Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

Yes, I have a Great Dane and you don’t know how often I’ve heard that line. Great Danes can stop traffic quicker than a beautiful woman. Officially, he’s the height of a miniature horse. I could put a saddle on that thing. When I walk Zuma, I hear the usual references about horses and ponies. I don’t mind. Truth be told, I like the attention he gets. It impresses me when I see someone walking a brute of dog that is in control and I know that Zuma is impressive when we are walking through town. I adore my Dane and I don’t mind at all showing him off for other people that are amazed by his size (36” at the shoulder) and his wonderful personality. You need to be an attention hound yourself to like having an extra large dog. I really didn’t realize how much attention he would get before I brought him home.
Right now there is a lot of construction going on in my hometown. The main park is getting revamped, trees are being trimmed, gardens are getting beautified, roofs are being replaced, fences are being installed and all that stops when I take my Dane for a walk. A 15- minute stroll can easily turn into a 45-minute outing. Everyone wants to touch him. Everyone wants to know what he eats. Everyone wants to know if I have to refinance my house to feed him. Everyone wants to know how much he weighs. Everyone remembers someone who used to have one, or does have one, or is getting one but I rarely see Great Danes out and about.
There is a huge misconception about having such a large dog. There are many that say they’d love to have one but they don’t have a big enough yard or house. This is true for people’s opinions about most extra large breed dogs.
If I lived in an apartment, I’d get a Great Dane. I’d even consider a Newfoundland Dog, a Leonberger or St. Bernard. I personally have a harder time relating to toy breed dogs, which is the number one choice for most people that think they want a low maintenance dog, especially for smaller living quarters. Extra large breeds are typically quiet. They don’t bark at every thing they hear. They love to lie around on something soft and spend time with their owners. In the case of my Great Dane, he loves his daily walks and romps through the bush but he doesn’t demand exercise like my Retriever girls do. He’ll walk for as long as I want him to or for as little and be satisfied with whatever I choose. Obviously a large breed dog needs training to walk nicely, and needs to be well socialized to put up with all the attention it gets from strangers.
Of course there are some other things to consider if you want a large dog. In my home, coffee tables are banned. Knick-knacks become projectiles. Unless you place your television up a little higher you’ll miss half of your shows. Dog pillows are larger than the chair I sit in. He can keep me warm in bed, but the snoring can keep me up. Men that visit my household need to protect their ‘stuff’ from the wagging tail. Absolutely no one is walking into my house if I’m not home. I get the biggest, fattest, wettest kisses ever, but not from my husband. Alas, my husband’s dream of a ‘mid-life crisis mobile’ won’t be happening anytime soon and he wishes they made beds bigger than king size. Sadly, most extra large dogs have extra small life spans, but it’s a pleasure to able to share those few good years with such a wonderful creature.

You can contact Yvonne through her website at www.fidocomesit.com.

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

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Do you stand tall and proud for the Canadian National Anthem? Do you sing it out with a sense of pride in your country? If you are wearing a hat, do you remove it? Apparently we are living in a time when many people not only avoid singing the anthem, some don’t even know all the words or melody!
According to a study conducted by the University of Victoria in B.C., 30 per cent of choir students polled did not know all of the words; 46 per cent had the melody incorrect. And these were choir students! Perhaps this disheartening situation is a result of high schools choosing not to sing the anthem each day. Perhaps it is because music specialists are no longer valued in our educational system. Or, even worse, maybe we just don’t feel the patriotism. By the way, Newfoundland scored the best in the national anthem survey. Good for them!

View of a new Canadian
If I were a new Canadian, depending on my country of origin, I might be heard to say, “I am so happy and proud to become a Canadian citizen. Life in the old country was so hard. No jobs, no democracy, oppression everywhere. Canada is the answer to all my prayers. It is the best country in the world! I am so grateful and feel such a deep emotion toward her flag and her anthem. I am so proud to stand up tall and sing it out loud!”

View of war veteran
If I were a Canadian war veteran, I might be heard to say, “I am deeply saddened that our young people do not show respect to the Canadian flag and the national anthem. If it had not been for my fellow veterans, in all areas of the military, Canada would be a terrible place to live. Thousands upon thousands of Canadians gave their lives to protect us from the supreme evil; they fought tooth and nail for our freedom, for peace, and for democracy. Because of them, we live in the best country in the world! Many of my brothers and sisters who have gone before would be so sad and disappointed if they knew our youth didn’t care about our national anthem and had no sense of pride in their country. I think maybe they do know, and are rolling over in their graves. Something must be done to stop the ignorance and the sense of entitlement many of our young people seem to possess!”

Perhaps we could pause and take some advice from a truly great Canadian, none other than Stompin’ Tom Connors. The lyrics from the chorus of his song Canada Day say it all:

O Canada, standing tall together.
We’ll raise our hands and hail our flag,
THE MAPLE LEAF FOREVER!!

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

I’m lying in bed, roll over and feel a chill. I pull up my low quality but warm, fuzzy polyester blanket to my neck and the sparks begin to fly. I smile thinking and reminiscing about my younger days and sharing a room with my sister. Way back then, the blanket sparks would have initiated a flurry of both of us tossing our blankets around to see who could make the most fireflies dance in the darkness of our room. Other times we would talk about our parents and their annoying rules, the cute boy that sat next to us in class and our dreams of becoming a world famous horse wrangler or flight attendant. The dark and bedtime was a time to bond, grow, and share secrets and fears.
These reflections started a conversation between my husband and me about whether we are doing our children a service by ensuring our homes are big enough for every child to have their own room. Is being alone in the middle of the night robbing children of the opportunity to really get to know their brothers or sisters? It’s hard to giggle uncontrollably under the sheets or get annoyed by the person who made that smell when you are all alone.
Being with your family and loved ones in the still of the night is a comfort for most of us. For dogs, it’s part of their natural social structure to maintain that pack during that most vulnerable time. Bedding with a pack also helps create and strengthen a bond. In the wild, it serves as comfort against the cold and protection against predators. Given a choice, both dogs and most humans prefer to go to sleep with that feeling of togetherness.
It saddens me to see dogs that sleep in the basement, or worse, outside, because there are some who don’t believe that a dog should share sleeping space with their pack. It’s another example of how people believe a dog should conform to the human’s way of thinking with no consideration for the animal they brought into their lives.
I don’t believe dogs have to sleep in a bed with their owners, but mine do. I don’t think a dog has to sleep in the bedroom, but most would prefer to. Some dogs are perfectly content to claim space in a hallway between the rooms of family/pack members. That dog’s comfort still comes from the noise of us snoring, tossing and turning throughout the night. That dog is surrounded by his pack.
A few nights ago, my Great Dane decided he couldn’t climb the stairs to come to bed. Physically he was fine, but he does tend to develop the odd unexplainable mental block about what he can and can’t do with his body. I gave up trying to coax him up the stairs and decided that if he thought he couldn’t get up the stairs, he could go sleep on his pillow on the lower floor. After listening to his howling and moaning, and still not being able to get him to move his body past the first two steps, I decided to spend the night on the couch. His stress didn’t result from missing his usual sleeping spot; it was the result of being alone in the dark. Once I was on the couch and settled, he lay on his pillow and quietly slept the night away.
Some may think that sleeping on the couch was above and beyond the call of duty. I think it was tending to a dog that I dearly love that was experiencing mental anxiety. As my sister did for me so long ago, it was my pleasure to help comfort, protect and dispel his fear.

For column suggestions, training help and book info, contact Yvonne through: www.fidocomesit.com

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

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

In early March, while visiting Fort Rose Maple Company, I spied a horned lark from my perch on the hay wagon. It was skittering across the expanse of diamond-crusted snow, and at first glance the bird’s black collar suggested it might be a meadowlark. This idea was quickly dismissed when I realized it was sparrow-sized; too small for the meadowlark, which isn’t even a lark. Editor Casey Lessard had recently mentioned some sightings of horned larks in the Grand Bend area, and so this species has become the topic of the April column.

The horned lark (Eremophila alpestris) is one of the most widespread birds in North America. It is a brown ground bird, seven to eight inches in length, with black sideburns and two small black horns on the top of its head. These, of course, are feathered tufts and only resemble horns. It sports a black bill, black bib, and pale yellow to white throat. The back and rump are tawny brown, and the tail is black with white outer feathers. All features combine to create a most handsome appearance. The female appears similar but is duller and lacks the black crown. The white underparts of both genders are noticeable in flight. The feet are black and the rear toe is quite elongated.
Behaviours
The horned lark forages on the ground, preferring open fields, golf courses, prairies, and tundra, etc. They sometimes group with snow buntings on graveled shoulders of the roadside. The lark walks and runs, as opposed to hopping, and is often found in agricultural areas.
Food mainly consists of seeds, grains, insects and small mollusks. The song of the horned lark, given from high circling flight, is a series of bell-like tones (tsee-tete, or zeet).
The nest is a shallow depression in a grassy meadow, either natural, or dug by the female and lined with feathers and other soft materials, and is often near clumps of dirt or animal manure. The female lays two to five gray or greenish eggs dotted with brown. The young stay in the nest nine to 12 days, brooded by the female and fed by both sexes. These young are classed as altricial, which means they are born naked and helpless, like most of our songbirds. This contrasts with another ground nester, the killdeer, whose young are precocial; this means baby killdeer are born fully feathered and ready to run off within a few hours.
The population of the horned lark is common and the eastern range has expanded because of agricultural development. Keep your eyes sharp for the black collar and the little black horns of this most attractive songbird in our area.
Recent Sightings:
– A bald eagle (just north of Ailsa Craig)
– Red-bellied woodpecker (both at the feeder and on roadside trees)

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

It’s been a few weeks now and my friend, her children, and Chloe are settling in. Of course, now come all the issues of having a dog with children. My friend is learning the delicate balancing act of incorporating a dog as a member of a family. She now deals with curiosity, insensitivity, unruliness, noise, exhaustion, running around, fear and clinginess. All of this applies to both the dog and her children.
Gone are the quiet mornings of sneaking a coffee before the children are out of bed. Chloe likes to greet her first morning outing with a pee and barking. Thankfully, she quiets on command, but I’m sure it wakes up the children along with the neighbours. Chloe doesn’t chew the children’s toys on the floor, but there’s no guarantee about lunch left on the sofa.
Taking a dog for a walk with kids becomes an ordeal. There’s boots and strollers, coats and mittens, leashes and poop bags, and the hope that no one gets tipped over or falls due to a lack of leash manners.
The commitment required to balance and live peacefully with everything that this entails is huge. It’s an endless lesson in patience and priority placement, and no easy task. It’s a great idea to have children grow with the family dog, and vice versa. If the dog is truly to be a member of a family, it needs to be with that family. It needs to go for walks with the family. It needs to live in the house with the family. It needs to be incorporated into and be part of the family unit. It’s much easier to crate or tie out the dog and tend to it after the family’s needs, but then it doesn’t become the family dog. That dog will become a whiny and uncontrollable annoyance.
Bringing any dog into a family, whether an older re-homed dog or a puppy, requires much thought. Saying you can make it work and actually making it work is a whole different ball game. There are ways of helping to ensure success and my friend is doing everything in her power to be successful.
So far, we do not have a match made in heaven. We do have a beautiful, sweet dog that is offering love and affection and a bundle of great characteristics. We also have a dog with issues that will work themselves out with time, management, age and training.
Since my friend and Chloe are still in the ‘honeymoon’ stages of their relationship, I’m sure there will be even more issues that are yet to be seen, but during the next few months of that honeymoon stage, other current issues may just work themselves out. Even Steven. Every dog has issues. We learn to work with them and around them and realize that dogs, like children, are works in progress and we need to give them time to grow and develop.
For most owners that have great dogs, like I do, they are never perfect and we can’t expect them to be. Heaven-made matches rarely exist, but great pet and family dogs do.

Contact Yvonne by visiting her website: www.fidocomesit.com for column suggestions, training help and info about her book.

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!

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Have you ever met someone who makes you wonder at his or her energy and enthusiasm? Someone who is passionate about something and follows through on this passion with unremitting effort? When these people share their enthusiasm with others, they can really make a positive difference in society.
One such individual is Ron Walker of Ailsa Craig. Ron is the founder, past chair, and now manager of operations and collections of the Ailsa Craig and District Historical Society. However, Ron is far more than a history buff. He grew up listening to the stories told by his grandfather, Elmer Walker (1906-1999), a man who genuinely cared about the value of history and the importance of understanding what has gone before. Like Ron, he believed that it is essential to understand your past in order to know where you are going. Ron embraced his grandfather’s stories and made it his business to ask questions of older community members. He has delved into the local community’s past for his entire life. As a result, Ron has become somewhat of an expert in the field of our community history.
Since the founding of ACDHS in 1996, the organization has grown to include two properties: the former Trinity Anglican and Ailsa Craig Baptist churches. These buildings house museum artifacts, archives, and the Marg and Leroy Walker Research Room (named for Ron’s benefactor parents). Multiple annual events serve to celebrate our heritage and to educate our young people.

Connecting with youth
Ron is the main impetus behind this society. He reaches out to the community by giving historic talks at local schools. Ron has the most amazing old postcard slide presentation; the pictures include everything from buildings and streetscapes, to bridges and other landmarks or landscapes. The kicker is that Ron knows the background of each picture in the greatest of detail and can go off on a tangent, sharing anecdotes about events that occurred 100 years ago and more. It is both fascinating and entertaining.
Ron came to East Williams Memorial Public School in Nairn on Wednesday, February 17 to present his slideshow of local history. One of the pictures he showed was of ‘Temperance House’, which later became the Pinewood Restaurant in Ailsa Craig. Coincidentally, two days after the presentation, that historic 1860 structure burned to the ground. The fact that Ron had shown that postcard on his recent visit to the school had a great impact on the students. They were able to understand a link to the town’s heritage far more easily because of that slide presentation.

At the end of his talk, Ron made two key suggestions:
- talk to your grandparents and elders, and ask them questions before they are no longer here; and,
- take pictures of local buildings, bridges and other landmarks

One Grade 8 student, Blake, approached Ron following the presentation and said, “Mr. Walker, would you like me to take pictures of some bridges? I have my own camera.” It was clear that Ron’s passion for history had made a difference in this young man’s mind. Even if Blake was the only student who took the idea of embracing the past seriously, it is likely that he will look at older buildings and structures with new eyes from now on. Ron makes a difference. For some it could be a life-changing experience.

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

Many of you were touched and saddened by my last article about those beautiful, retired female breeding dogs that my friend and I assessed for a potential addition to her home. What seems to have saddened those who contacted me is the fact that what this breeder was doing was not illegal. She provides safe shelter out of the elements. She provides clean water, food and veterinary care. What the breeder didn’t provide was a life of physical and mental stimulation. Unfortunately, that is not a crime. Just as it is not against the law to keep a dog chained to a doghouse 24 hours a day. Obviously, changes need to be made in how the law looks at dog ownership, which is why I occasionally write columns like the last one. I hope those of you who were so appalled at the fate of those dogs will help educate others you know who are on a puppy search.
So, how did this story end for my friend on the mission to find a new best friend? She continued to search with her head and not her heart. Mind you, she did have some criteria that considered her heart, such as breed type and size. Most of us want to like what we’re looking at and with that her heart stayed true. After more searching and with that sensible head in place, the criteria list grew.
In her perfect world she wanted a dog that was fairly easygoing. A dog that had shed its puppy habits and had a level of mental maturity. She wanted a dog that was experienced with young children. She wanted a dog that came from a loving home with owners looking to rehome a dog with that dog’s best interests in mind. This girl really wanted a lot!
There were wasted calls dealing with people who knew nothing about the dogs they were trying to place. There were other calls made to people who were looking only to profit.
Paying for a dog wasn’t the issue. I think it’s legitimate for people to ask for a small financial investment to ensure that the new potential owners feel committed to a dog in more ways than one. It’s a way of weeding out the insincere. After all, if you can’t afford a hundred dollars for a dog, can you afford to feed it and vet it if need be? What hurts is when someone that says they love their dog, wants only a good and loving home for that dog, but need $600 to make sure that happens. You know that their interest isn’t really about the dog. Could you sell a family member that you can no longer keep because of unforeseen circumstances?
Though my friend’s list of wants was long, it wasn’t insurmountable. Along came Chloe, a beautiful red Golden Retriever. What more could she ask for? She was a house pet. She was raised with a baby. She wasn’t a puppy. She didn’t chew or go potty in the house. She was loved by her owners but they didn’t have the option of keeping her.
My friend took her children to meet Chloe and based on her temperament, all the boxes in her head were checked. Based on her good looks and her affection, all the boxes in her heart were checked.
A match was made. Was it a match made in heaven? Stay tuned.

Contact me through www.fidocomesit.com for column suggestions, training help and book info.

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.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

While cross-country skiing in the field behind our property, I have frequently been treated to the majestic sight of a soaring rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus). During summer, they can be regularly seen in their flight patterns over farm country and can be easily mistaken for a red-tailed hawk, golden eagle or even a turkey vulture. Unless the distinctive markings can be seen (which often depends on the light), identification can be tricky.
Both the common and scientific names refer to the fact that this hawk’s legs are feathered all the way down to its toes. The only other known birds to sport this feature are the ferruginous hawk and the golden eagle. The rough-legged hawk is 19 inches in length and has a wingspan of 52 inches. The beak is hooked (handy for ripping flesh) and it has long, broad, rounded wings. In flight, the underside of the wings shows large black patches at the wrists. The broad tail is white at the base with a dark terminal band. Adult hawks occur in both dark and light phases of colour.

Durable relationships
Rough-legged hawks are monogamous; pairs have been observed together over a period of many years. They breed in the Arctic tundra and taiga regions of Canada and Europe. There is one brood annually with a clutch of 2-7 eggs, depending on the availability of food for the nesting pair. Nests are built on the edges of cliffs or in the tops of trees. Some have been found to have the bones of caribou amongst the nesting sticks.
The hawk’s diet consists of small mammals, fresh roadkill, rodents, and large insects. It hovers over its prey like a kestrel, and then plummets toward it feet first. Puppies and kittens beware! The hawks love the open country and are frequently seen riding the air currents over the agricultural fields of Middlesex County. Fortunately, this species is not listed with any particular concern either in Canada or the United States. At one time, however, enormous numbers were shot in the U.S. because of the tame behaviour of the species. Numbers have increased in recent years as a result of more stringent hunting guidelines and regulations. The rough-legged hawk is also vulnerable while feeding on roadkill on local roads and highways. Just recently I was disappointed to see a red-tailed hawk that had succumbed to that same fate on county road 81.

Recent sightings
Keep your wits about you as you travel throughout the region. The bald eagle is definitely making a strong comeback. If you think you are seeing a large hawk, look again more carefully and you just may see the distinctive white head and tail of the bald eagle. I have been treated to several such sights near Ailsa Craig over the past few months.

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

Recently I had the great displeasure of helping a friend of mine try to find an older dog to adopt. She was concentrating on retired breeding females, which brought us to the scene of the crime.
As we turn into the driveway, we encounter a beautiful private setting lush with trees. A gorgeous chalet type home leads to a pine bush. Further down the lane is a lovely building showing generous indoor/outdoor dog runs nestled in this bush. I size up and envy what seems to be a luxurious setup. This is where the fantasy ends and the nightmare begins.
As the breeder greets us and leads us into her kennel, the noise is deafening and the smell is unpleasantly overwhelming. We learn at this point that all of these dogs live full-time, and always have and apparently always will, in these kennels.
Issue One – Dogs should not live in kennels. I understand a breeder’s need to find housing solutions for dogs that are their bread and butter. As uncomfortable as I am with it, it’s there and a part of society that seems to get worse instead of better despite all the education out there. These were dogs that refused to leave their kennels, sadly because that life is the only one they are comfortable with. Once the breeder dragged the dogs out of the run, both females cowered in the corner of the viewing room refusing to make contact with us. They trembled and shivered because our presence.
Issue Two – The dogs that we went to see were six-year-old females that already had five (!!!) litters.
Issue Three ­– I don’t understand how these dogs could be so under-socialized to strangers if people are meeting them while viewing the mountains of puppies they already had. People that are buying puppies often feel they have no need to see the mother. They are buying the puppy. In reality these puppy buyers are also buying the mother and that mother’s life experiences. Those life experiences contribute to how the mother interacts with other people. The mother’s confidence level contributes to the pup’s confidence levels. It should go without saying that these mothers had nothing mentally to give their offspring.
Issue Four – None of these dogs, parents or puppies, have ever been in a house. The crucial early stages of a puppy’s mental development are barely met by being raised in a loud, cold, barking, and stressful environment such as this. Many breeders of kennel dogs manage to allow their female dogs and their litters some justice by having the whelping and puppy rearing in the house. They do this to provide the mother a stress-free environment to nurture her puppies, and for the puppies to benefit by learning the sights, sounds and smells of a home life before they reach their new forever homes.

The problem is…
That these dogs didn’t understand anything about children, about stairs, about doors, about leashes is something that careful and positive training could tackle.
That these dogs didn’t understand anything at all about how to about being handled, pet, stroked, love or life is something that my friend, a mother of two young children, didn’t have the time or know-how to tackle.
I know that the right person with the right circumstances could eventually teach one of these dogs how to lead a happy life, but it was best in this situation to walk away. To have to walk away because of the mental state of these dogs was heartbreaking. That this breeder made no excuses or saw no issues with how these potentially lovely dogs were in the psychological condition they were in brings me to issue numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9…

Visit Yvonne’s website www.fidocomesit.com for training help, column suggestions, comments and book info.

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

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

What’s wrong with a little memory work anyway? In past decades, a requirement of learning English in Canadian elementary schools was a certain amount of memory work. It usually was in the form of poetry. One would be asked to choose a poem and commit it to memory; the teacher would dutifully record the number of lines memorized in her special record book. There was normally a prize for the person with the most lines memorized at the end of each term.
It seems to me that a certain amount of rote memory exercise is helpful to the learning process. We are, after all, still tested for some exams on our ability to recall thoughts and ideas. But poetry gives the memory experience a whole other dimension.
Webster’s defines poetry as “an imaginative awareness of experience, expressed through sounds and rhythmic language” – or – “an artistic representation of what it feels like to experience the emotions of a human being”. Robert Frost once wrote, A poem begins with a lump in the throat. Something would be missing in my everyday life if I could not call to mind a few lines of poetry, memorized long ago, when I find myself in certain situations.

While walking in woods on a summer’s day, to recall the words of Joyce Kilmer’s poem ‘Trees’ seems most uplifting. Here is an excerpt.
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair.
Or in autumn, while in the meadow with Fergus the Lab, the ability to quote from Wilfred Campbell’s ‘Indian Summer’ adds to the tranquility of the experience.
Along the line of smoky hills
The crimson forest stands.
And all the day the blue jay calls
Throughout the autumn lands.

In the depths of winter, I call upon the words of Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ to enhance the sensory experience of silent snow.
Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

The foregoing excerpts are only a few of the poems that often come to mind.
Even to be able to quote a bit of Shakespeare when words of wisdom are needed can be fun. Lines like “Something is rotten in the State of Denmark” (Hamlet), “Brevity is the soul of wit” (Hamlet), or “Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep” (Henry IV), bring metaphorical depth to certain situations.

On the very day my father passed on to eternity, Dad and I were able to recite together our favourite lyric by Robert Frost, ‘The Pasture’. It is a moment in time I will forever cherish. I was thankful that he had instilled in me the desire to both read, appreciate, and to memorize so many wonderful poems.
Our sons have been raised to be lifelong learners and have caught the same bug of using quotes in many situations. Our younger son, Andrew, recently took it to another level while he was outside on a very snowy day in early January. He carefully observed the behaviour of a white-breasted nuthatch for several minutes and subsequently found himself inspired to create the following poem that captures a beautiful snapshot of the little bird.

The Nuthatch
By Andrew Appleton

Oh little Nuthatch, upon the tree
His feathery throat ruffled by the breeze.
A proud pointed tail and little black hood.
With a slate grey back like the Maple tree’s wood.
His upside’s his downside.
While on the tree-side’s lea side
He sits inverted and safe
From the wintery wind.

For what he awaits
I’m not quite sure.
But the winter is sweet
And his heart is pure.

Recalling and creating poetry can definitely be ‘food for the soul’.

