This is so redundant! The reds and yellows of Canada's fall

This is so redundant. But each year, it's necessary to pay tribute to the reds and yellows of fall.

They go so well together.

What?

More of the same?

Finally a bridge.

A cement and steel ice breaker. The Madawaska's current will push you into them if you drift too close with your hands off the paddle.

This is so redundant - more red and yellow.

Burnstown Beach

It's everywhere.

Red and yellow.

 Enjoy the reds and yellows of Canada's awesome fall.

But watch out for the rocks, current, and dam at Calabogie to avoid the reds to you don't want to see.

  Images, paddle location, and trip details:

• Madawaska River, Ontario, Canada
• Burnstown Beach to Calabogie
• 12.5 km paddle each way
• Current flows from Calabogie towards Burnstown
• If you launch from the Burnstown beach boat launch (very kayak friendly, lots of parking, and a small fee to pay), you are paddling against the current. 
• Current strength varies depending on time of year and the upstream dam at Calabogie. 
• From Burnstown - West-southwest heading out. From Calabogie - East-northeast heading back to Burnstown. Not complicated to navigate.
• Wind direction tends to change every 15 minutes on windy days in each direction - you'll have a headwind, crosswind, and tailwind both ways - ENJOY!

See last year's tribute to fall in Gatineau Park

Fall peaks in Gatineau Park, Quebec. Colours and cold water! 

Happy trails!
The BaffinPaddler

BaffinPaddler favourite Hot and Sour Soup Recipe - Vegetarian

“Can I have your recipe for Hot and Sour Soup?”

Yes! Here it is.

This is my favourite Hot and Sour Soup recipe for its exciting, exotic taste and variety of textures. It seems to work magic for scaring away colds and making you feel all warm and happy inside. A big bowl of this spicy, steaming soup is a meal. It's soothing comfort food with a kick that people love all the more on rainy days, or during those long, cold winter months.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

• 1 cake silken or soft plain Tofu (300g). Cut into bite-size cubes. Don’t use the hard flakey Tofu. It’s just awful. You want a tofu that will melt in your mouth. It’s wonderful!
• 1 small can bamboo shoots (drain off liquid, cut into ¼ inch strips)
• 1 small can water chestnuts (drain off liquid, slice into strips or cubes)
• 1 carrot (Julienned) See Tips below for how to Julienne a carrot
• 2 large eggs (beaten in a bowl)
• Mushrooms (I use dried, chopped, Shitake mushrooms - 1 packet of 20g), or 1 cup fresh mushrooms of your choice – sliced and sautéed until browned in a little olive oil or canola oil.)

• 2 tbsp (tablespoons) cornstarch
• 6 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1-2 tbsp Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (start with 1 tablespoon, you can always add more later)
• 2 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp Sesame oil

• 8 cups chicken or vegetable broth (2 cartons – 900ml each)

Optional Ingredients

• 1-2 teaspoons fresh chopped ginger root (peel off brown outer skin first and discard) Add to the stock. If you don’t like ginger, omit. The soup will still taste great.
• Fresh green onions, chopped (to sprinkle on to the soup just before serving)
• Fresh cilantro, chopped (to sprinkle on the soup just before serving)

Preparation 

Very Important! Assemble and prepare all the ingredients first. You'll need them ready to go before you start cooking. You may want to enlist the help of a good Sous Chef to help you prep. It's a fun soup to make together.

1. Put cornstarch in a cup, add soy sauce, hot chili sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and vinegar, and mix well until perfectly smooth. NO LUMPS! Set aside. We'll use this magic mixture to thicken, flavour, and glaze the soup just before serving.
2. In large heavy soup pot, add the 8 cups of stock and fresh ginger.
3. Bring stock to gentle boil.
4. Add dried mushrooms, reduce heat to simmer and cover for 10 minutes. 
5. Add carrots, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts.
6. Stir, cover and simmer 5 minutes.
7. Add tofu, stir gently.
8. Increase heat to medium. 
9. Gradually add cornstarch mixture to the broth. Stirring gently, until the broth thickens and gets glossy. It's beautiful!
10. Lower heat to simmer. Don’t cover pot.
11. Add beaten eggs gradually, stirring gently to keep eggs from forming large chunks.
12. It’s time to serve the soup!
13. Sprinkle with fresh chopped green onions or fresh chopped cilantro (or both!). 

