Salt Spring Island - one and a half hours and a world away

To anyone from the UK, 'one and a half hours away' is a fairly long time, at least a jaunt worthy of a weekend vacation. To anyone from Canada, it is a time frame that means little more than a quick Sunday afternoon drive. Nestled in the sparkling Pacific ocean, the Gulf Islands are little gems of another way of life, slower, more community orientated and more in touch with the natural surroundings. Salt Spring is the largest, boasting a population of 10,500, leisurely living on 182.7 sq kms of natural beauty, wildlife and harbours. As the title suggests, a world away from the urban metropolis of Vancouver all for the price of a quick ferry ride.

BC ferries are an institution in their own right. Equally admired and mistrusted, they have rituals that date back to their conception. Immediately upon parking your car in the decks below, you quickly race up to the restaurant to start lining up for either breakfast or a White Spot burger, which you have usually finished before the ferry has even left the dock. Then, it is customary to browse the gift shop and freeze on the observation decks as you desperately keep scanning the ocean in case a pod of Orcas decide to grace you with their company, (quite a common occurrence). If you see a whole bunch of red zodiacs whizzing by and settling on a spot, you know the poor hassled creatures are not far behind. For the record, I love the ferries, the journey being part of the adventure, even if only to Bowen Island, which takes but 15 minutes.

Recipe : Blueberry and orange muffins with a crunchy topping

We always pack a few muffins for snacks on the way and as a dessert option after lunch or dinner.

These muffins are made using a combination of orange juice and yogurt, which produces a very moist muffin and sprinkled with sugar and orange zest for a crunchy topping.

Adapted from Canadian Living website

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar (I use organic raw sugar)

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup plain yogurt

2 tsp grated orange rind

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1.5 cups fresh blueberries

Topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp grated orange rind

Heat oven to 400oF and line a 12 hole muffin tray with paper liners

Put flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and stir well.

Mix yogurt, orange zest and juice, oil and eggs in another bowl and mix until well combined.

Pour yogurt mixture over dry ingredients and mix well with a spoon until all traces of flour is incorporated. Add blueberries and mix again.

Divide the mixture between the muffin cups.

Mix the orange zest and sugar for the topping together and sprinkle over the muffins.

Bake the muffins for about 25 minutes until they are lightly golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre can be removed clean. Allow to cool before eating.

Our cabin, called Charlotte, part of the Spindrift complex, (a private peninsula), was situated right on the ocean front, but was disappointingly shady all day and cold in the evening. It was also extremely quiet and the early mornings were spent on the deck listening to a myriad of birds singing. Staying in a cabin with a full kitchen allows for some gourmet breakfasts and we got to try something I have never made for breakfast before: pancakes. My first North American breakfast ever was eaten at the swanky Pershing Square in New York, just opposite Grand Central Station. Sitting there at 8am, overcome with jet lag and amazement at our power house fellow breakfasters, we ordered pancakes and waffles, mine arriving with strawberries, cream, maple syrup and to my horror, bacon. It wasn't long before I realised that smoked American bacon and maple syrup is a match made in Heaven. Buzzing from the endless re-pours of coffee I was given, we were both shocked that our breakfast had cost $30, an amount that seemed exorbitant back then. This breakfast was a homage to that first taste of luxury.

Recipe : Nectarine and blueberry compote 

We served this warm with the pancakes

1 nectarine, seeded and cut into cubes

1 cup of blueberries

1/4 cup of sugar, more to taste

Heat the fruit and sugar in a pan over low heat for about 20 minutes until they collapse and begin to become jam like.

Taste and add a little more sugar if you prefer it sweeter. Keep warm.

Cook your bacon....

.....and pancakes, (we cheated slightly and used a buttermilk and oat flour ready mix).

Serve with maple syrup, birch syrup and butter, compote and bacon, (hidden under pancakes to keep warm).

....and of course, the beauty of pancakes is that you can add anything to the batter that you wish. In this case fresh strawberries.

