A Homemade Caramelized Onion Tomato Tart

On a drizzly day in Vancouver, I watched a neat Food Network only-in-Canada show called Chef Michael’s Kitchen. I’ve enjoyed watching his laid-back-but-informative style previously on trips to Canada, so I was excited to see one of his episodes.

And then he made this. And I couldn’t wait to get home to try it!

I felt uber fancy when making this tart because I even made the dough from scratch! I rolled it into a ball and wrapped it tight before letting it rest in the fridge for half an hour.

While it was thinking about future life decisions in the refrigerator, I got to work cooking down some caramelized onions, one of my favorite things in the world, and slicing some tomatoes.

When the dough was rested enough, I rolled it out and placed it into my removable-bottom tart pan. Ha, it’s kind of fun to say removable bottom!

We enjoyed it with dinner of grilled chicken and salad, and it was so good! I highly recommend giving the recipe a try. Especially if you’re feeling fancy enough to make a dough from scratch, which ended up being really easy!

What I really want to do it buy tiny removable-bottom tart pans and make one for each guest when we have a dinner party. Wouldn’t that be fun for a little personal tart to arrive on each plate for dinner?

Man, I need to get out more.

Even Hubby liked it, and that is saying something for how many vegetables were involved!

Let me know how much you like it!

Adios, Seattle…Hello, Home!

We very briefly stopped at Boeing Field in Seattle to clear Customs after spending the weekend in Vancouver. Once we were OKed to head home, we did just that!

From here, it was 2.5 hours until we landed at home. It’s been nine non-stop wonderful (and way too cold) days on the road.

I love this picture of the main airline airport in Seattle, SEATAC. It’s so close to the water!

With parting views of one of my favorite cities, it felt good to climb at 3,500 feet-per-minute to be on our way. In nice, cool weather like this, Gladys climbs like a champ!

In just a few weeks, I’ll be back to explore this part of the world on-foot when we again return for work. We will be in the area for three-and-a-half days instead of just long enough to make sure we’re safe to reenter our own country.

Can’t wait!

I really love this picture of a mountain peeking through the cloudy layer. I only wish that I remembered where we were so I could tell you which mountain! I’ll say Rainier, just to be cool.

We climbed the last few thousand feet at about 550 feet-per-minute. But already, our groundspeed was 417. And we had a nice little crosswind that helped to push us from behind. Can you see that at 253 degrees and 38 knots?

Being February, it wasn’t a total surprise to see so much of this white stuff from the sky. Like always, we get the best views from up here.

I love the stark contrast between the rivers and the snow in this shot.

At this point, we were still flying Direct to BERYL. As soon as we were past some military airspace near northern Nevada, they gave us Direct to home. We were later put on an arrival into Phoenix’s busy airspace when we were talking to Albuquerque Center, which controls Phoenix.

But these little shortcuts so far away cut out lots of time. I am always trying to get these folks somewhere faster, but especially after they’ve been on the road for over a week nonstop!

This is my favorite picture of the day…flying over the Grand Canyon. Isn’t that gorgeous?!

As you can see, it was a pretty hazy afternoon when we arrived into the Valley of the Sun. But these pretty mountains in the foreground caught my attention. Even this close to home, they still had a dusting of snow on them!

I’m pretty sure that this was the week that Hubby sent me pictures of ice and snow on his windshield after they got a big, cold storm! Yuck!

Ah, that’s better. Green golf courses and a serious lack of snow.

This is how I prefer things. Well, I don’t care so much about the golf courses, but the lack of snow is right up my alley!

Look at all that airplane traffic in the pattern at our home base! Can you see the little map in the bottom left-hand corner? All of those little white diamonds represent another airplane with a transponder. The number underneath says how far above or below they are from us in Gladys.

A few are 800 feet below us, one is 2,500 feet below, one is 2,700 feet below, and the last one is 1,800 feet below. If they were above us, the altitude number would be preceded by a plus sign instead of a minus.

The moral of that long explanation is that there were lots of little airplanes to avoid as we came in for a landing today!

But, when looking out the windscreen at the airport, it’s a little harder to see them in person.

Hi, Home! You look great!

After getting some passengers and a whole lotta luggage on their way, it was time to prep Gladys to spend the night in her home hangar.

I have an entire day home before being gone again.

Can we all say it together…LAUNDRY DAY!

But this little lady worked like a champ. I sure do love my job. And this piece of pretty metal.

And, if we’re focusing on good things here, we might as well include a picture of the left winglet. Isn’t this lovely?

Those little sticks sticking off the back are called static wicks. As on every airplane on every flight, static electricity builds on the airframe. These static wicks help to channel the electricity to exit the airplane.

It’s a good thing for all of us, really. If these weren’t in place and an airplane was touched just after flight, you could get the shock of your lifetime…literally!

We have sixteen static wicks on Gladys, for those numbers folks. Next time you’re flying along in an airplane, peek out the window to see if you can find any static wicks! Then tell your flight buddy all about them, and prepare to watch their opinion of you rise even more.

Everyone likes talking airplanes while sitting on an airplane. Am I right?

