Food and Cocktail

Tags

cocktail, cottage, cuisine, drinks, French River, PEI, Quiche

With the Summer Solstice, we have been cooking a lot. I usually do all the shopping and W. does all the cooking. Today he made one Quiche for a dear friend and one for our supper, both ham and PEI Asparagus, we are at the end of the Season now. The New Potato Season has started and on PEI it is like Beaujolais Nouveau you have to try them and be able to offer an opinion. PEI Strawberries Season are about 2 weeks away though we have Strawberries from Nova Scotia because of a special micro climate there, it is protocol to wait for PEI Strawberries, they are very fragrant and have a good fruit perfume, reminds me of the olden days.

Then in terms of Seasonal Cocktail I got out my bottle of PIMM’s No.1 which is the Official drink of the British Foreign Service and Army. PIMM’s is the drink of diplomats, of Wimbledon, Henley Royal Regatta, Chelsea Flower Show, Glynbourne Festival and Ascot. It is very easy to prepare as a cocktail, the recipe in on the label. PIMM’s has won 14 international awards in 160 years. Served cold it is very refreshing and elegant. The creator was James Pimm’s who invented the liquor in 1823 and served it at his Oyster Bar in London.

The liqueur featured is Pimm’s Cup No. 1, a gin based spirit with the flavor of spiced fruit. Adding a mixer as subtle as lemonade enhances its character and turns it into a stimulating and light beverage.

Ingredients

• 1 part Pimm’s Cup No. 1
• 3 parts 7up or Lemonade
• Garnish: mint, orange, and/or strawberries
• Garnish: cucumber slice or peel

For dessert I got some Pears to poach in Red Wine, a wonderful dessert and again something you see a lot in Italy in Summer. Refreshing and elegant serve cold at the table. Finding the right kind of pears might be difficult, because you are poaching them and you want a firm fruit not a mushy one. For the red wine a good table wine will do.

Tomorrow, W. is going to make another dessert with Rhubarb, the Season is at an end and we will use the stocks we have left. W. is also making a Veal Stew for our dinner. We have good simple meals always.

Now in 29 days we are going to the Cottage at French River PEI near Cavendish and looking forward to it.

The Lighthouse at Yankee Hill, French River PEI.

French River PEI

Tags

cottage, French River, PEI, Seafood

The French River area of PEI is on the North Coast of the Island and faces Cavendish the area made famous by author Lucy Maud Montgomery who was born in the area and her modest family home is now a small museum, she wrote extensively, novels and poems and other works the most famous being Anne of Green Gables. Her last novel was with her publisher in 1942, it arrived on his desk the day she committed suicide. Only published in 2018, rediscovered and it is anti-war.

French River refers to a French colony in the area as of 1710. French speaking Acadians settled in the area as fishers and farmers. Some evaded the mass ethnic cleansing of 1758 by the British army. The area is lovely, peaceful and scenic.

You have quiet sandy beaches, a few houses in an agricultural setting and dirt roads. There is also a famous cemetery called Yankee Hill. We visited it two years ago and it is the resting place of some 25 American sailors who perished during one of the most spectacular storm of the North Coast around 1850, the storm immortalized in painting is called The Yankee Gale. In total 250 sailors where caught in that storm and with their ships disappeared. Unfortunately last year hurricane Dorian came up the coast and destroyed this ancient cemetery and left behind many dead trees which are still scattered around and block the approach to the resting ground. Hopefully the PEI Government will do the necessary to clean up the mess. I have also learned that a volunteer group has worked for many years at maintaining the site, but this clean up job will require machinery and know how.

Too dangerous to go in as the ground is unstable and too many broken half fallen trees around.

We decided to rent a cottage in the area this Summer for a week to get away from the hubbub of Charlottetown. Despite Covid 19 the city has returned to normal and that is not necessarily a good thing. Self-discipline is not a virtue here and given that we have no cases and no trace of the virus, people have relaxed though it is in the back of people’s minds.

The view of the lighthouse and a portion view of the beach from our cottage. Few people come here, the narrow dirt road is semi-private and is a dead end with no parking. Lots of birds and a few fishing boats here and there. 

For lunch we stopped at SOU’WEST a restaurant in the harbour of French River serving the freshest of seafood. It was delicious and so relaxing, looking over the water a boat was harvesting oysters just 200 metres from shore. Locals and businesses buy direct from the fishers as they come into port, cannot get any fresher than that and prices are pretty low this year for seafood.

I ordered the Bruschetta with seafood in a white wine cream sauce with balsamic drizzle. It was wonderful and so nice. There is nothing nicer than fresh seafood off the boat.

A very nice sunny day.  Can’t wait for our time at the cottage.