On a cold but sunny Friday

Tags

Canada, covid, Food, Russia, Sicily, Spring, Ukraine, USA, Wine

We are in mid-January and typically the weather is very cold. I had my booster shot 3 days ago and all is well, no after effects. So now I am all boosted and frankly Covid is no longer my priority. I lived in too many countries where many awful diseases where endemic and my vaccinations protected me. So time to move along.

The weather has been cold, frigid, the Hillsborough river is now frozen. We are in a lockdown but the number of sick people has been dropping every day. Yes those who are sick are unvaccinated and maybe you will think me callous or unfeeling but I really do not care about them, it has been 2 years, plenty of time to do the right thing. Everyday we have 100 + spot for vaccination available on PEI so if you want a shot it is very easy to get and takes about 6 minutes. Someone I know yesterday was shopping and stopped at the Pharmacy enquired about a vaccine and got it on the spot. Could it be easier?

I have joined those who are fully vaccinated and feel they should be allowed to go about their lives and not have to worry about the Covidiots who sit there and complain.

So we are more or less confined to our homes, though you can shop for groceries and pick up at the restaurant, but that is not civilized living. On the other hand we have had some pretty marvellous meals at home thanks to Will.

I was thinking this week, that if one day I was to travel again I would love to return to Granada to see the Alhambra palace and the gardens again. What a stunning place it was, and to think it was built 1000 years ago, a marvel. Portugal would be another place I would like to visit again. We had a very nice visit to Lisbon a few years ago. Then Sicily, such an ancient place, beautiful Marsala, Trapani, Monreale, Ragusa, Catania on the slope of Mount Etna. The food in Sicily is a completely different cuisine from Italy, due to centuries of Spanish, Normand and Arab influences. The wines are also of great quality with all that volcanic soil.

I would like a month long trip, not a week or a few days, which is good if you are young and must get back. On the other hand I have cooled to cruises, the food is usually just ok despite what you are told, the rooms on board are nice but I never found them as comfortable as an hotel room. Frankly the crowds on ships despite being on smaller ships get to me. I think that I would like some really good food and service, something you do not come across much these days despite high prices. However if one travels now there are all these tests and complications mass confusion at the airport, not to mention the crazy travellers.

Catania and Mount Etna

Well on 1 February we will see if the sanctions come off and if life returns to a more normal pace, let’s hope so.

But then Blinken meets Lavrov to talk about the Ukraine, what they are really talking about is not so much a possible invasion as let’s not use any nuclear weapons, negotiating a complicated ballet. Would be inexcusable to blow up the planet over the Ukraine. If there is an invasion by Russia, the only likely response will be severe or more severe economic sanctions. Europe may not follow because their economy would suffer, China will help Russia in any way they can, Iran also will be part of the underhanded help. I love to listen to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, so calm and worldly, he knows his stuff and will not be perturbed, Blinken looks unsure and nervous.

As for Canada in all this, well our Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, a nice person and well educated but way over her head. Canada can do nothing in this conflict we are irrelevant, even with our gift of $120 million to help Ukraine, chump change really. Our Armed forces leadership has been decapitated with a series of well timed alleged sexual peccadillos. Our army is short 12,000 men, ill equipped, no air force to speak of and no navy, all this due to decades of cut backs on military spending. So I so not think that Russia is too worried about us.

How many days til Spring? 58 Days! Seems like an eternity.

Just a few more days

Tags

Booster, life, names, nicknames, series, TV, Wine

We are scheduled for our Booster shot in 11 days and we are looking forward to it.

The weather here continues to be Spring like and we are now in January. In fact this is very much the weather that the West Coast of Canada is known for around Victoria and Vancouver. However this year it is exactly the opposite, the West Coast is getting a glacial winter while we are basking in mild temperature. On New Year’s day some brave souls even went dipping into the sea, now that is amazing in itself but shows how much the temperature has warmed up.

W and I are an old couple, almost 44 years together so we have nicknames for each other. W calls me Kuchisabishii , what a linguist he is, it is a Japanese word meaning; When you’re not hungry but you eat because you mouth is lonely. Years ago he would call me a Boeotian a Greek word meaning; without cultural refinement. Yes words of endearment, I have no idea how he comes up with such terms.

On the topic of wines; Have you ever tried to remember a wine that blew your mind, but can’t quite recall the name or even the country it was from? This happens to me all the time.

