Quattro Stagione Cafe 7060 West Saanich Rd review · Sunday June 15, 2008 by colin newell
Quattro Stagione – I have no idea what it means.
Quattro Stagione is a restaurant on West Saanich road on the Saanich peninsula.
From the outside it appears to be a bit of a dive or visually unstructured. I mean, there is nothing to indicate here that there is anything outstanding or unusual on the menu. Patience yields a surprise however.
World famous coffee-tamper artisan (and vegetarian) Reg Barber swears by the joint. His shop is in Brentwood (no, the Keating industrial park actually…) and he lunches here.
So while picking up some stuff from Reg Barber, my wife and I popped in for a late lunch (3 hours before having a fabulous dinner at the Heron Rock Bistro – my next review)
Ok. The food here is really good. It is of a middle-eastern bent; falafel, pita’s, wraps, intriguing sandwiches and very original and healthful salads.
Which were very tastefully and artistically served.
The only minor downside at this late hour in the afternoon, 1/2 hour before closing:
Was the owners kids – a 7 year old boy and 11 year old girl kept buzzing in and out of the cafe… endlessly.
We were sitting out at a sidewalk table and the 7 year old boy spent 3 or 4 minutes running around us, hiding behind me giggling and mugging… at some point asking me if I wanted to hear a song with rude lyrics…
I think my bored and slightly irritated expression drove him away… or his boredom took over.
The 11 year old daughter roller-bladed non-stop… into the cafe, out of the cafe, into the cafe, out of the cafe… I am not sure… food safe violation ? No? Yes?
Overall verdict: Really great creative food. But come mid-day before schools out!
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Gas Price Rant #15 Criminal investigations coming to Victoria B.C. · Thursday June 12, 2008 by colin newell
Sometimes there is good news.
And although the skies over Victoria B.C. Canada did not rain gold coins, virgins or 20 dollar bills today… there is some interesting activity on the ground…
close to your neighborhood Gas station… maybe.
On the other side of the country, criminal charges have been laid against 13 people and 11 companies accused of fixing the price of gasoline in Quebec.
The suspects and companies operated in Victoriaville, Thetford Mines, Magog and Sherbrooke.
And we all know that gas prices in Victoria B.C. Canada are fixed by a automated telephone system called Viper. It’s collusion. It’s price fixing… and it’s criminal. And maybe, just maybe, lower Island residents may get a wonderful dose of schadenfreude.
As Jackie Gleason use to say… “How SWEET it IS!”
And although I personally have no evidence that criminal charges are about to be laid in the Victoria area… I can hope. And you can hope with me.
Canadian Big Brother #1 What`s on your iPod · Thursday June 12, 2008 by colin newell
Damn. Damn. Triple damn.
I swore I was going to lighten up with my next post… but the Government of Canada will not let me.
Damn.
We posted on this issue at the CoffeeCrew blog about 3 weeks ago about the new Anti-Copyright legislation currently being cooked up by Canada’s right wing Conservative minority government under the delicate tutelage of Stephen Harper (shown at right in his most favored outfit ).
So now it is moving forward – read the CBC article for yourself and the hundreds and hundreds of angry comments that follow.
Here is the skinny.
The federal government (under the wisdom of Minister of Industry – Jim Prentice) has introduced a controversial bill it says balances the rights of copyright holders and consumers — but it opens millions of Canadians to huge lawsuits, prompting critics to warn it will create a “police state.”
To quote Jack Bauer of 24 – Hide your iPod and TIVO… Hide it now!
Bill 61 panders to a dying industry – Big Music and Rich Media like Sony Pictures and Music – and the big question is (amongst dozens of similar questions…):
When you buy a CD or DVD, is it really yours… or have you merely rented or leased it? Rip one copy of a CD to your iPod and that is sort of legal. Make 2 copies and you face fines of upwards of 20,000 dollars.
CBC reader commentary reveals: “Will warrantless searches and seizures be allowed? Of what? My kid’s music player where he carries his personal data to and from school? Media cards? My USB drive that contains my personal information? My computer? My CDR backups of my computer? My cell phone? Every piece of electronics I own?”
Here at the blog, we wrote about this very thing – how Airport security guards will soon be snooping your Ipods and laptops for illegal content.
What is next, checkpoints like they have in Uncle Sam? I hope the f*ck not.
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Welcome aboard. Papers please! San Juan Island edition · Tuesday June 10, 2008 by colin newell
It smells like World War II Nazism but it’s homegrown Fascism – In Amerika’s continuing efforts to eliminate freedom in the homeland, the U.S. border patrol in Anacortes, Washington has begun checking the identification of people coming off domestic ferries from the San Juan Islands!
Can you imagine riding the B.C. Ferry from Swartz Bay in Sidney to Fulford Harbor on Salt Spring Island and being greeted with sweaty, brown shirted, fat white men with German shepherds. The brown shirts snarl orders at the cowering tourists as the dogs bare their teeth and grimace. “Papers please! Have your papers in order!”
Sound far fetched? This reality has come to the scenic San Juan Islands in one of Washington states loveliest regions.
From todays Times-Colonist – The spot checks have some San Juan islanders, U.S. citizens or not, in a flap. “Many Latinos in the community are paranoid about getting on the ferry,” says Kevin Ranker of Friday Harbor. Others fear the spot checks will hurt the islands’ tourism economy, says Ranker, a county council member running for the state senate. Some residents might be happy to see the illegals nabbed, but still resent being ID’d in their own country.
In George Bush’s America this might seem acceptable – but it isn’t and shouldn’t be. Where does it end? How long before there are street-corner check-points in every major city in America? If it is OK in the San Juan Islands, then it has to be OK in Los Angeles and Kansas.
Truth is, the Bush family, now running America are not far removed from their Nazi era relatives. That’s right. Do your homework. George Bush and Co. are directly related to the good people that brought you the Third Reich.
In the early 40’s the American administration did not find Nazism and persecution so offensive that they jumped into the fray early like Canada did. No. They waited for Pearl Harbor to be attacked. Some of us stomach oppression better than others I guess.
Here in the 21st Century, apparently, it does not comes as much of a stretch to whittle away the rights and freedoms of every day Americans.
So. Today in the San Juan Islands in beautiful Washington State… Well, they pick on people of color… Latin Americans… Tomorrow, who knows. Maybe they will be coming for you.
Have your papers ready.
Additional reading
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