Category: The Great Outdoors

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Sheet Pan Edition

On By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, Camping Adventures, What's On Your Plate64 Comments

It’s that time of year when the weather is almost always nice, and that means a whole lot less time is spent indoors. Especially in the kitchen. A wonderful excuse to break out a sheet pan dinner! And luckily I have 2 pans because I needed the other for a crafty thing I was MacGyver-ing in preparation for future camping adventures: homemade fire starters. Very useful to starting fires here on the Wet Coast, where wood and tinder are sometimes too damp to facilitate a quick and satisfying campfire. Hey, those S’mores ain’t gonna roast themselves, ya know?

As usual, I came across something on Ye Olde YouTube that sparked my interest. The video is here:

Try to ignore all the bullet adoration in the intro to this guy’s channel. I did.

I watched the video and gathered my supplies. Then I got to work.

Note my improvised double-boiler, for melting both the petroleum jelly and the candle wax. Will the MacGyvering never end?! 😉
Cotton rounds soaked in melted petroleum jelly and ready to go into freezer to quickly solidify, in preparation for the next stage.
First dip of rounds in melted wax.
Starting the 2nd (and final) dip process.

These fire starters turned out great, and they burn heartily for more than 10 minutes after being lit with a single match.

Put to good use at Miracle Beach

The same afternoon I made these, I also made a delicious sheet pan dinner, inspired by this YouTube video:

The actual recipe to be printed off can be found here.

I hustled off to my little local grocery store and was disappointed that they didn’t have any fresh green beans in stock. They did however have some delectable-looking bundles of asparagus in the veggie section, so I made that swap. I think it turned out at least as good, if not better.

I also used sambal (Indonesian pepper paste) instead of cayenne pepper because I think it tastes better.
Asparagus ready to go into the oven
Shrimp tossed in spices and lemon peel.
Finished! The sheet pan dinner, almost complete…
Now complete! Served on a bed of some deliciously-nutty brown rice.
That was mmm-mmm good!

Have you ever made a sheet pan dinner? Chime in, in the Comments below!

And, as always: please feel free to let my co-host Donna (she is dishing up some food for thought, this month!) or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments of either Donna’s or my post. And remember if you decide to blog or Facebook or Instagram about it, to use the tag #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge so we can find you out on ye olde interwebbs!

Rock on,

The WB

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday – Camping at Miracle Beach Provincial Park

On By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Retirement, Camping Adventures, Good Times, See the Beauty, The Great Outdoors, Travel Badassery66 Comments
This was my home last weekend. Donna and Richard’s vehicle and set-up are behind me.
My living room.
My cozy bedroom.
Miracle Beach
My stand-up board, “Nauti”…in kayak mode.
My first time, kayaking in the ocean.
My camp coffee maker
It makes damn fine coffee.
Donna and I split up the meal duties. This was breakfast the morning I was in charge: baked oatmeal and crispy bacon. Made only AFTER watching the sunrise on the beach, of course!
And what a wonderful sunrise it was.
After breakfast it was time to go back to the beach, for a beautiful walk.
Sand dollars (living and dead) can be found all over the beach. RIP, Sand Dollar.
Time was carved out for a visit to Hammockville.
Trying out one of my homemade fire starters.
It worked very well. This was the start of a beautiful fire.
The morning we left was cloudy but dawn was still gorgeous.
These assholes sea lions woke me up with their barking at 4 am.
A deer couple came down to the shore to check out the assholes sea lions too.
Mergansers also wondering what the assholes sea lions are barking about.
Asshole sea lions aside, it was a fabulous weekend at Miracle Beach Provincial Park. I’ll be back!

Rock on,

The WB

Late to the (Virtual Tea) Party #virtualteaparty2021

On By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, See the Beauty, The Great Outdoors74 Comments

Better late than never, they say…whoever “they are. At any rate, here I am with my offering for this month’s Virtual Tea Party, held by our ever gracious hosts Su and Del (go check out their blogs, please!) A day (or two) late, and a dollar short, through no fault of my own! This week marked the end (at least I hope so) of a long story for me involving esophageal spasms, acid reflux, gastritis, the reveal of a hiatal hernia, and not one but two gastroscopies. Let’s blame it all on the hospital-administered sedation! Anyhoodle, here I am: hale and hearty (and sober) again and wanting to share with you a delicious, substantial blueberry lemon oatmeal muffin cup recipe, from the Clean and Delicious blog site.

This recipe rings all the bells for me. Easy to whip up, contains my favourite flavours, powers me through to lunch, easy to sub in other things if need be, and contains no wheat (a trigger for my acid reflux). I need a quick and easy brekkie these days as I find myself running down to the beach while it is still dark if there is even a hint of a pretty sunrise to come. And those runs sometimes pay off. Behold:

By the time the sun has fully risen and I’ve made my way back to my place, I can just about chew my arm off. My poor stomach thinks my throat has been cut. My belly button can touch my backbone. Cue all the hunger idioms you can think of….I need victuals, STAT! These muffin cups come to my rescue so I make sure to always have some in the freezer.

Fresh out of the oven.
Good with Greek yogurt and raspberries.
Also with cottage cheese and blueberries.
Cinnamon on top is a nice addition.

These would make a fine addition to any tea table, in my decidedly-biased opinion. 😉

Do you have a go-to quick breakfast? Do tell, and…

Rock on,

The WB

We Interrupt Our Regular Programming…

On By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, COVID-19, Good Times, See the Beauty, The Great Outdoors89 Comments

In lieu of the annual blog posts on Barbados that occur at this time every year, (there’s a global pandemic on, don’t you know) Widow Badass Industries brings you instead some views of the west coast of our local island paradise. Specifically: Ucluelet and Tofino. My daughter and I spent a couple of days there recently. And here’s what we saw and did.

