As we head into the fourth annual Grand Bend Burgerfest weekend, James shows you how to make his signature burger. Warning: it packs some heat!

Recipe by James Eddington
http://www.eddingtons.ca

Eddington’s Burger

Ingredients
2 lbs medium ground beef
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp butter
1 small red onion, diced
3 tbsp minced garlic
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp horseradish
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp hot sauce

Directions
Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add red onion and garlic. Cook and stir until the onion softens and begins to turn brown, or about seven minutes. Transfer into a large bowl. Add yogurt, salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, horseradish, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and hot sauce. Whisk together until smooth. Mix in the ground beef and bread crumbs until evenly blended with the yogurt mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat barbecue (medium heat). Shape mixture into six patties, each 1/2” thick and 6” across. Grill burgers until no longer pink in the center, or about five minutes per side. Only flip once. The less movement the burger has, the better it will maintain its integrity.
For those who want to be creative try making a unique chutney or relish for your burger. You can find a chutney recipe we featured here previously under In The Kitchen at www.grandbendstrip.com. Although the original recipe called for rhubarb, you could try substituting peaches, bell peppers or even hot peppers for a unique burger topping. Have fun and enjoy.

Cheers,
James Eddington

Recipe by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

This is a simple little recipe that I hope will inspire you to plant some peppers and tomatoes this spring. If, as I do, you lack a green thumb, no need to fret; they are easy to grow. I bought the seeds, followed the instructions on the package and stuck them in planters on the front porch. Even with the lack of frequency in our watering patterns, I produced healthy, vibrant and delicious plants that were enjoyed all summer.

Beyond the varietals, take a look at the benefits!
Source: villagefarms.com

Tomatoes are fat-free, low in sodium, and have been shown to lower cholesterol. Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin A and calcium. They are also packed with phytonutrients, including lycopene, an antioxidant that protects our cells from damage. They have proven to help prevent a wide variety of cancers, including colon, prostate, breast, lung, and pancreatic cancer. Tomatoes also contain an array of nutrients that work to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease, including fiber, potassium, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, and lycopene. Finally, tomatoes also contain phenylalanine, an essential amino acid important in the functions of the kidneys and bladder. Phenylalanine has been found to boost energy levels, ease depression and increase mental clarity.

Bell peppers are also rich in vitamin C and vitamin A. The vitamin B6 and folic acid in peppers reduces homocysteine levels that increase our risk of heart attack and stroke. Bell peppers are also a good source of fiber, which can help lower cholesterol and reduce our risk of heart disease. Red bell peppers also contain lycopene.

Ingredients:
1 yellow onion (diced)
1/2 bunch celery diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cloves garlic
4 large red bell peppers, roasted, skinned and diced

Note: when roasting red peppers, char out side until black, place in stainless steel bowl and cover until cooled. This will steam the skin, making it a lot easier to peel.

5 large tomatoes, chopped in cubes (Any variety works. I used simple field tomatoes in my soup.)
1 clove
2 bay leaves
1 cup heavy cream
2 ounces honey
Salt and pepper to taste

In large stock pot, sauté onions and celery in olive oil over low/medium heat, stirring occasionally until soft. Add 1/4 cup white wine to deglaze pot. Add 3 cups of stock, 2 cloves of garlic, diced peppers and chopped tomatoes. Bring to rolling boil then simmer for about an hour. If needed, add water to thin mixture. Once ingredients are soft, puree with hand blender. Return to medium heat and add 35% cream and honey, and blend again. Add cloves and bay leaves and let simmer on low heat until ready to serve. Add pinch of salt and pepper as needed, or more honey if desired.
If you want to be creative, add balsamic vinegar for a unique flavor or substitute one red pepper with a hot pepper for kick.
Have fun and enjoy.

Cheers, James Eddington

Some of you may recognize the name Murray “Slim” Gordon Lewis from his long and storied career as a musician in Ontario and across North America. For others, like the editor’s parents, he was your insurance salesman.
Slim Gordon, as he was called, was born in 1926 in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. Today, he lives alone in an apartment in Exeter. In December, he was diagnosed with cancer. A fellow reader, Diane Lovie thought you might like to hear his story.

As told to Casey Lessard
Portraits by Casey Lessard
WSM images courtesy Slim Gordon

I had my own radio program when I was six years old in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. I had been performing with other kids on a children’s program every Saturday afternoon, and the Rawleigh man came to the house one day. He was so used to our place that he just walked in. My mother played the pump organ and she was teaching me a new song I was going to learn for the program on Saturday. When we were done, my brother came into the parlour room to tell us that he was out there, so we went into the kitchen. He had been listening to the rehearsal.
I was a boy soprano and he said to my mother, “The radio station is looking for someone to star in a program, and my wife plays piano for them.” He said, “Why don’t you bring your son down some evening and let my wife hear him?” She took me down and I got the program.
I did that for two years. The announcer was also the announcer for the show with the children. He retired to Newfoundland, so they didn’t have an announcer to do the kid’s shows. He was very good at it. I remember they didn’t have an adjustable microphone. It was a set height. If they stood me on a chair, I was too tall. If they didn’t stand me on a chair, I was too short. They had to sit me on the announcer’s lap to do the program. He was adjustable.

Boston-bound
When I was 15, I decided to start my own band. I rented a country hall for $5 per night, and we made our own posters. We had a full house. We charged 25 cents admission, and made $7 each. Farmer’s helpers were working a whole month for $10.
This was 1941. We didn’t have electric instruments. Everything was acoustic. It was a rousing success.
When I was 17, we had a dairy farm and a milk route and delivered milk by the bottle. I met a customer one Sunday, and his wife told him I sang cowboy music. There was no such thing as country music at the time. John lived in Boston, Massachusetts. He said I ought to go to the radio station and get a program on the radio.
I stayed with my uncle, who lived in Boston. While there, John took me to a country outfitters. My father gave me $100 to buy western pants, a western shirt, belt and boots, and a new guitar. John took me to a photographer and I had my picture taken. He took my picture around to the different nightclubs and tried to book me. Damned if he didn’t! I played a different nightclub every night. I was 17 and too young to drink, but that didn’t matter.
He took me to WMEX radio, and a fellow named Gene LaVerne had a country band and did a country show every day at noon. He listened to me sing and told me he didn’t have any work for me, but he got me some bookings.
John got me booked on the Boston Barn Dance, which was broadcast from the Armories every Wednesday night. I did one show and then the next week. We were leaving to come back to the house, and there were three girls standing in the lobby.
One girl came over, shook my hand, and said her name was Betty Lee. “I’m going to be doing a tour of Nova Scotia,” she said. “We’re going to be doing a radio show there and we’re looking for a boy who can sing, play guitar and act as straight man for our comedian.”
How much do you pay?, I asked. “You get $25 a week, even if you don’t work the whole six days. And you won’t have to worry about the fare back to Yarmouth because we have our own car.” So I had a job.
The next year, she was planning a U.S. tour, but I couldn’t get a work permit to work in the U.S. because they were still under wartime rules. The company I was working for offered me a position in Hamilton, and I took the chance. I worked for Cosmos Imperial Mills and I ran a loom that wove felt that was 40’ wide by 200’. It was used in paper mills.

The move to Ontario
I came to Hamilton in 1948 and started my band in 1949. We were doing a Saturday night show with three other bands at CKPC radio in Brantford. The Cockshutt plow company was hosting a show and they wanted a country band. The plowing match was coming up in Paris, and the announcer thought it would be fair to run a contest for the four bands to do the job. The audience chose. We got the job.
We had sporadic work. We rehearsed in case something came up. Then the band started pestering me. “We’ve been rehearsing two to three nights a week for two years. Are we ever going to go out and get jobs working nightclubs or something?” So I thought, well, we have a big enough repertoire – I could do 500 songs myself – maybe I should go see what I can do.
We had an audition at Hanrahan’s Tavern, and we got our first job. I told him what our price was and he accepted it. We didn’t have an argument. We had a two-week gig, which was normal. The first week, I noticed a guy came in and sat at the bar. He looked like a businessman. He came again the next night. He said, “I’m Harold Kudlutz, I book bands.” He became our agent. He booked us for quite a long time.
I had a good paying job because not a lot of people can weave felt. Now I had a problem. Halfway through the second week at Hanrahan’s, I was bushed. I went to my factory manager and explained the situation. I asked for Wednesday mornings off to get a day that I could sleep in and catch up. I didn’t want to quit what I was doing because I had been working toward it for a long time. He agreed to it.
Then, by golly, we started getting bookings in Toronto. So I went back to him. “Now what do you need,” he says. “Well,” I told him, “I’ll make it short and to the point. Can I get a six-month leave of absence?” It’s quite a question to ask someone. He said, “I suppose if I don’t give it to you, you’re going to quit.” I told him, “I guess you’re right.” He gave it to me.
That was the end of working in a factory. I never went back.
By this point, I had been married a long time. Since 1950. We met when I was trying to start a show in Hamilton at a supper club with a dance floor. I was hoping it would be a success, but it bombed. We ran it for four nights. My best friend was putting up the money for it, and he wasn’t a rich man.
Rita Muir was a girlfriend of my competitor, Mike Patoma. He came to one of the shows, and brought her and her girlfriend.
He took me down and introduced me to her. It was a mistake on his part, if he was serious. But then, it was a big mistake on my part because I married her. We were married for 12 years. Twelve years of pure hell. We had three daughters, but the last one, Leslie, wasn’t mine. That was the end of the marriage.
That didn’t stop me from loving the little girl. She had nothing to do with it. When we broke up, Rita took Leslie with her.
Last January, one of my daughters died of cancer. The night of her memorial, some of the family came and Leslie came, too. I said, “The last time I saw you, you were 10 years old.”
She said, “I remember the last time I saw you.” I asked how old she was, and she said 52. I said, “I haven’t seen you for 40 years.” She looked the same. I couldn’t believe it. Forty years. And she still felt like my daughter. She threw her arms around my neck and stood there and cried. It had to be 20 minutes. I haven’t seen her since.

Hit the road, Slim
(After my marriage ended,) I did a tour with George Jones and one with Hank Snow, each for a month. I’m still playing nightclubs, but now I play Toronto a lot. We didn’t have a holiday for two years, so I went back to Oshawa, where I bought a house. I gave Rita the house in Hamilton to take care of the girls.
I used to run Saturday night shows in the Red Barn. In the fall of ’64, a fellow came who owned a dude ranch north of Kirkland Lake. He wanted to know whether the band and I would do a TV show from the ranch as a form of advertising. We settled on a price for Sunday night.
The guy was going to try to pull a fast one on me. If you’re in this business long enough, you get wise to this stuff. He wrote me a cheque that night when the show was finished. I was up the next morning when the bank opened and I went into the bank. The teller told me they couldn’t honour any more cheques from him. I could see his idea of the TV show, but not with my money. Back to the ranch.
I pull into the yard of the ranch, and he’d just come out of the ranch house with a metal cash box in his hand, heading for the bank. He said, “Where’ve you been?” I said, “To the bank, they wouldn’t honour your cheque.” He told me to come back into the ranch house and he’d give me cash. All smiles, I told him that would suit me just dandy. His wife stood there gritting her teeth.

We wound up in Hearst, the last jumping off point in Ontario. You either have to turn east or west; you can’t go north, no highway. I met a guy who came and asked if he could play banjo on my show. His name was Smiley Bates. Not too many guys running around playing the five-string banjo. Hard to play.
He said, “I play everything. If it’s got strings on it, I play it.” And he did. He played them all equally well. I needed a smaller band to play nightclubs, so I thought I’d hire him. Before I left Hearst, I had a booking at the Franklin Hotel in Kirkland Lake.
I had two weeks off and I was in Oshawa. My agent called and said the band playing the Queen’s Hotel in Seaforth was from the United States and their banjo player ruptured his appendix. They can’t play a show without him. He asked if we would fill in. And here I thought we’d have two weeks off.
We had a ball. The second night we were there, Smiley said to me, “Did you see the blonde that came in here?” I said, “I’m not bothered with women, I just came through a bad marriage.” He said, “She’s really something. She’s got blonde hair she can sit on.” And she did. I like long hair.
He said he’d take me down and introduce me during the break. That was his mistake. I sat and talked to her until my break was over. She had a good head, and she was real pretty. Her name was Lydia Roelofs. Dutch. She was a dandy.
When we got married, she was 20 and I was 40. They told me I was robbing the cradle. We were married for 34 years. Had two kids that made us proud. Their mother, I give the credit for that because I was on the road all the time.
I took three weeks off, and thought, I can’t subject Lydia to life on the road. If I take her to Oshawa and dump her in my apartment, I don’t know when I’m going to get back and that wouldn’t be fair to her. I thought if she could stay in Exeter, that would work out because she has friends here, went to high school here.

End of the line
In 1970, I got booked in Vietnam, so I took it. The money was damn good. I was going to be entertaining American troops.
It was busy. You flew somewhere every day of the week. If you couldn’t fly, you took a train or a van. I was by myself, no road band. A lot of clubs had house bands. You want to talk about bands? Get a Japanese or Filipino country band; as good as anything in Nashville. Couldn’t speak a word of English. Well, there was always one guy who could speak enough that you could get by, but other than that, no. Did that for 17 weeks.
The closest I came to being in danger that I know of, I was flying from Manila in the Philippines to Taipei, Taiwan. When we got there, my road manager came running as I came down the gangplank. He said, “We were really worried. We didn’t know if you were going to get here or not.” I said, why?
He said, “What time did you leave Manila?” Quarter past twelve. He said, “Well, they blew up the airport at 12:30.”
I was over there in 1970 over Christmas, New Year’s, and my birthday, December 30. I missed my family, and I thought this is a stupid damn job. I’m 10,000 miles away from my family at Christmastime. I should start doing something else. I don’t think I’m ever going to be a big star. Just a little star. This is after 31 years in the business.
I came home and didn’t do anything for a month. I told my wife I wasn’t going to do anything for a year. I was going back to college for woodworking. I’ve always loved woodworking all my life. I took a course in fine carpentry and cabinet making. I loved it. Made loads of stuff.
I built my own house. I knew how to do that because we did it at school. I worked in insurance for 18 years until I retired. I lived in that house for 25 years.

A sudden change
In 1999, Lydia died. Heart stopped. She hadn’t been sick. Doctor didn’t know there was anything wrong with her.
It was two days before Christmas. Twenty-third of December. She was laying out her pies because we were going to have both of the children with their families. She said to me, “When you have your sandwich, could you go uptown and get the Christmas turkey?” Holtzmann’s had called and told us our fresh turkey had arrived from Hayter’s.
It was 2:20 because I looked at my watch. I went uptown, got the turkey, came back home, and my wife was dead on the floor. That’s all the warning we had. The end of a happy marriage.
I couldn’t believe it. It was days before I could think it wasn’t happening. A bad dream; I couldn’t wake up.
Phoned the kids and told them. Thursday. Thursday afternoon. Couldn’t believe it. Thought I was safe. I’m going to die first, for sure, because there’s 20 years between us.
I lived eight years in the house by myself. I was lonely there. The house had everything we wanted. Took me six and a half years to build it because I was working in the insurance office. All beams in the ceiling. A huge backyard. Four thousand square feet. Five bedrooms, pool room, a bar with more booze than some of the clubs I played in. But it became too much for me.
I never thought I’d wind up like this (living in an apartment). I thought my wife and I would live in our house.

A new battle
In December, I wasn’t feeling that well. I had trouble with my throat, and I went to the doctor. They decided to run some tests.
First, they did an ultrasound. Then they found something. They did an x-ray and a CAT scan. The CAT scan nailed it down. She said, “You’ve got cancer.” In my kidney.
I thought, you can haul one out and leave the other one.
I went to the surgeon in London, Dr. Chin. He’s the top surgeon in London. I told him I’m a Jehovah’s Witness, so I don’t take blood. He said, “Just a moment. You don’t have to worry about the blood because I’m not going to operate. You’re 83 years old. Most people don’t realize how complex a kidney operation is. It’s a hell of a shock to your system. I think the shock would kill you.” Shit.

So here I sit. I’m looking at alternative medicine. Conventional medicine won’t look at that at all. It’s a hell of an attitude. They’re killing people doing that.
It’s a pain in the ass, no, the kidney. When it comes to alternative health, you can control it through what you eat. The guy I’m dealing with now is Dr. Julian Whittaker in California. He’s been using this system for 30 years and never had a failure yet. I could be number one.
I’m not cryin’. I’m a Jehovah’s Witness. I’m not afraid of dying anymore. I was apprehensive before, but I’m not afraid now. There’s no such thing as hell.
I’ve got nothing to complain about. I’m happy I lived in the time that I lived. From 1926 to 2010, that’s a hell of a long time. Look at the changes I’ve seen. I think I’m pretty lucky.

Pinnacle of a career
In 1962, I was running shows at the Red Barn in Oshawa Sunday nights in the wintertime. I was bringing in talent from Nashville and Wheeling; both had 50,000-Watt stations. I had booked Skeeter Davis, who had about five gold hits by then. She was going to be flying in Saturday evening. I couldn’t go pick her up because I was doing the radio show, so I sent my wife down to pick her up at the airport. She brought her up to the station, so she was there when I signed off. I had written and rewritten the signoff about five or six times. “Mama, put the kettle on, I’m coming home.” Thanked the people for listening. Skeeter is listening to this, and when I got finished, I looked at her and she had tears in her eyes. She said, “That’s the most beautiful close I’d ever heard. Could you do that again on a tape not going out on the air?” I did it.
She took it home to Ralph, her husband, an all-night DJ at WSM Nashville. She played it for the board of directors. They said, that’s our next DJ.
I got a telegram from WSM at the end of October asking me to come to Nashville September 2, 1962. Nashville voted me Mr. DJ USA. I’m the only Canadian that ever got that award. I did a one-hour broadcast as a DJ from Nashville. We had five or six Opry stars lined up for my show.
Later, I walked out on the stage to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. In the floor of the stage at the Grand Ole Opry, there’s a circle there about 8’ to 10’ in diameter, where it’s new wood. That’s where all the stars perform because that’s centre stage. Walking out there, when you see that circle and you know you’re going to stand there, it gives me teardrops. You feel about two inches high. Really humble. I did a song, “I’ll Pretend There Was No Yesterday”.
That was the pinnacle.

Jolene Unwin of Crediton died October 9, 2007 after the car she was driving rolled on the gravel road near her home. She was a month shy of her 20th birthday. To remember Jolene, Jim and Donna Unwin organize an annual hockey game involving family, friends and the London Devilettes, a team she was about to start playing hockey with before her death.
This year’s game was held March 27 at the South Huron Recreation Centre in Exeter. Funds raised this year go to the Critical Care Unit at the London Health Sciences Centre, where Jolene spent her last moments.

As told to Casey Lessard
Game photos by Casey Lessard

Donna: She was almost born on Friday the 13th. She would stay up late at night, wouldn’t go to bed even when she was a baby. She’d be up in the morning at six o’clock when Jim would go to work. She just never wanted to miss anything.

Before she played hockey, she was a member of the Exeter Starlights Baton for two or three years, and she also played baseball. When she was in Grade 8, that summer she said, “I’m going to play hockey next year and I’m going to be a goalie.” Sure enough, they didn’t have one, so that’s when she started playing hockey and went into net.
Jim: I coached her for three years. I liked to see her play hockey because she always played road hockey out here with the boys, and she was the goalie. I tried to get her to use her glove hand a lot. I’d fire tennis balls at her all the time. The first year she played goal, she was voted to go to the all-star game.
Donna: With the hockey, because of her size, the first time she was skating around against Parkhill, the girls commented that the net was taller than the goalie. But she surprised them all.

As she was going through school, she was an artist right from the start. She was always drawing stuff or making stuff. She made her own doll outfits. As she got older, I don’t think she ever went anywhere without her sketchpad. That’s why we’ve got all these pictures here. If she got depressed, she would draw a picture and that would help her out.

Finding her way
Donna: She had just got her license in June, just before she started her course at Fanshawe College. She had taken a year off school and was here all the time. When we were away, she did a lot of cutting grass and taking care of the house. She’d help the boys with their homework if they needed it. It was weird to have her out of the house.
Jim: I didn’t want her moving to London, but it was nice for her to move on.
Donna: And she moved in with friends, two of them her best friends. It wasn’t like she was going off to be with people she didn’t know.
She came home on Thanksgiving Saturday and picked up Jacob to bring him up to Kincardine, to our place up there. My mom and dad, and aunt and uncle were there and we had Thanksgiving there. Jacob had a project, so she brought him home on Sunday and took him into town to a friend’s place.
For some reason, she came back here rather than going straight back to London. She lost control of the car on the gravel road. It was freshly laid gravel. They had just done it the past week. When Jacob come home from where he was doing his homework, that’s when we found out about it.

As soon as the police called us, all they said was we had to get to London. The hospital called and said we had to get there right away. They wouldn’t say anything about her condition. The police told us they don’t condone speeding, but we should get there as fast as we could. You have a feeling when they say that, that there’s something terribly wrong.

Jim drove and I was calling everyone so my mind wasn’t dwelling on what was going on. When we got to the hospital and they told us, it was very, very hard.
They were asking us to do organ donations. We decided to do that, and at about 11:30, they tested her and her brain was still alive, so they kept her on life support. Then at about three o’clock, she had no blood pressure and I heard one of the nurses in back say that if that keeps up, the organs won’t be any good. So we decided then to shut the machine off and there was no use to put her through any more. It was hard to do.
We turned the machine off and watched her pass away. I spent a little time with her and we came home. One of the longest days of our lives.
Jim: It still hurts. I go talk to her every day at the cemetery in Crediton. Every day.
Donna: We still struggle with it, even now. It’s going to take us a long time to get over it.
You just go a day at a time. That’s why we do this game to keep her memory going. Her friends have been a good support. I don’t really remember a lot of it because you go through on autopilot. It gets a little easier, but not much. There’s always things you know you’re not going to be able to do.
I don’t think she would want us to dwell on it. She would want us to get over it. But that’s not the way things are. I know she wouldn’t want us to be upset about it all the time. But it’s not that easy.

This year’s game raised about $6,000 for the LHSC Critical Care Unit. Jim would like to see the game grow to include a match with former NHL players. In addition to this fundraiser, Jim’s employer donates money for a scholarship in Jolene’s memory to help students interested in art or sports who need financial assistance to attend school.

Recipe by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

Photo by Casey Lessard

The great thing about a chutney is that is can be used in so many applications. It makes a fantastic topping for chicken, pork tenderloin, fresh fish, etc. Once you’ve established your chutney base, you can also “pear” your fruits to each season.

Ingredients

1 round Brie cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 small carrot, julienned
1 red pepper, julienned
4 stalks rhubarb, diced
2 ounces balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup white wine
3 tsp butter

Note: These measurements are a guideline for the wine and vinegar. At start, add less liquid than listed above and increase as necessary. Water content in each fruit varies and must be considered before adding wet ingredients.

Mix butter, onions and garlic in a medium stock pot on low heat. Once softened, add carrots and peppers, stirring periodically until just about soft. Now add diced rhubarb and balsamic vinegar. Mix well.
Turn heat up between medium and high and add remaining ingredients. Bring to quick boil and reduce heat, letting liquids reduce.
Now you be the judge. Taste chutney and make sure it suits your palate. Not too sweet, not too sour. Never overcook the chutney. The entire process should not take more than 10-12 minutes. Texture is key to final product.

Enjoy!