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

Well, apparently not.
Over the holidays my youngest dog, Chiclet, had what most people would consider a bad encounter with another dog. While we were visiting with my parents, a friend stopped by with her dog. Now, I’m not sure what exactly happened to create the fireworks but there was an explosion and the fur was flying.
My Mom’s friend’s dog is a lovely older dog that gets along well with people and other dogs. Chiclet generally isn’t overly interested in dogs. She prefers to say a quick hello and then go about her business. The situation we were in, at someone’s home, didn’t allow these dogs a slow or proper introduction to each other.
To prevent problems in these situations, we really need to stop thinking like people and start thinking like dogs. Close quarters offer no escape and homes may translate as turf.
When most dogs meet each other, personal space is the last thing they think about. Most dogs instantly invade another dog’s space by immediately sniffing the other’s behind. In the dog world, that’s totally acceptable. What happens next will determine the type of relationship they may have. Dogs that take the next step of going in to investigate another dog’s face too soon, or the ultimate insult of putting its head or paw on another dog’s neck or back can lead to all out war. The wrong sideways glance from either my dog or the friend’s dog resulted in snarls, growls and teeth being bared. These two dogs, both who generally get along well with other dogs, became heavyweight boxers standing on their hind legs duking it out.
These things can happen so fast that no one really notices who or what started it. The one thing I know for sure is that the brawl wasn’t the dogs’ fault, but ours for taking their good natures for granted and not going through the proper procedure to help ensure a good first meeting.
If we choose to meet this dog again, and I certainly would like to, it will be on neutral turf and not in such a personal ‘in-your-face’ manner. A walk together to feel each other out and then allowing them both off leash where there is room for them to move freely would probably result in a pleasurable experience despite their initial awkward first date.
I guess there’s always some embarrassment when ‘our kids’ can’t play nice with each other, but if it’s only the occasional dog that your dog doesn’t care for, does it really matter? It does if those dogs need to be in social settings together often, but if they only meet in passing in shouldn’t matter much. It’s not up to us to decide who our dogs like. We shouldn’t be so pompous to try to make that decision for them or make the assumptions that they should all just get along for our sake.
No dogs were hurt in any way for the contents of this column.

Visit www.fidocomesit.com for column suggestions, training help and book info.

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!

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

At this time of year I have a few: C-O-L-D, S-N-O-W, D-A-R-K, W-I-N-D, W-A-L-K.
The more miserable the weather gets, the happier my dogs become. I love the mildness of the summer. It’s warm, the sun is shining and my dogs are lazy. The older I get, the more I appreciate lazy dogs.
When the seasons turn from mild to wild, so do my dogs. I guess I have only myself to blame. My dogs are physically strong and in good shape. They get exercised in every type of weather. They’re either running and swimming in the rivers and lakes or running and jumping through the snowbanks that are to come. The colder air makes their fitness levels evident.
Most dogs are made for cooler climates while I am not. I don’t really mind the cold and the snow but I do mind the inconvenience of it all. Extra layers of clothing make it more difficult for me to walk as quickly as the dogs love to. The layers of ice on the roads make it almost impossible. I find my daily wardrobe is geared only towards comfortable and easy walking. I wear coats with bulk and lots of pockets for poop bags and tennis balls. I wear boots with the thickest tread that I can. I am far from a glamourous creature in my utilitarian get up while the dogs look lovely with their extra fur to keep them warm.
I have to take baby steps, picking through the ice and snow spots to find safe asphalt to walk on. I’m sure I look lost and confused to anyone spying on me through their frosted windows. My dogs look prancy and surefooted.
They love the cold. They can go forever and try to. In the milder weather, a three mile walk, along with a generous run and a round of fetch would more than satisfy them for the day. They would be exhausted, happy to languish and pant on the floor. Now, with the cooler temperatures, they require an extra walk and an after dinner wrestle on the floor (in front of the TV of course) like a class of five-year-old children on a sugar high.
Baby, it’s cold outside, and they’re loving it.
There are times when I am glad I have dogs that force me to go outside when I wouldn’t otherwise. During these times, I can really appreciate and be awed by the ferocity of a snow squall, the quietness of a fresh snowfall, the beauty of iced over trees in the morning ice mist. These things I wouldn’t see or notice if my dogs didn’t require more exercise in the winter.
There will be times when I’ll thank my dogs for forcing me to appreciate some of the beauty of winter. That thanks will be quiet and under my breath. The complaining that I do – about my dogs forcing me to be outside when I really don’t want to be – will be loud enough for all to hear.

To all of you dog lovers, thank you and Merry Christmas!
Visit www.fidocomesit.com for column suggestions, training and book info.

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!

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

Of our three dogs, Viva is the oldest. She’s just approaching nine years old and is a great little Golden Retriever. From that first day driving her home in the car, she had a strange confidence. She calmly looked out the window without a whimper and without much excitement.
She walked into our home, where two other dogs lived with us at the time, and just took over. Here was this adorable golden and fluffy puppy that did not blink an eye as she stole all the toys available on the floor in front of these two large older dogs and calmly placed her loot in her crate. I think the other dogs were as baffled and awed by her cockiness as we were.
I usually spend the first night or two with a new puppy on the couch. I take that time to bond with the puppy and to provide comfort and company. This girl would have none of that. She wasn’t interested in sleeping and snuggling with me and was happier on the floor next to the couch. Again, I found that strange but was impressed by her calm independence.
She learned well and won all the awards available in obedience classes. She was never an obnoxious dog so we never really had to deal with bad habits. She’s quiet with people and wonderful with young children. We can take her anywhere and she’ll be quiet and mindful. She’s a fantastic dog. Everyone says so, but…
The words ‘warm fuzzies’ and ‘Viva’ never belonged in the same sentence. From the beginning, she quietly ruled the other dogs and acted as if she had no use for us. Viva never showed a desire to be petted and would actually leave us when we would try. She was never a lap dog or a snuggler. She didn’t need or want a best friend, human or otherwise. There have been many times that I wasn’t even sure if she was still in the house because she would never seek me out to say hi. We used to say that she was still waiting for her real owners because she sure didn’t act like we were who she wanted.
Now my husband believes I should take her to the vet because she is acting strange. She’s playing with the other dogs. She actually laid on my lap twice last week. Every evening she lays at our feet with her head on our legs waiting to be petted. She sleeps on our bed and doesn’t leave when we pet her or when we touch her by accident. This is not the dog we’ve known for the last nine years, but it is the dog that we were hoping for nine years ago. Maybe dementia is catching up to her. Maybe she’s finally realized the owners she’s been waiting for aren’t coming and she’ll have to settle for us. For some reason she’s finally appreciating and liking us. I think I’ll just treat my old dog like a new dog. I’m going to feel foolish telling the vet that there’s something wrong with my dog when the only symptom is that she finally likes me.

Visit www.fidocomesit.com for column suggestions, training help and book info.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

The back section of our three-acre property is an expanse of wonderful thickets, shrubs, and hedgerows. In late October, while walking just before dusk, Fergus the Lab managed to flush up a stocky, short-bodied bird with a very long beak. I knew immediately that it must be an American woodcock (Scolopax minor). It flew about 100 meters and landed in the dense brush. A little research renewed my knowledge of and interest in this most unique of game birds.
The American woodcock is nicknamed the timberdoodle. It is very similar to the common snipe, which is also classed as a game bird. I would think that there would be some very slim pickin’s if you wanted to make a meal of one of these birds, which weigh in at well under half a pound. The woodcock’s population is relatively common and its behaviour migratory.

Appearance
The American woodcock has a short, dumpy body, is short-tailed and robin-sized. The plumage is a patterned cinnamon on top and on its back, beautifully camouflaging it against the dead leaves of the forest floor. It is brown underneath and has black and brown barring on the crown of the head. The legs are short and pinkish and the bill is very long and also pinkish. Its eyes are located high in the head, affording it a visual field of 360 degrees in the horizontal plane and 180 degrees in the vertical plane. It is certainly adapted to seeing predators coming from overhead.

Breeding
During courtship, the male will circle in flight as high as 90 meters, hovering, chirping and then gliding in a zigzag pattern toward earth. The feathers make a sort of whistling sound during this courtship display. The woodcock female lays a clutch of one to four eggs, which are creamy buff with brown spots. The nest is on the ground (similar to the killdeer) in an open wooded location. Also like the killdeer, the young are precocial, which means they are fully fledged and ready to leave the nest almost immediately. They are dependent on the mother for the first week for food and begin probing for worms after three or four days.

A strange perambulation
When I was in grade school back in the ’60s, my father was the local public school inspector. A few times a year he would end up in my classroom to ‘inspect’ what the teacher and students were up to; much to the chagrin of the teacher. Usually I was delighted by his entertaining visits, but one visit sticks out in my mind as simply mortifying.
Dad was a naturalist and birder, and on this particular day he was talking about the American woodcock. He took it upon himself to demonstrate the unusual walk of the stocky little bird. My father would plant one foot firmly on the floor ahead of him at the front of the classroom, and then proceed to bend his knees and wiggle himself forward and backward. He would then proceed to do it all over again with the other leg in the forward position. He looked completely ridiculous up there in his three piece suit demonstrating the American woodcock’s silly antics. My classmates found it hilarious as I was trying to slide myself under my desk and out of sight. However, I have learned through my current research the reason why the woodcock elicits this behaviour.

A feeding strategy
The woodcock eats mainly earthworms and arthropods, and sometimes plant material. Its long bill is somewhat flexible and acts like a pair of tweezers. In order to procure its meal of earthworms, the woodcock will step heavily on the ground with one foot forward (possibly causing earthworms to move). It then rocks its body back and forth without moving its head. This may make the worms move around in the soil and make it easier for the bird to probe around and catch the worms in its tweezer-like bill. So the antics of the woodcock (and my father) have a purpose after all. Watch for this interesting bird at dawn or dusk near thickets and young forests.

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!

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

With fall officially upon us, Mother Nature had decided to grant us with some wonderful summer like days. With vacation season over and the kids back to school, it was a perfect time for us to take advantage of the now quiet beaches. My dogs love the beach. They can run and play fetch endlessly because the water helps keep them cool to continue playing.
There are a few dog beaches in the area and this is where we go when time and weather allow. There are some other like-minded people that also bring their dogs to the beach and I certainly don’t have any issue with that.
I guess my issues come with what I assume.
When we see that we are approaching other dogs, for the peace of mind of myself and others, we leash our dogs to pass by when there isn’t much room. It’s at this point when the other loose dogs will approach my dogs and come to say hello. Again I have no problem with this as long as we all say a quick hello and go back to minding our own business. For the stranger dog, I assume that he will go back to his owner to continue what they were doing. Failing that, I assume that the owner will come and take him back to continue doing whatever they were doing. At the very least I assume the owner will come to be with his dog while he’s interacting with my dogs. I assume when I see dogs off leash anywhere, that those dogs are well trained and controlled by their owners. I’m sure you all know the saying about ‘assuming’?
My two retrievers will ignore other dogs that approach them while they are playing. They are only interested in fetching their balls and returning for another throw. They’ve experienced other dogs that come to steal their balls, physically try to push them around, jump on them, chase them, or spoil their little game while the owners of those dogs sit on the beach and watch. While walking we’ve had unleashed dogs come barreling up to my dogs acting aggressively. The only thing that probably prevented those instances from turning into fights was having my dogs remain focused on me to avoid eye contact with those types of dogs.
I have no problem with off-leash dogs, or with dog friendly beaches and parks. These places make my time with my dogs more enjoyable. I’ll still be enough of a sucker to be optimistic enough about humans to make the assumption that they have enough control over their dogs to give them off-leash privileges. At the very least I’ll still assume those dogs are amenable enough to both dogs and people that any contact will remain calm.
If your dog isn’t one of those, I’ll assume you will take the fall and winter to work on your dog being a good off-leash citizen. I will also assume I’ll see you at the beach next year where we can let our dogs enjoy the fruits of good training.

Suggestions, comments, questions, book info?
Go to www.fidocomesit.com.

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.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

October 31 is upon us. The shops have had their Hallowe’en wares on display for weeks now, and the children are beginning to make their plans for costumes and trick-or-treat destinations. Heaven help us parents, grandparents, and teachers alike!
Hallowe’en is a wonderful time for people of all ages to indulge in the luxury of just plain fun. October 31, or All Hallows’ Eve, gives us a legitimate excuse to dress in costume and pretend to be something we are not. Even the Appleton boys, well into their 20s, celebrate the occasion with some highly creative costuming, and perhaps a little tipping of the elbow along Richmond Row in London.
And now to the children. Hallowe’en is perhaps even more exciting than Christmas to some! Turning out the lights and listening to a scary (but not too scary) ghost story, dressing up as their favourite character and wearing the costume at school, going out for trick-or-treat and bringing home all that candy! All that candy can often present problems for the most diligent and organized parents. Perhaps we worry too much about the amount of sugar that our children consume at this spooky time of year.

Sugar and hyperactivity
Sugar has had a bad rap for decades. It seems to have begun back in the ‘70s when the Feingold Diet proclaimed that food additives were the main culprits in contributing to hyperactive behaviour in children. Certain food colourings and preservatives can certainly cause erratic behaviour, but is sugar also responsible for the same actions? According to some studies in the 1990s, sugar does not affect behaviour. Let us not forget that sugar is a natural product; its source is either sugar cane or sugar beets. The fact that it is refined simply makes it more readily absorbed into the blood. However, this may not mean that a child is going to behave in a hyperactive manner.
When children finish dessert and finally get to leave the table after a family gathering, all the running and expending of pent-up energy may be simply that they have been sitting too long. The sweet dessert takes the blame for the ensuing behaviour. One study explained that a group was given foods containing real refined sugars and the other group was given a placebo (no sugar ingredients). Both groups consistently reported hyper behaviour after the consumption of the foods. The conclusion was that the placebo group of parents had the expectation that their children would be hyper and that expectation influenced how they interpreted what they saw.

Caffeine, chocolate and cola
Cola beverages, hot chocolate, chocolate bars, etc. not only contain high levels of refined sugar, but also high levels of caffeine. The latter is the more likely culprit for any hyperactivity following consumption. Kids often associate soda beverages with a party atmosphere and will act accordingly. In support of this theory, I have seen many groups of very hyper children in a social situation who have not consumed any sugars at all.

Tips for Hallowe’en Survival
You can either suffer through your child eating their Hallowe’en candy within the first few days, or you can have them ration it into Zip-loc bags and stretch it out over a longer period of time. Either way, they are not getting enough of the right kind of foods if the focus is on the sweets.
Your dentist would likely rather that they eat it all at once. That way they will not be subjecting their teeth to multiple acid/sugar attacks which could result in many more cavities. Having it over and done with, then brushing well, is better for their teeth.

The Bottom Line
When all is said and done, children should be eating a balanced diet and consuming only a small percentage of refined sugars. While the sugar may not be responsible for the hyperactivity, it is most certainly responsible for much of the obesity, diabetes and heart disease so prevalent in our society today.
Happy Hallowe’en!

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

The leaves are beginning to change with each passing day. It brings to mind some lines of poetry from my youth.

Now by the brook the maple leans
In all his glory spread.
And all the sumachs on the hills
Have turned their green to red.
Excerpt by Wilfred Campbell of Kitchener

The nights are chilly and the misty mornings bring the sounds of migrating geese and the barbwire fence screeching of Mr. Blue Jay. The sugar maple in our back yard is quickly turning its foliage to a glorious crimson.
What is the cause of all this colour change in our trees and forests? It all gets down to two key components: pigments and chlorophyll.
We associate autumn with reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. All of these pigments exist within the deciduous leaves. However, they remain unseen because of the presence of chlorophyll, which is green.

How it works
Leaves are food factories for trees. The leaves take on water from the roots of the tree, and also carbon dioxide from the air. The tree then uses sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into glucose, or sugar, through photosynthesis. Chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. As long as it is present, the leaves remain green.
In autumn, as the days grow shorter and the temperature begins to drop, mother nature helps the trees to take time out for a rest.
As the trees begin to shut down their food factories, the green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. This in turn allows the other coloured pigments to shine through and give us our beautiful autumn palette.
If the weather is cold and rainy, the colours tend to show mainly yellow and brown hues. On the other hand, if it is warm and sunny with crisp nights, the brilliant reds and oranges are more prevalent.
Evergreens and the like
In autumn you may notice changes in our coniferous (evergreen) trees as well. If needles have been on the pines or spruces for two to three years, they no longer receive as much light. The tree will withdraw the chlorophyll from the needles, which in turn will change to a yellowish hue and eventually be shed from the tree. The remaining needles will stay on the tree through the winter. New needles will grow in spring. Some trees like the tamarack and European larch will shed their needles every fall and are not a true evergreen.
So, get out for a walk in the autumn vistas. It will undoubtedly calm your nerves and lift your spirits!

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

A puppy was born. She was the smallest of the litter and, for that reason, she was named Chiclet. Cute and adorable? Not Chiclet. She was restless, busy, a scrapper for food, and would strike at your face like a cobra. This little girl seemed not to understand the meaning of no or can’t. She was independent while the other puppies were snuggly and sweet. Chiclet would lunge at your face, snag clothes with her claws, bite too hard, bully the other puppies and she thought she was the best of the best. She easily was the worst puppy I ever had and for that reason we decided to keep her.
During her first year, there were many times my husband and I regretted keeping her and wondered why we chose to punish ourselves this way. My other dogs, including her mother, also seemed to have their patience pushed to their limits with her antics.
I always make it a point to take a new dog to as many different homes as I can to help with that dog’s socialization. My parents usually welcomed my visits, with or without man’s best friend, until I started bringing Chiclet. Chiclet was a tornado if given the chance. She ravaged my mom’s beautiful gardens. She chased and pounced on their Bichon’s tail. Before Chiclet, my parents welcomed a visit. Begrudgingly, and I’m sure with lots of eye rolling, they allowed me to bring that tornado over in my quest to make this lunatic puppy into a well-rounded dog.
Fast-forward three years. My husband and I wanted to take a mini-vacation a few weeks ago. Arrangements were made with family to care for the easy-going Great Dane and Golden Retriever. I assumed we would take Chiclet with us because her reputation preceded her. I just didn’t believe anyone would want to deal with her exercise needs and her goofiness.
Amazingly my wonderful parents offered to take her so we could enjoy our time away. I was so grateful to have some time alone without dogs.
As it turns out, my parents had a great time with Chiclet. My father enjoyed their walks together and my mother enjoyed spending time on the beach playing fetch. Even Moppy (the terrorized Bichon) enjoys Chiclet’s company. Chiclet was well behaved and affectionate.
The years of work with Chiclet, while still allowing her to be who she is, had finally paid off. I didn’t do this work alone. Never giving up on her, finding ways to work with her instead of against her, redirecting her bad behaviour towards good, and having a patient and willing family have all helped to make that chaotic puppy the best dog we’ve ever had, no question.
Suggestions, comments, questions, book info?
Go to www.fidocomesit.com.

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.

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.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Algonquin Park beckons us each year; we have just returned from our 21st camping trip. And I mean camping. No RV, no pop-up camper. Sleeping in a real tent on the ground with a little help from an eggshell mattress and Thermarest.
You can hear everything from within a tent. Some of us have to get up in the middle of the night when nature calls. Standing in the bushes (as if anyone could possibly be watching you at 4 a.m.), you can detect snoring from just about everyone’s tent in the campground. I could even hear the steady drone of a camper about five sites away from ours. I’m sure his sleeping partner was thrilled.
Of course I cannot leave out the sound of zippers. Yes, I said zippers. In order to get out of a tent you have to zip-zip at least three times; one for the sleeping bag, one for the tent door and the last one for the tent porch. Then you have to do it all over again when you return to your resting place. That’s a lot of zipping.
Our son Andrew was two when we began camping with him and his older brother Tommy. They loved it from the start. As a result, they have continued to pursue this annual camping trip ever since. Now that Tommy is the proud father of a baby boy, he had no intention of missing this year’s trip. Yes, you can camp with a six-week-old baby. As a matter of fact, it worked out really well.
Oscar Thomas Henry Appleton was born on June 29th of this year. That makes us grandparents, if you hadn’t already figured that out. Oscar’s mother Sonja also shares a love of camping and was very enthusiastic about preparing for this year’s sojourn. Oscar’s sleeping accommodation was a red laundry basket lined with a bed pillow. He was swaddled up in a bunting bag each night around the campfire and went to sleep willingly in the laundry basket. He was shifted into the tent when his mommy went to bed and would proceed to sleep soundly, five nights in a row, until around 6 a.m. At that point Sonja would feed him and he would return to his slumber until well after 8:30 a.m. Must have been the fresh air. I would be up making coffee and starting breakfast long before Oscar thought it was time to awaken.
So, you can camp with an infant. Who knew? The benefits of camping the old-fashioned way far outweigh the hassles of the packing, and pitching of tents. A good cook tent or dining shelter goes a long way as well. So give it some consideration if you haven’t already made the plunge. Your family memories will be worth it.

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

It’s the age of “designer” dog breeds. Years ago, any dog that wasn’t a purebred was considered a mutt. Now mutts are developed on purpose and called designer breeds.
Breeders that deal solely with producing true purebred dogs are flailing their arms and frothing over the way purebreds are being mixed to produce new types of dogs. Conscientious purebred breeders are breeding dogs for the betterment of their breed, striving to produce the perfect dog. In that quest to produce that perfect dog, many purebred dogs are developing inherent and genetic defects. I’m sure most of you are aware of German Shepherds, Great Danes, Golden Retrievers and many other large breed dogs that are prone to hip dysplasia, bloat, heart defects, blood diseases, skin conditions and the list goes on.
Breeders of the new designer breeds are capitalizing on this sad situation to find a sound dog by breeding two purebred dogs together and claiming their dogs are healthier because of ‘hybrid vigor’. Hybrid vigor advocates claim that breeding two purebred dogs together helps eliminate, or at least lessen, the woes of current purebred dogs.
It’s a great sales pitch, but absolutely not true. When breeding dogs (bitch and/or sire) with any genetic faults, there is a strong chance that the puppy or puppies will inherit those faults. This applies to purebred and mixed breeds.

Intended benefits
The nice thing about designer breeds is the development of something new. All purebred dogs have evolved from an assortment of breeds. Different types and breeds of dogs were mixed together to create a dog to fill a special niche or perform a certain type of job. The same is true for a variety of designer breeds. The most popular are the Labradoodle and Goldendoodle. The Labradoodle was originally bred in Australia with the intention of enabling blind children with allergic reactions to dogs the chance to have a service dog that shed little to none. Since Retrievers have been the dog of choice for this purpose for many years, it seemed to make perfect sense to combine that type of dog with the intelligent and affectionate Standard Poodle. This combination helped to open a huge new world for people in need.

A good breeder makes a difference
There is plenty of room in this world to let us have it all when it comes to choices for a pet dog. Our priority should be taking the time to find breeders that only breed mentally and physically sound dogs. Good breeders should have no problems showing you the documentation to back that up. 
Whether you are considering a ‘true’ breed or a ‘new’ breed you must consider the original purpose of that breed(s) and the type of dog to make sure that dog and you will fit well together.

Suggestions, comments, questions, book info? Visit Yvonne’s website: www.fidocomesit.com.

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.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

During the summer months, plenty of hawks and falcons are on the prowl for rodents and smaller birds. Red-tailed hawks, the rough-legged hawk and goshawks are seen perched in dead limbs, on wires, or soaring over the fields. To identify a rough-legged hawk in flight, look for a large, dark patch on the underside of each of its wings. The red-tailed is very easy to identify because of its large size and the distinctive rusty tail feathers that stand out against its white underbelly. I have actually witnessed a red-tailed hawk swoop down on an unsuspecting black squirrel perched in a maple tree. The hawk then proceeded to sail away into the distance, squirrel in talons. You’ll also see Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks visiting back yards in hope of scooping up an unsuspecting songbird.

