EclectEcon

Afternoon Tea, The Prince of Wales, Niagara-on-the-Lake among the better ones in Canada

Last weekend, we were in Niagara-on-the-Lake to attend a couple of shows at the Shaw Festival and decided to take afternoon tea at The Prince of Wales Hotel on Sunday afternoon.We opted for the traditional afternoon tea, eschewing any bubbly or other additions.

The setting was great -- a table in a solarium-type room off The Drawing Room overlooking the sidewalk. Bone china, tablecloths, excellent parlour chairs, fancy 3-tiered serving tree etc. 

Tea: The tea menu is limited. There were only about a dozen choices, and lapsang souchong was not among them - nothing smoky at all. Nancy had the 'Heavenly Cream' tea which, we were told, is the best-seller at The Prince of Wales, and she quite enjoyed it. I chose the Masala Chai; it was a bit heavy on the cinnamon, but it was okay. They brew the tea in the kitchen using cloth bags, steeping it for five minutes. They then remove the tea leaves in the bags and dispense the tea into individual teapots. A tea cozy would have been nice. We were not offered replacements or warm-ups of our tea. Also, there were no spoons on the table for stirring the tea.

Food: there were two apiece of each of the sandwiches -- smoked salmon, cucumber; plus there was one apiece egg salad in croissant and a hummus tart. There was more smoked salmon than is on many of these types of sandwiches. The cucumbers were sliced a bit too thick. The egg salad was very standard, and the tarts were quite pleasant but unusual. There was only one scone for each of us, and we had no choice about which type we wanted; I ate the raisin scone, and Nancy had the plain one. The scones were a bit dry, and even though they were warm, they seemed reheated rather than fresh. Bonus: the clotted cream seemed authentic and was wonderful. Less-than-bonus: the butter seemed to have lemon zest in it, something I am not fond of.

The desserts were quite good: shortbread, meringue/macaroons, and a cupcake topped with fudge-frosting swirl and a cherry. Also there were blueberries and strawberry pieces throughout the display.

Overall the service was good. Not spectacular, but then I don't know that I've had spectacular service at any afternoon tea in North America (aside from the St. Regis) .... nothing to compare with most places in Mayfair.

Afternoon tea (no, it's not properly called 'high tea') at The Prince of Wales was a pleasant experience, as you can surmise from my ranking of the experience; it was among the best I've had in Canada. It was nice, and the setting really enhanced the experience.

-*-*-*-

My previous reviews, ranked in order of preference:

      These three were superb. Highly recommended:

• The Four Seasons, London, England
• The St. Regis Hotel, Houston, Texas
• The Lanesborough, London, England
  

Those in this large middle group ranged from very good to just okay. I would consider returning to them, but those in the upper portion of the list were significantly better than those in the lower portion of this section:

• Claridge's, London, England
• The Dorchester, London, England
• The Ritz, London, England
• Brown's, London, England

           ----------

• Scolfe's Tea Room, Boreham Street, England (superb, but not really afternoon tea)
• The Pump Room, Bath, England (also superb, but not really afternoon tea)
•  The Windsor Arms, Toronto, Canada
• The Prince of Wales, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario (this review)
• The Fairmont Pacific Rim, Vancouver, British Columbia
• Spartahouse Tea Room
• The Saskatchewan Hotel, Regina, Saskatchewan
• The Boathouse, Guelph, Canada
• The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, England 
• Langdon Hall, Cambridge, Canada

These next two were unacceptable:

• The Royal Crescent Hotel, Bath, England
• The Queen's Hotel, Portsmouth, England

  * * * * 

The chronology of when I visited each place probably affected my ratings, so here's a chronological list:

1. The Four Seasons, London, England
2. The Royal Crescent Hotel, Bath, England
3. The Pump Room, Bath, England (superb, but not really afternoon tea)
4. Claridge's, London, England
5. The Boathouse, Guelph, Canada
6. The St. Regis Hotel, Houston, Texas
7. The Queen's Hotel, Portsmouth, England
8. The Dorchester, London, England
9. Brown's, London, England
10. Langdon Hall, Cambridge, Canada
11. The Windsor Arms, Toronto, Canada
12. The Ritz, London, England
13. Scolfe's Tea Room, Boreham Street, England (again, not really afternoon tea)
14. The Lanesborough, London, England
15. The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, England
16. The Saskatchewan Hotel, Regina, Saskatchewan
17. The Fairmont Pacific Rim, Vancouver, British Columbia
18. Sparta House Tea Room, Sparta, Ontario
19. The Prince of Wales, Niagara-on-the-Lake

 

Tikka Masala (with chicken)

This was pretty good. It'll be better the next time I make it.

The recipe is based on the recipe on the label of this sauce, combined with some valuable input from a friend.

Ingredients:

• • Half a jar of Tikka Masala Curry sauce
  • 1/4 large onion, chopped
  • 3 tblspns butter
  • 1 tspn chopped ginger
  • 1 tspn chopped garlic
  • 1 lb chopped chicken
  • 50 ml water
  • 150 ml water
  • 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup cream (or half & half)
  • 1/8 cup vodka

• Fry onion in butter until soft [I probably overcooked mine a bit because we got an Amazon delivery right about then]
• Add ginger, garlic, and prepared sauce.
• Add 50 ml water. Cook until water evaporates [I'd never run across this instruction before. It seemed to work fine.]
• Add chicken, chopped tomatoes, and 150 ml water [I might add less water next time]
• Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.
• Add cream and stir
• Remove from heat and stir in vodka

Serve over rice.

Notes:

We were running low on half & half and are avoiding shopping for a few weeks (if possible), so we tried to mix up some dried skimmed milk powder, making it a bit thick, but that didn't really work as well as cream would. And the chicken we used was a bunch of leftover thighs and probably wasn't anywhere near a pound. We needed more.

But it was still very good.

Lockdown Photos #89

This post is a bit of a deviation from most of my Lockdown Photos, but it is certainly in the spirit of the series: We're locked down; we're under a stay-at-home order. What are going to do?

One thing I did was, on a strange whim, order some Tassimo Bailey's Macchiato Latte Espresso from Amazon for some outrageous price. The feeling I had was, "WTF? I don't much care for Baileys but this looks 'interesting', so why not try it?"