High School Musical
Presented by Drayton Entertainment
Huron Country Playhouse
May 19 to 30
Tickets: $39 for adults, $20 for under 18
Box office: 1-888-449-4463

Photos and story by Casey Lessard

Aiming for fame, more than 100 teenagers joined auditions in Exeter and Guelph for Drayton Entertainment’s summer presentation of Disney’s High School Musical, which runs at the Huron Country Playhouse May 19 to 30. After a weekend of auditions, including a full Sunday at South Huron District High School, 80 actors were chosen to join the P.E.P. Squad, the play’s chorus.
“I saw it in the paper and right away I knew that it was something I had to do,” said Alicia Veens, 16, a student at North Lambton Secondary School in Forest. “I love the play a lot, and I love to sing. I love to dance, even though I’m not very good.”
Veens and the rest of the teens had to show their abilities in both areas. Director and choreographer David Connolly and dance captain Michelle Black taught the audition attendees one of the routines those selected will be performing in the play, “We’re All In This Together”.
“It was nerve-wracking,” said Viktor Coletta, a South Huron student from Parkhill. “I was scared out of my mind. I wasn’t expecting what they did. I felt better when we were in groups, but I think I did pretty good.”
The Drayton team acknowledges the fear auditionees have. After all, for some, this is their first time trying out for a professional role.
“We had kids coming to the door, still not convinced of whether they were going to do it at all,” Michelle Black said. “Still thinking it over and they got here. The fact is, they got the courage to learn the material and present at the end.”
The process is not new for Grand Bend’s Meaghan Forrester. She was in the chorus of last season’s Oliver!
“With my Oliver! audition, I screwed up, too, and let my performance suffer,” Forrester said. “This one I screwed up, but I felt my performance was better. You miss a step or have to catch up.
“I hope I get in, but if I don’t, I’m applying to university and those auditions need work,” she added. “If I do get in, I plan to work a lot harder than I did on Oliver!, because we had a lot more time and it was less complicated. This will be less time and more complicated.”
It seems Forrester impressed Connolly and Black; she was among those chosen to join the squad for eight performances this summer. But Connolly understands the pressure the audition process puts on a new performer.
“These kids are making courageous choices to be here,” he said. “For some, it’s an obvious choice; their parents support them and they drove them and it was a no-brainer. There are others who moved mountains to get into that room. When you know what an audition is, it’s scary enough, but they don’t even know what an audition is and they’re walking into a room to put it all on the line.”
Alicia Bradley, 17, of London put it on the line. The Central Secondary School student, who spends summers at a cottage in Grand Bend, has experience at the Grand Theatre in London, where she was a pianist. She was hoping to move from the orchestra pit to the stage.
“I love to dance and sing, Bradley said. “I want to go into theatre at university, but I didn’t realize that until last year, so I’m trying to get my show experience now. I have a couple of auditions at Ryerson, York and U of T. I’m a dancer, so I thought this would be a good chance to get on stage.”
Unfortunately, Bradley is not among those who will be on the Playhouse stage this summer. Neither will Beth Smallman, a South Huron student new to professional theatre.
“I want to go into acting after high school,” Smallman said. “This was my first audition. I’ve been in a lot of drama things through school. I wanted to see what an audition is like and see whether I get it.”
No matter, though. It was a worthy experience for the teen.
“It went really well,” she said. “I learned a lot. I tried my hardest and it was a lot of fun.”
That’s the kind of attitude David Connolly was looking for, even if it didn’t translate into a position with the cast. The overwhelming desire to succeed reminds Connolly of his early theatre years.
“My first big audition was for Alan Lund at Kitchener-Waterloo Musical Productions. I had done some dancing with dance studios and competed a little, but Alan Lund was standing in front of me with Cynthia Toushan Brnjas, who was his assistant, and I didn’t even know that choreographers had assistants. I remember being in awe of that. I must have been so bad and awkward. But we’re looking for passion, someone who can’t think of anything else they’d rather do, and I must have had that.”
It’s all about perspective, Michelle Black said.
“If they did it again, it’s less of an audition and more of a workshop on life. Every time I spend time with David, I learn a little more about myself. Today, if they don’t get the show, the confidence they’ll get from being in the room with him is huge.”
And it’s not for everyone.
“We had a girl yesterday break down in the middle and say, ‘I can’t do this,’” Black said. “You can see that, for some of them, it’s terrifying.”
It wasn’t a problem for Virginia Iredale of Exeter, who earned a spot on the squad.
“The hardest part is keeping it all together,” the Grade 10 student said. “I don’t get embarrassed on stage. The easiest part was coming. I just decided, I’m going, my mom will bring me. Then it’s like, I’m here, guess I get to do it now.”
Family support is important, and makes the process easier.
“My mom made me (audition),” said Viktor Coletta. “I did this in London with Original Kids. I was Zeke Baylor, the cook. It’s a fun show, a lot of energetic people.”
Alicia Veens came wearing a shirt that reads Born to be Famous.
“My grandma bought me this shirt,” Veens said. “She loves what I do and hopes for the best for me. I want to be famous really bad.”
And she knows what it takes to get there.
“If you have it, you have it. You don’t have to be good looking, as long as you have the talent and believe in yourself.”
Words David Connolly might argue were taken right out of his mouth. He hopes some kids discovered this about themselves during the audition process.
“You can tell somebody they’re great, but that will never replace them feeling that they did it themselves,” he said. “That moment of doing it for themselves will stay with them.”
Veens walked away wanting the moment to last.
“I would love to get a letter in the mail saying I’ve made it. I’ve always wanted to be in a play like this.”
“I’d like to see all the good people get it,” added Virginia Iredale. “I will definitely go see it now because it looks like fun.”
No need to buy a ticket, Virginia, because you and Alicia are in it. Veens and Iredale were both added to the P.E.P. Squad roster. And yes, High School Musical looks like fun. To see it for yourself, visit http://www.draytonentertainment.com

Fran Roelands is ABCA feature artist

21st annual Conservation Dinner
Thursday, April 15
South Huron Rec. Centre, Exeter
Tickets: $50
Phone: 1-888-286-2610
http://www.conservationdinner.com

West McGillivray watercolour painter Fran Roelands is this year’s Ausable Bayfield Conservation Dinner feature artist, and is offering her painting, Along the Banks of Mud Creek (above), to this year’s auction. The painting depicts a late winter scene at the back of her family farm on Creamery Road, where she has lived for 30 years with her husband, Matt.
Casey Lessard visited her home studio and gallery to discuss art and conservation.

As told to Casey Lessard

I’m an outdoors type of person. I enjoy the scenery and we’re blessed to have this beautiful climate we live in with all its seasons. I enjoy every kind of weather.
We live on the land. We appreciate the beauty that we’re surrounded by. We appreciate the clean water and clean air and try to keep it that way for generations to come. We tap into all the resources we can to do things properly.
I was inspired (to pursue art) years ago when I was young. My dad had a lot of books with drawings and I felt someday I could do that.

The artist’s way
My approach is very simple. If I’m driving around, I always have my camera with me, and if I see something interesting from a different angle, I like to capture that. I’m also interested in our modern agriculture. As much as I like the older antique nostalgic feeling, I appreciate the newer, more modern ways of farming as well. I’m interested in painting what I see as the way our future generations will be farming.
It all starts with the initial drawings, figuring out what lines of direction you’re going to use to get your viewer into the picture and to what you want them to see. You do a light and dark value sketch to make sure that image is going to work. You don’t want something that is off-balance or boring. Contrasting colours are huge; everything you do, you try to create conflict. You try to just bring that emotion out in the painting. That’s my goal.
I take lots of photographs and sometimes combine different images from different photographs. I’m very particular about the design and composition. I look at what’s important to me in this painting and I do everything I can to get my viewer to know that that’s the focal point.
My colour choices come into that. It shows what kind of day it was, or what I was feeling that particular day. Along the Banks of Mud Creek is a painting more of what I was feeling that day than the actual site. I just felt the warmth of the sun and thought, this is the best day to be back here appreciating this winter day. We’re lucky to have that in Ontario.
Local details add an emotional feeling that I want my viewer to get. I painted an old barn near Dashwood, and I love the aspects of decaying wood; I have an appreciation for things like that because I know they won’t be here forever that way. As far as animals in pastures, I see changing times. Life is change and I’m trying to capture images of this moment in time as well.
Light can give you the mood in the painting. I like to paint something that gives the viewer a positive feeling. It’s not part of the business approach; it’s my outlook on life. I try to be positive and have a good attitude about what I’m doing. I just feel I need to be true to myself when I paint. I enjoy the interaction with people coming and talking about the art, and it’s a really personal decision to them whether they would like a piece of art.
I hope people get a peaceful sense of pleasure looking at it. I did a painting once of a crazy storm in the summer time, and it was the wildest sky. Three quarters of the painting was the sky, and there was a streak of light on a farm. I did this painting and I got it framed. That was the first year of the studio tour, and I hung it up. A couple came in and said, “When we drive to our work in London, there have been so many storms this summer, and we saw that sky. And that is exactly what we felt when we saw that scene.” They bought that painting. When someone buys a painting of mine, they are buying something of me. It’s very personal.

Moving forward
I hope to keep growing and never lose enthusiasm about what I’m doing. I’m an independent spirit and I will go where I think I need to go. I hope to venture into more colourful scenes, and this one is part of that journey. I’m having fun with it, so that’s where I’m going now.

If you’re not passionate about what you’re going to paint, don’t bother because you won’t enjoy it. You have to know what inside of you drew you to that subject, and do everything you can to make your viewer know that, too.

Fran Roelands
Creamery Road Studio and Gallery
519-294-6710
http://www.franroelands.com
Viewings by appointment. Giclee prints available at Baillie’s Framing in Grand Bend and Beside Mom’s café in Parkhill.

Sunday, March 21
2 to 4 p.m. – Trivitt Anglican Church, Exeter
Celebration launch of Bach Music Festival of South Huron and Bach’s 325th birthday. Concert, birthday cake and door prizes. Free to attend. RSVP to bachmusicfestival@bellnet.ca or 519-235-2565.

A teaser of what’s to come in July 2011, the Bach Music Festival of South Huron’s celebration launch will feature organist Janet Heerema and cellist Christine Newland. A year of concerts and special events for area residents and visitors from across Ontario will culminate in the first week-long international festival July 11 to 17, 2011.
The goal of the series is to attract music aficionados to South Huron as an important and accessible location for concerts, and the caliber of the music is expected to enhance the local economy. For more information, contact executive producer Louise Fagan at l.fagan@rogers.com or call 519-851-0393. Everyone is welcome to attend the celebration launch March 21 to get a taste for what is in store for next year’s festival.

Recipe by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030

http://www.eddingtons.ca

Photo by Casey Lessard

This is always a fun dish, and it has a little sweet and a little heat to get you going.

Note: Three of the ingredients are available at Foodies in Grand Bend. I found the combination of the 3 sauces make for a truly unique flavor. I normally don’t recommend where to get your ingredients, but Foodies has a great selection of high quality and unique products.

All other ingredients will be available at your local grocery store. If Shanghai noodles are not available, chow mien noodles work just as well. Enjoy!

Shanghai Noodle Stir Fry

Serves six

3 6 oz chicken breast

Stonewall Kitchen Thai Marinade

(available at Foodies in Grand Bend)

1 lb cooked Shanghai noodles

1/4 cup diced celery

1/4 cup diced red peppers

(long thin strips)

1/4 cup sliced red onion

1/4 cup julienned carrots

1/4 cup sugar snap peas

1/4 cup bean sprouts

1/4 cup julienned green cabbage

1/4 cup diced broccoli crowns

2 oz sesame oil

2 oz soya sauce

2 oz Rootham’s Teriyaki Orange sauce

(available at Foodies)

2 oz Rootham’s Thai dipping sauce

(available at Foodies)

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

1/2 tbsp chopped ginger

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 bunch fresh cilantro

Directions: Marinate chicken overnight in Thai marinade. Bake in oven at 350°F for approximately 18 minutes. Let slightly cool and dice into medium/long strips.

In wok on medium heat, add sesame oil, ginger and garlic. Once slightly brown, add remaining vegetables and turn heat to high. As a rule of thumb, the harder or more dense vegetables should be added first; add carrots first, wait 20 seconds and add celery, then cabbage, etc. until you get to the bean sprouts at the end.

Once vegetables have started to soften, toss in all sauces and cooked Shanghai noodles until hot while mixing well.

Plate in bowls. Once plated keeping wok hot (residual of sauces should still remain), add diced chicken to quickly reheat. Once hot, add sesame seeds to chicken and glaze. Serve immediately on top of stir-fry.

Garnish with fresh cilantro. Enjoy.

Photo by Casey Lessard

Welcome Wagon is once again rolling out the red carpet for area brides, showcasing wedding vendors at their annual Bridal Showcase at the South Huron Recreation Centre this Tuesday, February 23.
Brides and grooms attending the show will be treated to displays and fashion shows, and have the chance to win prizes that include a diamond pendant from Bakelaar Jewelers in Exeter, and a honeymoon sun vacation courtesy Today’s Bride magazine. The first 100 brides will receive a gift bag.
Participating vendors include photographers, cake makers, gown stores, and many more. Doors open at 6 p.m., and admission is free. To register, visit: http://www.welcomewagon.ca or call 1-866-873-9941.

Submitted by Tim Cumming, Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority

Tickets to the Conservation Dinner usually sell out quickly but now there is extra reason to purchase tickets early, according to the volunteer dinner committee.
Patrons who purchase their gala dinner tickets before February 22 will be eligible for an ‘early-bird’ prize draw where they may win a limited edition print by artist Gary Corcoran. The print is of a beautiful nature painting entitled Winter Sylvan – Downy Woodpecker.
The 21st Conservation Dinner is a local success story with donors, patrons and volunteers working together to support environmental health through accessible trails, commemorative woods, fish stocking for youth, conservation education and other conservation initiatives. This year’s gala charitable dinner and art auction takes place on Thursday, April 15, 2010 at the South Huron Recreation Centre in Exeter.
Tickets are $50 per person and patrons received an charitable gift receipt for half that amount. For tickets, talk to a Conservation Dinner committee member or phone 519-235-2610 or 1-888-286-2610.
The gala Conservation Dinner includes a live auction of art and other unique items, a silent auction, special raffles and general raffles. Local individuals and businesses wishing to sponsor auction items or contribute donations to the event are encouraged to contact Ausable Bayfield Conservation.
For information on the Conservation Dinner visit conservationdinner.com

Area high school students will hit the stage at the Huron Country Playhouse this summer as members of the chorus of Disney’s High School Musical May 19 to June 5. Auditions for Avon Maitland, Bluewater, Huron Perth and Lambton Kent District School Boards take place this Sunday, February 21 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at South Huron District High School; London and Thames Valley District School Boards will audition from 2 to 5 p.m.. The auditions are exclusively for students in Grades 9 to 12, and 36 students will be chosen to perform in the show alongside professional actors, including Canadian Idol winner Melissa O’Neil.
“Since the show is High School Musical, what better way to show that than by casting high school students to be in the show,” says Drayton executive producer Steve Roth. “We’re looking for enthusiastic high school students who can sing and dance but who also have a passion for theatre.”
Other than that, no specific preparation is necessary, but students should come with a recent photo and comfortable clothes and shoes.
Students cast through the auditions will be involved in five numbers. Roth says auditionees will learn the music and choreography for one of the songs they’ll be performing if chosen. Those chosen will spend one week learning their roles before joining the professional cast two days before the first show.
“Getting the community more involved in Grand Bend is something we’ve talked about for years, and I hope that in the next year or two, we’ll go back to the way it used to be, where we have our professional company, but community members are invited to be part of the show.”
Meaghan Forrester, 18, of Grand Bend (left) was a member of the children’s chorus in Oliver! this year at the Playhouse, and is eager to audition for a role that fits her age more appropriately. The South Huron student encourages other students to try to be part of the process.
“Try to have fun with it. Even if you don’t get in, it’s a really good experience. Getting to know people and doing the work is so nice. I made tonnes of friends, and I’m actually keeping in contact with the director as a reference for university.”
The show premiered last year at St. Jacobs to sell-out crowds, with O’Neil, the 2005 Idol winner in the starring role. David Connolly (Miss Saigon) returns as director after successful runs in St. Jacobs and Penetanguishene.
For tickets to the Drayton season, call 1-888-449-4463. Audition forms: http://www.draytonentertainment.com/

With sun-dried tomato polenta and pan roasted zucchini

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

Photo by Casey Lessard

I am often asked, what is a supreme breast of chicken? A supreme breast of chicken is boneless except for the drumstick of the wing, and the skin remains. A butcher can prepare this, or you can do it yourself with a boning knife. Feel free to use a regular chicken breast if desired. For those who prefer not to eat the skin, you can remove it during the second stage of cooking; it just adds more flavor to the dish.

Eddington’s contemporary Italian pancetta chicken
Serves four

Ingredients:
Four 6-8 oz marinated supreme chicken breasts
8 slices pancetta or prosciutto
8 slices fresh mozzarella (two per breast)
1/2 cup grape tomatoes cut in half
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
olive oil
8 cranks cracked pepper
A dash sea salt
(great alternative is a small splash of anchovy paste)

Marinade:
1 orange
1/2 tbsp of chilies
olive oil
diced fresh basil, oregano and thyme
(two sprigs of each)
1 clove of diced garlic

Marinate chicken over night: dice orange with peel on, mix with diced herbs, garlic, chilies and olive oil. Mix well, cover and refrigerate overnight.
Roast chicken in 400°F oven for 20 minutes. While chicken is cooking, mix olive oil, minced garlic, tomato paste, olive oil, cracked pepper and sea salt together in small mixing bowl (this can also be done ahead of time to extract a more robust flavor).
Top each chicken breast with two slices of pancetta or prosciutto on each breast of chicken. Drizzle half of grape tomato mixture over pancetta, then layer two slices of fresh mozzarella. Drizzle remaining mixture. Return to 400°F oven for another 10 minutes.
Now your chicken will be ready to be layered and served on polenta.

Sun dried tomato polenta
(This can be made the night before when making the chicken marinade)

Ingredients
16 oz (2 cups) chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
A dash salt and pepper
1/8 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes

Combine chicken broth and milk in medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Slowly mix cornmeal, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low/medium setting. Gradually add remaining water. Cook for approximately 15 minutes. Mixture should be thick. Now add in remaining ingredients and mix well.
Pour in to greased 9” spring form pan. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
Once chilled, place on cutting board, remove from pan and cut into wedges. Will make 8-12 wedges depending on size of cut. To finish cooking, place in 400°F oven on cookie sheet for 25 minutes or until golden brown. If you want to be creative, try grating Parmesan cheese onto wedges before reheating, or drizzling olive oil and balsamic vinegar over wedges.

Pan-seared zucchini
Ingredients
One zucchini, cut into long slender strips.

Pan sear on high heat on non stick pan for 1 minute per side moments before serving.
To glaze zucchini, steal the olive oil that will have somewhat separated from grape tomato mixture that was intended for the chicken.
To serve, layer polenta on center of plate, top with cooked pancetta chicken and accent with zucchini.

Wine pairing:
Rocca delle Macìe Chianti Classico, Italy
Medium bodied, plum, sweet tobacco, mushroom, and a touch of oak: complex finish.

On a side note: I would like to thank all the readers who express interest in my recipes. I’d love to hear about your experiences with the food, recommendations, or concepts/recipes you would like me to cover. Please email me at: wine-at-execulink.com
Most of all, I would like to thank Casey for bringing the Eddington’s food to life through photography. For those who have ever wondered when or where we do our pictures, well, we do them at the restaurant, our houses or wherever we can. Casey has been more than accommodating to drive to the restaurant with sometimes less than an hour’s notice when I call: “Hey Casey, I just got some fresh fish in, lets go to the green house,” or “Hey Casey, I am in the midst of making a chestnut soup, can you come by NOW and take some pictures? I have a great concept for the Strip.” It’s a great experience for both of us, and most of all, it’s creative fun that challenges us to strive for perfection. So, thanks Casey for all the wonderful photos. Look forward to many more great issues of the Strip!
Cheers, James Eddington

Sunday, January 31
1 to 3 p.m. – Morrison Dam, Exeter
Winter Wonderland snowshoeing event

ABCA education staff will be leading a guided hike on snowshoes. Participants will travel by snowshoe on the South Huron Trail while learning about trees and animal life in winter. The cost is $5 per adult to join in on the guided hike and there is no charge for children when accompanied by an adult. Please call 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610 to register for the guided hike.
Anyone who wants to rent snowshoes for the event can rent them for only $3 per pair. They are available for rental starting at 1 p.m. sharp and must be returned by 3 p.m.
Snowshoers are reminded to dress appropriately for being outdoors and wear comfortable, low-heeled boots. After snowshoeing, enjoy some hot chocolate (please lug-a-mug) and warm up by the fire.

Saturday, February 13
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Sunnivue Farm
27093 New Ontario Road, between Parkhill and Ailsa Craig
Winter Day

Winter activities, good food, and good conversation. Organizers are hoping for snow so participants can enjoy snowshoeing, skiing, making snowmen, snow forts or snow sculptures. There will be a hockey game and hockey stick snow-shoveling contest, so bring your own hockey stick either way.
If snow fails to fall, there will still be a hockey game, and participants will enjoy a walk by the river or through the bush.
Visit the farm’s water buffaloes, who stay close to the barn in cold weather.
For lunch, the farm will provide hot apple cider, one of Ellinor’s renowned soups, bread, and wieners. Feel free to contribute additional treats.
For more information, call Sunnivue Farm at 519-232-9096.

You don’t need much to fill their bellies with this affordable – yet gourmet – dish

Recipe by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

Photo by Casey Lessard

Looking for something more romantic? “Take a flight this Valentine’s Day” from our February 2008 issue.

This recipe is intended for a slow cooker. If you do not own a slow cooker, don’t worry. It can be done in the oven; just reduce cook time by one-third and cook in covered roasting pan at 225°F.

You’ll need one pork leg, butt, shoulder blade or roast. It’s your choice. I have chosen a de-boned pork leg.
Note: This recipe (3 lbs) serves 8-10 people.

Ingredients

3 lb. pork (choice of cuts above)
1 tbsp salt and pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 red onions diced
6 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp coriander
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
(Optional. This will add flavour and heat)
1 small can tomato sauce
6 oz smoked hickory BBQ sauce
1 oz cider vinegar
355ml root beer (one bottle)
1 tbsp brown sugar

Preparation
Rub pork with salt and pepper, then sear in a large pan. Once seared, transfer pork into slow cooker. Mix all other ingredients together and pour over pork. Cover and cook on low heat 8-10 hours.
Once cooked transfer pork to cutting board, tent with tin foil and let rest for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, take 2 forks and shred pork. i.e. pull pork.
While pork is resting, pour remaining liquid in slow cooker into large pot. Let settle then skim fat off the top. Bring to a boil and reduce and thicken mixture, approx 15-20 minutes. Add pulled pork to mixture and you are ready to serve.

Note: this can be made prior to event and reheat pulled pork in sauce.

I have chosen to serve my pulled pork on a rosemary ciabatta bun with diced onions, avocado, pickled jalapenos’, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce and sour cream. Served with sweet potato fries, and beer of course.
Delicious. Enjoy!

Accommodation Review Committee community representative Tom Roes tells Casey Lessard that Zurich Public School should stay open. And that Hensall and Usborne should, too.
Will the school board listen?

Recognizing declining enrolment in area schools, Avon-Maitland District School Board is currently reviewing the need to close schools, including Usborne Public School near Exeter, and Zurich and Hensall Public Schools. To make such a decision, the board is required to collect public input through an Accommodation Review Committee, or ARC.
Tom Roes, who home-schools his children, is the community representative for Zurich Public School, which is being considered for closure. The committee also consists of the parents’ council chair, and a representative of Bluewater and South Huron municipal councils.
A meeting scheduled for December 10 would have been the second in the ARC process, but it is now scheduled for January 7 at Usborne Public School. A further meeting is January 14 at Stephen Central Public School.

As told to Casey Lessard

At the beginning of the process, the board staff presents their preferred option. Staff don’t decide; trustees do. The board’s preferred option has three parts: take all of the Grade 7 and 8s and put them in the high school; part two is to close Usborne; and part three is to close either Zurich or Hensall. Ultimately, they want to close two schools.
It would be a devastating blow to lose either school. Zurich is full of young families, and to lose a school would be like ripping the heart out of the community. The students at Zurich feel very safe at their school, they have excellent relationships with their teachers, and the teachers have a good relationship with the parents.
Zurich has some of the EQAO results in the entire board. Zurich is at capacity. Zurich has among the best teacher retention rates of any school in the board.
I think the main rationale behind closing Zurich is that it is one of the smallest capacity schools in the board. We have a lot of splits and some triple-splits. But they haven’t proven that splits are bad for students.
I think Hensall should stay open as well. It has special education classes, and a move to Exeter would be hugely problematic for those kids. They just moved from McCurdy a few years ago and they’ve just recovered from that.
One idea that has been thrown out by the Hensall people is the idea of closing Exeter Public School and renovating or adding to the high school to have an elementary school attached to the high school. That would open up green space for those kids, they’d be going to school in their own town, it would solve vacancy rates, and solve the empty space issue at the high school.
At this point, I don’t support any schools or sending Grades 7 and 8 to high school. The board hasn’t taken into account the effects of such a decision.
The board hasn’t explored other options other than closing schools. They haven’t considered sharing space with other boards. Similar to what they did in Stratford between the public and Catholic high schools; they share facilities.

