Manitoulin. If I can make it there…

[Shelby]

Over in the breakfast thread there are claims that there is no such thing as leftover bacon. I cannot sure everybody there is such a thing because I watched Kerry eat the leftover bacon from Manitoulin as a snack on our trip down.

Me, I was so hungry and so tired when I got home that I sent out for Chinese! And damn it is good.

I'm glad I'm not the only person that has bacon leavings LOL.  

 

Oh Chinese sounds so good right now.  It's times like this that I almost wish I lived in a city.....almost.....  Heck, I'd pay for delivery to here if someone would do it.....

 

Glad you guys are home safe and sound!  

[Porthos]

As always it was a treat to share in your Manitoulin time. Thanks and know I'll stay tuned for your fall trip.

[rotuts]

thank you for taking the time to share your trip.

 

I look forward to it every year.

[gfweb]

ditto

[Okanagancook]

A great big thank you to you both for sharing your adventures and insights on cooking. Oh, not to mention cocktail appreciation

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Why don't you just pretend to stay up there and keep us informed and entertained?  Kerry could be drinking every night like the rest of us.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Anna never did tell us how Kerry's homemade Boursin worked out.  Boursin was a major component of my dinner tonight so I was thinking of it.  The rest of dinner was a baguette, twenty four hour chuck, a broccoli crown on sale, and hollandaise Piment d'Espelette.  Plus a bottle of zinfandel, which makes everything taste better.

 

It really was a delightful dinner following the night before, which had been another failed hamburger attempt that I couldn't choke down or finish.

[Kerry Beal]

Anna never did tell us how Kerry's homemade Boursin worked out.  Boursin was a major component of my dinner tonight so I was thinking of it.  The rest of dinner was a baguette, twenty four hour chuck, a broccoli crown on sale, and hollandaise Piment d'Espelette.  Plus a bottle of zinfandel, which makes everything taste better.

 

It really was a delightful dinner following the night before, which had been another failed hamburger attempt that I couldn't choke down or finish.

That's because I never got around to making it. We didn't get around to making much of what we planned this trip - because we didn't really plan!

[scamhi]

I enjoyed reading along, thanks

[KennethT]

thank you for taking the time to share your trip.

 

I look forward to it every year.

I couldn't have said it better... thank you!

[robie]

Arigato.  It is always fun to share in this adventure.

[Porthos]

I was thinking about your pantry staples problem where you were running out of some things. Just a thought but early in our marriage my DW and I shopped at only one store. We had a printed list of our various pantry staples posted on the refrigerator in our kitchen and when we ran low on something we marked that item on the list. When we would go shopping we would take the list off of the refrigerator and replace it with a fresh one. That really helped us.

 

Because of how anal I am the list was organized by aisle in the store. I really hated it when they would re-merchandize the store.

[Anna N]

I was thinking about your pantry staples problem where you were running out of some things. Just a thought but early in our marriage my DW and I shopped at only one store. We had a printed list of our various pantry staples posted on the refrigerator in our kitchen and when we ran low on something we marked that item on the list. When we would go shopping we would take the list off of the refrigerator and replace it with a fresh one. That really helped us.

 

Because of how anal I am the list was organized by aisle in the store. I really hated it when they would re-merchandize the store.

I think it is important to understand and accept that what happens in most grocery stores does not hold true on an Island where the population fluctuates from day today, from week to week and from season to season. Tourism keeps the wheels turning on Manitoulin for much of the summer. The population can swell or shrink almost overnight depending on weather conditions and who knows what. Stocking the shelves in grocery stores on the Island is a bit like playing the horses. You can bring in fresh produce and it can disappear within hours or it can sit and rot because there's no one to buy it.

You can be as precise and careful as you want keeping a list of needed groceries but when you show up at the store and there isn't an onion to be found all of your wonderful organization goes the way of the dodo bird.

I think I am much more of a planner than Kerry is. She can roll with the boat whereas I try to brace myself against the mast. In between we manage to cope. If we both become rigid and taken up with lists, all of the fun of going up there will disappear.

I admire people like you, your wife and Melissa H and your concern and advice are appreciated. But I think we are lost souls. This time we were even worse than usual!

[Porthos]

... I think we are lost souls.

I did not understand the variability of foodstuffs being available from the store.  That bit of the puzzle helps my understanding a lot. I'm sure you posted about it and I just missed it.

 

I've lived in the greater Los Angeles area or another large California town my entire life so the idea of a store not having the basic ingredients you are after never entered my mind. Consider me a little more educated about the challenges of Manitoutin.

[Deryn]

Boy, do I get what you are saying, Anna. Here it is a supplier delivery issue. Apparently they load up a truck and go to all the rural communities and we are last on the line and get whatever is left, despite any order that our tiny store might have put in. Sometimes that has been as little as 2 loaves of bread for a community of approximately 400 people (and about 1000 in the area). And in winter, sometimes the truck doesn't arrive at all.

2 months ago, I asked for thyme - fresh - (which apparently no one around here has ever heard of and never uses) and it finally arrived yesterday. Most of what they have stocked now will probably go bad - I bought 2 packages (even though I now have my own thyme growing outside) because I felt badly - they tried. One eats what the store has on any given day unless one wants to drive 150 miles round trip to a slightly larger store.