This pretty Challenger landed while we were buttoning things up. Can you see that the thrust reversers aren’t clam-shell buckets but are cascading? Southwest Boeing 737s are like this, too, so maybe you’ve seen it before?

This will be another good thing to mention to your flying buddy, next time you go…

A few other hangar friends were on the ramp today. It just feels great to be home for a whole night! What a wonderful nine days on the road!

I guess someone has to restock Hubby’s freezer with Digiorno Pizza before leaving again…

Short Hop to Customs at Boeing Field

It was a wonderful, (though cold, soggy, and windy), weekend in Vancouver. I had a lovely view from my hotel room, and a mall right across the street. What more could a girl possibly want?!

But soon, it was time to be on our way. After nine full days on the road, visiting cities like Miami, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Vancouver, it’s time to finally see the face of my sweet hubby again.

But not before I admire this pretty Challenger 300. Wowsas!

This FBO was excellent, and we would certainly return again.

I wish that I could say that we were heading home non-stop, but for some reason, Customs at our home airport is closed every Tuesday and Wednesday. How is that even legal?!

So, we needed to stop along the way to clear Customs before heading home for real.

We opted to stop at Boeing Field in Seattle. We’ve visited their Customs shack before. They were quick and professional, and we were hoping for the same treatment today so that we could be on our way again!

Goodbye, Vancouver Tower!

Roger.

Leaving Vancouver, we ran into  a layer of clouds and a little icing.

It’s February, so that makes sense.

We fired up our awesome anti-icing equipment to make it through the clouds until we broke out on top.

And when we finally did get beyond the icing clouds, we enjoyed gorgeous views for the entire half-hour flight to Seattle.

You know, the Seattle that is one of my favorite places in the whole wide world?

The mountains are just incredible up here. I am always blown away at how tall they truly are! I forget that other places have giant Rockies as well!

Holy cow. Look at those beauties!

And I love how you can see the Puget Sound sneaking in from the Pacific Ocean. With the low-laying clouds, it almost looks like something from a dream, huh?

Or an awesome view outside my office window.

This is probably my favorite picture from the short flight.

Way far in the distance is one of my favorite places, too. Can you hear me, Bremerton? I love you!

We finally had a cloudy Seattle in sight. It’s hard to see, but that doesn’t matter to me. I still love this place.

I just found out that we’re going back in a few weeks. Yippeeeee!

We descended down to enter our final approach for Boeing Field in Seattle.

And we flew right past downtown on our way to landing today. You can even see Boeing Field in the far right-hand side. And, because I’ve been there about sixty times, I can even figure out where Renton Field is located on the southern tip of that lake in the distance.

They finish Boeing 737s there before delivering them at Boeing Field. This whole area screams Boeing!

There were so many pretty peninsulas on our way to the airport today. So much to see out these windows!

A view from the air is always the best view.

Seattle is a major shipping port, and we passed several loading docks that proved that.

Add a winglet, and the view gets even better!

Hello, Boeing Field! We had to keep an eye out for a tiny airplane on his final approach for the parallel runway to the left. That tiny runway is hard to see, let alone a tiny airplane hidden in the hills of Seattle.

Our Traffic Collision and Avoidance System (TCAS) comes in really handy in situations like this!

And soon we were on the ground and taxiing to the Customs ramp. We planned ahead with fuel and loaded on enough in Vancouver to just continue on our way after being cleared for Customs. No fuel needed here!

Just twenty minutes later, after all of our passports checked out to be authentic, we were heading out again!

I didn’t dare take a picture of the Customs officer who came to our airplane. He was really nice and polite, but you just don’t want to risk any bad decisions with these guys. They have the ability to make our lives miserable by unloading all of our luggage and keeping us for hours.

Do you have any idea how much luggage we had after being on the road for nine days?!

We we were all really nice to him, and he fell for our charm.

After he finished with us inside the airplane and did his walk-around with the drug-detecting machine, we fired up the engines and headed to the same runway that we had just landed about fifteen minutes previously. Awesome!

And there was no shortage of neat airplanes to see as we headed to the runway.

And here is the Boeing facility on the field! I have been here before. In fact, I sat in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner here! Eek! But I couldn’t take any pictures, so no one ever believes me…

We were so fast in getting out of here that the same little guy that we were looking for when we landed was still in the traffic pattern practicing his landings!

This was the first little private airplane that I ever flew in…a Diamond Katana. My Mama bought a day camp for me at a local university’s flight program. And then I got a whole half-hour flight in one of these little guys.

It was magical.

But Gladys is so much cooler than a little Katana. Man, I’m blessed!

And, as a parting gift from Seattle’s Boeing Field today, we got to see this monstrous wonder! Please don’t ask me what it is…or what it does. I have no idea! But it was so fun to see. It even looked like it had a rotating nose like the old Concordes!

What a great stop in my beloved Seattle.

Now we can head home!

Wandering Around Vancouver

I picked a cold, windy day to explore beautiful Vancouver. Figures, huh?

But I still had a blast. So did the wind.

I headed east towards that cool color-changing wall. Did I mention that it was windy?

Holy smokes, was it ever windy.

Even cars were afraid to brave the wind today!

Wind = cold.