That’s exactly the sort of problem that taking wine notes can solve. But there’s more to it than just keeping track of amazing wines that you want to remember (and maybe even some terrible ones you’d like to forget).

Believe it or not, there are some serious long-term advantages to tasting with a journal, as long as you remember to keep the journal handy and consult it, which I do not always do.

Did you know that taking notes on wine is a great way to build up powerful skills of observation and recollection? Plus, it might actually be really good for your brain. I do not know if this is actually true, but it is worth a try.

Some Master Sommeliers say it increases brain activity in memory and cognitive function. 

Apparently, keeping notes on aromas, flavours will help you remember their details in the long run.

So, if you’re already sipping wine daily as I do, why not use it as an opportunity to exercise your brain?

Taking of observations, reading LeCarré spy novels you see that his characters are no James Bond, they are all good at observation, discretion and analysis, top quality of a good spy. They do not have guns and work in a network. Many have every day problems with spouses and children which can include drink. I suppose you can make movies with such stories and they have, but without the fancy cars, chesty blonds and smart weapons. The enemies or opposition as they are called are grimy and dull somewhat caught up in Soviet ideology, true LeCarré wrote during the Cold War so he reflects that time from 1960 to 1990. But his later books talk more about a new world where the opposition now has new goals but the techniques remain the same.

We just started watching GOOD OMENS which is a 6 part series on BBC. The story of an Angel Aziraphale and a Demon Crowley on Earth battling it out on behalf of their respective masters. The culmination is Armageddon and the Day of Judgement. It is very well done and clever, the action is mostly in England but also in the Middle East, Garden of Eden etc.. The human characters are feckless and self-absorbed unable to see beyond their immediate world. The funny part is the birth of the Anti-Christ and a switcheroo at birth at the hospital and the Demon and the Angel loose track of him. It is very important that they find the kid otherwise the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse will not know what to do and the great battle between good and evil cannot take place, so no end of the world. There is also another funny moment when the Angel wishes to speak to God directly on an important matter about the Anti-Christ however he is reminded that God speaks to no one. So he can speak to his spokesperson who speaks for God. These BBC series are well done and full of twists and turns and some funny moments. The show plays up the gay couple aspect, making the central focus the 6,000-year long relationship between the sometimes-bad angel Aziraphale and the sometimes-good demon Crowley. It’s a profoundly queer relationship — not just because the two are male-presenting, but because their relationship involves no physical intimacy. We are watching it on Amazon Prime.

Tires cracking

Tags

2021, beaujolais, hockey, life, PEI, racism, Tires, Wine, winter

I had my winter tires installed last week and was told that they had some weather cracking. I did not know what that meant and asked to be shown. Sure enough there are cracks, it also turns out they are 11 years old. That last bit amazed me, because I was convinced that they were 2 years old. I did by a new car 3 years ago and usually you have to buy new winter tires because the wheel size change after a few years and a car is remodelled. I can still keep them for one more Winter, I really do not drive the car much and most of it is within this small town. Next Winter I will get new tires.

We had the very first lighting of the Hanukkah Menorah (9 branches) in Charlottetown. The Jewish community is small in PEI about 200 people, but they have been here for 120 years. Something that is never mentioned. This year the Jewish community given the anniversary of the beginning of their community, erected a Menorah in the park by the Legislature and several politicians came, including the Premier and the Speaker of the House. It was a nice evening, singing traditional songs, etc. The town of Stratford across the river from us also has a Menorah this year.

What is commonplace in most other regions of Canada, is not here. PEI is very insular and change comes slowly and it is a big challenge for many. We have 1000 Buddhist Monks in Brudenell which is a small settlement with a few families. The monks have beautiful farms, they do a lot of good work with the poor, bake bread, and are very peaceful. The local at least some of them hate that, bunch of foreigners. The junior hockey league got itself in big trouble a few days ago, a young 16 year old player thought it was ok to say to non-whites that they did not belong because hockey is a white man sports. This was said in front of the coaches, parents, referees. All pretended that they heard nothing, until it hit the news and now it’s the old “zero tolerance for that sort of thing” and we are doing an investigation. Sure you are, it’s a cover your ass exercise. In the meantime teams from Nova Scotia are boycotting PEI and will not play games here. Change is happening slowly and it’s a good thing.

In other news, today I bought a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau 2021, a young wine that must be drunk before the end of the year, it does not keep. Strangely enough they kept the display with the whiskey section. I had to ask in order to find it. Beaujolais nouveau has to be served at 15C which is considered room temperature. That is cool but this is the way to enjoy it.