One has to learn to roll with the punches and just use what you have around you already. And you and Kerry do a wonderful job of that - it is fun to watch what you come up with, and also to just eat what you have, with gusto!

[Beth Wilson]

Deryn,  Good for you to buy the Thyme now even though you don't need it. 

 

I lived on Manitoulin for 14 years and the available variety drastically changed from when I first moved there.  Shopping in the local stores is what keeps them going.  Manitoulin has the same issue with the "truck" that supplies the Island as most of them deliver to Sudbury one day and drive to the island the next with what remains.  The result is many island residents then drive to Sudbury for the better variety of fresh fruit and vegetables.

 

Sometimes a good shop off the Island was necessary, but there has been some improvement....Once in a while I actually did find shallots in the island grocery store :-)

[Darienne]

I can add to the grocery store supply question.  We live outside Peterborough, a city which is now off the beaten path.  Our grocery stores fall at the end of the majpr distribution chain for items.  Toronto and its surrounding areas (the GTA) always get supplied first and then Peterborough will get the remainder...if there is one.  But still, it's not bad.  You can find Poblanos and eggplant in Peterborough as an example.

 

We live just outside of a small village near Peterborough.  It is even further out on the supply chain as to being almost non-existent...a bit like Manitoulin Island.  Never, ever would you find Poblanos or eggplant in our village grocery store.  People simply don't eat such things...or they go to the city to buy them and hope that the Peterborough grocery got them in this week. 

 

Still, I wouldn't change it for the world.  If one of us has a serious stroke, for instance...we are pretty much doomed.  You can't get an ambulance to pick you up and get you into the city hospital in under an hour at the best of times.  But we are less likely to suffer city stress and noise and lights living out here in the middle of nowhere, walking on the farm every day with our dogs and seeing the sky, the birds, the deer, the trees, etc.

 

I could add that Poblanos have been available for only about four years now.  Before that the selection for Mexican food was dismal and a trip to Toronto was needed for piloncillo, chiles, spices, cheeses, etc.  Tomatillos are still not available at all in Peterborough so I grow my own.

[Darienne]

And Porthos, I fear your 'anality', if that is a word, is minor to mine.      Our printed grocery list is one complete page in 5 columns in size 8 type.  And we have one list for Ontario and another one for Utah.  She who lives by the list... 

 

(I could add that my calling was in literary research...whatever I could find grant money to do.)

Edited August 5, 2015 by Darienne (log)

[kayb]

I commend to any of you list-makers who don't do a pre-printed one, the smartphone app "Out of Milk." it will divide your list into sections (dairy, produce, etc.), keep up with things you frequently buy, and allow several family members to log in so the kids can put ice cream and Twinkies on Mom or Dad's list. It'll also calculate per-unit price (ounce or serving). Handy little free app, as long as I'm certain my battery-gobbling phone is charged when I go to the store.

[Porthos]

Kayb, I do use my phone for short lists. I have about 8 lists (by store) on it.

[Porthos]

Darienne, I so understand the multiple lists, I work in electronics engineering and documentation is what I live and die by.

 

I have a favorite quote from a movie: "I wrote it down so I wouldn't have to remember." Dr Jones Sr to Dr Jones Jr, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

[suzilightning]

I think it is important to understand and accept that what happens in most grocery stores does not hold true on an Island where the population fluctuates from day today, from week to week and from season to season. Tourism keeps the wheels turning on Manitoulin for much of the summer. The population can swell or shrink almost overnight depending on weather conditions and who knows what. Stocking the shelves in grocery stores on the Island is a bit like playing the horses. You can bring in fresh produce and it can disappear within hours or it can sit and rot because there's no one to buy it.

You can be as precise and careful as you want keeping a list of needed groceries but when you show up at the store and there isn't an onion to be found all of your wonderful organization goes the way of the dodo bird.

I think I am much more of a planner than Kerry is. She can roll with the boat whereas I try to brace myself against the mast. In between we manage to cope. If we both become rigid and taken up with lists, all of the fun of going up there will disappear.

I admire people like you, your wife and Melissa H and your concern and advice are appreciated. But I think we are lost souls. This time we were even worse than usual!

 

Having grown up on a small island add in the fact that the shipping costs by ferry can be very expensive.  We had an IGA and I do believe that we were last on the line that covered eastern Long Island and the truck came over from CT.

[ElsieD]

Click

I have made the tomato sauce part of the recipe twice now. It's really good. I stuff scooped out zucchini halves with Italian sausage and spoon this sauce over the top, and sprinkle with parm. Really easy, really good, so thanks AnnaN for posting the link.

Elsie

[Shelby]

And Porthos, I fear your 'anality', if that is a word, is minor to mine.      Our printed grocery list is one complete page in 5 columns in size 8 type.  And we have one list for Ontario and another one for Utah.  She who lives by the list... 

 

(I could add that my calling was in literary research...whatever I could find grant money to do.)

I suddenly feel super unorganized     I'm terrible at lists.

 

I need to make a list of things that I need to make a list of.