Canadian Thanksgiving

Corn and turkey "dressing". (We would know it as
stuffing back home.) It was the best by far!

 Surprise, surprise! I again had the privilege of enjoying food and fun with friends with the Berger family! (See previous post "Music, Ice-cream Cakes and Line Dancing") Being invited once is something but being invited back is really special. Especially for a celebration like Thanksgiving. It was absolutely brilliant!
 Thanksgiving has been celebrated on and off in Canada for a few hundred years but didn't become official until the January 31st of 1957 when the Parliament of Canada declared,

 "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October."

 Well, I'm sure glad they did that! 
 What are the differences between the American and Canadian Thanksgivings? Not a whole lot. If I'm correct, the Americans originally celebrated it as thanks to God for the generosity of the Native Americans whereas the Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated as thanking God for the harvest. (If anyone could help me out at all, that would be great!)
 After eating, we went for a walk and I was offered to try "wheat gum". It's where you chew on raw wheat grains until it has the consistency of gum. I had to try this three times but thanks to the insistence of Alex, Abby and Alethea, it eventually worked! If Extra or Wrigleys brought out a sawdust flavour gum then you'd have some idea of what it was like...

Enjoying a slice of pumpkin pie.
Thanks goes to Alex Berger for this one...

 Now, I'm used to knives of most shapes and sizes due to working in kitchens, however, I've never had need to throw them. Thanks to Hans and Abby I got the chance to do just that! It was great fun and I really enjoyed it. Thanks guys!
 Then we had another dance party! I've noticed a pattern. When friends get together to enjoy food a fun times, dancing is never usually far behind... (See previous post "Music, Ice-cream Cakes and Line Dancing") After all, this was a day of celebration, right?
 Unfortunately, it was soon time for goodbyes. It was sad but hopefully it wasn't a "goodbye" as such but rather a "see you soon". (I hope there are more of those...) I have sure learned a lot from spending time with this flat-out amazing family! Our time together won't be forgotten. Many thanks to all of you for your incredible hospitality!
 However, I had one last thing to do. It was time for a little taste-testing. Yep, you guessed it: Marmite! A few brave volunteers gave it a try and some actually liked it. It's always great fun seeing someone try something for the first time, especially when they actually like it. (Although, it is fun when they don't like it too!)

Seasoned with Thanksgiving,

Jacob

Steaming turkey, green sprouts and buttery mash

"Wheat gum" anybody?

Let's have a hand for these brave Canadians!

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

Shopping in North America

I found this in a Canadian store. Are they having a laugh?

 I've shopped in a few places since being in the States and Canada and have come to the conclusion that I miss LIDL terribly! Wal*Mart is OK but it's certainly not home and has ups and downs/pros and cons. In fact I shall list a few of these...

Downs: 

• There is so much junk food! Tonnes and tonnes of it and it's far too readily available. I agree with my Dad who says that Americans just have "high quality junk food"!
• Fresh produce and anything remotely healthy (unless you know where to look) can be super expensive so you really have to completely rethink how you shop.
• Trolleys (they call them shopping carts) are not the same here and I don't like them at all. They only steer from the front! Now, that's frustrating.
• VAT is not included in the price you see below or above your desired item. This catches me out more often than not and has lead to a few near-disasters at the till which they call something else...

Blast these...

...shopping carts!

Ups:

• There is so much junk food! I know I put this as a "down" but, somehow, it's also an "up" just because it's so different and oftentimes hilarious. Seriously, you name it, it's here. From pop-tarts to squirty cheese; fluorescent blue and green drinks to corn dogs!
• Bulk stuff is easy to find because "everything is bigger in the US"! I particularly like the fact that ice-cream from a store comes in buckets with a gallon symbol and a number beside that. Not your little 2 litre, flavourless nonsense from back home. 
• Meat is cheap! Us Brits have no idea how to BBQ. (Which apparently is not a verb over here but that's another story.) I can get a good steak back home for ten pounds and the same kind of steak here for 10 dollars. So, with the exchange rate, it's 2/3rds the price. Cool!

And where would we be without the Twinkie?
Hit it Tim!

