Hunting for Food - 2012 Style

It rained for the first three days of our visit to Prince Edward Island. We know that entertaining ourselves on rainy days will be a problem as we are “go outside” people and a lot of what we (especially Arch) like to do means being outside. So, after a spectacular summer of very little rain, this was our first real test. And, as we must stay on budget, we did not want to spend any unnecessary money. The solution? A food hunt for our dinner.

PEI issues a brochure “PEI Flavours Culinary Trail”. I found a recipe for PEI Lobster-Stuffed Spuds in it so we decided to follow the trail along Green Gables Shore and gather the food necessary to make them for supper.

First stop: Island Farmhouse Gouda to buy The Cheese Lady’s Gouda. They had an interesting video about how the Gouda was made and a glassed in area where we could watch the process happening. Unfortunately, when we were there, The Cheese Lady was not at work, so all we saw were the Gouda aging – a little like watching grass grow.

Next stop: Fishermen’s Wharf in North Rustico to purchase lobster and, we hoped, have lunch at the Blue Mussel Café. Again, we are here out of season so there wasn’t much action. The café was closed, but the lobster pound was open so we were able to get our lobster already cooked.

Lunch: So now we are on a hunt for a spot to have lunch. There was a Fisherman’s Wharf Lobster Supper restaurant there but these places tend to be very production (vs. quality) oriented and as buses from cruise ships visiting Charlottetown lined the road we decided to pass. Our brochure recommended a spot in Cavendish so on we went. Chez Yvonne sounded like a small, cozy café but when we arrived we found this. With more buses parked in back.

But we were pleasantly surprised. The bus people left as we arrived and the restaurant was very quickly tidied up and we were seated. The food was all homemade and both it and the service were excellent.

So then, on to get some mussels for Arch (I do not care for them) at Carr’s Shellfish on the wharf at Stanley Bridge. This is where the famous PEI blue mussel comes from and the waters around Stanley Bridge are full of mussel (and oyster) farms.

Finally, one last shop at Hills Farm Stand to purchase two really nice baking potatoes. Another disappointment as they only sold potatoes in 5lb (or larger) bags. We wouldn’t eat that many potatoes in a month and had no place to store them anyway.

So we passed on that and went to a grocery store where we were able to buy two potatoes (grown in PEI). Then home to make supper.

Arch shelled the lobster and scrubbed the mussels, we popped the potatoes in the oven to bake and I prepared the ingredients for the stuffed potatoes and the mussels.

For the mussels I simple added a little chopped garlic and onion, a bit of white wine, some chopped tomato and a tablespoon of butter. Place them on the burner for about 5 minutes, until they open, and voila: steamed mussels.

The recipe for the potatoes was equally as simple:

Lobster-stuffed Spuds

Ingredients:

2 baking potatoes, baked and hot

¼ cup cooked lobster meat, chopped

2 tsp butter

2 ½ tbsp. sour cream

1 green onion, diced small

Two rashers bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

1/3 cup Gouda, grated (buy the “old” Gouda)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400⁰F

Cut the cooked potatoes in half and scoop out the potato. Set the skins aside. In a bowl mash the potato with the butter, sour cream, green onion and ½ the cheese, Beat until smooth. Fold in the lobster meat and bacon. (I simply mixed it all together with a spoon). Season with pepper and salt.  Spoon the mixture into the potato skins, sprinkle with the remaining Gouda and bake for about 15 minutes, until hot and cheese is melted.

Add a green salad and you have supper:

First Guests

One of the things that I wonder about a lot is how we will live in the Adventure Bus. Lots of full-time RVers write blogs about what they do and where they have been or are going, but no one posts about how they live day to day. And very few show pictures of the inside of their RV. Also not much about how they cook or what they eat. Lots of posts about RV systems though so that is helpful.

One of the big questions is how we will entertain friends. Especially here on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia where the weather is unpredictable and sitting and eating outside is not something we can count on. So when old friends "from away" (as we say here) came for lunch a week or so ago it was a big test.
All in all I think we managed pretty well. Especially since we are living half here and half there at the moment. The weather required that we be inside and we found the sitting area very comfortable:(left click on the pictures to enlarge them)

The ability to turn the two driving area chairs around created a cozy and very functional livingroom.

I made lobster and scallop chowder (recipe follows) and cheddar and chive tea biscuits for lunch. Served with some good cheddar and strawberry-rhubarb pie (from Delish, a local deli) and white wine it was a simple but delicious lunch.

I even had space on the table for a bouquet of tulips. It was snug but we managed quite nicely. Any more that 4 and I would serve buffet-style.

With the kitchen so close at hand it was easy for Arch and I to sit and enjoy our company and still keep track of what was on the stove.

And it was great to catch up with old friends. Thanks Gil and Joyce for being such great guinea pigs. You set the bar high for our next guests.

We are about two weeks away from moving in to the Adventure Bus. As you can see if you look behind us in the last picture our new mattress is still not here. We are starting to get a little impatient with this situation. The people at Nasafoam Mattresses in Toronto are being unresponsive and at times simple lying about when we can expect delivery. We will give them another week, then ask Groupon to refund our money.

Seafood Chowder

Ingredients:
4 C diced potatoes
1 onion, diced
1 envelope of Knorr Leek Soup mix
2 to 3 cups mixed seafood (I use an equal amount of cooked fresh lobster meat and raw scallops - diced)*
1/4 lb. Velveeta cheese
2 C blend or half and half
chives, paprika, salt and pepper

Directions
1. Boil the potatoes and onion until the potatoes are tender. Drain
2. Prepare the leek soup as directed and add cooked potatoes and onion. Add seafood.
3. Dice the Velveeta and add to pot along with the cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Heat through, stirring frequently, until the cheese is melted. Do not boil. Garnish with paprika and chives and serve.

Serves 4 to 6

* In Nova Scotia we can buy cooked fresh lobster at a couple of speciality fish stores. You can use frozen or substitute the fish of your choice.