Mini Guinness and Mini departsAt Mini and Jono's farewell party a mini Guinness felt appropriate - I think it is good for my iron levels (which is an old wives tale I found out via the interweb). The only thing I found online is an article on the BBC which said having a pint a day is similar to taking an aspirin a day to help reduce the risk of a heart attack as per a University of Wisconsin study.
J , Chris & Paddy enjoying their last pint together. Mini and J - last night at the Black Lion.

From the BBC:

The Guinness feel good factor:

The original campaign in the 1920s stemmed from market research - when people told the company that they felt good after their pint, the slogan was born.

In England, post-operative patients used to be given Guinness, as were blood donors, based on the belief that it was high in iron.

Pregnant women and nursing mothers were at one stage advised to drink Guinness - the present advice is against this.

The UK is still the largest market in the world for Guinness, although the drink does not feature in the UK's top ten beer brands according to the latest research

Guinness around the cornerThe thing that I love about London is that you always discover something new in places that you think you are familiar with. This building is only steps away from my office on a little street I never walk down. I stumbled upon it the other day and thought it was quite impressive. It is a housing block that was founded in 1890 by Edward Guinness, the great grandson of the founder of the Guinness brewery.

The Guinness Trust is the oldest member of the Guinness Partnership, a group of housing associations. It is a UK charity which provides affordable housing.

The trust is no longer run by the Guinness family - Princess Antonia of Prussia, Marchioness of Douro, OBE (b. April 28, 1955) great-granddaughter of Wilhelm II of Germany and 355th in line to the British Throne now runs the trust.

I want a title like Princess Antonia -what is a Marchioness? Definitely the wife of a nobleman.

I wonder if the residents got discounts on the beer from Eddy? And 355th in line to the British Throne is pretty impressive eh?

:)

Daisy DukeLocated in the TD Tower on Wellington Street the Duke of Devon is a favourite of many city boys in Toronto. Not because it has an ok selection of Brit-inspired grub, or that is has traditional pub art (fox hunting prints and iconic old British countryside stuff) hanging on its walls, or that it serves Guinness - it is probably because it is a Hooters wannabe.

The waitresses in there, who are all female and good looking (bar one or two), are all wearing school girl type uniforms. Knee high socks, black short, short skirts (perhaps they are supposed to be kilts -they are way too short for my liking) and tight tops make them quite a sight.

Upon entering I thought we went to Hooters on Halloween with a black school uniform theme. I guess you have to cater to your clientele - rich city boys who want to watch some sport and be served by some pretty ladies who am sure do very well in the tipping department.

But how about the high flying female traders (are there any in TO?) or female banking or business professionals - what do they get to look at? The equestrian prints circa 1867 on the wall?

I asked our Hooter-esque dressed waitress why the men that work there are wearing ill fitting trousers, horrible black button down shirts and are not fit for Men's Health covers like the women are? She laughed and said that the men did wear kilts at one point but the women patrons were too aggressive so they switched back to boring pants (and probably hiring non-hunks). She said the servers wear a special white belt that is kinda sexy, when I saw the servers I did not see a white belt or anything 'kinda sexy' about them either.

If I opened a pub and hired only sexy men in tight slacks with their muscles and pecks busting out, would it cause an uproar? I wonder.
Now I know why my friend took me there, although he said this pub is his favourite for other reasons - am sure it is the smell of the hand wash in the men's toilets or something like that?! C'mon men, why do you try to fool women, we know the real reason. My question is why is there not the same number of places for women to appreciate a fine looking male, if there are such places at all?

p.s. They did have good sweet potato fries.

What to do with half a bag of almost rotten carrots?

Like Clara says, 'it's just wrong to let things go to waste,' but.... she believes that to be true with Guiness Beer but doesn't eat leftovers?! Go figure.

Anyhow thinking about her words I decided to make something with the half bag of almost rotten carrots in the fridge. What to do? Nothing too fancy, threw them in a pot with boiling water a whole onion and a few potatoes and some garlic and voila some soup for the chillier nights that are approaching. I added an organic stock cube and lots of chili pepper and salt and ground black pepper. Once it was a little cool, I threw it in the blender and voila I will have soup for dinner the next few nights -although I am out each evening for the next few nights so those carrots may have been cooked in vain :)


And read on Wiki yesterday that almost 70% of Sicilans and descendants from the Mediterranean are lactose intolerant (LI) in comaprison with 5-10% percent of northern Europeans and Americans. All of this new LI info is fascinating.

Come to think of it I never saw my grandparents drinking milk or having cereal...I think my grandfather drank goats milk while he was making his cheese on the farm but that may be it...will have to check with the aunties and uncles about their milk consumption. Giovanna - does your mother drink milk?


x

Guinness in Namibia?
Met a friend of Craig's last night who is working in northern Namibia doing research. Something I remember him telling me was that, 'It's bloody hard to get a good pint of Guinness up there.'

He is in town for a month so am sure he will be consuming his fair share before he has to drink Windhoek Beer again.

Also check out Craig's website he's got some great photos of the Amazon and of Namibia and he is the photographer for the cookbook. We are planning to do photos in Sicily in September if all goes to plan...
(pic taken in Derry, Ireland)