The beginning of another houseboating adventure and a new shrimp recipe

Delicious shrimp and apples just waiting to be eaten

This year’s houseboating adventures didn’t begin exactly as planned but this time I’m actually okay with it. We had hoped to leave home later in the afternoon on Saturday but the wind began to blow and we were tired. I was even thankful when Mike said maybe we wouldn’t leave until the next morning. By evening there was a severe storm watch for just north of us that would possible include Temagami with predictions of winds up to 90km/h! Yes, I was definitely thankful to still be at home.

The only awkward thing about not leaving as planned was that all of our clothes and food were already loaded up. So we had supper on the houseboat while it was parked at the dock and pretended that we were already at our first stop.

My menu for the week includes a few new things to try on the barbecue. We all love cooking and trying new things. Abby especially loves to measure and mix. 

A delicious meal that we all agreed we'd eat again!

My first supper consisted of something that could be made very quickly on the barbecue since we probably wouldn’t arrive at our first campsite until it was really past suppertime. I was originally going to fry shrimp to go with rice and asparagus but then I came across this recipe in a gluten free e-mailing that I get and I had to try it. We all agreed that it was a make again recipe and I wished I had more apples to go with the shrimp that were still in the freezer at home. It was fast. It was easy. It was delicious. And who doesn’t love shrimp? I didn’t use jumbo shrimp but I always pick up the biggish sized shrimp when they go on sale so we have them on hand. Since we were still at home I cooked the rice in our rice cooker. I just can’t seem to get the hang of cooking good rice in a pot. Besides it’s so nice to just turn it on and forget about it.

After supper we pretended we didn’t have anything else to do and just went swimming for a bit. Much to Abby’s dismay we decided to sleep in our house just in case the weather network's predictions were correct and the winds decided to get up even higher and loads of hail decided to fall. In the end the weather network was wrong once again and the storm didn’t happen at all. We woke up to a beautifully calm, cool morning with the wind behind us as we set out for our houseboat vacation.

Grilled Shrimp and Apple Skewers

3 TB honey
3 TB olive oil
1 TB fresh basil
1 TB strawberry jam
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
2 TB red wine vinegar
1 TB lemon juice
2 tsp. white sugar
2 gala apples
16 jumbo shrimp
Refrigerate the shrimp in marinade 30 minutes. Skewer shrimp and apples alternately. Barbecue 5 minutes per side on medium-high, basting with remaining marinade.

A rainy day isn't always a bad thing

Aaah, a rainy day on the houseboat. A good book and a long nap with the sound of the rain pittering on the water and pattering on the roof. It sounds like the perfect relaxing day. Maybe I could put a fishing line with a bobber out at the back of the houseboat and catch some supper without getting wet. Maybe I'll get to play a German board game with my sweetie. I'm almost sure to get beaten but it really doesn't matter it's so much fun to have time together doing something relaxing...
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Playdough fun

Aaah, a rainy day on a houseboat with a two and a half year old... Time to scrap the book and the quiet nap.

I had often wondered what we would do with Abby on the houseboat on a rainy day but it had been a busy week and I was tired. A quiet day doing quiet things on the houseboat actually sounded like a lot of fun. I had brought a lot of Abby's favourite things that we hadn't played with yet so we got them out and had a great time. Abby played with playdough and we read all the stories we'd brought. She did some of her puzzles. We don't watch a lot of TV but Mike set Abby up with a smurf cartoon on the laptop. It was a nice treat for her on a wet day and let us have a bit of down time too. The rain slowed down to a drizzle and we let her try some bobber fishing at the back of the houseboat. I had no idea she would get so excited about catching a fish! Each time the bobber went under the water she would start jumping up and down shouting, "It means there's a fish! I've got a fish!" After supper the rain stopped and we were able to go swimming together.

For anyone planning to go houseboating with young children I recommend bringing some different things along for a rainy day. Make them special things that they don't get to do all the time. Plan for it to be some together time that you spend creating moments they'll remember. A rainy day may not be a good day to read a book or take a nap yourself but it's a great day to string necklaces or make a special craft or read some books together. You probably won't get to play the game you'd like to play but you can have some good laughs and make some great memories around a game your little ones enjoy. Abby loves UNO Moo! and any memory game. She's also getting to be quite good at Go Fish and Dominoes for a few fun ideas.
Of course you know your kids and what they love best. Whether it's building towers or painting or stickers or building a fort under the table a rainy day can be a fun day of creating special memories.

My little fisher girl watching for her bobber to go down.

Bread on the barbecue

And now for the taste test.

Because Abby and I are gluten and dairy free most of the things we eat are things we can all enjoy together. However, I really wanted to try baking bread on our houseboat vacation and I’m still more comfortable baking wheat bread than gluten free. Besides I wanted to make something special just for Mike. 

