Category: Food / drink

Like calling oneself a teetotaller while drinking a beer

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Our second shipment from Green Earth Organics came this week, and we were much happier with the quality. Nothing slimy or wilted; in fact, everything looks a lot better than I’d normally expect in local grocery stores. Our fridge is now loaded down with quality fruit & vegetables. Nellie has pictures that she plans to upload to prove to our mothers that we actually are eating well.

.:.

Speaking of vegetables, Dino sent me a link to this article:

Ten-year-olds with higher IQ scores may be more likely to be vegetarians at age 30.

So say British researchers including Catharine Gale, PhD, a senior research fellow at England’s University of Southampton.

I have a question for the 123 people who called themselves “vegetarians” despite eating chicken and fish though: what do you think the word means?

Hmmm…I just re-read my segue. Dino, I wasn’t calling you a vegetable, I swear.

.:.

Girlfriend du jour: welcome back.
[tags]green earth organics, iq, vegetarian, university of southampton study, girlfriend du jour[/tags]

The market at work

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The Broker’s Bier Borse: how to drink beer and learn about economics at the same time. Brilliant. [via Freakonomics]

.:.

The Winterlicious menu is up. It’ll be tougher to pick restaurants as we’ll be fully vegetarian by the time it rolls around. Thankfully they mark the restaurants with vegetarian options, and Canoe has a sweeeeet-lookin’ gnocchi…

[tags]broker’s bier borse, freakonomics, winterlicious, canoe restaurant[/tags]

Foie gras

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This month’s issue of Toronto Life features a story on foie gras, in which the author Sasha Chapman sees for himself whether the practice of gavage (force-feeding) is cruel, and ponders whether Toronto will ban it as Chicago has, California plans to and New York seems to be considering. It’s a good story, a report on a personal experience, but it doesn’t offer a complete picture of the issue; surely not every producer is as well-run as Aux Champs d’Élisé.

Personally I didn’t eat foie gras, even before I started this going-off-meat plan. I tried it once or twice (and didn’t like it) before I really knew much about how it’s produced. Obviously I feel there’s a moral issue with eating meat, and I feel foie gras production is more cruel than most meat production, but I can’t say how much more cruel exactly. The UK, Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and Israel have all banned the production of foie gras (though you can still buy it there) so this protest obviously isn’t limited to a few humane societies.

If — and it’s a big if — the general public concedes that foie gras production is more cruel than regular meat production, is the difference in cruelty enough to spur a ban on foie gras? Obviously it was in Chicago, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it happen here in Toronto.

[tags]foie gras, chicago, toronto[/tags]

At the end of the day they choose the nerd.

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We’re a bit dozy today. We were out until 2:00ish last night celebrating CB’s birthday with dinner at Rain and drinks at the Chez Victor bar, and didn’t end up going to sleep until 3:30 (see below). We feel fine (which I suspect is better than how CB’s feeling this morning) but we’re still just tired. We’re trying to figure out how we can not go outside at all today. So far it’s our inability to conjure groceries from the air that’s getting in the way.

By the way, driving through clubland at 2 in the morning gives you a brief but entertaining glimpse into the drunk, retarded & homogeneous segment of our population.

.:.

Because I was still completely awake when we got home I decided to watch the Leafs/Canadiens game, recorded earlier in the evening. It’s the first time I’ve been able to watch a Habs game in hi-def, and what an amazing game it was. The Canadiens were atrocious in the first period, just pathetic. Down 2-0 nothing early, and it wasn’t even that close. They managed to claw back into the game though, on the back of Saku Koivu, who practically willed two shots into the net. It went to overtime, then to a shootout, where Sheldon Souray (of all people) scored the winning goal.

Honestly, the Canadiens were lucky to get this one. They twice spotted the Leafs 2-goal leads, were outshot (and outplayed) badly in the first and parts of the second, and watched the final Leafs shootout attempt go off the crossbar. What really seemed to give them life was Francis Bouillon knocking Darcy Tucker out with a straight right to the nose after Tucker had run him into the boards. There were a bunch of big hits all night, and Mike Komisarek had an all-out war with Mats Sundin, so passions were running high…it must’ve been a hard loss for the Leafs to take.

