Whiskey ... is like art

I am pleased; so, so pleased to learn I like ORDINARY whiskey. I found a couple of websites where whiskey drinkers list their favourite brands and then describe in detail how much they enjoy the flavours.  There are things like hint of vanilla, smokey palette, and peaty nose! Then I started reading how different people rated some of the best known and most expensive brands. It was amazing to see that so many whiskey snobs have differing opinions on the SAME brands… the same EXPENSIVE brands. I’m talking about stuff that runs at $200 a bottle. I’ve never spent that much. I have purchased $100 whiskey… One was Oban and the other was Talisker. I have to admit I like the Oban better, even though the Talisker is made on Skye, close to my ancestral home.

Obviously everyone’s taste is so different. Just because one guy likes a single malt, it doesn’t mean EVERYONE is gong to like it.

So here’s the thing. I have tasted some brands that people just get all excited about and I think, blah. No big deal. I mean, some expensive whiskies are fabulous … while others are just ho-hum. That’s me and my taste. I don’t add anything… sometimes a piece of ice. But when I make ice I used filtered water.

Recently, a friend bought me a bottle of Ballantynes as a gift. Now this whiskey is an old favourite for so many people because it is a blended whiskey. It has been around for years. I wasn’t sure that I had tried it before, only because when I try something new, I like to try something a bit more expensive. The Ballantynes is always on the bottom shelf.

Well I finally the cracked the Ballantynes and I was absolutely delighted. The bottle design is a bit old-fashioned, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But this stuff is very nice, very smooth and I like the flavour, which is a tiny bit sweet, with honey and caramel. Of course, I had to have a second glass.    So, I guess whiskey is like art. To each his own.

Bored, disinterested maybe...

It can be annoying to read a book and come across a word that you’ve never seen before.

That happened today as I was reading Ken Follett’s novel, Fall of Giants. One of the characters, Maud, discovered that conversation was stultifying. Hmmm. As a popular novelist, Follett does not need to impress us with such big words. Ordinary people do not speak this way. I was not expecting to need them, but the e-reader includes several digital dictionaries. On the e-reader, you just touch the word and the dictionary comes to your aid. The first dictionary did not know the word. The Oxford Dictionary described stultifying as “cause to lose enthusiasm and initiative, especially as a result of a tedious or restrictive regime…” Blah, blah, blah. C’mon Follett, you can write better than that!
He could have written that Maud became bored or disinterested. Of course, now that I know the word, I can’t wait to use it among a group of writers at a meeting where we might be discussing the chances of Justin Trudeau becoming Liberal leader. |”Sorry fellas, but I find this whole topic …uh… stultifying!” Seriously though, a good writer doesn’t need to insert big words to get the message out to the reader. Indubitably.

I like my reader...

Well the verdict is in. I like the e-reader. Just finished reading Battle Cry, the classic book about the US Marines. The nice thing about that book is that I was so engrossed in the story, I barely noticed the function of using the e-reader. It just flows very easily by swiping a finger across the page, then the next page appears. I also like the fact that once I see a book I want, I click on it on the Internet page, and within 30 seconds I have paid for it and the book is downloaded onto my computer and onto the e-reader simultaneously. Instant gratification. I am thinking I had better be wary of the spending too much money, too easily. On the other hand, I have received an e-mail outlining how I can now borrow E-books from almost any public library in Ontario. Everything is online. How cool is that? So for the next week or so, I will be reading Ken Follett's Fall Of Giants. I just ripped through about 30 pages and it's a good read. So I have poured a glass of whiskey and now I am going back to the book...

I am so "with it" ...

Well I have finally gone and done it. After chatting with a co-worker about how much she enjoys her E-reader, I was convinced that I should get one … considering how much money I have been spending on books lately, I figured an E-reader was worth the investment. So as I began searching the net to get an idea about what was out there, I was suddenly reminded I had plenty of Airmiles. So I checked the Airmiles website and that solved that issue right away. It arrived today. My new SONY PRS-T2, which is even Wi-Fi certified. So I have signed up with the SONY reader service and I plan to buy a book or two this week. My plan is to buy something I really want to read so that I can convince myself I like this new device. If not, somebody is going to get a slightly used E-reader at Christmas! I will let you know what I think.