The two boxes came in one package. The instructions say to run the milk through the Tassimo first, and then run the espresso.

But I thought "So what if it's morning. I'd like to add some real Baileys to the drink."

But oops. The Baileys had congealed into clumps, so I forced myself to make do with my much-preferred liqueur, Drambuie.

I put the Drambuie in the mug first and then ran the latte milk through the Tassimo. Judging from the clumping and separation, that might have been a mistake!

Three layers: watery on the bottom, cloudy in the middle, and some kind of scummy-looking substance floating on top.

Add the espresso. I love the shapes, patterns and colours. Forget all the things I might have goofed up, it looks neat:

Add anther espresso, and it's beginning to look quite attractive with all the different layers.

It tasted good when I sipped from the top, but that watery-looking layer at the bottom was still a bit of a concern.

And so I ran a Suchard hot chocolate disk on top of the whole thing. That seems to have mixed things up nicely. What's more it tastes great!

 

Superb Béarnaise Sauce

I know this isn't "made-from-scratch" Béarnaise sauce, but I supplement the package enough that I think it's worth posting here.

The package mix is McCormick Gourmet Béarnaise sauce:

Here are the instructions:

But I don't follow the instructions exactly. Here's what I do instead:

• Melt a bit less than 1/2 cup (one stick minus about half an inch) of butter in a medium or small-ish sauce pan.
• Remove from heat.
• Stir in the package of mix and 1 3/4 cups of half and half. No foolin'!  Use that much half and half. Seriously. It thickens a lot as you cook it.
  
• Bring to a boil (or near boil). Keep stirring and keep stirring.
• Reduce the heat and simmer for about 3 minutes. Keep stirring and keep stirring to get the melted butter well-mixed in.
• Stir in more half and half if it's too thick.
• Keeps well in the refrigerator for days and days and days and days.

 

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

We decided to try to stuff two large-ish chicken breasts with asparagus, mushrooms, and brie cheese.

First, not just one but lots of slices in each breast:

And then put some asparagus in the slits:

And then some sliced cremini mushrooms and some slices of brie:

And then try to tie them shut. Hah!

Trim the strings and season them. BBQ on medium for about 25 minutes.

Clean-out-the-Fridge Crustless Quiche

If you're like us, there are times you buy more perishable foods than you can use up before their expiration dates (the best of intentions....). Yesterday we realized we had quite of few things we wanted to use up, and so we made some crustless quiches.

Ingredients:

• one dozen eggs
• 6 cups of half-and-half
• half a stick of butter (melted)
• one floret of broccoli (cut up)
• one package of sliced cremini mushrooms
• a dozen asparagus stems, (cut up)
• three stems of green onions (cut up)
• one large onion (diced)
• one and a third packages of Tex-Mex shredded cheese
• twelve slices of jalapeno-Havarti cheese
• thirteen slices of processed mozzarella cheese
• one huge package of Ziggy's sliced pepperoni

Whip up the dozen eggs with a whisk.

While someone else is doing that and adding the half-and-half, along with the melted butter to the bowl, spray-oil three square tinfoil (or other) pans.

and fry up all the veggies (we pre-cook the asparagus and broccoli in the microwave):

While the veggies are simmering, spread some sliced pepperoni on the bottoms of the pans.

and then parcel out the fried veggies on top of the sliced pepperoni. In the above photo, you can see the bowl of the egg-cream-butter mixture on the side.

 

Cover everything with gobs of shredded Tex-Mex cheese.

Then add another layer of pepperoni slices, followed by some processed mozzarella cheese (I love what everyone else calls 'plastic cheese', but then I was raised thinking Velveeta was the only cheese in existence).

Carefully ladle the egg-cream mixture onto the food in the pans and let is sink and soak all the way down.

We had a bit too much, so I quickly spray-oiled a little round dish for the surplus.

Place squares of the jalapeno-Havarti cheese on top of each pan. But we put plastic cheese on the little round dish.

Bake them one hour at 350F on baking sheets (in case they spill). And WOW!!! Fantabulous!!!

Two of the square pans and the little round dish have ended up in the freezer. The rest? Lunch today and lunch again tomorrow!

 

Rethinking Hoarding (aka Preparedness) for the Second Wave

Fifteen years ago, amidst the threat of Avian Flu, we developed a list of things we wanted to have in our house in case all the dire predictions actually came true. Fortunately they didn't, and since then we've moved into a condo. Jack suggested I develop a list of things people in apartment or condo buildings should try to keep in stock in case serious shortages redevelop. So here's my edited list:

• Canned goods (pasta, soups, chili, vegetables, fruit, tuna, meats, lots of peanut butter, etc.) We keep four or five backup soups, four or five backup cans of tuna/salmon, and at least one backup jar of peanut butter on our shelves; and of course we rotate our stock of everything.
• Ready-to-eat foods (raisins, cheese, crackers, granola/energy/protein bars)
• Some perishable foods (fruits and vegetables)
• Plenty of potent Multi-Vitamins, Vit C, etc. [We try to keep at least a 30-day supply of all the placebos supplements we take]
• Dried milk
• Pancake and biscuit mix & syrup
• Rice -- how much depends on your tastes and storage space.
• Dried beans, again depending on your tastes and space.
• Plenty of flour
• Potatoes. But in an apartment, a box or two of instant potatoes for easy storage works well.
• Quick oats and/or other grains?
• Pasta, several packages
• Extra sugar if you use it much (we don't)
• Extra honey
• Extra cooking oil
• Baking powder & baking soda
• Bottled water (at least one backup package)
• Paper or plastic plates/bowls/cups/utensils
  
• Laundry and dish detergent
• Quality manual can opener
  
• Kitchen matches and disposable lighters
• Candles
• Plenty of liner and garbage bags (water storage & waste storage)
• Toilet paper and, if needed, sanitary napkins, diapers, paper towels
• Baby wipes (saves water for personal hygiene use if there are ever water problems)
• Flashlights (ideally LED) and more than one portable radio (update: maybe a hand-crank one as a backup)
  
• Plenty more batteries, at least three sets, for each of the above
• Backup chargers for phones, watches, tablets, etc.
  