Giving the sparrow hawk a bad name
The smallest hawk in our area is the sparrow hawk, or American kestrel (Falco sparverius). The name is actually a misnomer because it is neither a hawk, nor does it consume very many sparrows. The sparrow hawk is actually a member of the falcon family. The American kestrel is a mere 9-12 inches in length, or about the size of a blue jay. It is the only small hawk with a rufous back and tail. The combination of the blue-jay wings and rust back makes for a very attractive bird. Both male and female have a moustached black-and-white face pattern. The little falcon would fit nicely into the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe or other medieval lore.
I often see kestrels perched on roadside hydro wires. They hover for prey on rapidly beating wings, much like a kingfisher. The voice is a rapid high “klee-klee-klee!” Foods include rodents, insects, bats, small birds, small reptiles and frogs.
The kestrel is a solitary nester and will readily nest in bird boxes built especially for them. During breeding season and courtship, the male gathers food and feeds the female in the air. Both parents nurture their single yearly brood, which consists of three to seven creamy to pale pink eggs, which are heavily blotched with brown, and measure 3.6 cm in length. Their population is common throughout North America. You can spot the American kestrel throughout the year in our region, but most likely in spring and summer months.
The fact that we have so many hawks and falcons in our region suggests that they are well fed. Therefore, the rodent population would appear to be in good shape as well.

Rules are important, but it’s more important that you and your dogs enjoy the experience

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

While talking to my mother about leash walking her dog, she seemed almost apologetic about walking her little Bichon with an extended or Flex-type leash. I assume she expected that I, as a dog trainer, would frown upon her dog not walking neatly by her side. While training a dog, I can get pretty anal about how to walk a dog, how a dog should walk with us and how to train a dog to walk.
Setting rules and expectations while dog training, especially with leash walking, sets the tone for how you will both get along, or not get along on walks for the rest of your dog’s life. I admit that I am particular about teaching a dog to walk on a particular side, about not pulling me on the leash, and about keeping my pace whether fast or slow.
I think I may differ from many dog trainers about how a dog should walk on leash. I teach my dogs to heel, but I certainly don’t walk my dogs in heel.
My purpose for walking my dogs is to release energy, to maintain good physical shape and to remain exposed to the outside world. This isn’t just for my dogs, but for me as well. Above all else, I want to enjoy my walks, and I want the dogs to enjoy our walks. I’m fine with letting a dog explore and sniff around. Go ahead and mark a post or a tree occasionally. Walk a little ahead of me, or behind, see and smell what the neighbourhood has to offer. There’s no need for me to continually enforce strict rules while trying to enjoy a walk. If I’m constantly nagging my dogs about where they are when on leash, I’m not going to enjoy all the benefits of that walk and neither are my dogs.
Perfection from my dogs has never been my goal with dog training. I certainly am not perfect, despite what I make my husband believe. If I can’t expect myself to be perfect, why would I expect an animal to be?
That said, the following are my expectations for leash walking.
As I mentioned earlier, I do expect a dog to learn which side I want them to walk on. I hate having a dog that constantly criss-crosses in front of and behind me.
Being pulled on leash is unbearable to me. I teach early on that pulling will not take them in the direction they want to go. I expect my dogs to come back to me to walk in check when I instruct and need them to.
I always walk one of my dogs on an extended leash. It’s good for her. She’s happy when she has the ability to explore a little. She has the freedom to be behind me or in front of me, but she knows and understands the rules so that we can both enjoy the outing.
As a dog trainer people probably expect me to apologize for allowing my dog to walk far in front and not in a tight and controlled heel position. But as a pet owner I feel no one needs to apologize for making walks as comfortable as we can for both our dogs and ourselves.

Suggestions, comments, questions, book info? Go to www.fidocomesit.com.

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.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

‘A change is as good as a rest’. The old adage carries much truth. A short getaway during the summer months can be just what the doctor ordered. Whether you choose a local day trip, or a few days in or out of province, the benefits can be outstanding.
In July, my better half took me on a five-day trip to Quebec City. It was an experience not to be missed. We felt as if we were transported to some European town, without the hassle of passports or overseas flights. The people were welcoming, friendly, and helpful. Our attempts to order meals in French were greatly appreciated, but all of the employees were equally fluent in both official languages, a claim that we could not make about ourselves.
A daily highlight was sitting in a café, at a table by the open window (no screens) watching the people and bicycles passing by. The horses clip-clopping on cobbled streets pulling calèches (open carriages) full of happy tourists added to the old European charm.
The place is steeped in Canadian history. Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain were the first Europeans to discover the narrowing of the St. Lawrence River where Quebec City now stands. A tour of the Plains of Abraham, where the great Battle of 1759 was fought, helped us to visualize what really happened during the line battle between the English and French troops, led by Generals Wolfe and Montcalm. Both generals perished as a result of the battle and the English claimed victory.
The Citadel is an active military base situated on Cap Diamant (Cape Diamond), Quebec City’s highest point. It has an obvious vantage point for anyone who might be looking down the St. Lawrence for approaching enemy ships, as the French did during the 17th and 18th centuries. Possession of the city was tossed back and forth between the French and English several times during those years, ending up in the hands of the British Empire. Quebec City truly is the birthplace of this great country of Canada.
Today, a French-speaking regiment occupies the Citadel. This is none other than the famous Vingt-Deux (nicknamed Van Doos by their Anglophone comrades during WWI). They are the 22nd Regiment of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. This group may speak French, but they dress in the red coats of the British, complete with the tall bearskin hats you would see at Buckingham Palace. The Vingt-Deux were originally formed as the 22nd French Canadian Infantry Battalion and went to France in WWI as part of the 5th Canadian Brigade. They have fought in every war since and are currently serving in Afghanistan.
Each morning at 10 a.m., they perform the changing of the guard, complete with their mascot, a white goat descended from a goat gifted by Queen Victoria. Following this ceremony the soldiers return to their combat uniforms to go about the business of being a Canadian soldier. They are proud to be in a position to protect and serve our country. The tour guide explained to us the importance of keeping alive the French language and culture of the 22nd Regiment. It is their very essence, and it makes them stand out as the unique group they are today. The motto on their coat of arms is “Je me souviens” (I remember).
The inhabitants of Quebec are proud to be Canadian but wish to maintain their individuality of language and culture. The Quebec experience commands a great deal of respect and admiration, from both an historical and human perspective.
It can be said that if you understand your history, you may have a better chance of knowing where you are going. Our excursion to La Belle Province has certainly helped us to understand better how our country came to be. You really don’t have to leave it to be both enriched and entertained.

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

Do you find that men get along better with female dogs and women with male dogs? That’s seems to be the way it works in my household.
I have two female dogs and one male. My boy dog is crazy about me. He seems to love me unconditionally. He doesn’t get antsy about not going for a walk if the weather is lousy. He isn’t always looking for something to do when I’m with him. When we go out for off-leash runs it’s almost impossible to get him out of my sight since he is always checking to see where I am. At home, he’s happiest lying in bed next to me. He just wants to be by my side. I love my mamma’s boy.
My girls are a different story. I love them as well, but their love and adoration towards me seems to come from a different place. Their first priority, or so it seems, is themselves. They are always looking to me for something, whether it be a walk, a run, a swim or a round of fetch. My one female will follow me around all day waiting for a big event. My other female pays no attention to me at all until it’s time for a big event. I know they love and respect me, but I have the feeling that they are using me.
I think they feel that I’m here for their amusement. I suppose I am. I do take care of their emotional and physical needs and wants. It just seems a little one-sided.
They are all great dogs. They are respectful and mindful and I enjoy taking them out and watching them run, swim and play. They keep me busy and active. Without them I know that I’d be putting on a lot more pounds than I already am. I guess that’s my pay off, but I still have the feeling that the girls aren’t giving me the same unconditional love that my boy gives.
Maybe part of the explanation is that I have sons. I admit that I have a better mental connection with little boys than I do with girls, especially young ones. After all, dogs are like two-year-old children. Is this connection the reason I prefer male dogs to females?
With my male dogs, what I see is what I get. With my girls, there is an ulterior motive for their actions. I know that if they are giving me kisses, they want something.
I spend all day with my dogs. I walk them, feed them, groom them, pet them and take care of all their needs. Once my husband is home, I may as well fall off the planet. At that point the girls have no further use for me. Again, I know they love and respect me, but my girl dogs adore my husband and vice versa. They have a way of lowering their heads and raising their eyes to him that makes him give them all the food from his plate. My husband likes my boy dog, but he doesn’t have that same urge to be willing to starve when my boy dog tries to look at him the same way. Good thing I’m in charge of feedings.

Suggestions, comments, questions, book info? Go to www.fidocomesit.com.

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!

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

A past client of mine was just telling me how her dog is now trashing her belongings when she is gone to work for the day. She tells me that her dog is angry with her and that’s why he ruins her new glasses, her shoes, her couch, and the list goes on. She won’t accept my explanation that the dog is upset. Obviously he is upset, but not at her. He’s just stressed.
This is known as ‘separation anxiety’. It’s common, and most dogs do react unfavourably to being separated from their owners. It’s unnatural for a dog to be away from its pack; a dog is a pack animal, after all.
Of course we have to go to work. We have to shop (some more than others), and we have to go to school. We have to leave our dogs for a myriad of reasons.
The stress that dogs feel when we leave them is easily preventable. It’s in the dog’s best interest to have him adjust early on to being left alone, as unnatural as that is for him.
Too many people apologize to their dog for leaving them and apologize again when they get home. This is the cause of the stress. You have to teach your dog that it isn’t his business if you leave the house or when you come home.
I have the luxury of staying home most of the time with my dogs, so it is an adjustment for them when I’m not there. My Great Dane used to howl and whine when I left him home alone. It was my mission to never say good-bye to him when I was leaving the house and never to say hello to him when I returned. He has become so comfortable with me leaving, whether for 15 minutes or six hours, that he won’t bother to get off my comfy Memory Foam bed to greet me when I do come home. This certainly doesn’t hurt my feelings. It means he’s adjusted and has become quite comfortable out of my presence. I never have to worry about the damage those big jaws can do to my belongings.
There are other things you can and should do before you leave your dog alone to help ensure his comfort while you’re away.
Make sure he’s had enough exercise to help relieve any physical frustrations he may have, especially for a young dog. Make sure he’s gone ‘potty’ and don’t feed him just before you leave him. Make sure that you have any items that may be tempting to him out of reach. Leave a radio or television on for some distracting background noise. The obvious answer to prevent destruction is to teach your dog to become comfortable in a crate or an ‘X-pen’, which is the doggy equivalent to a playpen.
Above all else, your dog needs to believe you are the leader and that you call the shots. You pay the bills and you make all the decisions about lifestyle. That doesn’t have to be as mean as it sounds. Controlling your dog’s environment and having him understand that his role is as a follower will only help him cope with the realization that we have placed him in an unnatural lifestyle for a dog. By taking one simple step of acting like a leader when you leave and return, you will help reinforce to your dog that he lives with you in your home and not the other way around. In a pack, the alpha doesn’t go running to the rest of the pack to greet them, the pack comes to him.
Wait to say hello and only do so once your dog has calmed down about you being back. I’m sure some of you think that it’s cruel to not instantly get down on your knees and hug and kiss your dog when you come home. It’s actually an act of kindness to not let him get excited about you going about your life. The more relaxed your dog is about you leaving and returning, the more relaxed he will while you’re gone.

Visit www.fidocomesit.com for column suggestions, questions and dog training help.

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

My husband is working at a housing complex. He’s worked at a few and can tell you horror stories about the conditions that some people live in. Some of these people are content with a lifestyle that would appall most. Sadly, children and animals are often forced to live with these people. These victims have no say in who they live with or how they live.
Recently my husband started a new project, and he is working near the owners of a new puppy. Acquiring a new puppy should be the beginning of a fun and optimistic relationship between man and his ‘best friend’. This puppy, just ready to begin his new life of love and adventure has drawn the short straw. More times than not, this puppy is tied and tangled in the owners’ backyard without adequate shelter and company. His hours spent barking, crying and whining don’t foretell a life of love, adventure, fun or that optimistic future that his littermates are hopefully enjoying.
Many people would say, ‘it’s just a dog’, and that we have other more important things to worry about in life than the happiness of a puppy. Perhaps. However, our society has certain decency standards with regards to providing a proper, rich and loving environment for our pets; some of those standards are law. Most of us take great care and consideration into the type of dog we get and sort out how to manage the daily care for that dog. I hope the smart ones realize that right now may not be the right time, and just because we can doesn’t mean we should. The prevalent mentality of entitlement leaves many victims in its wake, and this puppy is one of them.
I have bred a few litters and have found homes for the puppies from those litters. My family is amazed, flabbergasted, amused and maybe even a little confused about how picky I am about potential puppy homes. I am very picky. I chose to bring those pups into this world and I feel it is my duty to find the best possible homes for them. It means I turn quite a few people away. They aren’t bad people. I’m sure most are lovely, but they did miss something that I feel all puppies need: time for true companionship.
Over the centuries ‘man’ has continued to develop the dog to be dependent on people for all of it’s physical and mental needs. At least I can feel comfortable that none of my puppies are going to be that puppy that drew the short straw. I doubt the puppy’s breeder asked enough questions, and for that, s/he should be ashamed. Shame, too, on the new owners that brought home this puppy without much thought to his life. Thankfully there are organizations that can help, so we are taking notes, taking names and know who to call.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

(The following is a justifiable divergence from the usual topic of ‘our feathered friends’.)
As a member and co-director of the Ailsa Craig and District Historical Society, it was recently my turn to open the museum and attend to any tourists who might happen by during an afternoon. The museum, also known as the Donald Hughes Annex, was originally the Ailsa Craig Baptist Church, erected in 1871. Now, lovingly restored as a tribute to local heritage, it houses a myriad of artifacts, antiques and objects of interest. It is readily found on George Street. Just follow the signs as you come into town from any direction.
It turned out to be a slow day – actually nobody came – perhaps due to a pending thunderstorm. To pass the time, my first hour was spent enjoying some showcases and displays, including quilts, clothing, kitchen supplies, old sales receipts, ledgers, cameras, furniture, etc., from well over a hundred years ago. A look through some scrapbooks of local community events, along with some high school yearbooks, proved to be highly entertaining.
Then it began to rain. Hard. Really, really hard. When it rains like that I get nervous. What to do? Aha! I had brought along my current knitting project. I seated myself near the front door of the old church and began to knit. As my nerves calmed, it dawned on me that I was sitting in a 19th century building, surrounded by objects from a simpler way of life, doing exactly what a woman from the 1800s would likely do. My needles weren’t wooden, but the knitting process had not changed. My ball of wool was not cooperating as I demanded more yarn, so I put it into the bowl of a 1930s cream separator, which happened to be beside my chair. It worked, simply and effectively.
After about an hour of rain pounding on the church roof, my husband burst through the front door, soaking wet. He said he had come to see what I was up to. “I had to shut down my computer because of the storm,” he announced. I smiled and continued with my knitting while my only ‘tourist’ for the day took a half hour away from the computer to observe the legacy of a much simpler era. And he really enjoyed it.
If you’re wondering where the connection to my usual birdy topics is, when you visit you’ll notice there is pigeon poop on the front porch of the church. They live in the belfry.
Summer hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays, or:
To arrange a tour, call (519) 293-9388 or email acdhs [at] hotmail.com

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.

Golf Tips
By Cameron Rankin
Head Professional, Sand Hills Golf Resort

Your spine angle should remain consistent during your backswing and at the impact position. Any loss of body height on the backswing or standing up at impact or the opposite changes in height will cause inconsistent striking of the ball.
To improve consistency, work on improving your posture position. Think of your spine being as straight as possible, but on an angle over the ball, with your arms hanging directly down from your shoulders. Weight pressure should be felt in the middle of your feet.
During your swing the hips and shoulders should turn perpendicular to the spine angle.
Review this with a video camera. Check out your angles!
For more swing tips see your local CPGA Professional.

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.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

The killdeer Charadrius vociferous, a member of the plover family, is named for its piercing call. On a leisurely walk at the back of our property, I heard the familiar “kill-dee!” and noted a female killdeer sprinting away from her nest. In an effort to divert my attention, she went into the usual broken wing act, crying in a pitiful voice. Treading carefully, I finally located the nest; a shallow scrape in the gravel, beautifully camouflaged and endowed with four brown speckled eggs. When I glanced away toward the frantic mother, it was very hard to relocate the nest when I looked back, although I had not moved an inch. I took a quick photo and promptly left the mother in peace.

Born at last
For several weeks Fergus (the Lab) and I would wander past the little nest. I would marvel at the fact that they were still intact. Finally, on one sunny afternoon, I managed to distract Fergus away from the area by saying the word ‘bunny’. After he had bolted into the bush, I checked the nest to find four beautiful, fuzzy, killdeer infants, soaking up the sun’s rays. I left quickly, accompanied by the screams of the concerned parents.
The next day they were gone; all evidence that they had ever been there had disappeared. I wondered if something had found and eaten them. However, a little research revealed that once the babies leave the nest, the parents clean up every scrap of eggshell. If these babies had succumbed to the ravages of a predator, certainly there would been some remains of the nest’s contents. Minutes later I heard the killdeer parents calling their young. I can only assume that all was well with the baby birds.

Precocial indeed
The killdeer offspring are among the cutest of baby birds. Fluffy replicas of their parents, they come out of the egg running and with eyes open. These ‘precocial’ babies are much closer to independence than most newborn birds. They are incubated longer and so are further developed at birth. Camouflage aids in their survival rate after hatching. One of the first lessons is to teach the chicks to ‘freeze’ on signal from the parents. The fact that the offspring are so cute is often an attraction for curious onlookers, especially children. Parents need to make their own offspring aware of the importance of leaving things in nature as they found them. A curious human intruder can seriously disturb a family of killdeers or other birds, sometimes causing the death of the baby birds.
The killdeer is very helpful to farmers because of the large numbers of insect pests which they consume. Unfortunately, they are quite vulnerable to pesticide poisoning. The use of these chemicals has a very negative impact on the entire food chain. I don’t need to see a “pesticide use” sign to know when the stuff has been sprayed. The odour lingers for a couple of days. Any birds which eat insects or worms are affected, along with countless other species. Thank goodness recent legislation has dispensed with the residential use of such poisons. It is the least we can do to help repair some of the damage toward nature we have caused.

Who’s the lazy dog in your house?

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore
http://www.FidoComeSit.com

As much as we love our dogs, and as much as we love having them in our lives, just like others that we love, they make mistakes. Now, it could be argued that we have made the mistakes and our dogs are just reacting to our actions. Your dog only knows what you want by you showing him what you want. Too often we just expect our dog to do as we say, or we expect that after all these years s/he should know what we want from him.
None of my dogs are the Amazing Kreskin. For some reason I think we all expect dogs were bred with mind-reading skills because we all fall into the trap of telling our dogs to do things that they have no clue about. I don’t expect my dog to stay just because I’ve said the word ‘stay’. I expect my dog to stay after I’ve gone through all the methodical and sometimes tedious steps of teaching my dog to stay. My Great Dane doesn’t understand what the word ‘move’ is when he’s standing in front of the TV, but he does understand the commands ‘come’ or ‘go lay down’ which accomplish exactly what I need him to do when he interrupts my viewing of “Desperate Housewives”. Despite this, my husband insists on telling him to move and both he and the dog get frustrated. If I wasn’t so frustrated by listening to him constantly telling my Great Dane to moooooooove, I would be amused by the dazed and confused look they both have on their faces.
Then you have the situation when we tell a dog to do something but we never follow through. It’s in these cases that you create a dog that will give you a blind eye and selective hearing. Many times I hear from dog owners that their dog knows what is expected but only responds correctly some of the time. Some find that amusing and even admirable. A dog with a mind of its own. Some blame old age, stubbornness or independence. These aren’t traits or qualities; these are excuses. That is a dog that needs more training and an owner who needs to understand how to follow through. Dogs like this are born only out of laziness. Before you think you’re off the hook, the lazy one is the dog owner.
Correcting this problem is simple. Mean what you say and say what you mean. All that means is that if you’ve instructed your dog to sit and s/he lays down and s/he gets a pat or treat for that, you’ve shown him that you don’t mean what you say. If you’ve called your dog to ‘come’ and s/he’s moved a few steps and then sat down, or s/he’s walked past you, then you haven’t completed or followed through with that ‘come’ command. Does this mean you punish your dog? Probably not. It means that you may need to go back to the drawing board and do a little retraining to sharpen up the skills of both you and your dog.
As much as people hate to hear it, training and motivating a dog is all based on reward. The better the end result is for the dog, the better his/her response will be. A dog responding to you for the sake of love and respect may come to you eventually, as long as you teach your dog what you expect in a positive manner.
Take the time to actually show, explain, teach and train your dog to be all that s/he can be without enlisting in a boot camp.

You can contact Yvonne through her website, www.fidocomesit.com for comments, column suggestions, questions and for Fido…Come…Sit book information.

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!

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

East Williams Memorial School (where I teach) has been moving forward in an eco-friendly way for some time. We were excited to learn just this week that we will be certified as a bona fide Ontario Eco-School in June of this year.
One of the six components of becoming a recognized Ontario Eco-School is to have an ongoing ‘greening project’. This means there must be an area on the school property which provides shade, nurtures vegetation, and encourages students to be involved in its creation and maintenance.
From the time of the forming of our Peaceful Schools Committee six years ago, to the present Peaceful/Healthy Schools Committee, there has been a vision to create a Peace Garden. Our answer came in early March of this year when Mr. Chris Redfearn, one of our parents, proposed a donation of $1000 (through a Union Gas community grant) toward an outdoor school improvement project. East Williams had to apply for the validity of the grant and consequently won the bid. Principal Vivienne Bell-McKaig embraced the idea with enthusiasm, along with the Eco-Schools Committee.
Once the ball started rolling, the community came together for this project. Students began to design blueprint-type plans for our peace garden. The final design was created from the blueprint by Emily Morse. Grade 5 student Adam Galloway won the naming contest, calling it the “Peaceful Eagles’ Nest” to reflect the school’s spirit name, the East Williams Eagles. Families jumped aboard the project with support, hundreds of donations including: plants, topsoil, mulch, lumber, birdhouses, birdseed, and a tree, along with a great deal of physical labour. Entire families, from ages three to 43, spent many hours digging, raking, hoeing, and planting to implement the framework of the new peace garden. As the project’s core contributors, the Whitmore, Morse, Gregory, Redfearn, Helloway, Baker, and Waht families have been omnipresent during this effort.
Shannon Waht, a local woodworker, constructed a beautiful arbour for the entryway to the space. Carved letters proclaim ‘PEACE’ along the header. Carved eagles adorn the exit side of the arbour. The Kim family donated a birdbath. Every class in the school is well represented by generous donations of their parents to enhance the beauty of the project. Each class has a friendship garden bordering the periphery of the space, which is theirs to maintain into the future.

What does it look like?
The square plot of land sits at the front of the school outside the Grade 1 and kindergarten classes. Each side of the garden is bordered with a substantial burm of topsoil, mulch and a multitude of plants (hostas, petunias, impatiens, day lilies, etc.) The focal point is a raised peace symbol. In each section of the symbol, petunias have been planted in school colours; one section white, one red and one blue. Sturdy benches are being constructed from recycled hydro poles and will be installed shortly. Then the students will be able to come and sit to appreciate the fruits of their labours. Passes will be issued to two students from each class on a daily basis to be able to enter the Peaceful Eagles’ Nest.

Bravo to a great community in the little village of Nairn!

Fido… Come… Sit
By Yvonne Passmore

After a dreary, cold and wet winter, we look forward to going for long strolls again with our dogs. Dogs also feel the warmth, appreciate the breeze and long to sniff at every tree, hoping to see who was there before. Many dogs haven’t seen other people and dogs for months. Dogs now have to readjust to sharing their turf.
For some dogs, all the new people and puppies and bikers and skateboarders can be a little overwhelming. When dogs are overwhelmed they hide behind their owner and shut down or they become overexcited, bouncy and unmanageable. If you notice your neighbors rolling their eyes and crossing the road to avoid you and your dog, then you have a problem.
Maybe your dog is too friendly (there are worse things) and insists that he goes to say hello to everyone that passes by. That’s great, for your dog, but not necessarily so for the passerby. Or perhaps you have a dog that is far from that. Snarling, growling, barking and lunging toward all who come too near
In both cases, you can’t let your dog continue the rude behavior. Rude, as in happily pulling you and jumping on people, or by putting on his best “Cujo” face in an attempt to keep people away. In both cases you need “park bench therapy” and you absolutely have to have physical control.
The physical control part is easy. There are many tools out there, such as head halters and harnesses. My favorite for managing the strength and mobility of a dog is the Gentle Leader Easy Walk harness. Once you gain physical control you are now able to relax.
Park Bench Therapy is where the real work begins. This means that you have to take him out in public, warts and all; this may be a scary thought, but a dog’s life behind the walls of a house or tied in the back yard is no life at all.
Over time, and for periods of time that are dependent on your dog, you park yourself on a well traveled, but not overwhelming corner or bench. You want to teach your dog that other people are not his business and ignoring them is a good thing. You do this by distracting him with one worthwhile treat each time someone passes. You may also pet and talk to him to help keep his focus on you. Ignore him when no one is around so he begins to make the connection that people passing by means good things from you. To help reinforce that thought, you need to politely discourage strangers from petting your dog. If you explain that your dog is in training, most won’t take offense.

