SHOT ON LOCATION, WARD’S ISLAND, LAKE ONTARIO

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-zthl7Dy0U

Too tired to read then click play on the box below to hear the blog read to you by Brian (and occasional comment by Helenka when I screw it up).

Hello, Culinary Playmates:

It is I, Helenka, your fearless advocate of gustatory creativity (aka I eat weird but really tasty food and think you should, too). Though, sometimes, there is NO weird food, especially when a certain chef (hint: his name is Brian Upward) packs tasty but more conventional foods, as he did for our picnic on Ward’s Island on the Saturday of the long weekend in May, 2011.

The funny thing is that we planned and managed to release our last outdoor fun episode when it was really cold outside and wanted to do the same thing with this one. But, guess what? We’ve been having a really good (meaning mainly nonexistent) winter. So, hey, let’s just pretend that releasing it this time is just a rehearsal for summer. Are we all in agreement? I think so! ::crosses fingers, too::

I don’t know about Brian (or you) but I love walking and exploring places, though I feel a lot more secure having a map in front of me. That’s what I did when I went to Vancouver and all those times in New York City. Mind you, when you have streets and avenues with numbers, it’s almost impossible to get lost. On the other hand, I remember a walk to Rosedale in the early 1970s (to a professor’s house) and didn’t realize there was an overpass crossing Mount Pleasant. So I actually ran across the traffic-crazy street. Which goes to show you that living in a city doesn’t necessarily guarantee you’ll know all of its hidden secrets.

Even though Brian and I have visited Ward’s Island many times before and I used to venture onto odd little islands connected to Algonquin Island in the mid 1990s (oh, those swamps, I tell you), I’d never done anything that felt so zig-zagging as this trip. Mind you, I didn’t have a proper map with me (not like the fancy ones from Parks & Recreation when I used to book firepits), just what I printed off on my colour printer that didn’t really identify some of the points of interest or else muddled the names underneath the colour layers (A spa? Sunshine Seniors’ Centre?? Really???). So I had to trust Brian ::turns to stare at him, ‘cuz he really likes to fool me from time to time:: and I didn’t know where he was leading me. Mind you, he managed to stick the Toronto (formerly CN) Tower into lots of shots which was a great relief for me.

When we finally sat down ON SOME HANDY ROCKS and resumed our picnic (having started it on our one-hour layover at the ferry docks), we got to enjoy commercial red-skin potato salad with lots and lots of added cayenne pepper, home-made sandwiches (baby spinach, arugula, thinly sliced cucumber, Swiss cheese, rosemary ham, honey mustard on poppyseed pannini buns), cranberry-raspberry cocktail and chocolate pudding to cool our mouths from the cayenne burn. Any bugs that decided to join our picnic location or visit our clothes were FREE! Now I ask you, where else can you get FREE ants and spiders … uh … whether you want them or not? Though you’ll notice I was the one wearing long sleeves and a scarf because I really didn’t want to get all close and personal with the wildlife.

Whether you have a lake with a handy island you can visit, or you just head to a beloved park or one you’ve just discovered, you can always have a lot of fun. Go at different times of the day, even when it’s foggy or raining (but preferably not monsooning). You don’t even need a picnic table or park bench. We made do with rocks, though a table would have been a nice luxury. But, even with the wee bit of inconvenience, we still had loads and loads of fun. And, as if you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s the most important thing. Well … that and the food and still being friends after our picnic! [Though I hope you’ll feel some sympathy for us as it took us two hours to get home because the highway was closed. But, hey, we laughed and talked and laughed some more. We’re really good at entertaining ourselves!]

We hope you enjoyed tagging along on our picnic, seeing the lush trees, clusters of late-spring flowers, the cute beach, the interesting and varied styles of houses and cottages, also listening to the swell of waves hitting the shore, the birds trilling as well as that pesky lawn mower before finally returning with us on the ferry back to the city. ::pouts::

Until next time, have yourselves a great week and think about what kinds of trouble … uh … fun – we meant fun – you can have when summer finally arrives. Just watch out for any incognito blondes!

Enjoy!

B&H =:)