It bothers me that, ultimately, we have no power in this decision. The board has the decision making power over the schools. We can only make suggestions. The Community School Alliance has been fighting with the ministry for a few years now trying to get them to call for a moratorium on closing schools where the closure is in dispute (such as is the case here). The minister refuses to do that.
According to the policy that rules the ARCs, the highest priority is supposed to be the value of the school to the students. If you look at what they’re doing, the highest value is clearly the bottom line. Avon Maitland is running a balanced budget, so that shouldn’t be a factor.
There’s a lot of skepticism that the board has already made their decision and this is a rubber stamp process they have to go through. There’s some evidence to support this. The ARC they did last year, they did five meetings to review one school, and they’re asking us to do the same type of review for five schools in the same number of meetings. Some other boards, including Simcoe and Peel, did ARCs reviewing four to six schools and had up to 26 meetings.

What do you think?
To have your say, Roes recommends you attend one of the meetings, write your MPP or school trustee, or tell the trustee what you think by talking with your votes.

Keeping the Peace
By Tom Lessard, C.D.

It all began about the middle of November. The weather was perfect for the harvesting of corn and beans, and the planting of winter wheat. Also, it was ideal for the installation of Christmas decorations. Dark evenings became brighter and brighter. First, one resident put up a couple of lights. His neighbour then, not to be outdone, put up a few more. Just like clockwork, the fellow across the street sees his chance to outdo the Joneses and erects lights and blown-up Santas or Scrooges. Sure enough, everyone gets in on the game and pretty soon we don’t require street lights. The majority of the houses have been well laid out, but as is to be expected, some go way overboard. I would imagine this lighting will take a downturn when the so-called “smart meters” come into use.

Electrical problems II
I looked forward to attending the annual lighting of the park in Exeter on a nice evening at the end of November; last year’s lighting was cancelled because of snow. It was disappointing, then, that it wasn’t better organized this year. The donated hot chocolate from Tim Horton’s must have been picked up too early because it was lukewarm, but it was appreciated and polished off nonetheless. The entertainment had a rough time getting the sound to work and so were set back half an hour. When they were able to get started, the countdown to the lighting began, 5-4-3-2-1. Nothing. Soon, the lights did come on. Actually, half of them lit and were followed by a loud bang. Eventually all came on, prompting oohs and ahhs from the kids. We couldn’t sing the two songs that followed because we didn’t know the words. Before the scheduled end time, I followed a large number of revelers to our cars.

The fix is in
This week, we were visited at our old municipal offices by a large delegation of electrical contractors. Maybe the work on our new community centre will begin soon. I’m looking forward to the completion of our recreational facilities in about 2011. If it turns out the way it’s planned, it will give Crediton and area residents something to cheer, deservedly after the mess we put up with these past few years.
I was hoping the new sewers would end the smells that sometimes permeate my house and those of my neighbours, but it seems that someone is still sending paint thinners and sewage into the storm drains. The smell of the thinner was so strong that I called the South Huron offices to send someone out. A man arrived, checked my house and basement, and went out front and lifted the manhole cover. He sniffed and said, “Yep, that’s paint thinner.” I asked him what I could do about it, and he told me to shove a rag into the drain hole, which I did. After a couple of days, the odour was gone. We still get occasional sewage stink through the house, but I’ve never heard back from South Huron. I don’t expect I ever will. Maybe when everyone west of me is hooked up, I won’t have that problem.
Merry Christmas!

Yes, this year you will actually roast chestnuts on an open fire, and then create a delicious soup

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

Chestnut soup

4 cups chestnuts, peeled and skinned
3/4 cup equal parts diced celery, carrots and onions
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsbp butter
pinch garlic
pinch allspice
pinch cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat stock pot on medium heat, add butter and olive oil and sauté until semi-soft. If you want to reduce heat and slow cook, this will draw more flavour. Add roasted chestnut and chicken stock, bring to boil for approx. 15 min. or until chestnuts are soft. Now add 1 cup of heavy cream, garlic, cinnamon, all spice and salt and pepper. Use a hand blender and pureé soup until smooth. If still chunky, boil for another 5 min. and reblend.
Feel free to be creative in garnishing this soup. For example, whisky-soaked cranberries or apricots are a nice touch; shaved roasted parsnips or caramelized bacon and onions would complement this soup.

Note: roasting chestnuts
Preheat oven to 425˚F.
(The following is NOT fun, but worth it in the end:) Use a sharp knife to cut an X into one side of the chestnut to allow the steam caused by roasting to escape; if you don’t do this, the chestnut will explode.
Place each chestnut with the cuts facing up onto cookie sheet. Roast 20-30 minutes or until chestnuts are tender, easy to peel, golden brown in color, and the shells are beginning to open.
Peel nuts when they are cool enough to handle.

Oven-roasted salmon with a zesty mustard and herb glaze
6 salmon fillets OR
1 fresh side of salmon
2 cloves of garlic
2 sprigs fresh chopped rosemary and thyme
splash of white wine
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp grainy Dijon mustard
salt and pepper, to taste
fresh lemon

Combine garlic and herbs in a food processor. Blend for 30 seconds, then add wine, oil, mustard, salt and pepper. Blend for another 15 seconds.
Preheat oven to 400˚F. Use baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Arrange salmon on sheet and spoon mustard mixture over the fillets evenly. Bake for approx. 15 minutes until salmon are done. Note: many people are nervous when it comes to cooking fish. Do not overcook fish; cook until texture is slightly firm; no more. The centre of the fish should be hot, but retain its moisture.

Boursin crab stuffed potato
(A great little side)

In a mixing bowl, combine a wheel of boursin cheese, 1 cup of crabmeat, a pinch of salt and pepper, 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs, and a squeeze of lemon. Mix together.
Cook potatoes. You can used baked, a mini, or a red, whatever. Once cooked and cooled, cut potato in half, hollow out centre, and add boursin mixture. To make it more dense, add potato flesh that was removed to the cheese mixture. This can be made a day ahead; to reheat, place in oven on baking sheet eight minutes prior to salmon.

Chocolate, Bailey’s & Tia Maria café au lait
1 cup whole milk
3 oz Bailey’s
3 oz Tia Maria
cinnamon stick
Pinch ground cloves
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups brewed strong coffee
1/4 cup heavy cream
cinnamon, icing sugar and cocoa for garnish

In medium sized saucepan, whisk together milk, sugar and cocoa until smooth. Bring mixture to a simmer. Add cinnamon stick, pinch of cloves, Bailey’s and Tia Maria.
Simmer for approx. four minutes, then reduce heat to low setting and let steep for 10 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, whip heavy cream and add pinch of sugar. (Feel free to add a hint of vanilla.)
Strain mixture into another pot and add coffee. Bring back up to temperature. Serve immediately and garnish with a dollop of whipped cream. Enjoy!

Zurich photographer opens shop in Exeter above Village Vines

Story and photo by Casey Lessard

One of our favourite area photographers, Sandra Regier, opened a studio and office above Village Vines in Exeter in July. Regier hosted an open house Friday to show the new place, which is a photographer’s dream. The former apartment has two floors: the floor above the flower shop is her office, and the top floor is a wide open loft ideal for studio portraits and classes.
“I wanted to separate my work and family life,” Regier says, noting she was previously running the business from her home. “I got busy a lot faster than I thought I would. When I was at home, I was always working. Part of it was to separate that. I also wanted to show people that it is my business and I take it seriously. I love doing it, but it’s not just a hobby.”
Now that digital photography has made photography a hobby anyone can do, it seems like many are trying to also make it a business. The Strip asked Regier what she thought of the trend.
“For me, it’s making sure the images last a lifetime and are well taken care of,” she says. “I also want to make sure your children and grandchildren have pictures to look at. It’s not just about having pictures on a disc, but also prints that can become family heirlooms. Digital is really easy, it seems, but if you never make a print or album, there’s nothing for people to look at. It’s important to me that you have something that has lasting power.”
To get a sense of Sandra’s work, visit http://www.sandraregier.com or stop by her studio at 391 Main Street in Exeter.

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter, 519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

You may have heard that onions can kill the H1N1 virus, but that’s just a myth. Still, a warm soup like this is good medicine for your body and soul during cold and flu season…

Caramelized onions
(This is the base for the soup.)

4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp vegetable oil
6 large Spanish onions, peeled & thinly sliced
8 drops Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 splash water
1 cup red wine (just open a bottle)

In large pot, sauté onions in butter and oil on low to medium heat for approx. 30 minutes, stirring periodically. The slower and longer you sauté your onions, the more flavor and sweetness will be present.
Once onions have softened, add Worcestershire sauce, splash of water and brown sugar. Turn to high heat and let caramelize. Once color is slightly darkened, add approx. 1 cup of red wine to deglaze pot.

French onion soup

2 cups red wine
4 bay leaves
4 cups beef stock
2 cups chicken stock (or more beef stock)
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
4 slices old bread, toasted and cut to fit bowl
2 cups cheese (your choice; I like a blend of
cheddar, smoked gouda and Swiss)

Once you deglaze the caramelized onions add all ingredients (other than bread and cheese) to same pot. Bring to Boil and then reduce heat to medium simmer. Let simmer for one hour. The longer you simmer and reduce your soup, the more flavours you will have.
Preheat your oven’s broiler. Ladle soup into four French onion soup bowls and place fitted toast into each bowl. If you slightly dunk the bread to ensure it is moist, this will reduce any chance of burning under the broiler. Sprinkle cheese evenly on toasted tops and place bowls onto baking sheet. Place under broiler until cheese has melted golden brown.
Your soup should be bubbling through and around the cheese. Caution: although tasty, it will be hot, so let rest for at least two minutes.
Serve and enjoy!

Father Brad Dunbar has been rector of Trivitt Memorial Church in Exeter and St. John-by-the-Lake in Grand Bend for the past two years, and recently presided over Trivitt’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

As told to Casey Lessard
Photos by Casey Lessard

Trivitt has begun to recognize that we live in a post-Christian era. The days when everyone went to church Sunday mornings are gone. Families are way too busy. So what’s been happening is a looking back to the early church and trying to do the things that started Christianity: feeding people, housing people, and trying to be a voice for people who don’t have one. It’s active, not passive.
We have a three pronged approach: we look to our world, we look to our region, and we look to the town of Exeter. With our global view, Trivitt has been active in the construction of an AIDS clinic in South Africa, and that’s been a big project. In our area, we’ve been sponsoring Huron University College to support their trans-cultural projects. And in a big way, we’ve worked aggressively in being part of the town of Exeter. The money raised at our Thanksgiving celebration went to the Habitat for Humanity in Exeter. We have a weekly Alpha program that includes a free meal. There’s a free monthly meal hosted the third week of the month for the needy, and we go to the different agencies that help people who are on social assistance, and the end of the month is a tough time for those people, so Trivitt tries to feed them.

Spirituality’s important, and how it is expressed can be varied. We’re trying to bring a message of hope and good news to Exeter, but being creative about it. We’d like to make our physical space available for the town when it’s needed. We want to be a civic church and a centre for the community.
I’m involved in Fresh Expressions (www.freshexpressions.ca), and the idea is to find new ways to meet people half way. The folks who are in their 20s and 30s don’t necessarily have a church memory, but they have a strong spirituality. If you go to Chapters, the best sellers on the shelf will all be books on spirituality. So it’s important for people. What we’re trying to realize and live out is the traditional method isn’t going to work in the reality we live in. We’re looking toward the church of 2050 as opposed to the church of 1950, and I think that’s going to look quite different.
The building will still exist – it’s architecturally significant. The church will look different. The interior will not look like it does today. Just like banks and schools have changed in the last 100 years, so will the church change to meet the needs of the community using it. What the people in their teens and 20s are going to look for is different than what it looked like in 1950. You can’t avoid technology, and I think it will be a big part of how the church looks. Kids today are the generation of the screen. They work and learn and play using the screen. It will be a significant change for the Anglican church. New churches look more like gymnasia than churches, and it’s intentional. People are more comfortable walking into a gymnasium than they are walking into a church. Our building will show the history of the church, but will change to meet the needs of the emerging generation of churchgoers.

For a lot of people, walking into a church building – and we look like a traditional church – can be a very intimidating thing. It can be a barrier for people, so when we hold concerts and shows and other events, and people are able to come in and enjoy, they get a little more comfortable with coming into our worship space. If they don’t go to church, it’s a gentle way to say, Hey, we’re here. If they have something in their lives that makes them need to speak to a pastor, we want to be an option they consider. We also see it as a benefit to the community; we have the physical space to put on big productions and we would like to bring them to South Huron, and we don’t think you have to drive to London for that.
We’re looking at a couple of very contemporary services that we’re hoping to start in Exeter at a different time than Sunday morning. Often, that’s the only time of the week you can relax, sleep in and have bacon and eggs or whatever. We’re going to offer church in a worship sense at different times of the week. We’re also looking at programs that feed someone’s spirit but don’t seem like traditional worship.

The parish spent some time doing some soul searching, and we discovered that music was very important to us and to Exeter. In bringing music director Janet Heerema in, we’ve brought a music professional in full-time and she has made a dramatic impact right from the start. She does an adult choir, children’s choir and a hand-bell choir, which are community based, and the Trivitt choir. The community choirs have people from various churches in the area, and some who don’t go to church. As a church, it’s a gift to the community: we pay her salary and she spends a great deal of her time working on music for the community.
We have an aggressive arts agenda over the next 10 months. We created an arts and culture community and started brainstorming what people might enjoy in the area. The Three Cantors came up on the list, and they work out well for us because they donate from the proceeds of the show to the Huron Hunger Fund, which is affiliated with the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund. It becomes a charitable event, and they’re a big draw, so it will sell out.

Future concerts include a children’s choir concert Dec. 6, and a Christian rock concert in March. The Three Cantors (www.3cantors.com) perform Wed., Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 available online (www.trivitt.ca).

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter, 519-235-3030

http://www.eddingtons.ca

Editor’s note: James looks back to fall 2007, when these recipes were first published in the Grand Bend Strip. We’ve revisited it, and this time, you can get a glimpse of how delicious this meal looks (you’ll have to make it to see how great it smells and tastes).

This month, the first real frost brings an unconscious desire for heartier meals. Enjoy the local harvest; we are truly blessed to live in an area full of the riches that our farmers and fields have to offer. Spend some time in the kitchen this season melding the deep rich flavors of the fall.

Butternut squash soup

1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
2 lbs. butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1” chunks
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 clove garlic
3/4 tsp. ground allspice
2 cans vegetable broth (14 oz. each)

In large sauté pan, heat olive oil, then add squash, onion and garlic. Sauté over medium high heat for 15 minutes or until squash is tender. Add allspice; cook two minutes longer.
Stir in vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Cover; reduce heat to medium low. Cook 15 minutes, or until squash is soft.
In batches, place mixture in bowl of food processor; blend until smooth.
Place in saucepan and keep warm, or reheat as needed.
To serve, ladle warm soup into bowls. Top with one tablespoon spiced cream and a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds.
Serves four. Multiply recipe for larger quantities.

Spiced cream

1/2 cup light sour cream
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 1/2 tsp. real maple syrup
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
(A shot of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum wouldn’t hurt)


Combine light sour cream, allspice, maple syrup and cardamom in bowl; mix well.
Cover and chill in refrigerator until ready to use.

Pumpkin seeds
1/2 tsp. olive oil
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 tsp. garlic salt

Heat olive oil in small sauté pan for one minute. Add pumpkin seeds and garlic salt; sauté over medium heat for three minutes or until seeds are toasted and fragrant.

If you’re looking for a spooky evening out as Hallowe’en approaches, there’s nothing spookier than walking around alone in the dark in a corn field. If you’re looking to share in this tension-building thrill, take a friend to the Sunrise Corn Maze at the Sunrise Garden Centre on Highway 4 south of Centralia (just south of McGillivray Drive). The maze is open weekends until Hallowe’en. Friday nights it is open until 10 p.m., so bring a flashlight or two.
The maze was created by an American company, which used GPS mapping to make it precisely the way it looks in the drawing below. There are several mazes of varying difficulty in the field, as well as other activities for kids of all ages.
The maze is open Fridays 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and through the week by group appointment. Admission is $8 for people 12 years and older, and $7 for children 3-11. One dollar from each ticket goes to the Children’s Hospital in London. To learn more, visit www.sunrisecornmaze.com or call 519-227-1879.

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter, 519-235-3030 http://www.eddingtons.ca

Photos by Casey Lessard

With fall’s arrival, it’s a good time to celebrate the food that falls from the trees in your backyard: pears. Here, James presents two delicious recipes that take advantage of a fruit you can easily find in Ontario, and possibly right at home; if you don’t have a pear tree, perhaps a friend does. The season is short, so enjoy these recipes soon!

Pear and Brie tart

Puff pastry
Cream cheese
Brie cheese
Fresh Ontario pears
Butter
Brown sugar
Heavy cream

Cut puff pastry into triangle sized pieces. Spread out triangles, leaving at least one inch between triangles. Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 10-15 minutes until light golden in colour. Pastry will have tripled in size. Let cool for ~10 minutes.
Cut or peel apart triangles horizontally along the centre of the pastry. Set aside top piece.
Spread cream cheese on bottom piece.
In sauté pan on medium to low heat, add 2 tsp of butter and 3 tsp of brown sugar. Thinly slice pears and add to pan. Cook for 7-10 minutes until pears are relatively softened. Remove pears and layer over cream cheese covered pastry.
Add a splash of heavy cream to sauté pan to create a sauce from sugar, butter and cooked pear juices.
On top of pears, add a wedge of brie. Transfer back to oven until Brie has softened 5-7 minutes. When ready to serve, place bottom pastry piece (with layers of cheese and pears) on plate. Put top piece of puff pastry on the angle opposite of bottom piece. Quickly reheat sauce in sauté pan and drizzle over top piece.
Ice cream and fresh berries make a wonderful garnish.

Parsnip and Pear Soup

1 onion, diced
1/2 stalk of celery, diced
3 lb. parsnip, diced
2 lb. fresh Ontario pears, diced
garlic, minced
white wine
heavy cream
8 cups chicken stock
fresh herbs
(basil, thyme and bay leaf)
honey or sugar
35% cream
butter

In large stock pot, add 1/4 lb. of butter, then add onions and celery. Sauté over medium heat until soft (10 min), stirring periodically. Add parsnips, pears, minced garlic and 8 cups of chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for one hour. After the hour, add basil and thyme to liking.
Bring soup back to boil and add 1 cup of 35% cream and blend with hand mixer until smooth.
At this point, taste soup; if it needs more seasoning do so. If it’s bland, add a little salt. If not sweet enough, this is the time to add honey and or sugar. Once added, bring soup back to boil and reblend. Then add bay leaf and let rest or serve immediately. Soup can be refrigerated for up to three days.
Freezing this soup: if you plan on making a large batch and freezing, omit the heavy cream and add when reheating.

Simple, easy and tasty, the joy of Ontario’s pears.

A South Huron teen died Saturday after he and a sofa fell off a moving pickup truck. Sixteen-year-old Cody Johnson was sitting on the sofa, riding in the back of the pickup on a private property west of Exeter, when the sofa fell off the back at about 6 p.m. Saturday. He was taken to South Huron Hospital, and was later pronounced dead. The driver of the truck, another 16-year-old boy, was taken into police custody and released.

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter, 519-235-3030
www.eddingtons.ca

Photo by Casey Lessard

I chose these recipes for the similarity in ingredients. This will make your shopping easier and will reduce any waste. Both recipes can be a staple or a small part of many other recipes. The acidity of the tomatoes allows a full seven-day week of safe refrigerated storage.
Chef’s note: fortunately, our busy restaurant turns over all of our sauces, raw product, prepared products and fresh produce on a daily basis. At home it is different. Keep this in mind when creating recipes and plan ahead. Limit grocery lists to products that you will actually use and products that can be used in several different recipes.
For example: Take all ingredients featured here in this article and pair them with another meal. Plan these meals throughout your week for variety and, in no time, cooking will become less of an effort and more of a joy.

Naan bread pizza with fresh seasonal vegetables

Naan bread is a great alternative for homemade pizza. Naan bread is a popular Indian/Asian flat bread used for many applications. You can purchase naan bread at most grocery stores.

Ingredients
Naan bread
Tomato sauce (see recipe attached)
Bell peppers, thinly sliced & sautéed in oil.
Zucchini sliced in rounds, lightly seared.
Red onions diced, lightly seared
Italian herb tomatoes (see recipe attached)
Mozzarella/feta cheese (shredded)
Chicken and/or chorizo sausage (optional)

Place naan bread on a flat baking sheet. Coat naan bread with a light layer of tomato sauce (use attached recipe or store-bought tomato sauce). Remember, this is pizza; it’s supposed to be easy! Layer with your favorite toppings.
The photo shows grilled zucchini, sautéed red bell peppers, Italian herb tomatoes and red onions; a great vegetarian option. Blackened chicken or chorizo sausage complement these ingredients well.
Sprinkle a generous amount of shredded mozzarella cheese. To really give this pizza a kick, mix mozzarella with feta cheese.

Simple tomato sauce made from scratch

Ingredients
2 tsp butter
1 shot olive oil
1/2 onion, minced
1/2 celery, finely diced
10 ripe tomatoes, diced
or 1 large can of diced tomatoes
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup brown sugar
10 wiggles of worcestershire bottle
1/2 handful chopped fresh basil
and oregano
Splash of red wine
1/2 cup water (chicken or vegetable
stock will give tomato
sauce more complexity)

This is the easy part; sauté minced onions and celery on medium-low heat in butter and olive oil for ~15 minutes. Add garlic and sugar, let caramelize two to four minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce to low heat and let simmer for minimum of 1 1/2 hours, stirring periodically (if you find mixture is getting too thick, add a splash of water to thin out). Once all ingredients have softened, purée to desired consistency with hand blender. Let cool and store covered in refrigerator. Will last up to eight days, and can be used for many applications.

Italian Herbed Tomatoes

Essentially you will be making your own basic bruschetta. It can also be used as a tapenade, a welcome addition to a fresh lunch wrap or key ingredient in a fresh tossed pasta.

Ingredients
10 Roma tomatoes (cut in half, seeded,
& diced in to fingernail size bits)
3 single cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp white sugar (or 3 tsp honey)
Diced fresh basil and oregano (to taste)
Splash of balsamic vinegar (must be Modena and 6 % acidity)
Salt and pepper to taste
Hearty splash of olive oil.
1/4 red onion, diced
Optional: diced sundried tomatoes add a nice dimension to mixture.

The really easy part: Mix all ingredients together in large mixing bowl. Transfer into container and store in fridge. Will last up eight days if stored properly.

Wine Selection for Pizza
Masi Tupungato, Passo Doble, (Argentina)
Medium deep cherry colour; spice, vanilla and black cherry aromas; full bodied, rich and sweet with a long finish.

Taste of Huron
August 24-30
Full list of dinners, workshops, and other events: http://www.tasteofhuron.ca

Food for Thought
Dinners at Huron County restaurants
$35 per person (excluding alcohol, taxes and service) Book through host restaurant.

Tuesday, August 25
7 to 9 p.m. – Hessenland
$35 – Reserve: 1-866-543-7736
Tasting and discussion with Pelee Island wine master Walter Schmoranz. Features dishes paired or prepared with Pelee Island brand wines.

Wednesday, August 26
7 to 9 p.m. – Eddington’s
$35 – Reserve: 519-235-3030
Evening with author Jennifer McLagan, winner of the 2009 James Beard Cookbook of the Year for Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes.

Friday, August 28
7 to 11 p.m. – Bayley’s Barn, Hensall
$20 – Corn and Pig Roast
Corn, pork, baked beans, fiddle music and square dancing.

Two-time James Beard Single Subject category award winner for Bones (2005) and Fat (2009), Jennifer McLagan is also the 2009 winner of the James Beard Cookbook of the Year for Fat. McLagan will join James Eddington for a meal consisting of her recipes August 26.
Casey Lessard (a strict vegetarian, by the way) spoke with McLagan about her views on food.

