journal

A while back, an exchange student asked me what canadian food was. All the restaurants and cook books have japanese, french, italian, chinese, vietnamese, etc. The obvious are ice wine and maple syrop, but these can hardly be classified as foods. I thought for a bit, and what is typically canadian food?

Apple pie - surely these things must be a staple everywhere, right?

Fiddleheads - a tasty green available only in june. It is named after its shape.

Canola oil - originally farmed for lubricating oil in WW2, this is now used to deep fry and anywhere generic cheep cooking oil is required.

Cheddar cheese - this is the national cheese: generic and goes well with ketchup.

Donut - A personal sized deep fried toroidal cake typically topped with sugar. Originally spelled "dough-nut".

Ketchup - a tomato paste and sugar mixture used everywhere: fries, grilled cheddar sandwiches, burgers, hotdogs, and macaroni & cheese. Some put it on steak, but the discerning use Montréal Steak Sauce.

Maple glaze - from that sweet, sweet syrup that comes from a tree. The real mccoy is expensive as the tree sap is reduced to 1/40 of the original volume.

Mashed potatoes in a box - what could be simpler... or less tasteful?

Nanaimo bar - a dessert bar comprised of three layers: the bottom crust of chocolate wafer and coconut, the yellow creamy middle, and a semi hard chocolate top.

Pablum - somebody think of the children! This is some mystical mixture of nutrients known throughout the world, not always in a good way.

Pemikon - A mixture of dried fruit and meat, great for keeping you alive in the middle of a forest in the dead of winter. Although nobody has really even heard of this stuff nowadays.

Poutine - fries with gravy and unripened cheese curds. Full of fat and carbs, great in the winter when skiing.

Smoked salmon - this sort of thing was so popular, practically the only salmon left are farmed. Goes superbly on a sesame seed coated beagle with crème cheese and capers.

Tourtière - a ground meat pie. Traditionally made with pork and beef, it is far better when made with lamb.

Vinerterta - a seven layer almond cake with layers of dried fruit and an almond icing. Rumoured to come from Vienna via Iceland, but where now they use chocolate and cinnamon instead of the same dried fruit or almond cake we do.

Wild rice - Grown in parts of Ontario and BC, it is very dark, heavy, flavourful, and equally expensive. Typically mixed 1:3 with regular rice.

So, there you have it. At a glance, it seems that most everything is a dessert or condiment. I'm not sure what that says for our cooking.

What a historic day in Canada, the government for the first time fell on a direct vote on non confidence. Ironic, the Lion spoke of his pride as the house crumbled. It was the start of his speech. What will the upcoming election hold?

This election will be quite quirky, in that the poles are almost the same as the current representation. The party that stands the most to gain is the Bloc Québecois, except only a couple seats. Ducep is also regarded as the the wisest and most charismatic leader. Too bad he's a seperatist.

Equally, Harper's Conservatives are generally regarded as too extreme, especially for the more moderate metropolitan voters. He has so much couth, he would get PR by visiting schoolkids — and wearing a hasmat coverall so he doesn't get his suit dirty. But they are popular with the Alberta seperatists.

Then Layton's NDP have never gained anything but marginal support. On the plus side, Layton seems to have grown up from his city hall antics he displayed last election. This party holds dear many of the Canadian Ideals, like fair and available health care, education, helping the poor regain a foothold and living standards, and the environment. This party makes an excellent opposition but are regarded as not having enough experience to take the helm.

Then there's the Green Party. They've run several times but never crossed the finish line. And the NDP seems to have adopted some of their better policies, leaving them to lobbiests at best. But perhaps they will their first seat this round.

And Martin's liberals are corrupt. The recent inquiry of the huge sponsorship scandal led to this fall.

So, Canadians, you have the choice of foxes, dogs, birds, earthworms, and pigs. Sing "Beasts of England", and let the rebellion, er election, planning begin!

In a recent The Globe and Mail article (2005.05.14), Tim DeLisle made a comment about Star Wars that is so true: [Reason Youve Got To Hate It] 1. The woodenness. In the first film, Lucas imagined, and shakily realized, a galaxy made of rock, sand, plastic, and metal. Nothing was wooden except for the dialog. The characters in the first film dont so much hold conversations as stand there like cavemen, lobbing chunks of monologue at each other. As Harrison Ford said to Lucas in a moment of majestic exasperation: "You can type this shit, George, but you sure cant say it."

