I do not know if you have noticed but lately in the last few months there is a lot more stuff about Iran (Persia) from food, culture to life in general and this ancient culture (5000 years). Lots of pictures of Iranian enjoying life and it is not the image presented to us by the media. Also the media myth about Iran are dismantled, how people dress women in particular few or little covering, more young people together in parks and enjoying life. Is this a result of the illegal war waged by Trump on behalf of Israel or is it a new image Iranians on YouTube wish now to project about themselves and their country. When I worked in Tehran, I remember how surprised I was with the City and how it did not fit what I had heard or seen and pleasantly so.
Honestly I wish I could return to visit Iran again, I worked in Tehran and was fascinated with the city, how sophisticated it was, the people and the wealth. Other cities also offer fascinating glimpses of this ancient country, Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz the city of poets, maybe one day.
One know tonight 28 June that the so called 60 day truce has already been broken by Israel, Trump was a fool to believe Netanyahu. This illegal war was a result of giving in to the agenda of Israel. Iran clearly won this war so far and made $300 billion US tax dollars in the process. The only one who may have made some money are people holding oil futures.
As much as yesterday the temperature jumped to 30C and it was hot and very nice, today it is grey and 17C, looks like the rest of June will be pretty much the same a yo-yo forecast. We can always live in hope.
One day of being a tourist guide this week, all day, crowd mostly US citizens, bored and not interested, tours are fairly expensive on cruise ships, more money than brains. I do get the; they are on vacation, frankly being comatose is a step too far. I did have lovely people from Britain and Australia who were quite interested in what we were visiting. I had one Trumpite on board, a little arrogant and full of himself asking questions that had nothing to do with the tour, questions meant to provoke and slightly insulting. Another passenger was amazed that we had schools and a University, yes we go to school and I pointed out that you can attend University at reasonable prices compared to the USA. I added that as a matter of fact Canada has one of the highest education level amongst its population. Surprise, surprise!
Our BBQ yesterday at the building was wonderful and very well attended. The food was great, the pork ribs were so good I asked for the recipe, very juicy and tender. My dessert Pasteis de Nata from Portugal was a big hit. The weather was cloudy but ok. We all had great fun.
Today we finally got our flowers for the house. First went to VK garden centre which is just down the street, we bought a big flowering urn but decided to go to York just minutes outside of Charlottetown for the other plants. They always have a great selection. We bought Begonias, Lobelia and other flowering plants. The prices are so high, it’s not reasonable.
Prime Minister Carney is in Ireland visiting the village of Aughagower in County Mayo. His grandparents came to Canada in 1921. He got a great reception from the PM of Ireland and President Connolly. Signed another big trade deal with Ireland now on to the G7 in Paris. Economic news in Canada are great, thousands of new job, unemployment rate is down to 6% and in the last 3 months 20% new trade with the world away from the USA. Even the price of oil was influenced by Canada last month for the first time due to our large reserve and new clients. Carney has now reach 50% in popularity, this has never been seen in Canadian politics. We have 4 political parties in Parliament and the other leaders split the difference.
The King and Queen rode in the Ascot Landau down Pall Mall. The King is not in good health and riding his Canadian horse would be too tiring on a hot June day.
The King’s standard flys over the Palace on such State occasions.
Prince William is on the left of the photo wearing his Colonel in Chief of the Welsh guards, he rode behind the carriage with his aunt Princess Anne and uncle Prince Edward. The King is giving the salute to the troops now returning from the Horse Guard Parade grounds. The fellows in the gold uniforms with the cypher C III R are the band of the King. This includes the kettle drums carried by Perseus and Apollo, who are giant horses given the weight of the drums.
This weekend was also Trooping of the Colours in London for the Official Birthday of the King. This is a yearly military display surrounding the Flag or colours given by the King to the Home Regiments. This year it was the new Grenadier Guard colours given last Tuesday by the King to the Grenadier Guards which were created some 370 years ago by King Charles II. The ceremony follows the same pattern each year, the music may change depending on the anniversary. Following the King’s Landau was his son Prince William in the Colonel of the Welsh Guard uniform, Prince Edward, Colonel of the Irish guard and Princess Anne, Colonel of the Blue and Royals. The King did look tired and so did the Queen, given their age it is understandable.
