Aug 12 2024 - The Rest of August

 

Seems like time to relax or maybe get ready for September when "things start" and  "gear up".  But for now - the middle of August - it will be the CNE in Toronto.  And what is the food news this year?  They are not telling yet.  The Ex starts in a few days so nothing has been announced.   They are highlighting past dishes - squid-ink Korean corndogs, ketchup and mustard ice cream - that was in 2022. Remember rainbow grilled cheese? What about the pickle lemonade.  These were from 2019.   There is a Food Truck Frenzy planned for 2024. It is paired with a Craft Beer Fest. Food Trucks have crazy names:   Philthy Philly Cheesesteak   Cheese Headz   Starving Artist Waffles   What a Jerk  Tuts Egyptian Street Food Compared to restaurants, food trucks have the edge on names:  Burger beast, Nibble nomad, flavour wagon, Rolling dough, Wandering wok.  You can get away with all kinds of fun names.   Here's a picture from a previous CNE Food Truck Frenzy and it looks like a  frenzy.      There's nothing like a canoe on a Northern lake.This is the sort of activity for August.

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Dessert in the Middle

Why do we eat dessert at the end of a meal?  The expert on this seems to be Steven Witherly.  "As we eat the savory course, we rapidly reduce our hunger pangs and become full — the pleasure of the first course has passed (savory and hot). But as we indulge again with a new set of foods (sweet and cold), our appetite re-energizes — and we indulge in the pleasures of eating once again," Witherly writes in "Why Humans Like Junk Food." In the article on KFC, Witherly says that because humans evolved as foragers, our brains learned to recognize and desire things that pack a lot of calories.  The caloric density scale ranges from 0 for water to 9 for pure fat.  While raw chicken breast without the skin has a caloric density of 1.35, KFC's original chicken breast scores 2.3; the extra crispy version gets a 2.9. The skin by itself scores an intoxicating 5.0.  "Ergo, the chicken is only a vehicle for eating the skin," Witherly wrote.  There are 8 more reasons why KFC is so addictive, according to Witherly.  They involve high calorie density, salt, MSG, pressure frying, and more. Here's the article HERE. Here are a few more reasons people crave sweets after dinner also include: Eating an unbalanced diet high in carbohydrates will cause your blood sugar levels to rise and then drop suddenly after dinner. Our bodies want this "high" again, so we look to sugar. We also experience low blood sugar when we're tired, which causes us to need more carbs for a pick-me-up. If your diet is low in fat, you could put too much strain on the body and cause insulin resistance, during which sugars are not being carried effectively throughout the body. This stress on our bodies leads to a need for sugar. Even if you eat a healthy, balanced diet and have normal serotonin levels, you might still be feeling that you "need" sweets after dinner due to psychological conditioning: Dessert was always what rounded out and finished a meal, so you feel like something is missing if you don't have it. Our picture today is dessert from this year's visit to the restaurant Canoe in Toronto.  It has  so many interesting and appealing components - ice cream, pastry wafers, custard creme, crispy chips, and even a decorative leaf (rheum).  Very appealing, isn't it?

Table 54 on Floor 54

Google wishes me "Happy Birthday, Marilyn"  this morning.  This may or may not be a good thing, given the Big Brother headlines these days.   So I have found some Birthday Quotes from the resources available to us -  that speak to the Birthday Wishes for the older recipient. Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. – Mark Twain Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. – Larry Lorenzoni Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young. – Fred Astaire Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born. – Albert Einstein Brian and I visited Canoe yesterday for our Birthday Lunch.  We first checked out The Assembly.  This is the opposite of Canoe - an 'assembly' of independent chefs and artists creating a food hall.  It is located on Richmond Street at York Street.  I don't think there are concerns there about treating the power broker just right.  You can check the Assembly out HERE.   You can meet the chefs HERE.   You can meet the artists HERE. Canoe is located at the top of the TD Tower - Floor 54.  As we got our bill we found out that sitting at the chef's counter overlooking the kitchen is Table 54.  This seemed very fitting and most entertaining.