I was talking with my mom this evening about a recent potluck she had gone to. All the dishes were laid pristinely on the table, each person wanting to demonstrate their mastery of the culinary arts. Then attention was drawn to one dish. Her dish. Everyone looked at it questioning what on earth it could be. “Who's is this? What are we supposed to do with it?” one person exclaimed. “Who knows!” came the reply, while another pointed out that it looked like something only my mother would have brought. We were always like the strange foreigners in that white-anglo-saxon-protestan community, not that our own roots are that far off. “It's couscous salad” she explained, which drew blank looks from all but a couple attendees. “Isn't this the same one as last time?” someone said to break the silence, you know the kind of silence that comes when your definition needs defining. “No, that was tabuleh... it was made from bulgur.”. Confusion spread as suddenly there were two more terms that almost nobody knew. “Ah, so is it rice? Or another funny grain?”, yes even rice was considered more then a little bit foreign, something that they would get at the chinese restaurant in town &emdash; how many would have guessed that there are different types of rice? Fearing more confusion someone informed everyone that couscous is a pasta, much like if you had cut spaghetti into little pieces. Suddenly, everyone was a little more at ease “Oh, so it's pasta salad. It sure is colorful.” they commented just before taking a little bite. The red, white, and green salad consisting of tomatoes, couscous, and green peppers, much like pizza Margherita, not that they would know what that is either; except for couscous originated in the 1600s from northern Africa [Webster]. “Mmmm... tastes pretty good” one brave soul approved it while others waited to see their reaction, kind of as if waiting to see whether it was safe to eat. I wonder if they may have been expecting that every once and a while the tester would keel over. It wasn't long before everyone was en queue for a sample, asking where they could buy fancy ingredients like this, and getting assurances that they could acquire the recipe. I think she doubled the market for couscous in one evening.

Epilog. I've often pulled the same sort of thing, taking something to a pot luck that not many have heard of: potato bannock (type of bread), lamb meatballs, tamale pie, or some curry of my own creation. As long as it is not too strange, and tastes and looks good, people will like it. My mom would advise “Don't take anything too strange...” and thoughts of chicken curry come to my mind “... like curry, or people may not like it.” I then remember that curry was introduced to England only recently, after this small outpost of settlers had left and seemingly isolated themselves, at least until we came along. Potlucks here in Waterloo, where i now live, are markedly different. In particular, about half of the persons carry passports other than canadian, and english isn't always the only language that is spoken. Even in North America, a couple hundred kilometers in many ways can seem worlds apart.

English is strange. The other day, it was pointed out to me the difference between "windy"(windi) and "windy"(waindi). For example,

Today it is really windy.

The road was really windy.

Strange that these are spelled the same. Speaking of which, how do you make the past tense of to spell? 1.59M say "spelled" and 364K say "spelt" according to Google.

I saw the stangest thing today... I was looking around the web for references to me, and found a corporation the has the same name! Check out matthewbells Inc., based in London England and in Nigeria.

Here's my word of the month. It came up in italian class, where my prof often wonders if there are equivalent words in english. In this case, there was:

pessim|al (PES-sim-l) (latin: antonym for optimal). Maximally bad. -ize (alt. -ise) To make as bad as possible. eg. The build is yet again in a pessimal state.

I just fixed the scripts that make this page, so there hopefully won't be any more MIME codes turning up in the middle of the entries.

Junk

I got some interesting junk mail recently. One was from CapitalOne claiming that i had been pre-selected to apply for a platnum credit card. The only thing is, it didn't have any address on it! Clearly, their selection process is top notch! Tell me, why would have confidence in such a company? Speaking of credit cards, i got another application for an "I am. Canadian" card. Now, this seems like a lot of fun, especially on travels. But then, why would i want to have 3% of my spendatures go to a beer company that makes, well, rather poor beer? Would you catch an Ozzy with a Fosters card? Now, i was recently in Belgium and happen to have sampled some very fine beers there.

