The LCBO

In Ontario we have the LCBO, the liquor control board of Ontario. All liquor, beer and wine sales come under the Government of Ontario strict control, demon liquor must be regulated. That tells you we got Protestants in charge here. This State monopoly like the one across the river in Quebec at La Régie des alcools brings in mega bucks for the government. The profits go into financing our socialize medical system and other services. Prior to 1990 the LCBO stores had a system where the hours of operations were not convenient and buying any liquor made you feel as if you were a sinner. Liquor was sold in plain brown paper bags, if someone saw you with a paper bag, you know like your neighbour who was big in your church group well, people would talk. The stores themselves were out of the way and when you went in there was a long counter behind it the store clerk and a metal cage where all the liquor was kept. You filled out a paper form with a pencil not a pen, a pencil. You indicated how many bottles you were buying and what you wanted, you signed the form and brought it up to the cash register to pay in cash only. The store clerk would go into the cage to get those items of demon liquor you had bought. A strict control was kept and you knew the government was keeping a eye on you and your sinful ways. Unless you drank for medicinal purposes, a doctors paper would vouch for your health condition.

It was also and still is prohibited from drinking on the street. If you drank at home you had to make sure the curtains of your house front window were firmly and tightly shut in case your neighbours would see you drinking or worse their children and be scarred for life by your sin. Neighbours did call the police on such people who ignored the law. There were also days in the year the sale of liquor was prohibited, Sunday (The Lord's Day Act), Election day, major holidays and it was and still is forbidden to sell any alcohol before 11 am or after 1am, it use to be 11pm until very recently.

In Quebec things were a lot more relaxed, ah those Quebecois always rocking our Canadian boat. You can drink at any time, Sunday, Election day, or any day as early as 6 am. The breakfast of champions in Quebec is a good beer and corn flakes in the morning. Bars never close before 3am. You can buy wine and beer in grocery stores, Quebec is Roman Catholic and French, that explains it I suppose, loose morals and all that.

Living in Ottawa, the Capital of the great and first Dominion of the British Empire, if you wanted a drink, a bit of fun and a good meal you went across the bridge to Gatineau-Hull. In Quebec we invented the institution of the Businessmen's Lunch which meant a hearty meal, a good drink and a stripper. No such thing to this day in prudish, tight lipped and frowning Ontario.
All that started to change slowly in Ontario around the turn  of the millennium. Ottawa is becoming a little more hip and with it and so is the rest of Ontario, this includes Toronto the good, well not so much anymore now that it has the title of the Detroit of the North.

But I digress, the LCBO has changed from the pre-historic time, the stores now have a modern friendly look and offer a wide range of products, they also have very good wine appreciation courses, cooking courses and wine pairing courses. The depot on South Bank street has a wide selection of excellent wines and liquor, our local liquor store just a few doors down from our place is smaller but has a good choice of liquor and wines. The beer store offers Canadian and international choices of beers.

The LCBO also has a very slick glossy magazine in both French and English on food and wines, beautiful photography and great recipes that are easy to follow and easy to make. Not to mention the other magazine VINTAGES which offers a lot of useful information on cocktail mix and wines. This month Vintages has an excellent article on Sake from Japan and how to pair it with food.
Another article on Rhone Valley wines and on Washington State and Oregon wines. All complimented with great photography. Who would have thought that in Calvinist, Orange Lodge Ontario such humanistic pursuits would ever see the light of day.

Look for www.vintages.com  or www.lcbo.com

In the fall edition of Vintages you can find such items on how to create ambiance for  a dinner, new products at the LCBO store, they recommend Hendrick's gin, recipes on preserves since Canadian Thanksgiving is just around the corner, they propose a butter of pumpkin and maple syrup. They also have recommendations on Ontario wines, we do have excellent wines in Ontario, I can vouch for it.
They also have recipes for late summer cocktails like a Martini of peaches and apricots, two fruits from the Niagara Peninsula, or cocktails made from bubbly Rosé or a Kir Impérial of Niagara with raspberries. There are also recipes for hot cocktail mixing White Jasmin tea with a single malt scotch and a bit of honey.
In the food section Baked apple cardamon or Lamb Tajine or a Veal cutlet with Madeira and dried raisins.  They also have a whole section on Bourbon. There is so much more on fish and desserts.
This beautiful magazine is free at the LCBO.

