Paul McCartney - Kisses on the Bottom

Paul McCartney - Kisses on the Bottom

This is a fun album, brings back memories and will appeal to grand-parents too.

At the 2011 Montreal Jazz Fest I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing Diana Krall sing songs from her childhood. Songs that she used to hear at home. Now Sir Paul is doing the same on this album. You almost think that his time as a Beatle was a waste, he could have been a crooner.

Diana Krall, John Pizzarelli, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and a host of others join Sir Paul singing and playing songs that I heard when I was a kid. This album is a hoot, give it a listen, but be prepared to fly backward in time about 45 or 50 years.

BNO at Ettinger's Deli

Apparently the formatting is screwed up on a Mac on Safari. I don't know if it's Safari or the Mac. If you have a Mac, go buy a PC. Ha Ha!!


A few guys get together several times a year for dinner. This week it was Ettinger's Deli in Lasalle. We've been doing this for a few years now and aside from the good eating, we get together for the laughs, revelations on getting older, we try to keep up-to-date on Dave and Norman's curling exploits and what's going on at Trinity United Church. On this occasion we were missing one regular. Sorry Dave, you missed a good one. The goal is to visit new restaurants (like Ettingers) and old favourites (those that are still around from our youth). There are dietary restrictions and/or preferences to take into consideration, so a deli is never a bad idea. We plan the dates around our schedules (which is a problem during curling season) and meet every 4-6 weeks.

Ettingers Deli is a new restaurant, 2nd generation family in the Montreal restaurant scene. The previous generation (Saul Ettinger) owned Briskets, Il Etait Un Fois and Linguini. With that heritage we had to check it out. 

The decor is subdued, almost dark. It was a quiet night in January, but it was busy enough. One of the co-owners stopped by and he mentioned that Thursday and Friday are much busier, but this is the quiet time of the year.

They have been open for a few months and are concentrating on preparing small quantities of high quality smoked meat. Their deli counter is not yet open and large quantities must be ordered in advance. On one occasion, a customer ordered 10 platters (5 lb. of smoked meat) and wiped them out.

Gary T., Tony, Gary K. and Norman hoisting a few at Ettingers.

Tony's choice, The Classic Luxenburger. Reminds us of Il Etait Un Foi 

I think Tony was impressed. As the web-site says:  In a standalone building in heart of Old Montreal at a time when it was a relative ghost town, Saul pioneered a new phenomenon. When McDonald's was selling burgers for as little as $0.60, Saul decided it was time to introduce Montreal to a gourmet half-pound burger at $5. In those days, the thought of a burger for $5 was ludicrous. Yet, within a short few weeks, Il Etait Un Fois attracted huge line-ups and rave reviews.  


Gary K remembers this as a good date restaurant. I just remember it as one of the best burgers I had ever eaten. We weren't sold on the idea of a basket and paper, but it is a deli and even Gordon Ramsey does that at Laurier BBQ.

Gary K's choice, the platter. Looks like Gary's wall of condiments protects his smoked meat from Tony's burger.  He also had a starter of Gravlox. 

 To which one of the guys asked, "What's a gravlox?" (Swedish style, cured salmon) Gary ordered a platter with no fries. This is 1/2 pound of the "fat" cut. The smoked meat is made by Ettingers following the Brisket's recipe. Again from the web-site: Brisket's smoked meat was not only homemade, but it was NEVER pumped. What does this mean you ask? Most smoked meat in Montreal and elsewhere was and still is prepared with briskets that are pumped with phosphates and a preponderance of nitrates and sodium. ... Briskets' smoked meat was made with UNpumped briskets using a tightly-held secret recipe. They were dry-cured the truly old-fashioned way over a period of 2 to 3 weeks producing superior smoked meat. This tradition continues at Ettingers and results in mouth watering smoked meat.

Norman and I both had the Reuben.

Norman had a starter of light battered, calamari with a spicy sauce for dipping. Thanks for sharing! I had a side of onion rings, I had to taste the Guinness beer batter. Both the calamari and rings were fantastic, worth going back for. I've had Reuben sandwiches in almost every deli in Montreal and this is the best. In some places they add another slice of bread between the meat and the sauerkraut, who needs the extra slice of rye. Norman and I both thought this sandwich was great. 

Here's a picture from Gary's side of the table.

I didn't get a picture of Gary T's smoked meat sandwich (Saul's Original Home Made Smoked Meat Sandwich), but it looked every bit as good. I'll let Gary post a picture and comment, maybe he's already done that in Facebook. 

This is one place we will return to:

• Better than Lesters (we all agreed on this one)
• Closer (geographically) than Smoked Meat Pete's, better decor. I wouldn't be shy to take a date here.
• Better than Jarry Smoked Meat (comment from Gary T needed here)
• Better than Dunn's
• Better than Chenoy's (but they've really been terrible for a while)
• Service was better than all of the above places and so was the decor. A slightly upscale deli is the way I'd describe it.

I'd ask Tony to comment on his burger, but I'm not sure he w/could.

I forgot to mention that there were plenty of TVs around so that you can watch your favourite sporting event or Food Channel show. Whatever Food Channel show was on had Paris as a backdrop, so that held my attention. Of course the sports stations had continuous Cammalleri video clips as he had just been traded back to Calgary. I liked him and hope he has a better end of the season than his beginning.

