Marlene

Oh. My. God. I managed to hold down the bile during the knife block discussion, but this sent me over the edge. Oh well, maybe it's nice and dry up there and it won't turn into a buggy bath house. Have you decided whether you're laying the checkerboard floor straight or on the diagonal? I've been pondering this. Diagonal is really cool, but I'm wondering iff all the movement might be a little busy. ← You and me both Maggie. I vote for diagonal.

Oh man. now I'm going to have to go shake out my knife block. Thanks you guys

Varmint is my hero And remember Dean. You're not to try to do this all by yourself this time!

see? a nice gentle nudge

Yes and no. The schools (and the school boards) get a cut from every vending machine in the schools. When the machines are filled with junk, they tend to make a lot more money. Interestingly enough though, when I was running for Trustee last year, I was in a lot of different elementary schools. Only one of the 65 elementary schools I visited had a pop machine and none of them had a junk food vending machine. On the other hand, all 10 high schools I saw had both pop and junk vending machines. The Ontario government is correct in saying that most elementary schools are already voluntarily complying with this new "directive" . And it is quite true that Parent Councils have played a large part in that initiative. For example, the school my son goes to has a juice machine and a milk machine. Both were installed at the request of the Parent Council, recognizing the school's need for the additional cash, while not wanting to have junk in the school. This is an easy one for the government. It isn't going to cost them anything, and it makes them look good.

I absolutely refuse to look in my knife block. Damn you Dave for even making us think about this

Tonkatsu (again) with saffron rice And i've just put on my first onion confit of the season to be used as a base for the French Onion Soup I will serve at a dinner party tomorrow night.

Thanks for volunteering Sam. I wouldn't want to be accused of further hounding

It's obviously been a slow day and as I said, I had my reasons. no no, you have to get there. I'll buy the food stuff and the beer. (As long as Dave will take me to get it again) I mean, let's not get carried away here.

I don't hound people Dave. I nudge gently. And I'm fine with puttin up the money. Just remember you have to keep to a Canadian dollar budget

For reasons that wouldn't interest anyone but me, I was compelled to read through this entire thread again. I think if we start now, we might, just might, convince Varmint to do this again next year (although perhaps we should start a new thread )

My guess is that would depend on how good you've been this year ← To whom? It's not yet too late to start kissing up. ← Santa knows. It may already be too late

My guess is that would depend on how good you've been this year I use a knife block myself, but then I have counter space to burn. But since I'm always using my knives, I want them where I can get them easily. A magnetic strip as Snowangel suggests might be a good thing in your kitchen, but then, I'm always afraid I would grab the blade when trying to get the knife off the strip. - I'm kinda clumsy that way

so who's a member here?

Awesome. Thanks everyone. This usually is the party to end all parties so all this stuff is good! katie, I will definately see you in April!

Katie, I am so there. I'll let you know when I'll be in town!

no more junk healthy schools for all Today the Minister for Education in Ontario issued a directive for all elementary schools to eliminate junk food from their vending machines. As of yet, there is no mention of high school cafeterias which are by far the worst offenders for junk food.

I've been doing this now for 10 years, so I'm getting relatively good at it. By the time I'm ready to visit potential venues in April I will have a lot more of these details pinned down. It could be a DJ, but we tend to have more fun with a band. Quite often, if you are spending $25,000 or $30,000 dollars with a venue, the space is free. That's why we like restaurants. Monday nights aren't typically hot nights for restaurants. We have bussed before and I prefer not to which is why I want to keep it to a short cab ride or walk from the convention. In LA we had 750 people and we did the whole thing with full dinner buffet for $30,000 US The bulk of our decorations are donated. I'd be delighted to speak with you later in the process. The purpose of this post was to determine potential places that would suit such a gathering. In Toronto we did 550 people for $40,000 Cdn) and that was a full buffet as well. edited to add: the 25,000 - $30,000 is what we generally raise in sponsorships. Until Toronto, Canadian members attended free but paid for their guests and any IFMA member who was not Canadian and wanted to attend, paid as well if there was still space available. In Toronto, we started charging Canadians to attend as well. Since none of them revolted, we'll probaby continue charging them. Likely $25.00 for Canadians and 45 for Guests and Non Canadian members. That should add to our total budget nicely. Katie, I'm assuming your place won't suit since you didn't suggest it