Enjoy! It's awesome!

Tips

How to Julienne carrots: Cut ends off carrot and peel. Cut carrot into 1 inch sections and slice lengthwise into thin strips. Great for stir fries and soups.

For Non-vegetarians

Some people like to add cooked boneless pork tenderloin strips, sliced thin, into hot and sour soup recipes. You can also add cooked chicken strips, sliced thin.

Serving Suggestions

• Put Soy Sauce, Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce and Hoisin Sauce on the table so people can add more flavours to the soup if they wish.
• Serve with a side dish of your favourite oriental dumplings, fried rice, or egg rolls and dipping sauce for a really hearty meal.

Have Thermos - Will Travel

You'll need a wide-mouth Thermos to transport this deliciously spicy, hearty soup with you on those cold weather paddles and hikes.

Happy trails!
The BaffinPaddler

More Favourite BaffinPaddler Recipes

You love to eat - right? You're the engine for your boat. Cooking is fun sometimes . . . when you're not paddling, hiking, cycling, skiing, doing yoga, lifting weights, curling, and more. 

• BaffinPaddler favourite butternut squash soup recipe with curry and coconut milk
• BaffinPaddler Easy Make Pork Tenderloin Stew Recipe

Go Somewhere - Mont Tremblant - Booyah!

This is what you get when you hike up a mountain in the rain to see the fall colours and a 40+km/h wind greets you!

Enjoy!

Or pick a calm, sunny day!

The fall colours are awesome this year. Go somewhere to see them.

The trees are screaming, "Booyah!"

Happy fall hikes.
The BaffinPaddler

Image location: La Roche trail lookout, Lac Monroe, Mont Tremblant National Park, Quebec, Canada

BaffinPaddler favourite butternut squash soup recipe with curry and coconut milk

Fall is the beginning of soup season. It's when we celebrate a good harvest and lament the beginning of cold and flu season. Here's one of my favourite soup recipes for its exciting great taste, filling a hungry belly, and promoting good health.

The texture of this blended soup is not too thick or thin, making it fantastic to drink out of a mug or eat from a bowl with a spoon. It's just right either way! Everyone loves the beautiful velvety golden colour. It pours easily into a Thermos for a great lunch to take along on those awesome fall paddles and hikes.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk Recipe

1 large butternut squash, peeled (remove outer skin) and chopped (scoop out and discard seeds)
3 carrots peeled and chopped
2 medium size potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 tbsp Indian curry paste (Add 1 tbsp, then taste to make sure you don't make it too spicy, or serve on the side and let people add their own to the soup.)
1 carton or can of chicken or vegetable stock (900 ml)
1 400 ml can coconut milk
The juice from one fresh lime
A pinch of nutmeg
Tarragon (fresh chopped, or dry)
Salt and pepper

• In a large soup pot, heat the oil. 
• Add the chopped squash, onions, garlic, potatoes, and carrots and saute on medium heat until they soften a bit - about 5-10 minutes - don't brown.
• Salt and pepper lightly (people can add more to suit their taste when served)  
• Add the curry paste and mix well.  
• Add the stock and lower heat, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
• Remove pot from heat and let cool a bit so you don't risk burning yourself when you blend and puree the soup.
• Ladle soup into the blender little-by- little (only fill 1/2 to 3/4 full when blending to avoid spills and always hold down blender lid with a dish towel to prevent it from splashing out or burning you.).
• Puree soup until smooth.  
• Put soup back on the stove on medium heat.
• Gently stir in coconut milk. 
• Add lime juice.  
• Add a pinch of nutmeg and stir.
• Heat the soup to a temperature you like (don't boil) and serve.

Serving Suggestions

When serving, sprinkle fresh chopped or dried tarragon into each bowl for colour and taste, or serve on the side so people can add their own.

