The NEST in NS: Pictou, Nova Scotia and Fish n' Chips!

Brian pulling in at Murphy's

PICTOU: HISTORICAL AND DELICIOUS

Tuesday found us in Pictou, Nova Scotia's first settlement of Scotsman. 

MURPHY'S FISH & CHIPS

Tuesday found us in Pictou, with a checklist of sites to see. We started off by immediately heading into Murphy's Fish & Chips: a restaurant internationally acclaimed for having the best fish n' chips in the world. Friends, let me tell ya: it did not disappoint.

Gerard, owner of Murphy's, keeps his fish batter recipe to himself, and that's a very good idea. His fish, served in huge filets with a crisp, flavourful batter crust, was far and away the finest any of us had ever had. With crispy fries to complement the haddock, and salad for those with a desire for greens, every platter was licked clean. Whole fried clams were passed around the table; these babies were tender and delicious. 

We took home one of Murphy's other secret recipes: a butterscotch pie, piled high with real whipped cream. The pie was fantastic, with a delicate butterscotch flavour, a perfectly-baked crust, and all that rich whipped cream. I'm salivating right now, knowing there's one slice left in the fridge...

The Hector, a replica tall ship.

If you're in Pictou, friends, Murphy's is a must. When back this way, we'll be back there again, I am absolutely certain.

SHOPPING AROUND TOWN

My dad's big goal for this particular town was to get himself down to the Grohman knife factory and get himself a good chef's knife. Grohman knives are reknown the world over, and Dad had a field day choosing one for himself. 

Meanwhile, Mom and I headed down the street to find some locally made goodies. Pictou has a high number of gift shops, but the nice thing is that a huge majority of their wares are locally made. I picked up a couple things, including a really cool gift for my BFF. Brian got himself a tie pin with the MacGregor clan's crest on it--his mom's family crest.

While we shopped, my brother's partner and exchange student went to the Hector, a replica tall ship and museum, which they also really enjoyed.

Brian considers a locally-made hat.
The pipe, naturally, is already his.

PIZZA PARTY, SCRABBLE BATTLE

The evening ended with us heading back to the cottage and making personal pizzas on the BBQ using greek pitas. Then we brought out the Scrabble board. Turns out my brother Mike has never played before (I do not know how this is possible), so we taught him how. Then basically, Mike and I were just token players while the real battle raged between Mom and Brian. Their weeks-long Words With Friends fight was now an in-person war. By the end of the game, both warriors had hundreds of points, with Mike and I claiming maybe 150 between us. Mom won, but it could have gone either way.

The evening ended with a thousand mosquitos scaring us back into the house, and an early bedtime in preparation for the next day's adventures. I expect there to be a rematch of the Scrabble game, though; maybe this time I'll just watch. Safer that way.

The family at Murphy's

The NEST in NS: Seafoam Lavender Farm

Jordan, Suzy, Brian at the Lavender farm.

After grabbing a quick lunch at The Chowder House in Tatamagouche—where their delicious crab and lobster chowders, filled with giant chunks of seafood, put the Campbells cans to shame—we headed down the road to where I really wanted to go.

SEAFOAM LAVENDER FARM

Everyone on this trip has something they have specifically requested to see, and mine was the Seafoam Lavender Farm. I admit, I didn’t know anything actually about it when I picked it out as my ‘must see’ attraction; but I have a deep love of lavender and could not miss the opportunity to see it…as well as to ask them why my own lavender never blossoms.

We headed over to the farm, which is a stone’s throw from our cottage. Just driving by, you can smell the heady aroma of the lavender which grows in deep purple rows all across the property. We were greeted by owner Suzy Belt, who took us on an educational tour, introducing us to the many varieties of lavender. Her plants were so robust that, with just a gentle touch of the leaves, your hand came away smelling lovely.

