8th Grade Graduation in Ontario

Is a very big deal. I guess we can file this under “Things that have caused me cultural shock” in moving from Ohio to Ontario.

I honestly thought my daughter simply wanted to play dress-up when she insisted she had to have a formal gown for 8^th grade graduation here. (By the way it’s referred to as “grade 8” here and not “8^th grade” as I’m accustomed to. I’ll just say whatever I please.) I called a few people and sure enough, it’s a formal event. (They should include this in a book for Americans who move here.)

8^th grade grad in Ohio is marked by school letting out and all the standard rumours about high school teachers who are either treacherous or drunk or off-the-wall or sitting-in-the-art-room-sink crazy (if you went to high school in Windham, Ohio, you know the story.) Completing 8^th grade was the same as completing any other grade besides 12^th. It was a nonevent. We didn’t get a “certificate of graduation” from 8^th grade. We got our report cards and a boot out the junior-high doors.

Here, they mark 8^th grade graduation with a certificate ceremony, an awards ceremony, speeches, formal dinner, formal dance and if you attend Catholic school, mass. I’m hearing stories of other parents renting limo’s for their kids to go to the graduation ceremony or the formal dinner. I’m also hearing of kids who buy 1 formal for the ceremony and a “party dress” for the dinner & dance. All of this of course, makes me shake my head and wonder what the hell is going on in the world today. Is 8^th grade the end of the schooling for kids in Ontario? Hardly. Ontarians, and Canadians in general, are well educated and have fairly low drop-out rates (though here you can just stop attending at age 16 and there are no consequences other than the real-world ones.)

I think this big grad to-do is more a rite of passage – something I think our Western cultures need more of. These kids are leaving behind their care-free days of elementary school and entering the no-more-recesses arena of hours of homework, university entrance exams, semester finals, and whatever else the cruel gods of high school can come up with to torture their poor souls.

So what’s 8^th grade grad look like?

Isn’t she beautiful?

Don't forget the dance & afterparty:

Congratulations, Marissa! We’re very proud of you.

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113.80 in Free Groceries

You really can't get a better deal than that. Coupons can't save me $113 in one trip. Besides, most of the coupons out there are for items I wouldn't buy (prepared foods, detergents, high-end shampoos or cosmetics, name brands that even with a coupon cost more than store brands.)

What's $113 of free groceries look like?



You just want to know how I got all this free stuff, don't you?

If you're lucky enough to live in Ontario, you can take advantage of A & P's Fresh or Free policy. A & P, Dominion, and Ultra Food & Drug in Ontario maintain that if you find any item in their store that is not fresh, then you may receive a free fresh replacement for that item.

I strongly suspect that this policy is A & P's way of employing fewer stockpeople. Instead, with this policy they get a few diligent shoppers to do their stock rotation at a fraction of the cost of a few full-time employees. As a great sideline they can promote their stores as having the freshest stuff around. As you can see from my pictures above -- a lot of their stuff is not fresh.

You would think there just isn't that much expired stuff in a store. That's what I said before I ever went fresh or freeing. When I buy groceries in any other store, I check the expiration dates on the items I'm purchasing and I rarely find anything expired. Not so at A & P. I find A LOT of things expired. So much so that it is worth the higher price one pays at A & P because of all the free stuff one can get.

As you can see above, I have 4 packages of cookies, 2 packs of snack cakes, a 6-pack of pop (all of these items my husband will use for work), 3 packages of lunchmeat, 3 packages of meat substitutes, 3 salad dressings, 2 cheeses, 2 bags of chips (oh the kids are happy tonight), 3 soy milks, Axe deodorant (yes, it does expire), fruit snacks (which made a soon-to-be four-year-old boy very very happy), squeeze mayo, Kool-Aid, fresh pasta sauce, Omelet/Pizza veggies, and broccoli slaw. There was much more I could have gotten in free fresh replacements but I did not want to spend anymore than I already had. There were coffees, teas and hot chocolates available, along with many more vegetarian meat replacements. I happen to have a 6-month supply of free coffee in my cupboard and enough tea to last at least that long as well!

Just to clarify: you do not get to keep the out-of-date items for free. You get to keep a fresh replacement for the out-of-date items. You do have to purchase an equal amount of groceries to match your free stuff...but that's okay. It's like having a 50% off coupon on your total grocery bill. I purchase my meats at A & P because they are good quality and they tend to mark them down dramatically several days before they're set to expire. They go right in my deep freeze and I've never had any problems. I also shop their sales. Add in coupons and their higher prices aren't so bad.

Odd thing is, free food tastes so good!

You can read up on the Fresh or Free policy here.

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How to Roast a Turkey Breast-Side Down

Really, it seems like common sense, but people often ask just how to do this. Well...you flip the bird. (Insert sophomoric giggling track here.)

If you have ever bought service turkeys -- you know, the cheap ones that don't have all kinds of strange chemical injections in their breasts to make them tender and juicy -- and have been disappointed by a dry bird, try cooking it breast-side down. Trust me, once you do this you won't go back to buying over-priced, chemically-laden birds just for juicy breasts. (More sophomoric giggling.)

Take your thawed bird and rinse it all over, inside and out with warm tap water. Pat it dry. (I just shake it a bit and knock the excess water off.) If you bought a cheap turkey look around for feathers. I found about 10 on mine. (ewwwww) Poke around in cavities on both ends and find whatever goodie bags are inside. If you make giblet gravy, put your giblets in a pan. If there's a neck in there, put it in a pot to make broth for future use.

Take your thawed and rinsed bird over to your roaster and put it on breast-side down. This is what an upside-down bird looks like.


Now season up that bird! I use marjoram, thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley, and some dehydrated onion flakes. I put them all over the bird, in the cavities, and under the wings and legs. Add some water (couple cups) to the bottom of your pan to keep the bird hydrated while it roasts. No, I don't use salt.



Make a foil tent for your bird so you don't char the skin and end up eating carcinogens.



Put your bird in a 325F oven. You will be cooking the bird about 2.5 hours if it's a smaller one (8 poundsish). Otherwise do the math: 20 minutes per pound. (So 10 pounds times 20 minutes = 200 minutes = 3 hours 20 minutes. I will feel like such a dumbass if I got that wrong!) DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN. You don't need to baste your bird. The water in the bottom of the roaster will prevent moisture loss and all the juices from the fatty parts of the bird (legs, back) are dripping into the lean parts of the bird thereby making it a self-basting bird. So don't open the oven until it's time to take off the foil and insert the meat thermometer.

30 minutes before the bird is due to be done, remove the foil tent and insert a meat thermometer in the meatiest part of the bird.

Turkey is done when the meat thermometer reads 180F.

Oh, it's still pretty. Whether it's breasts or backsides that do it for you, this is dishy:



When done, remove the turkey from the oven. Let it sit about 15-20 minutes to cool before carving. I flip it onto a large platter so it's breast-side up for carving and then I carve it. (Okay, Roy carves it. Get off my back! Sheez!) So Roy carves it up, removing the skin as he goes. You're not eating the skin are you? You're not supposed to eat the skin. That's yucky. That's bad for you. Don't eat the skin. And we serve it up.

Serve some lovely homemade bread dressing with it, too!

And don't forget the cranberry jelly. No, not homemade with all those berries floating in it! The kind that makes that shlooking noise when it plops out of the can onto a serving platter. Yeh, that's the best kind. Slice it up real purty and guests will have to think awhile before they figure out it's canned.


Oh, but what about that broth, you say? Alrighty, then. Take that neck that's in a pot, cover it with water. Several cups is plenty. Add a cut up carrot and a cut up celery stalk. Add some parsley. Cook it. (Bring it to a boil, turn it way down to just simmer, keep it covered.) Cook it some more. Cook it a little bit more so it reduces and gets nice and strong-flavoured. Let it cool. Strain it all into a freezer-friendly bowl. Seal it up. Date it and put it in the freezer for another day. (Compost all that stuff you strained out of it. You can eat the meat. Or the cat can. The cat will love you forever if you let it eat the meat.)

Now let's see how those breasts stack up...

Yummy!

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Easy Bread Dressing

I call it dressing and not stuffing because I don't stuff my birds (unless they're cornish hens). You can stuff a bird with this if you like.

This is so much yummier than anything from a box. Using fresh bread, there's no need to add a lot of broth for moistening and that makes it a pretty frugal side dish.

