A century ago R. A. Bray described West Ham “as that of a spot somewhere near London to which people went with reluctance if they had business there, and from which they returned with joy as soon as the business was over.” Sadly, I don’t imagine the average Londoner would describe it any differently today and most probably only know it as the home of a football club.

Two weekends ago Katie and I were in Kingston to meet our friends’ new baby.  At some point during our deliberations on what kind of interesting meat dish we should try to make we decided to use the two pork livers hidden unused and unloved in his freezer to create a pate.  Now, for the [...]

During the summer months the sidewalks and pathways of Toronto are chock-full of runners, bikers, dog walkers and strollers. During a long summer run I can pass hundreds of people with out a single interaction. Come January, this changes dramatically, as most people avoid the outside world and the city’s pathways empty of people. Instead [...]

Beer retailing in Ontario is dominated by the Beer Store, a near monopoly, owned by the large breweries.  This set up has some positive aspects, as the employees are well paid and they recycle almost everything they sell.  However, for those of us more interested in craft beer than industrially
produced domestic or imported brands, the [...]

The day started poorly. I figured the ham had been out of the freezer for a good 36 hours, but it remained pretty frozen that morning at 10 am. After some emergency internet searching I got a large tub of water and started thawing.

Nine and a half hours later, after a lengthy boil and [...]