This past few days we have had a lot of visitors coming through to play golf and come and see us. The weather has been rainy and windy and then sunny. The high winds help chase the clouds away. Yesterday we went to Victoria By the Sea, which is a very small community of about 700 people, mostly agriculture, fishing and touristic. It is an old community, at one time long ago it was a big port, goods would arrive and leave from that port, nowadays the pier is for two restaurants, both good. The Fishers, this is how we call fisherman in PEI, dock to unload their catch, lobster and crab. Many wonderful homes of another era, a playhouse, a wonderful chocolate shop of exquisite hand made chocolates shaped like sea shells, sardines, etc. The boxes are also very innovative made of tin as if they would preserve fish. The shop also has very good coffee and other sweets all in a very old building which was the general store at one time.
Had some very good meals in the last 3 days, great seafood chowder both at Lobster on the Wharf in Charlottetown and at Casa Mia in Victoria By The Sea. Mussels once in white wine and the other in a tomato curry, this is the time of the year before July when the mussels are fat and big. I also had Lobster rolls, with lots of meat in them. The lobster is very fresh and still has the sea salt smell to it which had to the sweetness of the meat.
The homes are all of the Victorian Era (1840-1900) and then the Orient Hotel, a three floor hotel painted bright yellow and opened in 1900. It is full of charm and character like any sea side hotel. The name ORIENT is quite exotic and gives the place a mysterious look. We met the new owner Allan Brown and his architect, he has renovated and updated the building to make it truly modern and comfortable. What a beautiful job, from the walkway in granite with a herring bone pattern, the vast private garden with a stone fountain and a fire pit. The room rate is also very reasonable and breakfast is also served.Victoria has good restaurants with a solid reputation, one being the Landmark Oyster House.
The Orient Hotel is valued as one of the earliest hotels in the Village of Victoria and for its architectural features. It was constructed around 1900 possibly by Charles Rogers, a carpenter who built several buildings in the Village.
So I had a few good days of touring the Island with passengers from the Cruise ships in Port. One tour takes us to the Confederation Bridge at Borden which connects the Island to the mainland of Canada, a 8.5 KM crossing. The bridge is a XXth century marvel. I explain how it was built and in simple term point out the weight of each spans and the number of pillars (44) holding it all up above the Strait of Northumberland. At the bridge people get off to take pictures and admire the scenery. One person says to me: So this bridge is a floating contraption. This is not a question it’s a statement. How could it be floating since it is all made of concrete? He is looking at it, it’s 50 feet away.
Another person saw in a field what he described to me as a bunch of white plastic cones. Now that was a few minutes ago and we are on a moving bus travelling at 60Km per hour. No idea what he is talking about. Turns out they were sea birds and they flew away, plastic cones to do fly. But hey this is all new to them, it’s rural scenery.
On Monday 8 June at 10am, Louise Arbour will be installed as the New Governor General of Canada. She was at Buckingham Palace to see the King as is the custom, she is his personal representative and exercise the power of the Crown in his name in Canada. The investiture will take place in the Senate of Canada in Ottawa and will be broadcasted live nationwide. She will also make a speech on what will be her agenda and causes she will support. There will be a 21 gun salute, review of her guards, flowers at the National Cenotaph for the unknown soldier. The Usher of the Black Rod will conduct the ceremony, he is the Sovereign’s personal attendant and messenger, which includes physically summoning Members of Parliament to the Senate to hear the Speech from the Throne and Royal Assent. Madame Arbour has 3 grown children from a former 30 year relationship. She is currently unattached.
In a completely unrelated area;
Burj Azizi at 725 metres or 2379 feet in height to be completed in 2028 in Dubai. Would be the second or third tallest building on the planet. I don’t think the Fire dept would be able to reach beyond the 4th floor.
It is starting to warm up and gradually going up to 20C. only on Thursday will it go up to 26 C. but then falls back to 15 C. what crappy weather. This means that Anne Shirley will not be able to go topless at Cavendish beach for the pleasure of the tourist crowd.
Ann Putnam and Dale McNevin produced this work some years ago.
Tomorrow I have a day of touring and at least it will be sunny.
Marilyn Monroe is 100 years old, funny how you always think that celebrities do not age, JFK would be 109.
