33% off tea towels

Harrison Hot Springs

On Thursday morning we left for Harrison Hot Springs Hotel and Spa at Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada.  It’s about a 3 hour drive from Seattle, so it is easy to forget we are going to another country.  Just as we were leaving, after many farewells and reassurances to old-man-Little-Bear that the catsitter was indeed on her way, Rick suddenly said, “Hey, guess what we almost forgot? Our PASSPORTS!”

The hotel, which sits on Harrison Lake and is dwarfed by mountains, is huge. There are four hot spring soaking tubs (two indoor and two outdoor) plus one large thermal swimming pool (outdoor).  The hotel provides white robes and white towels.  People clad in white are floating aimlessly (totally relaxed) all over the hotel.  There are people from all over the world here.  As I soak, I close my eyes and hear the murmur of many languages around me.  The sounds of Japanese, Korean, Ukrainian, Chinese, Persian, Turkish, French, etc, blend into the steam that rises around me.  I am in the Tower of Babel.  The tower seems to have a stream of music that drifts in and out of my ears.  The languages blend, become muted, and resemble the sound of a rushing river.  We soak in the morning and again late at night.  There is a warm thermal spring Olympic sized lap pool and I swim until I am filled with the happiness of a child floating, swimming, and flying.  The outdoor thermal pools are open until 11 pm. It is great to soak until late at night under the night sky.

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A Watched Pot Never Boils

Pressure Cookers

I have to confess that I still remember a lot of the lessons. The problem is none of them seem to work with microwaves, glass stoves, or small electrical appliances. One example is the simple art of making tea. Mother said, "Bring your water to a boil, measure the tea leaves and put them in the water, turn off the burner, cover the pot and let it set for at least 30 minutes." She called that "steeping" the tea. Where do you buy tea leaves?

Pressure Cookers

Mother said, "Season your roast, put in a covered roaster, set the oven temperature to 250 degrees and bake for 6-8 hours." She changed that recipe, though, when she came across a slow pressure cooking it for a few minutes. I was an adult before I realized that she did that because Dad's teeth were bad and it was hard for him to chew.

Vegetables were never steamed. They were boiled with a little fatback to season them. By the way, did you know you can still get fatback in WalMart's meat market? I do occasionally steam vegetables now but I still prefer Mother's way.

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