When my sister, mom, and I get together, look out! Let the adventure begin. We planned a treasure hunt and weiner roast for my nephews (7 and 4) and a Hundred Mile Dinner party. Tuesday night we’ll be talking about the book the female portion of this zany group read called The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin! Later still we’ll be trying our hand at making stepping stones. And last night we watched Woman in Gold with Helen Mirren. Despite the torrential rainstorm the night they arrived, the weather has been lovely; not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

But I really wanted to share the scoop on our Hundred Mile Dinner party, which was a success. Not that we didn’t learn a thing or two for next time, which is good because my sister-in-law has proclaimed it is now tradition. And not that we didn’t cheat, just the tiniest little bit. Particulary when it came to the booze.

We did some planning of what we wanted to eat (and what people would eat). We had an age range of four to seventy-seven and we wanted everyone to enjoy the experience. There is no use going to all the effort if no one is going to eat it!

The idea of a Hundred Mile Dinner is to use only ingredients produced or grown within a 100 mile radius. These means no salt, pepper, or sugar, and only locally ground flour. No vinegar. No to a lot of other things as well. But now that I have a better idea of what we can buy locally I’ve got some excellent ideas for the next one.

First off, a trip downtown to the Regina’s Farmers Market on Saturday morning with my Mom, my sister, and the Adorables. Defnitely within a hundred mile radius.

We already had potatoes, two types of lettuce, basil, dill, carrots, and nastrusms from my mom’s garden! So, it was stops for beets, more carrots, tarragon, more dill, and feta cheese. Wine, of course! Tomatoes, cucumbers, and honey. I managed to get a few other things that weren’t on the list. Then it was off to Butcher Boy Meats for the fresh fryer chickens.

We bought four 3+ pound fryers (from one of the Hutterite colonies found around Regina) but only roasted three. The product that saved us was the Three Farmers Camelina Oil. It is bottled in Saskatoon, which is a little further a field than 100 miles, but still Saskatchewan. After a sprinkling of tarragon, the chickens turned out great.

Next the veggies!

We roasted the beets with some camelina oil and then drizzled them with honey and sprinkled on a bit of feta cheese.

The salad consisted on two types of lettuce, tomatoes, basil leaves, feta cheese and tossed with camelina oil.

We boiled the carrots and potatoes. We splashed the potatoes with some cream and dill. We added a dish of cucumbers and a side of feta cheese. That was one of our cheats as I’m sure the cheese people didn’t find the salt in their backyard.

Dining al fresco! Wine from Living Sky Winery. Another area we cheated a bit, okay a lot, was the drinks. We thoroughly enjoyed the bottle of Apple wine from Living Sky Winery but at $25 a bottle it was a risk to buy three or four bottles of a wine we’d never tried before. Turns out it was delicious, especially if you don’t like super dry wine, which I don’t. But we served beer and other wine, plus ice tea for the kids. And all of those drinks, whether produced in Saskatchewan or not, contained ingredients not found in Saskatchewan.

Even the center piece contained nastrusms, carrot leaves, and dill from my mom’s garden! We used folding tables and hauled out all the dining chairs from inside the house. Spread out some tablecloths and with a mishmash of plates and glasses we dined out under a twilight sky that turned into a night illuminated by a blue moon.

I think it was right up there in my top favourite meals. A beautiful evening, comfort food, family, and conversation. What is one of your favourite food experiences?

I came across this article on Pinterest. You can check out the article here: Ten Self Defense Tips For Women. I’m not going to talk about all ten, and if you do check out the article there may be some points you agree with, some you may not. For example, I have a huge issue with No. 9. Some of you may not. That’s fine. But there is one I want to talk about.

So…let’s talk about No. 7, shall we.