And more gripes about junk: i got one for TV service that costs more. Now, why on earth would i want to pay more than i already am? You might say because i would get more, but really - it's almost 100$/month as it is. That's about 5$/hour of watching (i realize that i watch less than average). I can buy DVDs for almost that price. Now, there's no news on DVDs but there's also no commercials. Well, except for a few optional trailers which are generally fun to watch. When will a TV provider come out with a package that i want that costs less? I would be okay with getting less... I have removed several of the stations from my auto-cycle list. Probably about 20% of them, and could do a few more if i was given a big rebate... When will the companies learn that it's not about revenue, but profit? A few offer some more specialized deals. But these often come in packages -- so if i want to watch SpeedVision i have to pay for GolfTV (yawn). And, true, my favourite ones tend to be the most expensive -- why does Bell ExpressVue charge 6$ (or is it 8$?) for TLN. I know it's a fine station, but is it really worth 8-12 US stations? Okay - i'll admit defeat on that last point; it is. But i can't help but feel that consumers are being somewhat gouged on that. If you're thinking you're not in that group, think again: that's the cost of almost every non-english station or station that offers "cultural" content.

On the good side, i hear that RAI1 and RAI2 are coming to Canada! If only we generally had BBC available, we'd have mosy of the top news stations. Speaking of which, my favourites are (in order of preference): BBC, RAI, CBC, OMNI, CBCN, local canadian ones, and then a long way down CNN, then most other american ones. Fortuneatly, TLN retransmits RAI and CBC transmits BBC at times. It's interesting to see how, uh, different the CNN reports are. Like when they take quotes out of context (whereas the others leave it in) so they can report what resembles propaganda.

As i was poking around the web for programs to help me out with organizing my latest round of photography -- which should be displayed soon -- i came accroiss a cool one that will let you see the settings that your camera used to take the image, called jhead. Take a look at it http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/. Now, if only i could find a good thumbnail maker...

Happy pi day, everyone! To celebrate, we had a pi(e) party. It was a lot of fun, and everyone enjoyed the array of food. We weren't too efficient at the invitations, though, but that's life this past week. Mia testa non =E8 posto.

There were sixteen pies, four mini pies, and a dozen micro pies... Pretty impressive in all. Some of you might think that's a lot of dessert, but it was also dinner and there were lots of people to help out!

What kinds? Of course there was the dessert ones: pecan pie, rhubarb-strawberry pie, cherry pie, chocolate creme pie, lemon merangue pie, bluberry pie, mississippi mud pie, and raspberry pie. Then there was the dinner ones: tourti=E8re, shepherd's pie, pizza pie (ouzo merinated steak, cheese, mushroom, tomato, and cubanelle peppers), and lasagna pie. If you think that I'm kidding about the lasagna one, take a look a President's Choice frozen ones. It's lasagna in pie crust.

So what do people do at a pi party? Eat pie and socialize, with lots of math jokes for good measure. It's been a Univeristy of Waterloo tradition for several years now. The alumni newsletter announced that there was a large pi day celebration in Toronto this year.

We overlooked the Perimeter Institute (PI, for theoreical physics), which today erected a large crane to begin the major construstion. They put in piles last fall and then work nearly halted over winter. They had driven in enough for a Venician building, but Venicians be assured that Waterloo architecture doesn't come anywhere near your execellence. Speaking of which, i went to a lecture on Venice's problems with flooding and land stability. It was quite interesting, especially the question period where half the dialog is in l'italiano, which i'm trying to learn.

And beware today - the ides of march!

The day after Rememberance Day, when Canadians remember those who have fought in wars for us. As some of you may (or may not) have heard, the company at which i work recently had layoffs. I was not one of the ones let go. However, i did know several of them. These have been tough times in the high tech sector, and we had so far been quite fortunate. These things are always though to accept, for those that have had such change thrust upon them, as well as those left behind. In these times of a poor job market in this sector, i wish those involved and their families the best of luck.

It's been a while since i made an entry in here. You know how things go... I've also just posted a couple new episodes of FarStar.

What happened in the meantime?

We had a trip planned to go to James Bay (Baie James), but this was thwarted by forrest fires that later were reported to blow smoke as far away as New York City -- about 3000km (or so)!

We got as far as Rouyn-Noranda before turning south to North Bay, then on to Sudbury, where we visited Science North. They have a really excellent display of butterflies from around the world, which you could see up close as you walk through a tropical forrest greenhouse. We also saw movies about Jane Goodall and apes (Go Ape!) and another on the Amazon (Amazon) on the iMax theatre there. These are no where near as cool as Omnimax theatres, but still pretty cool. Rouyn-Noranda is a quaint, but happening place, as opposed to Sudbury, which is pretty dead (unless i guess you work in a mine or at SNO -- which is why i would call Sudbury a hole).

