eG Foodblog: CaliPoutine and Pookie - The City Mouse, The Country Mou

[Pookie]

I'd meant to say something about London after seeing the view from your balcony, Pookie.

For a city of only 350,000, it seems to have a lot of high-rise apartments.  Is it particularly compact or dense?

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I never thought of it as very dense. There are large swatches of parkland and trees. We do seem to have a lot of apartments though. We have both a University and a College here in town so our student population may have something to do with it.

[Pookie]

More from the ribfest.

Pulled Pork on a Bun. I liked it but though it could have been less saucy and more smoky. Maybe less sweet too. More vinegar in the sauce.

These were my favourite ribs of the night, Fall off the bone tender with a great smoke flavour.

We got them from this booth.

These were also very good.

[Pookie]

And more still.

Some of the vendors.

Victoria Park has some of the tamest squirrels in the world. They will walk right up to you and demand some of what you are eating. There are hundreds and hundreds of them in the park.

[Pookie]

After the ribs we went to Marble Slab. I understand that there are a lot of these in the states? This is new to London and there has been a lot of Buzz. We decided that we had to check it out.

I got Honey Ice Cream with Peaches.

The Husband had Chocolate with Raspberries.

It was good, but I prefer the Gelato. And at 12.00$ for 2 cones it was a lot expensive. I don't think we will go back. Not because it was bad, but there is better and cheaper and local ice cream to be had.

[Pan]

[...]We have both a University and a College here in town so our student population may have something to do with it.

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What's the difference between a university and a college in Canadian English?

[Pookie]

[...]We have both a University and a College here in town so our student population may have something to do with it.

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What's the difference between a university and a college in Canadian English?

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University would be where you go to geta Bachelors or Masters or Phd.

College is where you go to become a plumber, early childhood educator, accountant, Chef.

One is much more academic and the other provides a lot of hands on training.

I did my training to be a chef and a Food service supervisor at a College. My Husband is taking Accounting at the College here in town.

College is also about half the price!

[nakji]

Yay! That's exactly the hat! I've ordered him one. Maybe he'll lose this one in Laos, or something equally dramatic.

Thanks for the pictures of Ribfest. I had a friend from Brampton when I lived in Korea. He always used to compare "meat street" in Ilsan (near Seoul) to Ribfest - the major difference between the two being that "meat street" was a permanent thing. Just shop after shop of whole pigs being roasted on the spit. But instead of sweet sauce and potato salad, there was kimchi and....well, they also served potato salad, now that I think of it.

We didn't have ribfest in Nova Scotia, but we do have lobster dinners, so I guess it all works out.

$12 for two ice cream cones? Is that normal?! That's insane. What's so special about it?

Things I miss seeing? Shots of President Choice brand anything, Swiss Chalet (I know, I know), No Name....they all remind me of home.

[CaliPoutine]

Hi everyone( and Chris)

I'm enjoying reading Pookie's posts, I feel like a spectator instead of a contributor. Chris you're doing a fantastic job. We just arrived at Tammy's co-housing complex. We went this morning to Kerrytown Farmer's market. DanielleWiley and her kids and myself and Lisa had lunch at Zingerman's deli. Lisa and I split 2 sandwiches(Georgia Rubin and Kelly's menage a trois). Both were yummy.

For the rest of the day, I'll be posting updates in the heartland thread. Btw, Steven Shaw is here as well.

I'll be making fish on the grill and pasta primavera for my courses.

See ya later

[Pookie]

Yay! That's exactly the hat! I've ordered him one. Maybe he'll lose this one in Laos, or something equally dramatic.

$12 for two ice cream cones? Is that normal?! That's insane. What's so special about it?

Things I miss seeing? Shots of President Choice brand anything, Swiss Chalet (I know, I know), No Name....they all remind me of home.

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I am glad you can get him a new one. I am sure he will be happy!

12 for 2 ice creams is insane. The Gelato cost us about 6$ total and anywhere else 3-4$ is the upper limit for ice cream.

(In case anyone is thinking I am weird for writing my prices as 12$ instead of $12 - I spent 13 years of my education in French Immersion school. I learned to write and do math in French. And that is the french way. It feels unnatural to do it any other way)

I can snap some shots of Swiss Chalet and Loblaws on my way home from work if you like.

I am at my second job today. They are much less restrictive with the use of the Internet. But I can't get my camera to upload to this computer so you will have to wait until about 5:30pm for pictures of breakfast, the Farm Stand and the bits for najiki.

[Alex]

I assume that "Baby Duck" and "Ruby Rouge" are analogous to "Wild Irish Rose" and "Mad Dog" (MD 20/20 from Mogen David) here in the States?

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Actually not fortified. Baby Duck was like fizzy pop with alchohol, the perfect drink for teenagers of my generation that wanted to get drunk without tasting booze. Ruby Rouge was just a revolting version of 'buck-five, come alive'.

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Having wicked flashes to some of my own adolescent misadventures with crap booze.

There was this crap sparkling rose that my parents used to get all the time called Cold Duck, made by a vinyard in upstate New York called Andre. I wonder if this stuff is related to its fellow duck up north.

Heh. And I'm digging the expression "buck-five, come alive". That's a new one for me.