7. ANSWER THE DOOR

Typically, we’ve been told, “If you’re home alone and someone knocks, don’t answer – they’ll go away.” Recent events, though, are showing that more and more, burglars are doing home invasions assuming that if no one answers, it’s safe to go in. Locally, we’ve been told by our police department to answer with a call for who it is, and let them know you’re on the phone or won’t be answering the door or other ways to let the person know you aren’t going to be opening the door. Never actually answer the door even for a service person you are expecting until you’ve been able to confirm that they are actually who they say they are.

Do not invite a predator in.

I have a little bit of personal experience with this one. One day the doorbell rang. I was a little slow to answer it. The door knob rattled but didn’t open because for once it was locked (which didn’t happen a lot). Weird, I thought. You have to know at this point that at the time I lived in a reasonably safe neighborhood of my city. I wasn’t thinking anything bad. I was just thinking strange. Possibly, I’d watched too much television. Because, hello, don’t criminals case a joint before they rob it. Make sure it’s empty? And who would rob our house. We had nothing worth stealing. This was in the days before huge televisions that weighed next to nothing, computers, cell phones, iPads, etc. We were young, had a young family; all our money went to food and shelter. We had one small 15 inch television.

And it was the middle of the day.

But I digress, so what did I do. I OPENED THE DOOR. Wide open without a ‘Who’s there?” or “Who is it?” And there stood a young man in a track suit over six feet tall, looking quite presentable, and clean cut if a little shocked. He eventually smiled when I looked him in the eye and said, “Hi there, can I help you?”

That’s me. Still not having a clue. Did I mention that I’m a very trusting person?

He fumbled around for something to say. And finally settled on, “I’m looking for Broad Street.”

So…Broad Street is a VERY major street in my city. And it’s nowhere near my house.

Now I’m starting to get suspicious. But I still explain to him where Broad Street is just in case he’s actually lost. I know! Polite to the bitter end. Which thankfully it wasn’t.

And he said, “Okay, thanks for your help.”

Because he was polite too. This is Canada after all. Those rumors are true.

I shut the door. They drove off. Yes, there were more men in the car outside. It’s okay to think what you’re thinking. I have more sense now.

By then I’m thinking maybe I should call the police. Because that was really, really weird and obviously he wasn’t looking for Broad Street and they were scouting out empty houses. The police took my call very seriously. They took down my information and checked to see if a car similar to my description had been stolen recently. Probably not a good idea to go about robbing houses with your own vehichle.

They called back not fifteen minutes later asking more specific questions and looking for more details because apparently they just drove further down the street and found a house where someone wasn’t home and broke in. A neighbor spotted them.

Now, I didn’t invite him in. But, if he’d have wanted to come in without an invitation, he could have pushed his way in. Easily.

And that was a humbling thought.

I like to think I’m more careful now. Better at keeping the door locked and asking who it is if they’re unexpected. But I did get a scolding in the grocery store the other day for leaving my purse unattended in my cart. By a well meaning guy who said I really shouldn’t walk away and leave my purse, wide open, for anyone to snoop through or steal.

I thanked him. What he said was true.

So…just remember, stay safe.

Monday, June 1st we’re hosting a Facebook Party (my first one): Romance: Past, Present and Future from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm MST.

The Grand Prize is a $30 gift certificate. There will be prizes, trivia, games, snippets and lots of laughs. There’s a little bit of something for everyone, romance and some stories with romantic elements. Everything from historical (1940s), to contemporary, suspense, paranormal/urban fantasy, and science fiction. Join us!

BACKLASH

When dedicated teacher Lily Wheeler interrupts a vicious gang attack on one of her students, she vows it won’t happen again. But her rash interference puts her in the path of a cold-blooded killer and the constable tracking him — a man she has little reason to trust, but can never forget.

Constable Chase Porter returned to Aspen Lake to see justice done, not renew old acquaintances. But when he rescues the woman he once loved from a volatile situation, he realizes his feelings for Lily haven’t lessened over the years.

Now, the dangerous killer Chase has sworn to capture has Lily in his sights. Can Chase and Lilly learn to trust each other again before it’s too late — or will old insecurities jeopardize their future?

Available Now

Do you have any safety tips you’d like to share?