The sun is about to set on what mY have been the last double-digit afternoon of the fall. Stormin’ tomorrow through Saturday.

I’m so grateful my work focus has been killer good this week and I finished my only hard deadline early to give myself 90 minutes in the sun. It is astounding what just 90 minutes can do for the soul.

There’s a sunset and a moonrise on opposite sides of the bay now.

Sunny interlude on the deck. Tomorrow, storms come. By Tuesday, possibly snow. I am on day 16 of 49 days in this housesit.

6 years ago today, I was in a coastal town in Croatia call Rijeka, where my host family took me to a cemetery for All Soul’s Day, which is a big thing in Croatia, where it’s hugely catholic. I lit a candle for my mom.

Four four years, I was a nomad. I travelled through 25 countries. There was a lot of alcohol.

I barely drink anymore. I’m at a housesit and in two weeks, I’ve had 4 glasses of wine and they were all with a friend. I used to drink a minimum of a bottle a wine a day when travelling.

It was a bad lifestyle for drinking. I much prefer my more sober life. But I miss the travel.

Here’s the Facebook post from years ago today. Gave me a big chuckle. The pic was with the original post too.

I played with my food and invented some soup. Last week, I made wicked-hot enchilada sauce, and took about 1/2 cup of that as the base for this soup’s broth. I simmered chicken and corn cobs, and added veggies I’d previously cooked in the chicken fat after searing my chicken legs — so corn, leeks, carrots, celery, garlic.

Pretty basic but delicious. I tried making masa dumplings but I don’t like ‘em. Next time, I’ll garnish with tortilla strips & avocado cubes. #CoSoCooks #CoSoRecipes

This cloud rolled over the hill and the temperature dropped so fast! Man. Some rain is coming later but gosh. Amazing how quickly the weather can shift by the ocean.

This housesit is insane. All the chairs are close to the end of the deck but I have hatched a plan to relocate one by one of the doors — it’s getting too icy to walk across the deck in the morning and I’m stupid enough to enjoy the brisk morning air. If I move a chair, I may not die out here.

But lunch is safe! No ice. Also, no pants. Still shorts weather. If you’re a dumb Canadian who thinks 10° C is warm in November. 😄

I harvested all my cherry tomatoes a couple weeks ago. I’m still slowly eating them as they ripen. BEHOLD, today’s chosen few.

I was looking at “longkeeper” tomatoes but they’re mostly in the EU — they’re tomatoes that stay edible for months after harvest. I need to ask some European friends to ship me seeds soon. Grow me some fancy eyetalian tomatahs.

Good morning.

In my mind, Rambo opens his eyes here and yells I AM GROOT!

I’m very blessed to be housesitting for a few weeks. Here’s what it’s like in daylight. This is Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.

The nature here is amazing. If you’d like to watch a stunning nature doc set here, Netflix’s new “Island of the Sea Wolves” takes place a couple hours north of me, on this same side of the island (east side).

I have a view of the surrounding hills over the water, and the odd fireworks. But the moon over the water is beautiful tonight, with light clouds.

I’m an avid cook so if you’re into food, you’re probably my people. I’m about to have another plate of this for dinner — homemade pasta with Bolognese sauce I simmered for 8 hours.

I did a mix of Bon Appetit’s recipe and Marcella Hazan’s. It’s the kinda stuff you make on a rainy Sunday but double the batch because it freezes great. Vermouth (dry/white) is a great wine substitute for this, BTW, & keeps better for later, if you don’t have wine around. #CoSoCooks https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015181-marcella-hazans-bolognese-sauce

I'm currently housesitting at this insane property in coastal British Columbia. I'm debating whether to emerge from this Batcave to see the Halloween antics elsewhere, but I'm tempted to not bother.

I mean, this is from the deck. (It's Vancouver Island, a couple hours south of where the new Netflix "Island of the Sea Wolves" documentary was filmed, but the same island, and same side of the same island.)

When you make your own mayo with duck eggs and you make your own sourdough bread, the sandwich game feels more high-stakes.

Breakfast sandwich today — pummelled some fresh basil into my mayo and generously slathered the lightly toasted bread. Added some salted tomatoes (salt them for 20 minutes before assembly and press out the juice with towel/paper), avocado, bacon, and a scrambled egg.

#goodeats #CoSoFood

Sunset tonight in Victoria, Canada. Still waiting for the first warm one of the year. The 60-70km winds tonight were not conducive to warmth. But… pretty. Worth it. Hot chocolate time now!

It’s camas flower season here in Victoria, Canada. A magical time of year. But we are having a chilly spring and tonight is no exception. #nature #flowers

Tonight’s dinner — homemade duck egg pasta with a simple ricotta/spinach/lemon sauce. It’s so easy to make. I recommend pureeing the ricotta to avoid curdling. Not my recipe: https://theclevermeal.com/10-minute-lemon-ricotta-pasta-with-spinach/

Pimped up my banana toast because I’m copping out on dinner. There’s a tiny bit of butter under the peanut butter. Then it’s finished with Maldon flake salt. It’s the little things. I’ll make proper dinner tomorrow.

I have also made zucchini fingers (and homemade tzatziki) with the “drizzle oil into bread crumbs instead of spraying the outside” method of air frying too. I should definitely try it with chicken fingers too. #CoSoCooks #CoSoFood #CoSoRecipes