It’s the Sarsaparilla Polka by Canadian fiddle great Andy DeJarlis…
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Tonight at the Comfort Food Diner: split pea soup with home-made bread
I was planning to make split pea soup for tonight’s dinner. It’s almost autumn and it’s been a while since I made one of my weekly soups. At some point this morning it occurred to me that I really ought to make some bread to go along with it so I got a basic bread dough going.
A few notes on pea soup.
At the heart of a good pea soup, at least in my mind, is some kind of smoked pork bone. Yes I know it’s possible to make a tasty pea soup that is purely vegetarian and I’ll leave you to work that out if that’s what you like. Some people make pea soup a few days after a ham dinner, using a nice big ham bone for the soup. I was at Starsky’s the other day and I saw they had some smoked spareribs so I bought a piece – a little more than half a strip, which I cut up and cooked with the soup.
I start pea soup like I start a lot of soups, with onions and celery and carrots. I gently sautee them together with a little really good olive oil, adding some smashed and chopped garlic and salt and pepper along the way.
There are two kinds of split peas, green ones and yellow ones. I’ve used both and I’m happy with either. Some folks like one or the other better and I say use the kind you like best. I didn’t have homemade stock so I added some from a box to my veggies, then add the peas. I think I used about 2 and a half cups of yellow split peas and it seems about right. I think you can get away with less but your soup won’t be as robust. I added in the ribs, cut in 3 pieces, and I simmered the whole business for a couple hours. I checked the seasoning and let it cook a little longer while my bread baked.
Right now the house smells wonderful. The bread is cooling. The soup is ready. We’re going to have a very tasty dinner tonight.
Re-tales
I had my yearly eye doctor appointment at an office tucked away behind a glasses retailer. My prescription changed a wee bit last year but I didn’t change my glasses. This year it’s changed a wee bit again. Time for a new pair. On the way out they gave me a coupon for $50 off if I bought my glasses at the retailer. Now I’m not exactly the most fashionable guy on the block but I’m fussy about my glasses and usually buy swanky ones at a swanky retailer. The sales person at this store was on the ball though and as I was walking through the store, she asked if she could help me choose a pair of glasses.
I took off my current glasses and said, hey if you have frames I like as well as these I’m happy to give you my business. I tried a bunch of frames and texted some pics over to Tuffy P. Later, when she and I looked at the pics, we agreed that there was one pretty awesome pair we both liked, so today I went back to the store.
I showed the salesperson the frames I liked and she worked out prices depending on the kind of lenses, anti-scratch stuff (or not), UV filter (or not) and so on. They had a special promotion on frames. She came up with a price and I pointed to my coupon card and said don’t forget the $50.
Oh that doesn’t apply because you got our special promotion on the frames.
That’s silly. I stopped and looked here because they gave me the coupon. You can’t just go and say it doesn’t apply.
I understand sir, but look at the discount you got on the frames.
Instead I looked at the coupon card, which clearly said, good along with other promotions. I pointed this out.
I’m sorry sir, I can’t give you both promotions.
Yes I’m sure you can.
Sorry, but I can only give you the larger promotion.
As nicely as I could, I said: I think you’re also going to give me the $50 off. It says on this card, in writing, that it’s good along with other promotions.
She was ready for this. She pulled out a laminated sheet of paper on the other promotion and pointed to the micro-print at the bottom, where sure enough it said this promotion voids other promotions.
I protested. You can’t offer someone a discount to get their business and then say it isn’t valid – especially when the coupon expressly says it’s good with other promotions. At this point I decided I wasn’t going to give them my business without the discount – on principle.
I’m sorry if I’m being stubborn on this point, but you’re going to have to give me the $50 off….if you want my business.
I was about to get up to leave when she said, OK I’ll give you the additional discount.
Friends again. Small victories.
Hippie Old Time
A lot of the tunes we play in old time music are in fact really, really old – but not all of them. There have been many great tunes written over the past 50 years which have become standards for old time players. I met a fellow at the Rockbridge Festival who called these newer tunes “Hippie Old Time”.
Here’s one of them, which came up in a couple jams at Rockbridge. It’s called Nixon’s Farewell and it was written by a fellow names Curt Bouterse. I really like this one and I’ve been playing it quite a bit since I got home from the festival.
Free Books
The 27th Street Book Box is stuffed full of books right now, including a copy of Hugh Garner’s excellent Cabbagetown, set in Depression-era Toronto.
The Book Box is located on lower Twenty Seventh Street in front of our place at #15. You’re welcome to take any books you like. You’re also welcome to contribute books to this little library. It works best if the books you drop are books you think others would enjoy.
A kind reader has recently brought quite a few books to the box. In fact we have a bit of an overflow in the house awaiting shelf space. We’re really pleased that folks are continuing to enjoy the book box.
Unusual local mushrooms
I was out walking The Partners the other day and came across a number of these unusual specimens growing on a lawn under an oak tree here in the neighbourhood. Although they appear to be growing on grass, I believe they must be actually growing from the roots of the oak they are scattered around.
I posted these pics on a mushroom ID forum and it was suggested these are Ganoderma sessile, which are in fact known to grow on the roots of oak trees. Some people consume Ganodermas by drying them and making tea from them and consider them to have very positive medicinal properties.
There’s a night heron in the kitchen
Black-crowned Night Heron
When the alewives came into shallow water to spawn over at Sam Smith Park, the black-crowned night herons showed up to enjoy the bounty. Standing on the bridge on the west side of the yacht club, looking north, some evenings we could spot 4 or 5 of these chunky birds.
We decided to do a night heron mosaic. We did this one with Italian Smalti (glass) tiles on a birch plywood ground, and unlike the mosaics we do with broken crockery, we grouted this one.
Black-crowned Night Heron
This mosaic is about 3 feet tall.
If you would like to see more of our mosaic work, check out the Long Branch Mosaics site.
Annie & Mac
Down at the Rockbridge Mountain Music and Dance Festival in Virginia, I was visiting at my new friend George’s campsite, when Patrick “Mac” McCauley and Barbara “Annie” Stevens stopped by. I really enjoyed hanging out, making friends, and jamming with these talented musicians. It was a funny thing – they seemed somehow familiar to me but I couldn’t figure out why that was. It wasn’t until I was leaving and Barbara gave me their card that I made the connection. The reason I recognized them is that I’ve watched several of their Annie & Mac Old Time Music Moments on YouTube. Here they are performing a Roly Salley song called Killin’ the Blues.
If you like this one, they have lots of other videos to enjoy. They also have a website with more info and music available.
I’m hoping to attend more old time festivals in the future and I’d really enjoy spending time with these folks again.
Logger’s Breakdown
When I was down in Virginia I heard a lot of fiddle music and it has inspired me to listen to more and more, work on my own beginner-level fiddling and of course learn more fiddle tunes on banjo too.
Recently I’ve posted some songs from the the log driving days – The Log Driver’s Song by Mac Beattie and his Ottawa Valley Melodiers and The Log Driver’s Waltz by Wade Hemsworth. Here’s a fiddle tune called Logger’s Breakdown. The fiddlers are the most fantastic Patti Kusturok from Manitoba, and her young friend Ethan Harty, and it’s from Patti Kusturok’s 365 Days of Fiddle Tunes on YouTube.
27th Street 