Life in Rockburn, eh?

“It's a reference to some stupidity Whoopi Goldberg said on national tv, Euro.”

“?”

“Hey Gremlin, my aunt just sent me a very old photo of an ancestor from St. Eugene de L'Islet, Quebec. He has a pair of immature bull moose harnessed to a buggy. (I kid you not.)”

“You read about things like that every now and then. They would castrate a young bull and pretty much treat it as a horse.

I remember when it was quite common to see a black bear in a cage at garage stations in the Laurentians north of Momntreal.”

“There might be a few typing errors here because there's a literacy class going on at the IT centre and the instructor is seriously hot and keeps bending over (both ways) to help people at their screen.

There are two ways to begin.

1: My buddy's wife and younger daughter have gone to the Dominican Republis for a week and his older daughter is at university in Montreal. His brother (who stole the pig at the Ormstown Fair) is in international finance/banking and lately mining and has flexible hours (far too many hours, IMO).

2: I live alone; I live alone because I want to. This is good, but there are drawbacks. For example, I rarely cook a roast because I end up eating the same thing for too long. You can freeze leftovers, but eventually they are still leftovers.

The deal with my buddy and his brother is that I tell them when I'm cooking roast beef (roast beast).

(She keeps turning round suddenly to see if I'm watching.)

My buddy's alone for the week and his brother is home (as opposed to up North, China, or Mexico) and I decided to roast a beast.

The grocery store in Ormstown have a section apart from the regular meat section the offers 'choice' (restaurant quality) meat. This is because, for a rural area, we have some truly fine restaurants (Citron et Basilic in Huntingdon, ?Que Passa? and Le Riverain in Ormstown and the kick butt Rockburn Pub in my hamlet).

I told the butcher I wanted a standing prime rib roast and he asked if I wanted 'choice' and I of course said yes. I asked for four ribs and got 3,8kg, or about 81/2 lb.

NINETY-FIVE DOLLARS!!!!

And I thought 4 dollars for Brussels sprouts was bad. Oh well, in for a penny in for a pound and I walked over to the liquor store and got two bottles of Cahors. My buddy's bringing a bottle of bubbly and Paul (his brother) will bring a bottle or two from his cellar.

Menu: Roast beast, black on the outside and pi$$ing blood (she just caught me) on the inside.

Potatoes roasted round the meat.

Yorkshire pudding (I make mine with whole grain flour and real cream).

Mashed carrot and turnip (rutabaga). This is the only time I add butter to vegetables because the brothers got their pre-university education at a private, French Catholic school and abhor root vegetables. They eat my carrots and trunips, but gag on the thought of another parsnip.

Steamed broccoli (I wish I could get English chestnuts to go with them).

Au jus (I'm getting the shoulders back/hands on the hip pose) and onion gravies.

Horseradish of course.

Pray for me, boys and girls; I need your prayers.

If I see that white thong one more time I'm going to lose it.

Gotta go.”

“You and nowslimmer have the most interesting experiences.”

“Someone needs to get Gremlin a digital camera for Christmas so he can share some of his experiences better.”

“You're writing to us when you could have faked a medical issue and got mouth-to-mouth from said bent-over hottie??? You Canadians are way too polite.”

“ASK HER OUT!!!

forcryinoutloud!”

“No more youngsters.

I slept past 10.0 and was in the shower when my housekeeper arrived.

When she saw the place she started to laugh. and siad she usually can't find enough to do.

My buddy arrived with two bottles of Henkell Trocken (aka 'panty remover'), I had two bottles of Cahors and his brother arrived with a Cahors and something from California.

A good time was had by all (I think).”

“Lol!

Mmm, Yorkshire pudding. My mom makes a really wonderful version of it!”

“So no pictures of the instructor?


Grem, my favorite way of preparing root (and a few other) vegetables is to roast them. I use a combination of carrots, celery, pearl onions, sweet potato, beets, parsnips, red bell pepper, crimini mushrooms, and garlic cloves. Clean them, chunk them, toss them in olive, add some salt and pepper then roast them. Awesome.”

“A splash of maple syrup over roasted root veggies is really good, too. I like that, with a little red pepper, salt and a hint of cumin.”

“I like that too, Noncon, but the roast and the potatoes took up all the room.”

