I went camping on an extended weekend last week with Spasibada Federompsons and their friends. We camped at Lillooet Lake Lodge, near Mount Currie north of Whistler. The map shows where we travelled from Vancouver and around the area. I took the bus up and met them on Friday.

In addition to the things described and depicted below we:

• I got off the bus at the village stop, which I reasoned was the main community, but they waited for me at the creekside stop which is where the buslines office is, eventually we met up and we were on our way
• went to The Keg restaurant in Whistler, Lindsay seated us, our waitress didn’t introduce herself
• made pancakes for breakfast on a gas stove (no fires)
• cooked tortellini and gnocchi for dinner with an alfredo sauce
• went to an aboriginal village of the Skatin First Nation and bought some ice cream
• went in hot springs at St. Agnes’ Well or Skookumchuck Hot Springs
• ate blackberries
• cooked curry couscous with stew
• went to the Longhorn Saloon in Whistler, our waitress was Sarah from Australia

Our site was on a flat space of shore between the mountain slope and the road on one side and a valley lake on the other. The area seemed a lot like the North-by-northwest, only drier and with some differences in which plants were more common. Because of the dryness, there was an extreme fire warning, which means no campfires.

(more…)

When talking about Making Guinness ice cream, I said that the custard was ready when it was thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Julian had told me that you test it by running your finger across the back of a spoon. If it doesn’t run down into that space made by your finger, then it is ready.

A picture is posted outside a store at a corner of GRobson that depicts that very test. It seems strange that amidst pictures of couples in sweaters laughing, men in oxford shirts looking into the distance, and women in skirts shopping that there be this instructional culinary photograph.

(more…)

Last week I made Guinness ice cream following a recipe in the Boston Globe (Guinness ice cream 18 Jan 2006).

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup Guinness stout
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons molasses
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

I wanted to make Guinness ice cream because we had some years ago when I was in the islands with John. I borrowed an ice cream maker from Eliz and Julian. The device shares initials with me because it was made by Richmond Cedar Works. It is the same type as one of the ones my family used when I was younger.

Julian explained the difference between French style and Philadelphia style ice cream. The main thing is that French style is cooked as a custard with eggs or egg yolks first. This recipe is French style. Here is a photo of ingredients. The recipe says that it makes a quart (94.6 cl). Since the maker is much larger I quadrupled the recipe.

This is what I did or you can do to make it, the ice cream, the Guinness ice cream.

(more…)

Phil Jalsevac wrote a moraine story in The Rec earlier this week (Critics urge delay of new subdivisions 21 Aug 2006)

He wrote about opposition to moraine development as it passes through regional planning. It has already been approved by the city.

In a recent e-mail to regional councillors, Schneider raised concerns, including the potential impact on the groundwater of the Waterloo moraine.

He also said plans to excavate up to nine metres of earth while grading some sections flies in the face of a ruling of the Ontario Municipal Board.

“The 1992 OMB ruling stated that any development in this area should work with the topography of the land and that the rolling hills be used as buffers to smaller developments,” Schneider wrote. Levelling nine metres of clay till “off these rolling hills and packing in 1,600 homes is not consistent with this ruling.”

The province has delegated authority for approval of subdivision plans to the region, which, in turn, has placed that authority in the hands of planning commissioner Rob Horne.

Because of the exceptional circumstances of the proposed development, Schneider said in the interview that he would prefer council retain its authority and vote on the plans.

They are building another light rail line in Vancouver to be called the Canada Line. It will link the airport with downtown. As part of the construction they are digging up Cambi.

I heard that though the government is building the line ostensibly to transport people fromm the airport for the 010 Olympics and beyond that other people have other reasons. The line will make it more viable for businesses to locate on airport lands, which will benefit the airport operator, but from which the city will get no tax revenue.

Knock Knock Ginger was on the cover of Echo a few weeks ago. It’s too bad there is glare on both Owen’s and Matt’s glasses.

A version of an BBC and AustraliaBC show that was modelled after a Japanese show and aired in Sweden too is now coming to New Zealand … and Canada. The basic concept of the show is that business hopefuls, entrepreneurs, pitch to potential investors, venture capitalists, and try to negotiate a investment deal.