This year it is said to be very fruity and the French also make a new Beaujolais Nouveau Rosé. Will have to see how it taste.

Long Weekend

Tags

chicken, cuisine, Food, life, social, Wine

This weekend is a long one in many countries around the world. Pentecost Weekend is celebrated in Europe, in Canada it is the Official Birthday Weekend of the Queen, it use to be known as Victoria Day but this has now changed. In the USA it is also a holiday.

Here in Canada it is seen as the first long weekend of Summer, time to go to the Cottage and fire up the Bar-B-Q. Plant the garden, make plans for the Summer months.

Friday we had a wonderful lobster dinner, I had a 2 lbs lobster, one of the best I have ever had and it had been all opened up, so I did not have to fight with it. Friday was a gorgeous day weather wise and though Saturday and Sunday have been a washout sort off with uncertain weather, Monday promises to be another sunny day.

I am going to make a Lobster Salad for dinner Monday, we will start with fresh asparagus in Hollandaise Sauce and we will have orange slices with syrup for dessert.

The Lobster salad I have wanted to try for some time, it is very easy to make and lobster I can get very easily, the price in fact has come down by $2 dllrs a pound.

We have done a lot of transitioning from Winter to Summer, going through wardrobes and giving away big bags of clothing, bought new summer cotton sheets the first in 11 years, washed and put away the flannel sheets, all this takes time. I have not gotten around the garden yet nor I have looked at flowers to get for window boxes. Still have to wash windows but too many rainy days put a stop to it. It will get done eventually.

There seems to be in the Press and amongst the Conservatives this fascination with vaccination rates. In January it was ”not enough” vaccines, despite the fact that millions of doses had been bought by the Federal Government. Then in March it was ” delays in delivery” we are doomed, then in April it was ” The USA is doing better than us vaccination wise” of course forgetting that the USA is 10 times our population and economic size, so you really cannot compare. In May now its ”another Summer of restrictions” Yes only 50% of the population has received on dose of the vaccine and the two dose level will be reached in September for 75% of the population. The big problem in our Canadian Federation is that the National Government buys supplies but it is up to the Provinces to vaccinate since Health Care falls under their jurisdiction and we have several stauch Pro-Trump Premiers in Canada who do not believe in the pandemic and will do nothing about it, not even organizing a vaccination campaign. So the Red Cross and the Army have to do it. Not to mention that Premier Pallister gave a 5 cent increase to minimum wage workers in his province. A nickel increase, should change his name to scrooge.

Manitoba, pop 1.3 million is the latest now to see its health care system collapse sending patients 600km away to Ontario for ICU beds and treatment. Again the Premier Brian Pallister prefers to blame everyone else but himself for his gross incompetence. Again happy to be in PEI where 40% of the population is vaccinated and probably by July most if not all of us will have our 2 shots.

Every night we will have dinner mostly at home and Will or I will cook dinner. So it is different every night from fish to seafood, to steak to pasta or some kind of dish like meatloaf, the recipe of Helen Corbett or macaroni and cheese from a recipe we may have seen no YouTube. We also decide in the morning what we will have for dinner that night, unless we decide to go out for dinner.

This evening I had 7 chicken thighs with bone and skin and I was wondering how I would cook them. I looked up a recipe which cooks them in a cast iron pan, it take all of 24 minutes to cook on both sides, starting with the skin on side. In the second part of cooking you add a chopped onion and when the thighs are cooked, you remove it all from the pan and then pour about a glass of white wine like a Chardonnay and stir to get all those juices from the cooking, add one table spoon of Crème Fraiche, one table spoon of Dijon mustard and one tea spoon of a grain mustard or in this case I had orange and tarragon mustard, mix it all up in the pan and then add back the chicken thighs let rest for about a minute and serve. The sauce with the chicken was very good and the onion added to the flavour. I was surprised how easy it all was to do.

Here is the recipe on YouTube, the heat on the stove should me medium high but I reduced the cooking time of the chicken because my chicken portions was not as big as hers here. Keep on eye on the onion also to avoid burning.

Autumn is coming

Tags

Canada., Counsellor, Crown, Food, Lascelles, PEI, Wine

As if on the dot as of the 15 August the weather cooled all of a sudden, as it does every year, we went from 38C to 22C. and it is more comfortable now. The weather is still sunny and though it is nice for us in the City it is a crisis for farmers with lack of rainfall and the fire index is critically high, so no open fires are allowed anywhere. Though I noticed today that the Sun is lower in the sky and enters the house at a more horizontal angle and the days are progressively getting shorter.