In the continuing watching of food we buy, I learned that the best chicken you can buy would be from the farmers direct or at the supermarket the Air-Chilled chicken is best, the reason is that usually chicken are made plump by injecting them with water and some solution, again all discount brands have this problem. As for eggs again farm bought is best or look for free range or organic, it is more expensive but better quality, this is because eggs we buy at a lower cost are usually from chickens who are caged and stressed and often producing eggs in a industrial fashion. In Europe I remember we bought our meat direct from the butcher who like many was an independent business, the same for cheese and eggs. In Italy we knew cheese makers and the quality was wonderful. I think that outside of North America people tend to be more picky about food provenance and quality, I have seen this in every culture I lived in.
The latest instalment on YouTube is about OLIVE OIL, well there are many prices and various quality and then seed oil, like corn, canola and soybean which comes under the vegetable oil label like Crisco. Corn oil is Mazola. It turns out that seed oil is purified with Hexane a volatile, colourless liquid hydrocarbon primarily derived from crude oil and natural gas. It is widely used as an inexpensive, non-polar solvent in industrial applications, such as extracting vegetable oils from crops, in adhesives, and in cleaning agents. I am sure you will not run out to get some seed oil now. I had no idea of the process of such oils. Canada produces a lot of Canola and I remember that 40 years ago when it became an important crop, we were told to promote it on the international scene as part of an agricultural product for export.
As for Olive Oil again since we returned from Italy and Jordan, Greece, Morocco and Tunisia, I always looked for good olive oils. Here in Canada it is a bit of a hit and miss affair. The public is sold on brand names with fancy labels like Bertoli and Berio, who have both been involved in lawsuit over claims they made which proved untrue. However I know that in Italy strict quality controls is a fact especially with olive oil, not so much in North America where marketing is everything. I remember how olive oil in Italy depending on the region had a very distinct flavour, sometime quite sharp other time more fruity or floral depending where it came from on the Italian peninsula. It turns out that Kirkland Extra Virgin Oil at Costco is an excellent olive oil and the olives are from Italy. I did not know that, it is something to pay attention to. Another good oil is Colavita and Terre delyssa. The important part of Olive Oil is the unblended and high in polyphenols for good quality.
The lovely Month of May is ending on a cold note, we only had 3 warm days, today is bloody cold and windy again.
So I continue to watch those posts on food and what is good and bad. This one is on chocolate, Canadians love their chocolate. So the examination started with chocolate bars, Mars, O’Henry, Kit Kat, Aero, all are not real chocolate, most is full of Palm Oil and other type of oils and chemical to mimic chocolate taste. As a kid a chocolate bar was 0.10 cents, then in the 1970’s the price started to jump up and up. Today $3.50 is a minimum for a commercial chocolate bar. There is also bars which now advertise 70 to 80% chocolate, so you would think that you are getting the real thing, well lab studies show that at most it is 50 to 55% cocoa butter. So what you need to do is read the descriptive label, look for high cocoa butter and no palm oil, vegetable oil, or other additives.
Lindt is said to be very good, so is Green and Blacks, Purdy’s and Soma, all meet the standards for real cocoa and quality. There is also the hand made chocolates we have 2 such businesses here in PEI and yes it does taste like real rich chocolate.
The one brand in all food categories that really is getting a lot of negative reviews, is Walmart Great Value, it is the discount cheap brand if money is your concern. It has no real value in terms of nutrition. The other brands like No names or Complement from the big grocery chains in Canada are also seen as very poor and geared towards people who have a small budget.
I have always checked carefully what I buy in terms of food items and we do not buy processed foods. We do cook a lot from scratch. Though in terms of pasta, I would buy the Made in Italy brands like Garofallo and Delverde but stay away from Barilla, which comes in at the same level of the cheap brands like Great Value, Catelli. It has to do with the preparation of the pasta and the drying time. The other one which will be of interest to a lot of Canadians is cheddar which is seen as the cheese of Canada. I was shocked to learn that brands like Black Diamond is no longer as good since the company was sold to a big USA Corp. , in terms of texture and taste it has a strange taste just the other cheap generic in store brands.