• Solar charger to keep your phones, electronics, and chargers charged
• Alcohol and Hydrogen Peroxide
• Aspirin/Tylenol/Motrin, Pepto Bismol, etc.
• Prescription drugs filled, and as much extra as possible. Always.
  
• First aid kits
• Fire extinguishers
• Plenty of masks
• Water filters
• possibly a Coleman cook stove and fuel,etc. We decided against keeping a camp stove around. We had a small propane bbq that we probably should have kept but we gave it away.
• Duct tape, staple guns, and staples.

Of course a household doesn't necessarily need to keep all these things on hand. This is just a list of things to consider, depending on your circumstances and living arrangements, your available storage space, your risk tolerance, and your expectations about the seriousness of any possible threat.

Our additions (we tend to keep a good supply of these on hand):

• scotch
• vodka
• lime juice
• diet tonic water
• Coke Zero
• chocolate bars
• cribbage board and cards

It's called "Capital-Labour Substitution" in Economics

Headline from today's Trono Globe and Mail:

Consumers are buying goods again, but services are slow to recover

Exactly. Without reading the article (it's gated and I'm not a subscriber), I can understand the headline.

• The expected costs of using services have risen considerably under covid, including the costs and risks involve with the possibility of contracting the disease oneself.
• So instead of hiring people to do things for us, or instead of going places for entertainment, we buy stuff instead, e.g. televisions, ready-made meals, etc. We are substituting things (which fall into the broad economics category of capital) for labour.
• Yes, good economic theory often treats consumer durables as capital goods.
• That's the substitution effect.
• There's also an income effect as people who are receiving increased gubmnt assistance during covid are spending more on goods.
• And people who work from home are spending less on day care and less on commuting (including auto services) and spending more money on things to entertain the kids and themselves.

Query: what has happened to personal saving during covid?

Keto-Atkins Eggs/Breakfast

This is a typical breakfast (more like brunch) for us. It is high in protein and fat, and low in carbs.

The secret is to begin with the idea of making scrambled eggs with

1.  lots of butter and
2. zero milk or cream.

We've discovered that "light and fluffy" scrambled eggs whipped up with milk often taste dry and gravelly. These eggs in this recipe are definitely NOT dry and taste great!

I started with about a quarter of a stick of butter, and I set the burner just below medium. I set it that low for two reasons: first, I can't work fast enough to keep up with everything when the heat is on high; second, I wanted the veggies to simmer for awhile in the butter a bit to soften up a little.

While the butter was melting, I sliced off a bunch of the bottom ends of asparagus stalks and put them in the melting butter. I like doing this because otherwise we'd probably just throw the ends away, and that just seems to wasteful to me (I know, I know, we could freeze 'em and make soup, but we don't seem to do that).

And then I sliced up two entire green onions and added them to the frying pan:

As the asparagus and onions simmered, they soaked up a lot of butter, so I added more:

And then I diced up two very large cremini mushrooms and added them:

Those veggies were soaking up more butter, so I added more. In total, I think I used about half a stick.

Add three large eggs,

and a bunch of factory-shredded Tex-Mex cheese (a quarter cup? half a cup? It varies from meal to meal.

And plate with a slice of ham each:

I know this isn't most people's idea of scrambled eggs, but it is FANTABULOUS!

Depending on what's on hand, we might use broccoli and/or cauliflower stems, and/or spanish onions.

And for those who ask, my LDL is marginally above what my GP would like, but it hasn't changed much at all in the past 40 years. And I just had a thorough checkup with a cardioguy who seems to think I'm doing okay.

Butter, ham, eggs, and lots of veggies: good stuff!

Crustless Quiche

 

Here's our latest version of crustless quiche. The custard mixture is amazingly light even though we don't whip it. I expect the cream (or half & half) really help. Delicious!

The recipe is at the end of this post.

The recipe we have put together says to whisk (very lightly) 4 large eggs, two cups of half and half, some salt and pepper to taste (I'm guessing we used about a tbsp of salt and a tsp of pepper, but it's hard to tell since we just put them in without measuring), and then stir in 1 and 1/2 tbspns of melted butter.

Spray or grease or butter the bottom of a large pie plate.

Cut up two decent-sized slices of ham into smallish cubes. Many recipes say to use cut up cooked bacon, but I prefer using ham because it's a whole lot easier.

Next, cut up half a large green pepper into small pieces and put them in the pie plate on top of the ham.

Cut up 1/4 of a large onion and add it to the pan. We don't precook any of these cubed things (of course the ham is already pre-cooked).

Put a bunch of cheese slices on top of the chopped mixed. We like jalapeno-havarti. We pretty much cover the entire pie plate. We used three slices here:

Notice that we put the pie plate on a cookie sheet to catch any spillovers in case we overfill the pie plate.

Add the liquid mixture.

Oops, we had too much, so we didn't put it all in.

Put a tonne of Tex-Mex shredded cheese on top of all that. I'm guessing that in all we used roughly 1/4 of a package. Ms. Eclectic says it might have been more than that.

What did we do with the rest of the "custard"? We put it in two large ramekins along with cheese.

We baked everything at 350 for 45 minutes and then took out the ramekins. They were wonderful!

They remind me in looks of the quiche bites from Tim Hortons, but these tasted infintely better!

We baked the big quiche for another 15 minutes until it was golden brown on top didn't jiggle in the middle.

Once again, here's the final product (included twice for the sake of Facebook to get the final product to show in the preview (I hope).

Here's the recipe (quantities are approximate):

Ingredients:

Whisk these to make the custard. Keep it in a separate bowl until ham and veggies are in the pie plate:

• • 4 really large eggs
  • 2 cups of half and half
  • 1 tablespoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of pepper
  • 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter

Put these on the bottom of a greased/sprayed/buttered pie plate in any order:

• • 2 thick slices of ham, cubed
  • 1/2 green pepper, cubed
  • 1/4 onion, cubed (we often use cut up green onions)

Put the cheese slices on top of the cubes:

• • 3 slices of jalapeno havarti cheese (we used two more for the ramekins)

Pour the custard over the mixture.

Add the shredded cheeses

• • 1/2 cup or more shredded Tex-Mex cheese

Bake at 350F for about an hour or so.

Let cool and set for about 20 minutes.

