August adventures recap

August was a month of mini-vacations. Normally I do this alone since my schedule is a bit wonky and I find seat sales at 2 am when it's a bit rude to call your friends and ask if they want to go to x. However, this time round, an old hostel buddy of mine has been in town and I was able to travel with someone else for a change. It's certainly different!

First stop, Washington DC for a few days. Never been, was awesome. I got to see one of my best buds from my Masters program, who's working in DC, actually in the field, unlike the rest of us. She made sure we had a great taste of the food and drink culture in DC and I can't thank her enough for it. I brought her some maple syrup to be stereotypically Canadian about it though, so that's a start. We hit up a few museums while we were there, one of my favorites now being the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, specifically the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre. Le holy crap this was an awesome way to start the trip! he Udvar-Hazy is the second location of the Air and Space museum, located out by the Dulles International airport, so we went straight there from our flight into DC. Despite the horrendously early hour, totally worth it.

 A part of the Enola Gay. Google that, you're in for an interesting read.

 The Canadarm!

 We spent an alarming amount of time making penis jokes about the monument. Yep, we're mature.

Two days after I got back from DC myself and a few friends ran up north to the cottage! This is known as the weekend of doing nothing but dock reading, swimming, campfires and cooking. I'm struggling to think of other things we did for that few days...

 It may not be paradise to most, but you can see it from there.

About a week after that myself and the hostel buddy went to Ottawa for a few days! I have soft spot for Ottawa, despite its many, many faults, since it's one of my home towns. It was fun to be super dorky about knowing Canadian history and showing off occasionally to my hostel bud (he's Australian), and we got to enjoy some time with some of his old friends that now call the city home.

 ATTACK OF THE GIANT SPIDER!

Our government buildings can be surprisingly pretty sometimes.

Now that I'm broke again, there should be more cooking and DIY postings soon. Can't afford to do much else after these few adventures.

Corn Bake and Cottages

So I'm still working on this regular posting idea. We'll get there.

In other news, we had a fabulous time at the cottage this past weekend. The weather couldn't have held out better for us and the food was plentiful. $240 for five people's worth to be slightly more exact. And don't think we wasted any of it. All that's left that didn't come home with us is a box of fudgecicles that we left as a gift to the next occupants. They certainly weren't going to make the car trip back home, so in the freezer they stayed.


The above is about all the digital photos I took over the weekend. I brought my film camera and used that for most of the trip. Once all the rolls are developed, I may scan some of the pictures and put them up here, depending on how they turn out.

Once I got back I had a quick look at the finances and re-discovered that I'm still broke. Time to get creative with the menu again. I happened to have had two cans of corn in the pantry for a long time (do they expire? It doesn't say anywhere on the can...), and found this fabulous recipe for a cheesy corn bake on The Kitchn website! Works for me. I used half of the red pepper since I discovered part of the one I had was a bit funky on the inside. I then substituted the rest of it with some chopped mushrooms I had lying around, throwing them in with the peppers.


Cheesy Corn Bake

Serves 4 - 6

1 red bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk 

1 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
4 cups corn, fresh or frozen*

1-2 green onions (I sprinkled them on before serving as a garnish and a hint of the crisp, as the cooking reality shows are saying these days)

Preheat oven to 375°.

Sauté bell pepper in a little bit of olive oil over medium to medium high heat. Set aside. 

In a heavy sauce pan, melt butter on medium-low to medium heat. Add flour and whisk until smooth (and the flour taste is cooked out), about three minutes. Pour in the milk and cook, constantly stirring, until very thick. Mix in cheddar and cream cheese and stir until melted and creamy. Remove from the heat and season with salt and cayenne. 

Combine the cheese sauce, red pepper, and corn in a large bowl. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if desired. Pour into a baking dish, cover and bake until hot and bubbly, about 35 minutes. You can remove the cover for the last 10-15 minutes to bubble it a bit more.

*If using frozen corn, steam and drain it before adding it to the recipe.

 Oh yes. So much cheese. So good.