Dec 25 2024 - Dave's Turkey Tale

 

It isn't a simple life anymore, is it?  Stuart McLean's "Dave Cooks the Turkey" story gets reworked.   That was 10 years ago and the CBC ran the story with this description:  "CBC Radio's The Vinyl Cafe has removed a line from the annual airing of its story "Dave Cooks the Turkey," after an online campaign says it normalizes animal abuse." "In the story Dave, the protagonist for many of host Stuart McLean's fictional yarns, scrambles to find and cook a turkey on Christmas Day. He finds that only a B-Grade turkey is left at the grocery store, and muses on the poor quality of the bird." "As the turkey defrosted it became clear what B-Grade meant," says the contentious line. "The skin on the right drumstick was ripped. Dave’s turkey looked like it had made a break from the slaughterhouse and dragged itself a block or two before it was captured and beaten to death." At another point, a chef tells Dave that the turkey looks like it had been "abused." "Dave Cooks the Turkey" debuted in 1996, and it has re-aired on The Vinyl Cafe almost every year since.  Here it is: https://youtu.be/1WSBcJ5LpOw?si=anecNNNX4ND7kN5P As I drove to the Y yesterday, it was just starting at 9:00am.  To swim or laugh heartily was the question.  I decided to swim and laugh later.  What I watched later was the Carrot sketch:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zww8E1mXBAo There can be no better gift than the gift off laughter. Enjoy Stuart McLean's work on Youtube every day of the year.

Take a seat.  This is Betty's Sofa.  It is located at the Watering Can, and has gained renown over the years.  It was recently joined by a matching two-seater, so larger groups can be accommodated for the picture on the sofa moment.   And below that is  another one of these vintage sofas with us having our Christmas pictures taken.

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Dec 23 2024 - Where are Turkeys from?

 

Where didi turkeys come from?  From here - the Americas.  The first turkey was a wild species that was brought to Spain in the 1500s.   Domestic turkeys have been around for centuries and were first domesticated by Native Americans.  Mexico is mentioned as the first place of domestication. I expect it took the Europeans to really hybridize them, and not just domesticate them.  How they got from the skinny wild fast-flying and fast-running turkey to the fast-growing, huge-breasted, large-size current domestic versions.  This seems to be of no interest in the google search engine.  What seems to be of interest is the volume of questions and answers on whether a turkey can mate with a chicken, a partridge, a peacock, a pheasant...pick another fowl and the question seems to be there.   Domestic turkey toms are grown to an average 41 pounds and hens to an average of 17 pounds.  That means our turkey every year is a hen as we get the smaller size.  So we should check out a few turkey jokes:   Why did the turkey cross the road? He wanted people to think he was a chicken. Fruit comes from a fruit tree, so where does turkey come from? A poul-tree. What’s the difference between a turkey and a chicken? Chickens celebrate Thanksgiving. What kind of weather does a turkey like? Fowl weather.

While we have wild turkeys in Niagara, I doubt if I have any turkey pictures.   In comparison, Canadian geese stay still long enough for a good picture.

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Oct 8 2023 - Traditional Thanksgiving

 

What makes your Canadian Thanksgiving traditional and classic? While Butter Tarts are considered the iconic classic Canadian dessert, we likely still want pumpkin pie for the holiday.  I think I might be on track here:  it is the dessert that we most think about for Canadian Thanksgiving.   Why is that?  Well, my opinions that many people don't really like turkey.  There are lots of articles with the headline "People hate turkey: Admit it" or This article seems the best one of all: "There are 2 Types of People. Those Who Hate Turkey and Those Who Are Wrong"  - this headline comes from a website named ricemedia.co, and the author has more to say: "But that’s not the main issue. The real issue is size. Buying Turkey is like buying an American SUV in Singapore.  "Turkey’s problem is twofold. 1) The bird is so large that heat cannot reach all parts of it, resulting in an uneven done-ness 2) The meat has so little fat that any amount of overcooking is unforgivable. You have to walk a precariously thin line between indigestion and diarrhoea—in short, to pray for a thermodynamic miracle." "This is the reason why most commercial brands (Butterball, Norbest) inject their Turkey with a sodium phosphate solution to keep the flesh moist. It is also the reason why many home cooks, finding the saline injections inadequate, shingle their Turkey’s breast with a layer of bacon to protect it from direct heat." Such whit and sarcasm in this article, resulting in a refreshing point of view from this writer. It brings laughter to the table of turkey. It was written by Pan Jie in 2019 - for Christmas.  The article is HERE.  So likely there is nothing else to really say about Canadian Thanksgiving.  We seem to have a handle on what to put on or in every dish:  the Turkey is Maple Roasted, the Cranberry Sauce is Maple Cranberry Sauce, the Squash is Maple flavoured.  So what goes in the Pumpkin Pie?  Yes. Using DuckDuckGo as my browser, I get this message every time.  My question is why doesn't Facebook present better content if is tracking me on Safari.  It seems to me it is failing at its task - the one it said it would never do when it started. If you want to view commercial-free videos on YouTube, use DuckDuckGo as the commercials are blocked.  Now that's a Thanksgiving tip to remember all year. Here's the whopping Thousand Flower Chrysanthemum of Longwood Gardens - like the Thanksgiving Turkey - over the top in size.  Unlike the turkey, it takes the award for beauty as well.

