Ditch Doc » Gustate et Videte

Clear Creek Abbey

bt — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:47:43 +0000

This was far too blessed to blog about in any serious way, so I won’t. But I WILL mention that for culture shock, there’s nothing like the Route 66 Diner chili cheese omelette on the way to the airport from a week of monastic dining. On the bright side, I now know what biliary colic feels like.

A Forest in your Mouth

bt — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:32:08 +0000

This was a fun discovery. Next time you make a white sauce, smash up a few juniper berries and mix then in. But be warned: It takes forever for them to develop. The first time I tried this, I put six or eight berries in a Stilton and blue cheese sauce, just enough to give it a subtle hint of conifer. When I ate the leftovers the next day, the juniper had taken over. The sauce tasted like gin. Good, but a little startling.

Sou’wester Restaurant

bt — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:01:46 +0000

Last time I visited Peggy’s Cove, I tried, and loved, Solomon Gundy and fish hash with beans and green tomatoes. This time, I discovered blueberry grunt. It may have been invented to disguise a dropped upsidedown cake, by breaking it in pieces and serving it in bowls. But it was certainly named for the noises of animal satisfaction you make as you eat it.

Fumate et Videte

bt — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 19:14:17 +0000

“The point about smoking is, that if is is not a sin, it can certainly be shared with God, and if so, there is no reason why we should not talk to Him while enjoying one of the creatures He … Continue reading →

Cálem Lágrima

bt — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 23:14:25 +0000

If you can get your hands on it, you have to try this white Port, which is named after tears. Imagine drinking sunshine, butterscotch and Christmas. All at once. Where the weeping comes in, I will never know.

Addiction

bt — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:24:33 +0000

You know it’s time to cut back when you’re more worried about the lost coffee than the thermos you lost it in.

Requiescant in Pace

bt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:09:13 +0000

Here’s the Absolution following the Requiem Mass in Kinkora, Ontario, about 20 minutes from Stratford. A tad rusty, but a brilliant first shot at the Requiem in a parish that probably hasn’t seen it in 40 years. And listen to the parishioners! Most of them have never sung those responses. I have the honour to mention that Schola Nomini Tuo sang the whole Mass.

Friday

bt — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:58:03 +0000

Certainly, the chief purpose of Friday abstinence is penance, but let’s not forget the collateral benefits of leisure and luxury. If you don’t know what I mean, then sit on your front porch next Friday at supper time with a loaf of bread, a piece of cheese, an apple and a mug of beer, and eat them slowly. Here is real leisure: there was no cooking, and there will be no dishes to wash. And here is luxury: at the end of a day without beef, you remember just how delicious an apple tastes. A good Friday meal is not a wallowing in culinary gloom, but a reminder of the extravagance of God’s smaller gifts, in the light of which you can see the bigger ones more clearly. No one enjoys the filet mignon so well as the one who revels in the potato next to it.

Summer Recipe

bt — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:38:20 +0000

1. Leave thick-skinned onions on the barbeque at medium-high heat until they burst.

2. Add butter, salt and pepper.

3. Feast.

On Sandwiches

bt — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:03:32 +0000

The more Chesterton I read, the less that unmistakable smell of a Subway joint reminds me of food.