Saturday, November 28, 2009

i love buttertarts

it's funny but i made this post a while back and forgot about it.
this morning i woke up thinking about buttertarts and how very much i love them so
and how i needed to go to omemee
for some more.
so here's a forgotten post that mirrors the ride i'm actually taking again today
under much colder
blustery
snowy rainy
conditions.
i'll document this ride also and you'll see how very different
things are just a few weeeks later!
i notice that the trees and grass are still colourful.

- - - - - - -

oh i really, really love buttertarts.
really a lot!!
so
the promise of
the taste
of a fine homemade buttertart
(a really super homemade buttertart)
saw me put my bike on the trail
to the little town of omemee once again.

it was
a beautiful
windy blustery rainy
sort of day.

ideal for a long journey.

there was
not a soul on the trail
but myself.


the wind was in my face for the journey west,

but the slower pace allowed me to really enjoy the farmer's fields

and the wetlands


the signs all pointed west, so on i went

past silver birch long bare

and suddenly i was there!!!
land of the delectable tasties i crave . . .
a little main street omemee bakery named "rubies roost".

here's sherie and her mum - the proud owners.

they had just pulled a batch of buttertarts out of the oven.
so i tested one for them
("exceptional" was my judgement!)
and drained a mug of columbian joe to
add fuel to my return trip.

i bought six.
and rode them
very carefully back home
seventeen kilometres . . .
because i believe in sharing my fortune!


22 comments:

Golden West said...

Your baking mother and daughter look positively sunny and warm on a blustery day! And those tarts have to be good to ride 17k to get them - yum!

Barry said...

I would guess you can get away with eating a buttertart if it's part of a 19 kilometer ride (nearly 40 km return)

Of course I have a weakness for a homemade buttertart too. Only I drive, then regret it.

Then go back for a second.

steven said...

hi golden west - yep - a 34 km round trip for buttertarts!! i'll do a lot for food! they're quite a pair. the daughter is the owner and she's one of those spectacular women whose very presence glows confidence and happiness and real passion for what she's doing. i love bing around people like that!!! the mum is quiet, obviously also happy - and proud of her contribution to the business. it's a really small little place but truly, the food is fantastic. have a lovely day
steven

steven said...

hi barry - happy saturday my man!! i'm blessed with a skinny frame and a fast metabolism. it drives freiends and colleagues nuts but it's one of the blessings of my life as i love food and drink and it could get ugly if i didn't have a means of buring it off! fortunately my wife and children are somewhat similar in their capacity to eat and burn off the calories! i haven't got on my bike yet today and in the night as i lay there visualizing the ride today i was hearing a little voice talking me out of it "too windy", "too cold", "what about a flat tire?" "what about the wolves?" hmmmmm. the battle of the voices continues! have a lovely day barry. steven

Anonymous said...

So then you did have some to share when you got back in the house? I am guessing the family was at the door waiting.

My weakness if fresly baked homemade bread and real butter. I wonder, sometimes, how much I could eat of that and stay alive?

steven said...

hi abe! oh yes. what i do is eat one there, buy six, put them in a special carrier i bought for this purpose and bike as fast as a i can back the seventeen plus km in the hope that a) they remain somewhat warm, and b) they stay in one piece. so far i've managed to return two intact and the rest are usually slightly squished or "snuggling" as a i prefer to describe it to my family. i too love fresh baked bread and unsalted butter. i eat 'till i feel guilty or worried or whatever other excuse comes up to exercise some sort of restraint. have a great saturday! steven

hope said...

Wow! You're better than a travel video PLUS you provide food for the trip.

I'm not even sure what a buttertart is [silly American] but now I'm hungry for some reason. :)

Lori Witzel said...

Oh my gosh -- they sound so good, and yet I am so ignorant! We are bereft of buttertarts down here, so I have to ask...what are they?

BTW, I am starting the Massive Production of Home-Made Fruitcakes today. My family and close friends protested loudly when I didn't make any last year.

About eight cups of dried fruit has been having a drunken party in some orange-flavored rum, and once I mince the candied ginger and the larger pieces of soused fruit, we're off and running.

(Oh, I wish I had your metabolism!)

steven said...

hello hope - well a buttertart probably goes under a different name in america but here's what the wiki entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_tart) says
"the english canadian tart consists of butter, sugar, and eggs in a pastry shell, similar to the base of the u. s. pecan pie without the nut topping, and similar to the french-canadian sugar pie. additional ingredients can include currants, raisins, pecans, walnuts, coconut, dates, butterscotch, chocolate chips, or peanut butter." it's ridiculously good hope!!!! steven

steven said...

holy smokes lori, your fruitcake sounds spectacular!!!!! e-mail me a slice would you!!!! to find out about buttertarts, give the comment i posted above this to hope a read. they're really really addictive. have a lovely day of baking lori. steven

Reya Mellicker said...

Thanks for asking Lori. I didn't know what they were either.

Steven I love traveling back in time with you to a few weeks ago. Thank you for an historical journey.

Enjoy your buttertarts!

steven said...

hi reya - it was a really nice ride - the same ride when i went through "the golden portal". i was going to go today but there was a house job that needed to be done very quickly that took a few hours so poof!!! another day for the ride. have a peaceful dc day. steven

Penny said...

Love seeing the photos of your ride but I too had no idea what a buttered tart was and looked in vain for its photograph.

steven said...

hi penny! my readers are getting very demanding! a photo of a buttertart!!! you must be joking!! they don't get left alone long enough for a photo shoot!!! if i crack the box when they get in the door they're gone. seriously. if you do a google image search you'll find one that someone with much more restraint than me and my family has photographed! thanks for visiting! steven

Dan Gurney said...

I love this post. I could almost feel the chill wind! The tree did a good job of pointing the way.

Wolves?? Is there a possibility of encountering wolves on your rides? If so, it sounds like they add that very same sense of wildness/adventure/allure as do the Great White Sharks that sometimes patrol my favorite sailing bay, Tomales Bay.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Oh how I loved my mother's buttertarts!!! Mine are pretty good, but do not quite live up to my mother's standard. Here in Quebec they have sugar tarts - too much sugar and not enough butter for my liking. Do you like yours with raisins, or plain. I'm a raisin, or walnuts fan.

Rachel Fenton said...

I take it they don't do delivery? :)

A sceptic might think...17k, comfort food..you must have really wanted to get out of the house...

..but I'm guessing you did if for the heck of it.

Good for you.

steven said...

hi rachel - even if they did delivery i'd still ride there. i love biking. i love being at home. i try to build a balance of both into my life. the buttertart journey gets me out into nature, i get some comfort food and then i bring back comfort food for my family!! i set challenges up for myself and my body regularly - just for the heck of it!!! steven

steven said...

hi bonnie! i love buttertarts with or without raisins and that's about it. i love sugar pie. a firend of mine from the gaspe made me some a couple of years ago and it was spectacular. steven

Crafty Green Poet said...

how lovely to make that beautiful journey and to be greeted by delicious buttertarts at the end...

steven said...

hi dan - it's funny that some posts have feelings about them - physical, entoional, relational, spiritual. this one came in one blast of immersion in the moment of the ride. there was tremendous aloneness, then suddenly warmth! i've never seen wolves on the rides - a cougar, coyotes, deer, bunnies, a porcupine, squirrels, chipmunks, a skunk, raccons, horses, dogs, cats, cows - but not wolves. however wolves were in the streets just three miles from where i am typing. it's their land so i say hey, welcome!!! have a lovely evening dan. steven

Jenny Stevning said...

Even after skimming through the comments, I am still not sure what a buttertart is. Nevertheless, I love the journey.