Yes, it was cold this morning...

Still in a bit of a cold snap in Timmins. It was minus 38 at eight oclock this morning. This was the view from my balcony. The overnight windchill was down to minus 53. My Nitro started just fine, even though I have never plugged it in. One of these days I will push my luck too far in that regard. Anyway, it was a less than pleasant thing to breathe this morning. Not because it was so cold. It was that all the car exhaust and fireplace smoke just hung in the morning air. It didn’t go away for awhile. The air didn’t taste so fresh. That’s what its like when it gets this cold.

Beef stew on the balcony ...

This is stew weather. I was pleased to have enjoyed a couple of large bowls of beef stew last night, complete with a fresh loaf of crusty bread and a nice bottle of Rothschild Pinot Noir ( really excellent red wine). The beef was wonderfully tender, with red potatoes, green beans, white turnip, onions and carrots. I am pleased to say the only flavouring I added was a chunk of garlic. The fun part was when I finished supper, I decided to put the leftover stew into three freezer containers for future meals. Instead of sticking them in the freezer right away, I put them on the balcony ... It was nearly minus 30 and so the leftovers were frozen solid in about 25 minutes. By the Way, the wine is only $11.95 at the LCBO and it is a real treat. I could have used a stronger flavour with the stew... but this stuff is just too good to ignore.

Perfect weather for reading

I am enjoying a great book this weekend that has an unexpected treat for me. Storm Warning by Jack Higgins is a great thriller-adventure story, but I was especially pleased to learn that much of the story takes place in the North Atlantic off the coast of Scotland. Many of the places in the novel such as Glasgow, Ben Nevis, Fort William, Mallaig and the Isle of Skye are all places I saw and visited a couple of years ago. The book even includes Morar, which is the ancestral home of the Cape Breton Gillis clan.
It is good weather for reading this weekend. We have had freezing cold temperatures in the past few days with the temperatures in the minus 30s and the windchill below minus 40. Good to put on the tea and snuggle up on the couch. I was out with friends Saturday to watch the hockey game, and I left the vehicle at home. It wasn't plugged in, but hey (knock on wood) it started just fine this morning. So right now it is minus 28 and Enviro Canada has issued an overnight windchill warning in the minus 40 range. 

Can always use socks ...

Timmins is one of those cities that is losing its Zellers store. The store closes on Monday. Like a lot of folks in town, I dropped by today to check out the real “going out of business sale”. Prices were 50 to 70 per cent off. As I walked around, I realized I really didn’t NEED anything.  There were hundreds of others there and I am sure most were in the same situation. Sure, there’s lots of stuff we might want, but really, we live in a pretty lush society here in Canada. I had a hard time finding anything I needed.  But since I was there, I picked up some nice dress socks and a roll of aluminum foil. 

Oh yeah, bumped into Ray and Diane at Zellers. Was nice to see them. Diane broke her foot recently, but she's doing okay now... She has a walking cast and a cane. Ray, of course, is just fine as usual. 

That don't impress me much ...

Another new year and all is well in Timmins. Well, almost. I was a bit shocked to learn that our local city council is planning to sell off the Shania Twain Centre to a local gold mining company. I don't mind the idea of selling the building, but I do find it concerning that the plan is to demolish the building to make way for the new gold mine. Hmmm... the building is still relatively new, only 11 years old. I know the architect. I wonder how he feels about it.
Now I know it's a polarizing issue, but the climate is indeed going wonky. Here's the thing. I am still NOT in the camp that says it is all global warming. That's because there is evidence that the warming trend actually began before the industrial revolution of the 1800s and all the carbon residue from burning fossil fuels, coal and oil etc.
I DO believe in climate change. That's pretty obvious. What is frustrating is the information overload from the science community. There is so much data to sift through.  What is infuriating is when people inject politics into science. I stop listening when politicians and activists start harping about the weather.  I was reading in a reputable science journal that there was a "mini" ice-age in North America and Europe as recently as 1850. And another one may be one the way in a few hundred years. Hmmm... have to do some more reading.

