Seaboard Chronicles: Day 6

I have very few pictures from today; we traveled from Cheticamp to Charlottetown, PEI (Ignorant Americans say Prince Edward Island; in-the-know Canadians prefer PEI), covering quite a bit of familiar ground.

We started out again eating a hearty breakfast with our hosts and fellow guests.  I got to chat with the Swiss and Quebecois this time, at least in the instances when they graciously spoke English for our benefit.  I have come to the conclusion that it is high time to take this second-language stuff seriously.  One feels pretty bourgeois sitting at a table with people who know two, three, four different languages.  Travel is oh so broadening...

Another beautiful day; not a cloud in the sky, temperatures beginning in the low 60's and rising as we progressed south and east.  I can tell, though, that our inner compasses are beginning to turn towards home.  It seemed that everything we did today brought somebody to mind - the ferry we rode between Nova Scotia and PEI (I love saying that) made me miss my six-year-old nephew so bad my heart ached.  How he would have loved that big boat!  (I post this picture in his honor, and for all of my other dudes.)

It was amazing, the difference in landscape between Nova Scotia and PEI.  This island has a certain civilized, almost genteel quality to it.  Instead of rugged, dramatic, wilderness, we've entered a land of miles upon miles of gently rolling farmland, solid, respectable farmhouses and well-kept outbuildings.  This really is the land of Anne of Green Gables.  (I had wheel duty today, so no pictures; more will come tomorrow.)  It is quite pretty to reach the summit of a hill and have the island spread out before you with its patchwork of fields, interspersed with tidy dabs of forest here and there, all bordered by that blue sea.

We arrived in Charlottetown around 3:30 PM and went straight to the latest in our series of B&B's.  This one is exactly what I think of when I think of the stereotypical B&B - a proper Victorian mansion built in 1884 and filled to the gills with period wallpaper, furniture and furnishings.  It would be safe to say that this will be the first time I slept in a room decorated with fringed lamps, lace handkerchiefs and tissue-box covers, flowers, antique prints, hats, hatpins, hatboxes, and even an old-fashioned lace nightie on the door.  (Those who know me well are probably chuckling about now.)  No matter, it does every girl good to play princess once in awhile!  And I miss Tunie today.  She would so love this house, with its fancy prettiness.  She would love wandering down the street to the farmer's market and all of the little shops.  She would absolutely adore the place where we ate dinner.  I took some pictures of the refrigerator, just to show her, with its containers for sale of homemade stocks and demiglaces, sausages, pickled vegetables, prepared spreads and other treats, not to mention the dessert and cheese cases and the bread baskets.  It would make me very happy if she came here.  (Marc?  Hint, hint...)

Speaking of dinner (I cannot close without describing this dinner!), this restaurant/shop we ate dinner at was called Terre Rouge, or Red Earth (which aptly describes PEI, by the way).  This was less a meal and more an event.  We ate with an almost reverence at the incredible array of flavors that flooded our tastebuds.  We started with an amuse-bouche (literally, mouth-amuser) of truffled mashed potatoes topped with crunchy matchstick potatoes, tiny chives and shards of sea asparagus.  Amazing blend of flavors and textures.  We then munched on a variety of artisanal breads, accompanied by whipped butter and sea salt, a black bean spread, and olive tapenade.  Even knowing we had entrees coming, it was hard to stop! 

Dad and Mom ordered the Steak Frites (beef tenderloin and frites served with a variety of vegetables, a pink peppercorn emulsion and gastrique, which is a sort of sauce made with sugar, stock and a bit of acid) and a Beet Salad, which included beets prepared three ways - roasted, pickled and fried, as well as beet greens, a goat cheese emulsion and candied hazelnuts.  (Hungry yet?)  The bite I sampled of the beef was delicious and full of rich, beefy flavor.

I ordered the same beet salad, along with the Charcuterie Board, which was incredibly fun to eat - perfect for those of us who like to play with our food.  It consisted of a board (literally) piled with a huge variety of foods.  Five different housemade preserved meats (salami, chorizo-type things), olive oil sorbet, four types of breads, two mustards, pickled watermelon, cherries and gherkins, pork rillettes (a meat spread), nuts, and who knows what else.  The fun part was putting together a variety of different flavor combinations.  It was playing with food in the very best way, and the results were utterly scrumptious.

We returned to our lodgings early, and then came the best part of the day - logging on to www.mtmww.com and watching our home church service.  My heart leaped as those familiar, beloved faces (I saw Nataroo!) appeared on my laptop screen.  What a joy to hear their voices, to be strengthened and encouraged by the preaching of the Word.  Thank God that the Spirit of the Lord knows no bounds.  It matters not where we are located, what our circumstances or situations might be, or whether anyone sees or hears us; when hearts that love Jesus lift up his name, we have true fellowship.  Ah, that makes me happy.

Tomorrow, we enter the land of Anne!