Need help with your pet? Visit www.fidocomesit.com for more information.

Eye for Design
By Lorette Mawson

It’s time to create an outdoor haven to relax; whether you are dealing with a small budget or one that allows you to splurge, summer is about having a place to kick back, relax and entertain.
With today’s selection of patio furniture, staying on budget is an easy task. Basic chairs and tables can be jazzed up with inexpensive seat cushions, tablecloths, and various-sized lanterns. These can be found pretty much anywhere, from hardware stores to home decor stores. The same goes for outdoor rugs, which you can find in sizes and prices to fit any budget.
For splurging, canopies are a wonderful way to enjoy dining in the great outdoors. They come in many price points, with some that have closed-in sides to keep pesky critters at bay.
Even if you only have the space for a little corner, making it comfortable with a great lounge chair for soaking up the sun, along with a small side table for a nice cold drink, you should create a spot to enjoy. If only our summers would outlast our winters, we could really get into some outdoor lounging.

Golf Tips
By Cameron Rankin
Sand Hills Golf Resort

It’s time to get ready for a long summer season. Remember the following:
Check your grips. Shiny or worn grips will rob you of distance. Clean with powdered Comet or Ajax. Don’t forget your putter grip!
Make sure you have a new set of soft spikes in your shoes.
Arrive early for your tee-time, hit a few balls on the range, hit some chips and putts.

Remember the fundamentals
Check these six fundamentals before you make any changes to your swing motion. Remember most swing faults are caused by incorrect fundamentals.
Position your club head: the leading edge of your club should be at right angles to your intended target.
The Grip: you should see 2 to 2 1/2 knuckles on the back of your dominant hand when you look down on your hands at the address position. Remember to grip the club in your fingers not palms.
Stance: feet shoulder width apart, wider with longer clubs, narrower with shorter clubs.
Ball position: forward in stance with long clubs, gradually moving back to the middle of your stance with the shorter clubs.
Posture: bend over from the waist, keeping your spine as straight as possible, slight leg flex, arms should hang straight down from your shoulders, the base of your spine should feel slightly concave.
Alignment: your body and stance should be positioned parallel left (for lefties, right for righties) of your intended target. Think of a mini railway line, your club head and ball on the far track and your body on the near track.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Our children have a vested interest in their collective future. In my experience, they are not only interested in how their future will play out, but also care enough to try to make a difference in the outcome.
My students at East Williams Public School range in age from 10 to 12 years. They have embraced the environmental studies curriculum right from the start. Tell a child they are going to do a research project on an endangered animal and they jump in with both feet! They have enthusiastically adopted the theory that ‘if each one of us is prepared to make small changes toward conservation, the ultimate impact will be enormous’. Hence, each student has made the decision to reduce his/her personal ecological footprint.
Knowledge is power. One of our major projects this year has been to increase the awareness within the school and community that disposable water bottles are extremely harmful to the environment. Following several shared reading sessions on the facts about plastic water bottles, my students were shocked, even angered, about their negative impact. Did you know that:

• it takes millions of barrels of oil annually to manufacture plastic bottles? (and the CO2 emissions to go with it?)
• it takes 3L of water in the filling process for 1L of bottled water?
• 15% of bottles get recycled; the rest end up in the landfill or ocean?
• bottled water is rarely tested, whereas tap water is regularly and stringently tested?
• it takes 82 years for a plastic bottle to biodegrade?

As a result of this newfound knowledge, the children learned how to write a meaningful business letter. They expressed their thoughts intelligently and their letters were then sent to Thames Valley District School Board Trustee Peggy Sattler, who has been lobbying against the bottles for some time. In spite of her efforts, the Thames Valley Board has compromised by encouraging the “reduction” of bottled water in our schools. My students think that is simply not good enough. And so, they chose to ban water bottles in our classroom and to spread the message to others within their reach. Most of them now own stainless steel re-usable water bottles. Bravo!
When the students were asked how they had recently reduced their personal ecological footprint, they responded decisively. Here is what some of them had to say:

• We got in the van, stopped at ditches and picked up litter. (Michael Beattie)
• Last weekend I used a china plate when everyone else was using styrofoam. (Matthew Grace)
• I walk or bike to school instead of being driven. (Sara Doerr)
• I asked my Mom not to buy plastic water bottles. Now I have a 500 mL re-usable bottle on my desk. (Daryn O’Neilll)
• I unplug the Play Station and VCR. (Kyle Hemming)
• I had a second hot chocolate and asked the waiter to fill up the old paper cup. (Taylor Davies)
• I turned off computers, lights and TVs. (Kody Munn)
• Last weekend we went with my cousins to Toronto. We carpooled. (Jordan Van Dyk)
• When I have to feed the pigs at the other barn, I bike there. (Matt Bannister)
• My mom told my brother and sister to get a plastic water bottle for gymnastics. I told them to get a reusable one. (Maddy Cocksworth)

So…listen to the children. The future of Planet Earth may well depend upon it.

Eye for Design
By Lorette Mawson

As I sit here listening to rain and howling wind, I am reminded of the beautiful afternoon I recently spent raking. Considering everyone is ready to get outside and enjoy the outdoors, adding curb appeal can be a great project if you are thinking about selling your home or if you just want to perk things up a notch.
I always start by walking around the property, looking for peeling paint on windows, railings, fences, etc., and making sure all of these are still safe. Once that is done, I stand back and take a look at the front door: is it tired looking? How about light fixtures: are they in good condition or could they use sprucing up? New paint and light fixtures are great ways to start amping up your curb appeal. Other ideas include replacing door hardware and numbers if they have seen better days.
Now time for the fun. Consider adding a wreath to your door and maybe some planters. If watering is not your cup of tea, the selection of artificial shrubs you’ll find these days is stunning, and by adding mini-lights at Christmas, they can become a focal point year-round with no work required.
Another quick and easy way to add curb appeal is using window boxes. One of my favourite things is to change them with the seasons.
Finally, illuminating the walkway to your front door with solar lights will lead your guests or potential buyers directly to that newly painted front door. Let’s hope the weather cooperates so we can all get outside and enjoy this beautiful season.

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.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

On the last Saturday in March at 8:30 p.m., people around the world will be turning off their lights, computers, TV’s, etc. for 60 minutes. Why, you may ask? This eco-friendly gesture shows a global awareness of the importance of saving energy. The goal for Earth Hour 2009 is for a billion people in over 1,000 cities to turn out their lights at the same time, demonstrating solidarity of caring for our planet. Imagine cities like Toronto, New York, or Tokyo; lights out in thousands of skyscrapers, malls, businesses and homes. Imagine families playing interactive board games instead of electronic ones; or having meaningful conversations; some of them may even include discussions about the eco-system or the future of the planet.
Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 when 2.2 million homes and businesses took part. In 2008, over 50 million people participated. Lights were out on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House, and the Coca Cola Billboard in Times Square, to name a few.
To learn more about Earth Hour, or to sign up, you can do a Google search for “Earth Hour 2009” to find several websites. This year, the idea is that your light switch in the off position is a vote for Planet Earth. Leaving it on is a vote for global warming. Back in the 1970s, the slogan was ‘If we each save a little, we’ll all save a lot.’ Too bad not many people paid attention to the idea then. We might be in better shape now if they had!

Sure signs of spring
(Sightings in the first week of March)

Eye for Design
By Lorette Mawson
http://www.DecorateWithLorette.com

We are approaching that time of year when, quite frankly, I am ready to say goodbye to winter, open up those windows and welcome spring.
This time of year seems to get me motivated to spruce things up a little, which brings me to something I love to do: reinventing things I already have. During these economic times, we are being frugal with our money. It always amazes me how some good old-fashioned elbow grease, paint, fabric or new handles can transform something familiar into a thing of beauty.
Just because a piece was bought for a certain place, does not mean that it cannot be used for something totally different. I have seen china cabinets brought into bathrooms and a dresser used as a TV stand. Remove doors or change colour; there are many possibilities.
This is also great time to declutter. Because we spend more time indoors in the winter, things sometimes get a little disorganized. Sometimes that means we have to make a furniture purchase; if this is the case, I always look for furniture that is multi-purpose. For example, I just purchased a set of cubes that look like ottomans, and which provide extra seating in my living room. The seat can be flipped over to become a tray that comes in handy as a table for drinks. They also provide storage space for things like toys, magazines. They are soft, so kids don’t have to worry about hurting themselves. Multi-purpose furniture like this makes life a little easier.
So, whether you purchase a new item or you reinvent something that you already have, it is all about creating a place you feel comfortable in and that you love to come home to.
If you are interested in purchasing cubes or other interesting items, check out Leon’s Buy and Sell outside of Exeter. They have new items, as well as affordable items that, with a little tender, love and care, could be great pieces. You just have to think outside the cube.

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.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Snow, snow, and… more snow! Long stretches of intense cold! Sounds like a good old-fashioned Canadian winter, just as the Farmer’s Almanac predicted. However, it can be hard on people and animals alike.
In mid January, during one of the cold snaps, I was outside shoveling snow – no surprise there. I kept hearing a pathetic “meowing” sound and finally located a small cat crouched beneath the front porch. In the twilight I must have looked like a shadowy figure because when I reached out to pet it, ‘Kitty’ took off and disappeared into the dusk.
I surmised that it was likely a barn cat and hoped it would go back to where it belonged. That night the thermometer plunged to a bone-chilling -20 degrees Celsius. The next morning, as I walked past the porch with Fergus the Lab, I was disappointed to hear the soft meowing once again. I finished up the short jaunt with the dog and deposited him into the house (he doesn’t get along with cats very well). I went to the fridge and found a piece of turkey. Back outside, I carefully approached the cat, who I could now see had tiger-like markings and was a little on the small side, yet fully grown. I extended my meat offering carefully, and the cold kitty gingerly bit into it. That was when I grabbed him (her?) by the scruff of the neck and clutched him to my chest. He snuggled in and kept munching the turkey as I walked him two doors north to the neighbour’s horse barn. I lifted the latch and entered the comfortable space where plenty of felines were gathered, well fed and watered. The horses provided plenty of warmth. What a relief! Now I could proceed to work with a clear conscience. Thankfully, I have not seen Kitty since. It is amazing how tough animals can be; however, I doubt this cat would have survived much more of the biting cold.

Animal adaptations
There are two main ways wild critters adapt in winter. One category is the ‘nappers and snackers’. These are animals that are not true hibernators: squirrels, chipmunks, bears, skunks, beavers and badgers. They will sleep much of the time, but get up and forage for food when the weather is good. Raccoons, skunks, bears, and badgers will actually enter a state of torpor during intense cold and live off their own fat for a while.
The true hibernators appear to be dead because the heart rate is so slow and body temperature drops dramatically. They must eat a lot of food in the fall before going to sleep. True hibernators include: bats, groundhogs, ground squirrel, frogs, snakes, etc.

White-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer have had it rough this winter. Deep snow makes it difficult to negotiate movement and the long cold periods mean more energy is required. The deer continue to forage on any plants, twigs, and buds they can get at, including cedar trees and the bark of many other types of trees. In spite of the deep snow, any of the deer Fergus and I have spotted in the back field have appeared to be relatively healthy.
So… was Wiarton Willie correct in his prediction of six more weeks of winter when he was awakened from his winter sleep on February 2? The deer certainly hope not!

Eye for Design
By Lorette Mawson
http://www.decoratewithlorette.com/

Since we are having, shall we say, an old fashioned winter, I thought why not talk about colour? This seems to be the time of year when we all could use a little colour in our living spaces. I am going to start with a quick definition of what each colour represents, which may give you the colour inspiration you need for your home.
One of my favourite colours is red, which is a colour of expression and energy. When used on walls, it has a wrapping effect.
Orange is a colour that represents warmth and nature. An upbeat colour, it also makes some feel hurried, so it may not be the best choice for a room where you want to relax.
Yellow, the happy, hopeful colour, is also considered an intellectual colour. This would make a good choice for an office or a classroom.
Right now, I wish I were seeing this colour out my window: green. Green is associated with nature, nurturing and harmony, so this would be a good colour for a bedroom, bathroom, reading area, office, or library. Many possibilities.
Purple, or violet, is associated with luxury, sophistication, and wealth. It can be overwhelming in large quantities, but very striking in accessories.
We’re seeing a lot of white these days; some see white as crisp and clean, others as sterile, and some find it stark and impersonal, while others find it calming.
The final colour I want to address is black. Black is the mystery colour, the colour of the unknown. It’s also a solid and grounding colour, and it’s a formal colour.
Knowing how colour can affect us should help you in choosing colours for your home. Other colour inspiration can come from a piece of fabric you love or your favourite clothes. We seem to gravitate to colours we love when we are buying clothes.
Soon, summer will come and we will be back to the great outdoors, but for now, I hope this little bit of colour knowledge will give you some inspiration, unless white is your colour of choice.

Courtesy ParticipACTION

February is the time to celebrate the ones we love. Having a partner on Valentine’s Day might be good for your date book, but it could also be good for your health.
Research shows that married individuals participate in exercise more often than their single counterparts. In a study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise that looked at 3,075 people, married couples were more likely to be active than non-married individuals. And if one spouse was active, the other spouse was also more likely to be active. In fact, spouses of highly active men were three times more likely to be active than partners of inactive husbands.
If you’re not planning to tie the knot anytime soon, make plans with a friend or love interest and take on the task of getting active together.

Getting more physical activity into your day does not require a huge investment of time or money. According to Canada’s Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living, you need 60 minutes of activity a day-and that doesn’t have to be done all at once. There are plenty of fun things you can do, 10 minutes at a time, to get to that daily total. And there are plenty of opportunities to move more together.
In addition to trying new things, there are many ways to get more movement into the activities you already enjoy. With some creativity and commitment, you can ease yourselves into a healthier lifestyle and make more of your time together.

Here are some suggestions for getting your heart beating a little faster on Valentine’s Day:

A Romantic Stroll
Walk to and from your favourite restaurant together-or to the theatre after dinner. Enjoy some fresh air and the time to unwind and share a conversation.

An Active Getaway
If you’re thinking of whisking him or her away for the weekend, try planning a ski vacation or adding a hike in the woods to your romantic itinerary.

Valentine’s Day Hunt
If chocolates are your traditional Valentine’s treat, take a cue from the Easter Bunny and hide them around your house or apartment.

Feeling the Music
Dancing in your living room, stretching or doing yoga together will help you unwind and set the mood for a romantic evening.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Indeed the crow is common, but never underestimate its abilities. The correct name is American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos), and it is entirely black except for its brown eyes. Studies of these very intelligent birds show that they can actually count, solve simple puzzles, learn symbols and retain information. They also hoard treasures like shells, coloured pebbles and shiny objects. They enjoy eating snails and cleverly break the mollusks’ shells by dropping them on rocks from above.
Ernest Thompson Seton wrote an amazing, true tale about a crow named ‘Silverspot’ in his anthology, “Wild Animals I Have Known”. In the late 19th century, Silverspot (so named for a nickel-sized white patch on one cheek) resided on a pine-clad hill near Toronto’s Castle Frank for more than twenty years! According to Seton, the crow was ‘always on duty’ and ‘ready for the attack’.
One day the author was out walking along the railroad track when he noticed an approaching flock of crows, with Silverspot in the lead. When they were quite near, Seton raised his closed umbrella slightly. Silverspot gave a quick “Caw!” and the flock rose immediately out of gun range. This scene was repeated on several occasions. Soon the crows were wise to the trick and began to ignore Seton. However, when he changed the umbrella to a rifle, the effect was instant as the flock swooped to greater heights. Seton states that a crow can tell who is more dangerous; the farmer’s son or his daughter. Obviously, the son is more likely to be wielding a gun.
Crows take great pleasure in harassing large predators like hawks and owls. A lead crow will call gangs together, sometimes numbering up to two hundred, to chase and pester the larger birds, subsequently driving them from their own territory.
Fergus the yellow Labrador and I were on an early morning meander at the back of our property during the Christmas holidays. From the edge of the deciduous forest I heard a raucous low-pitched “caw!” immediately followed by a higher-pitched “caw, caw-caw!” from some distance away. Then I spotted the red-tailed hawk, minding his own business as he soared loftily over our heads. He was likely hunting for mice or bunnies. Suddenly one of the marauding crows came in from behind like a jet fighter zeroing in on its target. The second attacker plummeted from above, causing the hawk to dodge and weave to escape the two pests, who had obviously planned their little game at the expense of the unsuspecting raptor. The last I saw of them was three tiny specks disappearing into the distance at the horizon.
Night brings a new threat to the crow. They do not see well in the dark and can fall prey to the sharp-eyed owl. Ernest Thompson Seton knew old Silverspot for twenty years. His clever feathered friend came to a sad end one night when a great-horned owl dragged him off his perch as he slept. Seton found the bloody remains the next morning. He knew it was Silverspot when he turned over the head to reveal the white patch on the cheek. The tell-tale double-toed tracks of a great-horned owl were scattered in the turf.

Eye for Design
By Lorette Mawson
http://www.DecorateWithLorette.com

Depending on your situation, getting your home ready for the buyers’ market can be a daunting task. The job can range from small touches to quite a makeover.
To begin the process of selling your home, I suggest starting at the point where a potential buyer drives in your laneway. For me, the front door has to be your focal point drawing buyers in. I suggest painting your door an eye-catching but pleasing colour. Also, if the hardware on your door is outdated, you should consider changing it.
My next step would be to take a walk around the property and fix anything broken, such as railings, fences, laneway cracks, peeling paint, etc.
As we approach the indoors, the most important steps are to clean and declutter. Put away seasonal items such as decor and clothing; you may have to rent storage or find a friend who will lend you a spare room.
Next fix anything broken inside, including taps, lights and railings. Outdated items such as cupboards can be transformed with some paint and new hardware. When giving your walls a fresh coat of paint, keep the colour fairly neutral to appeal to more buyers. Colour can be added through art and accessories.
Window treatments that are outdated can be replaced inexpensively with a bamboo or vinyl blind, making it clean and simple.
You may also want to store some of your furniture pieces if your rooms are too cluttered. Sometimes moving items to another room or changing an item’s colour or hardware can give a new perspective.
Try to make the sprucing up experience enjoyable by having a painting party; inviting friends to help seems to make things like less work.
A home stager may help, although I find the television shows on home staging a little unrealistic; after all, people still have to live in these homes while selling them, and with busy lives, children and jobs, the showcase look can be hard to maintain.
Once you get your updating done, the key is to try keep it as clean and clutter-free as you can, and hopefully the right buyer will walk through that eye-catching front door.

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.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

We are all too familiar with holiday feasting and what it can do to our waistlines (let alone our cholesterol levels). After the holiday season we begin to see the ads for fitness and weight loss programs: “Lose 20 pounds for 20 bucks” – or something like that. Many of us make stringent New Year’s resolutions only to break them before January is out. However, there are some ways to survive the party food season without putting on an extra five or ten pounds.

Pace Yourself
It is well known in nutrition circles that the more slowly one eats, the less food you will consume. This applies to everyday meal consumption, but even more so when at a social gathering. It is so easy to eat quickly, gulping delicious morsels while talking to friends, co-workers, or other acquaintances. The best approach is to slow everything down; inhale deeply, be calm, and savour every bite (which should be small). Chew slowly and you’ll be surprised at how much better the food tastes.

Prioritize
When faced with platter upon platter of tempting, fattening foods, or catering staff in your face with the next hot hors d’oeuvre, stop and think about what pleases your palate most. Don’t have some of everything; instead, choose the things you love. For me it would have to be the mushroom tart, the barbecued shrimp skewer, or the garlic bruschetta. It is all about priorities. Don’t just eat something because it is in front of you. Make sure it is so appealing to you that it is worth the fat and calories. Again…eat oh so slowly.

The 80/20 Rule
This is a rule I learned in a nutrition class at Fanshawe College. Eighty per cent of the time you should eat a really healthy, balanced diet with lots of good fats (not trans or saturated) and whole grains. Twenty per cent of the time you can treat yourself to the less healthy foods with minimal nutritional value or ‘empty calories’. I actually prefer changing it to the 90/10 rule but have been known to bend it during the party season.

So, good luck this Christmas. Enjoy the festivities but don’t overdo it. Go for lots of walks outside. You’ll be thankful on January 1st you do!

1/3 cup – canola oil
1 cup – dark molasses
1 1/4 cup – orange juice
1 tbsp – grated orange peel
2 1/2 cups – whole wheat flour
1 tsp – baking soda
1 tsp – ground cinnamon
2 tsp – ground ginger
1/2 tsp – salt
1/2 cup – raisins

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix wet ingredients together in a large bowl. Sift dry ingredients together into a medium bowl. Add raisins. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well. Pour into a greased 9” x 13” pan and bake 40 minutes. Be sure not to over bake. Gingerbread will be moist.

Eye for Design
By Lorette Mawson

Well here we are drawing close to that magical day. But in today’s busy world, it seems increasingly harder to get prepared for this beautiful time of year. Here are a few suggestions for last minute gift ideas and decorating.

Personalized gift-giving
Let’s start with the gifts, especially for the hard to buy for whom we seem to leave until last. Perhaps the best answer is something homemade; everyone has a talent of some sort, and it is also rewarding to give a gift your personal touch.
Are you a baker? Present your treats on a Christmas plate or in a Christmas tin, or wrapped in cellophane with a bow and possibly an ornament. If flower arranging is more your talent, how about a centerpiece? You could use Christmas mugs or bowls; use your imagination! For knitters, your handiwork always makes an excellent gift.

Simple decorating
When it comes to decorating, one easy and inexpensive solution is the easy to find pinecone. Put a bunch of pinecones in a basket, with a ribbon tied on. Or put pinecones in Christmas mugs in a row of three or five on your mantle or table. You can also make a wreath out of pinecones, again topped with a beautiful bow. I also recommend filling glass containers with pinecones, ornaments, or Christmas candy or candy canes.
Really, you do not need to spend a lot of money. With some imagination, you can achieve beauty in your home for the holidays without breaking the budget. Remember that the time you spend together is what makes the season magical.

Eye for Design
By Lorette Mawson

As we approach that magical yet busy time of year, this month is a great time to think about how to give your home a festive look for the holidays on any budget.
My first suggestion is to look to the great outdoors. I draw inspiration from my backyard, but you could try a walk through the park looking for pinecones, or a drive out to the country roads in search of greenery such as cedar, spruce, pine, or festive red dogwood.
Dollar stores are a great place to find inexpensive Christmas items, including Christmas mugs. Put a group of three together with a mini poinsettia in each or pinecones for a great look. For an added extra sparkle, a can of spray paint will go a long way. While at the dollar store, pick up a stack of Christmas boxes and wrap bows around them with a sprig of greenery to make an inexpensive festive decoration. The possibilities are endless.
If your budget allows for a little more splurging, fill outdoor urns and window boxes with greenery. Home stores can provide you with lots of reasonably priced items like Christmas throws, pillows, placemats, and tablecloths. Don’t forget candles: they are available at all price points and always add glow and warmth to a room.
For big spenders, remember that nothing is more festive that real greenery. Visit greenhouses/nurseries for some boxwoods for your urns, window boxes etc, and maybe some fancier greens. For the indoors, think about changing your art or area carpets. Now is the time to buy or bring out your fine china, crystal, wonderful centrepieces and candelabras. Also, if you are fortunate enough to have high ceilings some large-scale wreaths or arrangements in a smaller urn loaded up with greens and some hydrangeas or willow would look great on a buffet or in your foyer.
But all in all, just enjoy the season and the time you get to spend with family and friends and know that you really can have a beautifully decorated home on any budget.

