Pet Peeve and dinner menu

The one thing I hate about any holiday in Canada is how the politicians and the media always turn it into a way to infantilize the population. Politicians make a point to wish everyone a safe and secure holiday. Enjoy yourself but do it responsibly. Why do we need them to say that? As for the media same approach with a message along the lines of what to do and not to do, as if the population was 9 years old. In fact you would not say that to a teenager knowing they would just ignore you or think you are an old fart. So according to our elected officials or the media we are irresponsible and behave like idiots so we need to be told. The other one is the news bulletin telling us that their will be police road blocks and the police is out in force to make sure everyone is behaving themselves, make sure you have a designated driver or take the bus and return safely home before midnight. All these messages may well be done with good intentions but in the end are very disrespectful and coming from politicians who are nothing more than our servants is a big no no.

Another hipster website in Ottaw, is name is Dwayne is promoting a non-alcohol Holiday Season with 12 fruit juice cocktails, again maybe intended to be useful but so offensive, I think he is confusing a Caribbean Cruise with the Christmas Season. Ottawa is known as the town that Fun forgot or the cemetery with lights, such campaigns are sure to make things just as boring as boring can be. I think it can be safely assume that most adults know how to behave and act in a responsible manner, we certainly do not need the sanctimonious messages from the media nor the politicians.

This is truly the hallmark of Canada, giving lessons to others and lecturing others how to live their lives, treating adults as if they were mere children. It's petit bourgeois mentality gone bezerk. I say get with the program, it's the Festive Season, a good ole Saturnalia is in order with lots of Merriment.
Do what I do, if the weather is bad and you want to enjoy your evening with friends, just take a taxi, so easy, let someone else do the driving, I do it and have no worries.
My resolution is to just tune out the PC crowd and wish everyone a Happy Christmas!

ADDENDUM: after writing this ditty, got an email from LoveOttawa, Dwayne's site, instead of answering my question on his philosophy of lecturing people, he showed his colour, his reply was smarmy and he obviously thinks highly of himself, thus the lecture of the evils of alcohol. He belongs in the Age of Temperance and all those rallies of 90 years ago.

Now the dinner menu for this Christmas Eve. I was reading about a typical meal in Rome which is very different from what one might imagine. In North America in the Immigrant Italian community there is a tradition of having 7 different fish dishes but not so in Italy. Here are some idea for either Christmas Eve or Day for a menu. The most traditional dish for a family in Rome is for Mamma or Nonna to prepare a Roast of Lamb, other dishes would be Spaghetti with shrimp tartare, bottarga and clams, Bacala e ceci which is steamed cod with a purée of chick peas, Steamed cod as an appetizer, Rigatoni alla carbonara, Bacala Manteca which is a small torte of buttered cod topped with chicory salad or Jewish Style (Fried) Artichokes, the Jewish community in Rome as been there for 3000 years, so they have a historical influence on the dishes of the City. For dessert being Christmas you have a choice of Panettone or Pan D'Oro. Panettone is a bread like cake filled with raisins or chocolate or orange. Pan D'Oro is a spongecake topped with powered sugar.

We are having roasted lamb and roast potatoes with rosemary and to start Smoked Salmon with sour cream and caviar. In Italy you would have a Tartare of Salmon in lemon juice which is quite good.

Roast Lamb and potatoes

So far our Christmas Season has been quiet, I have not been inside one shop and stayed clear of the crowds.
The weather promises to be really awful in the next few days, freezing rain, hot and cold weather, so we will stay at home.  Tonight the wind is raw and there is a cold humidity in the air. So I say time to open a nice bottle of wine, we do have that special bottle of Marsala which cannot be bought in North America nor for love nor money, small production and high vintage, BUFFA Marsala Vergine 5, not to be used for cooking but for enjoyable sip.  It is the last of a case we brought back from Marsala in Sicily from that little Enoteca The drunken Mermaid and its charming owner Salvatore. Please see the web site for the wines I would love to buy from them,  lasirenaubriaca@live.it

But if all else fails like in Rome most families go out to the restaurant for lunch or dinner. Who wants to cook and clean on Christmas day!

Preparations and Shopping for Xmas

It is funny how until yesterday I thought we were 2 weeks away from Christmas and today by looking at the date I realize we were 7 days away. Time to get busy with getting menus and food.
I always like going to the Liquor store to see what they might have. There is not the variety we found in Europe, say London or Rome but there was quite a few wines I thought interesting. The sales lady was most helpful and in a very good mood, she was even wishing people a Merry Christmas, how very nice and old fashion at the same time.