The bread turned out great! I mean it looked fantastic. I was a bit worried when it wasn’t rising very well but that was because I wasn’t sure where to put it. My original plan was to put it on top of the fridge as it’s always hot there. Of course this afternoon when I needed it to be hot it wasn’t. Mike came up with the perfect solution: we put it in the cupboard above the fridge. It was protected from the drafty open window as we traveled down the lake. The fridge eventually kicked in and the heat from the exhaust warmed the cupboard up beautifully.

Beautiful bread baking to perfection.

I chose to make a batter bread instead of the more traditional raised bread simply because it’s less time consuming. There is only one rising of the dough and no kneading. Really, it’s a beautiful thing. Thank you Betty Crocker for another great recipe! We bought the Big Red Betty Crocker cookbook with money from our wedding gifts and we have never regretted it.

So here it is: easy, amazing bread baked on the barbecue:

Oatmeal Molasses Bread

3/4 cup boiling water

1/2 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats

3 TB shortening

1/4 cup mild-flavoured molasses

2 tsp. salt

1 package regular or quick active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)

1/4 cup warm water

1 large egg

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9X5 loaf pan with shortening. Mix boiling water, oats, shortening, molasses and salt in a large bowl; cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add yeast mixture, egg and 1 1/2 cups of the flour to the oat mixture. Beat for 2 minutes with and electric mixer on medium speed, scraping bowl frequently. (I didn’t have an electric mixer but it mixes very easily and I mixed for almost five minutes just to make sure I had combined it enough.) Stir in remaining 1 1/4 cups of flour until completely mixed.

Spread batter evenly in pan and pat into shape with floured hands. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour and 30 minutes or until the batter is 1 inch from the top of the pan.

Heat the barbecue to 375. I’ll be honest. I had a hard time finding the right temperature on the barbecue. Sometimes it was 325. Sometimes it was 450. But the bread seemed to cook fine just the same.
Bake 50-55 minutes or until the loaf is brown and sounds hollow when tapped. If the loaf browns too quickly, cover loosely with aluminum foil during the last 15 mnutes of baking. Remove from pan to wire rack to cool. I started checking the bread early because I knew the temperature had been high but it still took the full 50 minutes and I didn’t find it browned too quickly. Now mind you I had the lid open often to check on other things cooking in there at the same time and to take some pictures so that may be why it needed the full cooking time.

Can that actually move this houseboat?

9.9's about to make their last trip of the season - onto the trailer to come out of the water for the winter

I am always surprised when people stop in to take a look at our houseboats. It's the kind of thing I often think about doing as I'm driving along the highway but I never ever do it. I actually enjoy showing our houseboats off and giving a little tour of what's inside. It's so nice to hear people's reactions as they step on board and see what our  boats are like. The one thing that amuses me, I wait for it in fact as the men in the group check out the back deck, is a little question that comes up probably 75% of the time. I don't know how many times I've heard it - "There's just a little 9.9hp on this thing?" "That motor actually moves this houseboat?"
Honestly, we love our little Yamaha 9.9hp four stroke high thrust motors. Yep, that 's a mouthful and for anyone who's not motor savvy I totally understand that it's also nearly incomprehensible. I grew up on a farm so conversations about Massey Ferguson and Chase-International and combines and tractors and balers still have much more meaning to me than outboard motors and fishing boats but I've learned a lot in the last ten years.

Peter working on a motor that's missing a little piece at the bottom:  that would be the part you lose when you hit a really big rock really hard.

I've observed that our Yamaha motors have been very dependable. That's great news for anyone taking a vacation on one of our houseboats. They just don't break down very often. Now mind you we keep them in good repair and replace them regularly but just the same most of our service calls for motor repairs are because someone has hit a rock or had a rope stuck in the prop, not because the motor has failed.
9.9hp means that it's not a big motor. If there is ever a break down we can simply replace the whole motor and you can carry on your way. That means less time stopped when there is a problem and more time enjoying your vacation.

Little motors hard at work

Four stroke is all about fuel efficiency. Your car has a four stroke engine. You don't have to mix fuel and oil. It doesn't use as much gas as a two stroke engine. That means a cheaper vacation for you and no hassle when you need to add fuel to the tank.
High thrust is what makes the 9.9hp work for us. This is the part that surprises people. They have big props on them, much bigger than your average motor of this size. They are made for pushing barges through the water and that's basically what your houseboat is, a fancy barge. You aren't going to go water skiing behind it but that's not what houseboating is all about is it?

