an oddity...and a clarification (aka I HEART CANADA) - Cheaper Than Therapy Cheaper Than Therapy

April 28 08

an oddity…and a clarification (aka I HEART CANADA)

the strangest thing i have ever seen:

9pm. in our neighborhood. a couple, likely in their 60’s. sitting on lawn chairs. inside their open garage. in the dark. watching TV. possibly Oprah.

what? what? what?

i don’t understand. at first i thought teenagers..smoking pot possibly? but alas. no. these were grown adults. smoking nothing. but also…who hooks up a tv in their garage? with cable? and clearly a PVR, since it was 9pm?? explain this to me…PLEASE!

so, some of you may be under the impression that i was putting Canada down in my post on Friday. NO! this is not the case. i love Canada. i love the free health care. and the one-year maternity leave. and the Dean Blundell show on the edge in the mornings (i swear, i want to be one of the girls living with Todd for a week. seriously.) and Rent-A-Goalie. and obviously, i don’t need to express my love for Tim Horton’s. (yes, i’m angry about not winning anything in the roll-up-to-rim contest, but i still love my Tim’s. oh. yes. i. do) and Feist. and Emily Haines. and Arcade Fire. and hello, LULULEMON! i love the Beer. and the Beer Store. i love hockey night in canada.Â and Smarties. yum. i love corner gas. and lick’s. and Degrassi. i love ketchup chips. i love Aero bars. and Coffee Crisp. and i love Jacob. and RW&Co

and the bloggers.

and the BEAVER!

just NOT the bell beavers because oh.my.god. they are irritating

..almost as irritating as Celine Dion…

i do really love Canada, i swear. it’s just funny that i’ve lived here for 11 years…and i’m still so very American. a fish out of water, if you will. (you can take the girl out of the US…you just can’t take the US out of the girl…)

i’m not putting down Celsius…i just still can’t think that way. i’m not putting down spelling favourite with a “u”…i just can’t think that way. haha. and this one REALLY gets me, especially as an editor…i will write “i put an herb in my soup” because i say “erb” and canadians will write “i put a herb in my soup” because they say “herb”

but Poutine?? i can’t eat it. sorry. i don’t think i could ever eat anything that has CURDS.

because you have to draw the line SOMEWHERE. and i draw it at cheese curds…even though i was born in Wisconsin…

Filed Under

the girl behind the screen

Comments

Hee. Celine Dion and poutine have to be two of the worst ideas Canada ever came up with. Smarties on the other hand? Yum, indeed. Oh, and Caramilk. Love Caramilk.

Beth’s last blog post..Kids Night: Only the Strong Survive
Comment by Beth on April 28, 2008
sorry… I love poutine. gross to look at but oh soooo yummy. 🙂

I’ll still luv you even though you made fun of the beaves. hee hee.
Comment by Holly on April 28, 2008
That poutine stuff scares me. Like, seriously.

AndreAnna’s last blog post..BPA – What do YOU do?
Comment by AndreAnna on April 28, 2008
You don’t like the poutine, eh? Well you’e not missing much – its so dreadfully fattening that I gained 5 lbs just looking at the picture you posted 🙂 Cheers to Canada!

Visit me @ http://www.momontherun.net

Mom On The Run’s last blog post..About Mom On The Run:
Comment by Mom On The Run on April 28, 2008
Poutine is awesome. I will eat your share – although from my current mighty weight, I already HAVE.
I think it’s just disorienting to live in a country that’s not YOURS, no matter how much you like it. Still, Canada is pretty great.

Rebecca’s last blog post..You turn around for JUST ONE SECOND
Comment by Rebecca on April 28, 2008
Poutine is sick. And wrong.

So are the Bell Beavers and Celine 😉

Angella’s last blog post..Reunited, And It Feels So Good
Comment by Angella on April 28, 2008
Arcade Fire? I LOVE me some Arcade Fire. Ask AndreAnna how much I love Win Butler. I want to move to Canada and give birth to all of his children. I went to Lollapalooza a few years back when my friend’s band was playing and I almost missed Spoon (my friend’s band…you know the band that got me free tickets and back stage passes so I could stand on the side of the stage and oogle Win Butler…while I blew off watching my friend perform) Yes, that’s how much I love The Arcade Fire. That’s it. I’m moving to Montreal to become Win’s love slave.
Comment by Wendi on April 28, 2008
I don’t do curds either.