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April 17 2022 - Turkey Day

 

If the Dutch had arrived on Repa Nui "Great Repa" on Thanksgiving, would it be named Turkey Island?  They arrived on Easter, and so appropriately, gave it the name Easter Island.  Even though it is one of the most remote islands on the planet, Europeans arrived in 1722, the Chileans raided it for slaves, and European diseases reduced the population from 2,000 - 3,000 when the Europeans arrived to 111 in 1877.  Chile annexed Easter Island in 1888, and it now has 7,750 residents, of whom 3,512 consider themselves Rapa Nui. It is fitting that Canada's version of the Moai are made of snow.  And that could happen on Easter somewhere in Canada every year.  That would be ironic synchronicity.  Enjoy an Easter egg hunt, chocolate, and festive dinners today.

Today's image comes from the Niagara Falls Greenhouse lawn.  Another image of the Spring ephemerals - Chinodoxa. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

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Cold Turkey

My family told me to stop telling Thanksgiving jokes ... ... but I told them I couldn't quit "cold turkey.” Did you know?  "The country Turkey holds 80 Guinness World Records spanning from historically producing the first coin, the oldest bridge, the first female pilot and even being the first pirates. Now, Turkey continues to top the list with the tallest man, the largest nose and of course, being the largest bread consumers". One of its records is floating the largest peace symbol in the Marmara Sea - made of people.  What about building the world's largest animated mobile phone mosaic with 504 phones creating the world's largest mosaic wall - 3.6 meters wide and 1.9 meters long.  The tallest man alive is 8 feet 2.81 inches and from Turkey.  They also have the tallest female teenage at 7 feet 0.09 inches.  They have the records for the largest serving of pastry, for the largest full breakfast where 51,793 participants were involved.  They hold the record for the world's largest zebeck dance and largest pilates demonstration/class.  And on and on. See more on their records HERE.  Since we are on the topic of Turkey the country, here are some bizarre facts about it: It has one of the world's oldest and biggest malls You might find chicken in your dessert Santa Claus is from Turkey   You can cross continents underground Oil wrestling is a national sport Our pictures today are close-ups of day lilies, with a little photoshop magic applied to the stamens.

Turkey Dinner

"Prior to the turkey tradition Christmas fare included roast swan, pheasants and peacocks.  A special treat was a roast goals head decorated with holly and fruit. Henry VIII was considered the first English King to enjoy turkey. Edward VII made eating turkey fashionable at Christmas." Shakespeare talked about it in Henry IV. And then of course, the Christmas Carol elevated it to stardom. Some believe Scrooge's gift of a Christmas turkey to the Crotchet family helped cement the turkey's place at the centre of the holiday meal for both modest and affluent households of England. And what about the tradition of breaking the wishbone? It comes from Europe, and is thousands of years old, originating with the Etruscans who believed chickens were oracles and could predict the future.  Are there Christmas meal records?  One site says that "One notable medieval English Christmas celebration featured a giant, 165-pound pie.  The pie was nine feet in diameter.  Its ingredients included 2 bushels of flour, 20 pounds of butter, 4 geese, 2 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, 4 partridges, 2 neats' tongues, 2 curlews, 6 pigeons and 7 blackbirds.  We have some pictures today to "Puslinch Steam" and another of the Christmas greetings.