A Key consideration...

It was Sunday night and we had to meet a couple for dinner at 6:30 p.m. My wife was fretting  about the ice in the driveway and I was watching a football game. She came in to obsess about the ice that had formed on my windshield and how it was never going to melt. She decided to run the defrosters at full blast for a while to end her concern, and came in and got my keys.

I was paying no attention, and it never crossed my mind try and explain the automatic locking system my car has, as it really never made much sense to me although I never had any problems. Basically, the vehicle will automatically lock and re-arm itself after 40 seconds if you have not removed the key. This includes a running car!

I have only one key for the car and it includes an embedded emergency key inside of the actual key, both in the car. A new key (an extra one) was intended to be purchased, but at the Mercedes dealer the key cost $350 and what in the world would I need it for? I have never lost my keys before.

It was cold, we were nearing the time to leave, my car was running in the driveway and I was going to kill someone very soon. My wife had closed the door on a running car so it would be warm inside.

I called CAA of course, but I had no comparable emergency as I was at home watching football anyway. They had given estimates (there had been a snow/ice storm for the last 24 hours) of a minimum of 3 hours up to five.

I Googled my query and found an Auto Key Pro in Hamilton and called. For money, he would come out immediately, about 30 minutes. He also guaranteed not to harm my car by scratching or breaking parts and could get me a key for less. I took him at his word and he came running.

He arrived in 25 minutes and worked at lubricating and picking the lock for about 45 minutes and it didn’t work. He then suggested we cut a new emergency key which I would pay for but would keep, and using my car’s VIN number he could make it and cut it in his van for and extra $60. OK!

He made a key and I am glad he was a good guy (making a car key in the back of a van from a VIN number scares me on many levels) because he did it instantly. The emergency key will open the door, not start the car and would give me a backup if I ever let my wife near my car again which probably won’t happen.

After 15 minutes or so the frozen lock guy was giving up and asked if I had ever used the door lock before. “No, never” was my response, so he thought it may be broken. He gave it to me to play with and in 3 tries I got it open! The lock had been frozen!

In the end we made it to the restaurant, I never saw the end of the game, and it cost me $180 with tax. I will get the rest of the key from the guy in the New Year for an extra $200 and will have a sound sleep.

But it always goes to show you, as my Aunt Ida told years ago, “For Money You Get Honey!”

Growing old is not for sissies!

It is hard…growing old is not for sissies.

I had the OK for a cortisone shot in my right knee finally after many years of complaining, and two days before the shot I hit my left knee into a cabinet and messed it up! Still, I have been getting around and now my right knee is much better.

So…I went to a David Crosby concert last night and at intermission, I walked out to the men’s room.

Being older concert goers, lots of people flooded the rest rooms and there were gigantic lines everywhere. As I made my way out of the auditorium doors, my right foot contacted the door holder fixed at the bottom of the door which was made of metal, and I went flying, right on to my already bad left knee and rolled on the floor in pain for a while, while the lined up ladies and men in need of peeing watched me writhe.

A security guard came to my aid and tried to help, but as my knees don’t work well anyway, and I wasn’t sure if it was broken, I chose to stay on the ground for a bit.

A lady in line threw her empty cooler can at the trash near me and hit off the trashcan rim and hit me. I yelled at her, “Bad enough I’m lying here with a very bad injury but you have to throw your shit at me!”  She decided to leave the area.

Eventually, two very strong security guards and one very beautiful woman who represented the venue all lifted me to my feet and I was able to walk and tap dance. I got to the washroom and back to my seat feeling foolish and in big pain where I remain today. I sat up most of the night with ice on my knee.

So in my continuing effort not to fall…I still do. I am unsteady, sort of, but usually careful.

The Portuguese Dinner...Again...much to my surprise...

On April 30, 2011 I wrote the following, with a few changes.

It was not until later that I realized we had almost done the same thing….five years before.

It was my daughters 17th (now 22^nd) birthday……….and then we would go out to dinner and she could choose where we would go ……..she chose the Wild Orchid, one of Hamilton’s favorite Portuguese restaurants.

We started with drinks…

(here is where the changes start. It turns out it could mostly be the same piece except its five years later and we added another daughter to the meal. Mateus Rose for us all this time..

We started the food portion of the evening with Pao De Aveiro, an appetizer which is an oven baked bread stuffed with Portuguese sausage and brushed with garlic. It is sort of half moon shaped bread.