Guys, it's your turn to wade in and let me know how you feel.

Web site:  http://www.ettingers.ca/en/index.php 

Next BNO is scheduled for Leap Day, the venue is Restaurant Jane in Little Burgundy.

My new Kobo Vox

I picked up a black Kobo Vox on Wednesday and have been playing with it. My goal was to buy an eReader first and a tablet second. I didn't want to spend $500 on a tablet. I don't need 3g, wifi is good enough.

What I like:

1. Great reader, clear type, no need for an external light
2. Price $199
3. $40 cover that doubles as a leaner / stand, I had a choice of black or violet, I chose the black cover
4. Main screen with your 5 last books and 10 apps, the 5 books allows you to read a couple at a time and not have to search for them in the library
5. Not too heavy, lighter than an iPad
6. 7" screen is ideal
7. You Tube video is great
8. You can thumb type when you're in vertical mode

What bugs me:

1. Can't use the normal Android Market Place
2. Android Market Place doesn't recognize the Vox
3. Calibre (PC desktop ebook manager) doesn't recognize the Vox (there's already a ticket open)
4. Adobe Digital Editions doesn't recognize the Vox
5. You can't use the USB connection to charge the Vox
6. Had to sideload Aldiko
7. No native file manager, downloaded Files
8. Can't upload Gmail Contacts and Calendar entries

Update: Kobo issues an update to the system early in 2012 and that fixed a lot of problems. The reader is no faster, but the battery now lasts significantly longer. I've also added Battery Booster and the battery life is about 40 hours in Airplane mode.

Another player DQ'ed due to a phone-in

Win McMurray's post on Padraig Harrington's disqualification at the 2011 Dubai Open: http://www.thegolfchannel.com/core.aspx?page=15199&select=41149&select2=176.

Too bad for Paddie, he's one of my favourite players. This is the second DQ this year due to someone phoning in to the officials. I have very mixed feelings about this, and I do agree with Win that the rules are the rules. I think the issue here is one of application of the rules. If an official who is on the course notices the infraction that is one thing, but I don't know about someone watching on his big-screen TV, reviewing the video to see if the ball moved one dimple's worth. (This may be a slight exaggeration, but maybe not.)

I feel if the on-course official, or someone else who is there and sees / notices the infraction and reports it before the round is closed, then that should be it. Someone outside of the venue who sees an infraction and phones it in is going too far. I read in another post that the ball rolled forward 3 dimples and only rolled back one and a half. Most of us would be DQed every round we play if that were the case. Win says that pros should be held to a higher standard and I believe that they are and that the pros are very honest. Golf is a gentleman's game, it still is and I believe that almost all of the golfers wouldn't knowingly break a rule and try to hide it. Perhaps the infraction should result in a 2-stroke penalty (whatever the penalty is for the infraction), but not a DQ.

Whether you're kneeling on a towel or picking up a ball marker, if the infraction is not noticed by an on-site PGA official or a participant, than the score should stand. It's a shame that a score of 65 is lost to a DQ on a a phone in.

Andrew introduced this to me: http://www.freerice.com/index.php. Pretty neat, try out some of the quizzes and donate rice to some poor country.

1st golf game of the year

Played golf today for the first time this year with some guys from the office. We had a great time, the rain held out (as I predicted) and we all had fun. Golf St-Jerome http://www.golfstjerome.com/ is a very nice course. I guess that my score of 97 with 38 putts makes me more apprciative. In fact, the layout was interesting, the brook that ran through most of the course was very soothing, but I did loose 2 balls in the water. It's definitely a place to go during the week, it's much cheaper.

Jing

Played with Jing today, created my first ad-hoc help document and sent it out to the concerned party. Took less than 5-minutes to set it up and I reocred my content. Quality was pretty good. Graphics are the screen's resolution and I had a cheap Labtec AM-232 microphone which I clipped to my lapel.

Jing is produced by TechSmith, the makers of SnagIt and Camtasia. I guess it is a derivative of those products as it includes screen capture / annotation capabilities with screen video recording with voice over. Quite neat.

SHS Cabaret

If you weren't at Selwyn House this evening, you missed a great show. Once again the music program shows that being small is not a hindrance. The bands from grade 7 to the Senior Jazz Band were all very good to great and the numbers that included ECS' Jazz Storm were sensational. I was hoping for an encore of the Celtic number Riversong. All of the pieces seemed to get better as the night went on. Congratulations to Jaime McMillan , Ms. Janice Ewanyshyn and Alex Becker. Last, but not least congratulations to the Senior Jazz Band and Jazz Storm for the many awards that they picked up on their spring break at Disney.

My Mom's 90th birthday

Had a fine time at dinner with the family to celebrate my mom's 90th birthday. The real date is April 18, but as Joan was busy that date, she flew in later and we went out to Chez Chine in the Holiday Inn in Chinatown on the 25th. The food was very different, but it was all great. Thanks to M. Bonin and his staff.

Routes and Reroutes

Andrew and Vincent are on their way, you can follow them at http://routesandre-routes.blogspot.com/2009/04/two-days.html. Should be in Paris now, touring the city or maybe getting settled. I don't mind saying that I am excited and nervous at the same time.