Hubby in the Kitchen......:-)

Today started out very early again.  I'm not smiling when I say that because very early means 4:00 or so.  The birds aren't even stirring yet!  So, sometimes when I am awake that early, I feel like I am going "nowhere" while waiting for everyone else in my part of the world to wake up!

After praying about everything I could think of I decided there was a lot to do in regard to our trip south. So I should get up and continue doing it.  It's been a very busy week trying to get things in order with our home and ministry before we leave.Which means I still had a lot of packing to do! I started early..... I mean like.... the other day! ha

  

Well, enough of that foolishness half the day!  Time for a break.  A cup of "joe" of my favorite coffe sounded like a plan to me.

It was then to my utter amazement that I heard a strange sound in the kitchen.  What to my wondering eyes did appear?  It was Scootard, reved up about some chicken macaroni and chees casserole......hummmm.  Now, THIS could get dangerous!   

 There he was; cutting, steaming, chopping.......meanwhile, I was grabbing pieces of cheese....  you know; to "tide me over" until the materpiece emerged....:-)

ok,  I can feel this....sauteed onions and mushrooms....

Bechamel sauce with some roasted peppers and garlic.......hummm.  okie dokie...

The chicken had been roasting away in the oven and now was ready for the cutting board...Dinner was starting to look interesting.....you know, with me being a professional cook/chef at one time in my life....  The broccoli was going to be a good addition for balance.....ok, so far so good....:-)

And then he started added things together........

  Now, I should have taken pictures of the layering process that Scootard went through, salivating all the way through to the end.  But I decided to spare him that candid shot...haha.  At the end of about 35-40 minutes.......his casserole emmerged....

Now, had I been in the kitchen when he added the broccoli, I would have told him that unless he "immersed" them in the sauce, they would come out like tiny trees that had been set on fire at one time.  However, the broccoli survived and dinner was quite tasty......

Thank you, honey....:-).  I'm waiting for the next adventure!

Farewell to Switzerland!

This morning we decided to be up early to catch our last pics of our Swiss guest...:-).  We had a cup of coffee and talked about our respective plans for the day....

It was time for Marc to meet his taxi who would take him to his next destination.  It was very strange to me as the people who have come so far have been young.  So, it feels like I am watching my "kids" go off on these extreme adventures! ha.....I know...it's strange.

He was very appreciative of our hospitality and thanked us for everything.  He took our picture as well the evening before....:-).

You are welcome, Marc.....:-)

We hope his mountaineering experience is all that he expects it to be......:-)

We wished him a safe journey!

Now we start planning our own couch surfing experiences for our upcoming trip!

Cedar Plank Salmon and Swiss Couch Surfer Day 2

It proved to be a VERY WINDY DAY....and of course, we braved the elements and headed out to our Sunday service across town.  Marc and left almost 2 hours before us for his mountaineering classes.  So, we knew we had most of the day free until about dinner time.  This is the view from the house where we had our service.

 After service, we had the best cedar plank salmon I had ever eaten.  The fish was pretty large and had been caught by our host on a recent fishing trip.

 This is my plate with seasoned mushroom rice, garlic bread and broccoli....and peach soda type drink.  I think it was an "all natural" thingee....:-).  Pretty good!

 Tasted pretty peachy too....:-)

 We sat out on the deck for a while knowing that we had a few hours still before Marc would be done with his classes and we needed to be back home.

 Then we decided to drop our bikes at home and make a run for the beach complete with a picnic that didn't have any food...ha.  We were too full from lunch!

I love the water and didn't grow up around beaches.  So, going to one is alway special to me.  The challenge for me with this one is that it is littered with wood chips and splinters from the logging that goes on....:-(.  But, this is kinda all you've got here.   

We finally went home as the wind was about to carry us into the next province! And Marc joined us an hour later having had a full day of mountaineer training!  Did I mention that in Switzerland, he is a ski and snowboard instructor?  And that one of his adventures including a 2700kilometer ........(wait for it)............WALK to Spain from his home in Switzlerland!?   