.:.

Stephane Dion, Liberal party leader. I certainly didn’t expect that, but I can’t say I’m disappointed. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next election though. As Rick Mercer put it,

“Liberals see a saviour who will bring them back to power and the Tories are rubbing their hands in glee over the prospect of heading into battle against a French guy who has a dog named Kyoto.”

Please god…no more dog jokes.

[tags]rain lounge, maple leafs, canadiens, stephane dion, liberal party, rick mercer[/tags]

"My painting went from gentle sweeping strokes to stabbing motions."

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There was snow this morning for the first time. Not a lot, just a little bit in the air. Now that it’s December and there’s a bit of snow in the air, I’ll allow myself to feel like Christmas is getting close. T-Bone and I were talking yesterday about how we’re feeling stressed, like we’ve left gift shopping and decorating far too late because the merchants have been decked out for the season since Nov 1…or earlier, if you’re The Bay.

.:.

Speaking of Christmas-overload: the Globe and Mail discusses the now-ubiquitous Christmas Musak. I suppose it’s not fair to pick on yuletide Musak though; it’s awful all year round. Instead, what worries me is that I’ll have to hear the same shit Christmas music every day for the next month; “Wonderful Christmas Time” by Wings, anyone?

.:.

Met M2, KP and DI for some food & drink last night at the Rebel House. I haven’t seen them in a long time, so it was good to catch up and have a few laughs.

.:.

If you liked Shaun Of The Dead, you’ll be as excited about Hot Fuzz as I am. Check out the trailer(s). Bonus points for excellent use of an Eels song too.
[tags]snow, christmas season, musak, rebel house, shaun of the dead, hot fuzz, eels[/tags]

Suck it up and buy a vacuum

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Most Canadians prefer fake christmas trees to real ones. Therefore, most Canadians are nimrods. The most annoying thing about artificial tree makers? They now insist on calling their products “everlasting” instead.

.:.

I just got some dark chocolate in the mail, courtesy of Stanzi. Nothin’ beats mail chocolate.

.:.

Also courtesy of Stanzi (sort of) we got our first shipment from Green Earth Organics today. After she posted a picture of their produce on her blog we signed up…not that I have any particular desire for organic food, but because I have to admit to myself that I’ll be much more likely to eat good produce if it’s brought to my door than if I’m left to buy it. We’re not sold on the quality yet though; the greens seemed pretty slimy. Maybe it’s a one-time thing, or maybe it’s just what you live with when you buy organic. We’ll give it a few weeks and, if it doesn’t get better, figure out a plan B.

.:.

Canadiens goaltender Cristobal Huet has the best SV% and GAA in the NHL, but he was left off the all-star ballot. Surely that must’ve stung a bit, but what does he do? He gets a shutout in his next start. Suck it, NHL.

.:.

The tories are finally putting the same-sex marriage debate back in the house. Good. Let’s get it over with and move on already.

[tags]dark chocolate, green earth organics, cristobal huet, canadiens, same-sex marriage debate, fake christmas trees[/tags]

I'll just have to find some other trappist ale

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We had dinner at Volo tonight with my university friend Farmboy and his wife. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm…pasta n’ beer. I’m sad, though; they no longer carry the delirium tremens.

.:.

Kristen Bell: even hotter in high definition. Hooray for technology.

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It would seem that …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead might be self-destructing. I’m glad I saw them when I had the chance.
[tags]bar volo, kristen bell, and you will know us by the trail of dead[/tags]

F**k

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F**king Firefox just f**king crashed and I lost a huge f**king post that I’d been writing for half a f**king hour. I’m not writing that f**king thing again, so you’re getting a point f**king form version.