In Ontario, Balderson cheddar is considered by various taste panels as a great quality cheddar. Quebec also has great cheeses made in the French tradition, Oka being one. One brand I never buy is Saputo, as a child back in the late 1960’s early 1970’s there was a huge scandal with Saputo cheese company in Montreal. In the 1970s and 1980s, U.S. authorities and the Pennsylvania Crime Commission gathered evidence revealing that owner Lino Saputo maintained secret financial dealings with U.S. Mafia godfather Joseph Bonanno. This included funnelling tens of thousands of dollars to Bonanno, which ultimately resulted in the Saputo family being denied a milk dealer’s license to operate in New York State. Other crime families in Montreal were also involved, however today Saputo is the biggest cheese company in Canada and the #2 in the USA.
This weekend looks quiet and the weather is cold. So I will try to catch up on reading.
It’s the end of May and the weather is still fairly cold around 8 to 12 C. Last Sunday we had 21 C, it looks almost like a fluke now. Apparently it is very warm in France up to 45 C. now that is a little bit to warm for me but anything between 25 to 35 C would be fine,
I want to thank one of my readers in Spain, who saw I made a mistake when I wrote that the new submarine fleet Canada is considering buying had arrived in British Columbia and that North Korea was building them, NO I meant South Korea, we have no diplomatic relations with the Hermit Kingdom. In fact we are signing a lot of contracts and other commercial exchanges with South Korea. We are also buying from Sweden Arctic Surveillance-early warning planes and probably the new Grippen jets fighters. The PM said that we are going to spend our military spending money in Canada or in other countries instead of the USA.
So this week I had a great day on Tuesday, nice sunny weather though it was brisk, great tours around the Island and the two groups were very pleasant people. We saw Bald Eagles at Cavendish beach hunting and also some Falcons, lots of little birds in the bushes and brambles along the cliff and one Osprey. The Lobsters boats were out and I was able to explain how you fish for lobsters and how the cage works. We also saw in ponds in the national park, Canada Geese with their little goslings, we stopped to look at them, people just love that stuff. I had people from Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Texas. I also trained new guides during the tours. Some of the guests on my tours spoke with my manager upon our return to the pier and told him I had done a fantastic job, it is always nice to hear.
Our neighbour John is a car enthusiast, he had his Dodge Dart Swinger from 1966 completely repainted and it came back yesterday, it looks brand new despite its age. The cars then had the long sofa like front seat, the side mirrors were small and it had a huge trunk. Can’t say it appeals to me now, but I do remember when I was 10 years old, I thought the Dodge Dart was a cool car.
I have also started listening to podcasts on food and what is good and what is bad. Per example today it was about restaurants like KFC who sell fried chicken, they went through 10 such brands and it turns out that most have recipes full of chemicals some cancer causing and the companies manipulate the taste of each piece of chicken to seduce the public. The only two brands who pass the taste test and are good (without additives)to eat are the US brand CHURCH and the Canadian brand Mary Brown. Mary Brown is a Canadian Company from Newfoundland and all the chicken they use come from Canadian farms, no chemicals, and you get a very natural taste.
They also did one on tea brands, in this case Twinning and King Cole got very bad marks, a solid Canadian brand, Red Rose which only makes Orange Pekoe. Mostly tea bags are made from plastic fibres which leaches micro plastics or some kind of chemical in the making of the bags. As for Jam all the budget brands are bad and I learned that when you read the label look for what comes first in the description, if it is corn syrup, sugar, fructose and the fruits comes in as the fourth or fifth item, you are eating a sugary jelly and not real jam. The recommended brand was Bonne Maman and Crofters, both are high quality high fruit content and little sugar. I am going to watch the other issues on food products, they also have videos on coffee, bacon, pizza brands, eggs, hamburgers like McDonalds, etc. I find it interesting to watch, the various studies show that brands that once were praised for quality have changed due to big Corporations buying them and cheapening the product for more sales and profits. So even if you trust a name brand because of personal likes, remember it may not be the same as it was 50 years ago. What I find disturbing is the adding of sweetener and sugar to excess in everything or food chemicals to enhance taste artificially.
Well today 24 May is Queen Victoria’s Birthday and Canada is the last country to have a holiday in her honour given her role and her father’s role in the history of Canada. Beautiful warm weather, little Teeter and I went for a walk which he enjoys much. We saw the little goslings in the ponds at the Farm surrounded by their Canada Goose parents, we stayed away.
