The Maritime Painted Saltbox Gallery

We ran across this gem while touring our favourite parts of the South Shore with some visiting friends from Ontario.You'll find The Maritime Painted Saltbox Gallery in Petite Riviere. Run by two VERY talented artists, Tom Alway and Peter Blais, the barn is stocked full of fine art, folk art and heritage reproduction furniture.As you can see, their property is absolutely gorgeous. But you'll have to take a visit to the gallery to see the treasures inside. (and it's worth a trip, I promise you)We met Tom (or was it Peter? I'm not sure since John was doing all the talking as I was doing all the gawking at the treasures inside and out) who is very friendly and gave us recommendations on what sites to travel on to in our journey. Oh, how I would love to have a barn like this at home!Open May 1st through October 31st. Off season, by chance or appointment. Call toll free 1.877.624.4513 or email saltbox@eastlink.ca

265 Petite Riviere Road, Petite Riviere

Mahone Bay Humour

If you travel to Mahone Bay, you'll find that the residents have a lovely sense of humour. No, the funny part of the photo isn't John....read the sign!
A humourous nod to the historic plaques that are mounted on many buildings.
Carved into a dead tree by folk artist Garnet McPhail.

Keep your eye peeled...you never know what you will see.

Dining at the Seaside

Friday was a warm (well, John would define it as hot, hot, HOT) and gloriously sunny day. Unfortunately, we spent most of the afternoon at the car dealership waiting for some minor repairs to be done on our CRV.

But, as luck would have it, it was finished late in the afternoon...which just happened to be a great time to think about finding a place along the water for a drink and/or dinner.

We thought we'd try a place we hadn't been to before, so we headed east to Chester Basin.Frankly, The Seaside Shanty Restaurant doesn't look like much from the outside.But, what a lovely view from the screened in porch!John had seafood chowder, which was packed with all kinds of seafood. I chose a pasta dish with shrimp.I don't think it will go on my top list of places to eat, but the scenery makes it worth a visit.
In my book, you just can't beat the combination of warm sunshine & water views!

Hodge Podge

Several weeks ago we were visiting our neighbours and had a tour of their vegetable garden. It was quite early in the gardening season around here, and their garden was quite spectacular. It gave me some inspiration for creating a veggie garden at our newly acquired "farm" next year.

While we were there, our neighbour grinned and told me she had enough vegetables to make a Hodge Podge for dinner the night before. I smiled and said something like "that's great" but I actually had no idea what she was talking about.

Fast forward a few weeks and John and I were driving home after watching some sailboat races in Chester. We stopped at a roadside vegetable shop, and they actually had "hodge podge" listed as one of their feature items.

So...I just had to ask the owner to explain Hodge Podge. Apparently it's a Nova Scotia classic meal, but only in parts of Nova Scotia. It's particularly popular on the South Shore. She told me what was involved and here is the official recipe:

Ingredients:
15-18 new baby potatoes
1 medium onion, peeled, quartered
1 clove garlic, peeled, crushed with side of knife (clove should be intact)
1 bunch fresh new carrots
1 pound fresh yellow and/or green string beans
1 pound fresh peas
2-3 ears fresh corn, shucked, broken into thirds (optional)
2 cups light coffee cream
1/4 cup butter (not margarine)
salt and freshy ground pepper
chives to garnish

Instructions:
Rinse potatoes but don't peel. Cut tops off carrots. Rinse well, but don't peel. Tip and tail beans. Shell peas.

Put potatoes in large pot. Add just enough water to barely cover. Add 1 tsp salt, garlic and onion. Cover and bring to a boil, cooking potatoes for 10 minutes or until halfway done. Add more water if necessary, just to steam boil veggies.

Add carrots. Cover and turn heat down to barely boiling. Cook until carrots halfway done. Add beans, peas and corn. Cook until tender-crisp.

Check water level. There shoud be about 1 cup. Turn heat to low. Add cream and butter. Be careful not to curdle cream. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle into bowls. Add garnish. Serve immediately.

I've been told that Hodge Podge is even better if refrigerated and warmed up the next day.
I've also been told that it's meant to be a meal....not a side dish.

I haven't tried it out myself. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Dublin Shore

If you want to see a small working wharf, take a drive out to the Dublin Shore government wharf. Someday I'll work up my courage to ask the men if I can take their photos, but for now you'll have to be content to see photos with no people in them! You'll find it on the Lighthouse Route, between Bridgewater and Crescent Beach.

Digby

Recently we ended up in Digby after a day of toodling around, mostly in Annapolis Royal. It was the start of Scallop Days in Digby so there were some vendors out and some grandstands in the downtown street awaiting the parade.

We didn't stay for the parade (it being late in the day and we had 1 1/2 hour drive to get home to feed the animals) but we did take a walk out on the docks.

Despite the threatening skies, it didn't rain and it was quite a pleasant walk. I love looking at the fishing boats (mostly scallop boats in this harbour I think).

After our walk, we stopped at a dockside seafood store and picked up a couple of pounds of scallops fresh from the ocean. Popped them into our trusty cooler for the drive back, and found a roadside stand along the way selling fresh corn, tomatoes and blueberries. We had a late night dinner of barbequed scallops wrapped in bacon, bbq'd corn on the cob, and sliced tomatoes. High bush blueberries (big fat juicy ones) for dessert. Yum.

We'll have to get back to Digby for another day out. Next time, straight to Digby and then out along the Digby Neck & Islands scenic drive.

