I recently had the great pleasure of heading back to Canada for an unexpected two-week vacation. Typically we return home for a summer visit but, as my eldest daughter Bianca had moved to Dubai, we originally decided to stay in the UAE. Fortunately my nephew Paolo paid us a fantastic visit and I had the distinct pleasure of not only spending some quality time with him while he was in Dubai, but accompanying him on his flight home.
 
My vacation was split between Toronto and my home town Chapleau which gave me the opportunity to meet up with family and friends in both places. That included some great barbecues in Markham, Maple and Ajax with my sisters, brother and their families as well as two outings with my very good friend Steve Polak (including an evening at my favourite Toronto bar).

 
In Chapleau I got to spend a lot of quality time with my Mom...and managed to get a bit of fishing in as well. As has become custom, I picked up my Mom in Sudbury on the drive up from Toronto and we drove up to Chapleau on Hwy 144 making a quick stop at Geneva Lake near Cartier to drop in on my Uncle Lawrence (who was unfortunately not at the camp). While in Chapleau we enjoyed some great dinners....including fried spruce grouse with mashed potatoes and peas and garlic/rosemary/thyme studded prime rib with Yorkshire pudding.

 
Anyone who makes Yorkshire pudding will know that they can be a bit hit or miss...this batch came out pretty well. I tried a new recipe that calls for 4 eggs vs 3 and it worked a charm.

 
But I digress! One afternoon we took a drive out to two places neither of us had visited for quite some time. Racine Lake, and those Chapleauites reading this blog will be very familiar with its sandy beaches and shallows that go on for hundreds of metres, is as beautiful as I remembered...but busier.

The rules have changed to allow residents to lease campsites for the season which was something we were sadly unable to do when I was a young lad.
 
We also took a drive out to Leblanc Lake which is another very nice, although lesser known, nearby waterway nestled between Emerald and Westover Lakes. We dropped in to see an old childhood friend Anthony Dillon who now has a trailer parked in a beautiful spot next to the lake.

While we didn't see him that day I did manage to get out fishing with him (and his dog Vicky) later in the week and had a great time. 

After making several unsuccessful attempts to track down my old pal Alain ‘Boo’ Bouillon I decided to trek up to Pickle Lake off the Missinabie Highway for some pike fishing by myself. It is about a 120 km drive and, due to a gated bush road, a 6 km walk (times two for the return).

The walk was particularly brutal as I discovered my tackle box did not have Muskol in it  so I became a bit of a moving buffet. That said the fishing was decent and I caught two nice sized pike in the first three casts.

All in all it was a fantastic trip and I fully enjoyed the home cooking!