But I'm Canadian, So Everything's OK

Bought these glasses for $14.99 US at the John Wayne International Airport. Finally opened them up and read the warning label:

WARNING: This material used as colored decorations on the exterior of this product contain lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.

This warning applies to the State of California only

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman's Corned...Beef

Have had a Corned Beef Hash fixation since that Sunday morning a few weeks back in Blue Ridge Georgia when Sheena chose grits instead and regretted it ever since.

So shopping on Friday when I saw a can of Hereford Beef up on the shelf and I insisted we buy it.

How to Make Kick Ash Hash (with kudos again to El Chaperone):

1. Chop up one potato into teeny little cubes. Sheena said "just grate them" but he insisted on the personal touch cubing.

2. Same thing with one medium onion. Heh heh... love to see grown men cry.

3. Smash up one can of Hereford Corned Beef. Make low guttural mooing sounds as you open the tin.

4. Saute the chopped potatoes and onions until mostly cooked through and almost tender to touch.

5. Add flaked up corned beef.

6. Add a couple of tablespoons of something wet to hold it together. We used BBQ sauce. Some recipes suggested hot sauce, ketchup or beef stock. That sounded gross.

7. Optionally, fry up an egg or two. Toast if you want it. Put the egg on top and poke it with a fork and let the runny yolk get all over it. Eat.

Why can't MY name be Sue Surly...

Dinner at Lee's on King W tonight with some girl peeps. Intended as a more affordable, accessible gastronomic journey than the flagship Susur right next door, Sheena's curiousity was piqued. Online reviews were all over the map; yet Sheena completely trusted the judgment of the recommender. Only a careful personal inspection could resolve the dilemma.

It was a lovely meal, and would not hesitate to embark upon a return visit. Tapas style service, but fairly generous servings intended for sharing and snitching. Only one item likely not to be reordered - the satay plate - but not because it wasn't good (it was), it was just nothing all that different.

Salads and appetizer type thingies were fabulous. Glad to have a repeat visitor at the table to offer suggestions. All winners: Singapore Slaw salad. A bit of a production when it is brought to the table and mixed to your personal satisfaction. Pommes Frites (with pre-drizzled spicy mayo) was featherlight and super crispy. Left the table a complete mess, but rendered Sheena feeling shameful and inadequate (see immediate previous post....)

Blue Cheese Fresh Fig Toasted Walnut Salad was divine. Reminded me of the Goat Cheese Salad I love so much at Cafe Taste on Queen W.

Braised Beef was like eating meat pudding. Oh Oh Oh. Falling apart roast on top of fluffy mashed potatoes. Sort of reminded me of the Braised Beef at the Swan.

Duck Confit was unique and packed with flavour - roasted dried pineapple (spicy and concentrated), goat cheese and more wonderful toasted walnuts.

Sparkling Sake Strawberry cocktail, chocolate molten cake with banana stuff and a spicy ginger creme brulee with lots of fresh fruit ended our din-din. Kind of felt rushed out the door for the next wave of reservations. Recommended for the semi-adventurous eaters not hung up on price. Was nice to see the Big Kahuna do a little meet & greet walkabout.

Did a very generous feed for 3 unapologetically hungry chicks including dessert and some basic wine and ended up under $200. Not bad, but could certainly do more damage next time round...Wines by the glass selection not exactly earthshattering, so stuck to an inoffensive Chilean Sauvignon Blanc.

You Want Fries with That?

Home cookin' Chez Sheena last night featuring mucho carbs, big pans of hot grease, too much salt and of course, a little snack of Bouq Emissaire during the preparation...








Mayor McCheese can so kiss my ass.

Happier Than a Scoopful of Egg Salad in a Pumpernickel Sammich

Peter Mackay, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Questionable Long Distance Hookups displays trademark shit-eating grin as he fantasizes about being the "Other White Meat".

Proofreader Required

Err... yes. Of course. The Balony Rapist.

Something Fishy? Or Just Ducky?

Dinner at Simon Lin's just outside Chicago tonight. Forgot the camera at the hotel. Dammit. But yay for Simon Lin who has a neato picture menu on his site.

Oh... first a Seaweed Salad sidebar: had seaweed salad and a lovely smoked fish plate at the Drake Hotel in Toronto yesterday and Sheena remembered how much she adored seaweed salad, and thought I'd eat it again today. Then looked at the nutritional content. Yowza baby. A sodium dirty bomb. Just a heads up. That is all.

Tonight wasn't in a huge sushi mood but the Tartare Parfait was too much to resist. Tuna and Salmon tartare with a bit of avocado, creme fraiche topped with caviar. Served on an upside down martini glass with some baby greens under glass. Yummy, and bristled with hostility when required to share.
Main was the Sweet Crispy Duck. Done medium, on a bed of sweet potato mash in a yummy sweet & sour type of glaze. Lightly spiced steamed veggies on the side.

One of the dining companions had the Hot Roll, which Sheena coveted from afar. Maybe next time.

YYZ ------> ORD

Holy Craparoni! The Revue Falls Down: Goes Boom.

Thankfully, no lingering boozehounds or smokers injured at The Local next door on Roncesvalles. The intrepid North Ronces Blog is on the scene... as is Blog TO (good pics there...)

February is Free Month

A recent post by Crazy Legs over at Theatre of Cruelty reminded me of why February is the shortest month.

Growing up in a middle-middle class family in a blue collar Prairie city, we kept our sanity through twisted humour and relentless one-up-manship. Sheena can't remember ever living through a winter where she didn't hear the words "February is Free Month". Competitive juices and never-pay-retail fierceness kept the Winnipeg winters at bay, warming our hearts with questionably procured booty.

Aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, siblings and cousins. We made furtive evening phone calls, slammed down fists at Sunday dinners and in more recent years exchanged dissing emails. At the end of the month the bragging rights are awarded: He/She who gets the most free stuff by guile, contest or pure sheer luck was crowned winner for the year.

The last time Sheena won was about 8 years ago. That was when the stray kitten who refused to leave the front stairs finally was taken in for neutering and shots. We had agreed that he was officially adopted. Unfortunately there was another white cat at the vet that day. So when the poor darling was placed back into our arms, he not only was missing his balls, but no longer had any claws with which to scratch them. Yep - accidentally declawed during a mixup. All told, the free neutering, free declawing, free food and shots came to about $300 bucks. Sheena cried for her poor mutilated kitty, but won the family bragging rights, and that made it all OK.

So what's your free shit this month? Come on. Bragging rights on the table. Whaddya score?

The Breakfast Vegetable

This morning El Chaperone the Einstein of Pancakery made Sweet Potato Pancakes from the mix I bought at SuperTarget in Atlanta. A kick-ass source of betacarotene, the Bruce's mix is high fibre, low fat, low cholesterol, blah blah blah.

Sheena loves exotic pancakes, but never orders them out in restaurants. They are a home cooking thing. If I'm going to spend money eating out, there has to be meat. Otherwise it's a rip.

Previous pancake successes have included Alberta's pride Coyote Pancake Mix, the mortar of choice for firewall construction, and available at Safeways up until Thunder Bay. Utter resolute failure in the form of Williams & Sonoma Egg Nog Pancake and Waffle Mix both from price point and fake tasting flavour.

The Sweet Potato pancakes were a bit gluey, but very very flavourful. A touch of cinnamon added in the mix created a nice homey scent in the air as they were cooking. Only downside: the package of mix only made a measly four medium sized pancakes. Enough, but not going to last us until dinner like a mess of Coyotes often will...

Sheena's Travel Tips #7

Be flexible with travel schedules during the unpredictable winter weather months. CNN Reporting flight delays and cancellations due to cold weather affecting airplane windshields at Denver International.

Sheena can verify these reports, having very recently herself observed an airplane with a crack in the window.

SkyWest Airlines reported cracked windshields on eight planes that were taking off or landing Friday as winds gusted up to 50 mph, spokeswoman Marissa Snow said. One plane's windshield cracked while it was airborne.
"Only the outermost layer was affected," Snow said of the windshields, which are made from multiple layers of glass.
SkyWest, a regional carrier for United Airlines, said the planes involved were the Embraer EMB120 Brasilia and Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet, though she did not immediately have numbers.

Two Frontier Airlines Airbus planes had their windshields crack while airborne, while two other windshields cracked while at the gate, airline spokesman Joe Hodas said.

In all instances the planes returned to the airport and/or made it to the gate safely. No emergencies were declared and no injuries were reported.

Hodas said it was unclear whether the high winds were to blame.

Sheena has no further information on how high winds may have exacerbated the situation.

Smell The Glove

Pints last night at Pauper's Pub at Bloor & Bathurst with some strangers from the innerdnets. Somewhat pedestrian beer on tap list, but appetizers were half-price until 7pm, and the waiter was funny and snarky as all get out. The chicken quesadillas were adequate, but a little thin on the chicken and heavy on the dilla. Not a hell of a lot of quesa found. A few laughs were had, a toast was made, some rude stories shared. All good fun. Thanks guys. And Joanne

Best part of the evening was finding a really nice pair of gloves after everybody left. Kept my hands warm on the rather indirect route home. If they look familiar, please let me know and I'd be happy to return them. But don't dilly-dally. I only have one roll of toilet paper left in the bathroom cupboard...

An Estrofest Valentimes: AKA SHEENA WENT TO ORANGE COUNTY AND GOT CRABS

Valentines away from home, so Sheena looked for the little things around her to spread the lurve. While shopping in Atlanta last week, picked up a few boxes of Necco Valentine Hearts. Worked out to 25 cents a pack. But the big smile on everyone's face when I slipped a box into their hand or pocket was worth a million bucks. Random acts of Kindness. Sheena kicks Oprah's ass.

Dinner was five women on the loose. Loose women, as it were. Central meeting point was Evita's big comfy king size bed. Don't think we could have fit 6. Then on to the Main Street stroll in Huntington Beach in search of fun. Wandered and read the menus and settled on No Ka Oi, Hawaiian cuisine. Great choice. Only regret was larger than expected portions and none of us could finish it all.

Starters included Grilled Artichoke, coconut shrimp, homemade potato chips with grated parmesan. Sheena had the crab cakes - very generous helping accompanied by garlic mash and really interesting french fried green beans. I found it a touch greasy, but my dining companions raved and they ate most of the beans. Only 18$.

Mai-tais not made to spec, so not cracking the neck-and-neck power tais from Don Ho or Trader Vics, but still very yummy. Found the coconut rum used a tad too sweet. Kind of plain on the garnishes. No fruit or weird plastic swirl sticks or anything.

FUH2

Fuck You H2. Sheena hasn't uploaded these yet, but will soon....

Why Americans Think Canadians Are Idiots

2 AM on Tuesday Night: She says I'm going in the Ocean Tomorrow. You guys think I won't do it, but I will. They say: But it's like, 55 degree water, you'll freeze. I don't care, I'm Canadian, I can take it. OK fine. Noon, Wednesday, at the Beach in front of Taco Bell.

Noon on Wednesday: OK, so where's all the others. They're not coming. Apparently he does not feel obligated to follow through with any promise made after more than 3 beers.

Sheena the wise observer from afar: The sign of a TRUE man IS following through with stupid promises made after more than 3 beers. Hang on, let me put in new camera batteries.

M0nd0-uber shrinkage shot: