Cooking with Charmaine

 I do not do much of the cooking in our household. My specialties are pizza and cream puffs. However, when a Facebook ad for a holiday entertaining class at The Creative Cook in downtown Bracebridge popped up in my feed, I decided to take the plunge. When I arrived, I was greeted
warmly by Beth Kelly, the owner of The Creative Cook, and our chef for the evening, Charmaine Broughton. You may recognize Charmaine, ­­ she appears on Daytime York Region, CHCH Morning Live, and Breakfast Television, She also writes for Running Room Magazine. Charmaine is on the left in the photo and Beth is on the right.


 Here are the members of my class: in the foreground, Debbie and Kim; back row, left to right, Gramps, Elsie, and Larry.

The first treat of the evening was prosciutto ­wrapped figs with blue cheese. This is a great hors d'oeuvre and is dead easy to make. No recipe needed here. Simply place a fig, a dab of blue cheese,and a sprig of arugula on a piece of prosciutto and roll it up. Presto! This is what you get.








 Next Charmaine prepared Twenty Minute Seafood Chowder. This recipe starts with onions and a carrot and winds it’s way through spices, clam juice, clams, water chestnuts, and salmon. If you like oysters, as I do, add one to the center of the bowl. Lots and lots of flavors here and the crunchy water chestnuts add a nice mouth sensation.





Larry and I teamed up to make the next delight: Caramel Covered Brie with Dried Cherries and Nuts. Melt butter, brown sugar and corn syrup together, then stir in baking soda,dried cherries or cranberries, rosemary, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Pour this mixture over a wheel of brie and serve with an assortment of crackers. This is definitely an eat more. It will soon disappear, believe me! You can also substitute popcorn for the brie if you wish.






The grande finale to the evening was Coconut White Chocolate Cheesecake. Use a food processor to combine nuts, coconut, and butter to make the bottom layer of the cake. This mixture goes in the oven for ten minutes. Next, use the food processor to combine cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, eggs, melted chocolate, and rum. Pour this concoction on top of the first layer and bake. Thirty minutes later the cake comes out and after the addition of some garnishes(lightly toasted coconut, finely chopped white chocolate and fresh berries) the eating commences. Lovely, lovely, lovely.


 All of the recipes are available at http://charmainebroughton.com/creative-cook-holiday-entertaining-cooking-class/.
If I have whetted your interest, Beth is planning more cooking sessions for the winter months. Check out http://www.thecreativecook.ca/ for details. You will not be disappointed!

Top Ten Reasons Why Prime Minister Trudeau is recalling Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighter jets from the war against ISIS:

1. Canada purchased these planes between 1982 and 1988.
2. These planes are older than the technicians servicing them.
3.  Introduction into Canadian service was initially problematic due to early issues with structural fatigue which delayed initial deployment. Canada has lost 18 CF-18s, incurring nine pilot deaths as of November 2010
4. Smurfs are the choice of pilots for the CF-18 dashboard.
5. Parts for these planes are so scarce that you cannot buy them on E-bay.
6. Pilots for these planes must be Grandfathers.
7. The only music on board these fighters is Olivia Newton-John singing Physical. https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DvWz9VN40nCA
8. The  Donkey Kong game is the basis of the onboard avionics.
9. Airplane II: The Sequel is the in-flight movie.
10. The planes need to come back to Canada and go to Canadian Tire to have winter tires installed.

  

Alex, won’t you please come home?

Where, oh where, has Alex Anthopoulos gone?

Oh where, oh where, can he be?

Rumours have been flying since Alex Anthopoulos declined the Blue Jays’ offer to continue as the general manager of the ballclub. The Goose Grease Gramps Truth and Reconciliation Commission has sprung into action to bring you the skinny concerning these rumours.

There is no truth to the rumour that Alex will work for Sneaky D’s restaurant and manage their recreational softball team.

There is no truth to the rumour that Alex will join the Colorado Avalanche hockey team and work to inaugurate nine periods in a hockey game instead of the current three.

There is no truth to the rumour that Alex will start a cottage business sewing his own baseballs.

There is no truth to the rumour that Alex will launch a business building bases for baseball. These bases would be held in place by magnets so that players sliding into the base would not injure themselves.

There is no truth to the rumour that Alex will join the Toronto Raptors as the new mascot, even though he felt the fit was correct.

There is no truth to the rumour that Alex will move to Bracebridge and open a Mr. Greek franchise.

There is no truth to the rumour that Alex has decided to become a player agent specialising in players who are past their prime. His first client will be Stubby Clapp.

There is no truth to the rumour that Alex will become co-host on Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown. When offered the position, he took one look at McCown and decided that the fit was not right.

There is no truth to the rumour that Alex will replace Sid on the Tim and Sid Show, even though their body types are similar.

There is no truth to the rumour that Alex will move to Japan and become the manager of the Nippon Ham Fighters.

That’s all the rumours that we have for now. Stay tuned for further developments!

On Growing Old, One of a Series

My wife and I have a ritual that we follow every Saturday morning: one of us goes to town and purchases coffee, McMuffins, and The Globe and Mail. The fetcher also picks up the Toronto Star at the end of our driveway. We then enjoy the morning immersed in the news, sports, crosswords, Kenken, and Sudoku. This past Saturday it was my turn to do the procuring. You can imagine my consternation when I arrived home with two copies of the Toronto Star and no Globe and Mail!

