Sunday, November 2, 2008

Novella from Nanaimo No. 13

I'm sitting here looking at my own signature on an agreement for a new room I'm moving into in January. The S at the beginning of my last name is a J...gotta put that on my list of things to do, "#9 - Fix the J in my signature."

I went to Salt Spring Island this weekend. Took the ferry from Crofton to Vesuvius Bay, it's a 20 minute ride, $7 to walk on, free on the way back.



We went straight to a church function. My inner dialogue was rattling through questions. Do I take off my hat? Do I bow to the priest? When is the appropriate time to scream "HALLELUJAH!"? It took all of my self-control not to use the name "Jesus Christ" to express feelings of anger or frustration. Once inside I realized I was in a key situation to score loads of candy. It wasn't really a religious function, more of a Halloween function...ironically, Halloween is a Pagan holiday. From the church we went to downtown Ganges. Dad, if you're reading this...I saw Chris at the firehouse and I tried to ask him how he was getting home. He told me Val was picking him up but I couldn't get an answer on when. He didn't remember me but he still looked happy to see me, no surprises there. I should have called her but as usual, I was on someone else's schedule so it didn't happen. To readers other than my Dad, Val is the old man's first-wife. Her and her husband run an equal-living shared housing unit for autistic people out of their home, Chris is one of them. He's a large, very happy and expressive young man. He volunteers at the fire-station.

We weren't downtown long before we retired to Asher's Dad's house. It was a hand-built custom home as many on Salt Spring seem to be. The next morning Asher's Dad had us hauling wood for a couple hours, this is what we got done. Not bad if you ask me. What do I know about hauling wood though?



After that everyone showered and ate and we headed off to Salt Spring Island Cheese Company (http://www.saltspringcheese.com/). I spent $24 on cheese, a white truffle goat cheese, lemon goat cheese, and garlic goat cheese. I shared the truffle one with my French roommates since the truffles were imported from France. After the cheese company we went on a hike and saw some cool mushrooms, here is a blurry variety of mushroom.



After the hike I got on the ferry, dirty and spoiled and hungry. I thought I saw a whale but it was probably a large seal. I had to hitchhike home, it actually took less than 2 hours...not bad. When I got into Nanaimo I was dropped off at the bottom of town and on the hike upward I got caught in one of the craziest rainstorms. There was no lightning but it was one of those storms that makes you feel like you're standing fully dressed inside your shower. If I'd been outside for 10 seconds I would have been thoroughly soaked...but I was in the middle of it for a good 15 minutes. It was great. Hallelujah!

I was pretty stressed last week 'cause somehow I let a bunch of important priorities mold like putty in my mind. At the end of the week I dedicated 2 days to getting them done. In doing so I decided to move from my current room, I'll save lots of money next semester and have a better view too. I also did some arranging of my loan...arrangements, and discovered that I have an untapped bursary coming to me in January. Not too shabby. I should be getting a pirate-loot sized tax-return, so, well, I'll be eating a lot more imported white truffles.

I talked to my a la carte chef from last month on Friday. My time in his class ended a week ago but he had some very kind words for me. In addition to getting 102% on a math-test in his class, and a 91% overall, he correctly predicted that he thought I'd be well suited for bistro cooking. I told him about how I got fired from a hotel mostly because I hated working there. He said he thinks I have a good sense of taste. Anyways it was a really nice conversation. On Christmas break I plan on going to meet chefs at Benitz and Sweetgrass and a couple other popular Ottawa bistros to talk about apprenticeships. I have also decided to complete my education here, instead of switching schools for 2nd year like I originally planned. Just makes sense.

I have to go study poultry and seafood now. Did you know that frogs are classified as poultry in the culinaire world? Yup.

Listen to Bill Withers.

2 comments:

Magida El-Kassis said...

"baby baby baby baby when you love me I cant get enough" That was my favorite song on all the cds you've made me.

I guess that math test wasn't as hard as you thought it was, if you got 102% which I don't think is possible.

Captain Ahab said...

Haha, it's not possible but somehow it happened. I'm not joking, I actually got that. What song is that...who is it by?