9 posts tagged “canadian”

We all know that Canadians like to verbally beat up on our American neighbours. It's all in fun, and we almost always apologize afterwards. I now turn the tables on my own countrypeeps. I was just on the phone with my mother and she told me about a local news story she had just seen tonight. See, the flag on Parliament Hill has been lowered. Now, this is not something that happens often. Various government departments and buildings have their own rules, but only the official rules are followed for the Parliament flag, so again, it's not seen often. It's been lowered recenly due to the death of a past Governor-General, Romeo LeBlanc (from my home province of NB, no less - he was a great guy). Some man-on-the-street interviews were being done today and apparently a very large percentage of people who were asked about the lowered flag assumed it was to mark the passing of none other than Michael Jackson. Holy fucking god, people. You just gave any Americans watching a free pass for the rest of the year, you stupid bastards. Even if you had no clue... Michael Jackson??? Jaysus! Mildly related, I now post a link to an episode of a great Canadian (now finito) comedy, Corner Gas, that I wanted to link to a few months ago when it aired but couldn't find it. The episode is called "American Resolution" and it's a cute take on the Canadian/American thing. Enjoy (or let me know if you can't see it).

If you could see any movie, tv show, play or sporting event "on ice," what would you choose to see performed on ice skates?

Definition

CBC.ca explores what is considered quintessentially Canadian cuisine. After this opening paragraph, I'm copying right from the feature, unless you see pink italics. There is too much information there to include all of it. I recommend going through it as there is some really interesting information along the different tabs of each page of the feature.

 - Canada's native people have heavily influenced this nation's cuisine. There's pemmican (dried meat mixture), buffalo meat, wild turnips and wild rice to name a few. Some original native recipes include roast polar bear, boiled reindeer, sweet pickled beaver, squirrel fricassee, fried woodchuck, stuffed whale breast, steamed muskrat, boiled caribou hoofs and baked skunk. I only included this last sentence so that I could use the phrase "sweet pickled beaver".

 - Ordering the Winnipeg goldeye and the tourtière with a side of poutine followed by Nanaimo bars for dessert will probably get you blank stares south of the border. But here in Canada, it will produce a fine meal of smoked fish, meat pies, fries with cheese curds and gravy, and layered chocolate buttercream squares. I can't even say "Nanaimo squares" without drooling.

 - In many ways maple syrup is synonymous with Canada. Canada has been a leading producer of the golden liquid ever since the native people first taught settlers how to tap maple trees and boil down the sap. Canada produces about 85 per cent of the world's maple syrup. During the spring, the maple sugaring season, an average tree produces between 35 to 50 litres of sap, which will produce between one to 1.5 litres of maple syrup. I've heard this last fact before, but it still amazes me how much it takes to produce so little.

 - It's Quebec's gastronomic contribution to Canadian cuisine: poutine. The holy trinity of fries, gravy and cheese curds has come to represent fast food at its finest or, as some may argue, at its worst. Today poutine is available in some of Canada finest restaurants. High-end versions of poutine use rendered duck skin, goat cheese and even foie gras. Rendered duck skin???

 - "It's a nice little tart without much pedigree but I know you'll be amused by its lack of pretension," is how artist Charles Pachter remembers one particular butter tart. Canadians are serious about the pastry, which dates back to the turn of the century. The butter tart has become part of the national psyche. It's also one of the few genuine Canadian recipes that exists. There are many variations on the butter tart and serious debates have been waged over what makes a proper butter tart. The seemingly innocuous question of adding raisins to the butter, sugar and egg mixture gets Canadians hot under the collar. I'm not a fan of butter tarts, but I give a hearty thumbs up to the pooh poohing of raisins, the devil's candy.

 - Spring in Eastern Canada means picking fiddleheads. The deep green plant is an edible wild fern that resembles the spiral end of a fiddle, hence the name. The native people introduced fiddleheads to the settlers and they have become a popular delicacy, particularly in the Maritimes. The fiddlehead fern, which tastes like a cross between asparagus, green bean and okra, is an annual industry worth $2 million in New Brunswick alone. There are a lot of vegetables of which I am not fond, but I seem to enjoy those that regular veggie eaters almost spurn. The fiddlehead is one of those.

 - There are more doughnut shops per capita in Canada than anywhere else on the planet. Canadians eat more doughnuts than any other country's citizens. Although the doughnut is often seen as an American icon, it has become Canada's unofficial national snack. The popularity of the deep fried treats has to do with Canada's love affair with coffee. Coffee and doughnuts go hand in hand. And since coffee is Canada's number one beverage, its partner in crime, the humble doughnut, ranks up there in popularity. Hey, IG, you've mentioned moving to Canada before. What more do you need? You will have to learn to spell it properly, though.

BobnDougMenu

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from savage chickens

Chickenelectionday

1 comment

Instead of going through other voxers' neighbourhoods and randomly adding everyone you can to your own 'hood, try actually paying attention to whom you are sending these invites. I'm Canadian, you twit. There are people from all over the world on vox. The internet does not belong to the US. I may follow American politics, to a degree, but you have no way of knowing that without having perhaps read my vox all along to see what may perhaps be one or two references. I cannot vote in an American election therefore I really have no real reason to follow your vox or your group. I'm sure Mr. Obama would expect better of you.

* This mini-rant was partially brought on by another site I frequent which is rife with people who are always railing at people who aren't speaking English on the site, and there have actually been comments along the lines of "this site is American" (which it isn't - it's international) and "the internet is American" (which it isn't - it's international).

I'm watching this right now; it's a little over halfway through. If you get a chance to see it, please do so.

edit: the doc just finished and all I can say is "wow" - it just got stronger and stronger as it ran and I really do recommend you see it

Nablo07_seal

This contest is only for my fellow canadian pirates. Apologies to my lovely amurrican friends. Please check it out. I get an entry for every person who enters!