“Am I losing my mind?" ¨Is Alzheimer's rearing its head?¨

I comforted myself by thinking that I could have done this when I was in my thirties. Could have, but not very likely. I gave the extra copy to my neighbour and returned to town to purchase the Globe. This time, I completed the task successfully!

I saw a cartoon recently that said: “As I grow older my mind doesn´t just wander, sometimes it completely buggers off.” This describes me to a T. I doubt that I will make this mistake again, but I know I will continue to walk into a room and not know why I am there. Usually, a bit of concentration will help me recall my quest.

As my departed mother used to say: “Growing old is hell! However, the alternative is even less attractive!”

I am Embarrased!

I was a member of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) for 33 years. Recent reports have revealed that the Ontario government has been reimbursing OSSTF for costs incurred during recent negotiating sessions: OSSTF received $1,000,000, French teachers garnered $500,000, and English Catholic Teachers scooped $1,000,000, according to The Globe and Mail. The government felt that the new procedure for contract negotiations lasted longer than anticipated, and, as a result, the unions should be compensated for their extra costs. The optics are terrible, as OSSTF actively supports the government during elections. A cynic might say that the expense reimbursements are a payback for the assistance given by OSSTF.

I find this embarrassing, and I would go so far as to suggest that the OSSTF say: ¨Thanks very much, but we have decided to return the expense money. Please spend the money on items that will benefit students.¨ Let´s put the kids first and put this bad practice out to pasture.  
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Either Side of 55

 Either Side of 55
 by James Tough
223 pages
Published by Muskoka Books and Cheryl Tough

Who Knew?
During the forty odd years that I knew Jim Tough, he constantly kept changing the way he made a living. A list of his endeavours includes: prospector, claim staker, kitchen cabinet maker, stonemason, carpenter, log house erector, canoe builder, row boat maker, cottage country contractor, rustic furniture craftsman-and probably there are others that I have forgotten.  In fact, he helped me lay the floor in our house and with the help of another friend,  built the cabinets in my kitchen.
In addition to all his hands-on work, and unbeknownst to me, he was also a writer and a wordsmith. In the publisher's message of Either Side of 55, Patrick Boyer notes:

But you may need your dictionary. There are pejorations, emancipists ,and antifractious situations. You´ll encounter circadian rhythms, ferial outings, feculent bogs, mesorrhine faces, abandoned adits even semi=palmated feet. Without trying to be a lexicographic show-off like Conrad Black or Rex Murphy, James Tough enriched his work with apt use of rare words.  

Over the years I did have a hint that he might have a writerly bent. Jim sent a couple of letters to the editor of our local newspaper. The letters were witty, tongue-in cheek, and I really enjoyed reading them. I used to tell him that I was hoping that he would write some more, but he confided that he had been advised that he should not produce any more missives. I guess that his prose had riled some of the townspeople.Sadly, Jim Tough passed from this world in April of 2014. He left behind a journal of his explorations and his wife, Cheryl, decided to publish his work as a fitting memorial to his life.

During the time that I knew Jim, he would often be absent from Bracebridge for long periods.

I knew that he was working in mine exploration and the staking of claims, but I was never privy to the details of his activities. Jim's book gives you insight into the challenges of life in a 14 x 20 wall tent in the wilderness( often with somewhat questionable employees)

My criterion for judging a book is simple: Did it hook me or not? 

When a book catches me, I finish it quickly and enjoy the insights it provides me. Otherwise, I quit reading partway through the publication and cast it aside.I am happy to report that Either Side of 55 held my interest. I finished reading Jims´ work over two days, and I felt involved in the stories as they unfolded. The final chapter is particularly sweet as Jim uses his frontier knowledge to collect from a reluctant debtor by staking a claim on his lakefront Muskoka property.

Perhaps this quote by Ken Black from the forward of the book says it best: ¨His is not the North of fairy tales and fantasy, but the North of hard-working and sometimes hard-living people who dealt with realities head-on.¨

  I am happy to recommend ¨Either side of 55¨ to you.

Jim's book is available from muskokabooks.com.

Why Goose Grease?

One of the joys of having grandchildren is the opportunity to act silly and entertain them.

I act silly by standing on one leg, making faces, stuffing a napkin up my nose and leaving it hanging [Warning: children enjoy this, parents not so much.], and by talking a lot about goose grease and plucked duck. I do not recall how I got on to this, perhaps it was divine intervention?

If they were pretending to operate a store, I would ask if they had any goose grease for sale. Usually, they would respond in a negative fashion. I would then ask if they had any plucked duck in the store and once again the response would be, "There he goes again, ignore him."

Goose grease became a sort of game that I would use, and I even wrote a story about the magical powers of goose grease. In the story, we all applied goose grease to our fingers. Next we joined hands in a circle. Amazingly, we rose into the air and floated over Santa's Village and watched the elves at work. Suddenly we spotted a young child caught in the spokes of the ferris wheel. A miraculous rescue ensued, all due to the power of goose grease.

However, the story was none too popular with the grandkids, as was the frequent use of goose grease, and I have reduced the use of the words considerably.

However, my son-in-law suggested that I use Goose Grease for the title of my blog, and so, here it is.

If nothing else it has nice alliteration and falls trippingly off the tongue (sorry Shakespeare).

Try it with your grandchildren, and enjoy the fish eye looks you will receive.

By now you are probably wondering if goose grease is real.  A distinguished history of the stuff and its use by the Egyptians, the Romans, and Nigella Lawson resides at http:/www.goosefat.co.uk/page/history.