Today also in Esquimalt B.C. at the Royal Canadian Navy Base, the North Korean attack submarine arrived with Korean frigates that Canada is looking into buying, in all 12 submarines which will be built here in Canada. There is another type of submarine we are looking into in this bid from Germany. A final decision by Cabinet will come fairly soon. The big one is about the new jet fighter planes, it appears now that the US made F-35 will not be chosen and the Swedish Grippen is on the favoured list, the big guy in DC is not happy about this change.
In the books domain, recently I purchased 2 Biographies by Gyles Brandreth, one just written on Queen Elizabeth II and the other on Prince Philip. Brandreth knew them both and he had quite a few private conversations with them over the years and was able to observe both his subject in a public and private settings, he delivers quite a lot of insight into the personalities and tidbits of private life I have never read nor heard in the past. It is a different type of biography, not the usual sycophantic stuff. The other book I am reading is titled SAPIENS, a brief history of humanity by Yuval Noah Harari, Phd., an interesting author and scholar, you may have encountered him in interviews on YouTube. He is a best selling author. He presents in his book how Sapiens came to dominate the evolution chain in human development and other branches of our family disappeared. He debunks a lot of myth about human evolution and reminds the reader that both the Bonobo and Chimpanzee share 99% of our human DNA and are the closest extant relative to humans, it makes for interesting reading.
This week I have 2 tours or a whole day and I am also training new staff, wish me luck and good weather.
A few days ago I posted a recipe with Lobster which is an abundant food here around the waters of the Island. The price of Lobster here is fairly cheap given that it is staple fished and brought to market all in one day. Currently at the dock from your favourite fisher a pound of lobster which is the average weight of one Lobster is $7.50 CDN. I think we can all agree that this is cheap if compared to a whole chicken at $13.00 or steak depending on the cut at $18.00 and upwards. You cannot buy filet of steak or roast beef unless you pre-order. Same with oysters at $2.00 or mussels at $5.00 for a pound. So yes if you live far from the sea, transport is a factor and you will pay far more. At the fishmonger a cooked 1.5 lbs Lobster is $11.00. Of course there is always baloney an historical favourite in Atlantic Canada, in Newfoundland they have recipes for baloney steak grilled, it’s tradition. So yes there are benefits to living on the seashore.
One person I follow on YouTube is Bonita’s from Newfoundland. But this can be found in any of the Atlantic provinces.
Bonita’s Kitchen specializes in traditional Newfoundland cuisine, where bologna is often fondly referred to as “Newfoundland steak”. While there is no single sandwich recipe, her most famous fried bologna meals features Bologna Stew.
Traditional Fried Bologna Stew
This classic recipe fries the meat with onions before simmering it into a rich stew with root vegetables. [1]
Ingredients:
2 cups thick-cut bologna, cubed
1 medium onion, chopped
4 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Turnip, carrot, celery, and potato (chopped into chunks)
half tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp butter and a swirl of olive oil.
Instructions:
Add just enough water to the pot to cover the vegetables, then simmer covered for 20-30 minutes until the veggies are fork-tender.Â
In a large frying pan, heat the butter and olive oil on medium heat.
Add the chopped onions and cubed bologna. SautÃĐ until both turn a rich, golden brown.
Add the black pepper, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce to the meat and onion mixture, stirring well.
In a separate large pot, preheat a splash of olive oil and begin sautÃĐing the chopped vegetables.
Transfer the fried bologna mix into the vegetable pot. Add a small amount of water to the frying pan to deglaze it and pour that flavor-packed water into the pot.
Life is a patchwork of moments â laughter, solitude, everyday joys, and quiet aches. Through scribbled stories, I explore travels both far and inward, from sunrise over unfamiliar streets to the comfort of home. This is life as I see it, captured in ink and memory. Stick around; let's wander together.
Jerry and I get around. In 2011, we moved from the USA to Spain. We now live in CÃģrdoba. Jerry y yo nos movemos. En 2011, nos mudamos de EEUU a EspaÃąa. Ahora vivimos en CÃģrdoba.
Telling the stories of the history of the port of Charlottetown and the marine heritage of Northumberland Strait on Canada's East Coast. Winner of the Heritage Award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and a Heritage Preservation Award from the City of Charlottetown
Larry Muffin At Home 