My first mission today was to track down a Tim Hortons for some breakfast. I didn’t eat a ton yesterday as I spent my Sunday in, so I was excited to warm up with a delicious hot chocolate and a few donuts!

Without my cell phone to help me with directions, I just wandered until I eventually found one. Luckily, it was only about a mile from my hotel. I took the long way, apparently.

Vancouver is a city on the frontline of innovation, and their crosswalk machinery just proves that. I love all of these signs telling people how to cross the street! That little stick figure looks so peppy as he walks!

I’m going to cross. Hot chocolate awaits!

This giant cement track above me was for a tram that ran from the mall and hotel district to the airport about two miles away. I wanted to take a ride, but it wasn’t free. Wop wop.

Besides, I have Tim Hortons waiting for me. Better things to do, as they say!

Cue the angels’ chorus! It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve been able to experience all the glory that is Tim Hortons.

Please tell me that you’ve been to such a fine establishment. I know that they are even in some parts of the States, too! I squealed in delight when I saw one in Columbus, Ohio a few days later! Who knew?

Tim Hortons is like Canada’s Dunkin Donuts, by the way.

And here it is! Tim Hortons delicious hot chocolate.

What? What a second. That looks like some pretty weak hot chocolate…

If you thought the same thing, then you were right!

I ordered and paid for a hot chocolate, and then I was informed that the hot chocolate machine was broken. Awesome.

She tried to sell me a coffee instead, but I don’t touch that stuff. So I had to do another transaction to return my paid-for hot chocolate.

They were out of orange juice, too. What is this?!

So I got water. Not quite what I had in mind to warm me up after freezing all morning out in the rain, but I had to take what I could get in this situation!

In case you’re wondering…yes, this did make me feel much better.

Croissants just to that for me, you know? How about you?

Oh my. This was worth the walk as well. I sure do love donuts!

Or, at least, I used to love donuts. That’s not really a word that I use in my new healthy vocabulary!

I was still a little bummed when I left Tim Hortons without any hot chocolate.

And then, just a few minutes later, I walked past a McDonald’s. It isn’t a place that I normally frequent, but it donned on me that I saw them advertising their new McCafe drinks. If they have fancy coffee now, wouldn’t they also have fancy hot chocolate?

Victory! Indeed, they did! And it was good. It was very hot and helped to warm me up.

To escape the wind, I popped into a mall. You you remember seeing this in the far distance from my hotel room?

Canadian malls are lots of fun. Most of the ones that I’ve visited are mom-and-pop shops, and this mall was no different. They did have a Best Buy, though.

I found a bench and sat to rest for a few minutes. I was still trying to defrost at this point!

My goodness. Do I live in Arizona or what?! Such a pansy!

My main goal was to watch people for a while, but it seemed that the windy cold kept lots of normal people home today.

And then, in probably the highlight of my Vancouver explorations today, I found the equivalent of Homegoods/TJ Maxx in Canada! It was called Homesense, but the tags were all the same as my favorite store back in the States. I think this is their Canadian cousin.

I had a blast wandering every aisle in the store. This place was amazing!

I’m always magically drawn to clearance sections, but it was for a reason today.

These headboards are just awesome! And I immediately thought of my Mom’s new bedroom, which we will be redecorating this coming summer.

What do you think, Mama? Do you like it? Wouldn’t this be so pretty in your new master suite? Merrill can be glad that I wasn’t leaning towards the pink one…

I love that it looks masculine and could make him happy, but it has that cool button tufting that adds some femininity to it, too!

Perfection!

Since it was mid-February in Canada, it just made sense to me that the garden section was alive and well today. I put my doubts behind me as I walked around, enjoying the view.

Too bad that I have a black thumb and can even kill fake plants, huh? These planters could be stinkin’ awesome at my place!

The entire store was just incredible. I am only now realizing why it felt so big and plentifully-stocked to me…this was only home stuff! No clothes in sight! And the selection was so wonderful.

I wish that this exact store existed a block away from my house.

It’s always startling to me to see new construction. We simply haven’t had that in Phoenix for years! Obviously, Vancouver wasn’t hard-hit during the recession and has managed to hold on to values. And then some.

So it was fun to see a new condo building going up in this district of town.

I felt like I had snacked all day with donuts and hot chocolate. When it came time for a late lunch, I was more thirsty than anything. So I grabbed a watermelon smoothie. Which was so good!

It was purchased in a nice food court of a different mall. And this nice mall was a normal mall and provided endless people-watching entertainment!

On my way out, I stopped at a drugstore in hopes of finding my favorite candy ever. They don’t sell them in the States any more, unfortunately, so I have to indulge when I’m in Canada.

Luckily, at $4.99 a bag, I only indulged in one pouch. Boo. But man…I love these things!

Before eating, I put them in the hotel refrigerator to cool them down a little. So good!

My mouth is watering just thinking about them…

This was my view when I exited the mall…and that is my hotel just a block away! It was such a fun day exploring on-foot. And had the wind stopped, it would have been downright pleasant!

Tomorrow, we head back home, after a quick stop in Seattle to clear Customs.

Vancouver, I already miss you. And you, too, Reese's Bites.