“
English Sunday dinner !! Bloody hell Baldrick I'm full !”

“Dang, that looks good.”

“Its why God made Sunday !”

“It took me quite a while and convincing until I tryed lamb shanks with mint sauce for the first time. I didn't fancy the idea of roasted meat with mint sauce. After that it became my favourite dinner at english pubs.
Sometimes it is the most humble meals that one grows particular fond of. Sometimes, during lunch time break, I would walk down to the main road, where there was a guy who sold baked potatos at a stand. I loved mine with baked beans and topped with plenty of grated cheese. Baked potatos are a classic pub grub, but are not available here.”

“OMG! Euro. No baked spuds. Emigrate or start a revolution LOL.
Back in the UK I used to love to see the Old guys who would be around the town with big coal ovens on a cart baking spuds and roast chestnuts in the winter months. Awesome scoff! Fond memories.

Could not find a modern pic”

“Trubrit, there used to be a guy in my hometown (Lapeer, Mi.) that sold baked potatoes and chestnuts in a "rolling oven," as he called it.”

“Awesome. Did you ever try out the food?
Must remember to take chestnuts on next trip. Wrap em in foil and drop them in fire embers for 30 mins. shell them sprinkle of malt vinegar and salt. excellent”

“Brit, the potato man in Leamington had a rolling cart like the one on the picture. Not sure whether it was heated with coal, maybe they use gas nowadays. On cold days one could smell the baked potatos from afar.

People in Bern are nuts for roasted chestnuts. In the old town centre there are stands at every corner. I'd say one is never further away than 200 meters from the next "Marroni Stand".
I love roasted chestnuts.


”

“Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!”

“Just having a few right now...mmmmmmmmmmm.”

“Dang those look good ! Have to travel 25 miles to find a grocer that sells chestnuts. think I will have to go there tomorrow.”

“Last night I made a sautée of pork chops and mushrooms in a cream sauce with Brussels sprouts and buttered noodles. I warmed the plate, but the noodles were cold in no time. Any advice? Euro, how do you keep your Spätzle warm on the plate?”

“eat fast??”

“Keep them in as much of a clump as possible.”

“Keep them as a separate dish stand dish in a slightly larger bowl containing hot water. works like a thermos. Good way to keep any side dishes hot.”

“Firstly, how cold is it in your house??? It must be too cold in your house. I recommend you start heating.

When I cook a complete menu I make the spätzle at the end, or usually I time it so that they will be ready when everything else is ready. I rather keep them in a bowl, not on a flat plate. Spätzle are best straight out of the pot. If you want to make them before everything else, I recommend you keep the pot with the cooking water on the oven. When dinner is ready, bring the water back to boiling. When it boils add the spätzle, maybe for a 2 minutes. Serve.”

“PS: I make my own, home-made spätzle, not those from the supermarket.”

“HM, I just might have the bucks for a 'plane itcket. Pass'auf.”

“I'll keep the spätzle warm.”

“French Canadian Christmas dinner at the Legion Friday. We served 150 dishes of meat ball stew, baked beans (maple syrup not molasses), tourtière (French Canadian meat pie), turkey with stuffing and gravy and mixed veg. Home made ginger loaf with hard icing.

We made almost 1 300$ and 600$ at the bar (it's an elderly crowd).

Saturday was clean-up and washing up, but Sandra was mixing the bloody Caesars.”

“Season of Food.”

“bloody ceasar???

is this what you are talking about:

* 1 1/2 oz. Vodka
* 6 oz. Clamato Juice (Mott's)
* 1 stick Celery
* 1 dash Celery Salt
* 1 wedge Lime
* 1 dash Pepper, black
* 2 splashes Tabasco Sauce
* 2 splashes Worcestershire Sauce

Mixing Instructions

Rim glass useing lime & celery salt. Fill glass 1/3 with ice, add vodka, clamato and a splash each of worcestershire sauce and tabasco. Add a dash of celery salt and pepper, garnish with lime & celery.

if so all I can say is that y'all are a bit strange up there - I mean really _clamato_”

“... quirky.

Yup, that's the one. It's worth a trip to Canada just to try one, eh?”

