Radically Retired

Tag: Freestyling Friday

  • Friday Freestyling … Rare and Beautiful Souls

    Friday Freestyling … Rare and Beautiful Souls

    A week ago yesterday, when my morning power walk took me through our city campgrounds, I saw a young couple, a small tent, and two bicycles at one of the campsites.

    I walked past but my mind kept nagging me to go back and say hi.

    I finally gave in and am so happy I did.

    I greeted them and then asked to take a few photos of them, their tent, their bikes, and their post-breakfast picnic table. I explained that I’d like their permission to share the photos on my blog.

    They agreed without hesitation and, as I was taking the photos, we conversed about their trip.

    They were from Quebec (a province in eastern Canada), and although they had French accents, their English was excellent. When I complimented them on their English, they explained that they had to not only study English in high school, but their courses required them to practice the language with fluent English-speaking Canadians. This approach was definitely far superior to my own requirement to study French in high school, where it was classroom only. Canada is a bilingual country, thus the “other official language” requirement for school students.

    Marilou and Leo graciously gave me permission to use their first names in my post.

    There had been rain in the morning, but they said they were dry and cozy in their tent

    When I first arrived, Leo was doing breakfast dishes at their picnic table.

    Basic meal gear when biking

    My cover photo is of their bicycles.

    They told me they had started their ride in Vancouver, Canada (our far west coast) and were cycling back home to Sherbrooke, Quebec (near Montreal). Depending on their route, this is a minimal distance of approximately 5069 km (3150 miles), and goes through the Canadian Rockies. Our city park isn’t even the half way point for them.

    I wished this friendly young couple good weather, safety, and enjoyment for the rest of their trip.

    This type of tenacity, commitment, and friendliness to complete strangers is found in rare and beautiful souls. My life is richer for having met them.

  • Friday Freestyling … My Best

    Friday Freestyling … My Best

    Since returning home from Texas, I’ve been struggling with my French macarons.

    A part of the problem was adjusting to my new oven.

    Good/OK: The first batch I baked, using the Swiss Method, looked OK, but the shells were so fragile that you couldn’t touch them without leaving a dent. The shells weren’t shiny and they sported a bumpy surface. Plain shells with vanilla bean ganache. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my Callebaut Belgian chocolate, so the filling was just as “iffy” as the shells.

    “Good” (OK)

    Better: Back to the drawing board for my next batch. This time, I adjusted the cook time, because I had a feeling that my new oven wasn’t holding stable temperatures.

    I used Swiss method again. This batch wasn’t as fragile. The shells were espresso flavoured and the filling was an espresso French buttercream. I tried some new edible glitter to decorate, but didn’t care for the end result. The surface, even without the glitter dust was shinier, but still too bumpy for my liking.

    “Better”

    Best: My feature photo was my third bake, with the troubleshooting adjustments I figured out along the way.

    I purchased a finer strainer for sifting the dry ingredients.

    I switched back to the French Method that I’d always had good success with.

    I increased the bake time by two minutes.

    My order for Callebaut Belgian chocolate finally arrived.

    These were almond flavoured shells coloured with a hint of pink gel food colouring. I used sanding sugar to decorate. The filling is a white chocolate strawberry ganache flavoured with freeze dried strawberry powder.

    These are the best this non-pastry chef can turn out and I’m happy with them.

  • Friday Freestyling … Directionally Challenged

    Friday Freestyling … Directionally Challenged

    On a recent morning walk, I decided to check out a route I hadn’t been on in almost two years.

    I was curious to see if a new walking path had been paved there.

    As you can see from my feature photo, that wasn’t the case.

    I decided to forge on ahead along the grassed and gravelled paths.

    I don’t love walking on gravel because it’s easy to hit a large stone and twist an ankle

    When I was there last, I turned left at the end of the gravel path above.

    This time, the left turn was blocked off, so I carried on ahead. The path had a few twists and turns, and before long, my sense of direction was gone completely.

    When I finally reached pavement again, I looked at a street sign when I reached a corner, and in my mind, it was all wrong.

    My entire life, I’ve been directionally challenged in big buildings, but seldom outdoors.

    I did see some familiar landmarks off in the distance, so I knew I wasn’t completely lost.

    Along my new and unplanned route, I did find our city school bus yard, which I didn’t even know existed.

    All in all, it was a nice long walk with some unplanned new scenery. I wasn’t at all panicked because I knew I’d eventually find my way home. We’re a small city and the people are friendly and helpful … once you find some people, of course.

  • Friday Freestyling

    Friday Freestyling

    It seems that when I theme the days of my posts, I have an easier time coming up with ideas.

    The Mon,Weds, Fri routine feels like a better fit than random posts as they pop into my head, because I can sometimes go a long time without a random idea (suitable for a post), and then other times, my brain is a randomness convention and I find I want to post too often.

    So far, I haven’t decided on a firm Monday theme, but I have a few ideas, and will post the final decision after this weekend.

    Wednesdays will be “Read My Sign” (my take on wordless Wednesday).

    “Freestyling Fridays” will be random, because I need a bit of the unplanned and unexpected and maybe you do too.

    My feature photo is our recent purchase.

    Her name is Lily. She’s the first white vehicle either of us has ever owned, thus the name.

    The truck was too difficult for me to handle because I couldn’t judge the length of it for parking and passing. In addition, it’s served its purpose, so we wanted something a bit more economical fuel-wise.

    Bye-bye old boy
    You served us well