Where There's Smoke...

It's that time of year again!

As summer has begun in earnest so have the forces that have the greatest potential to destroy a gal's Northern Summer...Forest Fires. Last October I wrote about a couple of fires that came within a few dozen kilometres from town. A few pieces of ash fell and I got a slight whiff of campfire for a couple of days. At the time it seemed scary, but after this past week I realize that my initiation into the world of forest fires was a mild one. Now we're in the big leagues.

This was the site that I beheld while taking the dogs for a walk the other day. Where I stood to take the photo is about 5 kilometres from town. I'm not sure how much further the fire is, but it's close. Too close. Last year I was disconcerted by thick smoke blanketing the sky, but I was still much to far away to actually see it billowing.

In the past few days there have been at least three separate forest fires burning close enough to town to require constant monitoring and combative action. In fact, there have been enough helicopters and water bombers buzzing above our heads to make the area surrounding our little Northern Town seem like a war zone. Which, I suppose, it is. One morning was particularly smokey like I'd never seen before. The most perturbing blaze was next to the only road out of town; this one was reported quickly and largely stifled. Or so I hope.

It's an eerie haze that subdues the sun in such a way. Interestingly, depending on the wind, a lot of the smoke over our heads is actually from a forest fire in Alberta (or several, perhaps, I'm not sure). Whatever its origins, this smoke has mirrored an experience that I had while being a tourist in Buenos Aires, Argentina. You see, whatever it is that they use to fuel their cars gets into one's nose and...well...some of its residue seems to stay there and...comes out in one's tissue. What I'm trying to say is that I had some sooty snot in my kleenex yesterday. Sorry. But it's true (oh like you don't look at your kleenex before you throw it out!).

The sun goes down on another day and we are still Up North to see it. There has been talk of evacuation, but nothing to serious at this point. A few years ago the entire town was flown out to Prince Albert and Saskatoon. Many stayed at the Univeristy of Saskatchewan campus, others with friends and family. In the end, the fire stayed away and residents were able to return to their homes, although not all were still intact. Sadly, some hooligans stayed behind and broke into multiple homes, which I suppose is inevitable during natural disasters.

 

Speaking of disasters, I once tried to make pasta without a pasta roller. I thought of blogging about it but it was pretty nasty so I didn't. I couldn't get the dough thin enough and the resulting ravioli was thick and gummy. I've included a picture, but I'm sure as hell not enlarging it like the lovely and successful pasta pictures included below. After a meal that was a little hard to swallow, I learned my lesson and vowed never again to make pasta until I had a pasta roller. Well...I got one! I found a great deal on a roller and two cutter attachments for my KitchenAid and didn't waste any time clicking "Buy".

Homemade Fettuccine and Alfredo Sauce

 

I decided to ease into pasta making after my overly ambitious ravioli, so I stuck to something simple like Fettuccine Alfredo. I found a recipe for the pasta from this link on the Food Network site. I had a few bumps along the way, including not making my flour well big enough for the eggs and they, well, my Eggs Ranneth Over! No worries, I eventually kneaded them into a workable dough. Rolling said dough was more difficult than I thought it would be simply because I didn't realize how thin the dough has to be flattened with the rolling pin first. The initial piece of dough got quite smashed and torn on its first few passes through the rollers, but after I got the hang of it, the pasta rolled smoothly from there.

I didn't use the alfredo sauce recipe from the webpage, instead I simply sauteed 4 minced garlic cloves in some butter, maybe 1/4 cup, then added about 1 cup of heavy cream and simmered, then turned down the heat and added almost 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese. A liberal sprinkling of freshly cracked pepper and a bit of salt finish the sauce. I've gotta say, freshly made pasta tossed in a from-scratch sauce and topped with some backyard parsley (fresh, of course!) was the best Fettuccine Alfredo I've ever had. Maybe I'm biased because I made it all, but I doubt it. And it didn't take as long as it would seem. Most importantly, cooking distracted me from the Smoke; not just in my kitchen for once, but in the Great Out-of-Doors. 

Now if making rain were as easy as homemade fettuccine!