Everyday we have our activities planned for the day and marked on the calendar. Now because of the pandemic most of our volunteer activities are on hold. But we still have to shop or see friends or get a haircut or simply travel on the island. This Summer we went to French River in the New London area and stayed at a nice cottage, something we are sure to repeat, we enjoyed ourselves so much. Being Summer, we drink a lot of Rosé and across the street from our house is a new wine shop with 400 labels of wines which would fall in the more notable category. The prices are from $20 to $900 a bottle depending of the wine and vintage, found some very good German white and Italian rosé from Puglia.

Lately we have been to small diner parties at friends. Now we all brace ourselves for the coming Fall Season and the return to school for so many. Fortunately our little island has been sparred the worst and we only have a handful of cases and all came from people returning from abroad. Self-isolating at home and all cases have been mild, no hospitalization, lucky indeed.

What I really like to do is to start the day with quiet music with my morning Espresso with Nicky by my side. On the Weekend, Radio-Canada has music programs with a host who talks on various topics engaging the listener, the music is soft, classical, I like piano music like Satie, Grieg, Ravel or Debussy. Every evening, we rarely go out at night, after dinner, which for us is around 08:30pm because we have dinner late by Canadian 5pm standard, I like to sit in my chair in the living room with Nicky beside me and listen to classical music, reading. Currently I am reading the letters and journals of Sir Alan Frederick Lascelles, known as Tommy, private secretary to the King and later to his daughter Elizabeth II, fascinating behind the scene stuff, so well written a real page turner, the documents were edited by Duff Hart-Davis, who did all the necessary work to put the book together and sought all necessary permissions. A difficult task because the Courtiers are protective of such documents seen as State Papers, in the end the Queen agreed and gave permission for publication.

We did not have the annual parade on 15 August due to Covid 19 but our neighbour will have a lunch outdoor on Friday as she does every year. A simple get together. A week from now we invited 20 friends (this is the legal limit) to have dinner and our good friend Pico will make his famous Seafood Paella in his metre wide dish, that alone is worth the show, quite a nice dish. We are using a friend’s secluded yard which is nice and private on a quiet street. I know that small gatherings are now allowed as long as you follow precautions.

On other news, we have a new Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs and is currently Deputy Prime Minister, she will now have the Finance Portfolio as well and will present in the Fall an economic forecast. Also yesterday the Prime Minister went to see the Governor General and ask her to * Prorogue Parliament until 23 September, when the House will return and we will have a Speech from the Throne giving out the details of the Government’s new program to renew the economy after this first Covid phase. Freeland is famous for having handled the negotiations to the new Free Trade Agreement CUSMA with the Trump administration, a difficult task if there ever was one.

It looks like we may have a general election in October despite the fact that most people do not want one due to the Pandemic. But the other parties in the House appear keen, despite the fact that the Conservative will have a brand new leader and the NDP have no money for an election, the Green Party should also have a new leader by then. The Separatist Bloc Quebecois are pushing for an election but remains to be seen if they will be able to win over other MPs to vote against the Government. The test may come as soon as 23 September since a vote of confidence must take place after the Speech from the Throne.  At the moment PM Trudeau has a minority of seats in the House but the poles show him winning the next election, time will tell.

 

*Prorogue; Prorogation is a political process which marks the end of a parliamentary session, and also refers to the time between the end of one parliamentary session and the start of another.

 

 

 

 

 

Restaurant recommendations

Tags

coffe, Food, Italy, Restaurants, Rome Italy, Wine

I have on FB post from Italian sites run by Americans in the USA. The Italian site promotes property for sale, restaurants, cities to visit, cultural tips, etc. It also promotes news items from Condé Nast and CNN travel.

Having lived in Italy, I am less and less enamoured with such sites. One like Condé Nast, tend to recommend the same spots over and over again, Tuscany being one, Florence and Venice is another, there is also the constant refrain of pursuing authenticity.

What I find disappointing is that often what they recommend is neither authentic and is usually expensive or they go budget and it is so cheap that you wonder if it makes any sense to even go.

There are also a lot of expat Americans who have made a business of luring tourists into their business as tour guides or Italian cooking classes. They are popular because they speak english and what they propose is not challenging and made to make you believe that this is how it is done.

