Notorious Homophobes and Christian Values expounders Chick-fil-A were an unknown quantity to me when I first visited Virginia in 1999. I had never seen their “Eet mor Chikin” signs nor even ventured inside one of them; and I may never ever if things continue on path. I’ll remember Virginia for it’s temperate November, it’s hard to find liquor store and sinking me back into the morass of comics that I had abandoned not 2 years earlier.
Over this past weekend, my family and I celebrated our Second Thanksgiving since returning from the USA. If one was to ask me what my preferred Thanksgiving is, I’d pick the US version, it comes later in the year and kicks off the Christmas Season (well, it used to) at the right time. Snow is falling and fall is dissolving into Winter.
Thanksgiving in Canada is a practical and parochial affair, marking the end (or is it the middle) of the Harvest. Coming before the snow even starts to fall (it’s going to be in the 70s today and I was sweating out in the muggy morning today if ever there was an upside to Global Climate Problems it’s muggy Octobers), Canadian Thanksgiving is a celebration of the agricultural largesse of the country and the bounties that it provides. Rather than a celebration of gorged appetites and pre-Christmas shopping. No Black Friday here, you see.
Despite my preference for the American version, I dutifully invited my In-Laws over to the townhouse for a meal (My Sister in Law declined, in order to work) and we bought what we thought would be a decent sized, but still quite small Turkey. In the end our 27 dollar monster turned out to be far more than we could easily handle and provided us with the raw materials for at least a weeks worth of meals if we played our cards right.
Two legs for soup, dark meat too. Two immense halves of the breast for sandwiches and just sliced for meals. The remaining bulk turned into curry and soup meat. The Bones were boiled overnight to make a nice stock, along with the carcass of a Chicken cooked on Saturday. The remaining greasy bits were disposed of, I hate to do that and wished for a bigger stock pot to boil the remaning “meat” out of them. It would need to be strained, but I could have had three big soup pots out of the remaining bits alone, I’m sure.
We’re trying to wring all we can from our nearly 30-Dollar Turkey, but it’s just so much. I’m tempted to return to our old rule of buying the more expensive (but utilitarian) Breast Only Turkey. Which I’m sure makes the whole waste matter all the worse, but at least I don’t throw out the bits and pieces on my own, you know?
Are Turkey bits good for Composting? Should I compost meats? I don’t know, I should look into that.
However, this is not really about the Turkey that sits in my Fridge and soup pot today. I’m actually looking at a much bigger Turkey today.
Canada prospered for a while in the hands of the Tories, but even my cursory and shallow understanding of the position of the Canadian Dollar and it’s buying power has revealed that the “prosperous” Canadian economy is really only so when the Petrodollar is valuable. Which is what the Harper Government has led us into. The whole value of the Canadian Dollar is tied to the price of Oil, and as that price slides, so too do the prospects of Canadians in terms of buying power and position on World Markets. Canada lives and dies on it’s raw materials exports and the Harper Government has, for the most part let this slide in deference to the Thanksgiving Banquets to the south. Of course, Thanksgiving isn’t for another month and a bit in the US and it looks like this might be the leanest in years. Instead of gorging on our Resources, it may be that they are sipping them from a thousand cuts and another Harper government may allow the cheap death of Canada to continue. Our National Turkey indeed.
Cold Beer for Friday, originally uploaded by NiteMayr.
Friday lunch time sometimes means that it is Beer o’clock (especially on hot days)
This was at the (great) walkers fish and chips on Wellington. I poured high to get the thick, frothy head on the beer. It was refreshing (on a hot day) but not a great partner for the fish.
I think I’ll stick to soda with the food and beer after work; speaking of which I snagged some Sleeman Clear for the long weekend. I actually found some craft/micro brew beer yesterday too. So my beer horizons have been significantly expanded.
Cheers!
A Nice plate of Fish and Chips, originally uploaded by NiteMayr.
Yes! A great lunch that wasn’t from “King’s”
Went to “Walker’s Fish and Chips” for lunch, had the Halibut and Chips.
The Fish was great, tasty and flavorful. The batter wasn’t all the taste, the fish was meaty and strong, a pleasure to eat. The Chips were also great, obviously real cut potato, soaked overnight to make sure that they are not too starchy. Great!