Decorator and home stager Lorette (Vanneste) Mawson lives in McGillivray Township with her husband and two daughters.
For more, visit http://www.decoratewithlorette.com or call 519-294-0651.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Most people choose their wines by bouquet, an eye-catching label, or price. The true connoisseur uses terms like ‘oaky’, ‘peppery’, ‘fruity’, or ‘earthy’.
Our outdoorsman friend, Gary Russwurm of Muskoka, chooses his wines by the birds pictured on the label. His choices come from Pelee Island, the southernmost point in Canada.
Anyone who has visited Point Pelee National Park may have witnessed spectacular spring or fall bird migrations. Avid birders make the trek each year with their binoculars and cameras poised. Many of them are also there to visit the winery and take home a few bottles of wine. Several of the countless species which pass through the park are depicted on the bottles produced by Pelee Island Winery.
When Gary and his wife, Margaret Ann, came from Muskoka to visit us in October, they brought along a VQA bottle of VIDAL/SEYVAL BLANC. The bird on the label was a new one for me. I guessed it to be a warbler by its body shape, general size and type of beak. Further exploration of text on the back label revealed that the bird was a prothonotary warbler, a brilliantly deep yellow bird with blue-gray wings and no wing bars.

Since the Russwurms’ visit, I have conducted a wine inventory in our basement. I have managed to locate:
Pelee Island CABERNET; bird species Scarlet tanager – best viewing in mid-May (according to the back label);
MERLOT; bird species red-headed woodpecker – an entirely red head and a solidly black back;
MERLOT CABERNET; bird species American goldfinch (otherwise known as a wild canary);
SHIRAZ CABERNET; bird species Indigo bunting – often graces the grassy woodland edges and brushy fields of Pelee Island. This bird relies on brilliant sunlight to transform its plumage into the bright turquoise-blue for which it is named (reports the back label); and
SHIRAZ; bird species the Northern oriole; flame-orange and black with a solid black head.

Choosing an Ontario wine has an added benefit; there is a smaller ecological footprint created when one chooses food and wine from within a hundred mile radius. To transport goods across a nation, continent, or ocean demands enormous amounts of energy. The Niagara region is another example of some fabulous wineries. So drink up! Your local wines are readily available and you can learn about the birds at the same time.

Editor’s Note: Pelee Island Winery has a birder package of six wines, including several of the ones Jenipher describes here, available online at http://www.peleeisland.com.

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola
VisitGrandBend.com

Are you ready to give selling over the Internet a try? There are a host of tools available; many of them are free or very low cost.

Cleaning out the closet
Most of us remember the days when costly classified ads or yard sales were the only option. Today consider turning to kijiji.ca or craigslist.com to sell that dusty treadmill. You can list your items for sale, free of charge, on both of these very popular websites. This is an especially good solution for bulky items that you would not want to ship to a buyer. Just note, “Local pickup only” in your ad.

Crafts or small inventories
Exposure to as many potential buyers as possible is critical to successful online selling and this is especially challenging for those with limited budgets. Ebay.ca and etsy.com are both excellent solutions. Either of these services can function as the main website for your operation. Ebay.ca has a storefront feature that allows you to create a fully functioning online store. Etsy.com is set up this way by default. They have built in payment options that allow you to create a paypal.com account that can easily and securely link to your personal bank account.
If you already have a website and you want to sell items on your own web page, using tools available at paypal.com you can integrate a shopping cart and checkout feature into your existing site. This will allow you to accept major credit cards. While this is a simple solution, keep in mind that you also need plenty of visitors to your website to generate sales.

Selling large inventories
There are several tools on the market today designed for the Do It Yourself entrepreneur. While you need not be a technical expert, a good understanding of web basics is required. Whether you have an existing website or you are starting from scratch, your web hosting company should specialize in e-commerce.
Many hosting companies offer free e-commerce software as part of your monthly fee. They also provide web security, customer payment solutions and the technical support you will need. The hosting company can create a new a website address for you, for example www.bestwidgets.com, or they can transfer your existing web address to a new e-commerce account. Once your account is created you are typically provided with a web link to your new online store for customization. Usually there will be several design templates for you to choose from as you create the look and feel of your new store.
Next step is adding your inventory and product pictures. Your hosting company can assist in setting up a payment gateway. This will allow you to accept credit cards in real time as well as calculate shipping charges using carriers such as United Postal Service, UPS.

Recommendations
There are two web applications that I highly recommend mivamerchant.com and/or oscommerce.com. They are both full service solutions including options such as integration with your existing accounting software like QuickBooks. The options are unlimited and you will need to do your research. My best advice is to choose your e-commerce web hosting company carefully, then jump in and start selling.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

“There’s a hairy woodpecker on the suet feeder.”
“No, that’s a downy!”
This is the sort of banter you hear around our place. Truth be told, the hairy and downy woodpeckers are pretty much identical in appearance except for size. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish which is which because of distance (or poor vision).
Roger Tory Peterson, father of the field guide, states that the downy woodpecker is like a smaller edition of the hairy: about 2.5 inches smaller. At a distance this doesn’t always help with identification. Both birds are white-backed and black-winged, with regular white spots. Two white stripes adorn a black head and the male of each species sports a small red patch at the back of its head. The main differences are body size and the bill. The downy’s bill is small; the hairy’s is proportionately larger and quite prominent.
These woodpeckers are regular visitors to feeding stations and are fun to observe. Comfort foods for us may include chili, soups and stews; for a woodpecker it is definitely suet. It provides necessary heat energy to survive the winter’s cold. Congealed pan drippings mixed with peanut butter or trimmings from meat stuffed into net bags provide tasty, energy-filled treats as well.

The ability of the woodpecker to effectively drill holes into a tree seems to defy physics. I can only imagine what it might be like to repeatedly and relentlessly thrust my face into a solid object. Some quick research revealed that woodpeckers have a suspension system in their skull that reduces and absorbs the force of strokes. It has special softening tissues between the bones of its skull.
During my childhood, at the cottage in Muskoka, we often awoke to the rapid percussion of a hairy woodpecker as he drilled away on the metal chimney-pipe on the roof. We never knew why he did it; perhaps he liked to hear himself. The sound would reverberate throughout our little wooden structure and our night’s slumber would come to an end.
People sometimes mistakenly call the hairy or downy woodpecker a ‘red-headed woodpecker’. The red-headed is aptly named, as its entire head is bright red. They are not common at feeders, preferring hedgerows, groves and fields. I have only seen a couple over the years on our Ailsa Craig property.
Flickers and sapsuckers are common in the area as well, and are actually members of the woodpecker family. I shall reserve the details on them for a future column.
While in our campsite in Algonquin Park this past summer, we were visited by a large hairy woodpecker. The object of his attraction was a fallen pine log, loaded with juicy grubs and beetles. As he did not seem to care much about our presence, Tom (my better half) was able to get a few good photos of him.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

It is commonplace for us to refer to certain groups of animals by their correct term: herds of cattle, schools of fish, pods of whales, swarms of bees, litter of puppies, etc. In the avian family, the names for species groups are indeed quite unique, if not intriguing. Three group names are stated in the title of this article.
Bird groups are often named by more interesting terms than ‘flock’. In many cases the group name is more appropriate than one might think. A few examples are highlighted in the ensuing paragraphs.
One might wonder why a group of raptors (hawks for example) would be called a ‘cauldron’. Perhaps these adept hunters had been historically associated with witches’ brew. Wrong. Upon some investigation I learned that the term refers to migratory behaviour. In the autumn when massive flocks of raptors take off from the ground, the spiraling funnels of thousands of birds resemble kettles or cauldrons. Makes sense.
A ‘murder’ of crows is another term that conjures up macabre scenes of ghosts and haunted houses. Again, the group name is based on crow behaviour. Crows are known to fly in large mobs in order to harass other birds, like hawks and owls. Mob mentality frequently ends up in murder. Hence the group name.
Similarly, a group of ravens is referred to as an ‘unkindness’. The ominous appearance of this bearded black bird, with its raucous voice was highlighted in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”. It is featured in mythology worldwide. The raven is the cleverest of birds and has been known to steer a hawk to a rabbit (which the hawk kills) and then chase the hawk away so the raven can have his lunch. The hawk would call that ‘unkind’.
Eagles have long been admired for their soaring spirits and have been used as symbols of wisdom and determination. They are always at the top of the food chain. Sports teams and universities often use the eagle image as a logo or mascot. The link to higher education may explain the group name ‘a convocation of eagles’.
A group of peacocks is known as an ‘ostentation’. The reason is obvious when one thinks of the ostentatious strutting of the males, parading their coloured fans for the females. A ‘gaggle’ of geese simply comes from the burbling sound made by a passing flock. A group of hummingbirds is known as a ‘charm’. Everyone is charmed by the beauty of this tiniest of birds, delicately sipping nectar from a bell-shaped flower.
Other examples include: a bevy of quail, a bouquet of pheasants, a company of parrots, an exaltation of larks, a pitying of doves (yes the cooing is pitiful) and a herd of cranes. Try applying these terms next time you see a ‘flock’ of crows or migrating hawks. You may get some strange looks, but you will be the wiser.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Summer was gone but the good weather lingered on into golden September. It was one of those lovely, almost autumn weekends that found us at the cottage on Three Mile Lake in Muskoka. Saturday passed pleasantly and dusk came relatively early. There was a slight chill in the air so my mother, my dad, my friend Debbie and I sat close to the open-hearth fireplace. At the ripe old age of eleven, it seemed to me that the gathering darkness and flickering flames were setting the mood for one of my father’s choice ghost stories.
Gradually the logs were consumed by the fire and shadows deepened in the room. There were no other cottagers in the bay that weekend so all was very quiet and still, except for the chirping of crickets heard through the screens of the front windows which faced the lake.
My father’s story concerned some poor man whose dying wife had persuaded him to bury her with all her jewels. Later on, the direst of circumstances made him decide to open her grave in order to extract the jewels therefrom. Dad’s quiet, slow, monotonous voice added to the spell of the moment. Debbie and I were paying rapt attention, along with my mother who had undoubtedly heard the story countless times.
We followed the exploits of the desperate grave robber as he made his way to the cemetery. In the light of a dim kerosene lantern, he located the shallow grave and dug down until the metal of his shovel met the wood of the coffin. He opened it and in a rush of courage seized the jewels. We noted his frantic efforts to return the grave to its previous appearance. With backward looks he hurriedly made his way homeward. Now the moment of truth was near. It was almost time to bring everyone back to the present with a start; the man crept up the stairs to the bedrooms that he and his wife had shared. Suddenly…!!
At that precise moment in the story, the whole cottage where we sat was alight with an eerie green glow, which filled every corner of the room. My mother’s oil painting of an autumn forest, bathed in phosphorescence by the eerie glow, stood out on the back wall. We all spun our heads toward the source of the illumination. Down the bay sped a globular greenish-white object that grew in size and then quickly faded, leaving everyone momentarily speechless. Our senses having returned, we took to our feet and ran outside toward the lake. My father then explained that apparently a meteorite had raced through the atmosphere at the moment when one usually shouts GOTCHA! at the end of a ghost story.
Meteor showers are common throughout August and September, but we normally are able to see them as what we might call shooting stars streaking down the sky on a clear night. We had been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. It is likely that a small, perhaps baseball-sized chunk of a meteor had broken through the earth’s atmosphere and taken its path right into the lake that ghost story night. It is an event that I will never forget as long as I live! Nor am I likely to ever have one of my own ghost stories so aptly punctuated.

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola
VisitGrandBend.com

With history as our guide, we know what is coming next: the beach crowds begin to fade, shop owners hold the last sale of the summer and we begin the slow march towards reclaiming our quiet beachside town. Local merchants, craftspeople and artists run their sales totals, budget for the winter and hope that next year the spring will be early, the summer long and gas prices low.
Hey! Not so fast. Before you box up your inventory or hold a fire sale on your crafts consider how you may be able to transition your business to a year-round operation via online sales. If you think it’s not worth the hassle, here are some interesting facts from Statistics Canada:
“Canadian retail e-commerce just tallied its fifth straight year of double-digit growth, yet online sales still account for less than 1% of the total retail market, according to Statistics Canada. It is expected that the average amount that Canadians spend online will grow strongly over the next three years.”
While the largest markets for online sales in Canada have been electronics and travel, it is reasonable to assume that we will follow the growth path of the U.S. and begin to see stronger sales in clothing, music, DVDs, gifts, toys and more. Even if you are not up for competing with the likes of Amazon.ca, there are plenty of opportunities for the little guy.
Back in 2005 I partnered with business local Lisa Grady, the founder of Sport-Med, Inc., with a plan to take the niche sports medicine business online (www.sport-med.ca). Our expectations were as scant as my hands-on experience in the world of e-commerce. But build it we did and when the first orders started to come in from towns all over Canada I was stunned. “Wow, it really works.” So today I am a strong advocate of taking the plunge, but you must do your homework first. There are many considerations but the first question to mull over is:
Is the market already saturated with similar product? Maybe it is, but figure into your equation that many online retailers are U.S.-based and this creates headaches for the buyer. Canadian based sellers are still hard to find across the board from EBay to large retailers.
Next, just like any business, determine if there is a demand for the product. No demand will always equal no sales.
A great research tool is Google Trends (www.google.com/trends). Here you can discover what consumers are most interested in and the results are broken down geographically. As an example, using your computer, go to Google Trends and search on the term Webkinz (those cute furry toys you see in windows along Main Street). Bingo, who knew folks in Halifax and Winnipeg are the world leaders in Webkinz searches? Next do a basic Goggle search and try and find online Webkinz sellers located in Canada. Is there a market? You decide. Use the same exercise for any service or product.
Whether you are interested in selling old treasures from your garage or starting a full blown online operation next time I will cover some of the available tools you can use to test the waters.

Tamara Nicola will continue her series on online selling in a future entry.

Partners in Learning program proves you don’t have to go to school to be a student

Partners in Learning Open House
September 10 – 2 to 4 p.m.
Southcott Pines clubhouse
519-238-5335

Looking for a way to stretch your mind and meet people with a different perspective? Perhaps Partners in Learning is the right answer for you. The group meets Wednesday afternoons at the Southcott Pines clubhouse to share ideas and learn something new. The Grand Bend Strip’s Casey Lessard sat down with some of the group’s members to discuss the program.

What’s the structure of Partners in Learning? How does it work?
Cam Taylor: It’s a 10-week course run in the fall, and also in the winter. One person moderates and keeps the class in line and on topic. From there, each one of the 20-22 people in the course will do a bit of research and a presentation on an aspect of whatever the class is about.
Dinah Taylor: The range of topics is as wide as your imagination, and it’s entirely up to the individual. The moderator may suggest some topics, but what tends to happen is that people will latch on to something that you would never think was part of the course.
You don’t have to be a genius to do it. Some people do PowerPoint, others show pieces of paper, and others photograph albums. Everyone’s respectful; they ask questions and listen to your answers.
Frances Vink: There are some people who don’t feel comfortable making a presentation. For those people, they’re not forced to do it.
Don Santor: It’s a non-threatening atmosphere where people feel free to bring their experience to the topic of discussion.
Dinah: This fall we have three courses, and each person can take two each semester. We’re having an open house September 10, and people can meet the moderators to talk to them about their courses.
Frances: We often go on field trips. For the lighthouse course we went to Kincardine and we’ve been to the Pinery and other places.

How do you prepare for the courses?
Cam: I’ll be moderating the course with Mike, and it’s such a wide topic that there are many things that can be done. First of all there are our sources of energy, how we use energy, the energy machines, the history of energy from fire to the steam engine and the boat and the airplane. There’s a lot of scope here for anyone with interest in any of those.
Molly Russell: I want to present psychic energy, so that’s a different sort of thing.

Why is this important?
Nancy Winters: I was going to take a course at Western. Once I had to drive there in the winter and had to drive the whole way in the left lane because it was the only one that had been plowed yet. I thought, I don’t think I can make this drive all winter. I didn’t even have to look for this. Someone told me they were doing this here, so I don’t have to risk life and limb to do it.

What has generated a lot of discussion at Partners?
Frances: The Purpose and Meaning of Life, which Don Santor moderated, created a lot of interest.
Molly: Then I did The Philosophy of Anything to explore some of these ideas.
Frances: Courses like local history have been very interesting.
Dinah: One of the first courses I took was on the history of architecture. That was fascinating because it brought in people from a wide variety of backgrounds. But every course has a personal element and you get to know the people in the course very well.

What are some topics of concern for Grand Bend that need to be addressed?
Nancy: This is something we would address in Socrates Café. The group sits around and each person writes down what they want to talk about that day. The moderator lists the topics on the board and the whole group votes on the one or two issues they want to talk about. The hot button issues tend to get a lot of discussion.
Molly: It’s going to be held at the Schoolhouse Restaurant on Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m., and it runs every other week.
Dinah: In the past we’ve talked about provincial funding for faith-based schools, and we had one on euthanasia, immigration, and local issues like main street development. I expect beach enhancement will be a topic this year.
Mike Ash: The course I’m helping moderate on energy is going to be pretty topical. Are we heading for doom or is it all hype?
Glen Russell: It’s an opportunity to deal with local issues that may never come up otherwise. Everyone can add something to these issues.
Mike: Back in my university days, 80 per cent of what I learned was from the other people who were participating. This is absolutely no different. It’s a great way to go through the winter and get a little education.
Cam: It helps everyone think outside of the box and take off the blinkers.
Dinah: One of the best things about Partners is that you don’t get a grade. It’s like the best parts of being in school: you make friends, you have fun, have stimulating conversations, no one criticizes you for what you said, and there are no grades or tests. It’s a huge confidence booster.

My assumption is the target audience is an older audience.
Dinah: The hours we meet are more suited to those who are retired and semi-retired, but we would love to have people of all ages. We’re perceived as an intellectual group, and we like to think we are, but we’re not academic. We like to think and we like to discuss things. We want people to feel that if they’ve never done things like this, there’s a place like this, too. The course I’m moderating is Hollywood. We thought it would be fun to have a course that you could look at from any aspect. There’s an endless variety of topics and they’re not all academic.
This is a group that’s very welcoming and it’s wonderful to belong if you’re here in the winter; you look forward to the Wednesday and we’d like to see anyone join us.

For more info or to register, call 519-238-5335.

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola
VisitGrandBend.com

Like many others, I’ve always been a gadget person and I’m always interested in the latest gadgets that hit the market. However, I was late to the table when it came to purchasing a GPS receiver. I don’t travel by car that much so I didn’t see the need; boy was I wrong.
With prices starting at around $125, a GPS device will ensure that you never get lost again and you might just find yourself confidently exploring back roads for fun. You simply type in the address of your destination and a soothing voice along with a color display begins to guide you along the way. It is almost an eerie experience to see this device pinpoint your exact location and gently guide you back to your route should you make a wrong turn. If you have wondered how this technology works, here is a great description from the website, howstuffworks.com:
“The Global Positioning System (GPS) is actually a constellation of 27 Earth-orbiting satellites (24 in operation and three extras in case one fails). The U.S. military developed and implemented this satellite network as a military navigation system, but soon opened it up to everybody else.
“Each of these 3,000- to 4,000-pound solar-powered satellites circles the globe at about 12,000 miles (19,300 km), making two complete rotations every day. The orbits are arranged so that at anytime, anywhere on Earth, there are at least four satellites ‘visible’ in the sky.
“A GPS receiver’s job is to locate four or more of these satellites, figure out the distance to each, and use this information to deduce its own location. This operation is based on a simple mathematical principle called trilateration. Trilateration is a method of determining the relative positions of objects using the geometry of triangles in a similar fashion as triangulation.”
There are several cool models on the market; one of my favourites is the Asus R300 Handheld Personal Navigator. This little device seems to have it all and is priced around $150. A mounting kit makes it easy to use in the car but you can also slide it into your pocket, and get directions in pedestrian, bike and even bus mode. It also has an “entertainment hub” and can carry photos, music files, even videos. It accepts external Micro SD cards as well. It has Bluetooth and an embedded FM transmitter, which lets you stream directions through your car stereo. With the R300, you can even field phone calls!

Golf Tips
By Cameron Rankin

Maintain your spine angle during your swing. The correct posture and proper spine angle are the keys to more consistent play.
Pivot around your spine on the backswing (close to 45 degrees) maintaining the same angle during it. Your downswing to impact and the follow through should also remain on the same angle till the ball has long gone.
Remember you didn’t lift your head, your spinal angle changed!
Your posture is the key to success with this swing tip- slight leg flex at address, pelvic tilt, get your spine close to a 45 degree angle to the ground, keeping your spine as straight as possible, and have your arms hang straight down from your shoulders.

For more tips on your game contact your local CPGA Professional.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Family TYRANNIDAE, scientific name Tyrannus tyrannus. Sounds like some type of dinosaur, doesn’t it? It is not what you might expect; this scientific name is that of the Eastern kingbird. You will commonly spot this handsome bird perched on a wire, or high up on a tree or weed stalk catching insects. This 22 cm-long bird has a black cap, forehead, cheeks and bill. White throat, charcoal gray back, white under parts, and black tail with a white terminal band are other distinguishing marks.
The Latin name means “king of the tyrants”. This aggressive bird, when defending its nest, will be seen chasing and pestering larger species like hawks, crows, and turkey vultures. Extremely agile in its attacks, the kingbird will pull out the other birds’ feathers and generally make their lives miserable.
According to Fred J. Alsop III, PhD in Ornithology, the Eastern kingbird winters in South America where its diet becomes mostly berries. The male performs erratic courtship flights, circling, hovering and tumbling with tail spread. This bird is monogamous and a solitary nester. Young are fed by both parents for 16-18 days.
Your chances of spotting a member of this distinctive species are extremely good, as its population is common and widespread. Watch out for them along the roadside, perched on fences, utility wires, shrubs or posts.

Current Backyard Sightings
We have been enjoying a tremendous number of rose-breasted grosbeaks in the yard this summer. Throughout the day you can count ten or more members of this beautiful species on the feeders. The spring fledgling males are in their immature phase of plumage. The breast is rusty in colour with multiple streaks, and the distinctive red triangular patch is not yet developed. Other common species noted are house finches, downy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches and the very friendly chickadees. We continue feeding all summer. Don’t forget to keep the birdbath full of fresh water.
We have also had a green heron visit our water garden on several occasions. Less than half the size of the great blue heron, this individual is fairly young and the plumage on its head is quite fluffy. He is a deep shade of green with distinctive yellow legs, and does not spook easily when we approach the water garden. However, the frog population appears to have diminished.

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola
VisitGrandBend.com

Over the past few years, the number of colleges and universities offering classes and degree programs online has soared. With rising gas prices and the rural nature of much of Canada, an online education is increasingly becoming an acceptable method of learning for many.
Online learning offers the convenience of classroom accessibility 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from virtually anywhere in the world. Because you do all your classroom work when it is convenient for you, your schedule is very flexible. You simply access your virtual classroom through the Web.
You will need to go through the same application process as you would with any degree program. Once you’ve been accepted and your coursework begins, you’ll likely receive an online syllabus outlining the course. For your online coursework, you’ll likely have weekly assignments due and regular tests. Much like in the regular classroom, an online school holds students to the same standards as a traditional classroom. But the added flexibility of being able to work around your work schedule and other life commitments makes getting an online degree particularly appealing to adults who are already employed.
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), Fanshawe College and Lambton College all offer online classes. The content of distance learning programs can cover a wide range. If you aren’t sure about full-time online learning, many institutions such as UWO offer hybrid degrees, where students can learn online and also in a traditional class setting at the same time.
Athabasca University is Canada’s leading distance-education and online university. They are experiencing rapid growth and currently serve about 37,000 students per year. Another rising star is Baker College Online, which is accredited and based in the US. Baker College is known as an affordable solution at only $170 per credit hour for undergraduate programs. The University of Phoenix, which pioneered online learning, continues to be a leader in North America but take note: a single credit hour will set you back over $500.
Many colleges throughout Canada also offer online career training and individual courses for those wanting to learn a new skill. Online learning isn’t just for college students. People who have interests in a subject outside of work often take classes in that subject for fun and enjoyment. Lambton College even offers a senior discount on all of their online offerings.
If you are up for a challenge this fall, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offers 1700 courses online, free of charge. They are one of many universities that are now part of an open courseware community. Check out www.ocw.mit.edu for more information.
Whether you are interested in a degree program, professional development or personal growth, you will want to register soon for the fall semester. This year many expect the virtual classrooms to be overflowing and the possibly of being waitlisted is greater than ever due to the pain at the gas pump.

