Archives for 2013/07 (Lifestream)

• Jul 31, 2013, 12:51 AM -04:00

  Oatmeal Stout Under the Watchful Eye of Abandoned Silos

  For a long time I've been trying to gauge my personal feelings about this building:

  

  This is the old Canada Malting factory. It's in the heart of Saint Henri, in Montreal, next to the McAuslan brewery on Notre Dame, right on the Lachine canal. I live about a 20 minute walk away. It's huge, intimidating, in extreme disrepair and very well-graffitied. It's been abandoned for decades.

  Here's another view:

  

  Ferreting out my reaction is not as easy as one might imagine. Introspection, at the best of times, is a tricky business.

  Read more »

• Jul 30, 2013, 3:08 AM -04:00

  Jaffa Cakes for North Americans: an Odyssey

  Evelyn and I found a polish bakery in Point St Charles. One of the things we saw (aside from the actual pastries) were packages of Jaffa cakes for sale. I'd never had one before, but they looked good, so I bought one. Indeed, they're pretty awesome. They consist of a sponge-like base, with orange jelly and chocolate on top.

  A friend of mine referred me to a web site that showed how to make them. It claimed that the process was dead easy but that's a lie. Specifically, I had a difficult time making what British people call "jelly".

  Read more »