A funny little story, when I came to Ottawa over a year ago to look for lodgings for the family, one selling point the Real Estate agent used was that we were not far from the Liquor store. I thought that comment funny, I asked what he meant, he answered well most clients want to know how close is the school for the kids and where is the nearest Liquor store, two of the most commonly asked questions in real estate. Children drive you to drink, that explains a lot of things.

The Gazebo at Niagara-on-the-Lake, on lake Ontario and the Niagara river.






   

Friday in Amsterdam

 

We got up around 8 am and watched the city in the early morning. Shops open around 10 and 11 am, so it is relatively quiet until then. We walked around the canals and discovered that each canal in a half moon and the name of the canal represent the class of people who live on and around the area. Per example Prinzen Gracht is for lower middle-class people, Keizers Gracht is middle to upper class merchants, Heren Gracht is the wealthy upper class, the Heren were the Watchmen of the City and you had to be rich to do guard duty because of the cost of armour and weapons, etc... Civic duty placed those citizens of the city at the forefront. They paid for the militia and deputies who did the watching for them.

Detail of a larger painting representing the Heren or the city watchmen, see the wealth of their clothes.

We also discovered that the name of the city was a composition of the name of the Amstel river and Dam which is the central point of the city itself. The Royal Family, House of Orange lives in the capital The Hague which is merely minutes away from Amsterdam. The royals do not own any of the Palaces, they are put at their disposal by the people and the Government.

Royal Palace in Amsterdam on the Dam (main square).

Amsterdam is a city of about 790,000 people, smaller than Ottawa but with a far superior and more developed public transport system than anything we can dream of back home. We saw hundreds of people riding their bikes throughout the city, we have been told many times to be careful to look both ways before crossing any streets, bikes have the right of way.

We had the most beautiful boat ride around the city and we gained a better understanding of the urban plan of Amsterdam and had a good look at the architecture, most, if not all of it, dates from the golden age of The Netherlands as a commercial shipping and trade magnet between Asia and Europe 1600 and 1790.

The houses are tall often 4 to 5 floors, but the frontage is narrow, some less then 2 meter wide at the front. Taxation on a property was calculated on the width of your property at the front street side. So many houses are very narrow at the front but much wider at the back. Similar to what we saw in Vietnam a few years ago.

As early as 1520 the Dutch traded in spices, rare cloth and other precious items. Their main competitors at the time was Portugal. Some of those spices like clove came from Malacca and was extremely expensive. The Dutch also raided the Spanish fleet transporting the Silver from the Americas annually to Spain. These raids were done on orders from the West Indies Company whose board resided and operated from Amsterdam and coveted the silver for the companies fortune and stock holders greater joy. One such raid brought in the equivalent if compared with today, of 500 billion Euros in silver ingots, a phenomenal sum of money then and now. 

Spain had been the colonial master of The Netherlands for many centuries, the Dutch revolted under the leadership of the Prince of Orange and rid themselves of the Spanish Regents. It happened at the same time as Calvin and his brand of Protestantism was gaining popularity. Catholic churches were seen as the power base of Spain, they were taken over and altered to meet the new Protestant standard. We visited several Calvinist churches in Amsterdam and they have no decoration inside, no statues, no Altar and no crosses. Only a pulpit to preach the gospel and an organ for music.

Wester Kerk on the Prinzen Gracht

Amsterdam was an very rich commercial city and due to international trade, developed rapidly during those years, what we see today is the result of this wealth.

We then walked to the Rijksmuseum, currently under renovation until 2013. However the great masters and other works of art can be viewed. Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Ruisdael, etc are on view, reflecting the views and taste of their wealthy patrons who sought portraits of themselves and their families, often in a very familiar setting of every day life, though dressed in their most expensive clothes and jewellery.

An interesting fact on Rembrandt was that he died a pauper despite the fact that he became quite wealthy during his life but he wasted his money on various curios, so much so that when he declared bankruptcy the bailiff made a list of all these many objects for sale, it makes for interesting reading. Rembrandt is buried in the Wester Kerk, the one with the blue imperial Crown at top of its steeple. But no one is sure where exactly his remains are in the church floor, his wife and son Titus are also buried there in marked graves. The church is next door to the Anne Frank House but we did not go in, the lines and wait times were impossible and the house is quite small.

We returned home a little tired but on such a beautiful sunny day it is a pleasure to walk along the canals of this city.