So I got a good variety of Prosecco, white and red wines and a bottle of Zinfandel to make pears in wine which is always a nice Festive dessert and is served chilled.

As for food, I also want to make small Tarts with blue cheese and pears which are served warm, they are easy to assemble and you simply put in the oven at 325F for 10 minutes.

Then some puff pastry and fresh sausage meat, usually a mild Italian sausage will be used to make piggy in a blanket, always nice to have with a drink. On Christmas eve we will have Canadian Lamb
roasted, easy to make and quick. I found some nice Wild Pacific Coho Smoked Salmon to start. Then for the dessert I called Michael Holland of Cake and Shake at 229 Armstrong st. in the Parkdale Market area, who makes wonderful pastries the old fashion style. I ordered 2 Bûches de Noël, one vanilla with vanilla icing and the other carrot with orange icing.  www.cakeandshake.ca

All our Christmas wishes have been sent electronically or by mail. The house is decorated, so we can just sit back and relax. On the statistical side of things I note that I spent about 260 hours volunteering at the National Gallery of Canada and spent 40 hours at the Canadian War Museum on the Summer exhibit this past year. Something I really enjoy a lot.

'' God is not dead nor doth He sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. With Peace on Earth, good will to men.'' from the poem Christmas Bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Noël in Canada, les anciens Canadiens.

In closing this picture of two little dachshunds in the snow, so very nice and makes me think of my two Nicky and Nora

Sevilla, Andalucia, Espana, part 1.

Seville, Capital of Andalucia, Spain.

Two Roman Emperors come from Andalucia, Trajan and Hadrian. They were born in colonies established as Roman garrisons in Iberia. We arrived in Seville during the night around 3 am.

We had been going up the Guadalqivir river and the Captain had told us that before arriving at Port he would have to do a 180 degree turn and back-up into port. The river at this point is very narrow, so we got up and went to the top deck to see this manouver. At one point before the lift bridge, the ship slowly entered a small basin and started to make this complete turn, it took about 10 minutes as Captain Carl Smith slowly turned the ship. It was fascinating to watch this 30,000 ton ship make such a dramatic 180 degree turn.

The bridge on the Guadalqivir river our cruise ship had to pass backing up into port.

View from our cabin at the back of the ship (stern) you can see the lifted part of the bridge as we are backing up into Port at Seville. Only about 1 meter separates the ship's side from the bridge. 

Then he started to back up towards the Port of Seville about 3 Km away. The first lift bridge is narrow and we had a foot at most on either side, the Captain smoothly cross that obstacle. We then proceeded to dock at the site of the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibit in central Seville, near the Plaza de Espana.

People who lived and worked in Seville, painter Diego Velasquez and writer Miguel de Cervantes, Christopher Columbus was buried here for many decades in the Monastery of the Cartusians until his body was transferred to the Dominican Republic. But in 1892 he was brought back to Seville and now rests in a magnificient mausoleum in the great Cathedral of our Lady of the Holy See (Vatican) in Seville. His son Hermano also has is mausoleum in the same church. It is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world, we spent over 2 hours visiting it today and did not complete our tour, never seen such an over the top church. All of it is dedicated to the greater glory of Imperial Spain, the unapologetic conquest of the New World and Catholicism. It is impressive and overwhelming, built in the ruins of the great Mosque. King Ferdinand III conquered the city in 1248 and it was decided to built a cathedral so big and impressive that visitors would have no choice but to think that the architects were crazy.

The Cathedral of Seville, partial view. 

The statue at the summit of the tower is Faith as a weather wave.

Seville was the great Port of Spain for all the products of the New World, like corn, tobacco, tomatoes, potatoes silver and gold. The City at the time was immensely rich and prosperous. Columbus and Magellan travelled from here in their expeditions. Magellan left Seville on the first around the world trip with his little fleet of boats. He died on one of those trips and a chapel in the great Cathedral is devoted to him.

The great tower of the Port of Sevilla on the Guadalquivir river.

We are off the ship now, the cruise ended in Seville, we are staying 2 more days here. We found a beautiful little apartment hotel by the wall of the Alcazar Royal Palace and the Cathedral on Plaza de la Alianza in the old city centre neighbourhood of Santa Cruz. The Plaza is an Orange tree orchard, with big oranges hanging from the trees. Very quiet and peaceful, we here the bells of the Cathedral next door ringing the hour, half hour, and quarter hour and services 24-7.