This week Condé Nast was proposing a restaurant as authentic in Rome near the Pantheon, first it is not near the Pantheon at all. This establishment has been there since 1930, it is very simple and non discript. Then Anthony Bourdain on his show on CNN went to this restaurant and he makes a point of not telling you the name of the place. Interviews a young woman while he eats with his fingers and speaks with his mouth full, because he is a celebrity. The young woman goes on about how ”la mamma” has been cooking since for ever, if the restaurant opened in 1930, ”la mamma” would be at least 100 years old now. Then a blogger who lives in Rome, wrote about the place and though will no recommend it because the wine is cheap and undrinkable, the owners Mario and Teresa will sometime pad the bill and the food has apparently been the same for many decades. So the concept of no menu, we serve the daily special is out the window, the special has not changed in 85 years.

The restaurant is called Settimio al Pellegrino on Via del Pellegrino 117,  it is a trattoria, meaning a cheap eats place. I get really annoyed with Bourdain who I consider a fraud who is trading on his past in NYC restaurants as a Chef apparently. He is certainly very clever at promoting himself but then so was Paris Hilton and that Kardashian women.

I can understand that a traveller who may have this one trip and who may want to make this into the trip of a life time, who only has a few days in Rome or Italy will do whatever they can to make it worthwhile. So Condé Nast or Bourdain come in and sell their wares, it may be what you want and it may not, buyer beware, but the whole authentic thing is a fraud.

Condé Nast like many travel sites hires writers to produce articles about a place, this does not mean that the writer has been to the place they write about. Last year per example Air Canada had a list of the best restaurants in Canada. Most of them were in Vancouver, Toronto, there were 2 in Montreal. Considering the vast distances between those cities, I was wondering if the writer had travelled to any of them.  I looked up who had written the article, it was a young Asian woman who lived in Los Angeles. I sent her an email telling her that I really found her choice of best restaurants very odd. Ottawa has good restaurants, none mentioned, Quebec City, no, how about in the Maritimes, none mentioned. She replied that she in fact had picked her choices from another magazine and travel guides and simply re-wrote a newish article, she had never been to Canada. Well she was honest. I have to say that I usually find airline recommendation of hotels or restaurant very strange. The segment they wish to appeal to is usually the traveller on large expense accounts who can drop $400 dollars a night or more and pick $200 bottle of wines on the menu.

It all comes down, in the case of Italy, Rome or any other cities, if you really want authentic, well I am not sure what that means anymore. However there are plenty of good restaurants with typically Roman style cuisine and reasonable and good wines on offer all over the city. First stay away from the restaurants on a famous Piazza like Piazza Navona or around the Colosseum. Don’t go to pizza joints, remember in Italy pizzas are like fast food, in neighbourhoods they are sold in small pieces to simply eat quickly for a couple of Euros. Go to restaurants frequented by Italian families and avoid places with tourist menus or kids menus, that is so not Italian.

The same with coffee shops, Condé Nast and others have been pushing Caffè San Eustachio , on Piazza San Eustachio. It has been there since 1938 and his famous for its roasted coffee beans which are still roasted on a wood fire. Though I wonder given the popularity of the place and the hordes who descend on it everyday if this method is still followed. They only have 6 tables and an espresso is meant to be drunk standing up at the counter in 3 sips. Since 1999 the Ricci brothers who now own the place use Fair Trade Coffee and will charge more for an espresso than other coffee shops. I never liked that place because there are far too many people at any time. Rome has thousands of coffee shops and you can find in any neighbourhood a good one devoid of tourists. The one I liked was in our old neighbourhood, on Via Alessandria near the corner with Corso Trieste, a real neighbourhood caffé.

There are lots of other place, it just requires a bit of flair.

 

 

 

Cooking

Tags

cooking, Entertaining, Food, Gourmet, life, style, Wine

How many people remember Gourmet Magazine? We use to receive it monthly and it had all manner of recipes with all kinds of strange ingredients you knew would not be on the shelf of your local grocery store.

Those were the days when we would give dinner parties and try to replicate one of the recipes in Gourmet. We went through a lot of effort, me shopping for the mystery ingredients and Will cooking it all.

Then came Martha Stewart and we were now on another level all together, it took me quite a bit of time to realize that she had a staff of 50 behind her in the kitchen, house, garden to do all those little simple chores. You never saw them and no mention was ever made of them, but if you tried to do something she suggested you quickly realized that you needed days of preparation in order to achieve a decent level. Then came Bon Appétit and then America’s Test Kitchen with Christopher Kimball, love that show on PBS.