Apples partner well with cheddar and here the cheese is built right into the crust. For another variation, use your favourite crust recipe and top with apple crisp topping.

From Ontario Apple Growers. Serves six.
 
Cheddar Crust:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup cold butter (cut into small pieces)
1 3/4 cups old cheddar cheese
5 to 6 tbsp ice water

Apple Filling:
6 cups sliced peeled harvest apples
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg yolk
1 tsp milk

In large bowl, combine flour and salt. With pastry blender, cut in shortening and butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in cheese. Stir in water a little at a time until dough holds together. Press into 2 round disks; wrap with plastic wrap and chill 30 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare filling: In large bowl toss apples and lemon juice. In small bowl, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon; stir into apples.
On lightly floured surface, roll out pastry for bottom crust to 1/8-inch thickness. Place in 9-inch pie plate; trim edge even with rim. Roll out pastry for top crust, cutting steam vents. Add filling to bottom crust, place top crust over apples, trimming to 1/2-inch over the edge. Tuck overhang under edge of bottom crust and finish edge as desired. In a small bowl, beat together egg yolk and milk; brush top of pie with mixture.
Bake on bottom rack in a 425°F (220°C) oven for 15 minutes then reduce temperature to 350°F (180°C) and bake for about 40 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown.

View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard

Erryn Shephard of F.I.N.E. asked me the other day what I like to eat. I struggle to respond, but here goes. I love pizza and fries, a good burger, pasta, Indian-style food, burritos, and chocolate. Lots of chocolate.
One catch, though. I’m vegan, which means I don’t eat animal products. So my pizza has no cheese, my burger is a veggie burger, and my chocolate is dark chocolate. And while we’re at it, let’s talk organic and local.
It’s not easy shopping or eating out as a vegan, I must admit. There’s not a lot of pre-packaged food for me to eat, and restaurants often struggle with the concept (although some, like the ones featured in this issue, are eager to experiment). So, against all odds, I’ve learned to cook. And I like it.
I love eating high quality, local and organic vegetables, and finding creative ways to use them. I wasn’t always this way. Five years ago, I was on my way to being overweight, and I didn’t like vegetables that had funny names. It’s not my mom’s fault. You can ask her.
Now that I’ve discovered real food (thanks to Anjhela’s insistence), I don’t know what I would do without it. I’m sure our restaurant friends at F.I.N.E., Hessenland, and elsewhere would agree.
Good food is all around us, and we’re lucky to live surrounded by such abundance. If we don’t appreciate it, it won’t be here forever. I suggest you take a cue from the people at Sunnivue in Ailsa Craig, and embrace real food while you can. This is a great season to eat local food, so what are you waiting for? Aren’t you hungry yet?

Alternative View
By Anjhela Michielsen

Somewhere between 1500 and 3000 miles (or 2400 to 4800 km) is the average distance your food has travelled to land on your plate (Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University). And the numbers are climbing. In our modern era, these may not seem astonishing because we have come to accept and reap the benefits of a globalized market. It is not shocking to see produce stamped with the words Product of Mexico, Israel, Peru or, most frequently, U.S.A.. With most shoppers concerned about the price of their food, few care where the produce is coming from.
This is slowly changing. Our food security is diminishing, and our concerns about the environmental impact of imported products are growing. These concerns include: pesticide and herbicide use; genetically altered crops; fuel consumption due to transportation; and human and animal rights concerns. As a result, some people are looking for alternatives to the supermarket shelves.
In 2005, B.C. couple, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon decided to try something that is now coined ‘The 100 Mile Diet’. They committed to eating within a 100 mile radius (160 km) of where they live for one year. They have since written a book recording their journey and findings called The 100 Mile Diet – A Year of Local Eating. They found many environmental, social and health benefits from their experiment, and have since continued with their commitment and challenging others to follow their example.
The environmental benefits to eating locally are the most obvious: as confirmed by Iowa State University researchers, regional diets decrease fuel consumption by up to 20% as opposed to typical North American diets. There are many other reasons that eating locally benefits the consumer individually: an increase in taste because of freshness; direct connection to the farmer and their farming practices; support to local economies and consumption of less processed and packaged food, leading to weight loss and better overall health.
We are privileged to live in one of the most prosperous farming areas in the world. When you really think about it, there is a lot you can get within 160 km of where we live. There are many resources right under our noses, like the Grand Bend and Pinery farmers markets, the Sunnivue organic farm – featured in this issue – and all of the various local farms that are too numerous to count. You don’t have to drive far to start seeing farm after farm. We even have wineries for wine lovers out there.
It may take some creativity and a little more thought, but eating a local diet is highly beneficial for the environment, the local community and personal health.
If you decide to take up The 100 Mile challenge or have already, the Grand Bend Strip wants to hear about it!

Editor’s Note: The book is available at The Currant Organic General Store on Parkhill’s Main Street.

Photos and story by Casey Lessard

If you’re thinking of eating local food, but don’t feel like cooking, the seven area restaurants that are dining partners with the Grand Bend Farmers’ Market can help.
The farmers’ market’s Simply in Season dining partnership is halfway through its second year, and diners can enjoy a meal including seasonal items with produce from the market. Among the partners are F.I.N.E. A Restaurant, The Schoolhouse Restaurant, Aunt Gussie’s, The Colonial Hotel, Back ‘n Time Diner, Paddington’s, and Hessenland. Each restaurant will feature at least one recipe from the Simply in Season cookbook published by the Mennonite Central Committee three weeks this summer.
“We want as many people as possible who prepare food to think local,” says market manager Christine Bregman. “We want the consumer to be both the customer and the professional preparing the food.”
“This year I changed it a bit to something I could give in our breadbasket,” says F.I.N.E. owner Erryn Shephard, whose restaurant is next featured August 27 to September 2. “I did strawberry soup from the book, and a lemon thyme bread so people could get a sampling from it.”
When possible, restaurants are asked to purchase their raw materials from the farmers at the market. For F.I.N.E., it’s an extension of a policy to aim for local food whenever possible.
“We get our meats from Metzger’s, a great butcher,” Shephard says. “It’s an old German family. It’s an awesome place. This summer, Metzger’s has a cold-smoked pork chop, and we’re selling the heck out of it, with caramelized onions and pineapple salsa. Then we get our perch and pickerel just down the road here from Forbes, where we get our corn, too.”
Being able to access large quantities of local food is a challenge for Hessenland, which increasingly relies on the banquet business.
“It’s challenging to source a lot of stuff locally because of quantity and consistency,” says Frank Ihrig. “When you’re cooking for 200 people, I can’t say I can necessarily get potatoes for that many people from someone’s backyard or garden.”
Both restaurants enjoy easy access to special items at various times of the year.
“As the season comes, tomatoes will be on soon, and we’ll be making chili sauce and canning it for sale,” Shephard says.
“I can almost walk (to Mike Masse’s pumpkin patch) and pick up my pumpkins and squash for soups and salads,” Ihrig notes.
“We use honey from Ferguson’s for desserts and for sauces because honey has a more intense sweetness and is more rounded. It gives a nicer transition from salty to sweet.”
And the sweetness translates into local suppliers’ wallets, too.
“If we can get it locally, the quality is higher because it’s not traveling as far,” Ihrig says. “If we can keep the money in our own community, there’s an economic spin-off as well.”

Forest Hill Orchard
Owners: Ron & Melody Arnhold
Where: Pinery Flea & Farmers’ Market

While they carry a whole variety of produce, this time of year is prime time for their harvest apple, the Lodi.
“It’s the old-time favourite harvest apple. It’s fantastic because people can make applesauce and they don’t have to peel it. They boil it down and all they need is a sieve to remove the skins and the seeds. It’s tart and when it first comes off it’s nice and crisp. As it ages, like any early apple, it will go softer and then at that stage it’s for sauce only.
“They have a unique flavour that is a quality of that apple. I can tell an Ida Red pie and a Spy pie. This one’s nice and tangy; it’s refreshing.
“These apples should be refrigerated. They’ll break down real quick.
They’re picked and packed the day before market, and we store them in our cooler.
“Our price is high because the labour we pay in this country is what we have to pay. For the imports, the pickers are being paid $1 a day. I can’t pay someone $1 a day.
“A lot of people don’t know what season their food is grown in anymore. People in Toronto are asking me for cherries in May because they see them in the stores and they don’t realize cherry season is the end of June to the end of July. As a society, we don’t know our growing seasons and we don’t have the appreciation for food we once had.”

Bayfield Berry
Owner: Marlene O’Brien
Where: Grand Bend Farmers’ Market and Pinery Flea & Farmers’ Market

Bayfield Berry has a variety of produce, but their specialty is berries, and they carry one unique to this region of Ontario. Saskatoon berries were imported from Saskatchewan and are grown at their farm northeast of Bayfield.
“Saskatoon berries are between a blueberry and a blackberry, and once you bake with it, it has a taste of almond.
“You can eat them fresh or baked. A lot of families like to do their own jams and they want a fresh product, which has a different flavour than when it’s been sitting on a shelf for a week.
“Farmers’ markets get our name out and hit a unique crowd that come just for the product. They know it’s on a Wednesday or Sunday and they plan their day around it.”

Smoky Hollow Farms
Owner: Joan Brady
Where: Grand Bend Farmers’ Market

Brady is one of the members of the original steering committee for the Grand Bend Farmers’ Market. A former full-time hog farmer, she sold her 125 acre, 90 sow farm outside of Dashwood and now owns a five-acre plot northeast of Grand Bend.
“We didn’t see a lot of hope or future in the hog industry and we sold the farm in 2006. I like to play in the dirt, so this place suited me well.
“We still have 40 hogs under our roof, and we take out 10-12 every year to sell. When you have a good butcher – we use Metzger Meats – you can dare to sell your products.
“I have perennial cut flowers, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, herbs, raspberries for our own use, and strawberries that were frosted off this spring.
“Local food is better because it’s fresher. It holds onto the nutrients and for the most part, people support the market because they want to support local farmers. It gives the town of Grand Bend a bit of flavour as well.”

Mumsie’s Garden
Owner: Mark Moskal
Where: Pinery Flea Market

Moskal grows heirloom tomatoes on 1/8 acre east of Ailsa Craig. His products are featured at many London boutique restaurants, and they can hit your plate, too.
“I’m a city boy and I worked in finance. I didn’t know anything about growing anything. I met my wife and moved out here, and they asked if I wanted to put anything in this garden. I said, sure! After three years of that, someone at work suggested I try heirloom tomatoes.
“I discovered how much better they taste and how much people love them, and having a little extra I decided to sell them. The restaurants ate them up.
“After doing 18 plants last year, I thought, let’s see how much we can get rid of. Now, I have 550 plants. I started all of them from seed; I grow them in my basement to start and move them into a bigger area under a larger grow light, and come mid-May, we (friends and family) put them into the ground.
“I do the most of the Pine Fog. I took them to one restaurant in London and they said, “If you have any more of these, just bring them. I will take everything you have.
“I can pick them off the vine and deliver them that day. I’m not using herbicides or pesticides. If they want to come out and pick it, they can. I’m more than happy to show people what I do.”

Look for: Pine Fog, Carbon, and Pink and Purple Brandywine. Best in salads and eaten raw.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Childhood memory. Three Mile Lake, Muskoka. Early morning mist. Lake a sheet of glass. Heron skims the surface and lands in the reeds. Stands erect. “Squawk!”
Algonquin Park. Summer 2007. Pioneer Logging Exhibit trail. Heron at water’s edge. Lightning strike of daggerlike bill. Scores a catch. Moments later a telltale Pisces bulge halfway down his gullet.
Ailsa Craig. Back yard on Queen St. North. Happily hunting heron reducing goldfish population of water garden. Need for more lily pads.
The great blue heron, Ardea herodias, ranges throughout much of North America, including southern Florida. It is often mistakenly called a crane. If you see a giant blue-gray bird with a six-foot wingspan, its neck drawn back and long legs straight out behind, it is most likely the great blue heron. It is a wader, not a swimmer, and does not have webbed feet.
The heron is monogamous and lays two to seven pale blue eggs that are 6.4 cm long. Incubation is 25-30 days. Both parents participate in feeding the young. In the month of March the birds return to the heronry (a rookery for herons). A typical nesting site in southwestern Ontario is a swampy deciduous forest clump in the midst of a farmer’s field. The nests are at least 10 metres up and consist of a network of sticks. Access to these nesting sites is very difficult for humans.
In past years there was a heronry on Hyde Park Road, south of Ilderton. For some unknown reason the herons moved north and now can be seen between Fifteen and Sixteen Mile Roads on the east side of Hyde Park Road. In early spring during nesting season, with a decent set of binoculars, one can observe the young, their necks craned like misplaced nesting sticks. The adults, circling and hovering over the nests look somewhat prehistoric, reminiscent of some feathered dinosaur.
One morning last summer I was afforded a fleeting glimpse of a smaller relative of the great blue, the green heron, which is about half the size of its blue cousin. As I opened the back door, the spooked bird lifted off from the water garden with a sharp ‘squawk’, its distinctive yellow legs dangling out behind. I think he departed without breakfast.
Fergus the Labrador and I often take our evening walk down to the iron bridge on West Corner Drive. Last week we were treated to a rare sight, compared to the usual red-winged blackbirds, beavers, and snapping turtles. As we stood at the bridge’s railing, a pair of great blue herons sailed over its framework on silent wings, just twenty feet above our heads. Like great pterodactyls, they continued their glide over the river, and then circled back to land gracefully in the top of the tallest of the deciduous trees on the riverbank. Their plumage appeared blue-gold in the setting sun and an occasional ‘squawk’ came from each bird. Shortly thereafter, a third heron descended onto a nearby tree. The giant birds sat with their long necks tucked back and appeared that they would settle there for the night. Fergus and I quietly went on our way, leaving the majestic creatures in peace.

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola

Next time you are having a hard time deciding what’s for dinner, turn to the internet for some great ideas.  Time Magazine recently featured one of my favourite recipe sites in their 50 best websites list, www.opensourcefood.com.  This site really gets your cravings going.  Their motto is “Amazing recipes, delicious food and beautiful photography. Created and rated by you and fellow food-lovers from all over the world.”  Some other old time favourites include www.allrecipes.com, www.epicurious.com and www.foodnetwork.com
Don’t feel like cooking?  Browse local restaurant menus online before heading out.  You can find menus for F.I.N.E., School House Restaurant, the Colonial and more.  It’s a great resource if you are thinking about ordering take-out, or if you can’t decide which restaurant to choose.

I have discovered that a surprising number of local restaurants still don’t have a web presence.  For those planning to take the plunge here are a few suggestions to consider while designing your site.
Feature menus with prices; avoid pictures of food dishes unless you hire a professional photographer.  Focus your website pictures on the decor and features like an outdoor patio.  Include a brief history of your establishment and spotlight the chef and staff.
Make it easy for people to find you.  Along with your address be sure to include a map to your location.  Include your hours of operation and telephone number for reservations.  As you gear up your operations each spring, your website is a great place to list employment opportunities.
Want to step ahead of the crowd?  Allow customers to place a takeout or delivery order online.  It is easy to setup on your website and when an order comes in you receive an email, a fax or the alert can be integrated into your existing point of sale system.  Check out www.ziptogo.com.  How about including a simple Paypal.com shopping cart to offer up your famous special sauce or signature t-shirts?   Get creative and have fun.

As computers get smaller and cell phones get smarter more people will be browsing on the go.  Offering wireless internet access at your location could bring you additional business clientele and a loyal following from the generation y crowd.  Jalapeno’s on Main Street offers a free internet hotspot alongside their killer hot sauce.  Way to go Jalapeno’s!

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Each day as I head to the back of our property, I hear the piercing ‘meow’ call of the gray catbird. If I meow at him, I always get an answer of some sort back. This handsome member of the thrasher family bears the scientific name Dumetella carolinensis. It is a medium-sized perching bird; both sexes are monomorphic (or look exactly alike). It is 22 cm long, dark gray in colour, with a slim black bill and dark eyes. It has a long dark tail widening toward the tip, dark legs and an even darker cap on its head. It has a rust-coloured patch under the tail. The French name of the gray catbird is “monqueur chat.”
The behaviour of the gray catbird is very typical of a thrasher as it pumps its large tail up and down vocalizing all the while. It uses its loud cat sound to proclaim its territory, usually singing from inside the protection of a tree or bush, obscured from view by foliage. At the back of our property there are some very tall white cedars, which are the perfect hiding spot for the catbird to render his proclamations. These birds are urban, suburban, and rural. They eat mainly insects and berries. If you want to attract them to your feeder, try cheese, bread, raisins, cornflakes, currants, peanuts and crackers.
The gray catbird can mimic more than a hundred different species, including a tree frog. When I make my meowing sound at him, he often responds with the ‘purp-purp’ sound of a robin. He sings each phrase only once. The catbird’s syrinx (inside its throat) is divided in half and each side can operate independently. This means it can actually sing two songs at the same time. I have yet to hear this for myself but the phenomenon is well documented. Imagine being able to sing harmony with yourself!
The nest is cup-shaped and close to the ground on a tree branch. There are usually 2-3 pale blue eggs to a clutch. Another bird, the cowbird, is known to be too lazy to raise its own young and usually lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, which are often oblivious to the additional clutch members. If a cowbird happens to lay its eggs in a catbird nest, the tenant will deftly peck a hole in the cowbird egg and knock it out of the nest.
Catbirds summer all across southern Canada as far south as northeastern Arizona. Their winter range is the east coast of the U.S. southward to Central America and the Caribbean.

Recent Sighting
The orange-flavoured nectar in the oriole feeder is apparently not just for orioles. This week I was surprised to see what I first thought was a woodpecker on the oriole feeder. Closer inspection revealed a young yellow-bellied sapsucker (a member of the woodpecker family that drinks sap). While he was still enjoying his beverage on the feeder, along came a house finch on the opposite perch and it began drinking as well. Cocktails in the back yard.

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola
VisitGrandBend.com

There is a new low cost video camera now available in Canada that makes sharing video a whole lot easier. It is called “The Flip” and it is manufactured by Pure Digital. It is a small, compact device that runs on two AA batteries and records up to 60 minutes of video to its built-in flash drive. It is called “The Flip” because of the signature USB connection that flips out of the side. The simplicity of the device is genius. There are no advanced features, no power cables, not even a software disk to load as the software is built into the camera. All of this simplicity means you won’t find any complicated instruction manuals in the box either. There is a built in color LCD and audio features for recording and playback, 2X Zoom, a tripod mount, power switch and simple control buttons. That’s it.
Take it out of the box and pop in the two batteries, turn on the power and you are ready to record in 3 seconds by pressing one button on the back of the unit. This fast time to record feature ensures that you will never again miss the “Did you see that?” moment.
Aside from the low price, what really makes this video camera exciting is the straight to web publishing features. The built in software means you can connect, upload and edit videos on just about any computer with a USB port (PC or MAC). It features one touch video uploading to YouTube, MySpace, AOL and more. Not ready to share your flicks with the world? No problem, you can also upload to private sharing sites, send your video via email or try the built in greeting card formats for something completely different. Create custom movies with your own music sound track or burn your creations to DVD.
I have to say I am emotionally attached to this little camera, it goes everywhere I go. The compact size makes that possible. It weighs in at just .03 lbs and easily fits into a pocket. It is about 3 inches high, 2 and quarter inches wide, and an only an inch and a quarter deep. All of the videos posted at my blog (www.blog.visitgrandbend.com) were created with The Flip.
Pure Digital has just released a new pricier version called the Mino that is slightly smaller and incorporates a built-in rechargeable battery. No word yet on when it will be readily available in Canada.
For now, you can check out the The Flip Ultra model available at Wal-Mart, where it retails for $158.64CAD. For those who want to wait for the Mino, you can pre-order yours at www.jr.com, it retails for $199.99 US.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Vegetable gardening, though not for everyone, can be a very therapeutic endeavour. Planting the seeds, harvesting, and then being able to enjoy the resulting food on your plate is rewarding in itself. Then there is the physical health benefit of the exercise and fresh air. As a gardener, each year I like to plant at least one ‘fun crop.’ Some examples are: white pumpkins (ghostly), swan gourds (you can hang them as birdhouses), or colourful Indian corn (to hang as an autumn decoration).
This year’s fun crop is a combination of corn, beans, and squash, traditionally known as “The Three Sisters.” According to Iroquois legend, corn, beans and squash are the three inseparable sisters, complementing each other as they grow. Native Canadian farmers of the eastern woodlands grew them as a sustainable system that provided long-term soil fertility and a healthy diet. The Iroquois (including those in our region), believed that corn, beans, and squash were gifts from the Great Spirit, each watched over by one of the Three Sisters, called the De-o-ha-ko.
The corn stalk provides a natural pole for the beans to climb. Their vines actually help to stabilize the corn stalk. The mature squash vines and leaves act as natural mulch, shading out weeds and holding in moisture. The beans fix nitrogen in their roots. If the plant is recycled into the soil, the nitrogen will feed the corn stalk for the following year. The spines of the squash vines are a deterrent to animals.
The Three Sisters also complement each other nutritionally; corn provides carbohydrates, dried beans are rich in protein, and the squash are rich in vitamins and minerals.

How to plant
Make several mounds of soil, each about two feet in diameter. Incorporate some well-composted manure or other commercial fertilizer into the soil. Plant two or three corn seeds per mound, and a few bean and squash seeds around the periphery of the mound. For the bean crop I used scarlet runners and for the squash, jack-o-lantern type pumpkin seeds. Any kind of winter squash will work.

How not to plant
They say “experience is the best teacher” and I have certainly learned from experience on my first attempt to grow the three sisters. As I did not do any how-to research before beginning the project, I made the mistake of planting all three types of seeds at the same time. Common sense could have told me that the corn should be established first so the beans would have something to hold onto. So, be sure to plant the corn a couple of weeks ahead of the others seeds; the corn plant should be at least four inches tall before planting the beans and squash. Cultivating is still important at this point, but once established, this planting becomes a maintenance free crop. Enjoy!

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola
VisitGrandBend.com

Everyone in town is talking about it, so I might as well say it: it looks like we are having a slow season and this could have a negative trickledown effect on the whole community. Is it the price of gas, the weather, or security at our border crossings? Good questions that I will leave to others to surmise.
I’m the local computer geek who is always poking around to check out how we can improve our web image. As I have mentioned before, there is no time like the present to buff up our image. We need a little curb appeal and none more so than on the Internet.
Did you know that during the peak summer season more than 15,000 people every month search for the term “Grand Bend”? It’s true and that is only traffic generated by people using Google to search the net. Add in Yahoo, MSN and a couple a variations in search terms like “Grand Bend Motel” and we are talking big numbers. A recent study released in June by Statistics Canada stated that 19.2 million people are now using the Internet. This is a 68 per cent increase since 2005, when the previous StatsCan survey was conducted. Overall, 66 per cent of Canadians are plugged in and surfing the net. This is a number that is sure to grow.

Millions of Canadians will decide how to spend their vacation dollars this year while surfing the net. We want them here surfing our beautiful shores and there are many ways that everyone can help.

- Create an online photo album of your favourite Grand Bend pictures using Goggles Picasa software. It’s free and you can upload a gigabyte data. http://www.picasa.google.com

- Spruce up your existing website to ensure it grabs attention. Banish those tired old cottage pictures and dead pages. Create a new web site if you don’t already have one. It’s free http://www.weebly.com

- Post your videos to youtube.com – Wal-Mart Canada is now selling the incredibly cool FLIP video camera. If you have not heard of this affordable, easy to use device, you certainly will. http://www.theflip.com

- Start a blog: http://www.blogger.com

- Consider catering to this new computer savvy bunch of visitors by creating a free Internet hotspot at your business location. What the heck, how about making the whole town of Grand Bend one big hotspot; Starbucks coffee not included.

