The
Squamidian Report – April 14 / 12
Issue #516
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Oops, a week went by and I suddenly realized I hadn’t put any thought into the Squamidian deadline. I forgot to write something. I do have some excuses, mostly that I’ve been busy. The “I was too busy” excuse never worked for late homework when I was a kid, so I don’t imagine it will work too well here either. So the question is, what was I doing all week that got me all side tracked and behind in my duties…. at my age its hard to remember. Lets see, I spent some time on the bike when it was supposed to be raining but actually turned out quite nice. And when it was raining I recorded another song or two. That’s always fun but having a very noisy house adds an element of difficulty. In fact, there is the definite sound of chattering voices in the background of the intro in to one of the latest songs. Then there is the brick flower box that is attached to the front of our house at the front porch. It has been settling a bit ever since we moved here. The settling started before then because the brick was cracked when we looked at this house. Well, the settling has been slowly increasing causing more cracking and some separation of the bricks by the porch. The stupid thing is that the bricks are laid on top of the sidewalk, not on a footing. No wonder they have shifted a bit.
So, I’ve been working away at removing the brick planter. That required digging all the dirt out of the inside part. I had removed the soil a couple of years ago and built a wooden cover so there was at least a bit of a start on the digging part. Typical of this kind of thing, under the soil was all the rocks and crud and building garbage that needed a hiding place when the house was being built. Once I removed enough material that I was below the porch and walkway levels, I found hollow areas under things that should be on solid ground. Not good, oh well. Once I have the brick work out of the way, I’ll be digging down to the house footing level and then a neighbour who is a contractor will put in some knee walls. After that, we will decide how to re-design the area.
I’ve also been working on assembling a group ride training outline and a road captain training outline. This is so when we do our spring training, we will have a consistent outline to follow now and in the future. Many CMC chapters have training programs based on the processes and methods laid out by the National board. Our particular training takes mountain riding and that kind of thing into account. There is quite a lot of stuff to know when riding in an organized group and when controlling an organized group. And it all needs to be laid out and then practiced. The busy highways and streets can be quite unforgiving.
And then there was a haircut. ‘The Wife’ has been after me to get my hair cut for a fair while now. It seemed to be something she wanted. So, her birthday came along and I needed to get her something she wanted. Simple and convenient, I got her my hair cut. Killed two birds with one stone. That was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
And then there was the silly segment I watched on the Weather Network. Three of their meteorologists sat around talking about, obviously, the weather. They were discussing the ‘winter that wasn’t’ across the prairies and throughout Ontario and on to the east coast. They talked about the warm temperatures and dry conditions etc. and how it’s a sign of global warming. However, they never once mentioned the part of the country from the Rocky Mountains on westward that had a very long cold winter, or how the mountain passes all had record snowfall, or how the North Shore Mountains over looking Vancouver were so cold and snowy that they were able to open for skiing a month early and stay open at the end of the season for an extra couple of months. They never mentioned how the west coast has been so much colder than normal that we have lost our growing season for the last two years. None of that info fit the ‘facts’ of their conversation so they just left it out.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, someone finally did it! A restaurant in New York has come up with a hot dog that sells for $69.00! They have installed an all beef foot long wiener, fried in white truffle oil on a flat gas grill in a bun made of German “pretzel” dough, spread with white truffle butter and topped off with imported “French Duck Foie Gras”. Then this is topped with “Heirloom Tomato Ketchup”, Dijon Mustard and caramelized onions cooked in white truffle oil. WOW! Sounds impressive indeed! Apparently the Restaurant called “Serendipity III” conducted a taste test survey in Central Park to find out if people would prefer their “Worlds Most Expensive Hot Dog” to the common everyday $3.00 New York Hot Dog that’s been sold by the billions over a 100-year + period at ball parks and on the streets of New York city. The consensus was in favour of the traditional $3.00 unit but surprisingly enough, about 25% of the guinea pig taste testers said they would gladly pay the $69.00 over the $3.00 traditional dog! Go Figure!
A BIT OF HOTDOG HISTORY
As it turns out, it is likely that the North American hot dog comes from a widespread common European sausage brought to the USA by butchers of several nationalities. Also in doubt is who first served the dachshund sausage with a roll. One report says a German immigrant sold them, along with milk rolls and sauerkraut, from a push-cart in New York City's Bowery during the 1860's. In 1871, Charles Feltman, a German butcher opened up the first Coney Island hot dog stand selling 3,684 dachshund sausages in a milk roll during his first year in business.
The year, 1893, was an important date in hot dog history. In Chicago that year, the Colombian Exposition brought hordes of visitors who consumed large quantities of sausages sold by vendors. People liked this food that was easy to eat, convenient and inexpensive. Hot dog historian Bruce Kraig, Ph.D., retired professor emeritus at Roosevelt University, says the Germans always ate the dachshund sausages with bread. Since the sausage culture is German, it is likely that Germans introduced the practice of eating the dachshund sausages, which we today know as the hot dog, nestled in a bun.
Also in 1893, sausages became the standard fare at baseball parks. This tradition is believed to have been started by a St. Louis bar owner, Chris Von de Ahe, a German immigrant who also owned the St. Louis Browns major league baseball team.
I’ve loved Hotdogs since I was a kid and still can’t wrap my head around anything but the traditional “Canadian” version of the Hotdog as was introduced to me by my dad who worked at Burns Meats back in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. If you ask me, all that’s been written about the origin of the “Hotdog” by the American Hotdog Historical Society is just that, good old “American BS”! They seem to love to take credit for just about every popular food fad and invention that’s ever come along! They can keep dreaming their Ball-Park fantasies about inventing this tasty tubular treat they call “The Ball-Park Frank” and I’ll keep on enjoying a true Canadian delicacy we call “The Hotdog”! MMMMMMmmmmmmMM……!
You can fry ‘em on a flat top, grill ‘em on a BBQ or cook ‘em on hot rollers but I’ll still do mine up by boiling them in pot of hot water on the stove top!
After reading about the latest $69.00 dog from NY, I think I’ll stick to topping mine with mustard (the yellow original kind), green relish, chopped onion bits and ketchup! They can keep their fancy French and German hoity-toity toppings and leave the original just as it’s been for many many years, Canadian and delicious!
That’s it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… GREG
PS: Something To Think About>
“A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering!”
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.