Addendum:

During the isolation, I find we use a lot of things from the fridge, either because I just bought them and we don't want them to go bad or take up too much space, or because they're about to go off and we want to use them up. One thing for sure, we're throwing out much less 'bad' food these days than we did before isolation. So we call the quiches we make now "Isolation Quiches".

Contest!!! What's the oldest thing you have found in your freezer or pantry during the covid19 isolation?

After I posted a photo to Facebook of some half-year-old ground beef we found in our freezer, others began commenting that they, too, had come across treasures in their freezers that were considerably more past their expiration dates. So here's the contest:

Contest #1:

Post a photo, either in the blog comments or on Facebook, commenting on this post, with a photo of something old from your freezer. The oldest item for which a photo is posted will win a signed copy of one of my novels, either 2605 or Murder at the Office Christmas Party. E.g., here's some not-so-old ground beef:

Contest #2:

Post a photo, either in the blog comments or on Facebook, commenting on this post, with a photo of something old from your pantry (I have a box of tea from 2009, for example). The oldest item for which a photo is posted will win a signed copy of one of those two novels, as well.

General:

• Contest ends 10am EDT, June 1.
• The photo must show the "best before" date on the box, can, or package. It's probably a good idea if the photo also shows what the product is, too.
• Each winner gets their choice of novel.
• I'll add the novel, Susan's Story to the prize list if I receive the author's copies in time.
• Anything dated before 1975 is automatically excluded.
• I reserve the right to alter the rules if people find loopholes. 8-).

When Will All of This End?

A wild guess for Ontario, though it seems roughly correct for other jurisdictions:

Restaurants and pubs will be allowed to open just before the May 2-4 weekend* but camping in provincial parks won't open until just before or just after July 1.

Why? The caseloads in countries that are well-along seem to be declining slightly and can likely be expected to decline more over time. Also, physical distancing seems to be slowing the spread.

We won't be over the pandemic by then, but the politicos will say things like,

"Don't go out if you even think you might have symptoms."

"Be careful, wash your hands and wipe down surfaces frequently."

"But we have to be mindful of all the poor businesses and their employees, too."

"Businesses are strongly encouraged to limit the number of people in their pubs and restaurants" (as if we won't do that ourselves anyway).

The traditional Victoria Day fireworks will be cancelled. Large, dense gatherings will still be banned until just before July 1, when the fireworks will proceed, but with dire cautions about physical distancing.

* The May 2-4 weekend was originally a national holiday to celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria. When I moved to Canada, it was called "Victoria Day" (who knows, maybe it still is, officially). But sometime after I moved here, it was moved to the somethingth Monday of May. People started calling it the May 2-4 Weekend because it occurs around May 24th and because some people consume lots of beer from cases, affectionately known as 2-4s here.

Paper straws? Plastic straws?

I hate the new-styled paper straws that are increasingly becoming the only option in some fast-food restaurants (or cities or states?).

I haven't always hated paper straws, though. I loved the paper straws we had back when I was a teenager. I could pinch one end of the straw, poke holes in it, and play music on it, a la an oboe or some other double-reed woodwind. Actually I was distressed emotionally (0.0003 on a scale of 10.0) when plastic straws began to dominate the straw market. 

 

But over the years, I adjusted. I coped.

 

In 2007, I saw and used some straws at a place in Guelph, and I really liked them, so I called the straw manufacturer (Stone something) to see about buying several boxes of them. They pointed me to a distributor, where I stopped to pick up three boxes. I still have nearly two boxes of them left. 

Meanwhile all of the paper straws I'm seeing on the market nowadays are horrid:

• They fall apart when I try to use them with coffee, and
• They're thick and cannot be squeezed into pretend double-reed musical instruments. 

So now I stock up for the future whenever I'm in a fast food place with plastic straws -- I take one to add to my stash, just in case I outlive my current supply.

 

But TBH I still don't get the aversion to plastic straws. They use very small amounts of plastic (considerably less than is in so many other products, e.g. ready meals at the supermarkets), which can easily be added to landfill sites. And the primary reason plastic straws and other plastic waste finds its way to the oceans has to do with recyclers selling the plastics to companies and places that are less scrupulous about making sure not to pollute the oceans.

 

Actually, I think the aversion to (and the movement to ban) plastic straws is a symbolic gesture by people who love to criticize consumerism and convenience -- modern day stoics, ascetics, Victorians, etc.

Cauliflower-crust Pizza?

I love pizza. The carbs in the crusts are a tad high, though.

A few years ago, we experimented with making pizza crusts using riced cauliflower. The pizza tasted okay, but the crusts weren't firm, and we had to eat the pizza with knives and forks.

Recently, Pizza Pizza has been advertising "Super Plant" pizza, made with cauliflower crust, plant-chorizo sausage, and plant-pepperoni. And so we thought we'd give them a try today.

The first picture below is of the "Super Plant" pizza. The second is of a standard deluxe pizza with extra cheese. Both are on cauliflower crusts.

The "Super Plant" pizza is clearly overdone. The sauce at Pizza Pizza is always good, and the crusts are often dry and firm, but this crust was dry and way too tough. I liked the flavours, including the plant-based meat substitutes, but the toughness of the crust was off-putting.

The Deluxe pizza with extra cheese was better. The crust wasn't overdone, but it was still less pleasing than the pizza would be with a regular crust.

I'm glad we tried them, but it's unlikely we'll try them again.

Plastic in the Ocean: North America is NOT the problem

We are constantly being lectured about how we need to cut down on our use of plastics so we can save the oceans.

It's like lecturing everyone who shows up at a meeting on time about how horrible it is to be late all the time.

To all my friends who use plastics, let me quote Robin Williams from Good Will Hunting: "It's not your fault."

From the Trono Globe and Mail:

[I]n the developed world, most of the waste is properly disposed of, thanks to waste management systems few of us think about or even notice. North America is the source of just 0.9 per cent of the world’s “mismanaged” plastic, meaning plastic that could wind up in the ocean. Almost all our junk ends up in landfills (or incinerators). There are many good reasons to rue this but the state of the oceans isn’t one.

So where does the plastic that is choking the oceans come from? Mostly, the developing world. ...