“These are pretty good:

”

“My neighbour is 85 years old and very active. His wife is 95 and has become very frail and the local clinic sends two nurses to their place twice a week. They both have Life Links which is a button they wear that sends a signal to the local hospital if they need help. I am a contact person.

Ray (my neighbour) has a tool or a machine for everything and still maintains a kick-butt vegetable garden. The barn behind his house is essentially a toy box. My buddies like to tease me about the fact he mows my lawn. He asked me because he keeps the clippings for mulch. I laid down the condition that he could take the clippings, but I would mow the spots he can't get to on his tractor.

Well, he has a snowblowing tractor too, complete with a flashing light which he attached on a rod attached to his seat rail. He did it himself. Ray's been having some problems with the tractor and told me abut it while I was shovelling my lane. He said his grandson was coming this afternoon and I told him I'd shovel if they didn't get it started.

I drove into Huntingdon to get my TT fix and the hospital called me on my cell. 'phone. Mrs. Sauvé had pressed the button - Ray had gone out to shovel and she couldn't see him from the window (he'd gone into his shed, apparently).

Well, I hightailed it to Rockburn (15 min.) and he was resting in the house. He'd done about ½ of his lane. I reminded him that I'd offered to shovel if his tractor didn't start, but you know old people - he had the snow filled lane in his head.

Anyway, I finished the job and now I'm back.”

“The centre is closing for the Hols in 5 min.. Back Jan. 3. Happy Holidays, everyone.”

“Happy holidays to the Rockburn crew.”

“Happy holidays, Gremmie. Take care!”

“Yo Gremlin, how does February look for you? Busy?”

“My neighbour and buddy Bob 'phoned me at noon Friday to see if I wanted to go to Valleyfield (the nearest and prolly smallest city) to get a wine kit. I said sure and he told me to meet him at John, his brother's house in Ormstown (the nearest village) at 3.0 pm.

After picking up the stuff and a take away dinner for himself and his wife he wanted to wash his truck. We got a king can of beer each and drove to the car wash and sipped beer and watched the water/soap/water cycles.

'Fvck, Bob,' I said, 'this is like a date. Wanna hold hands?'

'I'm not ready.'he said, 'Not that there's anything wrong with that, eh?'

That's about as exciting as it gets round here, folks.”

“I got a little tingle :)”

“... to eat and drink like a pig when you're snowed in (when a pig's drunk does it act like a man?) and read Robert Service.

I had the wood stove humming, had bacon and eggs and a fried tomatoe for breakfast, left-over chicken kung pao (extra hot because I made it with my buddy's hot peppers) and curried chicken for dinnner.

I ate dinner early because I figured we'd lose power (which means no heat or water here).

About 7.0 pm I heard a big diesel rumbling out front and went to the door to see what was up. out gets my buddy's brother (the one that stole the pig at the Ormstown Fair). His 350 is in the shop and his girl friend's mini van wasn't going anywhere soon. He can't drive his snowmobile because he's not allowed to use his left arm for six months after trying to kill himself (twice) on the beast, but he had a bad case of cabin fever.

He decided to drive the John Deere over to my place. Highly illegal, but it's only 3 km and there sure wasn't any traffic. He had a six pack (of course) and we drank it and played a few games of crib and drank a bucket of wine.

Spent this morning digging out.

How are you guys doing down there. The pics we got are brutal.”

“i am very pleased to report that we got practically nothing!!!! --at least when compared to that last storm :)

but the kids had a snow day
last edited: 2/03/11 9:37:03 AM”

“Up here in Canuckistan there are only two seasons: winter and road construction, eh?

Right now we're in the transitional Mud Period (slow mail delivery because the sleds drag and what with the right-handed pee-ers, the left-handed pee-ers and the squatters, oh well, you know).

The geese are everywhere, Canadas with their two-note honk and the snows with their overhead barking practically drown out the sound of the children playing in the school yard across the street. Below the geese are clouds of steam rising from the sugar shacks putting out another season's supply of maple syrup.

My buddy got a deal on a new, in-the-box M1911 A1 from Springfield Armoury, nothing special, parkerised and standard sights. We took the quad to his front bush and cracked off a few rounds. The recoil wasn't as bad as I had read. It was there, but quite manageable.

That's about it for now. Happy Equinox this Sunday.

Doug”

“Has Spring arrived yet, eh?”