Suzy inherited the farm from her grandmother, and three years she settled on a crop that would be a pleasure to manage. All lavender here is organically grown, and they produce their own lavender products on site, like tea, soaps, honey, and essential oils, which you can buy in their shop on-site during the summer, or at the Halifax Seaport Market. Or online, for those of you not headed out this way in person.

Jordan, Jordan's mom, and Jordan's brother, in the lavender!

Like so many Nova Scotians we’ve met so far on our trip, Suzy is a complete sweetheart. She showed us around the farm, gave us tips on helping out our own sad plants at home, and even sent me away with a bunch of lavender to try drying myself. The farm is obviously picturesque, right near the coastline; you’re invited to bring a picnic lunch and sit amongst the lavender, perhaps on one of the purple-painted benches or picnic tables. There are also lavender plants available for purchase—ones that are already blooming, unlike my sad green bushy affair back at the house.

This was a great spot to stop for a lotion, potion, or souvenir, and a wonderful chat with a warm-hearted local. We left with a bunch of lavender products and smiles on our faces. Whether you’ve got time for a picnic or time for a quick hello, we strongly recommend you head down to the Seafoam Lavender Farm!

Seafoam Lavender Farm, 3768 Highway 6

Corner of Hedgeville Rd and Highway 6 (1km east of the Seafoam Campground)

Shop online: www.LavenderCanada.com

The NEST in NS: Jost Winery Tour!

FRUITS OF NOVA SCOTIA: JOST WINERY

Monday morning found us heading down the road towards a town called Tatamagouche, then beyond to Malagash and the Jost Winery.

We pulled into an emerald green haven, row upon row of grapevines in the fields surrounding the gift shop and winery buildings. We’d let them know we’d be visiting on this trip, so the owner—Hans Christian Jost, pronounced ‘Yohst’—greeted us himself and took us on a tour of the facilities.

Hans Christian is a tanned, smiling, honorary Bluenoser, just hitting his fiftieth birthday this week. He set the whole group at ease with his friendly, down-to-earth style. My brother remarked at how he made wine seem approachable, not pretentious—this metaphorically describes the Jost wines, as well.

The Jost family came to Nova Scotia from Germany, where they’d been winemakers since the 1700’s. They’d planned (a little ironically now) to get away from the wine industry back home, when they made the move to Canada in the 1970’s. Eventually, however, a few vines they’d planted to supply the home became the main industry of the farm, and the Jost winery was officially opened in the 1980’s.

Hans Christian has a background in Agriculture Economics, and it shows in his approach: the vineyard makes wine based on German ideals, and Jost in particular takes pride in a ‘waste not, want not’ philosophy: they’re always looking for innovative ways to make a cleaner, fresher finished product. It’s a fascinating combination of modern technology and simple old-school techniques: using natural clay to pull the protein out of the wine, for example, but then using modern research to find new water conservation methods.

The vineyard in Malagash supports sixty acres of gorgeous vines, though they have more in other parts of Nova Scotia. All their grape harvesting is done over 22 days in the fall—that means all the raw material for their year’s production is gathered in less than a month.

Parts of the shop are made from reclaimed wine keg wood.

Hans Christian did a tasting with us, sitting under the vine-laden arbour beside the beautiful green fields. The seven of us sat and sampled a selection of wines, learning new tips on sniffing the bouquet and proper wine etiquette. Jost manages to produce wines with bright, crisp flavours; Hans Christian explained that a wine doesn’t have to be big and bold to be beautiful. By the end of the tasting, we all agreed wholeheartedly.

Jost wines are not currently available very often outside of Nova Scotia; according to Hans Christian, the province drinks most of what they can produce. This means, of course, that my family stocked up for the vacation, with plans to revisit the vineyard before we leave next weekend.

Here are the wines we tried, with tasting notes by Brian—who, by the way, was in Sommelier heaven.

Hans Christian teaches an intrigued audience.

BEAR RIVER PINOT GRIS 2010 (WHITE)

This wine blew away everyone in our party; a white that doesn’t burn your chest the whole way down is, apparently, possible! By far, Jordan’s favourite wine of the trip; even Jordan’s dad drank this down.