With those dinner parties and luncheons, table setting was also important, the right flowers for the centre of the table, linens and dishware to accompany the food, crystal glasses, silverware, plate or sterling. I use to spend a lot of time on thinking about the details. I still do some planning but it is a lot simpler now.

We did a lot of those dinner parties throughout the years and did entertain but that was a different time and we did have people to help with the service at table, cooking, cleaning etc.

I would not think of doing any of this nowadays, fashion has changed, everyone is more in favour of simpler dishes and smaller portions, people also do not drink as much. Many only drink wine, cocktails are out and after dinner drinks are no longer offered. We also entertain differently more casual and relaxed.

Though I still like to cook something special and try a new recipe, I am just not willing to spend the time we use to spend in the preparation. Well prepared, good food does not need to be complicated to please. Each meal on a daily basis is simpler but all are made from scratch and we have resisted so far the frozen entrées or processed can foods. My motto is If I have to eat it, then it should be good. When we have guests we always try to surprise them with a dish they never had at our house, no repeats and no take-out.

I still like a good bottle of wine and will go to some effort to find what is best but at reasonable price.

Simple is good and still looks beautiful! Next weekend we are having friends over to celebrate our first Winter visit to PEI one year ago this month, this is when we decided to move here. The menu will be gourmet pizza with various toppings, I asked our guests what type of pizza they like, some are vegan and others have toppings they really like so will try to please all. We will have wine paired depending on the flavours. It will be all about conversation, good food, wine and the moment.

Tomorrow Sunday our friends will skate across the street from our house on the improvised skating rink, it is fairly cold right now, the ice is like a polished mirror. I told them to come to our place afterwards for hot chocolate, I have a reserve of two flavours Chocolate truffle and white chocolate to warm them up. It should be fun.

My computer died

Tags

Apple, cars, Computers, dealership, MAC, Rideau Centre, service, Wine

My 4 year old Mac has serious health problems. Some of the letters on the key board no longer work. So I took it in to the Apple Store for a look and a diagnostic. Funny how the Apple store is a lot like a car dealership, lots of shinny things flashing at you.

You could get this or that, a new product which allows you to do all kinds of things at the speed of light. The things is, if you sit down and think about it for one moment, ask yourself what do I use my Mac for exactly? What functions are most important to me. In my case it’s Gmail and then this blog, the third would be Skype which has nothing to do with Apple. I also like to write documents on a separate program. That’s it.

So the young man at the Apple store calls me and says that the original estimate of what needed to be done to bring my computer back to life went from $250 dollars CDN to $1000 dollars CDN. There are more problems than anticipated despite the fact that the original prognosis looked good. It has to do with a liquid spill, red wine, some 3 years ago while reading ancient Hebrew texts. Which goes to prove that Ancient Hebrew texts, wine and Apple computers are incompatible. Lesson learned.

Guess what a new computer similar to do one I have is only $1019. dollars CDN. So the young man says to me, do you want to go ahead with the repairs, there is no guarantee it will work. I strongly suspect at this point that the policy of Apple is to try to get you to buy something instead of trying to repair your computer.

I wish something could be done but it’s a case where you cannot get a second opinion since there is no one to go to.

The Apple Store is very much in the corporate image Apple wants to give of itself, all the staff are young, under 35, mostly young men, white, wearing the Apple uniform of a blue T-shirt and jeans. You come in report to staff, who does not acknowledge you as much as simply ask your name, you made an appointment online to see someone at the genius bar, you are always addressed by your first name, you are just another customer, staff will assign you to the long table where 20 customers can sit, side by side and discuss there problems with another staff, the genius bar. The conversation is fast, there is a lot of noise and you must pay close attention. I ask them to repeat pointing out that I did not hear what they said, so much background noise, nor fully understood them.

Apple makes no accommodation for the fact that older customers may not fully understand what they are talking about since their speech is peppered with technical jargon. The Apple store does get older customers who are usually more moneyed the the young crowd who will have a iPhone and are looking for a cheap quick fix.

It is too bad that I have to replace my computer but I really do not see what else I can do. What is strange is that the car dealership has the same approach, they do not want to repair your car, they want to sell you a new one, I have received bi-monthly calls since I purchased the car 4 years ago about a trade or buying a new car.

