Dog On A Root

- jim young In the December 15 edition of the Great North Arrow, Issue 16, Volume 9 published in 2022, I shared with you my recipe for “Slow Cooker Stove Top Turkey Stuffing”. Who can’t use some extra stuffing with their Christmas Dinner? If you cut that recipe out of the Great North Arrow and saved it as I suggested, you’ll be happy to have it to use again this year. If you didn’t save it, you can either try to find a back issue of the Great North Arrow or you can find it here. Or you might want to try this “Stovetop Beer & Herb Stuffing” which is also very good. Serves: 8 - 10 Stuff Required: 5 stalks celery, chopped 1 large onion, chopped 2 eggs, beaten ½ cup butter, melted 1 cup chicken broth ⅓ cup chopped parsley 1 tbsp thyme 1 tbsp sage ¼ tsp pepper 1 ½  tsp salt, divided 1 clove garlic, minced ½ cup beer 600 gm stale bread cut into small pcs Do This: In a large frying pan, sauté celery and onion on low until soft, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhil...

- jim Young “Why doesn’t Schrödinger’s cat use Tinder? It’s already in a superposition of taken and single until observed.” - anon When Erwin Schrödinger visited Toronto he had tickets to the hockey game to see his favourite team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, play the Boston Bruins at the Scotiabank Arena. Just before he was about to leave for the game, Schrödinger's agent called to tell him there was a scheduling conflict and he was due to lecture at the University of Toronto instead. Schrödinger fulfilled his obligation to lecture at the U of T where he illustrated a paradox of quantum superposition through the thought experiment he designed that had become known as Schrödinger's cat. At the end of his lecture, Schrödinger looked at his watch and declared “The hockey game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins has just ended. Just to put my thought experiment of the cat in the box into perspective, as we are here and isolated from the game, it could be said that th...

- jim Young “If any of you cry at my funeral, I’ll never speak to you again.” Stan Laurel I once had an uncle who resisted going to funerals more than most. My aunt would have to cajole him into attending. When she finally broke my uncle down and got him to reluctantly agree to go, my uncle would inevitably say, “Fine. I’ll go. But I won’t have a good time.” To be fair to my uncle, “funeral ceremonies” of the day were sombre and sad events unlike many “Celebrations of Life” that are held in honour of the deceased today. Although the name itself might suggest otherwise, there was never much “fun” at any “funeral” I’ve ever attended. The Celebration Of Life concept on the other hand, became popular in the western world in the 1970s. Many believe it originated with the Irish and their custom of holding “wakes” which are often a happier celebration in honour of the deceased. The Celebration Of Life held this past Sunday in Newmarket for Rod (Talk Turkey with Urqey) Urquhart fit more into t...

 

Peace Candle Photo Credits: Ron (The Magician) Walker & jim Young for Janice, Christmas 2025 In the days of our youth, we laughed, we dreamed. The world was ours or so it seemed. We loved, we shared and vowed to stay, In touch until our dying day. But the paths we chose led us different ways And this is where we are today. Time and tide will wait for none But when everything is said and done, Not all is done, nor all is said Not all is written, not all is read. The memories that we shared together, May be as fleeting as a windblown feather. But it’s memories that we hold so dear, And it’s the loss of those that we most fear. Think kind of me, my friend and I… I will kindly think of you. As we remember those times we shared, and the things we used to do.  - jim Young

 

To be fair there are also no legal mandates that require or authorise Health Canada Inspectors to monitor the contaminants that you may, with or without intent, include in your recipes when using any of these ingredients.

Preparing For A Visit From St. Nicholas in 1959 - jim Young “Childhood joyland, mystic merry toyland,  Once you pass its borders, you can ne’er return again.” - Glen MacDonough and Victor Herbert If you shop at Costco, you might think that the Christmas season begins in late July. However, I remember the days when Christmas items didn’t appear on the shelves in Woolworths until after the Hallowe’en stuff was put away in early November. The first snowfall of the season was an indication that Christmas was quickly approaching. The Eaton’s Santa Claus Parade on TV was also a pretty reliable sign that the time was nigh. But for me, Christmas officially began with an Eaton’s Christmas Catalogue. And Oh! What a glorious time it was! I remember coming home from school to see the Eaton’s Christmas Catalogue sitting with the mail on the passthrough to the dining room. I had two older sisters and I knew I would have to bide my time until they had a chance to have their rightful first look....

- jim Young In her editorial in the last edition of the Great North Arrow our editor/owner/publisher Cyndi Culbert wrote, “Now’s the perfect time to start baking cookies, creating Christmas crafts, and mixing up your favourite egg nog and Bailey’s recipe…”   inviting GNA readers to share their special recipes. I was hoping to have my new book “Belly Up To The Bar (Cocktails for Two)” published in time for a Christmas Release, but I’m afraid it’s going to be delayed.  In the meantime, I’d like to share with you one of the many treats you will find in my book of cocktail recipes, trivia and personal anecdotes. Just in time for Christmas, here’s a little peek at just one of the many treats you can expect to find in my new book when it’s published in the New Year. It’s a cost saving method to help stock your bar with a special Christmas treat and it makes a great gift for friends. They won’t care if you share it with them in a jar or recycled whiskey bottle. Irish Cream L...

A nostalgic look through a 1959 Eaton's Christmas Catalogue.  I am not the copyright owner of the song Toyland written by Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough and sung here by Doris Day. I will not receive any monetary compensation for the time it took me to put this little production together or by displaying it here. However, due to the current laws and YouTube regulations, this video will NOT be able to be viewed in some countries. I apologize for that. I would appreciate if you could take a moment of your time to leave a brief comment to let me know: 1) Is the video viewable to your or not? 2) Is just the sound muted? 3) What is your geographical location? 4) On what platform did you find this? ie: Facebook, YouTube, Dog On A Root etc. I mean Eaton's nor the copyright owners of this song no disrespect. I present them here together in this little production for the enjoyment of those like me who have a fond nostalgic memory of this time and to honor Eaton's annual traditio...

Pot Calls The Kettle Black - jim Young “Our peaceful trading partners are not our enemies, they are our allies. We should beware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends, weakening our economy, our national security and the entire free world - all while cynically waving the American flag.” - Ronald Reagan, 1988 Trump called an anti-tariff advertisement, recently produced by the Ontario Government, a “fraud” and accused Canada of trying to “illegally influence the United States Supreme Court”, which will meet in a couple of weeks to decide if Trump’s tariff’s are constitutional. Really Trump? Pot? Kettle? Black? Does any of that ring a bell to you? But if Canada can do anything to help the United States Supreme Court come to a fair and just decision, then I say… more power to Canada. After seeing the advertisement for the first time, Trump had commented, “If I was Canada I would take that ad also.” Now, as a Canadian I would normally take a statemen...