The theme of the party determines the food. It isn't necessarily Canadian food. In Miami, we did a beach party complete with and outdoor BBQ and corn roast. In Chicago, we did a 20's theme with gangsters and "flapper foods" In LA we held the party on the Cheers set and did a Hollywood theme. Two years ago the conference was in Toronto and we did a Trans Canada Highway theme with foods from each province. If you are in Toronto, nothing says Toronto like a peameal bacon sandwich. "in Philadelphia maybe it should be a Confederation party? Isn't the Liberty bell there? (don't shoot me, I'm a Canadian. I don't really know whether it is or isn't)

Thanks all and keep them coming. For the Constitution Centre or the Reading terminal Market do I need to engage a separate caterer? Not a problem, just need to know. I'm saying 500 people because it is always possible we could get that many. We've had as low as 200 and as high as 750 for this party in the past, but I tend to want to cap it off at 500. These people are serious drinkers, eaters and partiers. I think anything resembling chrystal chandeliers might be in danger from them! (don't forget the bulk of them will be Canadian). I'll need to find out where the confence will be holding their welcome reception (sunday night) and their Foundation gala (Sat ) so we don't do the same space twice if we can avoid it. Oh and the dates are Oct 24-26 I believe. I would absolutely love to have some of the mummers play at the party!

Report! Report! You can't leave us hanging like this

I am a party planner. among many other things. I just want a neat place to hold it.

So here I am in Salt Lake City at my professional conference. Next year, the conference is being held in Philidelphia and it is the Association's 25th anniversary. I've been talked into (coerced?) running the Truly Canadian Event for the conference which has always been the best attended party of the conference. I ran it for 10 years, didn't run it this year, and thus, it did not happen. Soooooo. I'm looking for a good venue that can hold 500 plus people. Here's the criteria. The food must be awesome (it will unfortunately have to be buffet style with that many people) the room should be big enough (preferably not multi leveled as that impedes networking) and the music must be hot. We must have Canadian beer available. What I don't want is a museum, or art gallery or anything that distracts people from the event at hand. I haven't really decided on a theme yet, but whatever it is will need to get worked into the menu somehow. The budget we normally work with is about $25,000 US (but could be more if I raise enough sponsors) and that has to include the food and the band and the venue. The bar is a cash bar. What I need from those of you in the know is a list of 3 or 4 places I can short list so I can come and visit with them in April My real preference is somewhere close to the conference centre so I can avoid bussing people which not only leaves me with more money to spend on food and entertainment, but also saves me a lot of money in aspirin. The event will be in October around this time (I'll get the exact dates tonight) and is always held on the Monday of the conference. Help me! Fairly simple right?

Unless of course you are driving past the Ford plant, in which case it doesn't really matter what time of day it is, it's a 20 minute drive to get through there This is wonderful Anna. I'm really looking forward to this!

So here I am in Salt Lake City. Tonight I dined at the New Yorker. I have to say, watching the bartender was worth the price of the meal! The NY is as mentioned above, a private club. Here in SLC, that means you can drink without eating and/or smoke in the establishment. For me, that meant I was pretty much in heaven. I sat at the bar, and the two bartenders, Sven and Coulter proceeded to take me under their wings and made me feel most welcome. I always feel somewhat uncomfortable dining alone, but tonight these two guys made that feeling go away. Coulter was worth the price of admission. He made bottles dance on his hand, threw them in the air, caught them behind his back or in a shaker, and generally performed feats with glasses. bottles, and ice cubes that I would not recommend you try at home. I asked him how many hours a day he practiced and he said 4 or 5 hours a day. Even at that he demured that he wasn't good enough to enter the contests that they have for this type of thing. Apparently, Coulter won an award for a drink he concocted (the name of which escapes me at the moment) I began with the Honey Hoisin BBQ ribs which were absolutely perfect. Not too saucy, but just right. A generous serving, I couldn't eat all of it for fear I wouldn't be able to eat dinner. Dinner was a NY Strip steak with green and yellow beans, crispy fried onion rings and potato. The steak was actually not as good as I had anticipated. It was good, just not one of those stand out in your mind as one of the best steaks ever meal. However, it was better than average, and as I said, the entertainment, made it all worthwhile. I finished with a terrific cappacino with Frangelico and made my way back to my hotel. A great dinner for my first night here.