And I LOVE Dean Blundell. LOVE. Jason, Todd and Dean…they’re my guys. I’m rooting for Linda. I like her.

mamatulip’s last blog post..Just some stuff
Comment by mamatulip on April 28, 2008
Poutine? Really…the best is eating Poutine while walking in downtown Ottawa in the fall…that’s Canadian.

Teri’s last blog post..Make Work Projects
Comment by Teri on April 28, 2008
i have never had poutine and i am canadian.mmmmm chocolate bars…
Comment by LAVENDULA on April 28, 2008
you were born in wisconsin? Didnt know there were jews there! I guess we’re everywhere!

I wish I understood half of the things that you mentioned about canada.

Maya’s last blog post..March of Dimes Walk
Comment by Maya on April 28, 2008
oh gad i love poutine. its my favorite drunk food, besides shwarma

Becca’s last blog post..Weekend Roundup
Comment by Becca on April 28, 2008
OK, I love me some Canada too. We have taken many vacations to Toronto. I live in Lululemon…but what the heck is that last pic…Poutine? Can’t go there…

Nap Warden’s last blog post..Practice, Practice, Practice…Poor Sissy.
Comment by Nap Warden on April 28, 2008
My Canadian has been here for 10 years now and to this day he craves poutine. I can’t imagine putting the stuff in my mouth.

He thinks our chocolate bars are crap, he misses Aero bars and Coffee Crisp. But I say, who needs those? I just want Kinder Surprise!
Comment by AJ on April 28, 2008
Our next door neighbour has cable tv set up in his garage. With a propane heater for the winter. Garbage night is Tuesday night and in the winter we don’t usually see our husbands until the next morning because they end up in his garage.

Dean and Jason (who I went to highschool with!) and Todd! Love’em. Buh bye Linda…poor poor Linda.
I also love me some Barry Taylor…Barry Interesting Survey…the 4:20 thought…

What about Caesar’s? Clamato? My fave drink is a caesar!
(Aside from my large double double…which I’ll be getting free for a month with my fancy Tims card!!)
Comment by Christine on April 28, 2008
I was anti-poutine for a really long time. Then one fateful eve, after downing about eleventy million gin & tonics, I partook in the wonder that is poutine. I’ve never had poutine sober, so maybe I don’t actually like it. All I know is that after a few drinks, nothing can keep me from my curds and gravy. Fries aren’t even required. Okay that’s taking it a bit far.

hillary’s last blog post..We’d Spend The Whole Weekend Lying In Our Own Dirt
Comment by hillary on April 28, 2008
Oh, dear me. Tim Horton’s. I love Tim’s. I love Canada for having Tim’s. I wish Canada would send Pittsburgh a Tim’s. Could you work on that?

Burgh Baby’s last blog post..More About the Secret Agent Family in the Burgh
Comment by Burgh Baby on April 28, 2008
Put ketchup on the poutine! Do it, you will like it I promise!! Great blog you have here. I’m glad I stumbled in 🙂

H.E.Eigler’s last blog post..Fancy button for you
Comment by H.E.Eigler on April 28, 2008
Poutine is disgusting…and I’m fully Canadian.

Seriously – you’ve seen people write “a herb”?? I would assume that’s incorrect and change it to “an herb”.

nomotherearth’s last blog post..The Drawer Boy
Comment by nomotherearth on April 28, 2008
The maple syrup alone is all I need to solidify my love for all things Canadian.

Moose’s last blog post..Now All I Need Is Towering Hair
Comment by Moose on April 28, 2008
Amen on cheese curds! Nasty!

xox

heidikins’s last blog post..In which I ask the Internet to channel their inner Biker Chick
Comment by heidikins on April 28, 2008
I’m a big Leslie Feist fan. Poutine is an ‘acquired’ taste I think, sorta like raw bull testicles in some parts of Spain. The question for me is, why acquire it???

Mike S’s last blog post..Spring Memories
Comment by Mike S on April 28, 2008
Ha ha! I would have to draw the line at cheese curds too, even though I love cheese.
And that couple you mentioned watching t.v. in their garage? That is hysterical!

Katie’s last blog post..A Year Later
Comment by Katie on April 28, 2008
To me, you seem TRES Canadian — at least as Canadian as I am. I could TOTALLY forget you were from the US. You fit in perfectly, in other words!

And, I’ve NEVER done Poutine. NEVER.

