annanstee

Lucky you! I wish that my husband would start that tradition. I still do stockings for my husband and son, and it would never occur to me not to put an orange in the toe...I have actually never thought before now of its history. My mum always did it for me- she was born in England in 38 and an orange was a rare treat, especially as the war and then rationing wore on. She shared with me her elation upon squeezing the toe on Christmas morning to make sure the orange was there, and the time her Doctor brought her a peach when she was ill as a child- she had never even seen one before. She also always gave us walnuts in our stocking...and we had this wonderful silver dish with a litttle squirrel perched on the end of it. It was full of nuts of all kinds. We have always had plum pudding, called in my family "firecake" from the time when its blue fire ran up and down my aunts table cloth. I thought this was thrilling, and called it firecake from that moment on. I have never fallen in love with hard sauce, but we always have it anyway. My mother makes tourtiere for every Christmas eve, which for some reason we eat with guacamole. New Years Eve we have always had toad in the hole, and I still love that. She also makes the best mince tarts on the planet. I am now enjoying creating some new traditions for my own family-trying new recipes to add to the tried and true, making magic oats for the reindeer, and trying a new "make the night before" french toast every year (Creme Brulee was a favourite). Joy to all. Ann Edited to correct my creative spelling

Well, my lovely husband supports me in that he eats everything put in front of him, and delights me by loving things he has always thought he hated (yams, curry, peas) when I cook them. However, he doesn't understand the need for expensive equipment, and regulary blanches at the bill when I choose the restaurant My mum and I share an obsession with cookbooks, and our mutual support in this addiction extends to relieving each other of tomes we feel would be better suited to ourselves. I know my brother talks about my cooking, because whenever I am introduced to someone at one of his parties, s/he says "so I hear you are quite the cook". My son is 4 and 1/2, and I wouldn't call him supportive just yet, his most common food descriptor being "Yucky".

Well, I don't think it is their "job" to make exclusivity deals with corporations to sell their products to my kid. The last time I checked, my myriad friends who are teachers feel that it is their job to EDUCATE. If children learn about nutrition in school (and they do), but the schools sell nothing but crap, what message does that send? That the bottom line is more important then their health? I do not shift responsibility to the school system, but I don't want them subverting what I teach at home-or their own cirriculum for that matter.

Can I volunteer? ← Hallelujah sister, I need to be saved! But seriously ← Actually, I wasn't kidding. Having a 4.5 year old about to enter the school system, I am scrambling, I feel, to get his palate to a point where he will at least sometimes make healthy choices. My palate could be making healthy choices more often too. I think this is indeed about the school system. Sure, kids bring their own lunch, but there are fundraising events, from what I've heard, just about every other day, and they always feature hotdogs, doughnuts, cookies etc. Then kids hit highschool and ditch their home lunch for fries and gravy- I did and I am sure it is worse now. They need to be educated at home, sure, but why can't the schools back us up?

The Italian Cultural Centre seems to be a recurring theme here. They do spaghetti dinners on Bingo nights : )

Can I volunteer?

Sean, I am really glad to see something new going into that room, which is lovely. Can't wait to see it. I never saw the ghost, and I was definitely known to be there during the wee hours back then, making enough noise to rouse the dead. Ann

Some restaurants do it on the QT. In terms of faux pas, I would say don't bring something that is likely to be on the wine list, esp if it is under 30$. If you have a special bottle, call and ask ahead. Just don't make a fuss if they say no.

I agree with Zuke that this is somewhat an issue of economic access. The fact is that processed food is cheaper than whole food. Pop is cheaper than milk or juice, etcetera. The fact that Jamie did not manage to meet his cost is well... I guess I am just floored by the fact that the UK gov't thinks 19p is an appropriate cost to feed a child. We are meeting the same issues here... junk food purveyors are finding their way into the schools at an alarming rate, partly because schools are turning to corporate sponsorship to replace an eroding funding base. Anyway who is willing to fight this battle has my support. I wish Karen Barnaby every success. This is an important dialogue, and I am glad we are having it. Ann

The two found in Chilliwack both had the much less dangerous, less pathogenic H 5 strain, which causes mild illness in birds. I can't believe they culled all those birds. I think it was quite an overreaction that had much more to do with politics then pathology. Too bad that this if effecting sales...my understanding is that it is spread to humans through contact with LIVE poultry.

Deborah, Have you tried chocolate covered Hob Nobs? They are my new digestive. I will inhale a cup of coffee and a large chunk of cheese for breakfast- this is one of those cases where I will extract one tiny piece of a diet to justify the consumption of clumps of fatty protein goodness ie: South Beach likes Cheese! Atkins approves of pancetta! Dr Wiel says eat half a loaf of whole wheat bread! (Sourdough qualifies, right?) My quick dinner is spaghetti with an entire head of garlic sauteed in olive oil with chile flakes- generously salted and parmesaned, and about 15 mins prep time. I like to eat this when my husband isn't home for dinner, as he tends to view a meatless meal as a jobian punishment sent to personally test him.