Brian: “Fresh! Definitely tons of green apple and peach. Medium acidity, light body, short length—this wine quickly delights, then disappears. A bright bouquet; this wine showcases the Jost filtering process because of its freshness and smoothness. This is the perfect summer party or housewarming gift.” (Is that a hint, Brian?)

TIDAL BAY 2011 (WHITE)

A special signature Nova Scotia wine.

Brian: “It’s made in the same fashion as wines from Chianti. It has a smooth, medium flavour with slight spiciness to it on the finish. Holds up well with seafood—as any Nova Scotian wine should. When you visit the province, grab a bottle of this to go with your fresh lobster.”

EAGLE TREE MUSCAT 2011 (WHITE)

A dry wine with a fruity bouquet; multiple personalities in all the right ways.

Brian: “This grape variety was developed in Ontario, but is grown primarily in Nova Scotia. This is the white wine for red wine drinkers. The bouquet surprised everyone, with strong notes of lychee, grapefruit skins, and the entire citrus family. The wine was full-bodied, but finished quickly, leaving the palette cleansed—another characteristic of Jost’s crisp wine style. This is the perfect after-dinner wine; it will pair very nicely with vanilla icecream and angel food cake.”

FOUR SKINS (RED)

Hans Christian Jost, Jordan, Brian.

A blend of four grapes, this red wine is popular as a crowd-pleaser.

Brian: “The aroma has a mushroomy, almost dill-scented bouquet. It’s got a short length, medium body, and is very simple. The Nova Scotian soil has imbued this with a saltiness. Good pairing for well-done steak.”

JOST PORT

The term ‘port’ will soon be verboten to any vineyard not actually in Portugal, so you may find this fantastic, beginner-friendly concoction under a different name. But a bouquet this fine, by any other name, will be as sweet.

Brian: “The ultimate beginner port. The low alcohol content means that it doesn’t get too hot in your throat. The aroma has a plum richness, as any port should; but as soon as it hits the palette, it has a sweet, candy-like flavour. This port will be appreciated by the advanced port lovers, but is definitely approachable for the beginners venturing out into the world of port.”

Visit the Jost Winery on your own visit to Nova Scotia, or look them up online at http://www.jostwine.com

The NEST in NS: we've arrived!

ENTER: NOVA SCOTIA

Everything we fit into the Focus...plus another guitar
and another suitcase, actually!

Two days. Two days of endless driving in an eerily straight line.

I can’t tell you how many naps I had…mostly because they all strung together into one endless snooze.

I intended to drive. I really did. But Brian didn’t want to share the wheel, and he kept turning down the A/C on my side of the car, where I was nestled up in a shawl…he’d pet my head, play some classical music…and suddenly, another two hours would have gone by.

I can’t really complain; I’m sure I’ll drive a bit on the way back. It’s more likely, now that I’ve caught onto the climate control trick, anyway.

Dad with his babies.

The first day was a fairly straightforward one, stopping for lunch at a McDonalds and making a motel room picnic out of a grocery store chicken. The second day, however, provided us with more tourist-worthy experiences. First off, we stopped at an Irving truck stop for some lunch; I’m told these truck stops are a quintessential part of the East Coast experience. Brian had a lobster club sandwich, so that seemed pretty quintessentially Easterly to me.

Then, making good time, we decided to stop at Magnetic Hill, New Brunswick: this strange place, historical and very weird, seemingly pulls vehicles up the hill by some sort of voodoo magic force. (Or magnets, whatever you prefer to call it.) We parked with the car in neutral at the bottom of the hill, and sure enough, it pulled that sucker up up up to the top. Unbelievable. There’s a video, for those who don’t believe:

And yes, there’s a boring sciencey explanation for this. And no, I’m not going to tell you it.

A giant cake at the Irving truck stop.

Magnetic Hill was also special because it’s where I finally, after years of wanting one, bought a sock monkey. It is green and awesome. I’m still choosing a name.

