adventures in the kitchen: roasted garlic potato soup

Dice some onion.

Brown bay leaves in olive oil.

Saute onion.

Peel potatoes. Cooking with scotch is not recommended unless you like scotch.

Brown potatoes.

Roast garlic.

Puree.

Bring to a boil.

Get one of these bad boys.

Voila.

should have stayed in bed

Some runs don't go as planned. Usually you adjust and continue on. Sometimes, however, it's best to save what little you've got left to fight another day.

My plan last Saturday was a 2.5 hour 20+ km run at Ministik. The Waskahegan is one of my favorite trails. It's a run I've done dozens of times before in all sorts of conditions, including snow.
Given our mild winter and near lack of snow in the city, I was looking forward to a relaxing afternoon in the forest. Turns out there was another plan in the works. There was more snow than in the city and I buried the car in the ditch before I even got started.  Thankfully that happened at the trail head. Minor set back. I put a call into the mrs who agreed to give me a tow. The trail was in good shape, the sun was out, and I had a few hours on my hands. I put on my microspikes and took off at a strong pace. The good conditions didn't last long. The trail deteriorated into an unstable, rain crusted crud. My run became a jog and then a walk and I hadn't even reached the less well used section of trail. By the time I got to the forest I was exhausted. This was the first time I could see running snowshoes as being more help than hindrance. Oh, and I bent down to adjust my shoe and broke the sunglasses that were in my pocket. It was time to turn around.
The run back was fine but I was too annoyed about my sunglasses and the car I still had to unstick to enjoy it. I took a few detours when the footing improved, trying to salvage what remained of the afternoon, but it was hard to do much better than an awkward shuffle in most places. Warning: don't run in microspikes when wobbling like a drunken sailor. Nicking your ankle really hurts. Yup, that was the topper.

dry island buffalo jump

When planning your next adventure into the great outdoors, don't forget about the prairies. I'm sure most folks don't equate the prairies to wilderness and the great outdoors, which is a shame. Maybe it's because there is so little natural prairie left. Or maybe it's because the prairies are not as in-your-face with their beauty as the mountains and the average person is too distracted, unobservant, or lazy to be captivated by something so subtle. How else do you explain the popularity of reality television? I want to challenge the notion of the prairies as flat and boring by giving you Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park.

The word prairie tends to invoke images of farm yards and crop fields stretching to the horizon, which is what you'll find today in many places that were once natural prairie. These landscapes have their own beauty. They feel quaint while simultaneously feeling vast, which is a big part of the prairie allure. Wallace Stegner (1960) helped petition for the preservation of wilderness in America by drawing, in part, on similar images of a Saskatchewan prairie from his childhood.

"We need wilderness preserved... because it was the challenge against which our character as a people was formed. The reminder and the reassurance that it is still there is good for our spiritual health... A prairie [landscape] big enough to carry the eye clear to the sinking, rounding horizon, can be as lonely and grand and simple in its forms as the sea. It is as good a place as any for the wilderness experience to happen; the vanishing prairie is as worth preserving for the wilderness idea as the alpine forest... We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in."

I encourage you to drive to the edge of Dry Island and look in because the view is spectacular.

I also encourage you to explore further

because, like the arctic tundra and alpine meadow, there are small-scale wonders waiting to be discovered in the many pockets and folds of this country.

And while you're there, why not explore nearby Rumsey Natural Area. This classic knob and kettle landscape is home to mule deer, waterfowl, and numerous species of prairie songbirds. They're not hard to find, just open your mind and look.