My (four year old) son's choices were surprisingly conservative- he is usually quite an adventurous eater. However, he is sick right now, and presumably is therefore drawn to the mundane comfort foods. Breakfast: A peanut butter and jam sandwich with grapes and juice Lunch Cheese and apple and banana with milk (when asked what kind of cheese, response was 'normal cheese', meaning supermarket cheddar) Dinner Egg noodles with butter and parmesan. Ah, the white food theme Edited for puncutation

Woo hoo! I hope he can source the same kind of diner furniture- part of its charm.

My husband and I just walked by there on Friday and remembered how he used to hide there while I went book browsing. How sad that they had to go this way.

The other day I had a low blood sugar fit and tried and popped in on the way home. I bought a sausage roll and a minted lamb and butternut squash pie- it was Tuesday so total was six bucks. The sausage in the roll was much looser than I am accustomed to, but I found myself thinking about it the next day, a good sign. The flavours in the pie were lovely, though the lamb was sparse. The gravy was more gelationous- qalmost marrowy, than I am used to. Again though, it passed the obsession test. I will be going back and trying some other flavours. I got my pie for 4 bucks though. Not sure that I would pay six.

Ling! Where are you? I didn't learn how to cook until I left home- and neither did my mother. Why? we were busy doing things that seemed less chore-like at the time. I love to cook, although sometimes I get sick of the day in day out aspect of it. When I was young and single, I would pore through recipe books, wine in hand... saunter down to Granville Island and pick up the ingredients- spend four hours it meditation that is meal assembly. Cut to today- I don't get home till six thirty, have a young family to look after and I still cook from scratch most nights, but really, it's not quite as fun. I cook because I like to, and because I feel that grown ups should be able to feed themselves.. but if I didn't feel this way, I would sure as hell resent somebody telling me that I should. I just find this article inflammatory, and the comments about his wife disgusting.

I make a salad with mesclun, goats cheese, sweet and spicy nuts ( make walnuts or pecans) and thinly sliced red onion, with lashings of pomegranite seeds on top. Dressing of olive oil, sea salt, lemon and a little pear puree ( I just use a fine plane with ripe pears and grate it over the leaves. Disclosure: I stole the pear thing from a Jamie Oliver show).

The Prix Fixe is a permanent fixture and great value.

How about Cru? I don't think they are open for lunch, but maybe they are over Christmas. Would be good for dinner anyway.

We had same neighbors when I was a kid who had half a grapefruit to begin every meal, without fail. I remember finding it astonishing. They were Finnish, and with infallable childish logic, I thus concluded that it was a Finnish thing. Salad in my house for at least my first decade consisted of a few pieces of iceburg and a wedge of tomato with "salad cream" i.e. mayo. Later, my mum got more experimental- but basically she was a meat and two veg kind of gal.

Last night, Taste of Yaletown at HSG. Mmmmmmmm. Some kind of tropical martini with the amuse (salmon and spinach tartlet) Mushroom ravioli with chardonnay, hangar steak with Foch and GBP with a late harvest reisling. Last night, right before that, spring rolls and cocktails at George. Spring Rolls were slender, like lumpia (sp?) and were quite nice. I also had a mumbai sling, with mango, cilantro and lashings of gin along with other nice ingredients and crushed ice. I was with some UK folks, both of whom had brandy alexanders. I haven't seen one of those since my best friend and I worked our way through the ancient cocktail list at some cabaret on broadway at a Crazy Fingers gig we had pink ladies that night too. Thursday, 2 nacho chips and about 5 beers at Taylors crossing with people from work.

Neil got final approval on the photo, so surely he wouldn't object.

We also went to HSG last night. Stopped off at George first for a cocktail and a look at the Chihuli-like chandelier over the bar. Both were impressive. HSG was indeed busy, but service was good humoured and efficient. We had a couple of family friends here from the UK (on their honeymoon), and they were very impressed with the food and the wine pairings. Portions (both food and wine)were very generous- Jo couldn't finish her huge portion of salmon (which she loved). Strangely though, she gobbled down every scrap of GBP . We all had the ravioli, which was fantastic- I second thhe motion to have it make a regular appearence. The mixed grill was delicious. Intensely flavoured hangar steak, lambchop and prawns just barely cooked through, all sitting on a bed of polenta and autumnal vegetables- how can you go wrong? Conversation came to a standstill during the GBP "event"...always a good sign Neil managed to get out and circulate- it was nice to finally meet him. He was a consummate host, and even submitted to having his picture taken with the bride with only a few rumbles. Thanks for a great evening and a great event, Neil.

They used to work with several caterers but for the last few years everything has been done in house. Don't know if that is a bad thing or a good thing.

I was going to say the exact same thing- they will pack in as much duckfat as they can for you... the absolute best for roasted or fried potatoes. Ann