Our 'cottage'

After a stop at Chase’s to buy some freshly-boiled lobsters, we zipped down to Seafoam and found our cottage—which turned out to be a fantastic, huge stone house. Our bedrooms are gorgeous, the kitchen is fantastic, and the view…! The ocean I’ve missed is just across a brilliant green field, where it stretches out before me in all its cold and enormous grandeur. I feel like my eyes have never taken in so much green and blue in all my life.

Brian is having a riot. My brother and his partner arrived late on the first night, with their Chinese exchange student (Jack) in tow; Brian spent the better part of the evening teaching Jack how to juggle. We curled up in bed together after an evening of fresh lobster and Canadian whiskey, we slept like babes.

Nova Scotia has welcomed us with wide open arms. We’re happy to be here. 

Play It Again Sports: Meet our new patron and savvy shopping spot!

WELCOME TO PLAY IT AGAIN SPORTS!

We have a new patron on the NEST, and we’re super excited to introduce them to you! Play It Again Sports has been in Ottawa for almost 20 years, and is a prime spot for picking up gently used sports gear—a concept that we love, because it’s ‘eco-economical’, or ‘green but cheap’. As two very active people who like to explore a lot of sports and hobbies (but maybe not stick with them forever), used gear is a helpful, handy way of keeping the cost down. And of course, for readers who have kids in sports, used gear is pretty much a necessity.

Let’s get right to the introductions! We chatted with Rob Lavoie, Regional Manager for PIAS Ottawa, and here’s what he told us.

1. WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS NAME?

Play It Again Sports

2. WHAT IS YOUR NAME AND YOUR POSITION?

Rob Lavoie, Regional Manager of the 4 Ottawa area locations.

3. HOW CAN PEOPLE FIND YOU?

We have 4 stores in the Ottawa area: Orleans, Ottawa, Nepean and Kanata, as well as a specialized Goalie Store in the new CHDC Centre in Stittsville.

We have a website, we’re on Facebook, and on Twitter

4. WHAT DOES YOUR BUSINESS DO?

Play It Again Sports is your neighborhood sporting goods store offering new and quality used sports equipment. Kids grow like weeds, teens want name-brand everything, and you want affordable prices! That is why Play It Again Sports is the sporting goods store for the entire family. We buy, sell and trade new and used sports equipment and pass along the savings to you.

5. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN BUSINESS?

We have been locally owned and operated in the Ottawa area for almost 20 years.

6. WHAT’S YOUR SPECIALTY?

We have two main points of difference between us and the “big box” guys:

1) Customer Service, and

2) We’ll take your trade-in to save you even more off of our already low prices. Obviously being a Canadian sports store, we have always specialized in Hockey gear and skates. We take the time to make sure you have both the proper gear and the proper fit, as this ensures that you’ll have fun and that you’ll be well protected at the same time. Having said that, we aren’t just a one-trick pony: we carry ski & snowboard gear in the winter and soccer, baseball, inlines and golf in the spring and summer. We also carry all-season apparel from Under Armour.

7. HOW DID YOUR BUSINESS GET STARTED?

We are a locally-owned member of a franchise group under the Winmark umbrella of stores. Two brothers took their love of sports and decided in 1993 to open our first store in Orleans and we haven’t looked back since, expanding across this great city of ours.

8. WHAT WARMS YOUR HEART OR MAKES YOU SMILE?

There is nothing more rewarding than seeing someone’s eyes light up as they try a new sport for the first time. It’s exciting to be a part of people and their families’ first experiences in new adventures and its fun to see customers grow and come back year after year playing sports.

9. WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE TO YOUNG NEWLYWED COUPLES?

Stay active and don’t be afraid to try new things. Bonding while trying new sports or activities is a great way to strengthen a relationship. Often money can be tight in the first few years of marriage and there are many inexpensive sports and activities to try out. Saving a few bucks picking up some gently used gear can help ease that strain as every little bit counts. Starting a healthy, active lifestyle at the outset of your life together will only lead to good habits that you’ll eventually pass along to future generations.