I didn’t care for the coleslaw, but I’m not a fan of the slaw anyway.
PLUS Beer on tap (not GOOD beer, but on TAP) and other beer selections on hand.
I can’t recommend Walker’s more.
Fries and a Reuben, originally uploaded by NiteMayr.
When a political campaign takes to crapping all over the opposing camp, it’s termed “Going Negative” and when it is egregious and possibly slanderous, it’s “Ratfucking”
I’m not about to ratfuck the “Family Restaurant” on Wellington in London, but that is only because I might be forced to eat there again as part of the rodent coitus.
Let me start with the price, 8 bucks for frozen fries and a sandwich. Are you kidding me!?!?
The sandwich might cost about 3 bucks in materials if the meat and cheese are fancy. However, the cheese was “cheese food” – style swiss and the bread was barely rye. The meat was untenable and together with the lack of thousand island dressing made the whole sandwich part of the meal lackluster at best. I also burned my mouth due to the MOLTEN LAVA heat of the meat.
By the time I got to the frozen food product fries I wasn’t really able to enjoy them, due to my injured mouth and ended up just giving up on eating them. Which, if you know me is almost impossible for me to do.
For 8 bucks I expect to enjoy my food.
For 5 I can get a nice salad and the best Chicken Salad sandwich on earth at the King’s Cafe downtown london (near Galleria, next to the Brass Door). I recommend you avoid the “Family Restaurant” on Wellington, south of Grey Street North of Grand Avenue.
And that is Going Negative.
I’m writing this stuff and starting to feel a bit like John Pinnette “who stole the food!?”
Corn rose as much as 3.5 percent, and soybeans, wheat and rice gained. The Midwest floods probably will cause “hundreds of millions of dollars” of damage, according to the National Weather Service. U.S. corn stockpiles may fall 53 percent to a 13-year low before next year’s harvest, the USDA said June 10.
High food prices “are here to stay” as governments divert resources to make biofuels, amass stockpiles and limit exports, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman of Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur today.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awdVeAM6F4Qs&refer=home
It’s looking more and more like transportation and storage costs are going to drive the cost of food basics up and up. By food basics I’m referring to grains, roots and vegetable crops. Those food items that require transportation in large quantities. Even local gardens are being hit hard by the weather this year, some people planning to weather any serious food price issues with home garden may need to put forth more concrete solutions, like sturdy greenhouses for year-round food production.
Suburbanites, like myself are really starting to feel the pinch of the ever-rising gas prices. Trips to visit my Parent’s house have started to stretch into the 40+ dollar mark for each trip. 40 Dollars is about my normal meat and vegetable budget each week. It’s not like I can’t afford it, but I do have to make choices now about how to spend my wages.
Add to all of this the budget crunch of debt and many of us might be looking at food uncertainty in the next year.
The World Food Program cut off rice deliveries to 1,344 Cambodian schools last month after prices doubled and suppliers defaulted on contracts. Schools will run out of food by May 1, depriving about 450,000 children of meals, the WFP estimates.
After the article yesterday from the Sun:
Many parts of America,
long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a
once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New
York, in areas of New England,
and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and
cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal
reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.
This is troubling news….
If this video proves anything, it proves that Any never had a job in food service. Smack the side of the bottle damn it, you set the sauce free with a good smack on the side of the bottle.
Can you see how much packaging was on the burger? Wow, we suck, don’t we?
I guess things are better now, right?
You may be able to live well on food stamps
Published by NiteMayr on February 23, 2009But don’t ask Ari Armstrong how to do it.
So you don’t have to read the whole thing, here are the only fact(like) things in this article:
and
Counting the only two purchase figures we are given: 7.77 and 4.48 Ari and his wife spent 12.25. 7.77 of that on a turkey that was either ludicrously small (as turkey tends to price out at about 3 bucks a pound off season) or they simply lied. I think that 4.48 for olive oil could be correct. Seriously, 8 bucks for turkey. The Cheapest turkey I saw at the thrifty bulk foods and serve yourself or else store today was 17 dollars. I guess when you live in an actual city and don’t shop at your dad’s store, the prices can be different.
That is all that is there in the Article about living on food stamps. The rest is a screed about how the Welfare state is theft. Now you don’t have to read the rest.