Il Paesano: The Perfect Pizza in Toronto

One of the things I’ve missed most since moving away from Toronto is truly tasty pizza. (In my not-so-humble-opinion, they just don’t DO pizza here in the west… or bread).

Our favorite pizzeria is Il Paesano Pizzeria which is located in a tiny strip mall at 396 Brownsline in Toronto’s west end. The building’s exterior gives no hint of the wonderful treats within, yet Il Paesano has been in business since 1959.

Folks like Wayne Gretzy and Kurt Browning have enjoyed their fantastic zaaaas and left their marks upon the walls.

Their pies have thin crust New York style crust and just the right amount of delicious tomato sauce.

My mouth waters just to think about it. Sadly, I’ll have to wait until May to enjoy yet another. In the meantime, I’ll just look at the picture below and savour the recollection.

The 23 Dollar Sandwich

I know… I should know better by now, especially since I’ve written about the exhorbitant prices that hotels charge for room service.

But I was hungry.

And the Turkey Clubhouse sandwich on the Westin Casaurina’s room service menu sounded just perfect to munch on, while I worked on my talk for PPC Classroom Live last Saturday (December 1st, 2007).

Although I did see the $14.00 price and had noticed that *a 2.50 delivery charge, 20% gratuities and applicable state taxes would be added to the bill, I suppose perhaps I should have ADDED those figures together before I ordered this little treat.

AND to make matter worse, despite the fact that I’d paid a delivery charge, I added a tip to the bill.

They know how to make you feel guilty!

Now, I wish I could say that it was a tasty little treat – but alas – the bread was smothered with so much mayo, that I after 3 small bites, I ended up removing the bread and eating just the turkey, lettuce and tomato filler.

Hmm… I could have bought a LOT of turkey for 23 bucks!

Gerry’s Good Gourds

Ed and I were greeted by a dazzling display of fall colour as we dropped down into west Keremeos off the Keremeos Bypass.

So captured by the sight of a mountain of gorgeous gourds piled high and gleaming in the early morning sunlight outside Gerry’s Fruit Stand, I had to stop and record the scene with my new Sony Cybershot DSC-T100 8 megapixel digital camera.

While clicking away, a man who appeared to be the owner emerged from inside the store and greeted us. “You must be Gerry” I said.

He responded lightly, “They call me Gerry, but my name is actually Dan“. Dan Zacharias and his wife Sheryl have been operating Gerry’s Fruit Stand – located at 3045 Highway 3 in Keremeos, B.C. – for the last four years, and Dan admits that he’s still learning the gourd game.

“Those are Blue Hubbards” he told me when I asked him the name of the large, light blue-green colored monsters. “I don’t have any Green Hubbards or Duck-Neck Squash this year. I looked for them [in the field], but I guess I didn’t plant any” he continued.

OK, we weren’t going to say anything – but things just didn’t seem quite right at the stand without the Green Hubbards and Duck Necks. Ya right.

Good Gourd, Dan! Only the most fanatical squash and gourd aficionado’s might have noticed have noticed Dan’s ‘gourd gaff’. Besides, according to my research, NatureHills online nursery doesn’t carry seeds for either, so they couldn’t be that great.

You will find seeds for Winter Delicata, Black Beauty Squash, Straightneck Squash, Luffa gourds, Crookneck, Pattypan Scallop. There’s also Baby Round, Black Beauty and Lebanese Summer Zucchini; Acornh, Butternut and Spaghetti and more squash seeds at NatureHills though.

Anyway, if you’re passing through Keremeos, stop in at Gerry’s and say hi to Dan. Then just for fun, ask him where the Green Hubbards are…

Technorati Tags: squash, gourds, seeds, Keremeos, BC, fruit stand,

You Can’t Go Back… for Borscht

I have fond memories of working and living in Castlegar, British Columbia from January until October 1990 (at which time the air traffic control tower closed and they sent us all packing.)

One of those memories includes taking lunchtime breaks to enjoy bowls of borscht at a little restaurant kitty-corner to the library.

So when we were passing through Castlegar on our way to Cranbrook, I suddenly had an overwhelming craving for borscht, so we went to Cafe Friends.

The waitress informed me that the restaurant, which had changed little in appearance in 17 years, had come under new ownership 8 years before. She also said that according to their patrons, the borscht was even better than it had been before.

Well, I have to disagree. It’s rare that either Ed or I salt our food, but that bowl of borscht was so lacking in taste that we had to apply the sodium quite liberally to make it palatable.

Oh well, lesson learned. You can’t go back hoping or expecting things (even the food) to be the same… so embrace change and try something new.

Technorati Tags: borscht, Castlegar, British Columbia

The Snowgoose Grill and Curly Bear Cafe

The Snowgoose Grill and Curly Bear Cafe at the St. Mary Lodge & Resort slogan is that “They always go that extra step to ensure you have an unforgettable dining experience”.

Well that much is true… but unforgettable doesn’t mean it will be GOOD.

We were looking forward to having breakfast at the Snowgoose Grill and after being seated quickly, things began to go wrong.

15 minutes after being seated, we hadn’t received even an acknowledgment that we had been seen by the wait staff. Ros hailed down a passing staff member who said he was “only a busboy” but he would get the waiter. He just carried on clearing tables.

Ros went to the desk to ask for some service and after 5 more minutes we were offered coffee and the excuse that they were busy. The coffee then took a while to arrive.

Once ordered, the food arrived quickly, but the food was pretty standard. The potatoes that came with the bacon and eggs were cubed, deep fat fried and relatively tastless.

But on a positive note, the coffee was very good.

On the whole, we’d say that the Snowgoose Grill and Curly Bear Cafe is best forgotten.

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