My bread today is frozen simply because a certain preschooler sat on a loaf of bread and squished it. So I cubed it up (okay, ROY cubed it up) and we threw it back in the bag and froze it. I briefly (less than 2 minutes) defrosted it in the microwave, broke it up into a big bowl and tossed it all into a warm oven (200F) while I was getting every thing else ready. I just didn't want ice crystals remaining to turn my dressing into goop.

You need:

• 3/4 c margarine or butter (butter tastes wonderful but a heart-healthy margarine is a lower-fat choice) (you can also use a mixture of margarine and broth to equal 3/4 c for even fewer calories and fat)
  
• 2 large celery stalks (with leaves), chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 3/4 c finely chopped onion (I use dehydrated chopped onion and reconstitute it by covering it with hot water. I will use 1/4 c dehydrated onion. I prefer dehydrated onion because it has a much milder flavour than fresh onion and I can't afford to use scallions in my everyday cooking! Plus, dehydrated onion keeps forever!)
• 9 c soft bread cubes (I usually use an assortment of breads, whole grains, dark breads, and high-fibre white bread. Today it's just white because that's what my monster squished.)
• 1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh or 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground sage
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Melt the margarine in a big ole skillet over medium heat. I use my wok.
Add the celery & onion and cook 'til they're tender, stirring with a wooden spoon. While that's cooking, toss the other ingredients together in a big bowl.

Once the celery and onion are tender (we're talking 2 minutes, tops) turn the heat down to the lowest setting and stir in the rest of the ingredients.



Stir and toss and stir and toss and stir and toss with a big wooden spoon until everything is well blended and warmed through. Serve it up & enjoy!





This makes 10 servings and takes about 5 minutes to cook, another 5 to prepare. Yes, it's double what we need, but my husband will eat lots of it!

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Our Earth Hour 2008

Coincidentally, Earth hour fell on my birthday this year and thankfully gave me a reason to get excited about it instead of that creeping dread I had been experiencing.

As it turned out, since it was my birthday, my dear husband, Roy, was taking care of the house, the kids, dinner, baking me a cake from scratch and even washing dishes, we hadn't eaten dinner before 8pm! So we had a candlelit dinner with the whole family. We talked and told stories and we ate really well too because we were all darned near starving.

We have family meals every night, but this one was a little different. With the glow of the candles and no background noises from televisions or radios or humming computers, we just enjoyed each other. We lingered in the glow of the candles. Had some extremely delicious carrot cake (with cream cheese frosting of course) and took a couple pictures of our night. No one asked to be excused. With no computer to run off to, or tv to return to...who would want to leave a table laden with candles and scrumptious home-made carrot cake (with cream cheese frosting of course.)

We've decided that candle-lit dinners will be a nice change of pace, so we're going to do them regularly. Life slowed down for an hour. We payed attention a little better for an hour. We listened a little better.

And every single one of us noted just how many things we had to turn off to plunge our home into darkness. It was a lot, actually. Nearly every light in the basement. Nearly every light on the main floor. Two computers. Two televisions. Clocks and the microwave.

We took a look outside and only one other house was completely dark. That was a tad disappointing, though our city did participate. The Standard reports that electricity usage was 9.2% lower than an average Saturday night in March for St. Catharines. I think that's significant, considering how many houses I could see ablaze. Good job, St. Kitt's. Let's see how we do next year.

Change begins with one, though, right? One change I think is appropriate in this case. If we could make one change...it could start a domino effect of singular changes for individuals around the world. When you add that all up...that's a difference.

Sure, one hour one night a year of darkness isn't going to halt whatever path we're on now. Noticing one's own unnecessary waste is the first step in reducing it.



As a bonus, it was an enjoyable time in this household. I doubt the kids will forget it. Should it become a weekly tradition, I know they never will.

Coming up next....all that yummy stuff I've been teasing you with for the past several days.

And maybe soon I'll share Roy's carrot cake recipe with you. It's delicious. And you know what, he doesn't even like carrot cake. But I love it! And I haven't made one in at least 10 years. (Go ahead, guess how long we've been married.)

Enjoy!

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Tonight's the Night

Everybody turn out their lights!

Tonight from 8pm to 9pm people all over the world will be turning out all their lights. I hope you will be, too.

Tonight we're going to unplug all passive power consuming appliances as well, and no, we're not going to just sit and watch tv in the dark. We're going to light some candles if they're needed and play games at the dining room table. I expect this will be fun for everyone.