Play It Again Sports has four local locations, so chances are there’s a PIAS near you! Be sure to go in and say hello. And this September, all you hockey families remember that there’s a great place to get gear for your hockey players that won’t break the bank.

Welcome to the NEST, Play It Again Sports! We’re proud to have you on board.

Roadtrip: the NEST goes to Nova Scotia!

ON YOUR MARKS...

With the house purchase behind us and a month ‘til move-in begins, we’re eagerly preparing for a much-needed vacation to Nova Scotia. Next weekend, Brian and I will be driving approximately 2500 km across the country, in a convoy with my parents, all the way to a little cottage outside of Seafoam, Nova Scotia. Sixteen hours of driving, truck stops, neck pillows, and playlists on repeat. My brother and his partner, made of less sturdy mettle, will take Air Princess and meet us there by plane. (To be honest, I doubt if their airline is really called Air Princess; it may be Air Pantywaist.)

The farthest I have ever driven a vehicle is halfway to Kingston. Then I got bored and made Brian finish the trip. So this will be interesting. Well, or it’ll be interesting for me, as I surf Google Maps from the passenger seat and demand that we stop at every ‘World’s Greatest’ type thing we can find. For Brian, it may be just exhausting.

No, I tease, but we really do intend to share the drive, and I’m kind of excited about it. With my BFF, MJ, having moved down to Toronto last week, I’m determined to learn how to do these types of long drives without getting bored or fed-up. I’m also happy that we’ll be doing it in a brand-new Ford Focus, on loan courtesy of Ford Canada. Our 2000 Corolla is in rough shape, and guaranteed would have left her muffler somewhere in Quebec. We’re so excited to try out this car and see how far we can get on a single tank of gas! We like anything frugal here at the NEST, so a peppy little fuel-efficient car is right up our alley for a test run.

THE GREAT NOVA SCOTIA ITINERARY

Turns out, lots of people love Nova Scotia (duh) and have gotten very excited when they heard we’re headed on a trip there. So for you to follow along, I present our itinerary…it’s not set in stone (no one would let me set it in stone, try as I might), but generally speaking all this stuff should happen over the course of nine days:

Day 1: Driving, driving, sleeping. Staying in a pet-friendly hotel partway to our destination.

Day 2: Arrival, lobster, groceries: Drop our bags, head over to Pictou for the last night of Lobsterfest, then grab a few groceries for the cottage.

Day 3: Bacchanal, baked goods, and lavender: First stop is to Jost Winery and distillery; next stop, the Country Bread Basket Café; and finally, a tour of the Seafoam Lavender Farm. (Yes, you Modern Family fans, this is REALLY HAPPENING.)

The rest of the trip is more fluid, but includes the following:

-Grohmann Knives factory tour

-Visit to the Pork Shop

-Fish n’ chips at Murphy’s in Pictou

-PEI adventure

-Visiting my extended family inland

-Touring Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick

-A trip to a farmer’s market

-Shopping at Frenchie’s, which we hear is grand

-seafood seafood seafood.

I’m also bringing Scrabble, which was the precursor to Friends with Words. I will set this up on a table for Mom and Brian so they can go head-to-head in REAL life instead of on their phones. So we may be one person short on our trip home, depending on how heated the game gets. 

TGIV: THANK GOD IT'S VACATION

I don’t know if I’ve ever needed a vacation this badly before. There’s been so much happening this year, and I’m looking forward to having an ocean to stare at, seafood to devour, and nothing but time for guitar lessons with my dad, and craft shopping with my mom. Oh, and endless, endless cuddling in cozy sweaters with my sweetheart.

We plan to blog all along the way, as much as time allows, so be prepared! We’ll also tweet lots, trying to remember to use our trip hashtag: #NESTinNS for you to follow. And so you can rescue us if we get lost, or if Scrabble really does break down into fisticuffs.