We can all join in by planting a few virtual flowers to improve our curb appeal and ensure that Grand Bend flourishes not only today, but well into the future.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

A warm July morning on Blue Heron Bay, Muskoka. Half an hour past dawn. The lake: a sheet of glass in the rising mist. A nine-year-old girl ambles on the beach, welcoming the sun’s rays as they kiss her chestnut hair and warm the sand between her toes. The belted kingfisher winds his clock as he swoops to claim an unsuspecting yellow perch. A great blue heron lands in the reeds, poised to spear his breakfast. From deeper in the woods, the veery chimes his haunting cadence. A sandpiper hops on stilt-like legs at water’s edge, unaware of the child observer.
These early childhood scenes served to charm the child into a healthy appreciation for the diversity and beauty of the natural environment. Children need experiences in the outdoors that will instill respect for birds and animals. Family camping trips, spending time at the cottage and hiking on the countless nature trails in Ontario can reap great rewards for parents and children. Unfortunately, not enough of us have an appreciation for the delicacy and uncertainty of the balance upon which the survival of many wild species depends. Simply having a decent field guide to the birds in your house can help to build interest in getting to know their various field marks and behaviours.
On the other hand, we, as a species, have an enormous infatuation with birds of all kinds on a quite different level. We use their names in our language daily. People are considered to have a ‘hawk-eye’ or an ‘eagle-eye’ or a ski jumper may ‘soar like an eagle’ (remember Eddie the Eagle?). An old woman may be called an ‘old crow’ or worse, an ‘old biddy’ (hen). Men or women can be ‘as wise as an owl’ or ‘crazier than a coot’ (waterfowl) or just be an ‘old coot.’ You can be a ‘silly goose’ or a ‘turkey.’ You may use Dove soap for its gentleness. We also use colours that represent birds: teal green, canary yellow or raven black, to name a few. When someone retires for the night, they may have ‘gone to roost.’ You may have been ‘pigeon-holed’ or may have your own ‘pigeon-hole’ in the office. Sports teams bear names like; orioles, seahawks, bluejays, blackhawks, pee-wees, red-wings, etc. etc…
Without birds, we would be overrun with insects. Bird song is the first indicator that dawn is approaching. The rooster wakes the farmer still. The cessation of bird song is a good indicator that a storm is approaching and the first sound to resume as the storm passes. There are birds all around. Listen, observe and appreciate.

A recent sighting
On Queen Street, just north of Ailsa Craig, Fergus the Labrador and I managed to inadvertently flush out a large flock of wild turkeys. They must have been feeding in the roadside ditch because as we passed by, three turkey hens and all of their fledglings erupted in an explosive kafuffle. The young ones were able to fly a short distance into the lower branches of some pines. Once the parents realized that their offspring had made it to safety, each female then flew easily to the tops of the trees, vocalizing as they went.
It was indeed an entertaining sight to behold. You never know what you might see around southwestern Ontario if you keep your eyes peeled.

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola, VisitGrandBend.com

If you can paint, sew, knit, wood carve, make greeting cards, make candles, make jewelry, or any other handicraft, you’ll want to check out Etsy.com. Etsy is an online marketplace for handmade items and it’s a great way to draw attention to your creations without the hassle of setting up your own web store. You also get to take advantage of the website traffic Etsy generates without the headache of internet marketing. What separates Etsy from the Ebay pack is that all items for sale must be made by hand. Best of all it is free to join and the listing fees are reasonable. There are tons of online tools and instructional videos to help you build your virtual storefront.
If you are like me and go out of your way to shop locally, you will love the built-in geolocator. Using this feature you can zoom in on the Grand Bend area and see all of the area crafts for sale. After a quick look you will see that there is still a lot of room for Canadians to join this popular global marketplace.
From Etsy’s online help section we get the lowdown on the cost:
How do Etsy fees work? When you list an item there is a $0.20 (USD) fee per quantity of one. This covers an item listing period of four months. For example, if I list a scarf (and there’s only 1 in stock) it’ll cost 20 cents for 4 months. If you gave the listing a quantity of 3, it would cost 60 cents. When an item sells, there’s a 3.5% fee on the final sale price (not including shipping). All fees are in US dollars. All listings are created equal, with 5 images included in the price.
When a buyer wants to purchase an item they are transferred to PayPal.com to complete the ordering process. As a seller, you will need to setup an account with PayPal. This is an easy process and even a novice can navigate. PayPal has built in currency converters so you can accept payment from any country you are willing to ship to.
Since their launch in June, 2005, over 100,000 sellers from around the world have opened up Etsy shops; it’s definitely worth checking out.

Golf Tips
By Cameron Rankin, Sand Hills Golf Resort

Course management, accurate tee shots and a great short game were key to last week’s U.S. Open.
Of course, playing your second shot from the fairway produces a lower score. But fortunately, the majority of courses in this area have shorter rough than Torrey Pines, so we have a greater chance of success on our second shot. This week’s tip: manage your game.

Pick a landing target area
Pick an area of choice where you would prefer your drive to finish, based on your normal shot pattern, slice, hook, fade etc. (there is always a safer side to the hole).

Pick the right club
Your second shot should be played with a club that can reach the green with ease; don’t choose based on your best ever shot with a specific club. My experience in pro-ams and such is that most shots finish short of the flag. Play smart: always choose a club that will get the ball out of a bad lie and into a better position for your third shot rather than try to make up for a bad shot by being the hero and going for the green from an impossible position.

Play it safe and low
On short shots, play the percentages, if the shot requires lower running type shot rather than a lob shot, choose the running one. Most amateurs are not practicing the lob shot, so the results could be damaging to your score. If in doubt, run the ball to the flag if this shot is available.

Check out the green
Before you arrive, study the green for its surface, lie of the land, undulations. Pick the target line and the apex of your breaking putt and follow through to that point.

Don’t try the impossible do the probable. For more tips on your golf game see your local CPGA professional.

By Casey Lessard

It’s appropriate to raise a glass to Twin Pines Orchards and Cider House (left), who we featured for their winery last fall, and to one of our favourite farms, Sunnivue of Ailsa Craig. Both won regional awards for the Ontario government’s Premier’s Agri-Food Innovation Excellence awards. Each won $5,000 for their innovation; Twin Pines won for making their farm a destination and offering more than just fruit for sale. The farm offers school tours in addition to the winery, which creates apple wine and apple cider. Sunnivue Organic Farm, outside of Ailsa Craig, is a not-for-profit land trust that produces and sells organic milk, beef, veal, chicken, pork, and a large variety of fruits and vegetables.

Or, How my family and two dogs survived an Algonquin nightmare

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Not very many people can genuinely say that they have been struck by lightning and lived to tell the story. It’s a tale my family (yes, all four of us plus the dogs) can share after a 1996 camping trip.
Algonquin Park has attracted our family for more than two decades. On a gorgeous, warm day in August of 1996, my husband Tom, our two sons, and I settled into a lovely wooded site at Lake of Two Rivers campground. Tom Jr. was 15 at the time, and Andrew was 11. We had planned to take the cedar strip canoe and our two kayaks on a day trip the following morning. The weather forecast indicated sunny skies and warm temperatures.
We arose by seven, ate a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, beans and rye bread, and packed a picnic for the trip. We portaged the boats from the campsite to the Lake of Two Rivers beach and were on our way by ten. Our Labrador retrievers, one black and one yellow, panted excitedly to be on the water again.
Tom and Andrew were each in a kayak. Tom and I were in the cedar strip, he in the stern and his trusty bows-person up front. We located the mouth of the Little Madawaska River and decided to explore it. Paddling leisurely upstream against a gentle current, it seemed an ideal day for an outdoor experience.
An hour or so later, we pulled the boats up at a portage imposed by an old railroad bed, its bridge – that once spanned this part of the river – long since rotted away. Trying to imagine the sounds of the steam engines of J.R. Booth’s lumber era rumbling through the forest, we set about preparing our lunch. A single burner stove was produced and we were able to boil enough water for our ‘cup-a-soup.’ Pita halves stuffed with salami and cheddar topped off the repast.
We regarded the first tremor of thunder with little concern. Ten minutes later, however, the velvet blackness of the northwestern sky, loud claps of thunder and violent gusts of wind sent us all scurrying for cover. A well-documented rule about thunderstorms is ‘don’t stay under a tree’. We were in the Algonquin Forest in thick bush so plan B was put into place.
We hurriedly ushered the boys under the upturned canoe with Molson, the black Lab puppy. Tom and I crouched together in the lowest spot possible with Daisy Mae the yellow Lab. We were pounded with torrential rain and the lightning was relentless. Suddenly, a blinding explosion of yellow light stung the air and we were hurled violently upward. We crashed back to the muddy ground. The first to regain consciousness, I immediately crawled forward to check Tom’s condition. He was breathing. A crying puppy and groans from the boys told us they had survived. They had been thrown upward and had hit the floor of the overturned canoe. Tom Jr. complained of painful feet and Andrew clutched the helping puppy tightly. Another ten minutes of lashing rain and crashing thunder made me feel like we were in a war zone, wondering whether the lightning might strike us again. My tingling toes and fingers also made me wonder about the possibility of heart attack.
At long last the pounding ceased and we launched the boats to make a hasty exit down river. I never knew we could paddle with such determination.
Later that evening, around the campfire, we marveled at the wonder of just being alive and the beauty all around us with a fresh perspective. As I placed my hand on Andrew’s blonde-tufted head, I felt two tiny bald spots behind the temple. His head had rested against the gunwale of the canoe and the screws must have conducted the electrical current and singed his hair. That was too close!
We later learned that what we had experienced was a phenomenon called ‘step current.’ We assume lightning struck a tree many yards away from where we were, and the ensuing charge then traveled through the ground, eventually throwing us upward. Our fingers and toes tingled for a couple of days, but we were far more fortunate than a university student who was struck and killed on Lake Opeongo during the same storm.
We learned a lesson that day: don’t ever underestimate the power of Mother Nature, or her unpredictability.

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola
http://www.visitgrandbend.com

When it comes to your website, is it enough to simply build it and wait for customers to come? The answer is a resounding no and this is great news. How could this be good news? Most small business owners build a website and forget about it. Those that take proactive marketing steps will soon understand what all of this internet excitement is about.
The first step is to build a professional, attractive website that discusses your service or product. Update the content frequently with the goal of adding value for the potential reader. Avoid common design mistakes (see my previous column). Once satisfied, spread the word.
Include Your URL on Stationery, Business Cards, and Print Advertising.
This is a no-brainer that is sometimes overlooked. Make sure that all of your cards, stationery, brochures, and literature contain your company’s web address (URL). Continue to leverage print advertising that has proven successful, capture the reader’s attention, and then refer them to your URL for more information.
Free Business Listings
Add your website URL to popular online maps and free business directories. Here are just a few:
http://www.maps.google.com
http://www.listings.local.yahoo.com
http://www.visitgrandbend.com – a site managed by yours truly
http://www.kayak.com – travel site
http://www.hotfrog.ca
http://www.tourismpartners.com – Official Ontario Travel Guide

Search Engines
Submit your site – Submit your site to all of the major search engines. Simply type in this term “Submit my site” into Google, Yahoo and MSN. Include a submission to open source engines such as DMOZ.org as well.
Create a sitemap – A sitemap is a list of web pages that make up your website usually presented in a hierarchical format. With a sitemap you can tell search engines about all of your web pages, not just your homepage. For more information check out www.sitemaps.org
Optimization – Perhaps you have heard that you need special skills to “code” web pages with keywords, metadata, alt tags, etc. to improve your website rankings. If you have these skills, excellent! Go forth and build code. For the rest, here is the big secret to search engine ranking. Drum roll please…
#1 – Build a professional, attractive website that discusses your service or product. Update your content frequently with the goal of adding value for the potential reader. Sound familiar? Attempts to fast track your search engine ranking with the latest scheme can be hazardous. Google and the others are very smart and may even penalize you for trickery.
#2 – Have patience.
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising – Your website listing appears as featured link to the right of “natural” search engine results. Your position in the list is determined by how much you’ve bid for a particular search word compared to other businesses. This can be a cost-effective way to get targeted traffic, since you only pay when someone actually clicks on the link. For more information check out http://www.adwords.google.com
Resources – One of the best sources of information for both the novice and advanced web designer comes from search engines themselves.
Check out http://www.google.com/webmasters/

Golf Tips
By Cameron Rankin
Sand Hills Golf Resort

It’s very important to have good weight shift and balance when you swing your club.
Always be in the ready position at address, weight positioned on the middle to balls of your feet and have your body weight slightly to the right: 55 per cent right leg, 45 per cent left leg. This is mainly due to your right hand being lower than your left on the grip.
This also positions your spine slightly to the right. Head definitely behind the ball with your longer clubs at address.
During the swing there is weight shift to the right leg as your hips turn and shoulders turn to the top of the backswing. The downswing starts with a lateral shift of weight to the left or to the target and then a body and hip rotation to a balanced finish with your chest and hips finishing perpendicular the target at the finish. Remember: your head does move slightly during the swing!
To achieve that balanced finish your left leg should be straight and the sole of your right shoe should be facing directly away from the target.
The two key swing elements are, maintain your spinal angle during your swing and always have your spine slightly behind the ball at impact. Remember lefties, it’s the opposite for you!

Who Wants Tues. & Thurs. evening outdoor fitness? 6-7pm at the GB Lions Pavilion?  Please phone Beth Sweeney (519) 238-5555 to show interest!

Mondays
8 to 9 a.m. – Lions’ Pavilion, G.B.
Workout for Your Life. $8 per class; $5 for spouses and students.

8:45 to 10 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF – Thank God I’m Fit. Exercise class. All proceeds to charity.

6 to 7 p.m. – McNaughton Park, Exeter
Workout for Your Life. $8 per class; $5 for spouses and students.
Wednesdays
8 to 9 a.m. – Lions’ Pavilion, G.B.
Workout for Your Life. $8 per class; $5 for spouses and students.

8:45 to 10 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF – Thank God I’m Fit. Exercise class. All proceeds to charity.

10 to 11:30 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Line Dancing

6 to 7 p.m. – McNaughton Park, Exeter
Workout for Your Life. $8 per class; $5 for spouses and students.

Fridays
8 to 9 a.m. – Lions’ Pavilion, Grand Bend
Workout for Your Life. $8 per class; $5 for spouses and students.

8:45 to 10 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF – Thank God I’m Fit. Exercise class. All proceeds to charity.

Tuesday, June 17
10 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Grand Bend Men’s Probus Meeting. Guest speaker Fred Knip speaks on his Missionary Work in Africa. Everyone is welcome.

Thursday, June 19
5 p.m. – Lion’s Pavilion, G.B.
Celebrate the Trail! Join us for this fun family walk with the theme this year “The Olympics!” After your walk enjoy a tasty turkey burger with us! Prizes, fun and adventure await you! Contact Cindy Maxfield, at GBACHC for details 519-238-1556 ext 231. Sponsored in part by Healthy Living Lambton. Everyone welcome!

Saturday, June 21
2 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Grand Bend Horticultural Society Trillium Walk (Rain Date 22nd). Get your ticket for July 5th Home and Garden Tour Tickets are $15 with lunch at the Caddy Shack in Grand Cove Estates. View 5 homes and their gardens plus 4 more gardens. Tickets available at local venders. Call Bob at 519-236-7884 for details.

Wednesday, June 25
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Men Can Cook. Advance your cooking skills and enjoy a healthy yummy meal! Contact Miranda Burgess RD to register at 519-238-1556 ext 222.

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola
www.visitgrandbend.com

As Will Rogers said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
Your website, or lack thereof, can have an instant and lasting impact on your business. This holds especially true in a village such as Grand Bend, which attracts seasonal visitors unfamiliar with the area. Like it or not, a growing number of area residents and potential visitors rely heavily on internet search engines, such as Goggle, to find you. What is their first impression when they do? Sadly, more often than not they are encountering poorly designed, out of date web pages that potentially do the small business owner more harm than good.
Just having a website doesn’t put you ahead of the curve anymore. You may need to rethink your strategy or better said, start using a strategy in the first place. One place to start is to research websites that you like and incorporate those elements into yours.

Common Website Mistakes to Avoid

Domain Name
Avoid odd spelling such as www.krazykatz.com or a long string of nonsense text such as, http://www.downtown.com/down/mypage.html. Keep it simple and applicable to your business. If your “first choice” web address is already taken, consider using a search engine friendly dash in the name e.g., http://www.best-widgets.com. Your email address should also be consistent with your web address; sales@best-widgets.com

Content
- Poor image quality. Pictures don’t have to be commercial quality, but avoid bad, fuzzy photos.
- Avoid pasting pictures of a different size and quality haphazardly on a page. Quality verses quantity is a good rule to consider here.
- Content that is out of date, missing or “coming soon”, be careful not to neglect your site to the point that potential customers will be turned off by a lack of attention to detail.
- Blinking text, inconsistent fonts, nonsense colors, music set to auto play, or other annoying “bells and whistles”. These sites are usually developed by your talented 16-year-old son or the family friend who is “technical.” Just because they can make text flip and fly off the page, doesn’t mean they should.

Navigation
Eliminate Dead End Pages. Present a navigation section that is simple and consistent on every web page of your site. At a minimum, every page should have a link back to your main page. Check your outgoing links often to ensure you are referring customers to a valid websites.

Website Statistics
Hit Counters are bad. They scream amateur. You should have statistics readily available that track the number of unique & return visitors, top content, outgoing links, bounce rates and geographic location of web users visiting your site. Don’t be in the dark about what is happening with your website. Reviewing the data can often help you make critical improvements.

Site Does Not Generate Any Business
Has your content been untouched for 6 months or more? Do you have an easy way for visitors to ask questions or contact you? Do you know your search engine ranking? Websites offer you the opportunity to try different ideas, promotions and services quickly. Make your website a priority.

For a small business it difficult to over emphasize the importance of taking the time to develop and maintain a professional web presence. In the next issue I will discuss how to optimize the marketing your existing website.

Here are some local businesses that have good design and navigation elements incorporated into their sites:
Archie’s Surf Shop
- http://www.archiessurfshop.com
Dale’s Countryside Antique Market
- http://www.dalesantiquemarket.com
The Little House Bed & Breakfast
- http://www.grandbendbb.com

Support children’s Natural Heritage Education Programs at the Pinery by taking part in the Friends of Pinery Park charity golf tournament June 21 at Widder Station.
Packages include: Golf Package ($100): 18 holes of golf, golf cart, 3 course dinner; Sponsor Package ($100): signage on hole and sponsorship recognition. Sponsor and Golf Package ($450); Dinner Only ($35).
For more info., contact 519-243-1521.

Fifth generation now working at Aunt Gussie’s

By Casey Lessard

If you didn’t notice that Aunt Gussie’s was taken over by new owners a year and a half ago, Pat and LeeAnn Powers are content with that. The couple worked at the Ontario Street South restaurant for a couple of years before taking ownership, and wanted to make sure the transition was as smooth as possible.
“We’ve freshened it up,” Pat says of recent renovations, “and done our best to stay true to the tradition here.”
It’s become a family tradition to own the restaurant south of the Bluewater Motel. LeeAnn’s parents Bill and Janice Peckitt owned Pizza Delight during the 1980s.
“Originally this building was built by Bill’s grandfather, Stanley Martin in the late 50s and it was originally the Bluewater Restaurant,” Pat says, noting Stanley and Ella built the restaurant after building the Bluewater Motel.
“My earliest memories of this restaurant were in the summertime doing dishes,” Bill Peckitt says. “I was eight years old. It was exciting for me. I didn’t realize it was work. There was lots of action. It was a busy restaurant with lots of tourists. Lots of Americans were here; there were probably more American tourists then than there are today. Same kind of food. It was a family restaurant with breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“At eight years old,” Peckitt points out, “I was wishing I was 16. There were some nice looking waitresses.”
“Oh, dad!” LeeAnn groans, before noting she, too, has also worked at the restaurant since she was eight years old.
“I remember sitting over in that corner building pizza boxes for like a penny a box. My brother and I would race to see who could get the most done.
“We lived here until I was in Grade 5 or 6. Our staff room is the room beside my old bedroom. I remember running with my bare feet in the stone parking lot to and from the swimming pool next door.”
Bill and Janice sold the Pizza Delight business to Tony VanDongen in 1990, and former Pizza Delight manager Pete Miller and Gus Merkies leased the building in 1995 to open Aunt Gussie’s. Miller bought the property in1998. The Powers took over in late 2006.
“I’ve been in the restaurant industry for the last 20 years,” Pat says, “and LeeAnn has all of her life. This was a great way for us to access what we had done for most of our business lives so far and for us, there was an inevitability about getting to Grand Bend. There’s something nice about the legacy idea of getting the business back in the family.”
The Powers hope it will stay in the family; their oldest Mallory, 14, is the fifth generation of her family to work at the restaurant.
“I started waitressing at Pizza Delight when Mallory was just a baby,” LeeAnn says. “When Mallory started bussing three years ago, the staff who had been working here since my parents owned it, took a double take.”
“It’s a nice spot. As busy as it is, it’s really fun. I like talking to people,” Mallory says. “I look forward to working here until I go to university.”
The Powers treat staff like family, and the staff return the favour. Some have been with the restaurant since Aunt Gussie’s opened in 1995, and one server, Jackie, started during the Pizza Delight era.
“Everyone gets along so well,” LeeAnn says., noting many took part in Winter Carnival activities on behalf of the restaurant..
The staff are also excited about the new menu, which lost three items but added 12 new ones.
“You can hear them going on about the new menu,” LeeAnn says. “For the ones who have been here since it opened, it’s exciting for them to have new fresh things to add to it.”
The Powers believe it takes good staff and loyal customers to run a successful business, and they have both.
“It’s a great business,” Pat says. “We just want it to stay the busy little spot that it is. This is the career for a lot of people in this community. We just want to support the family and have a decent go of things.”

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

What lays pea-sized eggs, weighs an eighth of an ounce, and can be confused with a moth? It is none other than the truly incredible hummingbird. Only one species inhabits the eastern region of Canada: the ruby-throated or Archilochus colubris. Several other species are found throughout other parts of North and South America.
The ruby-throated hummingbird lays two pea-sized white eggs, which incubate for 18-23 days. The miniscule nest resembles a natural knob on the branch of a leafy tree or shrub. The chicks are actually larger than their mothers when they leave the nest because of the stress placed on the parent while raising them. Two summers ago our neighbour Steve Kozak was able to observe such a nest attached to a gnarly branch in one of his maple trees. He used a stepladder to take the odd peek at this amazing sight and managed some interesting video footage.

Time to put out those hummingbird feeders!
May 1st is a good time to put out your hummingbird feeder because they arrive back from the sunny south around this time. If you want to establish their presence in your yard, food must be available. I haven’t seen a hummer yet this spring, but my birding friend Val had one at her feeder last weekend. I put my feeder out the moment I heard they were back. (Orioles will be here soon as well, so you might want to think about getting the oriole feeder filled with their preferred orange-flavoured nectar as well.

Amazing stats!
The name ‘hummer’ comes from the sound of the wings, which beat an amazing 40-80 times per second. Average flight speed is 50 km/h. The birds are seen darting about, changing directions like green arrows. Their average heart rate is 250 beats per minute while resting (compare that to the human heart at about 70) and the hummer breathes about 250 times per minute. In spite of these high rates of respiration and heartbeats, the hummingbird has been known to live for twelve years, although the average lifespan is between three and five years.
The hummingbird has very short legs and consequently does not really walk or hop; it can only shuffle along a perch. However, it can still scratch its head and neck by raising a foot up and over its wing – quite the acrobat! Contrary to a popular myth, hummers do not hitch rides on other birds. They leave their northern breeding grounds in the second half of August or first week of September, travelling vast distances to winter in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean islands. Banded birds show that they return to the exact location the following spring.
Last season in our yard, we noted that the hummingbirds that visited us preferred the flowers to the feeders. The bell-shaped flowers of the hosta lilies were a favourite. They also were partial to columbine, bee balm, phlox, petunias, lilies, trumpet vine and virtually any cone-shaped flowers. If you do put out nectar, a homemade concoction of one part sugar to four parts water is appropriate. Make sure to boil the water to dissolve the sugar and allow it to cool before adding to the feeder. Clean feeders at least once a week.

Recent sightings
We have had several rose-breasted grosbeaks at our feeders this week. My birding friend Val has had large groups of blue jays (up to twenty at one sitting!). Plus, several people in the Ailsa Craig and Nairn areas have spotted bald eagles.

