What a fabulous time I had with Tom and Lissa! Here are a couple of impressions from our fabulous weekend on the Southshore:
First thing to do was to pitch the tent. You don’t go see people like Tom and Lissa and think you’ll just spend a couple of hours; you know it’s best to take your time, and you know there may be a bottle or two of wine and probably a fair amount of rum involved, and I am very serious about not drinking and driving, so: first thing we did is pitch the tent. You don’t want to take the weather for granted near the shore, either, and it was good when I arrived, so we went right to work. Found a spot: the tip of Tom and Lissa’s property, overlooking the bay, where sometimes their schooner, the Avenger, lays anchored.
The tent was quick to set up. You can even see Tom and Lissa’s island from here!
Then, we sat and drank wine in the beautiful sunshine and breeze, enjoying Blackforest Ham from Roselane Farms Bavarian Smokehouse, and amazing artisan goatscheese from Fromagerie au fonds des bois in New Brunswick (both are available at the Halifax Farmers’ Markets).
Meanwhile, we watched Tom go to work on the baby pork back ribs (I hope not to offend vegetarians by getting excited about these). He added his secret spice rub, and then cooked those things for four hours straight! He continued to add charcoal to the grill, and, every now and then, reached over the porch into the apple tree to pull off a couple of fresh branches to smoke the ribs in fresh apple tree smoke, Yum!!
Tom also spent a considerable time telling us of his new book, The Lord God Bird, which is about to be published by Quantuck Lane Press. Distributors will be Norton&Company in the States, and Penguin in Canada. Congratulations, Tom! The book sounds absolutely amazing. I really look forward to reading it, and am so happy that it will be published in proper hard cover, with linen cover and embossed title! As a craftsperson, I love that!
But back to the ribs: the real secret (other than all that slow cooking!), but he wouldn’t divulge its details, seems to have lain in the basting liquid at the end …
We had a scrumptous feast: those ribs, with corn on the cob, and a good big salad of local greens. Strawberries for dessert, with cream (for those who indulge in dairy), and certainly another helping of rum .. or two. Oh, what a fabulous night!
During dessert (see cream being poured onto rum-soaked strawberries in the right-hand-corner of the picture), Lissa showed off her David Stevens quote towel:
I’m starting to understand how true that is …
The next morning, we stopped by in Lunenburg, where Tom had been at work since the early morning hours on his boat , the Avenger, to rush to get her ready to go into the water. All that rain has not just put the farmers behind ….
I was fascinated yet again with the hull lines of the boat. I really think I may end up doing a whole body of work on hull lines; I just love them!!
And of course we couldn’t leave the place without stopping by the Bluenose II (check out an amazing time-lapse video of the first stage of the re-build ici):
Again, I am fascinated by the hull lines …
and the interior lines in general:
But seeing the whole huge thing being built right there, with those layers and layers of laminate woods, et cetera, was really amazing:
It is massive!
And here is my favourite, a photo which is mounted inside the exhibition area. It shows our dear friend, John Steele (2nd from right), of Covie Island Boatworks, maker of amazing boats, being there when the very first frame was raised (or whatever that’s called) on the Bluenose restoration project: what an epic moment!
It is John and his wife, whom I will have the pleasure to visit next weekend … I hope to grill him on hull lines and specifics on boat design, which will certainly bring me further in my design research towards the new topic in my jewellery making. And I just adore those people! Plus there may just so happen to be a very nice meal or two ….