Motorcycle Tour Guide Nova Scotia

A while back I was sitting in a waiting room (not a the type of waiting room where no one talks or looks at each other, but a waiting room with chatter going on). I overheard someone say that he had been busy publishing a motorcycle book. That caught my interest since John's son is a motorcycle enthusiast.

We ran into the man a little later on the street. Being that we were in Nova Scotia, where people actually talk to each other (as opposed to places in Ontario where everyone is a little too busy to bother with anyone else) I stopped and asked the man about his book.

It turns out we met Harold...the editor for the Motorcycle Tour Guide Nova Scotia. This is a great little reference book, and not just for bikers. You can get this guide FREE. Here's how:
Go to www.novascotia.com/ride or call 1.800.565.0000

If you have a club needing multiple copies, you can contact them directly at http://www.motorcycletourguidens.com/ or email mtrcycletourguid@accesswave.ca

Today we're off to the races in Chester. Hope we get some good photos to share!

Annapolis Royal - Fort Anne

On our recent stop at Annapolis Royal, we took a walk around Fort Anne. I'm not much of a museum fan (I love the history of old things, and love antique stores and auctions but for some reason find museums a little dull). But the walk around the grounds was wonderful. Here is a plaque showing the footprint of the fort:From the descriptions on the sign:

A ravelin is a triangular defensive work built in the ditch in front of the curtain wall.

The glacis is a slope of land approaching a fortification which is shaped so all areas are exposed to cannon fire.

The covered way is a kind of road that runs around the ditch and is protected by the slope of the glacis. Often an earthen step was located on the covered way for soldiers to stand on and fire down the glacis.

The ditch is a trench around the fortifications that slows the advance of attacking troops.

The Powder Magazine

Built by the French in 1708 the powder magazine was used to store the fort's gunpowder. It is the only surviving building from the French period. And, as you can see by the photo below, the soldiers must have been a lot shorter back then...we had to stoop to get through the door.
Charles Fort (information below from a sign at Fort Anne)
A group of about 70 Scottish settlers began a colony here in 1629, eight years after King James I granted "Nova Scotia" to Sir William Alexander. Led by Alexander's son, the Scots built a small fort, the remains of which lie beneath Fort Anne. Despite many deaths during the first winter, the surviving colonists thrived on agriculture, fishing, and trade with the Mi'kmaq. Most returned to Great Britain in 1632 after France reacquired the region by treaty. Although the colonization attempt was short-lived, the province of Nova Scotia owes its name, flag, and coat of arms to this early Scottish settlement.

Annapolis Royal

Friday we had a lovely trip to the north coast of Nova Scotia and made it to the Evangeline Trail (all our previous jaunts have been along the Lighthouse Route). We drove up to Middleton, and then headed west. We stopped in Annapolis Royal to stretch our legs and get a bite to eat. I took this photo to show you the height of the tides along this coast. Notice the tires at the edge of the pier? That gives you some perspective to see how much the tide goes up and down.Annapolis Royal is filled with historic buildings. Two of the oldest wooden buildings in Canada can be found here (one a private residence and one a museum). Beautiful flowers and flower boxes are everywhere. We had a lovely lunch at a restaurant called Compose. (I found out later the building and restaurant are currently for sale for a very reasonable price if anyone is interested!)We ate on the deck (shown above) with this beautiful view:John had a lobster club, and a had "the Mozart"...an open faced sandwich with sliced chicken breast, peaches, curry sauce and melted cheese and side salad with orange dressing (divine!)After lunch, a walk along the boardwalktook us to Fort Anne and then along to Digby. (photos available soon)

Hubbards

We discovered Hubbards many years ago while we were just tourists from Ontario.There used to be a fantastic fish and chips truck down by the harbour. We took our granddaughter there a couple of times. Unfortunately, the truck is gone now. But we did find some other fish and chips that were pretty good. Just follow the fish and chips signs on Hwy 3 and you'll end up at a canteen in a camping park. Not wonderful scenery like you get at the harbour, but good fish and chips nonetheless.Did you know? Hubbards was the filming location for the CBC tv series Black Harbour, which aired 1996 to 1999.Tonight we're back to Hubbards...to The Shore Club...home of the Original Nova Scotia Lobster Supper since 1936. Oh, and they offer chicken dinners for those who don't like lobster!

The Shore Club is also the last dance hall in Nova Scotia with dances held every Saturday night during the summer, since 1946. Tonight we'll be jiving away to The Corvettes...a 50's and 60's band.

LaHave Bakery

One of our favourite places to go is Crescent Beach. We love to walk the beach in any type of weather. Between Bridgewater and Crescent Beach is another Nova Scotia treasure...LaHave Bakery.Listed in "Where to Eat in Canada" for each of the past 9 years, LaHave Bakery is worth a stop.You may have to be patient to get your treats but it's worth it. The menu is rather limited...sandwiches, pizza (not your run of the mill pizza slices) or soup. We usually pick up a sandwich (thick slices of home made bread, lettuce, tomato, cheese, real meat (not the packaged sliced meat), and maybe even some radical rhubarb relish.The bakery also offers lots of cookies and squares. And as you can see on the shelves, lots of jams, jellies and spreads. The building is an old one with lots of character. Love those original tin ceilings!There's a lunch counter and lots of tables (indoors and out). Here's our favourite spot to eat...Right at the end of the wharf. And what a view (well, you wouldn't get John in your view, but insert your favourite person instead)