Pookie

I don't know that I have ever seen pickled walnuts in A taste of Britan (then again I never looked!) but it's right by my house and I could check for you this week and save you a trip if they don't have them. There is also Angleo's which often has some of the more esoteric stuff and some times A&P will surpirse me. I will be hitting all of these places this week and will let you know.

Oooh one more. Shiki Japanese is north of Southdale on the left By an optical store but serves very nise sushi and other Japanese foods. If you take more than 3 people you can order the Fanily meal A which gets you a feast of sushi, tempura, assorted small dishes of stuff and teriaki beef. Okay - two more. Asiana (commissioners east of Wellington - plaza with a star bucks, next to a giant Shoppers Drug mart) does korean hot pot. And Bibimbap. Yum.

Wellington and the 401 is my Neighborhood! Unfortunatly we are dominated by chain restaurants. My Husband works at Timbers in the Raddison, (wellington and southdale) but the food is simply average. (Although if you go on a weekend it is much better. That's when he works. Make sure to ask for Darryl to cook your steak. The rest of the week don't bother) There is decent Vietnamese in the strip mall at wellington and Bradley. It's tucked in beside a Jack Astors (don't bother) and a McDonalds. There is a Halal Butcher shop in the strip mall at Southdale and Montgomery (just behind the raddisson -near the Giant tiger) that does a decent Schwarma and a pretty good Spinach and Feta Pie. The Baclava is good too. Better yet - just come to my house and I will cook. I live right near the mall. You can almost see it from my back yard. My Husband's Aunt - who I think defines the "white hair set" quite likes the Windemere Manor. http://www.windermeremanor.com/dinner.htm We hit the Tasting Room last night for dinner and it was good but indeed very noisy. But that may have been partly because of Homecoming weekend. Everything downtown was busy. We also recently went to MINT (Downtown by the Market) for a Birthday and it was good. On the Fork at the Art Gallery is supposed to be very nice, but I have never been there. If you want a good Pizza that is not from a chain - Muldoon's Pizza on Wonderland not far north of the 402 is very good. Even Calipoutine with her hatred of London food agrees that it is very good pizza Hong Ping is very good food. I have been several times lately. Sometimes the Baby wants Chinese. Who am I to deny it? It kicks me if I don't feed it.

What a bummer about the Village Cafe, but I am glad you enjoyed Hong Ping and Thuan Kieu. I love them both.

That vietnamese place is called Thran Qieu or something similar. I have tried the peruvian in it's orriginal location and it was fine, I have not been to the new location. Taco Del Mar was find for fast food. But it was a huge log of burrito. I could not finish. Log.

I don't think it is the one near the train tracks. It's quite close to downtown. There are a few in town. I have always found this one open when I went. Yes the Village Cafe is great!

There are a couple of good places around. Hong Ping Chinese is the best I have found in town - and they do a decent dimsum too. They are on Horton St near wellington. Central London. There is decent mexican on Wellington just south of Horton but the name escapes me at the moment. Angelo's bakery does some great breads and has a wonderful deli selection for those days when you don't want to go out. It's just off wonderland between Sarnia and Oxford (and right accross the road from a swiss chalet) There is good Ethiopean very close to Hong Ping. No great shakes on decor or atmosphere but the food is great! Cafe one and village cafe (both on Richmond st near victoria park) are nice. Bertoldi's italian is accross the road. It's good but I find it expensive. The Prince Albert is a real diner type divey place but the food is good (if huge!!)Can be noisy if you go when it's full of students or drunks. Probably not a concern with an elderly father. You are not likely to be there at 2am. If you are willing to venture further out there is EXCELLENT gelato in a strip plaza at Wonderland and Commissioners. Little tiny shop tucked in beside a grocery store. I think you will be ok as long as you steer clear of the chains. That's difficult but not impossible. I don't know much about other places on the north side - I live in the south end. Feel free to email me if you need more detailed directions or you have more questions.

You are in desperate need of a nwe kitchen. Folks, if you could see the whole thing you would agree. I havent tried the Organics cake mixes, but I do like some of their other stuff. Give Oliver and Harley a skritch for me.

You are nuts blogging with that schedule!

There is a book out there called "Top Secret Recipes" that has the instructions for making McD's and BK Burgers at home. I got it from my library. Amazingly they do taste exactly the same. But I feel a little better knowing exactly what I put into my meal. Still not the best nutrition wise but a lot less scary!

