N.B.N.S.A.

A view of Tow Hill from seaplane - Sight of the NBNSA meeting.

Chainsaw Art

This stands for North Beach Night Surfers Association. I was just inducted as a member last weekend after the dinner, which I don't mean to toot my own horn but .... beep beep... went really well. We served Tapas with lots of wine. I did some signature dishes including seviche, olive tapinade and some great veggie dishes. Everyone seemed to enjoy. So after the affair, we decided to book out to the beach for the full moon, highest tide of the year. It was amazing, Nate and I surfed from midnite until about 3am under the glow of an amazing fall moon. A night I will certainly not soon forget. After that, I've been on the waves nearly every day and getting a good feel for my new longboard and my new shortboard which I traded for 2 stools. Nice trade. Other than the surf and restaurant, getting ready for xmas and the upcoming year. I have a few prospects for jobs next summer that are looking to be right up my alley guiding some tourists that are looking for a little more 'extreme' trips. Should be good. All for now... take care.

A little onshore today...

Well, it was a success! Lots of compliments to our efforts which made it all worthwhile. It is absolutely incredible the food service industry and the time constraints that you have to deal with, not to mention costs, and of course food quality and safety. All in all, not a profession I would recommend to anyone short of a workaholic manic with good taste. But, that being said, I think my creative juices can flow onto a plate a couple nights a week.

Surf has been great the last couple days as well, with a good session at Hiellen and of course the keyhole. We managed to fire out to the spit to surf on Saturday which was a neat experience. We've looked at it quite a few times and decided to check it out for real. The wind at this spot is incredible as you are exposed in virtually all directions, so an offshore turns into a crosswind so easily. It was a hoot to get out there and find a few bombs running through.

In other life, I'm settling into the winter time well. I've gathered most of my food and am just a little short on gathering firewood and I should be able to relax. Looking forward to Christmas here on the islands in a quiet, quaint setting. I know my family is a little sad I won't be travelling back to the Martitimes, but I think it good for me to save some $$$ and work towards my life here, which has proven to be more and more active and developing nicely with a kinship towards community and advancing my skills. It's good to advance skills in an ongoing basis in a gradual and productive fashion. I look forward to the year to come and the events that present itself, no doubt as blessed as they were last year.

Opening Night

Well, it's here, our first gig. We have dinner for 40 tonight and we're all a bit stoked about it. Tonights' menu is scallop kabobs with saffron, chantrelle rice, salad, ginger yam soup and wild cranberry pie. Of course with a nice chardonnay. I really believe that this new change in days events will provide reward and satisfaction. I'm truly appreciating the transition in academics towards the arts and leaving the sciences behind. They both have a great deal of merit in all forms of society and probably the best is to balance the two in harmony with each other.

As for the last couple days, it's been surf up! We have been having 45 knot offshore winds that have really kept the swell up and shaped well despite being blinded by spray and getting swept out to sea. Yesterday was the first day on my new longboard and what a hoot it was to be back in the realm of the longboard. Huge rides and lots of fun practicing different tricks. This weekend looks like another monster storm coming in, so fun to be had by all!

Curious little river otter hand fed, munching on my fish guts after catching a few trout.

100th Episode

Clifford the Big Red Couch

Shuffleboard table, whatta ya think?

Well, here it is, the 100th posting. In a little over 400 days on the island, I'm pretty happy with the contributions to literature. Yah Right... Well, back at it... yesterday was a great day for the food gathering with the first wash up of the season. Got 1 lonely scallop and about 50 cockles, cooked them up at the restaurant for my turn of cooking, which has provided with some entertaining evenings. We've been having dinner parties for 10 - 15 to get a feel for the kitchen and how hot the stove is and stuff. It's really coming along. Here are a few pics of the new space.

This blows...

Well, after a few nasty phone calls and some name calling, I've decided to log in a couple more times. Sorrrryyyy.... geesh. Well to all those interested, it's been almost a template of last year with the surf swell coming in again. Yesterday was day 8 in a row and I must say today's break is welcomed. A little battered and bruised, and I really got to get that suit dry to fix those holes before it gets any colder.

We were welcomed with the pros again last week. Kieth Malloy of "Step into Liquid" fame was one of the 4 guys up here ripping it. It was funny to see their truck running up and down tow hill road 5 times a day looking for the best wave and best ride. Shayne Dorian from Hawaii had never wore a wetsuit in his life! It looked like he was having seizures everytime he got in the water. "I could be in fucking indo man!" Although they were nice enough to surf with and talk to, we were all a bit surprised that they wanted nothing to do with the local scene and although I did surf with them last tuesday, they certainly weren't interested in finding out the best local spots or socializing in any way. Their loss I figure. It was a good learning proces for me to see these guys though. Wow.

Other than that, I've got a gig going on as a chef in a restaurant here in town that were developing from scratch, going to be a nice menu of local foods as much as possible, all whole ingredients from scratch. I think were going to call it 'soul food fusion' as a bit of a description of our style. Lots of hearty eats with savory undertones. MMMM...

Other than that, had a few new visitors coming to the islands that I've been helping to settle into life here. Looking forward to a fairly uneventful week and having a friend from off island come up to visit for the weekend. Should be an eventful weekend with some parties, some good foods and maybe a wave or two. Ciao for now!