What corporations like Apple fail to realize is that I would not go to their store simply to browse or look at new product because despite the sleek look, it is unwelcoming and Apple is clueless about that. Their flag ship in Ottawa also offers a lot less services than 5 years ago. Less staff, less helpful, more focused on sale and the front area which use to welcome customers has been abandoned and everything happens at the back with as many as 100 customers jammed in the genius bar area.

At this point I always wonder what would it be like if I was shopping in the USA. I am pretty sure the experience would be very different simply based on my own personal experience through the years in various American shops and cities where service standards are higher and different.

 

 

 

 

Meal Time

Tags

daily, Europe, Food, imagination, planning, portions, shopping, Wine

The idea or inspiration for this meal time planning entry was suggested by a post from sporeflections.wordpress.com who lives vicariously in Arizona, apparently they are having an early Spring.

Many people live stressful lives and work far too much, in my humble opinion, work as a concept is highly overrated, in post-modern times we have forgotten to enjoy a meal and just relaxing about life in general. So with this in mind and since I am the generous sort here is a pragmatic little secret I share with you.

I do most of the food shopping and I shop on a daily basis instead of one giant trip to the grocery store each week. I find that every day you can plan ahead and have lots of choices on what you want to serve at meal time. I also follow the rule of Helen Corbitt (1906-1978), the head chef for many years in the kitchen of the flagship Neiman Marcus, who really believed in having a pantry with emergency supplies for guests who just appear. She had a long list of items but oh so practical.

Usually by 8am I know what I am serving that day for dinner or lunch or both. If people come for dinner or for lunch, we do a lot more luncheons now, I can plan a complete menu 3 days in advance, so no surprises, the secret is too keep it simple, good and enjoyable.

All you need is a bit of imagination, discipline and planning and know what works for you. I would never do a new recipe on people in the hope that it might be ok or might work or say to my guests, ”I have no idea if this is good or bad, never tried it before.”

Chef Helen Corbitt of the Zodiac Room at Neiman Marcus, Dallas

I am retired but still fairly busy each day with all manner of things to do around the house and in town. If you are really run off your feet and feel tired by the time you get home, here are some tips on what could help you along instead of going to a fast food outlet or eating frozen processed meals, which is equivalent to rat poison in my book.

The first thing to do is establish what both of you at home like to eat, that should be fairly easy. I usually buy daily a small amounts of fresh lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes which I leave on the counter because the fridge is bad for them, apples, clementines or oranges but only a few, never a bag, in winter because of cost I will buy other fruits more of the season and not imported. Our Canadian dollar is only worth 0.67 cents US right now so it does make a difference in the final bill. Also many other green vegetables or root vegetables, I usually serve 2 vegetables minimum with a meal.

By buying selectively, I can decide ahead of time what green vegetables, root vegetables or potatoes, a variety of them, I wish to prepare with the meal. As for meat, since we have a crockpot, we can prepare spaghetti sauce, stews and soups, etc. I will get Will to tell me what he wants me to buy and then we will spend a couple of days preparing cooking dishes which can be frozen and you have a variety of things in the freezer you can pull out.

I also like to buy chicken, but never whole, parts, deboned and skinless, escalope style or thighs etc… Ham steaks or meat balls my butcher makes. I will also look at other cuts of meat or fowl. Am not buying steaks any more because of the cost again but burger meat like beef, veal, I can mix up with spices and do burgers which I can then freeze. So I have about 7 days of meals prepared ahead of time.

As for fish or seafood, given the state of the oceans nowadays, it is becoming very problematic to buy fresh or wild. Most of the stuff sold in supermarkets is from Asia or South America so do consider that it has been on the road for at least 3 weeks before it gets to you. Though I do look for product from Canada in fish and seafood, PEI being a good source well known for quality.

I also get things like good cheeses and deli meats at my butcher which is cut fresh, I do not buy the pre-packaged processed meats because of the salt content. Fresh eggs can be cooked hard boiled or you can make an omelette and this is simply enough for a lunch. Sicilian Olives because they are sweet and not vinegary and assortment of nuts, but always in small quantities because it looses its freshness quickly.

I also try hard to stick to what I like to call European portions, meaning meat is 5oz steak or pasta is no more than 100 gr. and sauce simply to cover not drown. You can serve a salad with that, dressing just olive oil or a nice gourmet dressing. These days we love blue cheese which is made by our food store and has none of those unpronounceable ingredient names. As for breads I buy small quantities daily or every 3 days, fresh, never that processed white bread stuff that looks like insulation. I do like the hard crust and dense bread.

