Cathy Spencer's Blog, page 21

"Fire 'n Ice" Dessert at Turtle Jack's!

It hadn't been a particularly good day. I spent a couple of hours trying to convince the Ontario Government that they should send my bank a letter confirming that it is all right to unlock my RRSP funds and send it to my pension plan in Alberta, the water unexpectedly switched off in our apartment (pre-shower) for about three hours, and the heat and humidity rose to the point of warm bath water outside. To alleviate some of my frustration, I suggested to my husband that we go out to dinner, and he happily concurred.

We drove north on James Street in Hamilton, just winging the choice of a restaurant, and discovered a chain that we had never heard of before - Turtle Jack's Muskoka Grill. The menu had some fresh ideas; I chose a hamburger layered with apple, brie, spinach, and onion, while my husband had a barbecued chicken that came with sweet potato nuggets. Both were quite tasty, and since the main course had been so good, we decided to share one of the desserts. We chose the "Fire 'n Ice" and - oh happy day - we sure were glad that we did.

Picture an igloo-shaped mound of vanilla ice cream wrapped in cinnamon-spiced pie pastry and deep-fat fried. Once the pastry is crisp, it's drizzled with caramel and chocolate syrups and anointed with whip cream. Just for the hell of it, deep-fat fry a couple of layers of phyllo pastry, puddle chocolate syrup over the top, place the pastry on the plate behind the ice-cream bomb, add more whipped cream, and - voila! - you have Fire 'n Ice.

Oh my, oh my it was good. It was the kind of dessert worthy of skipping the main just so that you could have enough stomach space to do it justice. My husband and I cut it down the middle and managed to finish every bit even if we needed to walk a couple of miles afterward to feel comfortable again. But let me tell you, it was worth it.

I wish that I had snapped a picture of it on my cell phone, but as soon as I set eyes on it, my only thought was of eating it. So you'll just have to use your imagination, or, better yet, find a Turtle Jack's and order one.

Bon appetit!

Cruising with My Hubby to Hamilton

The road trip took us from Calgary, Alberta to Ontario in four and a half days. We headed south into the huge state of Montana on the first day of our journey, and followed interstate 2 across the northern part of the state after a good night's sleep. The drive across the 2-lane road on a Saturday was sunny and pleasantly warm with practically no traffic, just tooling through the countryside without having to slow down much for towns along the way.

Stopped in at a Comfort Inn for the night, which was fine. Encountered hot biscuits as part of our breakfast buffet, and mistook a serving dish of gravy for oatmeal. Thought it smelt funny for oatmeal.

Remember North Dakota as having road work and delays and more towns than Montana. The same goes for Wisconsin and Minnesota. The hubby did all the driving. "Driving is a business, the business of getting from Point A to Point B," he said. I remember trees and lots of farm land that had just been harvested of its hay. Slept in five different beds, which were mostly okay despite my precarious back. We learned pretty quickly the value of renting a room with a king-sized bed, and we even had queen-sized beds to ourselves in one motel. Hooey!

More trees and more farmland in Michigan. Pointed out to my hubby that Michigan is the state with pasties. (That's the meat and potato turnover, not the tassels that strippers wear.) My mother's mother's people came from Michigan after Ireland, so I knew about pasties growing up. "See," I said to my husband, pointing at signs as we drove by, "smoked fish and pasties," but we didn't stop into these restaurants to try some. Must have been on the wrong side of the road.

We finally did a little sight-seeing one evening in Gaylord, Michigan. I was holding out for Gaylord, rather than stopping in Wolverine and Vanderbilt, because the name reminded me of the character from Show Boat. Told my hubby that I expected to be greeted by some musical theatre when we headed into town. Not much - just some folks with tambourines trailing streamers in period costume doing some singing and dancing. We didn't see the musical theatre, but we had a fine dinner in a restaurant called the "Sugar Bowl" which was founded in 1919. The town was trying for a Bavarian theme with their down town store fronts, and the Sugar Bowl didn't disappoint. We were seated next to a party of half a dozen Catholic priests who had just been golfing and were occupied with discussing the concerns of the local churches, so the conversation we overheard was interesting, too. After dinner, we strolled down the dusky main street to a chocolate store that stayed open until 10 PM. Partook of a chocolate-covered marshmallow, and bought a bar of straight milk chocolate and some caramel corn with nuts. You can best judge the quality of a store's chocolate by sampling a plain bar of the stuff, and I can attest to the quality of this chocolate. The store was the "Alpine Chokolat Haus," if any chocolate aficionados are driving through Gaylord and want to stop for some good stuff.

We crossed the border at Sarnia (hello Canada!) and drove to Waterloo, where we were planning to spend an extra day in our old stomping grounds, seeing what was new, before making the drive to Hamilton. Problem was, the hotel we planned to stay in for two nights was brand new - I mean we were the first people to stay in our upgraded suite - so the room smelt strongly of brand new carpet and the windows didn't open, although the air conditioning worked just fine. Add to that the mattresses were of the superior pillow-top variety, a bed I can't sleep in for more than a couple of hours before waking up with the heat steaming off me, and that made for an interrupted night's sleep. So, after having a lovely lunch with my mother and my hubbies' parents in St. Jacobs, we drove a day early to Hamilton and spent our first evening in our apartment complex's guest apartment.