We then proceeded to Manitoulin Island, where we went hiking, visited a lighthouse and beaches, and museums. The odd thing was, just prior to knowing the roads to James Bay were closed, i was asking where Manitoulin was because of the famed Mounted Animal Nature Trail. The odd thing is, nobody at the turist bureaus has ever hear of this. It wasn't until i asked an old man at a restaurant at which we stopped whether he had heard of it. "Of course," he replied "I've been here for 71 years!". Apparently, it has been renamed to Gordon's Park, and you can also take a round of mini golf or archery after going through this taxidermy museum. Speaking of which, the Arrogant Worms apparently have a new album out.

Possibly the best restaurant on the trip was The Garden's Gate Family Restaurant, run by Rosemarie and John Diebolt. On highway 542 just outside Tehkummah, this place at first glance might look like a garden center -- with flowers and shrubs meters wide along the path leading to the front door. Apparently it was also featured in Where to Eat in Canada. Inside, there is also an enclosd varanda covered in vines. We just had to go back the next day for a second meal, it impressed us so much. They feature unusual and excellent creations, like Chicken Strawberry, portabello burgers, and other dishes that blend fruit, vegetables, meats, and spices in unique and scrumptious ways. You can also order from an excellent selection of microbreweries or some of the best wines in Canada. Phone +1.705.859.2088. The only real difference between this place and a chic San Franciscan or Torontonian bistro would be the decore is more rural Ontario. I'd rate it 8-9/10.

I also recently registered for a course... Psychology and law. My course from last term went well, it was Italian Culture and History (1800-present), a sequel to the course i took last fall Italian Culture and History (1200-1500) when i returned from my trip to Italy. The cutlure courses are really interesting -- i'll have to take a few more, say in conjunction with some future trip to St. Petersberg, or other locations.

Enough for today. Perhaps sometime soon, i'll write a bit about Sabor and about a wine tour that i went on recently.

Just a note to anyone making Cannelloni: remember to mince the filling sufficiently or else it will get stuck in the gizmo that helps you fill them. And a clogged gizmo is as useful as no gizmo at all. For a good filling, try 8 or so crimini mushrooms, ricotta, an egg, 30mL basil, some olive oil, and a pinch of corriander. Top it off with chopped tomatoes and spices. To help you fill them, use an icing bad with no tip. Cook at medium (350F) for about 35min.

Wohoo! I got mbells.ca and mbells.net working. These will be my addresses for a while.

If anyone has good ideas about source control for the web pages, let me know. My main problem is that some of it is generated from scripts, and other stuff isn't. The image gallery is large and i want to avoid unnessarily uploading that...

You can email me at these addresses. Use matthew@mbells.ca. For correspondence, please use correspondence@mbells.ca.

Here are some emails that were going around recently. They're pretty funny. Some minor editing has been done to fix spelling and formatting.

And a reply:

The weather outside's delightful, The traffic is really freightful, Let it snow Let it snow Let it snow

So... I descided to ride my bike home from work. A little bit of chipping ice off of it, it was ready to go. So, i started off into the parking lot, finding it quite difficult to pedal. In fact, i was pedalling like mad

finished a book today
good book
simple
'bout life on the praries
and death
a collection of poems and prose
by Patrick Friesen
Carrying the Shadow

This is a test.

foo

I just wrote a system to help me write this journal. Let me know what you think about it.

I will not load random versions of kernel modules.
I will not load random versions of kernel modules.
I will not load random versions of kernel modules.

Yes, today i loaded an app that required some new functionality from one of the kernel modules. So, what did i do? Install them too... Sigh. Fortuneately, no data was lost (i think), and recovery took only an hour or so...

The weather outside's delightful,
The traffic is really freightful,
Let it snow
Let it snow
Let it snow

So... I descided to ride my bike home from work. A little bit of chipping ice off of it, it was ready to go. So, i started off into the parking lot, finding it quite difficult to pedal. In fact, i was pedalling like mad mad and going nowhere. Looking down, i discovered that my chain was hanging limply around my sprockets. By applying simple knot theory, i quickly determined that one of two things must have happened: a quantum event had caused my chain to pass through a sprocket, or my deraileur had broken. By Occam's razar, the conclusion was obvious...

I just did a presentation on Italian Architecture. Perhaps you'd like to check out some of the photos!

It's been a long time since i wrote a web page... Mostly, because i didn't have anything in particular to write about. However, i now have a few ideas (and lack of other means of publication). I hope to have here some slides of my latest trip, and the occational story, rant, or other interesting tidbit.