Im not really surprised that Peirogies were a new thing. Around here - if it's not English or Scottish cooking - It's Crrrrap! Peirogies are that funny foreign Eastern European stuff. But I am glad they liked them. You could do your lasagna with Ground turkey or even sausage meats. A little nicer than Ground Beef.

Buttermilk Pancakes here, with bacon and fresh fruit. Too bad Shrove Tuesday is too early this year for the sap to have started flowing. I would love some fresh Maple Syrup. Oh well have to make so with last years. Always, ALWAYS the real stuff.

I know I have seen egg white powder at the Bulk Barrel.

Of the 240 residents in our facility - 80 of them are on some form of texture modified diet. Not for cost reasons but because they either canot chew or cannot swallow. It is more expensive for us to make these types of diets than the regular food. About 50% of our facility have cognitive impairments. Maybe we are confusing the issue with the names of facilities? I work at a Nursing Home, for people who need heavy care (feeding, dressing, just getting out of bed.) this is not assisted care living. We are the end of the line, most care you can get - no going back kind of place. Retirement or assisted living places are different and you can expect a different level of food service. For this type of care you can expect to pay in the order of 2-3000$ a month. Because I am in Canada it may be different here than in the States.

I sent Randi Copies of our menu from work so she can see what sort of things we cook here (longterm care facility). Some of you are correct in calling this lowest denominator cooking. We do use short cuts such as instant soups and margarine. However, I have 5. 43$ Cdn a person per day to provide breakfast, lunch (including soup, main course and dessert) dinner (including a roll or bread, main course, dessert) and 2 snacks daily. Randi's buget seems luxurious to me! The main thing to remember is that by the time most of you end up in a care facility you will most likely either be on a minced or pureed diet, or somewhat affected by dementia. We are making an effort to change our cooking - we do a "theme day" each month where we explore various cuisines of the world. I know egg rolls and fied rice arent really Chinese but for a lot of our residents that is very foreign and it takes a lot to get them to try it. Trends are changing. We do cook lots of things from scratch and do our best to meet the needs of our residents.

Yes, you can still get the Bacardi Breezer in Canada. Bacon flavoured crackers too!

If you are near London - WOnder Sushi is pretty good. I can eat far too many of their crispy, spicy salmon rolls,

Flying back from Dublin to Toronto last week we were allowed to have liquid on the plane. I had both duty free and a water bottle in my carryon. I mostly take granola bars when I fly. Keep forever and of they get squished they are still good.

Most of them are made in a little shop on Queen East, just by the bridge over the Bayview extension( or at least they used to be. I would see them rolling away when I went by in the am.) Some of the bigger Loblaws make their own but not all. It's not bad but no great shakes. Like Charlotte said, ok for a snack but you are much better off going to a good restaurant if you want the good stuff.

Yeah, I always found Dangerous Dan's to be all about the size. Better than McDonalds though. They changed the Lick's veggie burgers and they are not good anymore. We used to go just for those. (and the taters and cream. MMMMMMMM. French fries with cheese, sour cream, bacon bits and onion. Best heart attack on a plate ever!)

And dinner. I made a chopped Caprese salad with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. And I think that is about it for me. Randi will be doing some additional posting from the Heartland Gathering but I am done. Thanks everyone for the chance to do this. I really enjoyed this blog.

My next stop was Loblaws. I don't shop here very often as I find it expensive. But they do have somethings that I like. Today I stopped for a snack. I picked up some brown rice california rolls. I am eating those now as a sort of pre dinner snack. I also wanted to get some pictures for najiki.

I stopped at Thomas Brothers Market on the way home from work. They always have beautiful produce and it cheaper than most grocery stores. I bought Plums, peaches and an onion. It came to 6.50$.

I have made it home from work and can now get to all the pictures on my camera. Let's start with breakfast. Today I cooked myself a good ol' Peameal Bacon on a Bun. MmmMMM! I toasted my bun and had it with some Onion Jam. It was quite the shock for me one day in MI to discover that Canadain Bacon in the US and Canadian Bacon here are completly different things. This is Canadian Bacon to me. Pickled pork with a cornmeal crust.

There is a restaurant here in town that serves it's burger with a big thick wedge of cream cheese on top. Mmmmmm. Bacon Peanut Butter and lettuce sandwiches.