Plaza de Toros (1761) Sevilla

I will definitely have to write a separate entry on the Plaza de Toros, all about bull fighting and its history, fascinating. We all remember that the Opera Carmen takes place here. This is were she gets stabbed in the final scene. I will also have to write a separate entry on the Alcazar Palace and gardens.

The honour courtyard of the Alcazar Palace with its Official entrance and Royal apartments above. Partial view.

Seville is beautiful, elegant and steeped in Spanish history and there is so much to see and say about it. 

renovations continue apace

Today the workers completed one room and I had then to reposition all the furniture and empty the second room, luckily our friend B.P. came to lend a hand, bless him. The second room is our office, library with hundreds of books, it took 2 and a half hours to empty it and I was quite tired at the end of it all. Tomorrow the workers return to complete the flooring replacement in that smaller room and I believe from what they said that it would take just a few hours. The effect of Birch wood on the new floor is quite lovely.

I am very happy with the way it is turning out. I also hope to meet with the painter tomorrow. I am expecting a wine delivery. I found out you can buy wine by consignment and do not have to go through the LCBO. A blessing because the wines I wish to buy are not available at the LCBO. This week end we may go to the movies to see a film on Venice and Sunday I have my menu planned out for a luncheon for friends who have just arrived from London, UK.

Next week life should return to normal with Museum activities and the first meetings on Museum business etc...

This is much nicer than that awful old beige broadloom which use to be on the floor.

Fad, Fadish, Transitory, Ephemeral

The restaurant scene in Ottawa and across the river in Gatineau is constantly changing and transforming itself. Since 2000 there has been a net improvement in restaurants in Ottawa. Gatineau which always had the best restaurants of the region has also evolved but the competition from Ottawa is present not to say pressing.

Though this was not the case prior to 1990, Gatineau then known as Hull had restaurants which attracted the high and mighty for its fine cuisine and good wines. Ottawa had the Canadian Grill at the Chateau Laurier Hotel. The rest of the City was composed of restaurants offering mediocre cuisine, a poor wine selection and bad service. Many restaurants like the Green Valley offered a cuisine you might think safe and not challenging, the sort of meal you knew an elderly relative would enjoy with peas and carrots and mash potatoes and gravy. People went out for anniversaries otherwise you did not go out, certainly not during a week night and on weekends only on Friday if you were a childless couple and on Saturday nights with family. Dinner was always early starting around 05:30pm meaning that restaurants were deserted by 08:00pm. The Quebec side of the river was very different, it had restaurants, dance clubs, bars, entertainment, none of which existed in Ottawa, the founders of Ottawa were Presbyterians after all.

In the 1980's the concept of Family restaurants became very popular, it seems that every new restaurants was family oriented, offered all you can eat menus for a few dollars. We had the Spaghetti Factory, various restaurants offering all you can eat salad bars and the kids could run around. None of it was conducive to fine dining or a pleasant atmosphere. Then the Brunch scene on Sunday became another fad, quickly extended to Saturday and then morphing with breakfast, so the Brunch could start at 8am and run until 1pm. Most clients though they might go out very late for breakfast preferred still a breakfast menu, eggs and sausage than a more lunch mid-day style menu. So to this day we still do not have in Ottawa a real Brunch menu of dishes mixing both early morning and mid-day meal. For the longest while Quiche and Black Forest cakes were all the rage until the Cheese Cake New-York style made its entry, all of that has now disappeared, another fad.

The Capital also grew, from half a million people in 1976 to one million today, the government presence has shrank considerably and with new arrivals to the city, new taste develop and new offerings appear. Many new young Chefs have opened restaurants in Ottawa, the market place is less crowded for them than in say Montreal or Toronto and with the awards they have won at various culinary contests have established a new philosophy of food creation in the public mind.

You will often hear the word Hipster to describe those who go out a lot. I am not quite sure what that term means, Hipsters do this or that, they are on the scene, is there a scene? Where? Also the word Hipster appears to describe a young person, under 40 who is single and lives in the downtown core.
But I am not so sure they have all that much influence in the changes we have seen in restaurant offering. What has definitely changed is the atmosphere in restaurants, more qualified Chefs instead of general cooks and menus are created not simply put together with no thought. Many restaurants are Chef Owned, I think here of Café Fraser, Oz, 327 Wine Bar, Atelier, DiVino and others. Meaning that you are not dealing with an owner who hired some cook with little knowledge of food preparation, this was too often the case in the past. Now you see the Chef at work in an open concept kitchen.