After getting confused by the one-way streets while driving around the down town, we lucked upon a gas station on the way up the "mountain" with a supply of Hamilton street maps, and purchased one with alacrity. Armed with directions to a nearby shopping mall, we settled down to dinner in the food court and mapped our route home with lightened hearts. We popped into a Shopper's Drug Mart for breakfast essentials (peanut butter, the store's last loaf of bread, and a jug of orange juice) before leaving the mall. With hubby driving and me navigating, we nailed the way home (with only a little variation to our planned route from getting lost. Must have been something wrong with the map). Back at our guest apartment, I spent the next half hour struggling to make the TV work while hubby googled Hamilton grocery stores, and then we spent the rest of the evening watching HGTV. Ah, the comforts of home!

We also checked out our new apartment, which we take possession of today (it being 6:15 AM on August 1 when I sat down to write this blog), so now we're just waiting for the truck to arrive with our furniture (today? tomorrow?) before we can start the moving-in process. The apartment is spacious, repainted, and clean, so my biggest problem will be getting used to living on the 19th floor. I think the trick is to look out rather than down when I step out onto the balcony for a brief whiff of air.

That's it for now, intrepid readers. There will be further delays to my writing as we get settled and spend some time getting to know our new city, but I plan to get back on track with writing Town Haunts later this month.

Hope that everyone is having a great summer. Until the next time . . . .

Moving and THE MOVIE GAME

My husband and I are leaving Calgary this Friday, July 26, and heading for Hamilton, Ontario. We're both looking forward to our return to Ontario and to discovering a new city.

Therefore, I won't be on the computer very much over the next two weeks, so I'll provide the answer to last week's rendition of "The Movie Game" now.

The movie was To Kill a Mockingbird. That's a young, blond Robert Duvall playing "Boo Radley."

Happy trails!

RED2 Does Not Disappoint

Went to see RED2 tonight with my husband and my daughter, and the theatre was so full on an early Tuesday evening that we had to break up into single seats.

Some movie sequels are disappointing, but not this one. The plot leap-frogs from one country to another, the characters are bizarre but still grappling with relationship issues that we all face - be it with old friends or new lovers - there's lots of comedy, and some jaw-dropping action moments. I gasped out loud during one action sequence when a car being pursued at top speed by some bad guys drops back alongside a truck and then drives underneath it to come up behind them. Whoo hoo! Adrenaline-pumping fun. Never saw so many credits at the end of a movie for stunt people before.

I highly recommend that you go see this one for some hot summer movie thrills.

Starring Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zetta-Jones, Byun-hun Lee, and David Thewlis.

And one other fascinating fact. Cineplex is showing a commercial for "Urban Planet" this summer that features two young models. The young man in the ad is none other than my nephew, Wynston Shannon! It's not every day that you can go to the movies and see a relative up on the big screen. Here's the link to the commercial on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Lyx2EITtU.

Two Movies I'm Looking Forward To - Yippee!

Coming out November 1 . . . .
 Last VegasFour old friends - Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline, and Morgan Freeman - get together for a bachelor's party in Las Vegas. What a cast!

"Let's party like it's 1959!"


 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1204975/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 Coming out September 27 (in the UK) . . . .
 Austenland A woman (Keri Russell) obsessed with Jane Austen's novels visits the quintessential Jane Austen theme park looking for romance. Austen snobbery abounds! Also starring Jennifer Coolidge and Jane Seymour, I think I'm going to find some new British actors to admire.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1985019/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

THE MOVIE GAME, July 19, 2013

This week's movie game is rededicated to Kate Spencer, who didn't like last week's selection. See if you can guess this. Send your response by the "Contact Cathy" app to the right of this post and win a copy of Small Tales Twin-Packs, Mysteries for the correct answer. Good luck!


Last week's movie is Confessions of a Shopaholic.
 

RED2

I'm so looking forward to RED2. Helen Mirren is such a badass. Anthony Hopkins and John Malkovich; who could ask for anything more?
Here's a link to a preview/interview.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821694/?ref_=hm_3p_vi2#lb-vi4142967065

Interview on BookLOADS

I'm one of the authors being interviewed by "BookLOADS" for the month of July.
Please check it out at http://bookloads.weebly.com/july.html. 

Happy summer reading, everyone!

THE MOVIE GAME, July 12, 2013

Okay, this week's movie is dedicated to Kate Spencer. This movie was based upon a book. Send your guess via the "Contact Cathy" link to the right and win a copy of my short story collection, Tall Tales Twin-Pack, Mysteries," if you guess right. Here's the picture.



Here's the answer to last week's contest.
Auntie Mame (with the fabulous Rosalind Russell)

Anton Yelchin and CHARLIE BARTLETT

Last night I watched the movie, Charlie Bartlett, on DVD, and it wasn't until the film credits rolled that I realized the young actor playing Charlie was Anton Yelchin, who plays "Chekov" in the new Star Trek movies.  Yelchin is adorable as Chekov with his extreme youth, thick Russian accent, and "can do" attitude, and he was thoroughly charming as Charlie Bartlett.
It's a strange premise for a movie.  A teenage boy with a privileged background has been thrown out of several private secondary schools, inspiring his mother to enroll him in the local public school.  Charlie getting onto a school bus wearing a jacket with a crest inscribed in Latin and carrying an attaché case reminded me of how Niles and Fraser from the popular TV series must have looked going to school as boys.  Of course, Charlie is a duck out of water and a prime candidate for a beating from the school bully.  But Charlie just aspires to be popular, and he finds that by selling prescription drugs and playing father confessor to school mates with emotional problems.  He also fancies a cool young lady who happens to be the daughter of the school principal, deftly played by Robert Downey Jr., interjecting both romance and conflict into the story.

The movie was released in 2007 and apparently a lot of it was filmed in Toronto, standing in for L.A., if I remember correctly.  I borrowed the DVD from the library; if you can get your hands on a copy or watch it online, I strongly recommend it.

Enjoy!