Dave and Lisa hosted me in Orlando.
This in their $100 / night luxury townhouse with private pool. There are some great bargains in Florida.
Thanks for the grub, Dave.
Category: food
Rockin’ Ronnie is SAUCY
Habanero Heat, a truly fiery sauce with flavours reminiscent of the Caribbean islands
It’s time for some lip-smackin’ grillin’ action. Sauce genius Denzel Sandberg and I have collaborated to create a delicious new line of barbecue sauces that will be officially launched soon. To order some today call Denzel at +1-250-838-0338.
International Year of the Spud
The celebration of the International Year of the Potato (IYP) will raise awareness of the importance of the potato – and of agriculture in general – in addressing issues of global concern, including hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.
The potato has been consumed in the Andes for about 8 000 years. Taken by the Spanish to Europe in the 16th century, it quickly spread across the globe … In terms of sheer quantity harvested, the humble potato tuber is the world’s No. 4 food crop …
World potato production has increased at an annual average rate of 4.5 percent over the last 10 years, and exceeded the growth in production of many other major food commodities in developing countries, particularly in Asia. ..
This may be the International Mascot, I’m not sure:
Habitant French-Canadian Yellow Pea Soup
My entire long life I’ve been eating this delicious soup. And it’s never changed.
Talk about comfort food.
I was surprised to learn it’s made by Campbells. (The label does not mention that, either.)
Seems it’s not widely available in the USA. Too bad.
You can order it from Amazon.
why I don’t shop at Safeway
I don’t need much.
But I need Twinings Earl Grey tea. Every day.
Cost of this tea varies a great deal. (As does coffee.) If you put the same tea in a smaller box, or a foil wrapper, expect to pay double or triple.
The best retail value in my town is buying 100 tea bags. I get them at Superstore.
Safeway, Co-op and other grocery chains charge far more. How can they get away with this?
People in Calgary are too “fat”. Too affluent. They’d rather pay $3 more in an empty Safeway than crowded Superstore.
If you want the free market to work, you should support retailers that give you the best value.
Superstore also has no loyalty card program. As you know, loyalty cards are dead to me.
Disclosure: I do shop at Safeway for bagels. The Superstore bakery department is pitiful.
Oxford Word Of The Year: Locavore
The past year saw the popularization of a trend in using locally grown ingredients, taking advantage of seasonally available foodstuffs that can be bought and prepared without the need for extra preservatives.
The “locavore” movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to grow or pick their own food, arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locavores also shun supermarket offerings as an environmentally friendly measure, since shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation. …
photo – A Locavore’s Night Out
Runners-up for the 2007 Word of the Year include:
aging in place: the process of growing older while living in one’s own residence, instead of having to move to a new home or community
bacn: email notifications, such as news alerts and social networking updates, that are considered more desirable than unwanted “spam” (coined at PodCamp Pittsburgh in Aug. 2007 and popularized in the blogging community)
cloudware: online applications, such as webmail, powered by massive data storage facilities, also called “cloud servers”
colony collapse disorder: a still-unexplained phenomenon resulting in the widespread disappearance of honeybees from beehives, first observed in late 2006
cougar: an older woman who romantically pursues younger men (Call me, Demi, please.)
MRAP vehicle: Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, designed to protect troops from improvised explosive devices (IEDs)
mumblecore: an independent film movement featuring low-budget production, non-professional actors, and largely improvised dialogue
previvor: a person who has not been diagnosed with a form of cancer but has survived a genetic predisposition for cancer
social graph: the network of one’s friends and connections on social websites such as Facebook and Myspace
tase (or taze): to stun with a Taser (popularized by a Sep. 2007 incident in which a University of Florida student was filmed being stunned by a Taser at a public forum)
upcycling: the transformation of waste materials into something more useful or valuable
raise your Pacifico to Sr. Claussen
One of the city fathers of Mazatlán, Mexico was German immigrant Jorge Claussen.
Indeed, my favourite walk in town is Paseo Claussen which he had blasted beneath icebox hill near the old town centre.
Jorge did much for this city, but today is best remembered for Pacifico Beer. It’s a workingman’s brew (i.e. burro urine) but I’ve always liked it.
You will not be surprised to learn there are a number of monuments in his memory including this one:
… this homage to the Pacifico Beer Factory. This monument was unveiled on March 14, 2000, the hundredth anniversary of the day the brewery first began producing Pacifico beer.
The Pacifico brewery was founded by three German immigrants, Germán Evers, Emilio Philippi and Jorge Claussen. … The monument itself, which was designed by brewery workers, is a huge copper cooking vat capable of holding 24,000 liters (6336 gallons) of beer.
Farewell Mazatlán.
Valentino’s
I fly to Spokane today.
Super Corn Me – the movie
I posted my distaste for the corn industry after hearing about the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.
Corn is killing us.
Now in Super Size Me tradition is this movie:
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
(via Treehugger – Opening Today in Theaters: King Corn )
BC wild salmon recipes
The (ever humble) artist formerly known as Rockin’ Ronnie is in print once again.
It has a planked salmon recipe from me, as well as some great salmon recipes from actual BC chefs.
link via BC wild salmon recipes – on Ron’s business blog
Rick McCharles 