There is a emphasis on quality, preparing food from scratch, innovative cuisine and a quality decor.
Though this does not prevent the return of the fad restaurant with items copied from foreign cuisines, usually Southern US foods and presented as innovative and different, boiled peanuts, yard bird AKA roast chicken and ribs. Micro breweries have mushroomed and more are coming, the market will certainly be saturated very quickly. This is probably a fad and will pass, there is always a crowd following trends and maybe this is where the Hipsters fall in.

Quality bakeries from the original BOKO on Elgin c.1980 we now have Art-Is-In at City Centre which offers daily fresh bake breads and goods and the guarantee is that it is organic and just out of the oven. I can vouch for that, the bread is still hot when you buy it. There are many more who offer a variety of bake goods, the famous gluten free Pastry Shop Thimblecakes on Bank street produces the most fanciful cakes, just looking at their website is fun.

Restaurants also offer a wider selection of wines, for years the Government of Ontario through the Liquor Board (LCBO) had a choke hold on liquor sales. Now restaurants go through agents who buy on consignment, private customers can do the same. This has a beneficial effect of opening up the offer and allowing people to sample wines otherwise not available. Anyone remember the days of the Chablis or Chardonnay as if that was the only White wines available.

All these changes can only bode well for the future of the City and by 2017 when we celebrate 150 years of Confederation, Ottawa will not be like the small town of 1967.

Easy Traditional Summer Italian Dessert

It seems that Italian restaurant in Canada know of only 3 desserts, Gelato usually too sweet and not home made, Tiramisu again factory made and taste like cardboard and Canolli usually made by some food company and not fresh.

However in Italy desserts like any dish are often very regional and follow tradition which does not cross the Atlantic easily nor would you find it in another region of Italy. By mid to end July peaches start appearing on the markets in many varieties. They are usually grown in areas just a few kilometers outside the city and so they are left on the trees by the farmers until they are ripe and ready for the picking and trucked in to the local markets early in the morning each day around 04:30 am.

Italians do not usually have a sweet dessert after a meal, but at this time of the year you will find a home made dessert that is very traditional, very old fashioned and very easy to make. You only need two ingredients and it takes about 5 minutes to put together.

The dessert is a favourite of older men, many will tell you of seeing their grandfather or father taking a peach the yellow flesh variety, cut it up put it in a large wine glass and pour white wine over it all. Voilà!

On any given day grandfather or grandmother or an uncle will tell the child, Scendi a prendere le pesche, go get some peaches at the market. The word peach in Italian is pronounced Pes Ke.

The peaches have to be of the gialle variety. The vendor will ask Di che tipo? What type you want.  The answer is Da vino (for wine) so it will be the gialle, yellow or gaillone, big yellow. Take the time to smell the fruit from where the stem was, very important, the fragrance runs from peach blossom to magnolia, the texture from melon to mango to apricot and the fruit has to be soft if you are going to eat them today.

It is a beautiful, simple and elegant dessert, a cold glass of simple table white wine with fresh cut peaches drown in the liquid. Now that is a true Italian dessert.

Peaches red with yellow flesh

Peaches Snuff box variety from the eastern slope of Mount Etna, Sicily

Peaches varieties in the local markets in Rome

busy days and nice evening

Since I retired I started to work as a volunteer at the National Gallery of Canada. It has been a lot of fun, very nice people and so many interesting things to see and learn from. Our group is trained by the Education dept of the NGC so that we can be more informed on the programs of the museum and how to attract more people to our National Museum.

Recently I have been asked to organized cultural afternoons, for the last 50 years the volunteers have organized programs in French and in English presenting a variety of knowledgeable speakers on Arts and Culture. I have finalized the French language program for the Season 2013-2014 entitled Mercredis culturels starting in September. I am very happy with the results and am now working on the program for the Season 2014-2015.

For details on the NGC go to www.gallery.ca or in French, www.beaux-arts.ca





Also this week we went to one of the many offerings by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, they have a variety of programs on food and wine,  cooking, cocktails, etc... All very well done in there large studio like kitchens on site in their larger shops, very sleek and modern.

The Chef was Jan Sunstrum from Manotick which is just outside Ottawa. The Sommelier was Janet Unhola who was knowledgeable and very pleasant.

We started with New Potato and Leek Cakes in Blue Cheese Sauce, the wine served was a White Burgundy Montagny 1er Cru 2010.

Then we had Roasted Rack of Lamb in Lemon Salsa Verde, the wine served was Chateau de Puisseguin Curat St-Emilion 2010, a big red at 14% alcohol. Very good and went well with the lamb.