 A Note on American Cereal - Personally, I have found American cereal has the tendency to have a higher cardboard content than the box it comes in, less nutrition than a breeze block and more colours than Joseph's Technicolour Dreamcoat. If, however, you still want cereal but one that isn't going reek havoc with your intestinal track and have maybe six or so dollars to spare then a small box might be found... So, for me, biscuits and gravy is going to win pretty much every time. (See a photo in my previous post "New Friends, New Recipes".)

Seasoned with Homesickness,

Jacob

Yep, everything's bigger!

Dog food? No, kids' cereal!

Behold, the wonder: Squirty cheese!

There was certainly a lot of choice in this aisle...

Americans eat these for breakfast toasted if
their technicolour cereal has run out.

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

Joseph Yoon's "My Favourite Ice-cream Shoppe"

My Favourite Ice-cream Shoppe!

 Ice-cream. There is a distinct lack of it back home in Britain in my opinion but in North America, you can't go far without driving past a Dairy Queen*. A near perfect example of the quality, quantity and just phenomenal amount of choice would be the wonderful "My Favourite Ice-Cream Shoppe" in the Altadore neighbourhood of South-west Calgary. Here's just ten out of the 72 bamboozling flavours they boast. They've got some fantastic names!

1. Moose Tracks
2. Mud Pie
3. Blue Bubble Gum
4. Triple Tornado
5. Wet Paint
6. Nanaimo Bar
7. Jamaican Grapenut
8. Melon Heads
9. Leaping Lizard
10. Bat Black Licorice

Meet David Han

 Open since 1981, this shop is now run by David Han whom I had the pleasure of chatting to. He said his favourite flavours were pistachio, coconut and one there called 'Espresso Flake'. He was kind enough to let me try some too! When asked what I might be interested in I thought for a second and replied, "Anything green, please." Firstly the tasting spoon was dipped into a bucket containing a very dark green ice-cream which I was told was called 'Melon Heads'. The 'Lemon Sorbet' was really good too, I've always enjoyed sorbets. A few days ago, a friend of mine mentioned that he had tried 'green tea ice-cream'. So, when this flavour was offered to me I was sceptical at first but it possess a surprisingly refreshing flavour so definitely give it a try. And then a personal favourite combination of mine: mint and chocolate. 

Check out these super amazing flavours!

 The selection of ice-creams is full of surprises and so is the actual parlour itself. From the selection of objects that have made their home on the walls to the "Ms. Pac Man" arcade game to the piano in the middle with a giant cow sitting on top of it. The piano is actually played by professional musicians every weekend evenings from 6:30 until 10:00 but if you can play it for ten minutes or so then you get free ice-cream. Sounds a good deal, right?
 So, if you're in Calgary sometime and are looking for good flavours and good fun then head on down to "My Favourite Ice-Cream Shoppe". If you are lucky enough to be in the area on their Customer Appreciation Day, 20th of October, then bring a coupon (click HERE) and you can get a free ice-cream!

Seasoned with 72 flavours!

Jacob

 P.S. I forgot to mention that they also have a great assortment of ice-cream cake designs for you to choose from and even if they don't have quite the design you're after, you can create your own! Click HERE to see their selection. 
*Keep an eye out for more ice-cream extravaganza coming soon!

One random cow lounging on the piano

A huge mural down the side of the shop's outside

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

Lake Louise and Tim Horton's

Lake Louise. Look closely above my left
shoulder and you will see the glacier at
the far end of the lake

Brrr...cold thumbs

 The Canadian province of Alberta is famous for many things: majestic National Parks, fabulous ski resorts, the Edmonton Mall...steak. (Nothing like an Alberta steak, right, Alex?) Famed for it's breathtaking beauty, however, is Lake Louise, Banff National Park. It was a two and a bit hour drive from Calgary and freezing cold but it was worth it, I've never seen anything quite like the crystaly blue colour of Lake Louise. I was reminded a lot of the time I spent in Scotland (see here for my post on that) by the area surrounding it however it was much more dramatic.
 Anyhow, by this time, I was in dire need of something hot so there was one logical place to go: Tim Horton's. Oh, yes, I like Tim Horton's! Canadian ice hockey player, Tim Horton, founded the coffee chain in 1964 and it is now the largest fast food service in Canada with over 3,000 stores nationwide! Just check out these statistics:

Of course, I had to have the
green one!