CL: How did you get inspired to write about bones and fat?
JM: I’d done a small piece for a magazine on bones, and my agent thought it could develop into a larger idea. I liked the concept because I had worked for a long time as a food stylist and was doing a lot of boneless and skinless meat, and it drove me crazy.
Bones were fascinating because they’re taboo. Everyone’s buying everything boneless and it seemed the right topic because it could be more than just a cookbook. Bones appeal to the primal sense in man, and there’s a lot of history attached to it.
When I was with my editor in New York, someone asked me what I was going to do next, and I joked that I was going to do a trilogy: bones, skin and fat. I was joking, but when I thought about fat, that was another topic that interested me. Fat is where the flavour is, and it was a topic no one was touching other than no-fat or low-fat. But it was a hard book to sell (to publishers), and it was a Canadian publisher that picked it up.
To me, it’s about writing something that is interesting and saying something that needs to be said, contributing to culinary knowledge.

CL: What do your books contribute to the modern eating culture?
JM: In the last five years, food has become a political topic. People got lost; they got disconnected from their food in lots of different ways: in the source of it, but also how to make and cook it. That’s what’s made a mess of people’s diets and health. I want people to think about what they’re doing and eating. Food is vital to our culture, and I want people to understand that something like fat isn’t bad just because the media tells you it is. Fat’s a very important part of your diet and it won’t kill you.

CL: What are you trying to argue in Fat?
JM: That the low-fat, no-fat thing was pretty much wrong and it did us more harm than good. We need a mix of different things, including fat, in our diet. Our brains are made of fat. There are a lot of vitamins that are only fat-soluble. They put vitamins in low-fat milk, which is a waste of time because those vitamins require fat.
If you put fat into your diet, you’ll probably actually lose weight. It not only makes it very tasty, but it also makes it very satisfying. You’ll eat less of something that’s better for you instead of eating empty carbohydrates.
If we all just ate a normal, regular diet, we’d all be a lot healthier.
Essentially, Fat is a cookbook, so I’m showing people how to cook with fat and how it’s a good medium to cook in and how they can get their hands on fat.

CL: Why is it important to cook with animal fat?
JM: Animal fats are better to cook with than vegetable oils because animal fats have a better balance of Omega-3s and Omega-6s. They’re also very stable. What you do with fat when you cook is you heat it up. Highly polyunsaturated (vegetable) fats break down and become rancid very quickly. A lot of oils we buy in bottles are already rancid but you can’t tell because of the way they’re being processed. With an animal fat you can tell straight away if it’s rancid.
Bones are also something we think is too much work. But there’s lots of great stuff about cooking with bones. You get collagens and gelatins, which are good for you, but you also get a wonderful base for a sauce. When you braise on the bone, you get this wonderful, unctuous sauce that has all the flavour and goodness in there. Bone marrow is an extremely good source of unsaturated fat. All this stuff is good for you, but we’ve forgotten that. We’re not willing to do any work to get our food, and that’s a shame.

CL: The next book you’re doing is about the oddities of food.
JM: I’m calling it Odd Bits – what to do with the rest. These are the second cuts. Every cookbook uses the prime cuts, like chicken breast and tenderloin. They’re good, but sometimes they have less taste than pieces like the brisket or the neck or the shoulder. People don’t use those cuts anymore because they don’t know how to deal with them. I’ll also cover parts that people are scared of, like brains, kidney and liver.

CL: How do you think that book will be received?
JM: I think it needs to be done. It’s very hard to find any sources for what to do with these parts. What do you do with liver and how do you tell whether it’s good or not? What can you cook with it? How do you handle it? Brisket makes wonderful gravy and hamburgers. Get that information out for people so it’s out there.

CL: As a world traveler, do you find the Europeans are adopting the bad habits of North Americans?
JM: I spend a lot of time in France, and while there’s a certain generation that still eats real food from markets, and you can get raw food in the supermarket, that’s changing with the younger generation. The older generation sits down at a table with smaller portions, while the younger generation eats fast food and there’s a rise in obesity. In England, there’s a lot of fast food, and it’s a huge problem. In North America, we’re swinging back the other way. Especially in the cities, there are a lot of people eating the 100-mile diet. People are looking locally, and this is all good.

CL: Why should people buy your book, Fat?
JM: I want people to realize that fat’s not a four-letter word. Fat’s good for them, it’s essential, and best of all, it’s tasty.

Jennifer McLagan’s Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes is published by McClelland & Stewart.

James Eddington’s signature gazpacho is easy and perfect on a hot day

Recipe by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter, 527 Main Street, Exeter, 519-235-3030 – www.eddingtons.ca

Eddington’s Gazpacho

1 cup red onion
1 cup green pepper
1 cucumber
1 cup peeled tomatoes
(all above fine-medium chopped)

2 tsp diced garlic
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 1/2 cups tomato juice
1 fresh lemon squeezed
1 sprig thyme
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Cayenne and salt and pepper to taste

This is EASY!
Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Blend 1/2 to 3/4 of mixture in food processor. Transfer all ingredients back to serving bowl. If you desire a sweeter flavour, add honey.
Let rest in refrigerator over night. Will last 3 days in fridge.

Great to garnish with torn bread chunks or fried leeks mixed with shredded cucumber.

Grilled pork loin chop with smashed cherry and Cabernet reduction

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter, 527 Main Street, Exeter, 519-235-3030 – www.eddingtons.ca

Photos by Casey Lessard

Grilled pork loin chop with smashed cherry and Cabernet reduction
Ingredients:
Centre cut pork loin chop (Ontario) – marbling in the meat is good!
1 cup pitted fresh cherries
Generous splash of Cabernet Sauvignon
Dash of balsamic vinegar
1 tsp honey
1/4 roasted red pepper
1/4 finely diced red onion
2 tsp butter Garlic, salt and pepper to taste
Fresh rosemary
Generous splash of Cabernet Sauvignon (red wine)

Marinate pork tenderloin with chopped garlic, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary. Grill on medium heat until just a hint of pink. Remove pork and cover in tinfoil and let rest about five minutes. In a saucepan, heat butter and add red onion and red pepper. Sauté until soft. (Low heat to sweat out flavour). Once soft, turn heat to high, and add cherries and remaining ingredients until mixture is reduced by half and has started to thicken. Slice pork on the bias or leave whole (as pictured) and drizzle with smashed cherry sauce. Served with smashed potatoes and fresh seasonal vegetables.

Garlic smashed potatoes
In a sauté pan, smash last night’s baked potato leftovers with a fork, and add equal parts butter, white wine and heavy cream. Add a teaspoon of chopped garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce until liquids have soaked into potatoes. Should be soft, steaming hot and delicious. To make variations, experiment by adding Parmesan cheese, chives, fresh herbs, etc.

Wine Pairing
Mission Hill (British Columbia) Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is medium-full bodied, with: ripe blackberry and cassis aromas; cedar mocha, mint and smoke taste; and a long firm finish.

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030 – www.eddingtons.ca

Photos by Casey Lessard

Don’t miss a single recipe. Subscribe to the Strip today!

First off, I must thank my Dad for any barbecue skills I have acquired! Put him in the kitchen and it’s a disaster, but throw him outside to the Q and it’s perfection. This is an inherited process that can take up a good chunk of an afternoon, accompanied with cold beers and a Cuban cigar. But only after the lawn has been cut!
Choose the right cut of ONTARIO beef! Rib and loin are best for the barbecue; the meat is tender. My personal favorite is the rib eye steak.
Cheers, James Eddington

Picking the best cut
Make sure the meat is a medium red color, not too pale or too bright of a red. Make sure the meat is marbled with some fat. You should have streaks of fat running through the meat.

Marinate your steak
Rub steak with olive oil, sprinkle with granulated garlic and steak spice. Don’t be scared of the garlic. Rub mixture into steak. The longer the rub has been applied the more flavors the meat will take on.

Make sure steak is at room temperature before it hits the grill (an oiled grill will produce better grill marks).

Grilling
Make sure barbecue is pre-heated; 500F is good. Don’t over-flip or prod your steak. Two turns is enough! Turn steak at 45º angles to achieve diamond markings. Depending on doneness, 2-5 minutes between turns.
Feel free to lather your steak with barbecue sauce or your desired condiments. If marinated properly, this won’t be necessary!
Final stage: let your meat rest. Take off barbecue or turn off and move to cooler spot. This allows juices to flow out from centre and continue cooking.

How do you like it done?
Very rare: Hot on the outside, raw on the inside and the meat will be sort of wobbly. Final temperature reading should be 100°F.
Rare: Red, cool to warm center and the meat will be soft and spongy. Final temperature reading should be 120°F.
Medium rare: Red, warm center and the meat will have a springy firmness. Final temperature reading should be 126°F.
Medium: Hot, pink center and the meat will have a less springy firmness than medium rare. Final temperature reading should be 135°F.
Medium well: Slight color, cooked throughout and the meat will feel firm. Final temperature reading should be 145°F.
Well done: The meat is gray-brown throughout and very firm and unyielding. Final temperature reading should be 160°F.

How do you know it’s done?
Using your hand, touch your thumb to the finger required as follows. With the other index finger, press on the palm below the thumb (see photo):
Rare: Whole hand stays loose
Medium rare: Thumb to tip of index finger
Medium: Thumb to tip of middle finger
Medium well: Thumb to tip of ring finger
Well done: Thumb to tip of pinkie finger

Always cook your meat one stage below your desired result. For example, if you want a medium rare steak, cook it closer to rare. Why? Because the final process is to let your meat rest for ~3-5 minutes. It will continue to cook at this stage.

Enjoy!

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030 – www.eddingtons.ca

Photos by Casey Lessard

Don’t miss a single recipe. Subscribe to the Strip today!

Radicchio Salad

1 head roughly chopped or torn radicchio
1/4 red onion finely sliced
1/2 cup mandarin oranges
1/2 cup quartered strawberries
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 yellow pepper, sliced
Slivered pecans (optional)

Toss all ingredients together and drizzle with dressing.

Balsamic Dressing

This recipe is a generic balsamic dressing that can be used with many different applications and be seasoned to pair with many different salads or dishes.
Take equal parts of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Note: always buy balsamic vinegar which label states it is from Modena with 6% acidity. If is doesn’t, do not buy it!
Mix equal parts with Dijon mustard to bind dressing. The more you add the thicker the dressing will become.
The rest can be up to you. For example, if you like it sweeter, add honey! If you like it to burst with flavour, add fresh basil or oregano. If you like it tart, add lemon. Raspberries give it a fresh fruit appeal. Have fun with it, but make it truly your own!

Green pea and cucumber shooters (chilled soup)

1 English or field cucumber
2 cups green peas
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 red onion chopped
1 green onion chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 sprigs fresh mint
Honey, garlic and salt & pepper to taste

In a frying pan, sauté chopped onions and garlic for ~10 min. on med. heat. In sauce pan, bring vegetable stock to boil. Add cucumber, peas, honey, salt and pepper. Once onions and garlic are sautéed, add to mixture. Keep cooking on medium heat for ~15-20 min. or until soft. Blend with hand mixer.
Once smooth, refrigerate and serve when cooled. Great presentation is in shooter glasses, a nice refreshing start to a summer BBQ.

Hayter’s BBQ turkey with a tropical flare

2 large turkey fillets/tenderloins
1 lemon
1 lime
1 orange
2 tbsp Montréal chicken spice
1/4 tbsp vegetable oil
Smoked hickory BBQ sauce to taste

In large mixing bowl, add vegetable oil to turkey tenders. Squeeze, dice and shred lemon, lime and orange to mixture. Add Montréal chicken spice and barbecue sauce to mixture. Mix very well. Transfer into large Zip-loc bag and refrigerate overnight.
Barbecue on medium/low heat for ~8 min. per side.
Serve with sundried tomato pesto risotto and fresh seasonal vegetables.

Recipe by Janet Erb

Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030 – www.eddingtons.ca

For those who have been to the restaurant, you may recognize the familiar face of Janet Erb. Well this time she is really putting a smile on our faces. After proofreading my recipes for the Strip newspaper, she said she really didn’t like my strawberry dessert.
Once I got my head bent back into shape, I tried her strawberry white chocolate mousse cake and had to agree that Janet’s tasted better. So we must be thankful I have someone to proof my spelling, and thank Janet for this delicious recipe.
Enjoy, James Eddington

Photos by Casey Lessard

If you have missed some of James’ recipes, visit James’ recipes from Strip in the Kitchen.
Don’t miss a single recipe. Subscribe to the Strip today!
For strawberries, the editor recommends The Strawberry Place near Thedford (a plug for the family).

Short bread crust
1/3 cup melted butter
1 ¼ cups shortbread cookies

Combine butter and cookie crumbs well and press evenly in bottom of ungreased 9” spring form pan. Chill for one hour.

White Chocolate Filling
1 envelope unflavoured gelatin
1/3 cup water
8 oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
6oz white chocolate, melted
2 egg whites (at room temp.)

Sprinkle gelatin over water in small saucepan. Let stand for one minute. Heat and stir on low heat until completely dissolved. Cool slightly.
Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Add chocolate. Beat well. Add gelatin mixture. Beat well.
Beat egg whites with clean beaters in medium sized bowl until soft peaks form. Fold into cream cheese mixtures in two batches.
Beat whipping cream in separate medium sized bowl until soft peaks form. Fold into cream cheese mixture. Spread evenly over crust. Cover. Chill at least six hours. Overnight is best!

Strawberry Topping
1 lb medium-sized strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise
1 tsp unflavoured gelatin
½ cup cranberry cocktail
2 tbsp grenadine

Leaving cheesecake in pan, arrange strawberry halves, cut side down, in single layer on top.
Sprinkle gelatin over cranberry cocktail and grenadine in small sauce pan. Let stand for one minute. Heat and stir on low heat until completely dissolved. Cool. Stir. Carefully pour over strawberries to cover completely.

Chill for three hours or until firm. Remove from pan onto serving plate. Cut into 12 wedges, and enjoy.

South Huron DHS’ cafeteria operator reflects on turning 80 and the funeral celebration she wanted to be alive to see

Jennie Rowe on her 80th birthday

As told to Casey Lessard

I have always worked where there has been food. Beaver Foods had the service here (at South Huron) and when I went to apply for the job, someone called me and told me that they thought this would be the job for me. I went to see this guy, and he was a tyrant. I thought, I can’t work for this guy.
But by the end of that school term, the board came to me and asked me if I would take it on and I said yes. At that time, I did work for the board, but after about a year, the board wanted to walk away from it, and they said it was mine. It became my own enterprise. We didn’t even have a contract; it was just by word of mouth back then.
Ten years ago, the board came and said that all of the contractors had to buy what was in the kitchen, and I said I wasn’t afraid to buy. Everything in the kitchen belongs to me, and it’s my little corner in the school.
I’ve only had a contract with the board for the last ten years, and it’s renewed every five years. It runs out this August. I talked to one of the other contractors and we haven’t heard what’s going to happen. But I’m not going to let them take it away from me. If they have to buy everything in the kitchen, I’m going to price it so high that nobody will want to buy it.
I don’t do it for fame or glory. This is my life. One time I realized that I could cook anywhere. I can’t meet these kids otherwise. So it’s basically all about the kids. And I have had the most amazing employees. Whether they were students or grown women, they have made me what I am today.

Jennie Rowe on her 80th birthday

Despite the fact that I’m 80 and people ask me when I’m going to retire, well, I’m widowed now and what do you do? What would I do if I retired? I think I’d be totally lost without it. Anyone that can work should, if your health is good and you’re in a position that you can. I feel too vibrant yet to want to go home and sit on the back deck. Because I live such a busy life, I don’t bowl, I don’t golf, I don’t curl. What do I have left?
When you look at the people in the Villa or the hospital, they get stuck there. It’s not that family doesn’t love you, but they’re busy with their lives. Kids move on.

Jennie Rowe on her 80th birthday

My husband Elmer died four years ago of a heart attack. He was 76. He always said, “Jennie, when I die, don’t have a flowery splash. Tell people to come in their work clothes and just have a good time.” Elmer liked his Scotch, so he said to line up a bar full of Scotch and everybody had to have one drink of Scotch on Elmer.
We had it at our farm and people were told to dress casual. Some came dressed up. My kids came in shorts and sandals because it was the 15th of June. Our son Jeff got up and spoke, and people said the comments he made about his dad sounded more like he was roasting him. I said, Then you didn’t know Elmer, because that’s exactly what he would have expected. But he wasn’t there to celebrate.
When you die, they always say they’re going to celebrate your life, but you’re not there anymore. You’re gone. I decided that after making all the arrangements for my funeral and for celebrating Jennie’s life, I decided I wanted to be part of it. I wanted a great big tent open to whoever wants to come, there would be loud music playing (ABBA), there would be an abundance of good food to snack on, and just lots of love and friendship. I wanted to be part of that. Not a dead body.
A one day deal turned into three days. It was lucky that my birthday was on a Friday. If they had done this when I died, I wouldn’t have gotten to enjoy it. I highly recommend this. Think about it. I said to my kids, when I die, bury me. That’s all. This is my day in the sun.

South Huron District High School’s music department spent four days from May 13-16 in Chicago as part of an experimental type of band trip. The Strip’s Casey Lessard tagged along.

Story and photos by Casey Lessard

“Two years ago in Cleveland, I met Benjamin Washington by happenstance,” says South Huron music teacher and band director Isaac Moore, speaking of Chicago King College Prep High School’s band director. “He needed a bass amp and I needed a trumpet, so we ended up talking and exchanging instruments for an hour or so. Because of that, we ended up talking about where each of us was from and how neat it would be if we tried to do something together. ”
Each year, South Huron’s music department takes a trip, but most of the recent trips have been for competitions.
“We could have done that again this year. But I wanted to give the kids a varied experience; we had never gone to Chicago, and a lot of kids were interested in going there.”
Sixty-six members of the band joined the trip, along with eight chaperones. The visit to America’s third largest city included sightseeing, a trip to the famed Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Sears Tower, and lots of music. The band performed all day its second day, starting with a master class at a college for music teachers, followed by a jazz combo performance at Buddy Guy’s Legends bar. Then it was off to King College Prep for an afternoon and evening collaboration, which started with watching the one of the city’s best marching bands practise.
“Our marching band is everywhere, winning competitions,” says Benjamin Washington. “We’re like the Soul Train of Chicago. Just last year, we opened for the Stone Temple Pilots concert, Wynton Marsalis dropped by and played with us here. [U.S. President Obama’s house] is about three or four blocks from here. Marching around in the summer time, we would pass by it. I didn’t even know he lived there until the presidential election.”
Whether Obama ever noticed King’s marching band or not, percussionist Joe Pavkeje of Exeter found it valuable to see how King’s musicians perform, bobbing their heads while playing.
“It showed we could be doing a lot of things we’re not doing. Not that we’re not doing enough, but they have a different style that I thought was interesting. They really got into their music, which helps them with their stage presence. It makes them sound better. If they’re more into it, it makes it more enjoyable for everybody.”
While Pavkeje noticed the contrasts, Moore hopes he also noticed the similarities.
“We often think these major cities are better than what we’re doing here. Rural schools are have not and city schools are have. It shows the kids how special this school is and gives them perspective on how great they’re doing and how wonderful the music they’re doing is.”
Kristy Pavkeje is thankful for the experience, and knows who should get the credit.
“It’s a really high quality program. If you look around (elsewhere in our region), we seem to be more dedicated or something. A lot of that is due to Mr. Moore. He knows how to get the most out of this program for us. With the SHSM (Specialist High Skills Major) program (in Arts & Culture), it looks good when you go to university or college, and he worked hard to get it at the school.”
For Moore’s part, he notes he couldn’t pull it off without the overwhelming support of the community.
“The community is so, so important to what we’re doing here. They support our concerts to show our kids that what they’re doing is important. The fact that we have this extremely supportive community and excellent tradition of music at this school, it’s a machine that doesn’t seem to stop. Every day I come here, I don’t know who I’m thanking, but I’m thanking someone.”
Moore is eager to show the music program’s supporters what King College Prep is doing, and hopes Washington is able to bring his students to Exeter next year.
“Having the opportunity to see their marching band and the enthusiasm they have for music, it was infectious. Our kids loved watching their band perform, and this community would love seeing it, too. It’s really fun to watch.”
Washington is on board, too, and hopes it can happen.
“It gives the kids the opportunity to see children from other areas and see we’re doing the same thing,” he says. “I’m sure Mr. Moore is saying the same things: you’ve got to practise, you’ve got to listen, you’ve got to watch the rhythms. It gives the children a chance to see that what I’m trying to provide for them is what others are trying to do as well.”
Looking back on the trip, Moore hopes his students got enough time to interact with their Chicago counterparts.
“The students said the best part of the trip was socializing with students from the other school, and you can’t plan that. It would have been nice to have more time for that. It’s through that social bond that they see that we’re doing the same things here.”

Looking for a way to use fresh asparagus? Here’s your answer.

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030 – www.eddingtons.ca

Photos by Casey Lessard

The following recipes will serve 2 people. Grasshopper beer is excellent with this dish. If you prefer wine, a Riesling traditionally pairs best with the curry flavour. Personally, I enjoy a red wine with my entrée: a Shiraz would pair very well. Medium bodied with lots of flavour and would not over power the taste of the Chicken. I would stay away from a full-bodied red and save for another night when beef of lamb is your main.

Shrimp Sautée
Set a medium sized skillet or wok on high heat and add butter. Once the butter has melted, add garlic, wait 30 seconds and add shrimp.
Once shrimp color starts to turn pink add tomatoes and whisky. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and let whisky reduce.
Once reduced, serve on a bed of greens with fresh lemon wedges.
Tasting Note: To add more flavour, marinate diced tomatoes in Italian seasonings, for example basil and oregano. Parmesan cheese will also help thicken sauté if you were a little heavy on the whisky.
Pairing note: Pinot Grigio will be crisp and clean, bringing out the flavour of the shrimp and garlic.

Lemon chive chicken, served with curried basmati rice and fresh seasonal asparagus.

Lemon Chive Chicken
In medium-sized mixing bowl, add olive oil, white wine, chopped tomato, Montréal chicken spice, 1/2 of lemon, 1/2 of lime (save other 1/2 for garnish), 4 chives diced small (save other 4 for garnish). Mix ingredients well, then add chicken breast. Cover and let marinate for a minimum of 3 hours. Overnight is even better!
Cooked chicken breast at 400F on pie plate or small roasting pan (line pan with parchment paper to avoid burning the bottom). Cook for app. 25 minutes. To check chicken, insert one sleeve of tongs into under side of breast and make sure juices look clear (no trace of pink is left in the poultry). Do not over cook. In a separate skillet, add 1 tsp of butter, 2 tsp of chopped tomatoes, pan dripping from chicken, rubbed thyme and orange brandy liqueur. Let reduce until desired thickness. Serve!

Curried basmati rice
In medium sized pot, sauté onions and garlic. Once sautéed, add curry powder (keep stirring), and slowly add basmati rice to mixture. Make sure all of the rice is glazed with curry mixture. Slowly add stock and bring to boil. Once boiling, stir once more and then reduce to low heat and cover. Let cook for app. 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. After 20 minutes, check to see if rice is done. If almost cooked, take off heat and let rest, fluffing with a fork before you serve.

Fresh Asparagus
Depending on size, you should get 4-6 asparagus per person. (The photo shows green beans.)
This is SO EASY. Cut off woody stem, add to non-stick ban with app 4 oz of water. Bring to boil. Once water has evaporated, serve.
Want more flavour at the last moment? Add butter, salt and pepper to taste.
Tasting note: Right before you serve you can add butter or olive oil and any of your favorite seasoning to asparagus.
Make sure when serving your final dish, drizzle reduced sauce from chicken on the asparagus!

Meet Me at the Diner
Exeter Skating Club Carnival
Sunday, March 29
12 and 4 p.m. (two shows) – South Huron Recreation Centre
$8 (advance) or $10 (at door), $4 for children 12 and under

While skaters prepare their routines for the Exeter Skating Club carnival March 29, students at South Huron District High School are preparing a backdrop to match the theme, Meet Me at the Diner.
“In groups they came up with images that reflect the various eras from the 1950s to now,” says visual arts teacher Carleen Hone, who is supervising the project by her Grade 10 art class. Among the images are portraits of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and Garfield, as well as images of breakdancing and iPods.
The SHDHS band will also perform at the carnival, which features junior national skating champions and local skaters.

Pork tenderloin with a balsamic and honey reduction, served with garlic smashed potatoes and sautéed peppers

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030 – www.eddingtons.ca

Pork tenderloin
Clean silver skin off tenderloin.
Rub tenderloin with chopped rosemary, fresh pressed garlic and sea salt.
In hot oven safe pan, sear tenderloin in vegetable oil for about 45 seconds per side.
Put tenderloin in 400° oven for 20 minutes. Once tenderloin is cooked, let rest for another 5-10 minutes.
Tenderloin then can be sliced to desired thickness.
Note: pork tenderloin should have a hint of pink. Do not over cook!

Balsamic in honey reduction
In a small pot, add 4 oz of balsamic vinegar, 4 oz of beef stock or demi-glace (you can substitute with chicken stock if necessary), and 1/2 cup of red wine. Bring to boil, then reduce to medium heat simmer. Let reduce for app 15-20 minutes.
Once reduced, add honey. Add small amounts until desired sweetness is reached.
This reduction will last one week refrigerated and can be drizzled over sliced pork tenderloin at time of plating.

Garlic smashed potatoes
This is a great way to use leftover potatoes, whether baked, roasted, or boiled.
In large skillet pan, use a fork to smash precooked potatoes (with skins on or off).
Over medium heat, add 2 tbsp. of butter, 1 tsp. of fresh chopped garlic, 3 oz of 35% cream, parmesan cheese and fresh chopped herbs (which ever herbs tickle your fancy – cilantro, thyme, oregano, basil, etc.) For added flavor, white wine is always a nice addition, but don’t go crazy; 2 oz is plenty.
Cook in pan until hot and liquids are cooked off and fully absorbed into potatoes.
(You can use these potatoes as a base to put your entrée on, which is doubly good because it can keep your main dish hot for a longer period of time and gives excellent height for presentation.)

Sautéed peppers
Using a mixture of red, yellow and orange peppers, cut into medium-sized triangles, and sautée on low to medium heat with a splash of olive oil and fresh sea salt. Do not rush; let your peppers cook slowly to maximize the sweet flavors.

The Ausable-Bayfield Conservation Authority hosts its 20th Conservation Dinner April 16 at the South Huron Recreation Centre in Exeter. This year’s feature artist is Bill Nieuwland of Huron Woods. The 64-year old self-taught artist frequently paints scenes that capture the ABCA’s mandate area. Nieuwland is donating three pieces: two giclée prints of previous work (Blue Point Sunset and Diamond Lake in Temagami), and a new, original work that he painted from the vantage point of his home on the Old Ausable River Channel called My Backyard.

As told to Casey Lessard

We moved here because we loved the trees, the beach, the river, the wildlife, the solitude, the quiet.
I always painted nature as a kid, and that’s what I love doing. I paint a lot of local scenes and a lot of water scenes. I did one of Arkona, and they sold a print of that at their silent auction last year.
My favourite spot is either the beach or the river. Most of my paintings are made in those areas. I’ve done four of my backyard, but you can only do so many of your backyard. I’ve done several of the Pinery. Then there’s the beach; I’ve done logs on the beach, geese on the beach, a lot of scenes on the beach.
I try to paint as much detail and dimension as I can. You want to outdo yourself every time. To do that, I look at other artists who do excellent work and wonder how they do it. I try to catch the methods they use, but I’m not trying to outdo them; I’m trying to outdo myself.
Four years ago, Doug Ellison suggested we join him at the dinner, and we were impressed. The dinner and atmosphere were great. They’ve picked some real good artists in the past. It’s quite a recognition and I’ve been donating prints to the silent auction ever since. I’m able to show my art to 450 people and be recognized in another area other than just Grand Bend. It’s a way for them to raise money. Plus it gives me exposure to people interested in my art.
I live on the river. I want it maintained in good standing. The ABCA does a good job and they have a lot of support, with a lot of people coming to the dinner. I believe in what they stand for: conservation areas are very important. I love nature, so I want to keep it as good as we can keep it.

For more information, visit www.abca.on.ca or www.conservationdinner.com

This is a healthy, heartwarming and mouth-watering dinner to “beet” the winter blues.

Roasted rack of lamb accented with a white bean puree and raw beet salad

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030 – www.eddingtons.ca

Photos by Casey Lessard

Rack of Lamb

Marinate rack of lamb with fresh garlic, rosemary and sea salt.
Bake in 375ºF oven for 25-30 minutes.
Remove from oven and cover in foil (let lamb rest for about 10 minutes).
Take pan drippings and sear with 1 oz of red wine, splash of balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard, 1 tsp of honey, and about 1/4 cup of diced peppers and/or tomato.
Carve rack of lamb along bone lines about 3/4 of the way through. Pour sauce (pan drippings) over cut lamb once plated.

White Been Puree
(can be made a day ahead)
This is a great substitute for potatoes. High in protein, fiber, magnesium, potassium, and iron.

Soak one cup of white beans in four cups of water overnight.
Sautée one white onion, 1/2 stock of celery, and three cloves of garlic in butter or oil.
Add about 2L of water (chicken stock or vegetable stock adds extra flavor), bring to boil then add pre-soaked beans.
Boil for at least two hours or until beans soften.
Add pinch of sugar, salt and pepper to taste.
Drain remaining water/stock.
Mash (just like potatoes) or purée in blender once cooled.
This can be refrigerated for up to two days. It actually has better consistency once refrigerated.
Re heat in sauté pan with 1 oz heavy cream, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. (Will look and feel like whipped potatoes)

Raw Beet Salad
(can be made day ahead)
High in B vitamins, beets are a natural blood cleanser and very colorful for presentation.

Julienne (Cut into long thin strips) four large beets and two large carrots. You can also put through food processor or grate.
In large bowl combine 2 oz rice wine vinegar, 1 oz balsamic vinegar, 3 oz apple juice, juice squeezed from one lemon, and honey to thicken (add small amount of honey at first, and add more if too bitter, until desired sweetness is met), whisk together and mix beets and carrots to mixture. Let sit for at least an hour in fridge; overnight is best.
Adding sun-dried cranberries, dried apricots etc., gives extra flavor and depth to salad.

How a day at the beach changed Reagen Robinson’s life

Exeter toddler Reagen Robinson’s life will never be the same after an outing to a private beach near Grand Bend in August. Soon after arriving at the beach with his parents Brad and Katrina and brother Jordon, Reagen ran toward an extinguished, but still hot, firepit and suffered third degree burns to his hands and second degree burns to parts of his legs.

As told to Casey Lessard

Katrina Robinson: We’re lake people. It’s nice to live next door to one of the most beautiful places in the world, and we take advantage of it. We have two small kids and two dogs who enjoy to swim. We’re beachgoers. It’s a fun, inexpensive day to have family time.
It was a Friday afternoon, and after Brad finished work we decided to go to the beach.
We were at a private beach. We had just sat down and I noticed he went toward the fire pit and I literally just about had him. I couldn’t catch him fast enough. He fell into a fire pit full of ashes that were still fairly warm. I picked him up and threw him in the water with me. I didn’t know what else to do. Brad came down and took one look at him and said we had to go to the hospital. It all happened so fast. It seemed like we got there one minute, and the next we were driving back down the road with a screaming baby.
Shock took over. Usually I’m a very queasy person, but for some reason I was the pillar of strength. I carried him into Exeter hospital and they took him from me so I could give them information. I went back and all you could see was his skin was charred. It was all grey. I don’t know how else to describe it because I try not to think about it; it’s so horrific.
I remember having to stand in the hospital room and hold cold cloths of saline solution over top of him. They explained what they were going to do and gave him a drug called ketamine to knock him out. Before I knew it, he was being taken to Victoria Hospital. We dropped Jordon off at Brad’s parents’ house in Ailsa Craig, and it felt like forever to get from Ailsa Craig to London. We got lost and finally found where we were supposed to be.
I don’t think the severity of it sunk in until the next morning, Saturday. Having been brought up to speed by his team, the plastic surgeon came in and had a look and said flat out that Reagen had to have skin grafting. He said he would wait until his normal surgery days, which were Wednesday and Thursday, but then he came back and changed his mind. He said if it was okay with us, he would do it the next day, Sunday.
On his first surgery, they skin-grafted up his forearms, the back of his hands and the fronts of his fingers. They placed pins in his fingers to keep them straight so he didn’t move any of the skin grafting. It takes between three and seven days for the skin grafts to be fully attached.
Originally they thought they would have to skin graft his palms, a spot on his knees and a spot on his toe. But after two hours, the surgeon came to us and was excited, saying he didn’t think his knee or his palms needed the surgery.
We were in the hospital for four weeks. They were shocked at how fast he healed, and Dr. Scilley was calling him his Superhealer. They were pleased enough to let us go home, but reminded us that we would have to have home care come in every day because he had sores that would need dressings. We went home with some dressing instructions and we were to wrap Cobans (a type of compression bandage) to add some tension into form before we got into gloves. We were home doing that for about a week before we had to go see Dr. Scilley. The Coban, because it wasn’t wrapped properly, started to cut into the bases of the fingers and added new wounds. Unfortunately, because of the way the health system works, no one from the hospital could come out and teach our home care workers how to use them properly, and you have to be a pro at it for it to work properly.
The physical therapist, surgeon and a couple of nurses went to a conference in Montreal, and discovered gloves that had some tension in them with silver to help the healing. These were eventually replaced by the full pressure gloves he uses now. His left hand was burned worse than his right hand; he has about 95 per cent use of his right hand, and we’ve had issues with his left hand. His web spaces grew in a bit and the gloves are cutting into the web space. We’re trying to get it to heal, but you need pressure on it to keep it functional. It’s just getting better now.
The body is still trying to repair its own skin because it doesn’t understand skin grafting. The blood vessels are still up at the surface, so if he were to pick his finger, it would bleed like crazy. The gloves help put pressure on his blood vessels and add form to his fingers. His fingers will never look like yours and mine, but he’ll be able to bend them.
With the home care workers, I hold on to him and we go through six exercises to bend his joints and stretch the skin to its maximum potential. Even in a 24-hour period, you can have a lot of contraction, so you have to manipulate it while it’s still not completely healed.

Inflicting pain daily
They’re hopeful that he will have full mobility. With his left hand, he doesn’t do a whole lot because it’s still sore. He favours his right hand, and we hope the mobility’s there in his left hand, but he can’t talk so we don’t know.
It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s not an easy thing to watch a child go through pain. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t have to assist in inflicting pain on him. I honestly thought when they first taught me how to do the exercises in the hospital that it would get easier. It doesn’t. In fact, it gets worse because it’s been four or five months continuous.
When you have a burn, you have a burn for life. He will require surgeries until he is fully grown because his fingers and arms will grow but his skin won’t grow with them.
It has its downfalls for being as young as he was, but it has its upside, too. He’ll never remember what happened, and he’ll never know any different. He’ll just have to adapt. It’s life. You can’t go back and it’s never going to get any worse than it was that day. We just have to teach him that everyone is different, and you can do anything you want as long as you set your mind to it.

A November fundraiser in Parkhill raised almost $20,000 to offset the medical costs. Reagen needs gloves, which are covered 75 per cent by OHIP every six months, but the family has to pay for any additional gloves in the interim. Medical supplies and other expenses, such as parking for regular visits to the hospital, also come out of their pocket.
Donations are still being accepted. Cheques made out to the “Parkhill Lions Club in trust to Reagen Robinson” can be sent to the club at P.O. Box 207 Parkhill, ON N0M 2K0. Tax receipts will be issued.

Exeter writer Rick Hundey set his first novel Death at the Bend in Grand Bend. It was released in November by Faux Pop of Goderich.

As told to Casey Lessard

I’ve been playing around with writing for years. I didn’t get serious about it until about six or seven years ago. I joined a writers’ group and we would share our writings and critique. I sent short stories to various contests, and I finally won one in the summer of 2005, and that was the Alice Munro writers’ festival and short story contest. It made me feel I was on to something.
I had been working as a management consultant and had enough contracts to keep me going, and I had some wonderful clients, but I wasn’t as interested in what I was doing as I should have been. I was working on manuscripts, and I got to the point where if I got a phone call from a client while I was working on a manuscript, I saw it as an interruption. That’s when I thought it was time to get at it full-time. That was a year and a half ago, when I was in the first draft of Death at the Bend.
I worked at it quite steadily and did seven or eight major rewrites; some authors do 20. Realistically it was two major rewrites with the rest fine-tuning.
The last few drafts were the result of the review process I went through with a couple of people in the writers’ group, a friend of mine who judges short story contests, and a couple of author friends. Then I linked up with Faux Pop in Goderich and decided to go with it.

In a nutshell, it’s about a coffee shop owner in Grand Bend who used to be the town’s police chief. I know they haven’t had one in recent memory, but I made up an amalgamation story where he turns down a job offer with the OPP and decides to put up his shingle to run a small consulting business and buying a small Main Street coffee shop with his girlfriend.
An ex-girlfriend reappears and she was a major problem in his life; yet here she is, needing help, having been charged with the murder of her spouse.
I found that the characters would end up telling me what was next. I always knew the ending and the main events, but the shifts along the way added more suspense. I’ve read a fair number of books on writing, and these people tell you that this happens to you. One writer in particular said to write biographies of your main characters. I did, and they’re fairly detailed biographies. You find yourself getting to a point where you know what your plot outline says but you ask yourself, what would he do? If he did this, what would happen?
I was done in the early summer and I was hoping to have something by the end of the summer, in time to catch the Grand Bend cottagers. I discovered that my expectations were unreasonable. There’s a copy editing process where revisions can affect other parts of the book. There was also a fair amount of work regarding decisions about the cover.
We weren’t ready for a launch until three weeks ago, and we’re thinking for our first stage that we’ll print three blocks of 300, and two-thirds of that first block are spoken for. That part has gone pretty well when you think that it’s only been two or three weeks.
Most of the sales have been by word of mouth or through library readings. After this stage we want to go to independent bookstores and possibly the chains. I think this is the more common approach than it used to be.

This is fun. Especially the writing part, and I really enjoy interacting with people at readings. If you’re a painter, you either sell your painting or you hang it on your wall. Either way people are going to look at it, and that’s your goal. When you write a book, it’s not just for you. Your only proof of its merit is that people buy it and tell you that it’s good. It will make a little bit of money, but that’s not the goal; if that’s your goal, there are better ways to do it.
For more, visit: http://rickhundey.fauxpop.tv/

Rick Hundey’s writing advice:

Just do it
I was writing when I was working full-time. This is as much a lifestyle decision as anything else. If you can write short stories with success, then you can do it part-time and it’s a great leisure pastime. I don’t think working on it full-time is required.

Hone your skills
I now think it’s more a skill than a talent. There are a lot of good books out there, and good courses. I took a fantastic course at Fanshawe with Susan Regier, who is this sister of our fire chief John Morgan.

Find others
It also helps to get in with some people that write. Talk to them, and exchange your work.

Write, write, write
The other thing you have to do is write a lot. If this was the old days, I would have a cedar chest full of manuscripts. My computer’s full of stuff. Just write and keep trying. Throw stuff out that doesn’t work or that you’re not happy with.

Favourite authors: Walter Mosley, Robert Crais, Tony Hillerman, and Elmore Leonard

December is a festive but busy month as we begin the holiday season. Crowded stores, shorter tempers and just a lot to get done in one month. Let’s not forget that December is a month to celebrate with friends and family and remember what we are thankful for. These two recipes work great together to help warm your spirit and soothe the mind. Very easy and great to share with Christmas guests or alone, just to take the edge off.
Cheers,
James Eddington, Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main St S., Exeter – 519-235-3030
“Your Christmas headquarters”

1 cup – softened butter
2/3 cup – granulated sugar
1/2 tsp – almond flavouring
2 1/4 cups – flour
1 cup – shelled pistachios
1/2 tsp – ground cardamom or cinnamon

(Note: Food color can be added to first step for Christmas theme or melted white or dark chocolate can be drizzled over cookies at the end.)
Mix softened butter and sugar in large bowl. Add almond flavouring. Stir. Add flour, cinnamon/cardamom and 1/2 cup pistachios. Dough will be dry; mix with hands until flour is blended. Pack and form into 2 rolls, each about 1-2” in diameter.
Spread 1/2 cup pistachios over wax paper. Roll dough in pistachios to coat completely. Wrap in wax paper. Cover with plastic wrap. Chill for a min of 4 hours.
Cut into 1/4” slices. Arrange on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake on centre rack in 350F oven for approx. 10-15 minutes, until edges are golden brown. Let stand five minutes then remove onto open racks to cool.

4 cups – natural pressed apple juice
1 – large cinnamon stick
1 tsp – sugar (honey can be substituted)
2 bags – Orange Pekoe tea

Combine apple juice, cinnamon and sugar in pot. Bring to boil and remove from heat.
Add tea bags and cover. Steep for seven minutes.
Remove tea bags. Strain liquid into coffee mugs or decorative glasses.
Serve with orange slice and garnish.
Enjoy with your shortbread.

2008 Federal Election
Candidate profiles
Huron-Bruce

Dave Joslin
Christian Heritage
Brussels
519-887-9337
joslin@wightman.ca

Age: 54
Hometown: Burlington
Status: Married

College: Georgian College, Owen Sound
Concentration: Welder
High School: M.M. Robinson, Gr.12

Employer: Cleaver-Brooks
City/Town: Stratford
Position: Fitter-Welder

Activities: hiking, biking
Interests: philosophy, theology, political theory
Favorite Music: variety
Favorite TV Show: don’t watch TV
Favorite Movie: We Were Soldiers
Favorite Book: The Lord of the Rings
Favorite Quotation or Motto: Contra Mundum

About Me: Kathy and I have been married for 32 years. We have four children and have lived in Grey Twp. for twenty years.
Dave Joslin did not respond to the five questions posed by the Grand Bend Strip.

Age: 56
Hometown: Farm outside Lucknow
Status: Married to Fran

Education: University of Waterloo
Concentration: Honours Environmental Studies
High School: Goderich District Collegiate Institute

Employer: Self – Meeting Place Organic Farm
City/Town: Lucknow
Position: Farmer

Activities: Farming and farm organizations, With Fran, I lead couples enrichment workshops and teach holistic management courses.

Interests: renewable energy, hiking, canoeing, holistic management, woodworking, rotational grazing, workhorses.

Favorite Music: old rock and roll
Favorite Book: Small is Beautiful – Economics as If people mattered
Favorite Quotation or Motto: Live every day as if it were your last but in a way that will not negate the future.

About Me: I’m the husband of Fran and we are the parents of two grown daughters. We are members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). We have been farming near Lucknow for 35 years. We have revitalized an uninhabited hilly farm into Meeting Place Organic Farm and have built up a small meat retail business. We have been active in farm and community organizations. We helped start and build the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario. I am a past president of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture and am currently president of Local 10 of the Ontario National Farmers Union. I was elected to three terms as a trustee on the Huron County Board of Education. I served as Elmer Buchanan’s executive assistant when he was Minister of Agriculture and worked with the farm community to develop what became the Environmental Farm Plan program and stable funding for farm organizations. We have worked to make our own farm environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Birthday: Feb. 18, 1962
Hometown: Clinton
Status: Divorced
 
Education: Finished grade 10
Concentration: Working hard
 
Employer: Little Rock Farm Trucking
Town: Walkerton
Position: Truck-driver
 
Interests: camping, motorcycles (a Harley),watching/learning from people, driving thru countryside, watching thunderstorms from dry place
 
Favourite Music: classic rock, some country
Favourite TV show: don’t have favorite T.V show
Favourite Movie: Enjoy most movies that are based on true stories
Favourite Book: Been awhile since I had time to read a good book other than the Bible
Favorite Quotation or Motto: “Early bird gets the worm” still haven’t figured what I would do with it when I do get it; or “When dealt lemons, make lemonade.”
 
About Me: As Independent, I will be free of party, to work for the constituent. And that folks is how democracy works. Thank you.
Dennis Valenta, your independent choice.

Birthday: September 10, 1076
Hometown: Clinton
Status: Married

College/University: Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee
Concentration: Business Administration
High School: Central Huron Secondary School

Employer: Desire2Learn Inc.
City/Town: Kitchener
Position: Purchasing Manager / Cost Analyst

Activities: golf, baseball, mountain biking
Interests: investing, politics, fitness
Favorite Music: rock
Favorite TV Show: Saturday Night Live
Favorite Movie: The Usual Suspects
Favorite Book: Warren Buffet Portfolio
Favorite Quotation or Motto: Carpe Diem “Seize the day”

About Me: I was born and raised in Clinton, Ontario and currently reside in Holmesville. The Lobb family is a seven-generation Huron County family. I attended Lee University in Cleveland Tennessee on a baseball scholarship and graduated with a degree in Business Administration. I worked at Wescast Industries for seven years and currently work for a software company called Desire2Learn as the Purchasing Manager and Cost Analyst. I also still help with our family auction business Lobb Auction as an auctioneer on the weekends. I enjoy playing golf and outdoor activities.

The Strip asked all of the candidates five questions related to federal issues in our ridings.
The Green Party did not return our questionnaire by press time, and the Christian Heritage Party’s Dave Joslin did not respond to these questions.

Huron-Bruce

What is the most pressing issue facing your riding, and what do you plan to do about it if elected?
Greg McClinchey: There is no such thing as one issue that is most important in an election. Elections are never about any one issue. Elections are about Canadians selecting the people who will help guide our nation’s path in the years ahead. Anyone who would try to tell you that elections can be distilled down to a single issue are trying to sell you an overly simplified version of their marketing plan. Elections are a time when citizens should engage in the process, talk to neighbours and discuss issues with those seeking office. Citizens should make their candidates talk about the issues that are discussed in the milk house, around kitchen tables and at coffee shops. It is not for political parties to tell local citizens what an election is going to be about – the flow of information should be running from the constituency to Ottawa and not the other way around.
Tony McQuail: When I first ran federally in 1980 we said we should be using the windfall profits of the oil companies and invest them in energy conservation and renewable energy. We didn’t do it then and we are now heading into a perfect ecological and economic storm composed of three interconnected components – peak oil, climate change and environmental collapse. These are real problems that are shaking the underpinnings of our global casino financial economy. So the biggest challenge facing Huron-Bruce and the rest of the world is to make the transition from the global casino economy to an ecologically sustainable economy that uses our local resources to shift away from oil, reduce our contribution to climate change and manage our natural resources in an ecologically sustainable fashion so that we have secure local livelihoods. During this election I have been “test driving” a rural ride share concept that could let us halve our gas use and transportation costs now with our existing vehicles. If elected I would work with our community to develop local solutions and then work in Ottawa to get pilot project funding and support for local initiatives. I would also support the New Democrats plan to cap carbon emissions, make large polluters pay, and use that money to help communities develop green technologies and green collar jobs. Developing a local economy that will offer secure jobs in a sustainable community can be the result of developing a green economy.
Dennis Valenta: LACK OF REPRESENTATION would be the most pressing issue in this (or any) Riding (except where there is an Independent already) as we are not tied to the party and free to work for the very people whom not only elect MPs but pay their wages.
Ben Lobb: I believe that the most pressing issue facing our riding is the economy. If elected, I believe we need to continue to keep taxes low, keep our budget balance and keep paying down our national debt. I would also fight to keep industry and manufacturing jobs in the riding. Just a few days ago the Volvo plant in Goderich announced that it would be closing doors and heading south of the border. This will leave many people without jobs. We need to invest in retraining these individuals so they can develop new skills to re-enter the workforce.

What is the biggest environmental issue facing your riding and what will you do to address it?
Greg McClinchey: Greenhouse gas reduction is important but so is the long-term health of the Great Lakes. So often we fail to address the dire need for a national water policy. I am proud that the Liberal Party has identified Great Lakes health as a priority and I eagerly look forward to working to help make certain that the Lakes get the attention that they deserve.
Tony McQuail: Climate change will affect agriculture, tourism and the global economy. The New Democrats cap and trade plan would limit carbon emissions from Canada’s largest polluters and invest in renewable and green technologies to assist the families around the kitchen table to save money and reduce their carbon emissions. For more details see:
www.ndp.ca/platform/environment/
Dennis Valenta: Two things come to mind about the environment: garbage and Bruce Power/heavy water/lake. No I’m not going to promise to get rid of either. I do think federal government should always be watching, not hindering but enforcing regulations to keep our source of power safe for those that produce and use it.
I think we should be looking at incineration, as a practical way of getting rid of our garbage.
Ben Lobb: This riding borders one of the Great Lakes; I believe protecting this freshwater reserve is a concern for many residents in Huron-Bruce. The Conservative government is investing $48 million dollars to clean up eight areas of concern on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes. We will continue to work with our neighbors to the south to protect this natural resource. We have also restated our commitment that Conservatives are strictly opposed to the export of bulk water.
I also believe Canada, along with the rest of the world, needs to tackle climate change. That is why we have introduced tough mandatory targets for industry right here at home. Canada will also play an active role in negotiations to develop a new international agreement on climate change with contributions from all major emitters, including the United States, China and India. We should be seeking to ensure that global emissions are cut at least in half by 2050.

Do you believe your riding needs federal infrastructure funding, and if so, what will you do to bring it here?
Greg McClinchey: I am a local councillor so I struggle with this question each and every day. The answer is unreservedly YES! Infrastructure renewal is one of the most pressing issues we face today. In some communities, such as Hensall, Crediton and Belgrave, people are being forced to pay thousands of dollars from their own pocket just to have fresh water to drink. This reality is bankrupting business and it is forcing people from their homes. This is unacceptable. If the Harper government would stop making foolish choices like cutting the GST (something which offered little help to the average Canadian), perhaps we would have the fiscal capacity to help people update their infrastructure without forcing hard-working Canadians to leave their homes. Infrastructure must be a national priority and must not be shuffled off to the municipalities or to private homeowners.
Tony McQuail: Yes, and also federal funding to support the retooling of existing manufacturing in the riding so that we can produce the emerging green technologies and parts for the small and low- and no-emission cars that we are proposing in our green car strategy. I would work with local municipalities and industries to identify needs and opportunities. I would represent these to Ottawa and seek to find the appropriate programs and departments from which to obtain support.
Dennis Valenta: Yes. Let’s remember, any money that Federal Government has IS OUR MONEY!!! The taxpayer has earned the right to spend their money as they see fit, and I will voice that opinion until we in Huron-Bruce get our fair share. That would be total amount of cash, divided by total number of ridings equals amount per riding
Ben Lobb: I believe that infrastructure is an ongoing issue. Last year the Conservative government implemented the Building Canada Plan. This plan is a $33-billion, seven-year plan to contribute to a competitive economy, a cleaner environment and strong and prosperous communities. Last year alone, the Conservative Government invested money in wastewater treatment and water systems in four municipalities in Huron-Bruce. If elected I will fight to bring more money to this riding to provide cleaner drinking water, safer highways and expanded public transit. This will mean new projects, construction and jobs for the riding of Huron Bruce.

What will you do to stimulate the economy in your riding?
Greg McClinchey: The current infrastructure deficit in Canada is about $123 billion. Imagine the economic boom that would take place if the federal government was serious about dealing with crumbling water systems, roads, sewers, etc. Mr. Harper’s cutting of the GST by two per cent cost the federal government about $12-billion per year. Had we put that money towards infrastructure it would have completely renewed our national infrastructure in 10 years and it would have touched off the largest national construction effort in our history. It would have employed hundreds of thousands of people for a decade. Innovate out-of-the-box thinking like this is what our country needs. Not shortsighted policies designed to buy votes.
Tony McQuail: In the post=petroleum economy, we need to stop thinking of “stimulate” and “growth”. These have been the watchwords of the speculative bubble economies of Wall Street and Bay Street. The economic assumptions underpinning these words were made possible by a century spent squandering the planet’s oil reserves that had taken millions of years to accumulate. Wall Street and Bay Street have “stimulated” themselves to economic collapse and “grown” the economy to the point of cannibalizing nature. If we are going to have a future we can be proud to pass on to our children, we need to think about how to stabilize our local economy so that it is durable and frugal and meets the needs of the families around the kitchen tables across Huron-Bruce for now and into the future. I’ve spent the past 35 years of my life helping farmers shift to more ecological forms of farming that offer them greater stability and control of their lives. I’ve also been studying ecological economics and holistic management and would work with the people of Huron-Bruce to do serious sustainability planning. The New Democrats platform includes provisions for improvements to EI and transitional funding to help individuals and communities shift from old employment and technologies into the green collar jobs in the emerging economy.
Dennis Valenta: Bring community college to riding, which helps keep youth in riding. Have schools teach farming/manufacturing/tourism, whatever. Eliminate government red tape so industry can prosper. Look at building better four-lane highway to connect us to major centres.
Ben Lobb: I believe that we need to keep our spending focused, our budget balanced and our taxes down to protect the living standards of Canadian families at a time of global economic uncertainty. We need to keep industry in the riding, attract new industry and invest in retraining initiatives so those that have lost their jobs can develop new skills to re-enter the workforce and hopefully into a higher paying job. To help attract new industry, the Conservative government has committed to reducing corporate taxes and by 2012 Canada will have the lowest corporate tax rate among the G7 nations.

Tourism is an important industry in our readership area. Do you believe the federal government should fund arts and culture projects, and if so, what kind?
Greg McClinchey: The Harper Government recently announced dramatic cuts to arts and culture funding and I feel that this is a tremendously shortsighted policy. Tourism is essential to the survival of places like Grand Bend and Blyth and cutting culture is cutting tourist attractions. Also, tourism is a major industry in Canada – worth billions of dollars. Cutting the arts is yet another serious blow to Ontario’s economy; an attack that we could have done without. The Liberal Party is opposed to any such cuts and would reverse the move without hesitation. Tourism needs to be bolstered – not slashed.
Tony McQuail: Yes. We would restore the arts funding arbitrarily cut by the Harper Conservatives. Increase public funding for the Canada Council for the Arts. We believe in supporting local theatre and festivals and community arts programs. We would also develop a strategy for funding, supporting and preserving Canadian museums, historic buildings and heritage lighthouses.
Dennis Valenta: Yes I do. Only the ones that would draw people to spend their money to see! Government should be run like a business, not in competition with, but like, and it will thrive.
Ben Lobb: I think we should engage Canadians in their communities through the expression and celebration of local culture. The economic impacts of tourism in this riding are important to a strong economy. The Conservative government provides $2.3 billion annually to arts and culture and has increased the funding by eight per cent over the previous Liberal government. The Conservatives have committed $100 million to our national museums and national art centers to address operating and infrastructure pressures. Just recently, the Conservatives awarded almost $100,000 for Southampton’s 150th anniversary celebration, which included performances by local artists and musicians.

Children’s Festival
Saturday July 26
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Main Street Exeter
Presented by Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Huron

9 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Yard Sale
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Pie Sale – Community Living South Huron
10 a.m.
Come visit the White Squirrel
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Activities and Crafts – bubble pool, boat pond, princess tiaras, airplanes, colouring pages, paper masks and more.
11 a.m. – Barbecue – hot dogs, hamburgers and cold drinks.
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Scribbles the Clown
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Drum circle

All children will be given a passport allowing them to participate in each activity station. Additional tickets can be purchased for 25¢ each. All proceeds from the event go to support Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Huron. Volunteers wanted, call: 226-268-3871 or email cw@shbbbs.on.ca

The inevitable day has arrived.
I had hoped I would be able to continue to provide the Grand Bend Strip newspaper for free indefinitely, but after thinking long and hard this spring, I realize that the only way for the paper to publish this winter is to ask for your support.
Like you, I value the ability to learn more about the people who live and work in this community. I love meeting you and capturing your memories for the paper. This is what I feel I can bring to this community, and I want to stay here.
I also feel it’s important to bring to light some of the problems that exist here, and the challenges we face in this community. I’m willing to put the work into creating quality journalism here, but I can’t do it alone.
The Strip will continue to be free until the end of the summer, which on most people’s calendar is the Thanksgiving weekend. After that, it will be available only to Strip Club VIP members. Even the website will be restricted to VIPs. I have yet to decide whether the exclusivity will continue next summer.
I promise to make membership worthwhile, and hope you will contribute to surveys to improve the paper, and take advantage of special offers from our advertising clients.
For more information about club membership, please see our subscription page.

Dear Casey,
I just wanted to let you know how very well received your (wheelchair accessibility) article was, by your readers and by many merchants. I know it can be a gamble when dealing with businesses and I admit it was not always comfortable for me, but it truly has turned out to be such a worthwhile project.  Scott and I have had so many calls, beautiful letters, and well wishing comments that we were overwhelmed; I have never known such heartfelt concern and support. As we discussed, there have been some incredible hurts and frustrations with people who could not handle the changes in our life. Well, this has done so much to restore my faith in human kindness. Some of the businesses immediately made changes as a result of your article and became very proactive in their attitude.
You are a very kind and generous man yourself and this series of articles demonstrates your commitment to bettering life for all citizens. I hope you feel proud and not too humble that you won’t print this. To all the people who approached Scott and me, wrote and sent cards, I thank you so much as it is just this sort of thing that empowers us to advocate for better services for all persons requiring chronic or long term care. We have a long way to go in getting drug coverage, but the financial services firm of Campbell and Lehman have been very kindly working on a trust fund for myself and others in my position to help with costs until one of either the Ontario Ministry of Health or Hoffman-LaRoche steps up to the plate and does the right thing. It is not my wish to be in the public eye for the reasons that I have been, but if this is what it takes to make improvements for myself and others, then so be it. Thanks again.
Sincerely,
Denise Halpenny
Exeter

To the Editor:
I appreciate your recent efforts to grade accessibility in the area. I have arthritis in both knees and use a cane constantly. Entry to buildings, washroom facilities etc. are things I struggle with on a daily basis.
I was surprised to read that Gar’s (Bar) in Exeter got an average rating. I guess it was fair by your scoring system. However, what distressed me was your mention of the cleaning equipment in the handicap washroom. This is because I was at that facility this past February for lunch and when I went to use the handicap washroom there was a bucket and mops and no room for me. I had to use the regular washroom and – because the toilet was abnormally low – I had to grasp under the door to pull myself up; otherwise, I would still be there. Thank goodness the door held and I was again upright.
I asked to speak to the manager who was “not in today.” So I spoke to the person at hand and asked her to accompany me to the handicap washroom to show her why I was upset. She then explained that the equipment was in there because if she stored it downstairs, she would have to carry it up to clean. Because I didn’t agree this was a good reason to block handicap usage, I then demanded some compensation for my troubles. Am I wrong in assuming there is a law about having a handicap washroom available in public areas?
My compensation ended up being a free lunch. But as my friend expressed to the woman why I was so upset, she responded, “She’s not handicapped!!” I guess more education is needed here. You don’t have to be in a wheelchair to be handicapped! So I was happy to see you mention that in your recent editorial. Thank you for doing this.
There are other problems that people are often not aware of. The number of marked parking spaces is never enough and when I mention this at the municipality I am told the code requires one space for every thirty regular spaces. Is there a law that says you can’t include more than the building code stipulates? Duh! I would think the number of handicapped persons is only going to increase this decade.
Another seldom-confronted situation is the installation of handrails on stairs. Some are on the left and some are on the right. Some people have trouble going up, I have trouble going down and need a rail in my left hand. Why not have rails on both sides?
As Lisa Grady mentioned in her article, people want to do it themselves and maintain their dignity and independence. So let’s help them do that!
Thanks for listening Casey. You are doing a good thing. My next topic will probably be the development of a scent-free environment. Do I have any support on that issue?
Wilma Harris
Port Franks

From the editor: Wilma, thanks for your observations. It must be frustrating when a business has the infrastructure in place, but does not make it available to the customers for which it is designed. Our standard required that someone using a wheelchair can get in the door from the street and get around. If a person could use the washroom, reach the counters and sit at a table, those counted, too. I called Gar’s, and the owner is on vacation, but I was told the cleaning equipment still restricts use of the washroom. It’s a shame because this is a simple change (like other changes that could be made there and elsewhere) that could have helped it earn a higher rating. I was told Gar would likely reflect on this upon his return. Ultimately, business owners need to make accessibility a priority because, as you suggest, more people require such services each year.
Regarding the legal question, I do not believe restaurant washrooms are covered under the law yet, so if you would like to complain, your best avenue would be the Ontario Human Rights Commission. They, however, recommend you address your concerns with the business first.
And regarding the scent-free environment question, that’s certainly a good fight to wage.

I was pleased to see your newspaper in my mailbox; very interesting. I live in Parkhill and do a lot of my shopping in Grand Bend and area. I am very disappointed in the law enforcement that they don’t take care of the ongoing problem with wheelchair parking spaces. I find myself being mad most every time I have to park my truck when I see countless people (parking in these spaces) with no problem walking to the store. You people should be glad you can walk; STOP parking in the wheelchair space. I would stand out in the rain all day just to give out tickets to people who take the wheelchair parking spaces.
For the businesses that make excuses about why they don’t have wheelchair spaces or ramps, you should be ashamed of yourselves. It seems to me that everything has to be about the money. Why does it seem that bad things have to happen to someone before they make changes in their life? We want to make changes in our community but we only want to go halfway. The people in wheelchairs have a right to shop anywhere they want, so why are they being left out?
Patti Wilton
Parkhill

How pleasant a surprise it was to see how well Grace Hodgins was doing after her surgery on Friday, June 13. Grace had to get a pacemaker and I was so worried for her, but like the trouper she is, she rallied once again and is expected to be home shortly. Lots of love and encouragement in your quest for better health. Love and good luck. You go girl!
Joan McCullough
Shipka

Exeter resident Ron Helm flies out of Sexsmith airfield, northwest of Exeter on McDonald Road, just east of Airport Line. The pilots based at Sexsmith will offer free flights to children aged 8 to 17 the morning of June 28 (NOTE: weather delayed until September 13, 2008); pre-registration is recommended by calling Wayne Steeper at 519-235-2441.

As told to Casey Lessard

I grew up during the war in Yorkshire, England, and there was a Canadian bomber base airfield nearby. They used to fly convert Halifax and Lancasters. There were Spitfires and all kinds of other things there, too.
Also in that little town was an aircraft factory that made gliders, and occasionally they had openings for apprentices in the engineering office. I was lucky enough to get one, which was great. The company sponsored me to learn to fly gliders; it cost us a quarter a launch in those days.
I flew from the Yorkshire Gliding Club a little bit, and I used to go on test flights because I was the engineer.
Then I worked for Blackburn, and was a member of the Royal Observer Corps, which is a part-time affiliation with the RAF, so I used to scrounge rides occasionally with those guys.
I came over from the UK in 1967 to work for Canadair – which is now Bombardier – in their engineering department. I worked on vertical takeoff airplanes. They got into difficulties so I came down here from Montreal in 1971. Bell Aerospace was just opening up their plant in Grand Bend, and I used to fly hovercraft for them. I was director of product support and engineering. I was there 16 years before they collapsed, and Sexsmith became part of my life.
I came on the Sexsmith airfield in 1971. I was just interested in airplanes at the time and eventually bought an airplane, which was the Taylorcraft BC-12D (seen in the photo). It’s a 65 horsepower Continental engine, it cruises about 95 miles an hour, and it’s got a rather big wingspan of 36’ because in those days there wasn’t a lot of horsepower and they made up for it by making it light wing loaded. If you go flying in my airplane, you feel the bumps. If you get a strong headwind, your ground speed can be pretty slow sometimes.
You have to hand crank it to start it – it doesn’t have any electrics. It has a radio, but I run that off a motorcycle battery. It’s fairly inexpensive to run: it burns about four gallons of fuel per hour. If you get up to 115 horsepower engines (like Mike Ash’s on opposite page), you’re looking at about six to eight gallons per hour.

Life at Sexsmith
The airfield belonged to a farmer called Leonard Greb. He was a bachelor all his life, and he had a Vagabond airplane that he flew with a great deal of panache. Very opinionated and he would cause an argument just for the heck of doing it. But it was all part of the atmosphere here.
We all had light airplanes like mine and Piper J3s. We used to just enjoy flying around. We’d go off on an evening or breakfast flying on the weekends, maybe to Goderich or Hanover where they had good restaurants. Or we’d go to other guys’ fields where there would always be coffee and donuts to be had. We had a great time.
We used to fly in the winter a lot at that time, too. Most of us had skis so we could go flying in the winter. That was a lot of fun because you could land anywhere.
Ron Riley taught me to fly at Grand Bend. Ron is a bush pilot. Bush pilots need different kinds of skills than airline pilots. Ron had lots of skills that he would teach you that weren’t in the curriculum, like how to get down on a field in difficult circumstances, engine failures, and things like that. Ron was absolutely first class because he had all the real life experience. Everything we did was with a map, a scale rule and a stopwatch. No GPS, and no radios. When you came out of his school, you were a pretty confident pilot. If you weren’t allowed to go solo, you can rest assured you weren’t ready.

A permanent home
Eventually Leonard died. He would spend a lot of time in Florida and we would take care of the field. He left the farm to his brother Wesley, who used to like to spend the summers here. He couldn’t handle the farming, and he said, if you want the airfield, you’d better buy the farm. I’ll make you a deal.
We thought, where are we going to get the money to buy a farm? It’s a lot of money. So we all got together in 2000 and 24 of us decided that we’d put up enough money to buy the farm, and that’s exactly what we did. That was when Sexsmith Pilots Limited was born.
Then people started buying better airplanes. They’re mostly all Cessnas and Pipers now. The biggest airplane on the field is a Saratoga, owned by Gib Dow, who owns the Ironwood Golf Club.
Originally if you wanted to fly, you had to have either a private or commercial pilot’s license. Now they have two more categories: a recreational pilot’s license, which is not as onerous as a private license and costs about half the price; and then there is the microlight pilot’s license.
Beyond the license, you get endorsements for higher performance airplanes, like the one young Gib flies because it flies significantly different from mine. You can get instrument, night flying rating, and then you can go for commercial. I just like recreational flying; that’s what I’m interested in.
It’s nice here; it’s quiet. The company’s always good. It creates nice friendships. They’re just a good group of people. They come from all walks of life and meld into a happy family. Everyone pitches in to keep the airfield the way it is.

The next generation
Young Eagles was started by the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They realized that we have to get young people interested in aviation; most people won’t make the effort because they just see big dollar signs to get in. But if you can give a kid a ride and it doesn’t cost anything, you might just generate some interest. That’s how the Young Eagles program started. They take a half-hour ride, and get a certificate that the pilot signs and their name goes on an international register.
The other way to get kids interested is through the air cadet corps. They start with gliders and there are limited scholarships to get into power flying. Other than that, you have to dig into your pocket to go to flight school. That, of course, is a big problem because it costs a lot of money. You’re lucky to get a private license for $7,000.

We would love to get other people on the field. The problem is we’re getting older. Once you lose something like this, you can never recreate it. The problem is, kids don’t have the money to fly anymore. I don’t know whether us old guys are the last of a breed or not.

Mike Ash of Grand Bend has spent the last 14 years building his plane, which he completed this spring. Soon, he will be allowed to take passengers, but he will not be ready to offer flights for the Young Eagles day. His first – and most frequent – passenger will likely be his wife Kathy, who has waited a long time for a flight.
“It’s exciting when he starts that motor,” Kathy says. “It’s a huge accomplishment. I know Mike feels it’s a big deal, too. He takes it in stride and doesn’t make a big thing of it, but a lot of people have complimented him about the quality of workmanship. He’s such a perfectionist, which is good when you’re building a plane you’re going to be flying around in.”

As told to Casey Lessard

I can’t even remember what triggered my interest in flying. I started taking flying lessons when I was in my late teens. It’s just something that I always wanted to do and was always interested in.
I got my private license and later got my commercial license. A private license allows you to fly, but not for hire. You can fly whatever aircraft you’re licensed for and you can go anywhere you want, but you can’t make money doing it, where with a commercial license you can do that. Then there’s the airline transport rating, which is what the people who fly scheduled airlines have.
I got my helicopter rating and flew helicopters for about three years for a company in King City. I flew various contracts for them, working on forest fires, water-bucketing, moving equipment for drill crews, or just moving survey crews and telecommunications crews around in the North. I have also done rides on fairs and crop pollination. Just a mixed bag.
In the last several years I haven’t been flying much because of the building process. I’m now getting into the flying aspect and I’m really enjoying it, of course.
My plane is a Murphy Rebel. Murphy is based in Chilliwack, BC, and they make several kits, the Rebel being one of them. I did a search for the kind of plane I wanted to build and read a book or two on home builds. I committed to buying the kit before getting a ride in one, which is not so brilliant, but it seems to have worked out well.
I got the kit in November of 1993, and I finished it in the fall of 2007. That sounds like a lot of time, but there’s about 4500 hours invested in it, and there were a couple of years when I didn’t do much on it. I got a little burned out and needed a break. But I got back at it and finished it off.

Taking flight
I think every time I go there’s a tad of apprehension to starting a new little trip. And then, as soon as you’re off the ground, you relax and enjoy the scenery and the day. Landing is the hardest part, especially with a tail-wheel airplane. They’re somewhat skittish when you’re landing. The airplane’s centre of mass is behind the main wheels, so it wants to spin the aircraft around. It takes some footwork to keep it straight on the runway.
There’s a real sense of independence and freedom (to flying); a sense of being in control of your own destiny. Now for me, it’s also the sense of being able to fly an airplane I’ve built.
The cost of fuel is certainly a consideration. People who fly airplanes are not necessarily that much more wealthy than anyone else; they’ve just made flying a priority. They’re going to find the money to buy the gas and maintain the airplane.

Benefits of Sexsmith
This facility is one thing that helps keep costs down. It’s run by volunteers, and it’s economical, and that helps people keep flying. The first time I saw Sexsmith, I was attracted to it. This looked like a good place to house my aircraft. I talked to Ron Helm and found out there was a hangar available and I made arrangements to rent it. It’s such a good spot and there’s a great group of people here willing to help out. It’s also a great location: we have people experts in Huron Park and Fullarton available to help.
Aviation is certainly something that spurs a lot of people’s interest. They’re much better getting a first hand experience and the Young Eagles day is a great chance to do that.
I’m really looking forward when Kathy and I can make some trips. We would like to visit Kathy’s family in Ottawa, and I have cousins in Owen Sound and Windsor, so we’ll be doing trips like that. My goal is to fly to the east coast and the west coast, but I’ve got to work up to that. The number of people on our need-a-ride list is pretty large after 14 years.

Summer Company gives Huron teens kick start

Story and photo by Casey Lessard

It’s not easy getting a small business off the ground – and keeping it going – but Huron County youth are getting a hand with the Summer Company program. The entrepreneurship program run by the Huron Business Enterprise Centre and funded by the Ontario government’s Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship gives a $1,500 grant for startup expenses for youth aged 15-29, and another $1,500 upon completion of the program.
Exeter resident Dave Geoffrey, 18, is finishing high school this month, and decided to apply for the program after a representative of the small business centre visited South Huron District High School.
“It kind of stuck in my head,” he says, noting he made a business plan after the visit. “I’ve been doing pressure washing for a couple of years now on the side. I had some experience with my dad’s construction company and thought I’d go solo.”
His business South Huron Pressure Washing offers pressure washing services for homes, decks, driveways, fences, storefronts and industrial spaces, etc. His first job was last month, and he has done three jobs since. He currently has eight jobs on his schedule.
“You make your own hours,” he says of the benefits of working for himself. “I can work as much as I want to and go out with my friends when I want.
“A lot of kids take on low-end jobs, so it’s different to have a high-end job where you’re running your own business like an adult.
The business part is where he leans on the help of the business centre.
“Maintaining a budget, making sure my financial stuff is in place. It’s kind of like doing homework for school. It’s a bit challenging, but it’s fun.”
Plus, the government funding helps.
“I got a lot of stuff paid for through this program. And they’re always there to help you if you need it.”
To learn more about Summer Company, visit www.smallbusinesshuron.ca.
Exeter teen Brad Keys also received funding from the program. To learn more about his 3D video games, visit www.retralevolution.com.
South Huron Pressure Washing owner Dave Geoffrey can be contacted at 519-235-0558.