By far the worst sources of plastic pollution are rivers whose basins are heavily populated with poor people who lack access to proper waste disposal. A recent study estimated 90 per cent of all river-borne plastic pollution comes from just 10 rivers: eight in Asia, two in Africa. ...

But a reasonable person wouldn’t fault developing countries for lacking a capacity that we in the wealthy world only developed relatively recently and at an expense they can’t afford. A reasonable person would say we’re rich, they’re not, so let’s fund them to develop the waste disposal systems needed to make their lives better and clean up the oceans we all share. (Of course, China is now wealthy enough to develop its own waste disposal, and happily for the world the government has started to aggressively tackle the problem.)

Less charitably, the critical role of the developing world is being ignored because no one in this country stands to gain – in votes, eyeballs, or donations – by talking about waste disposal in the developing world.

Whatever the explanation, it is a weird sort of narcissism to look at a global problem and assume it is all about us. If we are to make a difference, we must get over ourselves.

Vitamins for Puerto Rico?

Are there any major (or non-major, for that matter) generic or big-name pharmaceutical or supplement manufacturers who are donating vitamin supplements for Puerto Rican relief. The people on that island, from what I read, will be suffering from food and water shortages for quite some time. Relief organizations are doing what they can to provide water, water purification systems, generators, fuel, food, building supplies etc.

My reaction to the Puerto Rican crisis is straight-forward: do what we can.

I have hated the fiscal irresponsibility of the Puerto Rican gubmnts and their antipathy toward balanced budgets and more market-oriented ways of promoting economic growth. I even hold those things partially responsible for the problems faced in Puerto Rico after hurricanes Irma and Maria -- those policies and the Jones Act, which bars foreign ships from carrying goods between the US and its territories.

But now is not the time to withhold aid because of these views. Now is the time for people who care to do something. Ms. Eclectic and I have already donated to several organizations and will likely donate to more as we winnow the chaff from the effective ones.

Is it silly of me to ask about vitamins? I'd hate for a charitable organization to undercut the vitamin shops there, but for the intermediate-term, nutrition might be important. At the same time, I am concerned about the health and welfare of the people, especially the young children, who might suffer from malnutrition over the next year or so. Is this misplaced? Impossible to do anything about?

Welcome to the PLO, Donald. We don't mind if you like your steak well-done with ketchup

Just don't try to force all of the rest of us to eat it that way.

The Philistine Liberation Organization, of which I appear to be the de facto chair, celebrates differences in tastes and preferences. From our original mandate:

The Philistine Manifesto

I have been subjected to the biases and special pleadings of the artsy culture vultures long enough. They sneer at anything which isn't in their own mold (mould?) of avant-gardishness. They perpetuate stupid jokes by laughing at people who quite seriously say, "I may not know much about..______... but I know what I like."

It is time for the rest of us to revolt against this claptrap of self-indulgent behaviour which passes itself off as "the actualization of one's self potential," and which somehow has, unfortunately, [in Canuckland, at least] bedeviled enough politicians that fully 65.7% of our tax dollars go to supporting these alleged artistes through direct grants and purchases of junk [Voice of Fire - - need I say more?] that any sensible person would pay someone else to haul off to the municipal landfill site. It is time for a new organization to be formed to aid this revolution. To that end, I hereby announce the formation of

The P.L.O.

 The Philistine Liberation Organization welcomes as new members those who support this cause. The basic tenets of the PLO are divided into two general categories: things we like and things we don't like. An overall score of 80% qualifies you for membership. ....

 

The purpose of our organization, it must be made clear, is to promote tolerance and open-mindedness -- to lampoon arrogance and self-indulgent pomposity. We don't really care if you like Shostakovich, escargot, and Birkenstocks.

We also don't really care if you like Neil Diamond, pizza, and Kodiak Grebs. We do, however, become disturbed if you try to tell us what we should like; and we have apoplexy if you try to get us to pay for what you think we should like.

Want to join the P.L.O.? ok, you're probably already a member then. Want to add to the tenets? Mail your suggestions to me, and I'll keep a list. My e-mail address is

[email protected]
Don't miss the reviews written by Ian Klymchuk.
And you will definitely want to look into attending our next annual conference!!

 

Ledaig Is Now Available from the LCBO!!!

As many of you may recall, my favourite scotch BY FAR is Ledaig, a moderately peated 10-year-old single malt from the Tobermory (Mull) distillery (see this, this, this, and this).

Recently I was in the local liquor monopoly (aka the Liquor Control Board of Ontario [LCBO]) and asked if there was any Ledaig available. They went on their computers and LO! there are about 40 bottles available in Ontario. I had them order me a case of six bottles, and I picked them up yesterday.

For those of you in Ontario, you can also order it online and have it delivered to a local LCBO outlet. Here is the link.

This is amazing scotch. It's about half the price of Lagavulin, and better (for my tastes, noticeably better). And the 46.3% alcohol provides a very nice bite that I really like.

Order a bottle or two now if you live in Ontario (elsewhere, like Houston or Miami or Alberta, you can just find it on the shelves of many liquor stores). I'll give you a fair chance -- I'll wait a week or so before ordering more.

 

Medical Marijuana

From an article in last year's JAMA [Jl of the Amer Med Assoc]: (via Jack)

Results.... Compared with placebo, cannabinoids were associated with a greater average number of patients showing a complete nausea and vomiting response ..., reduction in pain ..., a greater average reduction in numerical rating scale pain assessment ..., and average reduction in the Ashworth spasticity scale... . There was an increased risk of short-term AEs  [adverse events] with cannabinoids, including serious AEs. Common AEs included dizziness, dry mouth, nausea, fatigue, somnolence, euphoria, vomiting, disorientation, drowsiness, confusion, loss of balance, and hallucination.

Conclusions and RelevanceThere was moderate-quality evidence to support the use of cannabinoids for the treatment of chronic pain and spasticity. There was low-quality evidence suggesting that cannabinoids were associated with improvements in nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, weight gain in HIV infection, sleep disorders, and Tourette syndrome. Cannabinoids were associated with an increased risk of short-term AEs.

 It's time to let consumers decide whether they want to try marijuana to treat some of the symptoms.

Poisonous Red Kidney Beans (I knew it!)

