Delightful Day with Donna

After church, I met up with Donna Achimov. She had kindly offered to take me out for the day. She came in her bright blue, 2-door Beemer to pick me up (she abandoned the idea of the white convertible Beetle because it was a rainy forecast) and we headed first to Wakefield, a traditional logging town in Quebec. There, we had lunch beside the rapids, which were once the main route for floating logs down the Ottawa River to the lumberjacks.

We had many enjoyable conversations through the day. The work-related ones were insightful, ranging from the current challenges facing her Individual Learning division in the Asticou campus, to her work as change catalyst in the School, to the factors that led to her leaving her previous position at Service Canada.

After walking along disused steam train tracks for a while, and popping into a few cute curio shops (Wakefield is now an artisan village), we drove for a while into Chelsea, where we sought out and managed to find Le Fourges, which is an amazing kitchen-cum-grocery store - very unconventional jams, soups, oils and sauces. Plus maple syrup, which is a must buy since Quebec is the largest producer of maple syrup and home of the maple tapping industry.

Before we knew it, we were off to her apartment for dinner. I found out that Donna is a great cook and loves to entertain at home. She was modest about it, but she'd prepared a fabulous spread which I insisted on helping with (plus take photos of!). This spread included smoked salmon pate with mixed crackers; pita bites with green onions and cheese; avocado and apple cold soup with curry and nutmeg spices (apples are in season); ricotta lagsana rolls with tomato and roasted pepper sauce; baked acorn squash with a maple syrup, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg marinade; and the perfect finish - crepes made with her grandma's recipe, with hot Nutella sauce. Over all the lovely homecooked food, we had funny conversations about cooking & baking, interior design, philosophy on shoes, marriage + children & public policy, travel, photography, growing up & childhood, and family. She is a very warm and hospitable person, radical in her ideas and courageous in their implementation. It was a truly delightful day :-)