The Huron County Library is adding teen game nights and drop-in gaming to its year-round program offerings starting in July. Ten of the county’s 12 branches will host monthly gaming events for youth aged 12 to 18.
Each event will feature a big screen Nintendo Wii tournament with such games as Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Super Smash Brothers and Dance Dance Revolution, as well as a variety of video, card and board games available for use. Prizes and snacks will be provided at each event and all of this comes at no cost to the patrons.
During the summer, most of these events run from 6 to 8 p.m., but some libraries will switch to 4 to 6 p.m. in the fall to accommodate students coming directly from school.
For more information those interested should check with their local librarian or visit the “Video Games at the Huron County Library” Facebook group where all relevant dates and details are available and updated regularly.
This month’s dates:
Monday July 7th – Goderich (6-8pm)
Tuesday July 8th – Zurich (6-8pm)
Monday July 14th – Clinton (6-8pm)
Tuesday July 22 – Hensall (6-8pm)
Thursday July 31st – Exeter (6-8pm)
In addition, all 12 branches have board and card games on their shelves for use in the library; families or groups of friends can use them whenever the library is open.

Scott and Denise Halpenny met in 1978 and started dating soon after. 
“She was a bright and fun girl – she still is,” Scott says, “and that’s why I was attracted to her.”
Denise Halpenny, a former laboratory technician at South Huron Hospital, has had multiple sclerosis for 21 years, but the last four years have been the worst. The disease has taken away her mobility, and she is now struggling to preserve the last bastion of her independence: the ability to use her left arm.
“I feel like she’s been short-changed,” Scott, a physical education teacher at South Huron District High School, says. “I wish it could be different, but it can’t. If she loses her left side, then what does she do?
“It’s been tough adapting and realizing it’s probably not going to get any better. No one ever plans for this type of thing and you wonder why it’s happening and how you’re going to deal with it.”
The quick deterioration of Denise’s condition has forced the family to move to Grand Bend, where Paul Pittao of Medway Homes is building them a wheelchair accessible house.
“We just want to enjoy a certain quality of life and enjoy the time we have together, especially now that we’re going to be empty nesters. That’s why we’re building this house, so we can get rid of some of the barriers.”
“In a lot of ways, (MS) has made our relationship stronger,” Scott notes, “but we certainly deal with a lot of frustration, especially with the financial burden. We’ll continue to work together and try to enjoy the years we have together.”
 
As told to Casey Lessard

My first symptom was 21 years ago, when Kendra was a year old. It was September of 1986. I remember it distinctly. I was sitting in the car and Kendra was in the car seat behind us. I turned to look at her and had a sharp pain in my eye. I had no idea what it was about, and it persisted for a week or so. Every time I moved my eye, it was sore in the back of the socket. The eye doctor diagnosed it as optic neuritis, and they sent me to a neurologist because that’s a symptom of MS.
It took about three years until I had my second symptom, which was called L’hermittes Sign. You get an electrical shock in your legs when you drop your head. The only people who get it are people with MS, so they diagnosed me then, and that was June 1989.
I had a pretty uneventful first 10 years. Benign symptoms: sensory kinds of things, tingling, numbness, but no motor symptoms. For about five more years, it was the odd episode of weakness in my right side, and then the last four years have been what they call secondary progressive, where you get ongoing, increasing disability.
When the disease became quite aggressive, I had allergic reactions to the recommended treatments that are available for relapsing MS. There was nothing left for me to try, so I went online looking for research studies and came across a woman in Burlington who was part of a study in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was having incredible results; she had chronic progressive MS, had been in a wheelchair for years and was walking. I phoned her and said, What are you on? She told me it was Zenopax. We hit it off as friends, and she took my medical files to Utah the next time she went. The doctor down there, Dr. John Rose, phoned me and recommended that I try his study. That was it; I went down and got on the drug that I’m currently on. That was in December, 2001.
There were 12 people in the study, and I was the 12th. I asked him why he took me on, and he said he looked at my file and couldn’t believe my bad luck. He thought I would do well on it and that I deserved a chance to get healthy.
I tried the drug and did well. It was extremely expensive. I was not covered under any drug plans down there and because it was an off-label study, I had to pay for it myself. The Exeter community and my family rallied very hard and raised a tremendous amount of money. It was $2,000 American a month, plus my flights, hotels and meals. I went to Utah every 28 days for two years. I stabilized and actually increased my disability scores, and everybody was really happy and excited. But the study ended in 2004 and I wanted to stay on the drug, so I paid for it myself as best I could.
 
Financial burden
It became a huge burden financially, so after six or seven months, I decided to try going off it to see if I could stay healthy. I went off it for seven months and went from walking with a cane to needing a walker.
Scott and I decided that I had to go back on it, no matter what. We tried to handle the finances and did so for another year and a half, two years. But the debt load was getting huge and Dr. Rose and I decided maybe we would try one drug that was still available that I hadn’t tried up here. He thought it was a long shot that I would do well on it, but because of the finances, we went for it. Went off the Zenopax and decided to try Copaxone. You need to be off Zenopax for a month and a half before you can try a new drug, but within two and a half months of being on Copaxone, I had a huge allergic reaction and then a big MS episode. I went from the walker to the wheelchair.
At that point, you go back on the Zenopax. You can’t do anything else. I had to. Now, I can’t go off it.
Dr. Rose has tried to see if Roche will pay for the drug, but because I’m Canadian, it doesn’t fall under their jurisdiction; he’s still working on that. I had approached the drug company earlier and they wouldn’t help. They showed some interest in giving me some compassionate help, and then they stopped. They wouldn’t call back and dropped any interest whatsoever.
I started asking for help from the government and applied for a Section 8 (Ontario’s special coverage of a non-listed drug product mechanism). They turned me down. I had an interview with Health Minister George Smitherman. The drug is in phase two of research, and after phase three they apply for approval, so we’re about three years away from approval. You can get the drug here, but it’s not approved for MS.
Someone from the government called me and told me to appeal my Section 8, and I had to collect all these letters from my doctors saying this was the only drug I could take. They said I would get my 2006 and 2007 money back.
We heard nothing, heard nothing, heard nothing. Finally, my doctor here, Dr. Milne, phoned me and said it wasn’t approved for exactly the same reason as the first time: that the pharmaceutical company had never applied to have this drug approved for MS.
Then I got quite angry and the letters started going back and forth. Finally, someone else from the ministry phoned me and told me they should never have recommended I appeal it; I will never get approval as long as Roche has not applied. This was in March.
Now, an insurance company in London has set up a fund to help with the costs. The health ministry won’t help me and the drug company says I do not qualify for their compassionate subsidy. They don’t feel accountable at all, even though people volunteer to test the drug, and they’re going to make a lot of money. That’s pretty immoral.

Facing challenges
At 28, when you have one baby, a husband and a fabulous life and your future ahead of you, you don’t think anything lousy is going to happen.
Today, I have a pretty amazing life. I’m not complaining. We have three great kids and a pretty good lifestyle. I just didn’t think things would be this hard. I spent the last two years fighting for drugs to keep me healthy. I didn’t think I’d have to build a barrier free home and have no programs available to help me with some of those costs. I didn’t realize that when you get sick, there would be so little out there to help you with that.
We have an incredible group of friends – the ones that did stick by us – that have been there through thick and thin.
The hardest part of a disability isn’t the loss of the use of your limbs. That part has been probably the easiest. The hardest part is dealing with the change in people, and the change in the things you have to fight for to stay living normal and your kids well-adjusted. I don’t mind being in a wheelchair as much as I mind the way it affects my family.

A sense of loss
You grieve what you lost. It’s not that I think it’s my fault, but I think what it would be like for Scott if I didn’t have MS. His day should not have to revolve around me. Right now he does everything twice – once for me and once for him – and then worries about me all day long. I can’t even brush my own teeth right now. In the new house, the only thing Scott will have to do for me is put me in bed and get me out.
Before I had the allergic reaction to Copaxone, I was having difficulty walking up and down the stairs. Within three weeks, I was unable to do stairs at all. All of a sudden, my kids or my husband had to carry me to bed every night and downstairs in the morning. I can no longer get in or out of the house independently, go to the washroom independently, use the shower independently, and can’t use my kitchen or laundry room. I literally am carried down in the morning, put in this easy chair, and am carried up at night. That’s my entire independence lost within one month. That was a big adjustment.
I went from being an independent person who could drive, who did her own shopping and cooking, took care of her kids and worked, and all of a sudden, I was completely dependent.
My goal, when we move into our new house, is to not get in this chair in the morning. I’m going to stay in my power chair and do laundry and have coffee with a friend, get my own breakfast, and have my life back. What would really make it nice is if we didn’t have a huge financial fear every month with this $2,000 burden. If I have to go off this drug because we built this house, I don’t know if I’m going to be well enough to stay in the house. That’s the catch-22. Scott’s afraid to take the chance. We’re not sure what to do.

View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard

This week’s Grand Bend Strip goes to Exeter for part two of a survey to see what barriers people with mobility issues face every day. For readers who did not see the Strip’s survey of Grand Bend and Parkhill, please visit our website, http://www.grandbendstrip.com/ where you can see the material in its entirety.
To perform our survey of Exeter, I hit the streets with Denise Halpenny, who uses a three-wheeled scooter to get around. Admittedly, she doesn’t get around much because she already knows the limits she faces. She looks forward to fewer challenges when she and husband Scott move to Grand Bend this summer.
The most pressing issue in Exeter is the state of the sidewalks, especially the curbs at major intersections on Main Street. There were several times I thought her scooter was going to flip her into the road because of the condition of the curbs at James Street and Sanders Street, which are best described as dangerous for someone using such a device. The municipality needs to address this issue immediately.
The powers that be should also consider the fact that they scored fairly poorly on this survey because it is very difficult for someone using a wheelchair to get in the doors of The Olde Town Hall. Unlike the library, which shares the same building but with a different entrance, the town office lacks the option to press a button to open the door to their administration staff. There are other limits at town hall, too. For example, as it stands, anyone using a wheelchair can not sit behind the mayor’s desk in council chambers because it is on an elevated platform, and the tables for all councilors are too low for someone using a motorized wheelchair to sit behind. Want to sit in the bleachers? Impossible. Wheelchair users must sit in front of them.
In contrast, the library is a beacon for wheelchair users, complete with tables that rise and lower to accommodate wheelchair users. I know it took some encouragement from Maxine Hyde and her son Allan, but it’s a facility they can be proud of. Why did the municipality skimp on services some find critical for access?
“I want to have some amount of dignity when I’m out there,” Denise says when reflecting on her excursions downtown. “I want people to understand I was like them at one time. I want to feel like that, too. I don’t want to feel like, Oh, here comes that lady in the wheelchair.”
Denise was only able to perform four hours of the survey – which took about 12 to complete – before the rain started and the battery on her scooter lost power, stranding us in the middle of the road in front of the post office. Luckily, the traffic wasn’t too heavy at the time, but it was a reminder to me about the challenges people using such devices face regularly. I can only imagine what would have happened if she had run out of power while traveling alone.
I expected to get a lot of flak for publishing the results of the Grand Bend and Parkhill surveys, and I am sure there are people out there silently upset with me. But my intention was to bring this issue to light for the people who are marginalized because of their physical condition. We’re all getting older, and the odds that each of us will face mobility issues, or live with someone who does, increase daily.
I invite you to look at your store or the stores you frequent and ask, could I get in here – without help – if I were using a cane, a walker, or a wheelchair? Can’t get perspective yourself? Invite someone you know who uses such devices to assess your building to see if they can independently access it. What are the barriers to access? Find out and work to improve. Denise Halpenny and the many others who face such barriers daily will appreciate your efforts.

165 Exeter businesses surveyed
44% are 100% inaccessible by wheelchair
Only 1/5 have wheelchair parking
1 in 5 has a powered door opener
Exeter’s average mark (on Strip survey): 40%

Criteria and results

We assessed 165 core businesses in Exeter, from the Exeter Pentecostal Tabernacle in the south, to RONA Cashway in the north, plus stores in the plaza ending in Canadian Tire in the east.
Our eight equally weighted criteria for assessment were as follows:
1 – Does the facility offer wheelchair parking on site?
2 – Is there a level entry to the building? If there was a step, the business automatically received zero on the assessment.
3 – Can the entry door accommodate a motorized wheelchair? Our standard was 36” wide.
4 – Does the door have assistive power, where a person can press a button to open the door or it opens automatically?
5 – Can a person sitting in a wheelchair see over the counter?
6 – Are aisles easy to navigate through the entire store?
7 – Can someone in a motorized wheelchair use the washroom?
8 – If tables are offered, are they high enough to accommodate a person using a wheelchair?

Dr. Klein & Dr. Bardecki (Optometrist)
11 Huron Street East
519-235-2433
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 50% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.
Front door entry is difficult for motorized wheelchair to cross, and mat caused difficulty upon exit.

Hensall District Co-op (Gasoline)
51 Main Street North
519-235-0444
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom.

Gar’s (Bar)
58 Main Street North
519-235-2773
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Aisles are passable. 50% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.
Entry through right side of main doors. When assessed, washroom was inaccessible because it was full of cleaning supplies.

Little, Masson & Reid (Lawyer)
71 Main Street North
519-235-0670
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door.
Unable to assess completely.

Pinder, Taylor, McNeilly, Godkin (Accounting)
71 Main Street North
519-235-0101
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door.
Unable to assess completely.

Stu Homuth (Accounting)
71 Main Street North
519-235-3863

The Beer Store (Beer)
78 Main Street North
519-235-0544
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

MacLeans (Hardware)
110 Main Street North
519-235-0800
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.
Some areas of store are inaccessible by wheelchair.

Heartland Credit Union (Bank)
118 Main Street North
519-235-3356
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Shell (Gasoline)
119 Main Street North
519-235-0119

Exeter Chrysler (Automotive)
136 Main Street North
519-235-1525
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

Tim Horton’s (Dining)
153 Main Street North
519-235-4540
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

Eric Campbell Ford Lincoln (Automotive)
165 Main Street North
519-235-1380
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

BDM Motor Cars (Automotive)
207 Main Street North
519-235-3698
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door.
Unable to assess completely.

Partners Paint & Paper (Home)
210 Main Street North
519-235-0181
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.
Entry door faces wrong direction for wheelchair access. Can only navigate part of store.

Subway (Dining)
210 Main Street North
519-235-1273
Pop machine obstructs entry to restaurant.

Donuts Now (Dining)
217 Main Street North
519-235-1838

Movie Gallery (Video Rentals)
220 Main Street North
519-235-3880
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

KFC (Dining)
227 Main Street North
519-235-2424

Exeter Toyota (Automotive)
242 Main Street North
519-235-2353
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Aisles are passable.
Small bump at entry. Did not assess washrooms.

OPP (Police)
245 Main Street North
519-235-1300

Algoma Tire (Automotive)
246 Main Street North
519-235-0330

McDonald’s (Dining)
261 Main Street North
519-235-4227
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

RONA Cashway (Building)
265 Main Street North
519-235-2081
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

ETM Television (Cable Television)
41 Main Street South

Belongers (Worship)
63 Main Street South

TJ’s Billiards & Eatery (Dining)
63 Main Street South
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.
Did not assess washrooms.

Caven Presbyterian Church (Worship)
68 Main Street South
519-235-2784

South Huron Office Solutions (Office Supplies)
92 Main Street South
519-235-1840

Drs. David and Geoff Hann (Chiropractors)
105 Main Street South

Royal Lepage Heartland (Real Estate)
109 Main Street South

The Ridge (Dining)
125 Main Street South
519-235-3333
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Aisles are passable. 50% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.
Main bar is inaccessible. To access back part of restaurant, one must access a back door.

Huron Family Restaurant (Dining)
134 Main Street South
519-235-4623
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Aisles are passable. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.
Ramp leads to one room only, with no access to main counter or washrooms.

Stratford Memorials (Graves)
141 Main Street South
519-235-3958
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

LCBO (Liquor)
146 Main Street South
519-235-1942
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Mark McLlwain Insurance & Financial Services (Financial)
183 Main Street South
519-235-1344
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.
One area inaccessible.

Thames Insurance (Insurance)
186 Main Street South
519-235-2211

Becker’s/Mac’s (Variety)
190 Main Street South
519-235-2503
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Dairy Queen (Ice Cream)
190 Main Street South
519-235-2253
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

SAAN (Clothing)
193 Main Street South
519-235-2552
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Barry’s Barbershop (Barber)
213 Main Street South
519-235-0451
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.
Did not assess washrooms.

Harvey Bierling (Income Tax)
221 Main Street South
519-235-1424

Royal Bank (Bank)
226 Main Street South
519-235-2111
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Foodland (Grocery)
227 Main Street South
519-235-0212
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Sharon’s Hairstyling (Hair Salon)
249 Main Street South
519-235-2696

Trivitt Memorial Anglican Church (Worship)
264 Main Street South
519-235-2565
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door.
Unable to assess completely.

New Orleans Pizza (Pizza)
277 Main Street South
519-235-0188

Scotiabank (Bank)
280 Main Street South
519-235-1142
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Gaiser Kneale Insurance (Insurance)
284 Main Street South
519-235-2420
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Quilts & Calicos Teaching Cottage (Crafts)
287 Main Street South
519-235-4084
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Selah Books (Books)
291 Main Street South
519-235-0571

Noah’s Ark (Thrift)
293 Main Street South
519-235-3744

Seasonals (Crafts)
294 Main Street South
519-235-4611
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.
Many obstacles, but it is possible to get in. Motorized wheelchairs may have slight difficulty getting out.

Exeter Lawn Bowling Club (Sports Club)
298 Main Street South

Curves (Fitness)
301 Main Street South
519-235-0414
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.
Did not assess washrooms.

ReelTime Video (Video Rentals)
309 Main Street South
519-235-4877
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Aisles are passable.

Ellison Travel (Travel)
311 Main Street South
519-235-2000
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Aisles are passable.

Burkley Restaurant (Dining)
312 Main Street South
519-235-1730

Olde Town Hall (Municipal)
322 Main Street South
519-235-0310
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom.
Could attend council meetings, but could not sit in mayor’s position.

Library (Library)
330 Main Street South
519-235-1890
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.
Excellent facility with computer access using tables that can rise or lower.

Exeter Cleaning Centre (Laundry)
342 Main Street South
519-235-4101
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 50% accessible washroom.

Exeter Music Centre (Music)
342 Main Street South
519-235-1263

Tasty Bites (Dining)
345 Main Street South
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

Mane Event (Hair Salon)
346 Main Street South
519-235-0410

The Centre for Employment & Learning (Services)
349 Main Street South
519-235-0471
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

Co-operators (Insurance)
350 Main Street South
519-235-1109
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

The Purple Turtle (Clothing)
355 Main Street South
519-235-1500
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

In Style with Michelle (Hair Salon)
359 Main Street South
519-235-4665

TKO Computers (Computers)
360 Main Street South
519-235-0996
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Katch A Ray Tanning Salon (Tanning)
362 Main Street South
519-235-2243
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Aisles are passable.
Unable to assess completely.

Cuts Plus (Hair Salon)
363 Main Street South
519-235-2887

Flames (Dining)
365 Main Street South
519-235-4443

John AM Norris (Accounting)
370 Main Street South
519-235-3240
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door.
Unable to assess completely.

Wuerth’s Shoes (Footwear)
371 Main Street South
519-235-0611
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Aisles are passable.

Brigitte’s Fashions (Clothing)
373 Main Street South
519-235-0442
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Thomas H (Clothing)
373 Main Street South
519-235-0442
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Discover Health Centre (Medical)
374 Main Street South
519-235-2225

Injoy (Clothing)
375 Main Street South
519-235-1865
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

The Critter Barn (Pets)
378 Main Street South
519-235-3335

Turnips Children & Maternity (Clothing)
379 Main Street South
519-235-3500

The Jewellery Box (Jewellery)
382 Main Street South
519-235-4200

Big Reds/RSD Authentics (Clothing)
383 Main Street South
519-235-1314

Sew Fine (Sewing Supplies)
385 Main Street South
519-235-4023

Raymond & McLean (Lawyer)
387 Main Street South
519-235-2234

Licence Office (Government)
388 Main Street South
519-235-4578
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Aisles are passable.

Ontario Mortgage Action Centre (Mortgage)
388 Main Street South
519-235-0020
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Home & Company (Home)
390 Main Street South
519-235-4663
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Village Vines (Florist)
391 Main Street South
519-235-0009
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Quilts & Calicos (Crafts)
392 Main Street South
519-235-4084

Otterbein’s Barbershop (Barber)
394 Main Street South
519-235-0559

Sugar & Spice (Chocolates)
395 Main Street South
519-235-1211

Re/Max Dave Youmans (Real Estate)
396 Main Street South
519-235-3777

Designers (Clothing)
397 Main Street South
519-235-3035
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Bank of Montreal (Bank)
400 Main Street South
519-235-2860
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Greeting Card World (Stationery)
401 Main Street South
519-235-1019

The European Addition (Clothing)
403 Main Street South
519-235-1795

Shipping Store (Stationery)
405 Main Street South
519-235-0892

Coldwell Banker (Real Estate)
407 Main Street South
519-235-1449

Take Two (Hair Salon)
409 Main Street South
519-235-4879

Four Seasons Wholesale (Jewellery)
411 Main Street South
519-235-2666

Collins Barrow (Accounting)
412 Main Street South
519-235-0345
Level entry or ramp.

Ranch House Motel & Inn (Motel)
414 Main Street South
519-235-3141
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. 50% accessible washroom.
Toilets are fine, but sinks and tubs are not accessible.

South Huron Chamber of Commerce (Chamber)
414 Main Street South
519-235-4520
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Aisles are passable.

BPS Enterprises (Fundraising)
415 Main Street South
519-235-2520
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Custom Covers (Home)
415 Main Street South
519-235-2444
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Robert J. Deane (Lawyer)
417 Main Street South
519-235-0440

Bakelaar (Jewellery)
421 Main Street South
519-235-2720
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Four Seasons (Jewellery)
423 Main Street South
519-235-2666

Times Advocate (Newspaper)
424 Main Street South
519-235-1331

Godbolt, Ciufo Insurance & Financial Services (Financial)
425 Main Street South
519-235-2740
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

Greg Hodgins Dolphin Insurance (Insurance)
425 Main Street South
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

Best Computers (Computers)
429 Main Street South
519-235-3430

South Huron Window Centre (Home)
432 Main Street South
519-235-4502

SK Convenience (Variety)
433 Main Street South
519-235-1661
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.
Deserves special mention for wide aisles and low shelving.

Edward Jones – Mark Hartman (Financial)
436 Main Street South
519-235-3881
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

Upper Class Pawn Brokers (Pawn Brokers)
437 Main Street South

Bio-Connections (Medical)
438 Main Street South
519-235-3154

Golden City Chinese Restaurant (Dining)
439 Main Street South
519-235-0464

IDA Huron Apothecary (Pharmacy)
440 Main Street South
519-235-1982

To Dye For (Hair Salon)
441 Main Street South
519-235-2394

McBrydes Rentals (Party Rentals)
443 Main Street South
519-229-6151

Mirror Image (Hair Salon)
445 Main Street South
519-235-4030

Unusual Finds Dollar & Discount (Discount)
456 Main Street South
519-235-2632
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Floors First (Building)
457 Main Street South
519-235-4401

Huron Dental Centre (Medical)
466 Main Street South
519-235-0601
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom.
Entry at back door

Dinney’s Fine Furniture (Furniture)
467 Main Street South
519-235-0173
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door.
Poor access to all of building. Products obstruct all aisles.

Dashwood Lock & Key (Security)
472 Main Street South
519-235-3931

BDO Dunwoody (Financial)
476 Main Street South
519-235-4776

Dale’s Barbershop (Barber)
476 Main Street South
519-235-2801

Dr. Lui Redigonda (Orthodontist)
476 Main Street South
519-235-0400

Jane & Company (Income Tax)
476 Main Street South
519-235-3595

PACE Home Care (Medical)
476 Main Street South

Bridal Elegance (Clothing)
483 Main Street South
519-235-0858

Digisplint (Medical)
489 Main Street South
888-775-4687

Freedom 55 Rob Tait (Financial)
489 Main Street South

G. Marr State Farm Insurance (Real Estate)
490 Main Street South
519-235-0434

Aldea Spa (Spa)
496 Main Street South
519-235-0835

Has back entrance ramp, but door is locked and went unanswered on our visit.