Serve with fresh, warm rolls or with homemade croutons or soup crackers.

Tips

The skin on uncooked butternut squash is hard to peel. You can also pre-bake the squash by cutting it lengthwise, scooping out the seeds and baking it in the oven on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes at 350 degrees to soften the squash and scoop it out of the skin and add to the soup mixture before blending.

If you're making this Butternut Squash Soup for Thanksgiving Dinner, and serving mashed potatoes and gravy, you can omit the potatoes from this soup recipe. No sense in overdoing it with potatoes.  The soup is still great without potatoes.

You've got your favourite Soup Corner at home, right?   But . . . 

 Have Thermos - Will Travel

 Aren't you tired of trail mix!? Take this soup on the road!

If you're looking for a hearty stew recipe see:
BaffinPaddler Easy Make Pork Tenderloin Stew

or try another one of my favourite soup recipes,

BaffinPaddler Hot and Sour Soup - vegetarian

Happy fall paddles and hikes!
The BaffinPaddler

Find your beach in the 1000 Islands

Doesn't this make you want to get out and paddle?

Linger?

Forget about work?

Dream?

Play?

And more?

Me too!

I love the way this image makes me feel about paddling, my kayak, the environment, and the people we paddle with, so I submitted it to a photo contest.

Do I have a chance?

It's the desktop image on my computer so I can get lost in it for a good long while. Especially on rainy days. I hope you enjoy it too.

Fall is a great time to get out and find your dream shot.

A kayak can take you there!

Happy fall paddles!
The BaffinPaddler

Image location: 1000 Islands, St. Lawrence River, Grass Creek Park beach, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Sea Kayak: 17' long, yellow Boreal Baffin
Red cedar Greenland paddle
Launch site: Public boat launch, Grass Creek Park marsh, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Marsh-mellows

The marsh mellows you.

It slows you down. You can't paddle fast. Like it or not.

I always think, "Where is the way. How will I get through this stuff."

Then, the marsh slows me down and makes me think, "I should be careful and take my time."

It cleans the water for free. Birds and other living things like it too.

It's simple.

Let's keep it that way.

A marsh is magic. If you can, help protect one. They are trying to survive despite us. If you're a paddler, you already know that.

There are lots of great organizations out there working to protect the natural environment and our waterways.

Here's one, The Nature Conservancy of Canada

From the vantage point of a kayak, you really get to see the water. I like clean water. 

Happy paddles!
The BaffinPaddler

Location: Grass Creek Park marsh, 1000 Islands, St. Lawrence River, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Rockfinders! Which kayak finds the most rocks?

Plastic Boreal Baffin (left) vs fiberglass Maelstrom Vaag 174 (right)

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Which kayak finds the most rocks?

Tag, you're it!

The fiberglass kayak will find the most rocks. Usually. It's a given.

So, when the wind is up, and the water levels are down, and rocks and shoals you've never seen before are peeking out, I go for plastic. My yellow Boreal Baffin.

Out on the water, I let the fiberglass kayak do all the work, "There's a rock here, more over here."

"Gee, I haven't come across one. I'm in plastic."

This is a quiet moment in a bay out of the wind where plastic found the way to shore without hitting a rock and fiberglass followed.

Sometimes plastic, the tanks that they are, are your best friends.

Plastic and fiberglass can co-exist. If you can keep up. Fiberglass usually waits for you or comes back for you (it has no choice - if you have the keys to the car). And sometimes, you may rescue fiberglass or vice-versa.

At times, you may wonder, "Why did I leave fiberglass at home!? I could be moving much faster!"

How many times have you heard, "You're in plastic. You go first!"

How many years have you gotten away with no Gelcoat repairs?

It's great having two kayaks, one in plastic, one in fiberglass. I love them both truly. My yellow plastic Boreal Baffin and my white and blue fiberglass Maelstrom Vital 166.

But, as soon as I bring out the fiberglass kayak at the end of the season, it will find the "repair rock!" Two years running!

Happy fall paddles without repairs!
The BaffinPaddler

Location: Lac Deschenes, Ottawa River, Aylmer, Quebec, Canada