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...

Anyway, Andres wines is owned by the Peller family, here in the Niagara peninsula. Old man Peller came from the old country and couldn't convince people hereabouts that respectable wines made from European grapes were desirable (same thing was happening in California at the time). So he made crap wine from labrusca grapes - Cold Duck, Baby Duck - anything the locals would drink. He had vineyards in upstate new york as well.

He bidded his time, getting wealthy on the crap people would drink, growing better grapes for his own consumption, and when the turnaround came the family opened Peller Estates, which makes considerably more respectable (and respected) wines from wine grapes rather than grape juice and jelly grapes.

Gus Peller, a son, gave up his job as a family physician in Grimsby to run the operation in the states. We miss his hilareous antics, he is quite the character, though it perhaps sits better with wine folk than it did with some of the patients.

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Actually, the original Cold Duck wasn't plonk and even had a certain cachet. It also was one of Detroit's lesser-known inventions, in which we took a strange sort of pride. It dates back to the 1930s, to the Ponchartrain Wine Cellars restaurant, one of THE places to dine in Detroit back when. According to wikipedia, it was "...based on a traditional German custom of mixing all the dregs of unfinished wine bottles with champagne. The wine...was given the name Kalte Ende (cold end), until it was humorously altered to Kalte Ente meaning 'cold duck' in German....The exact recipe now varies, but the original combined one part of Californian [sic] red wine with two parts of New York sparkling wine."

Edited August 6, 2006 by Alex (log)

[Pookie]

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.

[Pookie]

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$.

[Pookie]

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.

[Pookie]

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.

[Pan]

[...]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.

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So did I. Thanks for taking the time out to do it.

That black serving bowl looks like one I saw in Bed, Bath, and Beyond recently. Is it kind of shiny in real life? I usually like more decorative bowls, but I thought that one -- because it wasn't just black but also had a shininess to it -- had a rather Zen feeling to it, if that makes any sense.

[tammylc]

Im still at the gathering. The last course being served is beef and I wont be partaking. Lisa and I stood at the hot stover for an hour making the pasta primavera. I cant post any pics until I get back tomorrow.

Today has been non-stop food all day long. Truly amazing.

edited to say. whoops, I totally forgot Tammy was signed in.

Randi

Edited August 6, 2006 by tammylc (log)

[nakji]

Oh boy, thanks for the pics.

Of course, Loblaws are called "Real Atlantic Superstores" in my old neck of the woods, but they're the same.

I love and miss muffins with a passion I can't fully express via an internet message board. Tell me...were there any blueberry muffins there?

I love blueberry muffins. Every once and a while, the bakery at The Hilton or the Press Club will make muffins, but they aren't the cakey ones I remember from home.

[Chufi]

Thank you Pookie and Randi for blogging! I especially liked the pictures of the shops and markets.. and Randi's picnic on the beach... and Ribfest!

Pookie, that bacon looks so good. Never seen anything like it.

Seems that Randi is having a terrific time at the gathering!

thanks girls!

Edited August 6, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[MarketStEl]

[...]We have both a University and a College here in town so our student population may have something to do with it.

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What's the difference between a university and a college in Canadian English?

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University would be where you go to geta Bachelors or Masters or Phd.

College is where you go to become a plumber, early childhood educator, accountant, Chef.

One is much more academic and the other provides a lot of hands on training.

I did my training to be a chef and a Food service supervisor at a College. My Husband is taking Accounting at the College here in town.

College is also about half the price!

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Translating this into American:

A Canadian "College" combines what Americans would call a "trade school" and a "community college" (formerly "junior college"). The latter is also a place where someone who wants to go on to "university" but needs to bone up on the basics can do remedial and introductory-level work before getting the four-year degree. In a number of fields (nursing, hospitality management, corporate training), community colleges have supplanted trade schools as the training site of choice.

Canadian "universities" are like their American counterparts, but there appears to be no Canadian equivalent to the American "college"--an institution that is academic in nature but offers only four-year undergraduate degrees.

As with Canadian bacon, apparently, there are slight differences between the American and Canadian versions of the same thing. (Actually, one of the major meat packers in the Philadelphia area now calls its product "Canadian Brand Ham".)

Sorry to hijack this blog with trivia, but I can't help myself. That 'cuefest looked mighty good, even though Tony Roma was part of the action. Thanks for both of your efforts this week--they were mighty enjoyable!

[Pam R]

A good rule of thumb is that when a school has the word 'college' in the title it often, though not always, will also have the word 'technical' or 'community' along with it.

Thanks for a wonderful blog ladies! Always nice to see what people are doing and eating in other parts of your own country.

[CaliPoutine]

Its my turn to say goodbye. I originally thought I was going to post some pictures from the Heartland Gathering and today's bbq. I raced home from Ann Arbor this morning, emptied my car and then Robin and I went off to a family BBQ. My batteries were drained so I didnt take any pictures( you arent missing much). After the amazing food we ate all weekend, today was a total let down.

Instead of double posting the pics from the gathering, please check out the event reporting thread. Lots of people were taking pictures so there will be plenty too look out.

I enjoyed blogging with Chris about City/Country life. Thanks for all your nice comments.