Chillin' in the Kitchen: Pickled Jalapenos

We *love* spicy food. When we first started dating, Jeff's idea of spicy was Frank's Red Hot and we laugh at that now since he barely gets a tingle when we use it these days. I grew up eating fairly spicy things, so after years of being together, Jeff's tolerance has naturally increased as to how much heat he can handle. It is not uncommon to go through our kitchen and find a variety of different hot sauces and other spicy things that we consume regularly.

I've always liked the idea of pickled peppers since I like the flavour combination of spicy and sour/sweet mixed together. Unfortunately, any pickled peppers that I tried in the past were overly sour, not at all spicy and generally quite soft and mushy. When I came across fresh jalapenos at the store, I got it in my head that I was going to make Pickled Jalapenos - so I did! Oh. My. Goodness. After making these at home, we are never going back to store-bought again. These are quick to make (not your "real" pickling with brine and sitting for long periods of time, etc.), crispy, the perfect combination of sweet/sour and have a whole lot of kick. It tastes like fire...a delicious, addictive, put-it-on-everything fire. I've made them a couple of times now, and a jar doesn't last long around here - but these will keep beautifully in your fridge if you can stay away from them long enough!

Baker Lake Cardboard Boat Race

Have you ever heard of a cardboard boat race? I had no idea events like these existed, but apparently it's a "thing" because I'm the only person who's never heard of it. I must live under a rock! Either way, I was able to witness my first one recently - and I have to say, it was highly entertaining!

The rules were pretty simple: your boat had to be 6 feet by 2 feet and made of nothing but cardboard and duct tape. Participants had to be wearing life jackets and could not be younger than 16. That's it! The design and the rest of it was up to your imagination. It was held at the "graveyard lake" which is a small-ish lake up past the snow fence. The first day they tried to hold it, it was too windy so they had to postpone it to another day. It was still pretty windy on actual race-day, but they still went ahead with it!

Graveyard Lake

Price Check: Household Goods

We've talked about the high cost of food here in Nunavut, but I've had people ask what the cost of other items, such as household goods and personal care items, cost. It's just as bad as the cost of food, unfortunately. Although it seems like grocery costs for some items are going down (milk for example, was $8.95 a year ago and is now $4.99 a gallon. That's cheaper than what I was paying in the south!), the cost of the other items are still very high. I am not sure if they are covered under the subsidy program, but that could be a part of the reason why the cost is still so high.

Forgive the not-great quality of the pictures, but I didn't want someone to catch me taking pictures and being asked to stop. I've heard that in some communities/stores, people have been banned from some stores for taking pictures and posting them online! I don't know if that would happen here, but as there aren't really many options to shop here, I'd rather not limit myself even more. So these were hastily taken when I found myself shopping one day and thought to bring my camera with me. (As always, click in the picture to make it bigger.)

Pepper's First Birthday

When we brought Pepper home, no one was really sure when his birthday was, other than the fact that it was in August. We decided to choose August 1 as his birthday since it seemed as good of a day as any! :)