Jenipher Appleton’s columns are available online at http://www.grandbendstrip.com/outside. You can also reach her through our website.

Golf Tips
By Cameron Rankin
http://www.sandhillsgolf.ca

Club head: Position your club head at right angles to your intended target line.
Grip: The back of your left hand facing your target, looking down you should see between two and three knuckles on your left hand. Right hand palm facing the target, right thumb left side of the grip and there should be a line formed between the right thumb and forefinger, if you extended that line it should point to your right shoulder. (opposite for you lefties)
Feet: Shoulder width apart, slightly wider for your longer clubs and slightly closer together for your short irons.
Ball position: Long clubs, keep the ball forward in your stance (closer to the target) and then move the ball progressively back until the middle of your stance with the pitching wedge or sand wedge.
Posture: Tilt over from the waist keeping your weight positioned on the middle of your feet and with a slight leg flex. Your arms should hang straight down from your shoulders. Keep your spine as straight as possible.
Body Alignment: Position your body parallel left of your target line (think of railway line tracks) your club head and ball on one track and your feet and body on the other. (Parallel right of your target line for you lefties)
Practice these SIX fundamentals and save a few strokes.
See your local CPGA Professional for more swing tips.
Cameron Rankin is a member of the CPGA and British PGA, and the head pro at Sand Hills Golf Resort (http://www.sandhillsgolf.ca) in Port Franks.

All of the no cost, easy to learn options available may make you dizzy

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola
http://www.visitgrandbend.com/

Blog is a term that describes a thing, a website. It also describes an action. To blog is to add/post something to your website. It is a part of what has been dubbed the Web 2.0 revolution: the move to collaborative information sharing on the Internet.
What is it in English? It is anything you want it to be. It is an opportunity to share your worldview, your passionate hobby, news & events for a small business or simply to post your family photos. It can cost a little money to start or nothing at all. If you can compose an email, you can publish to the web in 15 minutes or less. There are millions of people doing it and hopefully after reading this column a few more folks will jump in and contribute to the Grand Bend area bloghood.
Special software structures your blog like an interactive diary. New posts show up at the top and older posts eventually become archived. Your blog can be open to the public, or a private website you share only with family and friends. If you choose, people who read your blog can leave comments. They can easily subscribe to your blog and see your new posts automatically. Not long ago, adding interactive features like this to a website required extensive computer programming knowledge. Blogging software now makes this and many other features quite simple.
If you consider yourself a newbie I recommend that you begin the journey by trying out Goggle’s free service, http://www.blogger.com. Follow the online instructions or take the quick tour for more information.
Once you have created your blog, you can post new stuff by logging in from your computer, by sending an email to a special address or even post from your cell phone via text message.
It doesn’t take long to become a pro and you will discover there are countless services and software packages to satisfy your blogging needs.

Links:
http://www.wikipedia.org – One of my favorite websites for learning. Here you can decipher any computer lingo you encounter along the way as you explore the ever-expanding blogosphere.
Local blogs:
http://sisterhoodofcelebration.wordpress.com – The self described “Beautiful Bodacious Succulent Diva” who authors the Red Hat Society blog for Grand Bend & Bayfield.
http://web.mac.com/davidbannister – Follow along as David Bannister shares his latest photography projects.
http://www.grandbendstrip.com – Stay informed with regularly updated news affecting our communities.

I have started a discussion for new bloggers at http://www.visitgrandbend.com. Join in; I would love to hear from you.

Mondays
8:45 to 10 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF – Thank God I’m Fit. Exercise class. All proceeds to charity.

Wednesdays
8:45 to 10 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF – Thank God I’m Fit. Exercise class. All proceeds to charity.

10 to 11:30 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Line Dancing

Fridays
8:45 to 10 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF – Thank God I’m Fit. Exercise class. All proceeds to charity.

Wednesdays, May 14 and 21
1:30 to 3:30 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Understanding Mental Health Workshop. Social Workers at the CHC will incorporate definitions, diagnosis, community resources and coping strategies in this exciting three part program. Call Mickey Gurbin at 519-238-1556 ext 223 or Lise Callahan at ext 230 to register or for more info.

Tuesdays, May 20 and May 27
6:30 to 9:30 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
VON 12 Hour Bereavement Education Sessions. This program is open to nurses, PSW’s, RPN’s volunteers or interested persons. The program will offer support and education of bereavement issues both personally and on the job. Sponsored by the Grand Bend Community Foundation and Grand Bend CHC. Call the VON Huron 519-235-2510 to register.

Wednesday, May 28
Grand Bend CHC
Diabetes Conversation Map Education Sessions. If you’re interested in learning more about Type 2 diabetes join us for the fun educational session. You must pre register by contacting Aileen Knip Diabetes Nurse Educator at the Grand Bend Area CHC 519-238-1556 ext. 226

Friday, May 23
9:30 to 11:30 a.m. – Ontario Early Years Ctr (Grand Bend P.S.)
Alphabites Program. An interactive session for parents with children 1-6 years. You and your child can explore various activity centres and create a healthy snack based on a special book.

Wednesday, May 28
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Men Can Cook. Enjoy fellowship, new cooking skills, food and fun. Contact Miranda at 519-238-1556 ext 222.

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.

Technically Speaking
By Tamara Nicola

After years working as a software executive in a fast paced, high pressure career, I decided to quit my job, sell the house, and buy a Winnebago… to the shock of everyone close to me. Okay they talked me out of the Winnebago, but they couldn’t talk me out of moving to Grand Bend. I have fallen in love with our village and it’s a privilege to share some of my computer knowledge with the Grand Bend Strip readership. Today I spend my time focusing mainly on web design, e-commerce and the marketing of both. For my first article I want start with a very important topic, and that is Backup and Restore.

A healthy sob
It’s almost time to put down the TV remote, dust the Doritos off your chest and head outside in the evenings. I have to admit that I have become addicted to reality TV over the winter. Is it just me or have you noticed the contestants crying a lot more this season? From Biggest Loser to Survivor they are all having a healthy sob on national TV.
This reminds me of my years working for a Backup & Restore software company.
See where I am going here? Everyday I encountered people sobbing over lost data. Even if they managed to hold themselves together initially, they most certainly lost it when they saw the price tag to manually recover a hard drive.Literally thousands of dollars, and often times it was only partially successful.

Off-site solutions
Businesses have long understood the importance of storing backups off-site. A disaster that wipes out one location won’t destroy the backups, too. Online backup services, which automatically move duplicates of your critical data over the Internet to remote servers, are now available to everyone.
It’s not just businesses that need to plan for disaster recovery; with digital cameras the new norm, important family memories reside on hard drives that will eventually fail.
If you have DSL or a cable modem and are backing up to floppy disk (yikes!), burning files to CD/DVD, or lugging around a zip drive, it may be time for a change.
Online backups are affordable and some are even free. While not designed for a full system backup, they are a great way to protect your critical documents, pictures, email and music.
Security is an important concern. The online service should offer encryption of your data so that any stolen files are unreadable. Restoring should be quick and easy. I recommend that you practice restoring so when a crisis hits, you are calm and ready to go.

✯ Hay Communications in Zurich offers a $9.95/per month plan and they have a free trial offer. Sign up online at www.hay.net
✯ At Mozy.com, you can sign up for 2 GB of free space. They support both the PC and the MAC. PC Magazine rates Mozy as Editors Choice. www.Mozy.com
✯ Windows Live SkyDrive. 5 GB of free storage is available. SkyDrive only backs up individual files, not directories but it has built in file sharing capabilities. http://www.skydrive.live.com
Tamara Nicola is a Grand Bend website designer and Grand Bend Strip’s technology expert. Visit Tamara’s blog at:
www.visitgrandbend.com.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Robins, cardinals, and red-winged blackbirds are all singing at the tops of their lungs. The high-pitched screech of the killdeer is another sign that spring has sprung.
The killdeer, Charadrius vociferous, a member of the plover family, is named for its piercing call. I recently heard the familiar “killdee!” and noted a female killdeer sprinting away from her nest. In an effort to divert my attention, she went into the usual broken wing act, crying in a pitiful voice. Treading carefully, I finally located the nest; a shallow scrape in the gravel, beautifully camouflaged and endowed with four brown speckled eggs. When I glanced away toward the frantic mother, it was very hard to relocate the nest when I looked back, although I had not moved an inch. I took a quick photo and promptly left the mother in peace.
The killdeer offspring are among the cutest of baby birds. Fluffy replicas of their parents, they come out of the egg running and with eyes open. These ‘precocial’ babies are much closer to independence than most newborn birds. They are incubated longer and so are further developed at birth. Camouflage aids in their survival rate after hatching. One of the first lessons is to teach the chicks to ‘freeze’ on signal from the parents. The fact that the offspring are so cute is often an attraction for curious onlookers, especially children. Parents need to make their own offspring aware of the importance of leaving things in nature as they found them. A curious human intruder can seriously disturb a family of killdeers or other birds, sometimes causing the death of the baby birds.
The killdeer is very helpful to farmers because of the large numbers of insect pests they consume. Unfortunately, they are quite vulnerable to pesticide poisoning. The use of these chemicals has a very negative impact on the entire food chain. I don’t need to see a “pesticide use” sign to know when the stuff has been sprayed. The odour lingers for a couple of days. Any birds which eat insects or worms are affected, along with countless other species. We must dispense with the use of cosmetic pesticides. It is the least we can to do help repair some of the damage toward nature we have caused. As Tom Hayman (the bird man of the London Free Press) says regarding pesticides, “You can’t pick dew worms off a golf course any more…and now you know why.”

Ontario backroads are not a garbage dump!
One cannot help but notice the amount of litter strewn along our roadsides during spring. Not only is it unsightly, but it can cause serious harm to unsuspecting wildlife if they think it is food. Since the recession of the snow, I have been dismayed to see all types of garbage while on my ‘balanced lifestyle’ walks with Fergus the yellow Labrador: glass and plastic bottles, plastic six-pack rings, bleach bottles, liquid detergent bottles, beer bottles, cigarette packages, pop cans, and even a soiled infant diaper. Yecchh! The plastics are unlikely to break down in the next 1000 years. What a dreadful legacy to leave behind for our future generations!
The most frequently occurring litter on our road is Tim Horton coffee cups… you know the ones with the big yellow arrow? Just because you rolled up the rim and got ‘zilch’ doesn’t mean you should roll down the window and pitch it to the shoulder! I have to believe that the bulk of this litter is coming from car windows, not from the people enjoying nature while out for a stroll down the road. That means that it is likely the people in the sixteen and older category are the perpetrators. Perhaps children need to teach their parents to show more respect for the environment!
Jenipher Appleton: nature at grandbendstrip.com

Golf Tips
By Cameron Rankin

The season is upon us after a long snowy winter. The local golf courses seem to have wintered well, with no noticeable winter kill or snow mould to speak of. The spring rain we’ve just had should promote a fast turnaround to course conditions and get the grass nice and green once again.
I have three tips for you this week to be properly prepared for the season.
1 – Check those golf clubs and consider replacing your grips. The feel of a new grip makes that club feel like NEW again. If the grips just need cleaning, use Comet or Ajax in the power form to clean them up. Make sure you check the steel shafts for any surface rust, use chrome cleaner to polish up.
2 – Check your shoes. Check those spikes and consider replacing them for better traction. Don’t forget to weatherproof your uppers.
3 – Get your legs into shape. Practice walking; the average golfer walks a minimum of four miles during eighteen holes, so if you want to finish your round strongly remember those legs.
Cameron Rankin is a member of the CPGA and British PGA, and the head pro at Sand Hills Golf Resort (www.sandhillsgolf.ca) in Port Franks.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Bird songs tell of spring
We find ourselves in that lovely transition between late winter and early spring, when the sun feels strong yet the nights remain frigid. Stepping outside in the morning yields a diversity of bird songs, whose performers are more actively communicating in response to the imminent spring.
A most noticeable song comes from one of our non-migratory birds – the Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). The sound has changed from ‘what cheer, what cheer,’ to a more compelling ‘birdy birdy.’
Regular visitors to the feeder all year long, the cardinals seem extra hungry in the month of March. The male’s brilliant red plumage with his accentuated crest makes a striking contrast to the verdant boughs of a lofty spruce. He sports a black mask and beard with a triangular reddish bill.
An official appointed by the Pope to his council is also called a cardinal. He adorns his robe with a bright red cummerbund. It is likely that the bird is named for the esteemed official, rather than the reverse. Otherwise very similar to the male, the female has olive beige upper parts and buff brown under parts. Both genders are 19-23 cm long.
On a recent late afternoon walk with Fergus, our yellow lab puppy, I spied a male cardinal high in the branches of a sugar maple. He would call ‘birdy birdy’ or ‘teacher teacher.’ This melodic tirade was followed up with a spring variation; a low trill or purring. I soon detected a well-camouflaged female on a lower branch, coyly facing away from the wooing male. Shortly, another male landed on a higher branch from a tree about 50m away. The two males proceeded to make several calls and flitted about the branches, vying for the affection of the female, who remained patiently on her branch. Suddenly one of the males aborted his effort, leaving the couple to pursue their mating ritual. Fergus sat attentively observing the cycle of nature unfolding before us.

Food, territorial males and good parents
Food choices for cardinals include insects, seeds, grains, fruits and snails. They drink sap from holes drilled by sapsuckers and enjoy cracked corn and sunflower seeds at feeders.
The male cardinal is willing to fight other birds to defend his territory and has been known to attack his own reflection in windows, car mirrors or other shiny surfaces. This behaviour has caused the deaths of many territorial males. More than once I have scooped up the sad remains of a brilliant male cardinal beneath the drive shed window.
Northern cardinals are monogamous and the male feeds the female while she is incubating the eggs. The fledglings are fed by both sexes. The male will continue to feed and tend the original brood while the female begins the incubation of a second clutch. The cardinal is often host to the hatchlings of the cowbird who has the nasty habit of laying its eggs in the nests of other birds (the height of laziness). All members of the cowbird family are classed as ‘brood parasites’ and the female lays between 10 and 36 eggs per year. That’s a lot of giving up for adoption. The cardinal proceeds to diligently raise its own young along with those of the cowbird. Any predictions as to which offspring wins the fledgling beauty contest?

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Balanced literacy for Ontario students

The latest and most unremitting thrust from the Ontario Ministry of Education is indeed the ‘balanced literacy’ movement. In a nutshell, balanced literacy in the elementary grades must provide opportunities for daily reading including: independent, guided, and shared reading, along with read-alouds. I won’t even begin to go into the definitions of the foregoing or how they are implemented. Suffice it to say that I have been training and practising balanced literacy over the past several years in my classroom at East Williams, and that as a result, my learning curve has continued to expand and develop along with the children. The reason for balanced literacy as an educational directive is to improve overall literacy skills in our Ontario students and to deepen their levels of reading comprehension. Sound dry? On the contrary, it is really quite exciting.
I’ll get to the point. Shared reading essentially means that everyone is looking at the same piece of text at the same time. It could be a big book, overhead projection, or any other piece of text that has been reproduced for all to see. Recently I have been using my own pieces of writing from the Grand Bend Strip for some of my shared reading experiences with the students. An integral part of the balanced literacy thrust is that teachers should model writing. I feel that the content of my articles, containing information about nature and ecology, is an appropriate model for the ten- and eleven-year-olds in my Grade 5/6 class.

Recent article “Owls – a guide to local hooters”

When my students read the article about owls, many made connections to owls they had encountered in our area. The students showed enough interest in our local species that they were inspired to do further research in our next computer lab. Not only did they find more information about owls, but also they wanted to draw pictures from the images they found on the Internet. The following are some quotes written by students about our local owls:

“I am an Eastern Screech owl. I eat insects, arachnids, small mammals and amphibians. One of my physical characteristics is my small ear tufts.” (By Kylee Arthur)
“I am a saw-whet owl. I eat small rodents, large insects, birds, and bats. I am only 20 cm long. I am named for my call which sounds like a saw being sharpened or whetted.” (By Carly Whitmore)
“I am a Great Horned owl. I eat house cats, skunks, porcupines and other animals bigger than myself. Some of my physical characteristics are my large ear tufts, and my massive length up to 64 cm, my 150 cm wingspan, huge, yellow riveting eyes, and my familiar ‘whoo-whoo!’” (By Jake Gregory)

The drawings included here, by Mackenzie Siddall and Evan Scott, demonstrate the greatest attention to detail and a wonderful sense of appreciation for these animals in their natural habitat.

Media literacy using the Grand Bend Strip

During independent reading, students are allowed to read other articles from the Grand Bend Strip. They show enthusiasm for the human interest stories and articles, but are especially taken with Casey Lessard’s fabulous photographs, candidly capturing community members of all ages taking part in a huge variety of activities. The photos are always informatively captioned, and my students are able to learn from this excellent example of media literacy.
The content of this family newspaper encourages knowledge of current events common to our community and stimulates conversation amongst students about such current events, basic science, and nature. It helps to develop a passion for exploration into different media, communication, and life-long learning. In short, the Grand Bend Strip provides a vehicle for students to be aware of the ‘balance’ between living and learning.

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.

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.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

A kind gesture, word or deed can truly make a difference in someone’s day. It takes very little effort to be kind, and in turn, you may be rewarded by how it makes you feel. Positive thoughts and actions are part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

Gesture of goodwill
It is so rare to observe an overt gesture of goodwill that, when it does occur, it really stands out. This is how it was for a pair of my colleagues as they traveled the Nairn Road on their way to work each morning last month. Each day as the women (Julie and Jaclyn) passed a section of road, they would see an older gentleman out for his morning walk. Every vehicle, passing in either direction, received a big, friendly wave along with the peace sign from him. Most drivers, like themselves, would return the wave. It got to the point that they would anticipate the encounter each morning with enthusiasm. Other members of my staff who travel the same route commented several times about the gentleman as well, all with a positive view.

Returning the favour
One morning, running a bit late, the women missed the wave, but were just in time to see the waver entering his house. Now they knew where he lived! Julie decided that something must be done to return the kindness of this gentleman. She bought a small gift (a snowman mug filled with chocolates and biscuits). The package included a note saying “Thanks for brightening our day each morning – Julie and Jaclyn, East Williams School.” On the way home that evening they stopped and left the parcel on his doorstep.
Their reward followed swiftly the next morning when they saw their waver coming down the road wearing a sandwich-board-style sign proclaiming:
“Thank you! Merry Christmas!”
Julie and Jaclyn smiled, waved, and had a tear or two. They were ecstatic when they arrived at the school that morning; however, the story is not over yet.
Shortly after 9 a.m., an older couple arrived in the school and asked for Julie or Jaclyn. It was the waver, whose name turned out to be Richard, and his charming wife, Catherine. They wanted to meet the people who had returned a simple, kind gesture, and to say thank you in person for the Christmas gift. Everyone felt very good and a true sense of Christmas peace was hanging about the halls.

It doesn’t take much to change someone’s day for the better. Smile at someone; hold a door for someone; make a joke with people when there’s trouble at the cashier; but most of all, offer a friendly wave! The peace sign doesn’t hurt either. It might even improve your well-being.

I usually walk 30 minutes steady every morning. I exercise to try to keep all of my parts functioning. It gives me a break, too. I get a big kick out of it.
I had a triple-bypass, so I’m one of those types. Usually we (Richard and his wife Catherine) go down south, but two years ago I came down with Bell’s palsy, and that hung us up. We were going to go this year and we decided, who needs all that hassle of trying to stay out of the way of the transport trucks?
I usually have a sign (encouraging people to honk). At least half of them will honk. I don’t stop and talk with any of them, and neither do they.
The next day (after the teachers dropped off their gift), another woman comes with a gift. In her note, she calls me her buddy, and says “I can’t wait for spring to see my buddy again.” She signed it with her name, “in the blue Taurus that goes by every morning.”
There’s enough downtrends in the world today, so if someone can get a laugh out of the joker walking down the highway every morning, the more power to them.

“This is a holiday favourite at the Spiers home, ” says Barb Spiers of Beauty ‘n’ the Beach hair studio in Grand Bend (519-238-6520), who sent us this recipe.
Serves 4.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg sliced bacon (not already cooked)
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp chili powder

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. Cut each bacon slice into thirds. Wrap each chicken cube with bacon and secure with a wooden toothpick. Stir brown sugar and chili powder together. Dredge wrapped chicken in mixture. Spray rimmed cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken wraps on sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes or until bacon is crispy.

Compiled by Harry Young, Royal Canadian Legion Grand Bend
Serves 1 or more.

“Today is the beginning of a new dream.”

“We cannot direct the winds, but we can adjust our sails.”

“Learn to forgive; once done, you are now a better person, the future is yours.”

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Most of us envision our Christmas dinner with the usual domestic turkey, browned to perfection, steaming on the platter. Other options may be roast duck, goose, chicken, or even a ham. However, my friend Dwight Hughes from around the country corner prefers his turkey to be ‘wild.’ According to Dwight, there are plenty of these critters roaming our local countryside. Just two days ago, I followed a lone set of wild turkey tracks in the snow at the back of our property. Dwight knows that the wild turkey has eyesight akin to that of a hawk. Therefore, hunting them successfully can be challenging. The hunter needs to be extremely well camouflaged and have the patience to remain unmoving for hours on end. He also needs to have the strength and endurance to hold his arms outstretched around the shotgun for an extended period of time. If the hunter is lucky, patience will pay off. Remember, the turkey is alert, cautious, has the keenest of eyesight, and in its natural environment, has the edge.
Dwight’s mother Leona recounted the first wild turkey her son ever brought home. Like the pioneers of our area, she and her husband Don scalded that bird and hung it over a beam in the shed. The scalding allowed them to pluck the feathers cleanly from the skin. Then Leona had the pleasure of cleaning the innards, which she stated, “wasn’t too bad.” Unlike the pioneers, they froze the bird and saved it for Christmas. Their son-in-law Steve stuffed and roasted it to perfection. All accounts suggest they couldn’t tell the difference from a domestic turkey. I can smell it now!
How special that Christmas must have been for the Hughes family. Most of us have neither the time nor the patience to create such a traditional experience. And so, off to the grocery store we go.

Gifts for the birder on your list
Your local hardware store stocks a good variety of gift ideas to enhance the backyard viewing for the birder on your Christmas list. There are tube-style finch feeders (for finer finch feeds), tube-style feeders for sunflower seed, and countless other wood or plastic feeders resembling birdhouses. There are also many designs of birdhouses for everything from the smallest of wrens to bluebirds and swallows. Hummingbird feeders are available, some pricier than others but with true aesthetic appeal. There are oriole feeders too, along with the nectar to go with both types of feeders.

For the birds!
Suggestions for treating your feathered friends are also found in the local hardware. They stock all types of seeds, suet, and seed-encrusted suet balls and bells. Wire mesh feeders are handy to neatly hang a block of suet. Birds need the fat from the suet to help keep them warm. Peanuts in the shell are always a good treat for the blue jays. You can also make your own Christmas gift for the birds by taking a pinecone, loading it up with peanut butter and rolling it in some mixed birdseed.

A very Merry Christmas to all! Don’t forget to include the birds on your Christmas shopping list.

By Jen Denys, B.A., CHRP, CPC
The Right Path Consulting Group

The beginning of a new year presents a whole spectrum of possibilities. It has become customary to make promises to ourselves as we turn the pages of a new calendar. More often than not, New Year’s resolutions become desires that we never really fulfill rather than the beginning of a new chapter in life. Why is that? It certainly isn’t because our goals lack merit. Common New Year’s resolutions include losing weight, quitting smoking, spending more time with family, exercising more, finding a life partner and saving for a vacation. So, how can we make the most out of our resolutions?

As a coach, it is my job to support my clients in successfully reaching their goals. It is my pleasure to offer the following 10 professional tips to help you succeed with your new year’s resolutions:
1. Assess your values. This thing you want to do or not do, why is it important to you? How does it fit into your life?
2. Cast a vision. What will it feel like to be successful? What would it look like? How will you know if you have reached your destination? Can you measure it?
3. Beware of the “should.” When we say we should do something motivation comes from outside of ourselves, which is less powerful. Ask yourself who are you doing this for? Your best chance for success is to take action for yourself.
4. Utilize positive affirmations. Some of you might be skeptical about this one – honestly, I used to be as w