Well last week is replaying all in my head as I get ready to go yet again on this trip to St Lucia. We have new tickets for us leaving Vancouver tonight at 11:30pm, connecting early morning in Toronto, and reaching St Lucia around 3pm local time. Sleeping on a plane, hurray. At least this time the weather seems to be behaving. Vancouver's snow has turned back into rain, which is causing awful problems with slush and flooding, but won't likely affect us too much in our flight out.
My heart feels divided on this trip. After this crazy week in which our flight was canceled, Sim had to work overnight on Christmas Eve, and then having a Christmas without gifts or a tree or anything such as that, all I seem to want is a return to something normal and familiar. On the other hand, however, I feel a bit cheated this week and I want to just go and have fun, and our poor cameras ache to be more in use. Well, however how I feel, the tickets are non-refundable and all that, so we're most definitely going this time. I feel a bit better about it today, also, since I had a good sleep.
Anyway, I'll likely be updating as I know more. Cheers everyone, and hope to talk to you all poolside from a lounge chair.
Well, our flight to Vancouver never came to be and we ended up rebooking another flight for this upcoming Saturday night. If that one is canceled? Then I guess we're not supposed to go to Saint Lucia this year. ;) But in finding out that we'll be here for Christmas after all, we're scrambling a bit to get a little into the festive holiday spirit. On Monday a small turkey was bought, a little Christmas Eve party had been planned with a couple of friends (weather isn't permitting, darnit), and last night the Christmas cookies were baked.
Sim made his favourite- the gingerbread men. The house smelled loverly. And me? I made raspberry jam-filled thumbprint cookies. And they are so yummy! So of course, what better blog fodder can there be but a recipe?
This gem is one of Ina Garten's. Due to sheer amount of cookies in one batch, I halved this recipe and it turned out just fine.
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
Raspberry and/or apricot jam
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until just combined, and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale, they should each weigh 1-ounce.) Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger. Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown. Cool and serve.
I really should be in bed. I mean, I would think so as I can barely see my screen. But I was fiddling around with some video I took today with my new camera at the airport while we were waiting for our luggage.
Flight canceled. That's how it goes when you travel in wintertime at Christmas. YVR was *not* fun, but most people were at least pretty mild about it. A few outbursts here and there in baggage claim, but there was no problem finding a taxi to take us back home. Sucks having to spend $100 in taxi fare just to go to the airport and home again hours later. But that's life.
Sim's family still is having problems arriving in St Lucia, and they left last night. Sim's parents missed their connection in Toronto, and so Sim's mom is flying out of Montreal tomorrow (probably the flight we were due to be on) and Sim's dad ended up booking a whole new flight, and is flying through Chicago->Miami->St Lucia. That probably cost enough. Sim's brother is also still in Toronto for the night. The only person who managed to make it to St Lucia on time was Sim's 92-year old grandfather, who flew in from England. Thankfully Sim's parents arranged to have a taxi waiting for him when he arrived and he's enjoying the 5-bedroom villa on his own tonight.
So that's all there is to it. We may be able to leave on Christmas Eve and fly through the US and make it down to St Lucia just before or on Christmas, but otherwise we will likely not be able to get down there til next weekend. Christmas at home? Eh, we can make it work.
Anyway we're meeting with the travel agent tomorrow to find out our options without spending an arm and a leg on it. So we'll know more tomorrow, I am sure. Mother Nature threw us a curve ball. That's life. Silver lining is I get to sleep in my nice comfy bed, rather than on the floor in the Montreal Airport.
I cannot believe we're attempting to travel today. Sunday the 21st. For Saint Lucia, in the tropical West Indies. When Greater Vancouver is getting hit with 15-20cm of snow. In Michigan this would be just an everyday Sunday. But in Vancouver? Where snow usually only falls in the mountains? This is pretty substantial. From where I sit, this is what I see.
And for good measure, here's one of us crazy kids:
So far the flight remains on time. Departs in about an hour. So I'll pack up my laptop pretty quickly and visit the ladies' room so I'm set for the flight. At any rate, follow along with our adventures at our photo set on Flickr. And follow along short-term on my Twitter feed, as I will likely be updating more often there.
filed in Travel | by Christine at 5:54 PM on 2008-12-27 | permalink | 1 comment