Hollandaise sauce au gratin

Hey Moya. I'm not on Twitter but guess what we're having for dinner. Hollandaise sauce au gratin. On n'est pas jetable. Fake hollandaise sauce doesn't glaze properly. It doesn't taste right either. Moya Greene recently gave a really goofy interview with the Globe and Mail about her cooking skills she learned from a book.

Ever wonder why she never learned to cook until she was in university and had to feed herself? She admits her mother was a great cook and she learned to love good food at home. Yet she claims she never learned to cook from her mother. She claims she became an expert on French cuisine from a Better Crocker cook book.

Before that she was just another spoilt brat who never cooked at home. In her interview she made a snide comment about Bearnaise sauce pretending that the corporate way of cheap and easy had in some obscure way anything to do with nouvelle cuisine.



Hollandaise sauce really isn't that difficult. Egg yolks, gradually heated and whipped then taken off the heat and whipped while warm clarified butter is added. Great on a seafood schnitzel and magnificent when glazed au gratin. The high heat browns and fluffs it up. It's kind of like telling the difference between a fake diamond and a real one except we're talking about taste and consistency.

Moya Greene is a con artist that is wrecking havoc on the Post Office. Look at her track record at Bombardier and look how removing public accountability has dramatically increased train derailments at CN. Her blind arrogance insisting that the public and public sector managers are stupid is a clear recipe for disaster. www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUv4u0wgo1U

Stave Lake Discovered

Well Stave Lake is certainly interesting. It's a man made lake created by a dam to generate power. Right after the dam a second man made lake is formed, Hayward lake created by a second dam.

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Alouette lake right beside Stave lake is also made by a dam but is a slightly higher elevation. So here's the deal. They build a tunnel from Alouette lake to Stave lake and have the water pass through turbines to generate electricity. Then the water from Stave lake passes through another set of turbines to generate electricity and then it finally passes through a third set of turbines to generate electricity at Hayward lake.

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This was all built a long time ago and is a great example of ecofriendly power. Yes it screws up salmon runs and I don't see any fish hatchery like at Capilano dam. That hatchery is very effective but the salmon there aren't very large. Must be because of the really vigorous water they have to fight their way up. The Salon river in Langley is much easier for the Salmon to swim up and they are huge. You can see them count them at the fish trap.

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I find the tunnel from Alouette lake to Stave lake very interesting. They have the same thing from Buntzen lake to the Indian arm. The outlet in the Indian Arm looks like it's 100 years old. It look abandoned with broken windows but I'm told it still lets water out on occasion. I think they have another tunnel from another lake going to Buntzen lake but it's in a different district and they don't like to release their water. Hence the volume is down.

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The one draw back to a man made lake is these spooky stumps everywhere. However, there are other parts of the lake that are very nice with no stumps. I saw a black ferret hopping in and out of logs when I docked for lunch. I never new we had ferrets here.

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Stave lake is also home to the world famous mud flats where 4 wheel drive truck play in the mud along with dirt bikes and quads. It's a pretty unique place. Fire pits and beer cans everywhere. I saw a pretty incredible pulls on Youtube someone did to get another vehicle out of a big mud hole it was stuck in. I thought they were gonna pull their bumpers right off: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko-1B7lUvtA

Then there's other one just showing how they roll inn the mud flats at Stave lake: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3nHxU-TfUE

Waterfalls UBC Research Forest Maple Ridge

I saw this video on YouTube the other day of some guys cliff jumping beside an awesome waterfall. It looked like Hawaii. Then I read it was Maple Ridge and was amazed. Turns out the UBC Research Forest is really close to Golden Ears and has a really cool set of waterfalls in it.

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Unfortunately it's closed to the public due to unsafe conditions. That is unfortunate. The only unsafe conditions I saw were all the empty beer cans everywhere. Drinking and cliff jumping is not wise. Not packing out your garbage is worse. Now thanks to a few irresponsible people the whole thing is closed to the public.

It is pretty nice though. Upper and lower falls with really nice deep swimming pools. Now that's what I'm talking about.

The Alberta Oil Sands Solution

The Alberta Oil Sands without question add a huge financial stimulus to the Alberta economy. Environmentalists refer to oil sands as dirty oil. Even Obama talked about not purchasing oil from the oil sands because of the effect on the environment. Since Martin Ignasiak is in my grill trying to censor the Internet and is an environmental lawyer (I stress mental) crushing public consultation in the oil sands development, perhaps we can find a compromise.

One of the problems from the oil sands appears to be the very toxic water that is left over. Kind of like heavy water from a nuclear reactor. The Canadian government requires this water to be contained so is doesn't end up in the rivers and stream. That only makes sense. Seepage is one problem. The other is migrating birds. Not to mention fish with tumours, lesions and cysts.