H&R Block (Income Tax)
506 Main Street South
519-235-1153

Usborne & Hibbert Mutual Fire Insurance (Insurance)
507 Main Street South
519-235-0350
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.
Entry through side door

Exeter Flowers (Florist)
509 Main Street South
519-235-0111

Godfather’s Pizza (Pizza)
518 Main Street South
519-235-4235
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

Eddington’s (Dining)
527 Main Street South
519-235-3030

Esso (Fuel)
544 Main Street South
519-235-2244
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 50% accessible washroom.
Washroom is tough to access, but possible. No grab bars within.

Country Corners (Equipment Rentals)
586 Main Street South
519-235-3456
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.
Entry through one door, which was locked when we visited during business hours

Brander Steel Industries (Industry)
593 Main Street South
519-235-1462
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door.
Entry through bay doors. Unable to assess further.

Enterprise Rent a Car (Car Rental)
593 Main Street South
519-235-2333

Vincent Farm Equipment (Agricultural)
615 Main Street South
519-235-2121
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Huron Motor Products (Automotive)
640 Main Street South
519-235-0363
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom. Tables can accommodate wheelchairs.

Exeter Pentecostal Tabernacle (Worship)
70670 Main Street South/London Road
519-235-2991
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door.
Unable to assess completely.

Exeter Animal Hospital (Veterinary)
70676 Main Street South/London Road
519-235-2662

Becker Power & Leisure Products (Small Engine)
70740 Main Street South/London Road
519-235-2757

Moving to new location in July.

Gary Bean Securities (Financial)
70778 Main Street South/London Road
519-235-4099
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door.
Unable to assess completely.

South Huron Automotive (Automotive)
70782 Main Street South/London Road
519-235-2277
Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door.
Entry through bay doors. Unable to assess completely.

AIM Health Care (Medical)
26 Thames Road East
519-235-4892
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable. 100% accessible washroom.

Shoppers Drug Mart (Pharmacy)
38 Thames Road East
519-235-1570
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

CIBC (Bank)
44 Thames Road East
519-235-1050
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Eclipse Hairstyling (Hair Salon)
50 Thames Road East
519-235-1880
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Pet Valu (Pets)
54 Thames Road East
519-235-6124
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Hansen’s Independent (Grocery)
62 Thames Road East
519-235-6131
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Canadian Tire (Hardware)
100 Thames Road East
519-235-0160
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Powered door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.
People in wheelchairs require assistance to get in through gate once inside door; staff must press a button to open gate, making independent entry impossible.

Herbal Magic (Personal)
8 Wellington Street West
519-235-3088
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

M&M Meat Shops (Grocery)
8 Wellington Street West
519-235-2682
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

First Choice Haircutters (Hair Salon)
10 Wellington Street West
519-235-3580
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.
Looks like washroom was previously accessible, but is not today.

Exeter Variety (Variety)
14 Wellington Street West
519-235-3523
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.
Many aisles are inaccessible.

Scotty’s Pizza (Pizza)
14 Wellington Street West
519-235-1234
Wheelchair Parking. Level entry or ramp. Wheelchairs can get through door. Counters are at reachable height. Aisles are passable.

Grand Bend Strip – June 11, 2008 – SHDHS Prom 1545

Originally uploaded by CaseyLessard

Lauren Haberer of Zurich and Marcus Haccius of Shipka were named South Huron District High School’s 2008 Students of the Year at the June 6 prom, held at the school’s small gym. For more about the winners and nominees, see:

Katie Anderson
Lauren Haberer
Janita Pfaff
Carly Schroeder

Dimitris Fragiskatos
Marcus Haccius
Bryce Halpenny
Kurt Van Osch

Student of the Year nominees
Biographies and photographs submitted

Katie Anderson
Katie Anderson has had four memorable years at South Huron District High School.
Academically, Katie has been on the honor roll every year. This year as part of her biology class she was able to participate in the Envirothon, and after winning Huron Perth, went on with her team to take part in the provincial competition.
Katie joined the intermediate band in grade nine and has continued to play the tenor sax in the concert and black jazz bands, and wind ensemble. In grade ten she was able to travel with the band to Ottawa, and then to Cleveland in grade eleven.
This year Katie was co-head of SHDHS chapter of Habitat for Humanity. She helped put on two coffee houses, which allowed performers to showcase their talents and raise money for Habitat all at the same time.
Katie’s fondest memories of high school will be her participation in sports. For all of her four years, she was a member of the cross-country, soccer and track teams. This year, she placed sixth at OFSAA for cross-country and is heading to Hamilton this weekend for OFSAA track. In grade ten and twelve, Katie was also a member of the badminton team and placed third this year at Huron Perth in mixed doubles.
Next year Katie is heading to McMaster… where she will hopefully run faster, and pursue a career in science.

Dimitris Fragiskatos
Dimitris Fragiskatos has been attending SHDHS for the past four years. He would like to thank his fellow classmates for his nomination for student of the year.
Dimitris has been involved in many sports at South Huron including badminton (where he quickly learned it was not a sissy sport), tennis, cross-country, basketball and his favourite, soccer. His soccer team, this year, has been especially successful moving on to WOSSA and hopefully OFSAA. Dimitris feels sports have largely influenced his amazing time at South Huron. The coaches of his teams have helped him learn many new skills that he has been able to apply on and off the field. He also enjoyed many quotes from coach Henry Bonsma, including, “ If you want to play like a baby you deserve to be on the bench in your cradle”. Everyone loves the ‘intensity coach’. Dimitris also tried to give something back to the school community and the community at large by being involved with student council and participating in community events. Relay for Life being the favourite.
Another contributing factor to the great time Dimitris has had at South Huron has been his peers. Over the years as he matured and watched his peers mature they continue to share many laughs and enjoy high fives/pounds from each other. His peers have created so many great memories from the start of high school all the way to the near end. He enjoys being able to look back together with these people and consider some of the foolish acts they’ve done and say “Hey it’s cool, it makes a good memory”.
Many great teachers have also contributed to positive memorable moments! Dimitris is happy he can say that even though he sometimes did not focus on his academic work as much as he should have he was still able to create a relationship with his teachers. Relationships that allowed him to visit them during their spare time and have talks and a laugh or two. Dimitris would like to thank all of the great ladies in the office for sharing time with him. He could happily call these moments in the office “bonding moments” rather than “detentions”.
Dimitris is currently working at his family’s restaurant, Kate’s Station, and he also works at Gregus Millworks where the employees there have interesting thoughts on Dimitris’ new haircut.
Dimitris plans to attend Fanshawe College in the fall where he will be taking the Construction Engineering Technology course. Dimitris is the proud son of Jayne and Nick Fragiskatos and he is also proud to be a resident of Hensall.
Dimitris will always remember how South Huron was a great school. Great because of the people he saw everyday, and he wishes the best of luck to all of these people.

Lauren Haberer
Lauren is honoured to have been nominated for Student of the Year this year. Throughout high school, Lauren has taken advantage of many aspects of the “SHDHS experience”. She was a proud panther on the field hockey, volleyball, badminton, and rugby teams, and was especially honoured to travel to OFSAA for field hockey in grade 9. Lauren has been an active member of Student Council, the school bands, the Relay for Life Committee, the Habitat for Humanity Committee, and the Peer Tutoring program.
Next year, Lauren will be attending the University of Ottawa for political science. Looking back over the past four years, Lauren realizes that taking part in these activities has really influenced who she is today. Lauren will miss the friends, teachers, coaches, and extra-curricular activities at South Huron, but is looking forward to beginning a new adventure next year.

Marcus Haccius
Marcus is honored to have been nominated for Student of the Year when South Huron has so many awesome students to choose from. Carpe Diem is one of his favourite phrases and translated means ‘Seize the Day’. Marcus tries to live each day to the fullest by trying new things and new ideas. High school has been an incredible experience for him, and he has enjoyed every minute spent inside South Huron walls.
Many of his fond high school memories will be of the Panther sports teams. Rugby was a new game for Marcus, and he enjoyed learning the rules and slowly reducing the amount of pain he felt after each game. Playing badminton for the school team was a wonderful contrast to rugby, mostly because it placed a net between Marcus and his opponents. He also learned many things through his Reach for the Top experiences, both junior and senior level.
Being on Student’s Council always kept Marcus busy around the school. In the past four years he hasn’t missed many Panther activities, either by organizing or participating in them. These include Terry Fox Runs, Thirty Hour Famines, PAWS Days, gaming tournaments, dances, and many other happening events.
Marcus’ fondest memories revolve around South Huron’s drama program. He enjoyed four years of playing major roles in four different school productions, and is extremely grateful to all the other thespians for making his drama experience a treat.
Next year, Marcus has been accepted into the Beal Musical Theatre Program, and will study there full time. After Beal he plans to attend University, then to pursue a career in dramatic arts.
Marcus thanks all Panthers for four amazing years.

Bryce Halpenny
Being the youngest of three kids, Bryce watched a sister thoroughly enjoy the arts and a brother that thoroughly enjoyed athletics. Bryce decided that he would try to participate in as much school life that South Huron had to offer while maintaining a strong academic standing. This ultimately led to his participation in five bands throughout his high school career. His talent and passion for music was proven when he was asked to play senior band in his second year of high school and lead trumpet in his last two years.
Athletically Bryce has participated in volleyball and badminton and has won four awards in grade 10 and 11. He also participated in a London competitive volleyball league. He has also volunteered at an elementary school volleyball camp for four years held at South Huron. Bryce has been a team player and a competitive athlete each year and athletics has been an important part of his high school life.
Bryce’s extra-curricular activities have made high school life fun and interesting but they never interfered with his academic performance. He maintained honours every year and was top male student one year. Being part of a variety of activities throughout the school has aloud him to have a wide social circle and he is proud of the close friends that he has made in high school. Bryce will be going on next year to the University of Western Ontario for engineering.

Janita Pfaff
Janita Pfaff is happy to be nominated by her peers for Student of the Year. As a panther, she has a diverse profile. Academically, Janita is proud of the honour roll status she has achieved all four years at South Huron District High School. She was an avid member of both the field hockey and rugby teams throughout her high school career, and had the honour of being co-captain of the field hockey team this year. Janita has been an enthusiastic member of the Students’ Council as grade representative in grades nine and ten, as well as Deputy Premier and Formal Chair this year. Janita has also played major roles in the school’s drama productions in grades nine and twelve, as well as sang and played guitar in the Variety Show in grade eleven. She participated on the Envirothon Team that placed first in the Huron-Perth division in her senior year. Outside of school, Janita enjoyed being a member of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Youth Band. She is proud to be employed at the Exeter Villa for over two years. This experience will help her in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Western-Fanshawe this fall. Janita would like to thank the staff, her coaches, and peers at South Huron, as well as her parents, Dennis and Marian, for helping her get the fullest experience at S.H.D.H.S.

Carly Schroeder
Carly is honoured to be nominated for Student of the Year by her peers. Through the years, she has been involved in South Huron’s many activities and clubs. She enjoyed a short stint in rugby, soccer, and OSAID. Carly has contributed to two school productions, “Return to Eden” and “The Variety Show.” She was chosen to attend both the Ontario Educational Leadership Centre and the Rotary’s Seminar for Tomorrow’s Leaders. Throughout her 4 years, Carly has been dedicated to South Huron’s field hockey team, giving her the opportunity to go to OFSAA 1 year, and WOSSA 4 years. Along with this, Carly has earned a place on the Honour Roll and the top mark in music for the past 3 years. Music has dominated Carly’s life all through her time at South Huron. She has been a part of the music program for 4 years, in which she participated in 8 different ensembles/bands, including both concert and jazz bands, the percussion ensemble and the saxophone quartet. Along with this, Carly earned a spot in the National Concert Band, in which she was proud to represent South Huron, working with 53 other young musicians from across Canada. Also at the Nationals in Ottawa, she received an honour award while competing with the school’s concert bans. Carly is continuing her education in music this fall, at the University of Western Ontario. Carly would like to thank her parents, Steve and Brenda Schroeder of Dashwood, for all their love and support.

Kurt Van Osch
In his four years at SHDHS, Kurt Van Osch has been extremely active on many sports teams. In grades 9 and 10, Kurt played on the volleyball, basketball and soccer teams. In grade 10, Kurt also joined the track and field team. Some of his accomplishments included winning a bronze medal at WOSSA volleyball, competing in triple jump and shot put at WOSSA and winning Huron Perth in soccer. Furthermore, Kurt made the Honour Roll in grade 9 and received Junior Athlete of the Year in grade 10. In grade 11, Kurt played on the volleyball, soccer, track and field, hockey and badminton teams. Kurt made a WOSSA appearance in shot put. At the end of the year, Kurt was awarded the Team Leader Award in hockey, Most Offensive Player in soccer, Rookie of the Year for badminton, and also Senior Athlete of the Year. This year Kurt was on many successful teams. He played on the golf, volleyball, hockey, badminton, and currently the soccer team. The volleyball and hockey teams were able to make a WOSSA appearance; winning a WOSSA gold medal in hockey, allowing Kurt the amazing experience of competing at OFSAA. Kurt also won third place at Huron Perth badminton. Presently, Kurt is helping his soccer team compete at WOSSA, in the hopes to go to OFSAA once again. In his spare time, Kurt attends classes, and through his marks, was able to receive acceptance to the University of Guelph for Business Agriculture. He also participates in school activities such as the Terry Fox Run, Relay for Life, and many others. Kurt has enjoyed every minute of his high school career and will always have great memories of his time spent and the people he has met at SHDHS.

The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority planted almost 56,000 trees on private land this spring, and landowners are expected to plant 20,000 more.
That’s good news considering the ABCA watershed report card gave forest conditions a ‘D’ grade last year and water quality in the watershed earned a ‘C.’
If you want to learn how to collect seed and plan your own planting for 2009, the ABCA is offering a free workshop (including lunch!) Thursday, June 5 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Morrison Dam site east of Exeter. Call Trees Ontario at 1 877-646-1193 to register.

7:30 p.m. – South Huron DHS in Exeter performs its final showing of Our Town. Tickets are $7.
8:00 p.m. – North Middlesex DHS in Parkhill performs Grease! You’re the One that I Want. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students.

Are you a previous parishioner of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in St. Joseph? Join St. Peter’s 135th Anniversary Celebration! Saturday, July 12th features an evening of local entertainment. An outdoor mass will be celebrated Sunday, July 13th at 10:30 a.m. followed by lunch. Enjoy this opportunity to view historical displays, reminisce, and renew old friendships. There will be various activities for the children. In order to accommodate everyone, advance registration is recommended. For more information and to register call Monique 519-236-7817, Dennis 519-236-4755 or visit www.bluewater.dionet.ca.

By James Eddington, Eddington’s of Exeter
519-235-3030

Really, I do!
Rhubarb is a vegetable with a unique taste that makes it a favorite in many pies and desserts. Rhubarb is often commonly mistaken to be a fruit, but rhubarb is actually a close relative of garden sorrel, and that makes it a member of the vegetable family.
Rhubarb is rich in vitamin C and dietary fibre. Rhubarb is a perennial plant with large leaves and has long, thick and tasty stalks, and is available from early winter through early summer. Winter rhubarb is commercially produced in forcing houses in Michigan and Ontario. Rhubarb is common ingredient in any chef’s kitchen during these months.
Rhubarb leaves grow from the ground in early spring. The leaves can grow up to a foot or more in width and length and the plant may grow to a height of several feet. The green leaves of the plant are poisonous. They contain high concentrations of oxalic acid crystals, these crystals can cause swelling of throat and tongue and can restrict breathing.
The edible stalks are up to 18 inches long, 1 to 2 inches in diameter just like celery. These stalks are cut and used in pies, jams, chutney, jellies, sauces and juice.
Ontario’s West Coast rhubarb is always ready for picking just as soon as the strawberries are ready for harvest. It freezes well, as do the berries, so you can enjoy these spring delicacies all year round.

Rhubarb & Strawberry Lemonade
Makes about six servings
3-1/4 cups water
3/4 lb. rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
3/4 cup sugar, or to taste
Two 3-inch strips of lemon zest removed with a vegetable peeler, plus additional for garnish
1/4 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup fresh lemon juice
Splash of vodka: optional
Sprig of mint: garnish

In a saucepan stir together the water, the rhubarb, the sugar, 2 strips of the zest and the vanilla, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved and simmer it, covered, for 8 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of the strawberries and boil the mixture, covered, for 2 minutes.
Let the mixture cool and strain it through a coarse sieve set or china cap over a pitcher, pressing hard on the solids. Stir in the remaining cup of strawberries , vodka (optional) and the lemon juice, divide the lemonade among glasses filled with ice cubes and garnish each glass with some of the additional zest and fresh mint.

By James Eddington, Eddington’s of Exeter (http://www.eddingtons.ca/)

While trying to think of the perfect dessert for Valentines Day, I remember a wine tasting I had attended, where each wine was paired with a taste or flavour on a spoon. While each spoon had its own flavour, an array of taste can be combined into a “flight.” So for all you hopeless romantics this Valentines Day, reserve your table at Eddington’s of Exeter (519) 235-3030 or try a “flight.”
Blindfold your date and spoon-feed them one bite at a time in the order listed above. If you choose your own ingredients, select flavors that pair well together, but vary in temperature, texture, and taste. Enjoy and most of all have fun!

Flights of Fancy
(Each ingredient to be served in a standard tablespoon)

Flight 1
1 3/4 inch cube of pear, sprinkled with pepper and seared in a hot pan for 1
minute per side
1 3/4 inch cube of Stilton cheese
1 roasted pecan
1 tbsp port

Flight 2
1 chocolate truffle
1 mini scoop vanilla ice cream
1 dried apricot
1 tbsp framboise (raspberry liqueur)
 
Flight 3
“For a good time, STRIP!”
(Editor’s note: I think James is referring to the newspaper.

Workout For Your Life

Mon., Wed. & Fri. – 8 to 9 a.m.
Southcott Pines clubhouse
Tues. & Thurs. – evenings
South Huron Golf & Fitness, Exeter

Story by Casey Lessard

If you’re looking for a workout that will push you outside of your comfort zone, Workout For Your Life may be the right fit. Beth Sweeney and Shelley Van Osch run the weekday sessions at the Southcott Pines clubhouse, and at South Huron Golf & Fitness in Exeter. In the summer, the workouts move to Grand Bend’s Lions pavilion (five days) and Exeter’s McNaughton Park.
“This will be our ninth year of fitness in this format,” Sweeney says. “We started in the summertime and I got the idea when Joe and I were on our honeymoon in Australia. There were a lot of people working out on the beach in Surfer’s Paradise. We thought we could do that in Grand Bend.”
After consulting with the community, Sweeney and original business partner Lisa McLlwain discovered the beach would not work in Grand Bend. Instead, the facilities they use now are preferable anyway.
“There’s privacy, shelter from the sun, a water fountain, two bathrooms, a storage section,” she notes.
“It’s designed for everybody,” says leader Shelley Van Osch. “It’s for people who want to meet new people and need motivation and want to have a healthier lifestyle. We give handouts each week with the newest exercise and nutrition science information.”
New attendees get a fitness assessment and are assigned a workout level: low, moderate or high impact.
“We are like a personal trainer within a group setting,” Sweeney says. “We always ask what their goals are, and the goals have to be smart: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and within a time frame.”
The program changes every eight weeks, but if the group routine is not enough or too intimidating, Van Osch also offers personal training.
“I offer the service of going into someone’s home,” she says. “I also have clients who are training for half-marathons. I love the one-on-one of meeting people and helping them. I love working with older adults.”
One of the benefits of the group sessions is the variety introduced by outings to the beach and Pinery. The group also takes part in the breast cancer and Pinery runs.
“They’re very social,” Van Osch says of the class members. “They’ve realized if you don’t use it you lose it. Let’s have fun and be active at the same time.”
And while most participants are women, men are on the roster; at least one proves the workout can meet the standards of even the most fit.
“We have Dave McLlwain, who’s a NHL hockey player who plays hockey in Germany,” Sweeney notes. “He loves our circuit. We give you the exercise and you’ll be working at your max rates for your fitness level.”
Classes are $8 each, and are on a pay up front or pay as you go basis. First-time attendees pay a $40 assessment fee. Bring good shoes, water and a towel. Van Osch offers personal training at $40-$50 per hour. For more information, call Beth Sweeney at 238-5555 or Shelley Van Osch at 234-6253.

By James Eddington, Eddington’s of Exeter

While trying to think of the perfect dessert for Valentines Day, I remember a wine tasting I had attended, where each wine was paired with a taste or flavour on a spoon. While each spoon had its own flavour, an array of taste can be combined into a “flight.” So for all you hopeless romantics this Valentines Day, reserve your table at Eddington’s of Exeter (519) 235-3030 or try a “flight.”

Blindfold your date and spoon-feed them one bite at a time in the order listed above. If you choose your own ingredients, select flavors that pair well together, but vary in temperature, texture, and taste. Enjoy and most of all have fun!

(Each ingredient to be served in a standard tablespoon)

1 x 3/4 inch cube of pear, sprinkled with pepper and seared in a hot pan for 1 minute per side
1 x 3/4 inch cube of Stilton cheese
1 roasted pecan
1 tbsp port

1 chocolate truffle
1 mini scoop vanilla ice cream
1 dried apricot
1 tbsp framboise (raspberry liqueur)

“For a good time, STRIP” (Editor’s note: I think James is referring to the newspaper).

By James Eddington, Eddington’s of Exeter

As January rolls into February, we look to break from the whirlwind of activities of the past months. We yearn for less indulgent foods that are lower in fat – a change from the heavy sauces and extravagant desserts of December: foods with clean crisp tastes.
As few believe, Ontario still has a substantial supply of locally grown produce, including beets, cabbage, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, potatoes, squash, sprouts, etc.

Recipes supplied by chef Cara Funk, Eddington’s of Exeter Casual Fine Dining 527 Main St, Exeter. (519) 235-3030.

Soup: Red lentil and apple with a hint of curry finished with a drizzle of Canadian maple syrup
Entrée: Rosemary roasted spaghetti squash with crispy fried bacon. Sautéed white asparagus tossed with shallots, and red Bartlett pear finished with fresh torn basil and aged cheddar

On a cozy evening there is nothing better then the aromas of autumn vegetables roasting, fried bacon, and fresh herbs. This a great dinner to sets the mood for comfort on those lazy evenings in. My first intention for this meal was to create a healthy vegetarian dinner; however, the suggestion of having a meal without any meat was not the most appealing to my husband. And the white asparagus scared him a bit as well. So I did what every cook knows to do when cooking for the gourmet-challenged, I added bacon and cheese. Everything tastes better when you add those two ingredients. The result was a fantastic dinner full of flavour and texture. It’s easy to prepare with restaurant appeal.
Our soup is earthy and rustic, and features red lentils, which cook faster then other varieties of legumes. It’s a nice way to warm up on an autumn evening.

Sweetly curried apple lentil soup
Serves 4 to 6.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
3 stalks of celery chopped
4 small to medium carrots chopped
3 royal gala apples chopped
1 cup red lentils rinsed
1 sprig rosemary chopped
2 tbsp curry powder
3 cups chicken stock (homemade is best, store-bought low-sodium stock will do)
3 cups water
2 tbsp maple syrup

Cook onions in olive oil until soft. Add garlic, celery, carrots, apple and lentils. Add rosemary, curry powder and cook until vegetables are soft. Add stock and water and simmer until lentils become soft and falling apart, about 30-40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Puree until smooth in texture. Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup.

Rosemary roasted squash

Take two medium-sized spaghetti squash and cut each in half lengthwise, removing the seeds. Season each half with rosemary, salt and pepper and olive oil. Place on baking sheet and roast in a 400-degree oven skin side up, for 20-25 minutes.

Sautéed white asparagus with pears and shallots

Slice one shallot and three pears and put in frying pan with eight trimmed asparagus spears and 2 tbsp olive oil. Cook until asparagus is tender yet still crispy. Finish by adding hand torn basil leaves and sliced aged cheddar. (I used four-year cheddar).

Fried bacon

(Note: start the bacon in cold frying pan.) Cut six strips of bacon into three pieces each and cook on medium heat.

Plate the squash and asparagus, and top squash with bacon.