If not prepared properly, red kidney beans (and many other members of the lentil family) can cause food poisoning. Or at least might contain some toxins. [via Jack]

Red kidney beans form part of the pulses family (which also includes peas and lentils) and are available in both dried and tinned versions. They are often used in recipes such as chilli con carne.

These and other types of beans are considered healthy and nutritious but there is a downside to this. The downside is that they are also capable of causing food poisoning.

Causes of red kidney bean poisoning

The main cause is a toxin called ‘phytohaemagglutinin’ or kidney bean lectin. This is a sugar based protein (glycoprotein) which is found in many types of beans which includes cannellini beans and broad beans.

But some of the highest concentrations of this toxin are found in red kidney beans.

This toxin is killed if red kidney beans are cooked at a high enough temperature and for the right length of time. It is also important that red kidney beans are prepared correctly before use which means soaking them for at least 8 hours before hand. [emphasis added]

But if they are cooked for shorter periods of time or at lower temperatures such as those in slow cookers then this will be insufficient to kill this toxin.

Undercooked red kidney beans are more toxic than raw kidney beans.

Symptoms of red kidney bean poisoning

These symptoms appear around 2 to 3 hours after the kidney beans have been eaten. However, it only takes a few beans to cause the following symptoms:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhoea
• Abdominal pains

These symptoms appear soon after consumption but, they also disappear quickly as well.

What is Canadian Ketchup?

In recent news, we learned that French's (of mustard fame) indirectly took over the Heinz tomato processing plant in Leamington, Ontario, after Heinz abandoned it. Then Loblaws supermarkets decided not to carry French's ketchup because French's ketchup wasn't eroding Heinz sales, but was "cannibalizing" the sales of Loblaws' own President's Choice brand of ketchup.

There is more to the story though. Apparently French's uses tomatoes grown in the Leamington area and processes those tomatoes into paste. The paste is then shipped to the US, where it is bottled and then shipped back to Canada.

There were nearly 800 employees at the Leamington plant before Heinz shut it down. There are now 240 employees there. Furthermore, French's has said it is looking into opening a ketchup bottling plant in SW Ontario, but it won't be in Leamington.

It’s not known yet where the new bottling plant will be. The obvious choice would be Leamington, Ontario — the heart of southern Ontario’s tomato-growing region, and site of a Heinz bottling plant that closed in 2014.

But French’s president Elliott Penner told Postmedia that Leamington won’t be the site of the new bottling operation.

Highbury Canco took over the old Heinz plant, rescuing some 250 of nearly 800 jobs there, and they are already processing the tomatoes for French’s ketchup. But Penner says Highbury Canco doesn’t have the capacity to bottle the ketchup as well.

Jack's summary:

Many might not have known that French’s version, although using Leamington tomatoes, was bottled in the USA.

Ironically, President’s Choice brand, while bottled in Canada, used American tomatoes!

Protectionism make sense at the local level, but becomes a difficult concept once all these perms and combs are realized.

 

 

Eat More Chocolate

Yet another study finds that eating chocolate is good for you!

"We found that people who eat chocolate at least once a week tend to perform better cognitively," said Elias. "It's significant—it touches a number of cognitive domains."...

They found "significant positive associations" between chocolate intake and cognitive performance, associations which held even after adjusting for various variables that might have skewed the results, including age, education, cardiovascular risk factors, and dietary habits.

In scientific terms, eating chocolate was significantly associated with superior "visual-spatial memory and [organization], working memory, scanning and tracking, abstract reasoning, and the mini-mental state examination." ...

Experts have known about the wonders of eating chocolate for some time. A lot of previous research has shown that there are, or at least could be, immediate cognitive benefits from eating chocolate. But rarely, if ever, have researchers been able to observe the impact of habitual chocolate eating on the brain.

The takeaway isn't that everyone should rush to stuff their faces with the magical sweet. "I think what we can say for now is that you can eat small amounts of chocolate without guilt if you don't substitute chocolate for a normal balanced healthy diet," Elias said.

Please sign me up for being in the future studies (but not if you're going to put me in the control group).

Meanwhile, I think I'll have some chocolate.

Related articles

Valentine's Day Celebrations

Food That Food-Safety Experts Avoid

Eating chocolate regularly 'improves brain function'

Another Low-Carb, High-Fat Diet

Can Eating Chocolate Improve Your Brain?

Brand Names, Signalling, and Reliability

Some companies choose to invest huge amounts in building up their brand names. Their advertising says, "We are committed to providing customers with quality goods, reliable products. If we don't give you good products, our advertising expenditures will have been wasted."

Of course this is all probabilistic. Some firms play games with the above mechanism and cheat (VW mileage, anyone), but for the most part it holds true. 

Consider Parmesan Cheese [via RK]. It seems that some producers adulterate the product.

Cellulose [wood fibre] is a safe additive [to reduce clumping], and an acceptable level is 2 percent to 4 percent, according to Dean Sommer, a cheese technologist at the Center for Dairy Research in Madison, Wisconsin. Essential Everyday 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, from Jewel-Osco, was 8.8 percent cellulose, while Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Great Value 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese registered 7.8 percent, according to test results. Whole Foods 365 brand didn’t list cellulose as an ingredient on the label, but still tested at 0.3 percent. Kraft had 3.8 percent. ...

According to the FDA’s report on Castle, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, “no parmesan cheese was used to manufacture” the Market Pantry brand 100% grated Parmesan Cheese, sold at Target Corp. stores, and Always Save Grated Parmesan Cheese and Best Choice 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, sold by Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc., which along with its subsidiaries supplies 3,400 retail stores in 30 states. Instead, there was a mixture of Swiss, mozzarella, white cheddar and cellulose, according to the FDA.

In other words, the brand name products in which companies had invested considerable advertising expenditure tended to be more reliably within acceptable limits of cellulose content. This expenditure to enhance their "reputation asset" is consistent with the signaling theories of advertising.

These theories argue that simply by spending a lot of money on advertising, firms like Kraft are telling the customers that Kraft has made a commitment to the quality of their products. It would be unprofitable for them to spend all that money advertising a product, and then produce an inferior good.

And this argument is repeated succinctly by Ms. Eclectic, who often says, "I don't buy no-name products."

Does Being a Pothead Have Long-Term Consequences?