So, with all of this adventure going on in his life, we figured the guy had to be hungry!  Baked chicken, potatoe salad and greek salad was a quick pick from the store....and we hate......twice!

 yep........ha.  did I mention the French Press coffee and lemon poppyseed muffins for desert? 

 Then after rolling ourselves into the living room, we talked more about travel, watched a few documentaries and looked at pictures from Marc's 2700 kilometer pilgrimage....Wow.  What a journey!

Marc is showing us some of the roads that he walked which is called the Northern route to Santiago De Compostela and Finisterre, Spain.

I was glad that I had asked him to sign our guest book the night before as shortly after the pics from the pilgrimage and a little bit of a movie, our guest retired to his room for the evening.....very grateful for the hospitality.  He will be leaving early in the moring to continue his adventure in Canada before returning home to Switzerland.  We are glad to have met him....:-). 

Our "Couch Surfer" From Switzlerland!

This is our current guest from Switzlerland.  His name is "Marc"...:-).  He is  part of the "couch surfer's" community and is here in Canada for a mountaineering course...:-)

 I had my trusty camera and snapped a picture of Marc and Chris saying hello for the first time face to face.  This is Marc's first couch surfing experience....and this is our second time hosting a surfer. 

 Marc had some GINORMOUS luggage bags with all of his gear for his touring and couch surfing needs.  I decided to let Chris man handle that! ha

 We finally got back and started to get settled in....:-)

 And of course EVERYONE that comes has to meet "Jasmine" the rat.....:-).  Yep, we have one of those....:-). She thought Marc was a new snack..ha.

 We told Marc about our scooters and he told us that he had a motorcycle back in Switzerland.  He has a Yamaha 125 motorcross DT.  I hope I said that right....???

 So, you know the guys are scheaming about going out for whirl on them....:-).  I decided to sit this one out.

 After fitting Marc with the proper helmet, they took off.  I was not happy that neither of them were wearing the proper gear...:-(  Chris took my bike (Ms Vicky) and let Mark take his Majesty.

 It was kinda weird turning to see both bikes GONE and I wasn't on either of them....AND THEN it occurred to me, that I had locked myself out of the house!  ugh!!

 fortunately for me they were only gone about 20 minutes.  It was getting chilly outside when they came barreling around the corner.   Yay for me! ha.  Scootard was riding Ms Vicky like he stole her!

 Marc was really impressed with a 400cc scooter and said he really like it.  He found it very comfortable.

ok....can you guys "chin wag" INSIDE the house now??  I'm cold!

So, we finally made it back inside and started sharing travel stories and pictures of some of our adventures....:-).  It was a very pleasant evening.

German Couch Surfers -Day 2

As always, I was up early although later than usual which was good!  I was tired from all of the preparation of our guest coming.  First order of the day was to get coffee on.  This time, I didn't make it too strong.  I decided to test the first batch out before giving any to our guest this time...:-).

Chris decided that since there was no set time for any of us to wake up, he was starving and wanted some bacon!  Here's his masterpiece....

Then I decided that since there was no set time to get up, hard boiled eggs were the best bet with some very simple things like toast and jam or jelly.  Sooooo.....

Having lived in Europe for 5 years, I know how the Europeans are about bread. Unfortunately, what we have doesn't compare to the fresh baked bread that they showcase in their stores and resturants. Anna said that our bread was "fluffy"...haha.  I knew what she mean, but had never heard anyone say that before.  But it is very true compared to the hard crust on the outside of European bread.  So, we decided to make toast of what we had in the fridge...after everyone was awake of course.

 I thought much too late that we could have gone to the store and purchased some hard rolls.  Maybe next time....:-)

Turns out that our guest were pretty hungry after a good night's sleep and was ready to eat when they woke up.....:-).  Everything was ready for them!

Even my coffe was good this time!  Yay for me....:-)

After a good breakfast and a lot of conversation about traveling to various countries, it was time for our European "couch surfers" to continue on their journey.  We asked them to sign our guest book before they left us.

And thanked them for spending the evening with us....:-). They were also very grateful for our hospitality.

We hugged and Chris and I wished them God's blessings on their journey!