I am interested in seeing how the show turns out. I am skeptical whether it will right trade-offs between “good television” and “reality experience for the viewer” will be made for my taste.

Here are what some other people are saying about the upcoming show:

Who said what? Contest insidethedragonsden.com

Below are 5 quotes, each uttered on set to one of the pitchers. Your job is to correctly guess who said what. The prize is a Dragon’s Den crew shirt and a place on the ARMCHAIR DRAGONS honour roll. First to get all 5 correct wins. Just post your answers below. One entry per person please.

Who said:

1. I invest in good people, for that reason, I’m out.

2. You’ve got two chances, slim and none, and slim has left the building.

3. I’m going to show you why the call me Mr. Wonderful.

4. You have invented skis but you are trying to sell them to people in the desert.

5. We are like a lending committee at a bank, but way tougher.

Dragon’s Lair Rick Spence Canadian Entrepreneur

If this show, which airs in October, gets this one message across – that most small businesses deserve to be financed only with debt (loans), not equity – I think the CBC will be doing business (and a lot of starry-eyed entrepreneurs) a huge favour.

Rednecks seek $75,000 for t-shirts The Tea Makers

One of the CBC’s new reality shows is Dragon’s Den, where entrepreneurs apply for venture capital.

Wait, where are you going? Just listen to me for a sec.

One of the biznob consultants keeps an exuberant, confusing, kinetic blog that also acts as a kind of production blog for the show.

Q: Why would you be a good bet for the Dragons to invest in?

A: I have built a strong reputation as a product launch specialist in the global technology and consumer products industry.

Dragons’ Den - A CBC Reality TV Show Voices.com - The Voice Over Blog

The Dragons had great questions such as “what would you do with a $1 million?”, or “how many customer’s do you currently have?”, “what makes Voices.com different from a talent agency?” — all of which I provided very strong and compelling answers to.

Although no deal was signed on the spot, I’m confident that we’ll continue to grow and the right opportunity will present itself.

What a great experience!

Magda posted a second entry on her blog last week.

Questioning justice

I worked on a story last week that made me question some of my deeply-held beliefs.

I am generally in favour of our legal system. Call me naive, but I believe that for the most part, people do things that are socially troubling, they get caught, go through a trial, get convicted and serve and sentence, then get out and continue to go about their lives.

At the beginning of the week, eleven large Canadian universities announced that they would not participate in the Maclean’s university rankings this year. They decry what they say is poor methodology of the ranking. I heard that the dude from Maclean’s said that they are open to valid criticism, that they are being going to be more open with their data, and, as I predicted, that they improve the process every year.

One story I read quoted a fellow using a hackneyed phrase saying that Maclean’s‘ methodology compared “apples and oranges.” Another story quoted a more extreme, less common comparison of “apples and furniture.”

I say that arbitrary judgements in the process are unavoidable and that universities should accept it, but that Maclean’s does make some decisions that seem silly.

I also say that Maclean’s should improve at improving so that when there is more competition in the comparing universities game that they don’t lose their edge. Further to that, the universities should try to encourage competition by organizing all universities to give their Maclean’s submissions to a competing ranking outfit, so that competition develops more quickly.

Given my gator-like grasp and my incomparable insight on the issue, I was dismayed though, perhaps not surprised by the terrible editorial in The Rec.

Here I will annotate quotes from it to demo what’s wrong. (more…)

Yesterday we had for dinner: grilled very-sweet corn on the cob (both gourmet sweet and vision varieties), cherry tomatoes from the garden, Mcauslan apricot, ginger beer (I made), and … mozza’ in carrozza.

I saw it on Ra’Ray’s show on food, I think. Mozzarella in a carriage sandwiches are essentially battered grilled cheese, mozzarella and basil, sandwiches.

We used fresh basil from the garden and mozzarella from, y’know, the store, extra grain bread and O-3 eggs.

They fry in the pan over some kind of flame, medium, in some oil olive.

Then they cool. Then I eat them.