The Salsa Verde is an old Italian classic served with steaks in Tuscany. It has Parsley, capers, 3 fillet of anchovies (these are the white anchovies in lemon juice not the dried up cured thing found on pizza) Anchovy is a lovely little white fish sweet tasting. Lemon juice and zest and 2 cloves of garlic chopped.

The dessert was White chocolate and ginger crème brulée served with a Greek wine Muscat of Samos
chilled.  This wine was wonderful and well paired with the dessert.

We bought some of the red wine and some of the dessert wine.

On the way out I could not resist buying a bottle of single malt 12 year old Scotch, Auchentoshan from the Lowlands, aroma of toasted almonds and caramelized toffee and a smooth finish.

I also bought some other wines this week, a remark had been made that we were somewhat low in the cellar on wines. We must always have a reserve just in case of emergency. So its best to buy by the case.

A French, A Greek, 2 Americans, an Austrian Grüner Veltliner.

Single Malt Scotch currently on offer at home. A habit I picked up in Rome of all places.

And for those of you going to Italy, the famous Carabinieri police, known for their style.

Travel to Italy anyone?

A few weeks ago I became an associate with a group of people who are promoting Italy as a travel destination. Our group offers Italian language courses, Cooking classes and Wine tours in Italy. We can also offer guide tours of Italian regions, advice and services on villa and apartment rentals in Italy, preferred hotels to fit your budget and what ever other services you might need if you wish to travel to la bella Italia.

We are all Italian speakers and we have all lived in Italy, some of us even have family there. Our advice is based on sound knowledge of all aspects to ensure that you will find enjoyment in any part of what we have to offer.

Have a look at the website

 If you want any questions on the information on the website you should mention my name as the associate who referred you, Lorenzo. You can contact me directly here and I will forward any request you may have or you can contact Stefania at the following email: stefania@esploritalia.com

Marcus-Aurelius, Campidoglio, Roma

Piazza Venezia, Roma

Report from Stalag 13

For those of you old enough to remember the television series Hogan's Heroes featuring a group of Allied soldiers in a German POW camp during World War II, the prisoners were always a step ahead of the dumb Nazis and the Camp Commander Colonel Klink who was an old softy from the first World War and his side kick Sargent Schultz who knew nothing, nothing!

Well life continues in Ottawa, I have found 2 places who can make a decent Espresso, at least as close to what I use to drink in the morning in Rome. One is the Elgin Dinner on Elgin street of all places, the other is a small café on Kent Street called Délices, I told the owner that I thought his espresso was as good as Rome and now I get a double espresso for the price of a single. Also found a good barber on Gilmour street called Toss. We had a great dinner at Al's Steak House on Elgin last night, it has been around since 1967 run by the Saikali family. I think Al has passed on because his kids are now running the place. The food is excellent with great service. We also noticed that dining out in Ottawa is about the same price as in Rome strangely enough.

My brother and I, he was visiting from Washington DC

  A few days ago I posted a rather unflattering review of life in Ottawa, I have to be careful because people or friends who live in Ottawa will read this blog and may be offended, no offence intended. At any rate those who know me, know that I am a loveable sort and infamous, that's why they are my friends, though as I say it's my view of what I see. This past week I read in the local paper an article by Andrew Cohen, a journalist and University prof at Carleton University, about how Ottawa is a city of tenants. His article was picking up on another article by a British journalist who visits Ottawa regularly and has done so for the last 25 years. It confirmed what I have been seeing all along. In one sentence the article defined Ottawa as a city of Tenants not of Landlords, being tenants no one takes a stake in the city, everyone is detached, it does not belong to them so why bother. An example major bus route cuts are happening on 4 September so the newspaper reports that people will take a taxi now because there is no public transport. That is bizarre to me, but that is the attitude no one will raise a peep about it.

This week is now over and this long weekend we will work around the house continuing to unpack and organize, we are into week 12 of the move, yes 84 days so far, will it ever end. We have done so many visits to the St-Vincent de Paul Society that we should be shareholders, if you want to see our lives go visit them on old Wellington street.  W has done a great deal of work, it is starting to feel like home. We have favourite shops already, found a good dry cleaning place. food places, coffee place, some good restaurants. It seems that going to independent businesses is the way to go in Ottawa, if you want service. Have visited with old friends which is always good and re-comforting, thank God for old friends, bless them all. We have our season tickets to the symphony and looking forward to it. We are also making plans for the future in 2013, stay tuned for that one, major lobbying effort underway.

So we have to remain philosophical about all this and create our own cocoon. If all else fails we have 172 bottles of wine to drink, I am quoting freely from Greek philosophers and Stoics.