyway I guess they are trying to have an outdoor experience any way that they can.
I didn't have peanuts for the squirrel friends but I had grapes.
I wasn't sure if they would want grapes but they were just fine with them.
Oh no dog!!!!
Yum yum squirrel!!!!
I'm gonna take my grapes and gooooo!!!!!
It was time to get the barbecue going. It was plant based even though many people I've met, don't understand a plant based barby.
Ever since @marlyncabrera made some eggplant dip and put the eggplants on the fire, in this post I have been dreaming about smoky baba ganoush, the middle eastern dip. I brought eggplants and got them nice and grilled. I normally would put them in the food processor but I had to do it by hand.
I usually use raw garlic for baba ganoush but this time I took advantage of the hot coals, and some wood from the ground, and put the garlic in to roast in the fire.
I took the skin off easily after the eggplants were charred on the outside.
After chopping the eggplant and garlic as small as possible, I added some tahini that I had brought. This would normally make the dip creamy if done in the food processor, but it was going to be rustic. I also added the juice of a lemon, salt and pepper.
I had brought other things to put on the grill. Grilled corn is something I love, and can't have unless we have a barbecue. The apartment doesn't have a balcony.
We didn't eat the baba ganoush, because I threw some vegan hot dogs on the grill. We kind of went grill crazy. We packed up the eggplant dip to have the next day.
For lunch we had the nice smokey eggplant dip with some fresh baguette. It's French Canada so there has to be a store with fresh baguettes. Baguettes are almost a fashion accessory here. Just have one sticking out of a grocery bag while you ride your bike adorned with flowers on the basket. A perfect look.
Hopefully we can get out once more before we find a job. Nobody is calling us back but we haven't tried too hard. We are living on the edge.
Thank you for stopping by and have a great day.
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