 

 

Salt Spring Island is not well known for it's beaches, it has some but they cannot be described as idyllic, as the Australian tourist information guide took delight in telling us, while comparing them to the white jewels of her homeland. However, when the sky is endlessly blue and the sun baking down, they are more than comfortable for an hour or two, with the sea air helping to build up an appetite required when a deck barbecue calls.

Recipe : BBQ Potatoes with onion cooked in a foil package

2 large potatoes, scrubbed and cut into thin slices

1 onion, peeled and cut into thin slices

1 tsp butter

1 tbsp oil

salt, pepper and a few sprinkles of paprika

Lay a large piece of double foil on a clean surface and brush with the oil. Lay the potatoes in two or three layers in the centre, interspersed with the onion. Sprinkle with the seasonings and dot the butter over the top.

Seal the foil up into a loose package, ensuring it is sealed tightly and place directly onto a medium heat propane or charcoal BBQ. Cook for about 30 minutes, until the potatoes are very soft and the butter melted into them. They should be savoury, buttery and very tender.

Being an island, Salt Spring has many places to buy fresh seafood. Defeated by Neil's less than enthusiastic response to my suggestion of buying and cooking live crab, I settled on a bagful of raw prawns, straight from the ocean that morning and smelling of salt. While we were shopping for bread at the local supermarket, however, these gigantic shrimp caught my eye. Never have I seen a prawn so large since Thailand and I immediately bought two to be cooked straight on the coals. I wish I hadn't bothered, another case of size overruling judgement. They were rubbery and chewy with little discernible taste. I should have just stuck with the ocean fresh crustaceans bought from the local fish mongers, which were sweet and tender.

Recipe : BBQ shrimp with lemon and salt

A very simple recipe, but just right for prawns so squeaky fresh and sweet

1lb of large raw prawns with shells, head removed

the juice of one lemon

a few sprinklings of salt

1 clove of garlic, peeled and halved

Take a large piece of foil and place the shrimp in the centre. Squeeze the lemon juice over the top and sprinkle with salt. Seal the package and place on the barbecue. After about 10 minutes, check they are cooked by peeking in the package. The shrimps should have turned pink all over.

When they are ready, remove from the foil into a dish and squeeze a little extra lemon juice over with a few dabs of butter to create a dipping sauce of sorts. Peel before eating, making sure you remove the intestinal track running down the back.

Salt Spring Island is also famous for these jam and jelly stalls, among other things, with good old timey honesty boxes, into which you deposit your money and extract your own change. It feels like you've taken a step back in time, as you ponder which of the jams to buy. Three years ago I bought the most exotic I could find, (from the very same stall, called Penny's jams and jellies), lavender jelly and rose petal jelly. This time, I opted for two I might actually use: mango chutney and 'harvest' jam, made with orange and plum. The woman who runs this stall seems to have an entire empire on the small island, including a cafe and catering firm also.

 

There are two famous cheese makers on the island, one of which is primarily goat and sheep's milk. Salt Spring Island Cheese sell products which are incredibly fresh with a creamy, mild taste. They come in a variety of flavours, including lemon, truffle, basil and tapenade. All are available to sample at the farm shop and plates, cutlery and napkins can also be borrowed to enjoy a picnic in the beautiful grounds.

If you do decide to make use of their gardens to picnic, you may very well be greeted by one of the resident dogs. Squeezing himself through a gap in the fence, he proceeded to bring us pine cones which we were to throw for him. Indulging him, as we did, will only result in more determination, until he resorted to actually placing the cone on Neil's leg to get his desired attention.

On our last morning, after loosing nearly all hope of interacting with any wildlife other than birds, a deer wandered nonchalantly into our cottage garden. Although timid, he showed great interest in the strawberries Neil tempted him with, almost feeding from his hand before dashing away. It seemed a fitting end to our short stay on this tranquil island, although we kept a sharp lookout for orcas on the way back, with no luck.