With a sharp pop the stove went, those of us in the kitchen grew wary as the strange smell of something burnt but uncommon wafted in the air. Our electric stove, boiling water in a kettle on a small burner, had hurt itself. The burner was dead, the kettle had a hole burnt through it, with water now flooding the overflow pan under the burner. After some electrical diagnostic work we found it best to look for a new range, range being a stove-top and an oven underneath. Gas ranges are new to us, so there was the usual searching for info, visiting stores and eventually the purchase. Here are some hints and tips on buying an economy gas range in Toronto, Canada.
Saw it coming, I did, through my incessant weather forecast watching here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Warned, we were, by the sages of climate. Still we really did not know the gravity of the situation, nor that we were to lose power for 18 hours. As we are always prepared, this matters little, because we know where everything necessary is located and we have done this before. It is worthwhile reflecting on what worked and what needs improvement, so that the next one, an inevitable event, really, will be that much more fulfilling.
ICE 3 Vending Machine: Cheaply made in China, stay away and save your money
Deceptive advertising can be, but when you can take a machine apart there is nothing but the truth to see. This is surely the case for the ICE 3 MIS2200 personal vending machine or chill can dispenser. Sold under the names Heartland America or Curtis, this is truly a piece of junk and cheap from bow to stern. At $79 I council you to run away from this unit.
Feeder goldfish, after quarantine, make excellent fish. Seen here eating Chinese veggies. Photo by Don Tai
Not having money and wanting to keep fish had me researching all the possibilities. On one hand, I knew nothing about raising fish, so the possibility of killing a few would be a near certainty. On the other hand fish can be $3-4 each. Since I do not like to waste money that I do not have, I turned to feeder goldfish, sold for $0.18CAD each, here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Feeder goldfish, as I read on the internet, are full of diseases and will quickly die, so do not bother. On the other hand there were others who said they raised feeders to become large fish that were strong and healthy. I am decidedly in the latter camp. Feeder goldfish are goldfish, just that they have been badly treated. Overall feeder goldfish can be beautiful, graceful and easy to care for.
Lint in my Ralph’s Hard Dough bread: Found four pieces embedded into the dough, Photo by Don Tai
Furious was I when my daughter took out two pieces of Ralph’s Bakery hard dough bread, from the bread bag, to eat and there was some unidentifiable foreign objects embedded into the bread. These objects needed to be physically pulled from inside the bread. It looks like some white lint mixed with human hair. We later found two more slices with these fibers. I am unhappy. Here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, this is not acceptable practice. I will stop buying Ralph’s Bakery bread.
From a practical point of view, eating bugs should be a given. However here in Toronto, Canada, we as a society are squeamish about the subject. Recently I had the opportunity to try some worm larvets for myself. They really were not bad but not tasty, really. They actually had no taste at all. What is the point? Bugs really rule the world and are a good source of protein. If we ate more bugs we would reduce the dependence on red and chicken meat, which requires lots of the earth’s resources. We could be kinds to the earth by eating more bugs. The Little Weed tried one for shock value and also said there was very little taste.
Fresh home made Chinese jiaozi on a hot dog bun. Invented by Little Weed. Heretical but it does taste good. And if you need to ask, the jiaozi was made of pork. Toronto, Canada. Photo by Don Tai
We did not intend to live in a Chinese enclave when we moved into our Scarborough, Canada home in Toronto. It seemed like when a white elderly couple would move out, a Chinese family would move in. As the years passed, this continued, until 50-60% of our street is now Chinese. It also was not our desire to live in a Chinese enclave. Our intention was to live in a multiculturally mixed neighbourhood.
I write this post after being prodded by this article on Markham Chinese enclaves. Markham is just north of the Scarborough and Toronto border, and can be considered an ethnic extension of Scarborough. In fact we often shop there.
Rarely do I see any progressive movement from my City of Toronto municipal government. Rob Ford, elected mayor during the last election, had promised to clean up city hall, but all we have seen so far has been further politiking and delays in large infrastructure, such as the Sheppard subway. Yesterday Ford proposed a motion to stop the $0.05 charge on plastic bags from retailers, but council turned the proposal around and banned all plastic bags, effective Jan 01 2013. Quick and efficient, yes, and I approve, but what happened to due process?
My big Weed has a milk allergy from little, so our family almost never cooks with milk products. We have become very adapt at modifying recipies to exclude milk. As we recently purchased a Shule Biscuit cookie press, we found a lovely recipe, which we had to substitute “no milk proteins” margarine for butter. Little did we know that not all margarines are the same.