We followed that with Calamari, breaded and deep fried and served with a tomato sauce.

My main dish was Arroz De Marisco This is Portuguese rice with Clams, Mussels, shrimp, Lobster, Crab, Calamari, Jumbo Tiger Shrimp and Scallops married together in a light pimento and tomato based sauce. Made in a Cataplana.

Cataplana is a Portuguese seafood dish, popular on the country's Algarve coast. It is also the name of the special cookware used to prepare the dish, which is traditionally made of copper and shaped like two clamshells hinged at one end and able to be sealed using a clamp on either side of the assembly.

Much like the word Tagine, Cataplana is the name for both the recipe and utensil in which you cook it. Cataplanas are a feature of many Algarve kitchen and are often used as a centrepiece dish at social gatherings.

It was so fantastic ……It’s pungent and mouth-watering and contains ….whole crab and lobster and massive amounts of all the other seafood. They had it for one or two on the menu… I had the one.

My highest recommendations go out for this dinner. My wife and daughters had  beautiful fish dishes served with rice and salad, two of which were sea bass, all coming in from Portugal.

If you’re in the Hamilton area, go to the Wild Orchid on James Street North, always a winner!

Desolation Row memories

I guess you have to have a quirky sense of humor or something, I know when I told my family this story they were extremely upset if it ever happened, which of course, it didn’t.

I was in the mall the other day and was coming out of the washroom and there is a coffee shop. Three or four young women were sitting and talking when a new one walked over and one of the girls was very happy to see her and hugged her and she sat down. It just struck me, they were all “skinny girls” and the words just came into my head, as if Bob Dylan was standing next to me.

“And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls "Get outta here if you don't know, Casanova is just being punished for going to Desolation Row”.

Now in my world, these are standard lyrics which I would recognize immediately; however, these young women of perhaps 17 to 22 years old and would probably not know them. But…they were skinny girls…

I wondered to myself, what would happen if I shouted at them, “"Get outta here if you don't know that Casanova is just being punished for going
To Desolation Row!”

I thought about it and realized that maybe I could convince mall security and the local police that I was harmless, but I would never get back into the mall, and I would be no hero to anyone buy myself, and even then it might be rough going…..

Baked Spinach Omelette for Passover

Baked Spinach Omelette for Passover adapted from the newspapers adaptation by me of the recipe in Joyce Goldstein’s book The New Mediterranean Jewish Table.

This just caught my eye and I knew it must be mine. I want to redo it now with Italian seasoning, chopped onions and peppers and maybe chicken pieces. As well, I'd like to add mozzarella, and it could become a  lasagna type of dish. In the meantime, it's wonderful just as it is!

Ready in 1 hour   Serves 8

1 tbs unsalted butter

2 pkgs frozen chopped spinach thawed

4 plain matzos

8 large eggs lightly beaten

1 cup ricotta

½ cup freshly grated parmesan

3 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 ¼ tsps. sea salt

½ tea freshly ground pepper 

Sprinkle of nutmeg.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 2-3 qt. rectangular glass casserole dish.

Squeeze spinach to remove excess water and pat dry with a paper towel.

Break matzos into 2” pieces and place in a bowl with warm water for 2 minutes.

Drain matzos in a colander pressing lightly.

In a large mixing bowl combine eggs, spinach, matzos, ricotta, parmesan, olive oil salt and pepper.

Mix until evenly distributed.

Transfer to baking dish and even out the top with a spatula. Bake on the middle rack until set and a toothpick comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Grind some nutmeg on the top.

Oops, I did it again....

In December 2014 I wrote:

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Sort of like falling again but not so bad….

I was asleep a few days ago when something woke me up. I started to turn the wrong way I guess. The next thing I knew I rolled out of bed and onto the floor! The pillows stopped my head from falling at the same rate and I ended up on my knees! 

They hurt!

The house shook, and my wife was sure it was like the scene in Jurassic Park where we see the water ripple as the Tyrannosaurus Rex comes closer. 

The only sound was my moaning…and laughing! Who else would fall again, but manage a 28” fall from bed onto a carpet.

I got up feeling a bit silly, with sore knees and promised, as always, not to fall again.

Now here it is, 2016, and I did it again! My wife was not as sympathetic and I was caught by all the covers and was chocking at the neck while hurting at the knees! Arthur, don't fall!!!