  • Five Doors North at Yonge & Eg isn’t very good.
  • Death Of A President was pretty good, maybe a little better than I was expecting (but not quite as good as I’d hoped)
  • Irreversible, while expertly shot, was extremely hard to watch. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you can sit through graphic violence and/or prolonged rape scenes.
  • Moleskine doesn’t make a Citynotebook for Toronto, but they should.

F**k.

[tags]five doors north, toronto, death of a president, irreversible, moleskine[/tags]

Pepsi sounds kinda like peptic. Coincidence?

Dan Dickinson2 Comments

I just can’t get over American political attack ads. Check out this example from the Globe and Mail:

“If Brad Miller had his way, America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals,” the ad says, as mariachi music plays in the background.

Of course there was some fuss earlier in the week about a racist attack ad aimed at Harold Ford Jr., since pulled. It also got a lot of attention north of the border as it took a swipe at Canada staying out of the Iraq war. It didn’t really bother me that much, especially once I saw the rest of the ad. Why should it? Since when should we care what a racist, or someone who’d stoop to racism, thinks about our military record?

.:.

NBC will not show ads for the new documentary about the Dixie Chicks, Shut Up And Sing, but the speed with which the production company jumped on the story…I don’t know, it just smells like a publicity play to me.

.:.

So, I think I might have an ulcer. Or maybe just really bad heartburn; I’m not sure yet. Basically I’ve had heartburn since I got back from the Rockies three weeks ago; a couple of days ago I started watching what I ate and have drunk only milk, and the heartburn’s gone. I even had some hot sauce on my eggs this morning and a Diet Pepsi around noon and I feel fine. I was under the impression that ulcers were caused by stress, but that’s not the case…which makes sense, ’cause I never feel stressed. I’m a very happy guy, despite what some people think. Anyway, I’m fairly certain the cause is the 3-can-a-day Diet Pepsi habit (or more; in my Delano days I got so little sleep that I drank 4 or 5 a day just to stay awake) I’ve had for several years now. Obviously, and probably for more reasons than just stomach acid, it’s time to give that up. What’s really going to suck is that I’ll now be giving up meat and Diet Pepsi at the same time. Worse yet, I need to lose weight, so chocolate’s probably off the menu for a while as well. No meat, chocolate or DP; November’s gonna be a fucker of a month.

.:.

In happier news, we’re gonna go see a movie tonight (D.O.A.P.) with CBGB, it’s my nephew’s birthday, tonight our clocks fall back and it’s less than 8 weeks ’til I’m back on the farm for the holidays. Sounds like my whole family (including the afore-mentioned nephew and my nieces) will be there as well. I’m looking forward to it since we weren’t all together at the same time last year.

[tags]attack ads, harold ford jr, nbc, dixie chicks, ulcer, diet pepsi, death of a president[/tags]

"My two lovely friends"

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It’s true: Deal Or No Deal is the dumbest game show ever. It’s so dumbed-down, and requires so little brainpower from both contestant and viewer, it makes Wheel Of Fortune seem like a Mensa chapter meeting.

.:.

Speaking of the addle-minded, I have a new name for Leafs forward Darcy Tucker: SuperPussy. On Tuesday he was so pissed about his team getting crushed (final score: 6-2) by Ottawa that he started beating on Patrick Eaves, who’s probably never fought in his life. Happily, Ottawa didn’t retaliate tonight by going after Kyle Wellwood or some similar non-combatant; instead they blasted the Leafs 7-2. Between that and Montreal’s last-second (well, almost…they scored with 1.2 seconds left) win over Boston, I’m a happy guy.

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A co-worker pointed out last night something I would never, ever have guessed: many of the Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits outlets here in Toronto serve halal chicken. When she first told me I thought she meant the entire chain, and I thus deemed her insane. But in fact, it appears to be true, so…yeah. That’s pretty weird. Of all the places I expected to serve halal meat, Popeye’s isn’t one of them.

[tags]deal or no deal, mensa, darcy tucker, patrick eaves, leafs, senators, popeye’s, halal[/tags]