Moose steaks were awesome!

Long story short, the moose steaks were Grrrrreat! Here's what I did. After two days in the marinade, the steaks have to hang for about half an hour to remove excess marinade and come to room temperature. Enough time to slice up an onion, a green pepper, a potato and a carrot. I cooked them in a separate pan. 

 Then I heated the grill to 425 F. I put the first steak on for four minutes. It was done right through and amazingly tender and tasty. I let the second steak cook for only three minutes. It was just a bit pink inside and also very tender.

Next week I will enjoy the other steak, which is also big enough to slice into two steaks. Can't wait!

Moose steaks

 Scott was kind enough to hand me a couple of fresh moose steaks as I was leaving Sudbury today.  The nice moose meat is from his hunting trip this fall. Scott asked me to let him know how the steaks turn out, so I will be pleased to document this wonderful event. I plan to have them this weekend.

 First off, he gave me two massive steaks, which means I will get to will enjoy four normal-sized steaks.When I prepare beef, I marinade it in olive oil, pepsi and steak spice sauce. So that’s what I am doing with the moose steaks. First I pounded them with a tenderizer hammer, then I cut them in two.

I put them in a nice deep dish and poured the marinade on top; half a cup of olive oil, half a cup of Clubhouse marinade, one cup of pepsi, adding garlic, salt and pepper.

They will sit in the fridge for two days.

I will let you know how things turn out.

Christmas 2012 was excellent!

Another perfect Christmas celebration has come and gone. I am grateful for being a part of it. I drove to Jennifer and Scott’s place early Saturday, avoiding the storm that blew up late last week. It was just enough time to finish up the shopping and spend some great time with the boys.

I was just as glad to see that Don and Denise Alexander drove down from Westree, also to be with the family. They are Scott’s parents and they have perfected the art of hospitality. No wonder; Denise is originally from Timmins and Don is from Newfoundland. They can’t go wrong. 

Christine, Dimitrios and Victoria also arrived on Christmas Eve, making everything even nicer.

It was fun to see the boys since they have grown a lot since I saw them last, at Thanksgiving. I usually snap a photo of Vic, Tyler and Nathan every Christmas so it is fun to go back a few years to see how they’ve grown.

 Christmas morning was fun and it took no less than two hours to open all the gifts. I love see how much the kids still get excited by getting up before the adults and rushing to the living room to sneak a peek at the gifts.  I was pleased that Jennifer’s dog and cat, Buddy and Lucky, even managed to buy me a bottle of my favourite whiskey.

 Christmas Day was perfect; mild with a gentle snow fall. It was a nice lazy day (for me anyways). Denise and Jenn kept the kitchen going and we had a fabulous Christmas turkey dinner. We also enjoyed Denise’s clam chowder, with chunks of Atlantic codfish (that Don caught himself), scallops, shrimp, potato-codfish cakes, coconut shrimp, fried ravioli, lasagne roll-ups and mussels. Scott even had an amazingly good moosemeat chili con carne. To top it all off, we all spent the day eating the sweets and pastries made by Jennifer and Denise. Vic even went outside showing off her new Christmas pyjamas. The day got better for me when Neil called from Vancouver. How nice was that? He enjoyed the day with some friends on the west coast. He is working hard as usual, but it was just a perfect part of Christmas day to hear his voice.  We also enjoyed a full ping pong tournament in the garage that took up most of the afternoon and put a good dent in our beer stocks.  Tournament rules said if the other player hit your glass with the ping pong ball, you need to take a drink. Good thing we got some exercise!

Life doesn’t get much better eh?

Priorities ...

Last night, I was thirsty. I figured that a nice cold beer would hit the spot.

I didn’t have any at home. Just water, wine and whisky.

But I didn’t go out to get any beer. Water was fine.

