But it's a Canadian institution! · Friday June 23, 2006 by colin newell
Help me out here folks… (or folk. Could be I am down to my last reader. — life sucks when you are as dull as I am.)
But what do they put in Tim Horton’s doughnuts?
I know what you are thinking. What is coffee-guy doing at Tim Hortons anyway?
Yea. It is a Canadian institution. As Canadian as Lloyd Roberston. As trusted as Lisa Laflamme. It’s the beaver. You know it. You trust it.
Ok. So maybe it was the coffee.
The coffee.
Here is the deal. I eat a doughnut from Tim’s and honest-to-God, when it hits my stomach, it instantly reconstitutes itself into a whole doughnut again. Maybe it grows a bit. Maybe it shape-shifts into a Canadian-tire dime-bag of brass-screws. I don’t know.
All I know is, I feel like I have a 15 pound sinker-lead in my belly.
It’ll pass. Maybe I can walk it off.
Actually, Tim’s coffee is not that bad. If, perhaps, you compare it to Folgers or Chase & Sanborn or Post-um. It is not that bad.
There might just be a fleck or two of Robusta in there. Not sure of it but maybe.
I mean – my caffeine-ometer red-lines when I come out of there.
Could be the coffee and the maple-dip together.
Maybe I should chew more. The coffee I mean.
I chew the doughnut. Lots in fact.
Anyway – need to be careful when flirting with the desecration of a national monument.
Really. Really careful.
A diner for all time... · Saturday November 26, 2005 by colin newell
For all the praise heaped upon superlative gourmet coffee and, begging your pardon if I offend, slow-food in the 21 century, there are too few words spoken singing the praises of the grease n’ grill.
A significant portion of my best years (today and in the past) have been spent in diners like John’s Place on Pandora Avenue in Victoria, B.C. Canada.
I recall crossing their syrupy-sweet threshold way back in 1985 for the first time; Pancakes, sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs and black coffee. Oddly, 20 years later and (damn, I confess) 100 visits under my belt, I have the blood pressure of a 19 year old girl.
20 years ago I was a bright eyed, pre-internet, kind of guy frightened of the future. Ah, the uncertainty of being in your mid-twenties and wondering what the future would bring. Nothing takes your mind off of your worries faster than a fluffy waffle with cream cheese and maple syrup.
So, here we are in 2005. Two decades ago I sat in John’s Place with a table full of young friends, some of whom I still call friends today. Looking around, today, I see other young people (and older people) enjoying the solidarity of good food and friendship.
I really believe places like this keep us young, at least at heart. So the next time you are sitting down to your yoghurt, organic berries and 12-grain dry toast, fight back, say no… and find your diner.
Tofino - Pasticceria Conradi · Friday October 14, 2005 by colin newell
New food spot in Tofino – Pasticceria Conradi :
Heading into downtown Tofino? Turn left at the 4-way (there is only one, maybe two 4-way stops).
You see The Common Loaf bakery on the left? Yes? Well keep going there little sister, because on the other side of the side street is a new Bakery-Trattoria-Pizzaria called Pasticceria Conradi. Let me tell you, this is just what the doctor ordered.
Maybe, just maybe it will be a wake-up call for those people that run the Loaf that serve that dodgy brown stuff they call coffee. This new place gleams.
They have an Astra espresso machine.
They serve Serious-Coffee brewed right. The espresso is real and served with a smile. The food is to die for.
Just in for coffee? Get an Americano and a glazed or powdered Bombolino (Italian doughnut) – a fist-sized wonder of pastry-flour, oil and sugar, filled oh-so-gently with custard and deep-fried. Yum-yum, have another. My wife and I visited 2 days in row. Coming to Tofino? Make sure you stop here.