Morning view of Tofino Inlet from Tofino Resort and Marina (highly recommend staying here).
We headed to Ucluelet first. My first visit. Won’t be my last! We decided to experience the Lighthouse Trail.
BC trees are like none I have ever seen in Canada. On the Lighthouse Trail.
The views were incredible.
Sea Foam – sign of a healthy ocean.
Pardon my shadow.
Rock formations and islands in the misty distance.
Wild Ucluelet views.

On the way to Ucluelet, we passed a sign in Pacific Rim National Park that said “Rainforest Trail”. That was our next destination.

The Rainforest Trail did not disappoint.
When not staring at the trees, the chevron pattern on this platform caught my eye.
Tried to capture the sun rays in the woods.
This giant is over 800 years old.

After the Rainforest Trail, we had worked up an appetite so it was off to our favourite Tofino eating establishment, to refuel before our next adventure.

Tacofino!
A little pandemic humour.
Every day is (Taco) Tuesday in Tofino, as far as I’m concerned.

After lunch, it was time to check out our favourite beach (Chesterman) and soak up the delicious sunshine we had been blessed with.

Pinch me. Is it really February…in Canada???
It was lovely to just sit in the sun and watch the surfers (and parasailers and windsurfers) enjoying the beautiful day and high waves.
Checking out the waves (and other surfers).
There he goes!

It was so pleasant out, we stayed there all afternoon and waited on the sunset. It did not disappoint.

Nope, it certainly did not disappoint!
Two surfers left; packing it in for the day.
And finally, the last of this day’s glorious light.

It wasn’t Barbados, but it was pretty damn fine all the same.

Rock on,

The WB

P.S. I posted multiple videos of this adventure on Instagram. Why not head over there and check them out? (Sound on!)

January on Vancouver Island – A Wordless Wednesday Post

On By Widow BadassIn Good Times, Move to Vancouver Island, See the Beauty, The Great Outdoors69 Comments

Some pictures telling the story of my first January on my new island home…

Love these lines and shadows. On the beach at Parksville.
Shadows on the sand, Parksville.
Bridge in Nanoose Bay
Donna setting up to shoot me.
View from Parksville Beach
Looking towards Parksville
Forest bathing.
More forest bathing. Photo by Donna Connolly
Donna on my favourite Departure Bay Log.
Geese, awaiting the dawn.
Dawn on Departure Bay
Outgoing Ferry, heading for Horseshoe Bay.
Incoming, heading for the Departure Bay Terminal.
Snowdrops blooming.
Have never seen a kayak with an outrigger until now.
Mainland mountains in January.
Enjoying a London Fog on the patio at Drip Social. Resting my soaking feet, after an adventurous walk along the shore at high tide. 🙂
New year; new hair. I had all my bleached locks cut off. Selfie taken in the bathroom.
And I got one of those fancy ring lights, for Zooming and FaceTiming and such. For such remains the reality of life. See the blurring magic fakery trickery difference good lighting makes?
I need to carry one around and shine it on me, always.
Ah, zee glah-mour! 😉

In case it makes my friends back in Ontario feel any better, snow is in the forecast for this coming Sunday and Monday.

Rock on,

The WB

Neck Point Park in November

On By Widow BadassIn See the Beauty, The Great Outdoors45 Comments

A Silent Saturday post.

Rocks and trees and water. What more do you need?
As close as I dare get to this drop.
Sea birds and mainland mountains.
November shoreline.
Inscribed stone.
A burst of colour framing the cove.
Stairway down.
iNaturalist says these are Harlequin ducks.
Always remember to look up.
Famous Neck Point Park fairy houses
People Fairies leave treasures inside.
Another fabulous fairy house.
A fairy house for dinosaur aficionados.

Living my best November pandemic life…

Rock on,

The WB

(Almost) Wordless But Not Whale-less Wednesday

On By Widow BadassIn Goals & Dreams, Move to Vancouver Island, See the Beauty, The Great Outdoors59 Comments

If you’ve been reading Ye Olde Blogge for a while, you may remember that I have been on a fruitless search for whale-sightings ever since Newfoundland. Either I was on the ocean and not seeing them, or I had tours booked that were cancelled at the last minute. It was kinda frustrating then, when the Thanksgiving Monday tour that had been booked with a company out of Duncan, B.C. was also cancelled at the last moment, due to not enough customers to warrant the excursion. Thanks to some quick-thinking by Donna of Retirement Reflections within moments she had us booked with Aboriginal Journeys, out of Campbell River. And thus the day was saved, in the most spectacular way, and the whale-sighting drought was over!

Let the pictures (and the videos) do the talkin’!

Captain Gary, of Aboriginal Journeys – our most affable and knowledgeable guide.
The hopeful whale watchers – Donna, her husband Richard, and I
It was a beautiful afternoon to be out on the water
Common muirs in the sunlight
Harbour seals basking on the rocks
Cormorants
Captain Gary took us to a sea lion colony
Yukon and his master helping Captain Gary scout us some whales!
Two Humpback whales sighted! I was thrilled to hear “Thar she blows!” come over the marine radio. Yukon’s master had sighted some whales and we headed to where they were.
Pardon the unsteady camera but we WERE on a boat…the whales and sea lions were playing and feeding on herring together, Gary told us.
We were lucky enough to witness a breaching whale
Humpback Whale waving goodbye, until next time!

And you KNOW there is going to be a next time!

Rock on,

The Whale-Watchin’ WB