This morning at breakfast, I noticed my groceries were getting a bit low.

No eggs, no bacon, no juice, no bread, no fruit. 

Oh well, it’s not like I’m starving.

Today was going to be a good day to veg out. Just stay home and relax.

Then I realized I had just finished reading a book

I bought three books three weeks ago. I finished the third one at lunchtime.

Hmmm…

I showered, shaved, got dressed and went out … to the book store.

By the way, I gassed up the truck, got some beer and picked up a steak.

It’s going to be a nice evening.

Good news eh ...

Every now and then I get to write a news story I feel really good about. This week it was the rescue of a dog that fell through the thin ice on the Mattagami River. Fellows from the fire department did the rescue.  It felt good to see the little pooch brought back to shore. I was lucky to be nearby to snap some pictures. We put the photos online Tuesday on our website, and on Facebook,  and the response has been amazing. I have to always remember that people like it when there are good news stories. I couldn't help but think how much Tyler and Nathan would have been pleased to see this.

Arse over teakettle!

Today was a nice and relaxing, although overcast, winter day. I slept in. That’s because I got home at about 2:45 a.m. I guess I didn’t realize how much fun I was having last night after the CTV Telethon wrapped up. As I was leaving the party, I stepped outside to see a couple of fellows standing by the back step. One fellow cautioned me to walk carefully. The freezing rain had made things slippery and his buddy had just fallen. Luckily he had a few drinks in him and may have been a bit “relaxed”.
The fellow said his chum had fallen “arse over teakettle” and was still hurting. That got me wondering about where that phrase came from. I knew exactly what it meant. And I was understandably sympathetic for the poor fellow. Seriously, no one wants to fall arse over teakettle. It happened to me last winter when I slipped on some ice. When my head slammed down on the ice, it snapped my jaw upwards; I broke a tooth and paid $600 for dental work!  (See January 30^th 2012 on this blog).

But arse over teakettle is just one of those sayings most people understand. I remember hearing it from my Dad, when I was a kid. There is another saying I remember hearing from my Mom.  She would say: “You kids are running around like (Get this!) A fart in a mitt”. Okay, I have no idea. WHO would fart in a mitt and what the heck does it mean?

Different Worlds.

The United Nations has given Palestine the status of a Non Member Observer State. Hmm.  This is like Romans claiming they’re still entitled to parts of Scotland. No wonder thinking people have lost respect for the UN. It’s almost laughable. The sad part is, the violence will continue in the Mid East. Some people there still think it’s okay to kill Israelis because of ancient history. I was reading the Jerusalem Post newspaper today… reading the comments of Israeli citizens who are worried about more rockets being fired on them from Gaza. Amazing how different our worlds are. I think the most I worry about is icy road conditions. I don’t know if I’d want to sit in the line-up at Tim Hortons if high explosive rockets were being fired at me.

Great Reading ...

I just finished one of the best novels I have enjoyed in a long, long time. Armageddon by Leon Uris. I remember seeing it on the coffee table when I was a kid. Dad was also a reader who liked to devour book after book. The reason I remember this particular novel is because I had no idea what the title meant.  By the way, it has nothing to do with the movie of the same name that was made several years ago, about an asteroid.

 This novel is amazing … one of the best novels of the 20^th Century. This is the same author who wrote Exodus, Topaz and QB-VII.  Uris is a brilliant writer of historical fiction. I should have known … his other books were fabulous. I have to warn you, Uris does incredible research. The book might seem slow at first, but he sets you up with all the details and research you will need to know.  Wow, what a story.

So now I am in some sort of withdrawal. This book consumed me for the past two weeks. Every page was like a treat, but I knew, with pending dread,  that as I turned each page I was inching closer and closer to the end of the book.

The story is a modern tragedy set in post war Europe, mixed in with several love stories, adventure that will get you cheering, along with anger and sorrow at our human weaknesses. The characters drove me crazy. Some were incredible, others I hated. And I was devastated when some of the characters died … it was like a personal loss.

