Come, join us

A couple of weeks ago, I was lunching at work with Deanna (the college's associate archivist). She was enjoying some cinnamon raisin bread that looked good, and I said so.She looked at me, thought a moment, and said: "Would you like to try some?"

I tried a bit. It was delicious. She said: "Sue in periodicals told me about a new way to make bread and I tried it. Go to you tube, search for 'no knead bread.' Then you will understand."

And so I did, and it did look amazing -- 5 minutes' prep the night before, 45 minutes in the oven in the morning, and you have delicious crusty bread. I immediately forwarded the link to G, writing "We have got to try this." Deanna came by, and I told I checked it out and she said "Right? I tried it and now I do it all the time." You do need a dutch oven, though -- Deanna offered to lend me hers so I could try it out.

Well, we had some "Kohl's Bucks" left over (Canadians: translate to "Zellers Bucks") and so G went out to get a dutch oven yesterday. Over lunch yesterday, I told mentioned to a group of colleagues that we had got the dutch oven for the "no knead bread," and they said "Oh, yes - the no knead bread. We're all doing it. It's wonderful. In fact, it's spreading like wildfire across the country." I had no idea!

Ken leaned over: "But you know who really knows about this -- Sue in periodicals. She's the one who's really in to this." Deanna, on the bus home that night, confirmed this: "Yes, Sue knows. She's found secret ways of making it even better." Sue in periodicals.

So last night, we gathered the kids around the laptop in the kitchen, and listened together once again to the video. "A six year old can do it" said one bald man. "Six? A four year old can do it!" said the other bald man. And so, we mixed the ingredients together, and put the bowl upstairs to rise overnight.

Morning, Sam woke us at 6:30 - "time for the bread!" We turned out the dough, put it in the dutch oven, baked for 40 minutes. (all these testimonials end with a money shot. Here's mine:)

I must say, you must try this. It's wonderful. It changes everything. Nothing will be the same.

It's delicious crusty bread, but I know it can be better. Deanna knows some tricks, but Sue is the one I must see. Sue knows the way to perfection. Sue in periodicals.

About that accent

In Canada, I occasionally ran into Americans who were fascinated by the local accent; at one point, I had some kids tell me "say aboot! Say aboot!" I knew from U.S. TV that Canadians were supposed to say "aboot", and so I obliged the kids, but I really thought that to be some cliche that didn't really exist -- except maybe in some corner of Newfoundland I hadn't heard of.

Soon after I moved down here, I had a neighbour ask what I was up to with the boys, and I said that we were "out and about", and he immediate exclaimed: "You're Canadian!" I guess this confirmed the existence of the "-oot", but I still didn't really know what distinguished "about" above the border. Maybe a lack of drawl?

Then, one day, after about 2 years of living down here, I was listening to CBC radio, and for the first time, I could hear the Canadian accent. It was an odd feeling, to hear your own pronunciation as strange, and I was left wondering if my ears were turning American (they're not -- U.S. pronunciations are still pretty clear to me).

For Canadian readers (hi Mom!) who are curious what this whole "aboot" thing is, um, about, with my newly minted U.S.-audio-sensibilities, I can now report first hand on the "-oot".

Canadian "about" is not "aboot" (that would be just silly) -- but it is something along those lines, more like "abau-oot", with the partial oo occurring just in the final moments before the t. Hope that cleared that up.

I hope to report on other quirks of Canadian pronunciation as I encounter them for the first time.

One in a million

You know, you generally live your life secure in the knowledge that you are a unique, singular individual; like a fingerprint or snowflake, you are Special. Others are Typical, people who fall into big social categories like cliques in a John Hughes highschool, and who follow, glassy-eyed and slack-jawed, various social trends and advertising appeals.

But you! You're aware of all this, much too post-class, post-race, post-fashion, clever and Special to be lumped in with the Crowd. And so, secure in your Special Position, you settle down on a Sunday morning to sip your cappuccino and enjoy the Sunday Times (man, I love the Sunday Times), and are confronted by the following advertising insert:

Oh my.

I'm so depressed, I'm going to have to get in my Honda Civic and head to the local mall to do some consolation shopping. And hey! Maybe the Apple Store has a sale on!