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Not only is there an amazon.ca, there are amazon.ca coupons. I think you get $10 off your first purchase just for signing up, and free shipping on overs over $39. This page lists the coupon codes and is kept up to date: http://www.bylo.org/literacy.html I went a little crazy a few months ago and used up all the available coupons at the time, making each order just over $39 to maximize coupon usage. For books, CDs and DVDs that I can't order through amazon.ca, you can order from amazon.com and there will be no extra duty or import taxes charged. The total when you book is what you'll pay, converted to CAD of course. I didn't know we could egullet link to amazon.ca, I'll be sure to do that from now on.

Hey Merlin, thanks for the island update. Paul, I was at the Clayoquot resort a few years ago for my honeymoon, they were just starting to build the longhouse back then. Been back to Tofino almost every year since, I love it there. I keep going during storm season but alas, haven't encountered any yet. Not sure if I'll make it back this year but just in case, how have things changed at the resort in terms of activities and dining? When my husband and I went, we booked the chef's table (bar?) every night. Nothing beats interacting with the chefs while you watch your meal being prepared.

Hi John, Thanks for the great Q&A and your food writing in general, I love the down to earth approachability (is that a word?) and personal nature of your essays. My favorite are the ones about homemade bread, it inspired me to overcome my fear of breadmaking and now I can't go back How do the contents of your fridge/pantry change as you write? If you're working on a particular topic, is your kitchen dominated by that one particular thing? I find that I get more inspired to cook by wandering around the markets or flipping through cookbooks. Looking through my cupboards when I'm trying to think of something to make for dinner doesn't seem to work so well, maybe it's because a deadline is bad for creativity. Do you have similar experiences with writing? Any hints on what's in your fridge/pantry at the moment?

Not tasting during cooking, or adding seasoning before tasting Overheating the fry pan. Following a recipe's time guidelines rather than using visual cues. Underestimating prep time. Feeling guilty about throwing out ingredients past their prime (vegetables, spices, etc). I just got my knives sharpened and I love it. The only downside is that I'm finding small microcuts on myself every once in a while, I don't even notice them until I go to wash my hands and they sting a little. I think I must be brushing against the knife edge when I'm moving things on the cutting board. Time to take a knife skills class..

I haven't eaten there very often but they have excellent soups. If you are going there for lunch, be sure to get there early as it's a quite a small place. Most of the floorspace is taken up by the glass cases and product shelves. There's only a few small tables and some bar stools by the window.

I love the kitchenaid pasta rollers, it's great to have both hands free. Do not waste your time and money with the extruders, I saw a demo of them being used and the texture of the dough comes out weird. Remember the Play-Doh toys where you can extrude the stuff out of various shapes and the surface can turn out jagged if the dough is too dry? It's sortof like that.

I have not been to Chartwell's in over a year but I am quite surprised at how badly they treated you. The first time I went it was about two years ago and we went with a group of our friends, all in our late 20's and early 30's so we were the youngest people there and we got very good service, men and women alike. Initially I was worried that we were out of place but we were treated very well, no differently than the older customers that I could tell. We were so impressed that we took our in-laws there last year and they loved it as well. Seems that the service has gone downhill though. I'm curious to know if your waiter was French? Do you plan to write the restaurant about it? My husband and I also play the credit card game with waiters. I have never had a situation as bad as yours though, that's pretty shocking. Usually the holder (and card) gets placed between us, sometimes it comes back to me and least frequently of all it goes back to my husband. It's always amusing.

Hmm, that is confusing, I guess it all depends on context and marketing. Now this makes me wonder if cuisine in BC is similar to that of Washington/Oregon, thus falling under a "Pacific Northwest" catchall umbrella. That might be overgeneralizing it since there seems to be a lot of variation in BC alone.

I never really thought about it until you bought it up mb7o, but in Canada the term 'west coast' usually means BC. We don't really refer to a region of as 'northwest' (except for the Northwest Territories I guess) but when I hear the term 'pacific northwest' used on the US tv broadcasts I automatically translate that to Oregon and Washington.

Venturi-Schulze's website is http://venturischulze.com/ but it seems to be down at the moment. You can buy the vinegar from other places (such as Sen5es Bakery, http://www.senses.ca/products.asp) but the price is much more than it would be direct from V-S. They are located on Vancouver Island (ferry from Vancouver to Nanaimo, drive another half hour or so) but sadly their vineyard is not open to the public.

bgood, I'm sorry to hear that you didn't have a good experience at the Wick. My husband and I are going there for the first time in January and are staying for a few nights but we won't have a car in Tofino. I was hoping to dine at places while I'm there, do you know if it's feasible to do that without a car?

B Sullivan, Ouest has a website at http://www.ouestrestaurant.com/ouest/ and their email is info@ouestrestaurant.com I dined at Ouest a few months ago and also regret not having the tasting menu. Why oh why didn't I order the foie gras.. oh wait, because everything else looked equally tempting. Guess I'll just have to go back

Hi Kyle Do you still have all three starters or did you just keep one since they were so similar?

Is that this Kyle? Talk about food porn. http://www.kyleskitchen.net/ I just started making a starter from the Bread Baker's Apprentice, and it is coming along nicely due to help from the folks at the Baking Circle. http://www.bakingcircle.com It was kick started with rye flour but all subsequent feedings have been with wheat bread flour. I had a bacterial problem initially but the Baking Circle folks helped me to save it. Can't wait to make the first loaf.

Yes, water is the "standard" for both ounces and grams. 1 liquid ounce of water weighs 1 ounce 1 Litre of water weighs 1 kg

I'm a Canadian, I have to convert everything imperial to metric. Thank god I have a food scale which measures in ounces and grams. What irks me are "sticks of butter" measurements.

Are you really sure you want to know? :) A gram is a measure of mass, or the amount of "stuff" a thing is composed of. Weight is determined by (mass * gravity). So 1kg of stuff on Earth weighs 2.2lbs while the same 1kg of stuff would weigh 0.8lbs on Mars. Almost everyone (except for geeks) use weight and mass interchangably in everyday language since people almost always talk about earth-bound objects. So yes, a gram is usually thought of as a weight measure. What you should not do is use weight and volume interchangably. Volume is a just a 3D spatial measure, 100mL on Earth is the same as 100mL on Mars. Density is a measure of mass per volume. Milk fat and milk liquid (mostly water) have different densities, illustrated by the fact that butter floats on water. Since milk liquid is mostly water, 100g of milk would take up about 100mL of volume. 100g of butter, which has a lower density, would take up -more- than 100mL of volume.

In Canada, % milk is determined by weight, and I would assume this is true for the US as well. So 4% milk would contain 4 grams of milkfat in every 100 grams of milk. Here's a snippet from a Canadian dairy (www.islandfarms.com): How much fat does milk contain? In the dairy industry, milk is named according to its milkfat (mf) content. Therefore, 2% milk contains 2% mf by weight; i.e., there are 2 grams of milkfat in every 100 grams of 2% milk. 1% contains 1%, homogenized contains 3.25%, and skim milk has less than 0.1%. And buttermilk? Well, Island Farms buttermilk is actually only about 2%mf, but culture is added to make it thick and creamy.