So I dare you … grab the Kleenex, a fresh bottle of whiskey, and TRY to read Armageddon.  I say try because it will overtake you.

Armageddon, Leon Uris.

672 pages.

Doubleday and Company, Inc.

New York, NY - 1964

It's really not so cold anymore ...

Today was an odd day. It was cold, sure, but I am used to that. It was cold enough this morning, minus ten, that I decided it was time to wear my winter parka. I pulled it out of the closet and took off the plastic. I had it dry-cleaned weeks ago. As I pulled the parka on, I realized how warm it was … it seemed too warm. But when I got outside, it was just right. But then, as I was driving through town and running errands, it became too warm again. But my other coats seems a bit too cool for this weather. Or I have to wear a bulky sweater.  So I compromised by walking around with this big bulky parka, but I didn’t zip it closed.  I kept my toque on though.

The weather is definitely changing. I remember November from years ago, back in the 1970s as being much colder. Back then I would chum along with the fellows from Austin Airways on their flights up north to Hudson Bay and beyond. On a few of those flights, we were in the venerable DC3, those twin-engine workhorses that kept the Canadian North open. And once we got into the Eastern Arctic, we would always land on the ice. There were several airstrips close to coastal villages … the thing is, there was always ice from early November through to early April.  Now I am told that in some places Hudson Bay doesn’t freeze over until January.

I have some of my own photos and slides of those flights, but they’re packed away in boxes. This photo is from Archives Canada. I am not sure, but I would bet the DC3 in the background is an Austin plane.

 By the way, for some reason I still prefer propeller planes. I just find them more comforting… and I was always able to sleep comfortably with that incessant droning noise of a prop engine. The whine of a jet engine doesn’t seem the same. Airplanes now are far more reliable than the old birds like the DC3, but I still enjoyed them.  I will have to dig out photos from my last DC3 flight from several years ago.

Here’s a little reminder from this blog from back in 2009.

http://scoopgillis.blogspot.ca/2009/02/celebrating-flight.html

I talk too much ...

Talk a lot or what? I had to get a prescription renewed today. I went to the grocery store to drop it off – because the supermarket has a pharmacy. It usually takes about ten minutes. But today, the pharmacy assistant said it would be about 30 minutes. He pointed to a stack of prescriptions and said there was a backlog today. Oh well, I could always go sit in the truck and read for a bit. Or I could turn on my phone to see if there were any voice mails. In the meantime, I grabbed a grocery basket and decided to pick up a few things. Suddenly I was bumping into people I had not seen in awhile. So I had to chat. Move on, grab some laundry detergent. Oh, there’s the guy who owns the store. More chat. Business is great he said. He moved to Timmins just a few years ago and can’t believe how strong the economy is. Nice to hear. Then we talked about the new gold mine. Things sure are looking up.  Then we talked about the tourist outfitters doing great business because the drilling crews are staying in all the tourist lodges. Then a former mayor walked over to the aisle we were in. More chat. That new gold mine is really going to change the look of the downtown eh. Break away. Pick up some lettuce, but I don’t like the tomatoes. Oh there’s whats-her-name … a lady I used to date. So howzit going? It’s all good. Yeah, the weather sucks right now... but hey, it's November. Spring is on the way! Time to check out. Neighbour lady is there at the cash counter. I left my debit card there once. Now every time she sees me, she says loudly “don’t forget your debit card eh!” I just smile and nod.There's sister-in-law standing outside the store with some groceries. Need a ride home? Nope, hubby's on the way. Okay, keep smiling! Put my groceries in the truck and look at my watch. Sixty minutes! I spent a whole hour in the grocery store … time to pick up the prescription. Yeah, I talk a lot... but that's one of the nice things about living in Timmins. You can talk to people.

Do you remember?

I remember.

St. Phillips School. Toronto.

Mr. Marshall’s class. Grade 4.  Just before lunchtime.

November 22^nd, 1963.

Suddenly the P.A. came on the classroom.

The principal, Mother Mary Agnes said all students had to go to to chapel to say prayers.

President Kennedy had just been shot...