Have Camera will Capture

One of the benefits of a camera handy is a picture at hand.  This picture of station wagon and wooden canoe was fun, and then we pulled up to the station wagon at a traffic light and had a conversation with the owner.  I recall he told us the canoe was older than the car.   What about those funny newspaper headlines: Man eats underwear to beat breathalyzer Alton attorney accidentally sues himself City unsure why the sewer smells Statistics show that teen pregnancy drops off significantly after age 25 Federal Agents raid gun shop, find weapons Waterford boy, 8 saves sister's life - "I wouldn't do its again.  She's been a pain this week Most earthquake damage is caused by shaking Utah poison control center reminds everyone not to take poison Homicide victims rarely talk to police Here's the website for the rest.  And there's the Buzzfeed site - where the headlines are a little ruder.

Bill Mason Famous Canoe

I have been in the process of getting a dental implant.  The dentist is Peter Fritz in Foothill.  His office is impressive with a Northern Ontario theme of canoes.  I was there yesterday for one of the final stages in the process.  I was reading his newsletters in the waiting room.  Most of them had pictures of a very big canoe - showcasing it in the newsletters.  I asked about it. Peter told me that this canoe was owned by Bill Mason, famous canoeist and filmmaker.  Bill Mason is known as the patron saint of canoeing. In one of the newsletters was a picture of Pierre Elliot Trudeau and son Justin canoeing in the famous canoe.  I've found it so you can enjoy this great picture.  It is a seventeen-foot aluminum canoe used in 'Song of the Paddle'. It is named the Queen Mary. Peter now owns this canoe and it is coming to Peter's practice in Foothill to be displayed somewhere in the  offices.   There's one in the waiting room at the ceiling - the second picture shows this one. The third picture is of Peter canoeing.  I found this picture at the Canadian Museum site.  It is red like Bill Mason's favourite canoe - a red "Fort" chestnut Prospector, a 16-foot canvas covered wood canoe.  The actual favourite canoe is in the Museum. I included the bottom picture of Bill Mason canoeing in a Fort chestnut canoe as it is such a beautiful image.  And what's next for canoeing?  In 2017, Gerry will be working on the new Canadian Canoe Museum.  This museum has the largest canoe and kayak collection in the world.  It is an exciting project for Peterborough:  It will be 'an elegant, serpentine glass pavilion graced by a two-acre rooftop garden'.

Canoeing in Toronto

Lunch at Canoe.  This is a highlight of being so close to Toronto.  We'd been to a few restaurants in the last few weeks - celebrating Canada Blooms at Merlot in our west-end neighbourhood, then to The Good Earth last week, and finally Canoe yesterday. Canoe has never disappointed and always amazed us beyond our imagination.  Yesterday's meal was a wonder of culinary creativity and complexity.  T We particularly like to sit at the 'chef's table' - the counter that overlooks the kitchen.  We watch as appetizers are composed and we guess which ones they are.  Our lunch chef came over and talked with us.  We are interested in their sources of the ingredients - the special crab and salmon from sources in New Brunswick, the purple potatoes from an Ontario farm.  And then there are the processes - the purple potatoes were slightly smoked then cooked, and the salmon was maple-syrup smoked/cured. During our lunch, we found out the benefits of Canoe being located on the top floor of the TD Bank Tower.  They had TD Bank name badges on and were wearing old-fashioned waiter uniforms.  They gave the TD executives' orders to the chefs, then came over and had a chat with us.

When Canoeing is Really about Eating

Wake Up on the Bright Side   Lunch at Canoe.  This is a highlight of being so close to Toronto.  We'd been to a few restaurants in the last few weeks - celebrating Canada Blooms at Merlot in our west-end neighbourhood, then to The Good Earth last week, and finally Canoe yesterday. Canoe has never disappointed and always amazed us beyond our imagination.  Yesterday's meal was a wonder of culinary creativity and complexity.  T We particularly like to sit at the 'chef's table' - the counter that overlooks the kitchen.  We watch as appetizers are composed and we guess which ones they are.  Our lunch chef came over and talked with us.  We are interested in their sources of the ingredients - the special crab and salmon from sources in New Brunswick, the purple potatoes from an Ontario farm.  And then there are the processes - the purple potatoes were slightly smoked then cooked, and the salmon was maple-syrup smoked/cured. During our lunch, we found out the benefits of Canoe being located on the top floor of the TD Bank Tower.  They had TD Bank name badges on and were wearing old-fashioned waiter uniforms.  They gave the TD executives' orders to the chefs, then came over and had a chat with us.