• In Canada, Tim Horton's has twice the amount of outlets as McDonald's
• Tim Horton's commands 76% of the Canadian market for baked goods
• Tim Horton's holds 62% of the Canadian coffee market (Starbucks came second with a meagre 7%!)

 Yep, Canadians like Tim!

 So, I was left with a question that you may be able to help me with. Looking at this box of mouth-watering goodies, what would come out on top for you: the lake or the doughnuts? Leave a comment if you know.

The Lake?

Seasoned with Choice,

Jacob

or the doughnuts!

A cafe that I happened to spy with a clever name

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

Little Caesar's - "Hot 'n' Ready!"

Pizza time...

 After leaving the Berger's, it was back to Calgary for a while. When back, I got to meet up with some old friends and enjoyed pizzas together. Lots of pizza. In fact, you should be able to count sixteen boxes...

 "Little Caesar's" are a chain where the food comes hot 'n' ready which provided for some amusing photos...I mean delicious, hunger-busting pizzas in minutes!
 I have to say, if I'm ordering a pizza, it's got to be something with pepperoni. I don't do the veggie ones very well, they're always soggy. Blurk. But everyone's got their own opinion, what's yours?

Seasoned with Jesting,

Everyone's happy!

Jacob

"Hot 'n' Ready, folks!"

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

Music, Ice-cream Cakes and Line Dancing

Yep, that's an ice-cream cake

 So, after leaving Montana, it was a six hour drive to Calgary. I had a day there to rest up and then a two hour drive the following day up to Lacombe. Since being here in the States, I've had the great privilege of being invited into different people's homes which can oftentimes mean food. The Bergers were no exception. What a great family! The first evening I was there, there eldest daughter, Emily, and I believe a few helpers had made scores of spring rolls from scratch. I can remember when I was younger that I had little appreciation for such foods but these were seriously good! Anyhow, I was already blown away with these guys' skills in the kitchen but I was soon to find that I had no idea...

Getting some practice in... Apparently I look
like a gherkin

 The morning after I had a practice and a sound check. I was borrowing a five string bass which I've never played before as I hadn't brought my bass for the trip, so, that was a first. All I could hope was that everything would sound OK the following day...

This picture seriously doesn't do it
justice

 Now, at home, I have this little tradition. Every Saturday I make a big chilli and everybody loves it. Somehow this tradition has continued even here in the States. What had Mrs. Berger prepared for dinner? Yep, chilli. And you know what I was saying about "skills in the kitchen"? Well, Alethea can make the most incredible apple pies! 

Live on stage!

 The next day was the day of a concert. Man, was that a blast! I was nervous as it was the biggest one I'd done on this trip so far but I survived with only a few minor blips. After that, to say thank you to the Berger's (they had done so much in organizing the concert) I went to Dairy Queen...for an ice-cream cake! This was well received, apparently there are a few ice-cream fanatics among them as I learned...

The King of Cuteness: Isaiah Berger

 We later had a BBQ together outside over an open fire before tucking into the ice-cream cake. A little while after that, while getting in a mess with toasted marshmallows, I was acquainted with the art of bannock making. Apparently it's a Scottish recipe that is best cooked over an open fire which we had handy. Take a handful of dough, squish around the tip of a long stick and cook until well browned. Spread with butter, jam, honey, (or marmite!) and you are away.

 Well, what can finish off a day of music, food and friends better than dancing? Ladies and gentleman, allow me to introduce you to line dancing! Yep, I learned how to line dance thanks to the patience of Abbie (whose very cool YouBlog! post you can read right here) and had such a great time. As you may have guessed, I was very sad to go and I shall never forget the time spent with the Berger family. Many thanks to you all, you're awesome!

Check out the disco ball!

Seasoned with far too much fun!

Jacob

Acknowledgements - Many thanks to Alex for teaching me how to back-flip on a trampoline!

Downtown Calgary. I've been able to experience Canada in the Autumn (or Fall as they say over here) a few
times now and it never ceases to "wow" me

Choosing an ice-cream cake

Alethea preparing those delicious pies...

Having the cake personlized

Now that's a cool one!

Cooking up the cheeseburgers

Enjoying that ice-cream cake!

Bannock bread. A must for anyone camping

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly