Monday, November 14, 2005

It's Krispi and it's fresh, but it ain't doughnuts...
Nova Scotia was really fun. It turned out to be colder than The Weather Channel thought it would be, so I didn't really have appropriate clothing. I should've known -- if you go to Canada, BRING THE PARKA! Even if it's August. You just never know when a nor'easter will strike. Luckily, a colleague from Toronto took pity on me and gave me a bright red, most-super-fantastic took (or is it spelled tuc?) with my company's super-fantastic logo emblazoned across the front. If, like me, you didn't watch enough Doug & Bob MacKenzie as a child, a took is a hat, like a stocking cap without the ball, and kind of shaped at the top- not like a tube that's just been stitched together at a point, but a little more, um, square-ish. Mine also has a liner of black sweater material around it, giving the effect of 2 tooks layered together. It's most awesome. And warm.

Trivia for the Traveler-- Seafood in Nova Scotia is CHEAP. And GOOD. If you pretended the canadian $ were actually US$, it was STILL cheap. Then take the prices and multiply by about .78, and then it's like they're giving it away! And in a way, I guess they almost are. There were roadside trucks all over the highways selling-- no, not watermelons, or peaches, or even boiled peanuts (a southern delicacy).... fish! Smoked, fresh, live, whatever. Lots of fish. For sale on the side of the highway. I didn't partake-- allowing the local restauranteurs to do my cooking for me. But I could definitely live in a place where they sell seafood at every corner. Mmmmmmmlobsters. I'd buy a pair of big lobsters on my way home from work and do 'em up right, in crab boil! Extra spicy!

(slap-slap, focus! back to reality!) OK, anyway. On Friday I had nothing to do but sightsee and so I took my rent car, my took, and a crude Avis map of NS, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island on-one-page and followed the coastline along the Atlantic ocean and various coves, bays, waterways, fishing villages... It was Remembrance Day and I saw a band of WWII veterans at the Lunenberg Canadian Legion building looking distracted but very patriotic. What a great time. The only shopping I did was at a monster tourist trap called Peggy's Cove where I visited the busiest gift shop ever. I don't mean it was full of people-- I mean it was busy. My eyes never adjusted to the spectacle of tchotchkes. SNG got a groovy new magnet and I got a bunch of postcards (my pics weren't as good).

On the way back, I saw the funniest sign- hand (spray-)painted, out in front of a (ahem) business establishment:

Krispi Kraut
Sauerkraut
Always Fresh!

Eat your heart out, doughnut fans. Get them when they're hot??

This week's destination-- New York.

10 comments:

Mom said...

But isn't sauerkraut supposed to be really, really good for us??

SNG said...

Sauerkraut? But no maple cream? Very sad.

alphagal said...

I'm just sayin', the wise investor will buy shares of Krispi Kraut at the IPO. Soon it might be in every city in North America!
Cabbage and vinegar-- my nutritionist would be so pleased.

PartnerInCrime said...

That reminds me of the year I lived in Wisconsin. I never did acquire a taste for sauerkraut. Ick.
And now, just because you mentioned them, I totally want some boiled peanuts, and the odds of finding them here are between slim and none. Darn it.

Jim said...

Mmm... vinegar. The cabbage is secondary! I can't wait to go back to Germany.

alphagal said...

It's funny-- for years I thought that sauerkraut was the same as horseradish. When I learned they weren't the same, I had sauerkraut on a hot dog and was hooked. But I'm still not convinced that a krispi kraut would beat a kripsie kreme donut.

SNG said...

She took me to France. I helped her to discover sauerkraut.
I better get her something nice for Christmas.

Christa said...

Mmmm... Sauerkraut is soooo good with smoked sausage and mashed potatoes. Wait until you come to Germany,here you can taste the real stuff.
Christa

Dear Old Dad said...

(test, again)

Dear Old Dad said...

Hi- I haven't had any success leaving comments... until now!