According to this post at the Washington Post, people who smoked pot regularly for at least five years had some (slight?) short-term memory problems in middle age, compared with those who didn't. But the posting also notes some caveats concerning the study:

One important caveat is that a study like this can't determine causality. It could be the case that heavy pot use makes your short-term memory bad, or it could be that people who operate at a lower level of cognitive function are more inclined to use marijuana heavily.

It's also worth noting that the other cognitive abilities researchers tested -- focus and processing speed -- did not seem to be significantly impacted by heavy marijuana use.

The association between short-term memory declines -- potentially permanent ones -- and heavy pot use is very real, according to this study, and shouldn't be discounted. On the other hand, it's also quite surprising that you can smoke weed literally every single day for five years, and not have it impact your problem-solving abilities or your ability to focus at all. [emphasis added] These findings also need to be understood in relation to what we know about the severe cognitive effects of persistent, heavy alcohol use, which include irreversible brain damage.

I would add another caveat: The presumption in the article is that the heavy marijuana users smoked it. What if, instead, people ingested it? There would be less damage to the lungs and less direct effect from shortages of oxygen to the brain.

Now, if only recreational use of marijuana were completely legalized, ....

Wine Reviews: Who Believes This Nonsense???

This morning Ms Eclectic sent me a review of five white wines that are readily available in Ontario. I know I have tried and liked several of them, but my palate is so untrained (i.e. I settle for most plonks and am happy) that I can't believe the things wine reviewers write about wines. Do they make this stuff up?

Here are just two that I have tried and enjoyed, but I had to look twice to make sure the write-up wasn't from The Onion.

2013 Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Black Series Riesling Gewurztraminer, VQA Niagara Peninsula (Ontario), #357129, $13.95.

Honeysuckle, crushed rose petal and orange blossom aromas lead to a silky-rich attack of ripe pear and grapefruit edged with crushed granite, white flowers and a certain salinity. Impressively balanced wine here offering more complexity, concentration and length than most $14 bottles. Sophisticated — and gastronomically versatile — wine for the money, made right here in Ontario.

Score: 90

014 Mike Weir Sauvignon Blanc, VQA Ontario, #686972, $14.95.ß

Enliven your palate with a sip of this tight, bright and sassy pour. Flavours of damp herbs and gooseberry wash over the palate before revealing a wet stone and sea salt underpinning that lingers. This is a great local go-to sauvignon blanc with power and finesse harnessed by impeccably balance and zippy acidity. Fabulous with a broad range of foods.

Score: 88+

 Really? People who write things like this must have very  vivid imaginations. I've noticed the same thing about descriptions of various scotch whiskies.

I really am a Philistine in many ways: I don't believe these descriptions, but I know what I like.

Addendum: But look at the fourth wine listed in that review. This sounds like the right wine for those of us on low-carb diets:

2014 Vinyasa White, VQA Niagara Peninsula (Ontario), #379131, $13.95.

Hands-down this is one of the most delicious offerings from Ontario for under $15. Best part? It’s also the lowest-calorie white wine from Ontario with only about 70 calories and zero carbs per 5-ounce pour. It sings with luscious peach, sweet apricot and cooked apple flavours laced with mouth-watering lime. I’ve recommended this wine before, but it definitely deserves a place on this list.

 

I Would Like to Thank All Bacon-Lovers

I love that so many people love bacon. Their high demand for bacon drives up the price of bacon, but then what can butchers do with the rest of the pig after they extract/harvest/slice/what the bacon?

The answer, of course, is sell it. It's a classic joint product problem in economics. People want bacon and bid up the price of bacon (about $6/lb in stores here in London, Ontario, this week). The high price is justified in part by higher costs for smoking and slicing, but the main reason the price of bacon is (comparatively) so high is the high demand for it.

That increases the demand for pigs. But the butchering of the pigs leaves something akin to an increase in the supply of pork roasts.

And guess what:  Pork loin roasts are selling for about $3/lb this week. So we eat lots  of pork roast in our home, and no side bacon at all.

A massive pork roast. And it was wonderful. And we ate almost all of it for dinner the other night. Mmmmmm. And last night we had the rest in salad:

Afternoon Tea -- What is REALLY Involved

Regular long-time readers of EclectEcon know that I was introduced to taking afternoon tea at posh establishments about eight or so years ago. My latest review/report, with links to all my earlier posts on the topic can be found here.

Unfortunately, practically NO ONE in North America understands what a proper afternoon tea is or should be (there are some notable, important exceptions of course). Here, via a UK correspondent, is an excellent summary. I have listed each of the major points below, but go read the article and look at the photos there. It is absolutely spot on, but there is a tone (and a tonne!) of humour throughout it that had me laughing out loud frequently.

• It is called "afternoon tea", not "high tea". [see this]
• Wait to see how strong the tea is before adding milk. [I don't add milk or sugar or lemon when I take afternoon tea].
• Hold the cup with your forefinger touching your thumb at the handle and with the handle resting on your middle finger. [I probably commit a minor gaffe by sometimes slipping my forefinger slightly through the handle.]
• Stir the tea with back-and-forth, not circular, motions. [not an issue for me]
• The sandwiches must have no crusts. Shapes don't matter much so long as the sandwiches are cut smaller than diagonal halves [I would add they should be smaller than the standard three-cut sandwiches I have seen some places. Also, open face is acceptable if attractive; and small croissant-based sandwiches, mini-quiches, and mini-sausage-rolls are a pleasant variation.]
• The primary pastry is a scone, pronounced skahn, not skohn. [I quite dislike the small dry scones that I have had at some of the more tony places. I like a good-sized scone that has some substance, even when split. And I prefer a choice between plain and fruit (usually raisin, but cranberry is nice too) scones].
• Good scones will split in the middle with your fingers. Don't use a knife to split them.
• Don't put the two halves of a scone back together to eat them like a North American sandwich.
• Strawberry jam is traditional, but plum jam is okay. [I prefer strawberry jam, but please do NOT bring out those high-pectin little jars].
• Clotted cream is mandatory. It is also sometimes known as Devon cream (or Devonshire Cream). It is a very dense, spreadable cream that is absolutely delightful. [Several places I have been in North American have served whipped cream. Phhht. As the writer of the piece says, if an establishment does this, report them to your local council and have them closed down immediately].
• Jam then cream, or cream then jam? It doesn't matter. [I prefer cream first just because I find it difficult to spread cream on top of jam.]
• Pastry desserts on the top layer should be dainty and either bite-sized or at least small. [I have had far too many dry, disgusting desserts at afternoon teas. I guess that's traditional. I prefer tarts and gooey squares.]

