It’s another weekend of near-constant rainfall and everyone in our house is stuck inside. Our podcasts are engaged and we’re moving about the house on one chore or another at the pace of snails in peanut butter. But there are only so many towels to fold, so many Gastropod episodes to listen to and so many trolls to slay in Skyrim… Everyone is getting board. I suggest taking the dog for a walk or maybe some mushroom hunting and Crystal visibly recoils, “you mean out there!?” pointing into the moist, grey world of perpetual misery beyond the window. *sigh*
A decade ago I would have flipped on the TV to Food Network and we would happily watch a couple early afternoon shows and let it run throughout the evening as background noise, but now cable TV is a far different (and much less interesting) beast. The once mighty metropolis has been reduced to a salted wasteland of bland talking heads, awkward diner crawls and ridiculous competitions.
We’ve adapted to the times. This is to say we don’t subscribe to or watch cable TV at all anymore. Most of our friends and co-workers are the same. A quick prowl around Youtube will reveal a vast array of shows that will actually inspire you to travel, eat and cook!
Squamish (or “Squampton” depending on where your allegiances lie) is a small burg nestled in the peaks between metropolitan Vancouver and the bacchanalian circus that is Whistler. It’s one of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful places in BC that you can easily visit by car (half an hour from the Horseshoe Bay Ferry!) and if you happen to love outdoorsy stuff like my wife and I do it’s a must-visit destination… Except… Well… It’s kind of at war.
I just realized our kitchen calendar was still on August and flipped it over, revealing the stereotypical picture of golden hued oak trees and a dilapidated barn that always accompanies September. Ugh… Here on the Westcoast September would be more accurately represented by a grey sheet of rain.
It’s been a hell of a summer.
Its summer holidays for the EDB team (yes, we get those!) and the agenda is filled with eating, drinking and mountain biking. And everywhere we go, from the top of Mount Washington to the deepest, darkest forests of Squamish there are truckloads of wild edibles to keep us energized during our long days of adventuring. Chief amongst our foraged pick-me-ups are red huckleberries, which fully ripen right around now and can be found growing just about everywhere in BC.