Houseboating and the environment

It was a few years ago now that the realization hit me that my garbage doesn't just vanish when it goes to the dump. I know that's a fairly elementary idea but I really hadn't thought about it before. Living in a small town we do not have curbside recycling so it is much easier to say that it's too much work to recycle. It was an article in National Geographic about our high tech garbage ending up in third world countries where people scavenge it for the precious metals by burning off the plastics that cover them. I was horrified to realize that my world is so neat and tidy because I allow those who go without to deal with my problem. That was when I began to recycle and to compost and why I've chosen cloth diapers. Having to deal with my own garbage is certainly more messy than just sending it off to the dump but I believe it's worth it. It's a bit overwhelming to personally take all of our houseboaters recycling to the blue bins but I did do it until our little girl was born. Now it really is too much but that doesn't mean that each of our customers can't take their recycling to the bins when they return from their vacation.



With our houseboat rentals we have tried to make them as environmentally friendly as possible. Protecting our environment is about taking responsibility for the garbage we make, protecting our natural resources and limiting the amount of pollution we create. We live in a nearly pristine part of the world and we want to keep it that way. But the question is how do you define environmentally friendly?As long as we use motors on our boats some people will say that they will never fit the definition. At the same time we can say that we are using very fuel efficient motors thereby making our houseboats better for the environment as well as more economical. Our Yamaha 9.9hp four stroke motors may seem small but they are designed to push barges through the water very efficiently. They motor along at about 5 miles per hour - just the right speed for enjoying a beautiful day on the lake. And when you don't run them at full throttle a little bit of fuel will take you a long way.



When people inquire about our houseboat rentals we are often asked if we have showers and running water on board and the answer is no. For one thing our holding tank does not allow for that much water usage. The other option would be to have the grey water from your sink or shower run directly into the lake but we would rather not see that happen. Lake Temagami is a beautiful lake with clean, clear water and we want to protect our water quality as much as possible. Just remember that whatever is dumped into the lake is what you will be swimming in later in the day and using to wash your dishes. We encourage guests to take their grey water up on shore to dispose of it and give the soil a chance to filter it before it reaches the lake.

Our houseboats are also equipped with garbage cans and toilets. We hate to receive reports from our guests who have arrived at a campsite only to find it strewn with garbage. We encourage our guests to leave the campsites they visit as clean as when they arrived. We live in a beautiful part of the world and we want to keep it that way. It's simple to burn what you can in your campfire and to pack the rest out in your garbage can.

Also because our boats do not travel at high speeds they have little impact on the shoreline because they do not create a large wake.  They are unlikely to cause damage to cottagers' property or to wildlife habitat along the shoreline like this loon's nest.

So back to my question: how do you define environmentally friendly? What more can we do to limit our impact on the environment?
Post Script: I did a quick search and found that the National Geographic article is available online at the following link if anyone is interested in reading it. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text

A peaceful day on the Tetapaga

One of our favourite spots to stop on our way home from a houseboating vacation is at the mouth of the Tetapaga River. The campsite marked on the map is quite shallow and rocky for houseboats but there is an unmarked campsite on the mainland which is perfect for several houseboats to tie up together. We have stayed there with my parents in their houseboat, a pontoon boat, a 14" fishing boat and Mike's bigger service boat all alongside and been quite comfortable. The shoreline is nice to troll for pickerel at night and there are some nice weed beds to check out for northern pike and smallmouth bass. If you are there at the right time of year there are lady slippers blooming just behind the campsite. It is fairly well protected from the wind making it an all round great place to stop while houseboating. In fact my parents like this spot so well they stayed there for almost two weeks last summer relaxing, fishing and watching a loon chick grow up and learn to dive.

If you are looking for a nice day trip with your canoe or kayak the Tetapaga is the perfect place for you. It is a shallow narrow river which in the middle of summer can be less than two feet deep in places.

I've been up the Tetapaga several times. The first spring of our marriage we spent an enjoyable sunny day in a 14' steel fishing boat. We traveled as far as we could and explored the shoreline at the other end. It was my first time to see wild rice and I was quite taken with the uniqueness of this special spot. It seemed like there were ducks at every turn as well as a great blue heron that seemed to keep just ahead of us. Mike humored me and took me down all the little trails through the wild rice to see where they went.


It was also my first experience boating in such shallow water and needing to watch for potential hazards in the river. I have to say I was more than a bit nervous that I might not notice a rock but as I watched the bottom there was a special surprise. I was excited to see moose tracks on the bottom of the river! I kept my eyes open for the rest of the trip but didn't actually get to see the majestic creature that had left its mark.

The cutest painted turtle was sunning himself that day, the first I had ever seen in the wild. We watched each other for a while with curiosity and then Mike and I left him alone to enjoy his spot in the sun.

We followed the turns in the river past this cute little island and pulled the boat over a fallen log before we reached the end of our journey. We had a lot of fun exploring the shoreline. I wanted to hike through the bush to Tetapaga Lake but it was really too late in the day so we checked out the remains from early logging days and then headed for our houseboat. All in all it was a beautiful, peaceful day on the Tetapaga.