If tonight's a success, we're going to do it once a week. Every Saturday we'll shut out the lights and disconnect the passive power suckers (microwave, clocks, computers, but not refrigerator & freezer) and have real, honest family time (i.e., not tv time.) I suspect we'll not only reduce our consumption and raise our awareness but also strengthen those bonds that can be weakened by hectic schedules and the busy-ness of day-to-day life.

I've already heard a few people comment that global warming is a sham. Interestingly, all the people who say this to me are American. The thing is, global warming itself is a fact. The debate is whether humans have caused it. It kills me that people are so willing to grab onto the tiniest tidbit that sounds best to them. They hear bits and snatches or read one opponent's opinion and grab onto it because it's the easiest path for them. It's the path that doesn't require them to do anything.

I understand that methodology. I just wish that people who so willingly and immediately discount humankind's impact on the environment would stop and think it through. So I'm going to ask the Doubting Thomases to read the following and just think about these things:

• What if global warming IS a result of human-created carbon dioxide emissions? (Carbon dioxide emissions come from car exhaust, power generation, rotting garbage, the burning of fossil fuels, and other sources.)
• What if global warming DOES result in the melting of a major ice shelf like the one covering Greenland? (The answer is that the world's water level will go up by 25% and we will lose places like Japan, Greenland, the Netherlands, Florida...4% of the world's land surface will be under water -- places where people now live will be under water.)

Another thing the Doubting Thomases could do is consider humankind's effect on the earth and on their own species' health and well-being. Do we not have enormous amounts of waste, unlike any other species on the planet? Yes, we do. Do our wastes cause ill-health and even death? Yes. We have been killing off other living beings and one another through toxic wastes, destruction of habitat, pollution, chemical pollution. Shouldn't we stop doing things like that just for our own well-being?

I think so.

I know it won't happen overnight. I'm not one of those enviro-nazis, either. I wouldn't think of throwing Molotov cocktails on a car lot full of Hummers to protest their wastefulness. That's just stupid. I simply try to do better. I recycle paper, plastic, glass, organics, and aluminum as well as household goods. I don't use chemicals in my yard or garden and I have eliminated household chemicals almost completely. I try to purchase items that leave the least waste. I'm not always successful. I still have a lot of trash. Hell, I still smoke. (I will be quitting for good this year.) I consciously try to reduce my family's consumption, including energy use. I try. That's all. I just try.

I hope that what's going on with the climate will not result in an ice age. I hope that humankind can reverse what's going on and prevent an ice age. I don't know if we can. I really don't. I do know we have impacted our environment negatively and I want not to do that anymore.

Please post comments and let me know what you're doing for Earth Hour 2008. I'd love to know.

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Cats...We've Known a Few

Cats and kittens grace our home regularly. Since we foster them to get them ready for adoption (through the local Animal Assistance Society), we have had the pleasure of caring for nearly 30 different cats and kittens in the past few years.

I thought I'd share some with you.


Our first batch of kittens were the "steel kitties" (in reference to their colouring) who were, coincidentally, rescued from a steel mill. They were very sick when I got them. They had eye issues, upper respiratory infections, and funny poops. They had to be given lots of meds every day, eye ointment and cleaning twice daily, a couple nutritional supplements, and yes, I had to pay attention to their poops. That's right. I think I've seen every make & model of kitty poop in the past few years. As a foster, I got the trial by fire routine. No other kitties have been as needy since. I never minded, though.

We named two of them tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, these two were constant companions. Due to the ongoing brain damage I suffer as a side-effect of long-term parenting, I cannot recall the other three kitty's names.



One day, Tweedle Dee broke one of her legs. I don't know how it happened. She was an awfully curious lil bugger (as you can see above) and I suspect she climbed into the drop ceiling downstairs and then fell from it. It was a nasty break and I thought they were going to euthanise her because the surgery would have been a couple thousand dollars. Instead, they put her in a high cage (so she wouldn't stand to look at her people) and kept her there for a month. She returned to me perfectly healthy but no longer attached to Tweedle Dum. She was adopted within weeks of her return as were all of her siblings.

Can you see Tweedle Dee? (This is post recovery, by the way.)



There she is!


I'll tell you about more of our kitties in future posts.

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