So by shopping everyday and buying only according to what I planned, we have a diversity of things to eat. Having also a variety of prepared meals which can be reheated makes for variety every night of the week.

As for inviting people over for lunch usually on a Saturday or Sunday, I try to plan a meal that is nice but requires simple steps and everything is ready when the guests arrive. We can have a pre meal drink, to keep things easy I will offer a bubbly and some olives or radishes. I remember reading in my manual from the Hotel School in Lausanne that liquor or cocktails before meals is not a good idea since it spoils the palate for the meal to come. Since we are going to have a meal, you don’t want to ruin your guests appetite with chips and dips.

I also try to keep the desserts light, no heavy cakes or anything too rich. Usually if it is just the two of us, there is no desserts, maybe a fresh fruit not canned. If we have guests then it will be a nice sweet but something that accompanies the meal instead of fighting for first place and displacing the main dish in texture and taste. I find that serving a small glass of dessert wine is a good alternative dessert. I always think that our guests will thank us for not overloading their stomachs with too rich foods.

Pesaro, Capri or Sicilia?

Tags

art., Capri, culture, Etna, Food, Future, opera, PEI, Pesaro, Rossini, Sicily, Wine

Well we have been to those three places, Pesaro is a small town South of Rimini on the Adriatic Coast of Italy and the birth place of the celebrated Opera and Music composer Gioachino Rossini, Barber of Seville Fame. It is also a resort beach town with a long history, excellent restaurant, art galleries, culture, Italian Fashion Creations and a famous Opera Festival in August each year devoted to the music of its famous son, who did not live many years in Pesaro and preferred Paris. We love the place and had many wonderful times there.

 

Inside the Palazzo Moschi-Tosca in Pesaro, books as art installation.

Intermission during an opera performance, patrons on the square in front of the theatre. If you look closely you will see us in the crowd.

Capri, the Island in the bay of Naples, facing the Volcano Vesuvius. Capri is of course famous as a resort for Emperors like Tiberius and the millionaire jet-set, spectacular views, no beaches really because the Island is one big cliff and the few places where you could swim is made of narrow stretches below the cliffs of black flat stones, this is why the wealthy have pools instead. The restaurants are great, so are the hotels, most are small but luxurious, no motel 6 here, it is a lovely place to relax, the hordes of tourists are kept on paths, usually with a guide near to shops so they don’t disturb the peace of the Just. We visited once and I liked it but could not picture myself enjoying the languid lifestyle.

Sicily, we took our car from Rome on the ferry overnight and sailed for Palermo. We arrived at 7:30am and disembarked, we then spent 2 weeks travelling around this wonderful Island once part of greater Greece in Antiquity and then part of the Duchy of Normandy, then France, until the incident of the Sicilian Vespers, see opera of the same name, finally Spain until 1860. From Palermo we travelled to Trapani, Marsala, Mazara del Vallo, Agrigento, Gela, Ragusa, Noto, Siracusa and Catania.

A beautiful island full of surprises, spectacular views, great sea food, wonderful wines, a complex history separate from Italy and a rich ancient culture. Worth many return trips.

 The best quality Marsala wine you can buy, it is not for cooking, not at those prices and it is very good to drink!

Different variety of top quality Marsala wines served by Salvatore the owner of the Wine Bar La Sirena Ubriaca in Marsala.

Wonderful seafood we had in Marsala

Spanish architecture in Mazara del Vallo, Sicily. Much of it built during the period of the Kingdom of Naples and the Two Sicily when Spain was ruling that part of the Peninsula.

Siracusa a wonderful city founded by the Greeks 2800 years ago. In the far distance the snow cap volcano Mount Etna.

The famous Greek Classical Theatre Festival of Siracusa, plays are in Greek. Telling all those famous story from Antiquity. Plays are performed in an ancient theatre built originally for that purpose in antiquity.

The small town of Noto and its beautiful architecture.

The symbol of Catania the little Elephant named Liotru, an old story involving a magician and his elephant made this the symbol of the city

Catania’s famous pastry known as the Tits of St-Agatha, delicious.

As seen from the centre of the City of Catania, Mount Etna acting up again. It is known as a gusher volcano not an explosive one, otherwise there would be no Catania today.

So why am I talking about these three places, yes we visited them and yes we enjoyed them immensely. But what is the connection with the future? Ah! there is the riddle, all three, Pesaro, Capri and Sicilia have a connection and point to events yet to come. So stay tuned, all will be revealed!