On "The Lake" and Garlic Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

I went to the lake for 30-ish hours this weekend - and by "the lake," I mean Lake Diefenbaker. I find it interesting how people in Saskatchewan seem to refer to whatever lake they usually go to as "the lake," considering that Tourism Saskatchewan claims Saskatchewan has an "array of 100,000 lakes". Wow! Apparently there is a lake called "Unknown Lake" in Northern Saskatchewan. I have been looking for some information on it because I would like to go there some day but there is not much out there. I guess it is a fairly remote lake so the name suits it well.

Anyway, I love Lake Diefenbaker and the great little town nearby my grandparents' cabin. Today it was thirty above and I felt like my skin was going to melt off of my body but I enjoyed about five hours at the beach nevertheless. Lately I have been stealing as much time as possible to indulge in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's magic realism novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude". I am loving this book. The vocabulary is so rich and satisfying and just what I have been looking for in a summer read. I am only about one third through the novel and already someone has come back from the dead, a priest has drunk boiling chocolate to levitate himself from the ground, an entire town has experienced a contagious insomnia, and a man has dreamed of building an entire city of ice. What is truly magic about magic realism is that absurd events (such as those listed above) seem completely normal and commonplace in the context of the story. And that is what is incredible about Garcia Marquez as an author.

I also enjoyed getting my feet dirty with sand (and not washing it off at the end of the day) and taking in the lingering scents of lilac and sage in the thick afternoon air as I walked from the beach to the cabin. I took the opportunity to not wear make-up today too, which I always enjoy. And, yesterday I got these crazy bright blue and white striped swim shorts and I wore them and I love them.

Another highlight of this weekend was experiencing the new taste of garlic chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Garlic and chocolate are definitely an interesting combination of flavours but the ice cream tastes better than it sounds. I actually enjoyed it. Anyway, the reason I was eating this strange ice cream is because I spent my Saturday morning/afternoon helping out at The Garlic Guru. It's a little restaurant in the Saskatoon farmer's market specializing in gluten-free foods and of course, garlic. The food there is great and I really enjoyed working there for the day.

And while I am on the topic of gluten-free foods, I might as well get out all my opinions about all this gluten-free business. I don't mean to be critical but I find it silly that lately it seems like so many people I know are becoming "gluten-free." Of course I understand this choice if the person has celiac disease. I even get it if a person tries it out and it just makes them feel better (although I think in many cases this may have more to do with choosing healthier options rather than just eliminating wheat products). But I just don't get people becoming gluten-free because it is the trend right now. I find it very strange that a diet restriction that began because of a DISEASE is now a trend. Since when are diseases trendy? Trends are weird, aren't they?

All that being said, The Garlic Guru is awesome and you should go try it if you are in Saskatoon sometime! I tried their vegetarian pizza on the weekend and it is absolutely scrumptious. The sun-dried tomato hummus is also fantastic.