A friend just came back from working on the Alberta Oil Sands and he mentioned about how they took some bad press about several ducks dying from coming in contact with one of these toxic lakes of polluted water. They refer to it as dead duck lake. Who knows, maybe I'll be the next dead duck: http://www.desmogblog.com/dead-ducks-a-disaster-for-alberta-oil-sands

First lets address the seepage problem. The National Geographic ran an article about the Alberta Oil sands and posted a picture of Suncor's oil sand refinery on the banks of the Athabasca River. See that tiny dike separating the contained pool of very toxic water from the river. That is insane. Seepage is a given. This is an accident waiting for a time to happen. The contained pools of toxic water need to be far way from river, streams, lakes or wells. Period. Suncor is by the way one of Martin Ignasiak's clients.

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OK now let's look at the dead ducks. A few dead birds in one thing but the lake they came in contact with was huge. This problem has not been fixed and is a continued threat to all migratory birds. A few air cannons to scare away the birds isn't even a band aid solution. Here's a solution:

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You spend all that time and energy refining the oil, why not distill the water? Heat it up, let the water evaporate, then take the solidified toxic residue and throw it back where you got it in the oil sands that have already been excavated.

Alouette Lake Rediscovered

Alouette Lake looking at the Narrows in the far distance.



Approaching the Narrows on Alouette Lake.



At the Narrows.



Docked at the Narrows looking across to the other side.



Looking up Gold Creek from the lake.



Looking down Gold Creek from where you can paddle up.



Looking back towards the Narrows.



Looking back towards the boat Launch and beach. They say the winds pick up at Noon and calm down again around 6:00 PM. I paddled back in at 5:00 PM and was amazed that the wind wasn't very bad at all. Normally it can be quite challenging paddling back in the wind. I guess waiting it out is the answer. Cheers.

Third Beach

Friday night. Kayaks on third beach, Djembes on second beach. Now that's what I'm talking about.

Upper and Lower Falls at Golden Ears

Went to the Lower Falls at Golden Ears today. It's more of a nature walk than a hike. 2.7 KM totally flat on a wide groomed trail. There are a couple nice spots by the creek on the way.





This is from the top of lower falls looking down.



I've always wondered, if these are called the lower falls that would imply there are upper falls but they aren't on the map. Well today I was trying to find the short cut from the lower falls to the East Canyon trail and I found the upper falls instead. They're great.

This is a video clip of them both:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsO33yF4b94

Nicomekl River

I put in at the Elgin Heritage Park today and paddled up the Nicomekl. My shift at work has changed and my weekends are mid week. All the better to hike or paddle without crowds. I paddled around till I hit the end of the Marine Park and started to go back the other way.

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I asked a guy sitting beside a yacht on the dock which way to the Nicomekl and he said I was on it. I said I was trying to paddle up it and he said I have to portage across the road and over the dam. I looked at him like yeah? And he said yeah the Serpentine is the same. So I did. Paddled to the end and portaged over the road.

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And put in on the other side.

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Then it opened up to the Nicomekl. It was nice. Strange to be in the middle of the city yet away from it all. Lots of different types of birds. Heron, ducks, geese, sand pipers. Even saw a large turtle. Not sure if that wasn't someone's pet set free or not. They have signs at Green Timbers asking people not to let their pet turtles free in the pond. Not sure why not. Granville Island has a pond with turtles.

I made it to 168th Street but as soon as I crossed under I hit a large thick patch of algae / seaweed that covered the river. I was thinking I'd just plow right through it as I could see open spots but it was really strange paddling in and I had to get back to drive kids so I backed out and turned around. I read that the Nicomekl originates in Langley from an underground source - a well. That was interesting. Usually it's always water coming down a mountain.

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When I got back to Elgin Heritage Park the tide was out and there were huge clusters of oysters everywhere rising out of the water. It really looked cool. Red tide still but I'm sure that doesn't last forever. I made the mistake of getting out in the mud and sinking in up to my knees. Had to pull out at the boat ramp.

Hail to the Chief

Finally climbed the Chief today.



I didn't climb the face I hiked up the trail around back.











It was awesome. Short and steep but it was all good.

Yes the view from the top was magnificent. This is First peak from Second peak overlooking Howe Sound:



This is the town of Squamish from the Chief.



This is First Peak and the mouth of the Squamish River.

Belcarra by way of Kayak

Put in at Belcarra today and paddled up the Indian Arm. Belcarra's a nice little spot. Not the beaches of Whiterock or Kits but it has a dock and a nice little park. It wasn't so crazy busy there like everywhere else. I'm not sure what they were fishing for off the dock with red tide in effect.

This was a nice spot to dock on a island a short ways up.

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This was another nice spot to dock a little further up the inlet looking at the island the last photo was taken from. I paddled up to the power station but had a late start so I didn't make it to Granite Falls. Another day when I get an early start and don't have to get up at 4:30 AM the next day for work.