The above is a quick summary. The article itself is well-worth reading for the photos and the humour. The comments are interesting and fun, too.

Cheap Milk in Europe -- a Boon for Consumers!

Milk prices are plummeting in Europe. There are two big reasons:

1. Demand is dropping due to Russian embargoes and there has been a drop in the demand from China.
2. Supply restrictions and quotas have been lifted, leading to an increase in the supply.

Europe's dairy farmers were already reeling from the food embargo imposed by Moscow last year in retaliation for Western sanctions over Ukraine.

Russia was one of the EU's biggest markets for dairy products, accounting for 32% of cheese exports and 24% of butter exports.

A slowdown in demand from China, the world's biggest milk importer, is also hurting the dairy industry. China is a big buyer of powdered milk.

Europe's farmers are now calling for the reintroduction of production quotas to try to balance the market. The quotas were abolished earlier this year, leaving farmers free to produce as much as they like for the first time in 30 years.

The deregulation led to more oversupply, piling even more pressure on prices.

In the past, demand was high and supply was restricted. Then the demand curve shifted to the left (demand dropped) at the same time the artificial supply restrictions were lifted, leading to a rightward shift of the supply curve. Both these moves put downward pressure on the equilibrium prices of dairy products. From the link,

There is so much sloshing around the European Union that milk is often cheaper than bottled water. A liter bottle of water costs around $1.50 in the U.K.; a liter of milk $1.

In France, milk is also around $1 per liter, similar to the price of mineral water. And in German discount supermarkets such as Lidl and Aldi, a liter of milk can be as cheap as 55 cents, while a liter bottle of water costs around 72 cents. ...

While the price of milk in shops has fallen by around 5% this year, wholesale milk prices have collapsed by about 20% to around 37 cents.

And this may seem harsh: I feel a modicum of sympathy for the dairy farmers. But not much.

They have been cushioned by supply management and gubmnt programmes for years; they have been assuming market conditions and gubmnt regulations would remain unchanged.

Taxpayers and consumers owe them nothing. They made a bet and collected on it for years. Now they're losing on that bet.

Trade-offs

There is scarcity, and it is inescapable. Furthermore, scarcity necessitates choices from among the various feasible options available to us. This is a basic lesson hammered home (we hope) during the first two weeks of an introductory economics course.

It applies to nearly every aspect of our lives.

Consider, for example, blood pressure [link via Ms Eclectic].

The new research advises people with high blood pressure to keep their “systolic” pressure — the top number in the reading that health-care providers routinely tell patients — at 120 or below. Clinical guidelines have commonly called for systolic blood pressure of 140 for healthy adults and 130 for adults with kidney disease or diabetes.

It is both interesting and disappointing that the referenced article does not mention what I heard in interviews on a radio report: namely, that medications to reduce blood pressure (like nearly all medications) have various risks of potential side effects.

For someone like me whose blood pressure ranges between 120 and 135, and given my reaction to Crestor, I will probably prefer to take the risk whatever might result from having only very slightly elevated blood pressure rather than take the risks of side effects from medication to lower my blood pressure. I cannot take medication to reduce my blood pressure and  avoid the risks of side effects. I must make trade-offs and choose.

And, no, I don't wish to make lifestyle changes by reducing my alcohol and salt intakes. No point in not enjoying what life is left. And that decision also means making choices between different probable or possible outcomes.

Trade-offs.

 

Grumpy Old Man Meets Restaurant Servers

I am an old man. And I am generally a mild-mannered, contented, happy, grateful old man. But there are some things in restaurants that really turn me into a Grumpy Old Man.

1. "We". The server greets us in a condescendingly chipper voice, "Hi Folks, and how are we today?" They are really asking, "How are you today?" and so why don't they just ask that? This "we" nonsense really bothers me. I generally let it go, but sometimes either Ms. Eclectic or I will respond "We are fine. How are YOU?" But they never seem to get the message. 
   
   Ms. Eclectic threatens to respond, "What do you mean, 'WE'?"
   
   My own preference, though I doubt I would ever do this, would be, "WE? Does that mean you're splitting the bill with us?"
   
   The point is, why must servers say "we" when they mean "you"? It is rude, improper, incorrect and just plain stupid. Whoever started using "WE" when they mean "you" deserves a special place in hell.
   
   
2. "How is everything?" Of course it is a good idea for a server to check to make sure people are happy with the meal. And of course it is likely to be the case that I have food in my mouth when they come to check (I'm there to eat, after all). But please try to act sincere about asking this question.
   
   What I mean is look at us when you ask, wait for our answer, and give us time to describe a problem before scurrying away. Yesterday we had a server who not only used "We" in a far-too-cordial voice but who also committed this error: she stopped by our table and while asking if everything was okay, began looking and walking elsewhere. And as (not after) we were saying things were fine, she was moving away, saying "Great!". What if we had wanted to add that we wanted more butter or another drink or something? We'd have had to call her back or wait for her to return. Her performance seemed perfunctory, insincere, and disinterested despite all the fake vivacity.
   
   
3. I know this is a losing battle and not everyone agrees with us, but please do not try to clear the table before everyone at the table is clearly finished eating. Clearing one person's plate while the others are still eating sends a signal that you want the other diners to hurry up. I might understand this if tables are at a premium, but rarely is that the case when we eat in restaurants. Higher end restaurants seem to understand this preference (and good manners), but the mid-range places do not. For more, see this.

I want to print up cards to distribute to restaurant servers:

We are generous tippers.
We usually tip between 20-25% of the bill, including taxes.
However,

• if you say "We" when you mean "You",
• or if you don't look at us and wait for serious, full answers after asking how our meals are,
• or if you try to clear one person's plate while the other is still eating,
• or if you make us wait too long to pay and leave once we have clearly indicated we are ready to leave,

then your tip will be reduced accordingly.