Haley-O’s last blog post..He Loves Me
Comment by Haley-O on April 28, 2008
Being Canadian, I am ashamed that I don’t know anything about any of the shows you mentioned except corner gas…
I love poutine, but my westerner way that I make it at home. Under the broiler and usually with just regular mozza instead of curds. It is a major part of my pregnancy diet. (with ketchup, of course)
The worst part of being a blogging Canadian is the spelling thing. I am sure all of my American readers think I am a terrible speller, but I think with lots of u’s, I can’t help it. colour, favourite, etc. And we use hyphen’s differently. I do say an herb though, maybe cuz I am from the west?
Oh, don’t tell anyone this, but I hate maple syrup. ick.

Kristen’s last blog post..Lullaby and Goodnight
Comment by Kristen on April 28, 2008
Canada rocks. They have ketchup chips and lovely, wonderful mommy bloggers. ‘Nuff said.

(oh my LAWD, now I’m jonesing for ketchup chips)

Chicky Chicky Baby’s last blog post..And why did you do this again?
Comment by Chicky Chicky Baby on April 28, 2008
What about Robin Sparkles? (Please tell me you have How I Met Your Mother in Canada!) And the winegums? And Shania Twain? And Alanis? Ellen Page?

But certainly NOT Celine Dion. That’s just a disgrace to all those fine Canadians up there.

Camels & Chocolate’s last blog post..When Pigs Fly
Comment by Camels & Chocolate on April 28, 2008
It’s funny– I cannot stand raw cheese curds, like gag can’t stand them, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE poutine, as long as the cheese is melted!!! Mmmmm….poutine….thanks for the pregnancy craving 😉

Multi-Tasking Mommy’s last blog post..Oh the rain…
Comment by Multi-Tasking Mommy on April 28, 2008
I’m also a fish out of water. Hubby and I are both from NC but we’ve been in Ottawa for 9 years. I was frantically nodding in agreement to both of these posts! The only thing I would add to the “what I miss about the US” list is authentic Mexican restaurants. Yum!! I *so* love reading your blog because you are a genius but it also makes me homesick sometimes.
Comment by CarrieLou on April 28, 2008
Oh, and I totally forgot to say that there is an older couple in our neighborhood (in Ottawa) who also sit outside during nice weather and watch tv in their carport.(?*!&!?!*!) Hubby and I have always assumed it was a Canadian thing. LOL
Comment by CarrieLou on April 28, 2008
I love Canada, and you are one of the primary reasons why. 🙂

metalia’s last blog post..Metalia: Setting Feminism Back Since 2008
Comment by metalia on April 29, 2008
First? I have never, and will never say “a herb”. I say “an ‘erb” just like you. Second? Oh. My. God. My neighbours all party out on their driveways or in their garage instead of their back yards and living rooms and it completely baffles me, too. There are many televisions in the garages around her. It’s bizarre-o.

Assertagirl’s last blog post..The talk.
Comment by Assertagirl on April 29, 2008
I’m American living in Massachusetts – I’ve not heard of MOST of what you’ve referenced. Now I’m going to be busy all morning googling everything you’ve mentioned!

Those beavers look pretty dang funny – could someone email me a link?
kathylikespink@gmail.com

Kathy’s last blog post..Rainy Days and Mondays
Comment by Kathy on April 29, 2008
please please please try poutine!!! I have made every visitor try it & they all have loved it. I am shocked at the amount of Canadians who responded to never trying poutine – it is so delicious; of course I will only have it once a year bcuz it’s soooo fattening too
Comment by Maria on April 29, 2008
Now That was funny. I bet they had the maryJ stashed under their chairs. I’m trying that out when/if we get a friggin warm day…TV in the garage, must be liberating!

As for the Poutine. I don’t know how to pronounce it. ‘Nuff said.

Good&Crazy’s last blog post..Our Song
Comment by Good&Crazy on April 30, 2008
fine, you can stay ;p

kgirlto’s last blog post..Special Treat!
Comment by kgirlto on April 30, 2008
Oh Degrassi High, how I miss you and Spike and Wheels and calling people Broom Heads.

The new version just doesn’t do it for me.

Probably because I’m 30.

Kristabella’s last blog post..Good Times Guaranteed
Comment by Kristabella on May 6, 2008
If I’d known it was cheese “CURDS” before I tried it, I would’ve hated Poutine. But growing up in NYC, the standard “diner fare” was “fries with cheese and gravy”, only they used mozzarella (as one person above mentioned). So the similarities were enough to make it work for me . . .

especially as I was eating it at 10:30 in the morning at a snack bar in front of a Home Depot in Edmonton (different time zone, you know . . . )

try it sometime! you never know! (or next time you’re in Buffalo, see if you can do the “fries with cheese and gravy” US-style!)

Lorraines last blog post..one.word.
Comment by Lorraine on May 25, 2008