h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Come visit the left coast where there actually two Starbucks kitty corner to each other on our most trendy street (Robson). No maple glazed here, just low fat oatmeal bars! Actually, all the Tim's are in the 'burbs.

In the words of Anne Medina, *Welcome, welcome!* (Does anyone else out there put her name to *Funky Colmatina* (or however that's spelled)? As in *Funky Anne Medina*? If you didn't before, I bet you will now. I'm rambling again, aren't I. Time to go home.

Hey cl, I live near what I've dubbed "the caffeine quadrant" - on the n/w corner of 104th & Whyte ave, there's a "Charbucks", right across the street there's a Second Cup, a block west another "Charbucks" (upstairs in Chapters-bookstore for you lurkers) & then another Second Cup a block west. And that's just the north side of Whyte...the south's got a Tim Horton's, a great european-styled house, a now-vacant Timothy's (bullied out by 'bucks), & a few places further south, yes including another Schmucks - er,'bucks!

doesn't anybody else notice that all of the many asininely named Charbucks varieties (Yukon Coffee? Global Warming or what?) taste like, well, frankly, they had been made by passing water through the scrapings from the bottom of Marin Luther's recently discovered toilet? Having spent the equivalent of a monthly transit pass on a cup of their swill, I must ask, why would anyone spend the equivalent of a second monthly transit pass on a second cup of their swill when one could simply cross the street and pay half the price for a fine tasting second cup at the Second Cup?

Marin Luther?

Pot calling the kettle, eh?

Charbucks: I can't imagine how much more money I would have had during my years at Chapters, had I not had 2-3 Short Lattes every day....

He was Tommy Aquinas Chong's partner.

I most Definitely do-routinely I might add (cross the street to Second Cup). In fact with the exception of Marble Slab (Great ice cream) & a few other businesses on that block, it's oddly receding from my memory/consideration/recognition.

He had an evil twin named Lex Luther...

*snicker, snicker...waves to Mudhooks*

*waves back

Now that Timmy's is a Murkan-owned coffee pedlar, I feel even more inclined to walk the extra half a block past Starbucks to the Second Cup, where I can support Canadian content without having to listen to an unreasonable number of Joni Mitchell impersonators on the CBC.

... Dr. Joni, now, thanks to McGill.

I don't like Second Cup coffee. I think it tastes horrible.

John the Gardener - stop, my sides can't take it anymore. "the Mountain" ---well maybe you have to have lived on it or its shadow to appreciate its Awsome Majesty (tm) though I suppose if you were from the praries it might seem like a big deal. I went to high school in Ancaster. Hamilton doesn't have high schools - they just send you straight to Stelco after the eighth grade.

And I like Starbucks coffee! and their scones! but my heart belongs to Tim's - which sadly we don't have in Tokyo

I've never had a cup of Charbucks that didn't taste like roasted dandelion roots.

In fact, at Fort Edmonton they make some pioneer coffee that tastes better than any Charbucks I've ever had. Here's a recipe:

Prairie Coffee

1 quart bran
1 egg
1 large cup of molassess

Beat the egg, mix with the bran, and then add the molasses. Set in a hot oven and keep stiring at times until it is dark brown and dry. Cool, then put in a can for use in the same quantity as store bought coffee.


And here's another:

1 cup dried split peas

Roast peas in a skillet over a low fire for approximately ten minutes, or until nicely browned. Be careful not to burn.

Grind roasted peas into a coarse powder.

Use 1 1/2 tbsp for each cup of boiling water or to taste.

Steep in a teapot.


The only problem with these two is the lack of caffeine.

Sorry, rev., can't quit now.

Maybe Second Cup may lack the uniform standard of everything-always-the-sameness - something of a murkan specialty, like Holiday Inns and that place where clowns sell hamburgers - that you find at Starbucks. I suppose it depends on the owner and staff of each one. But I've never had a cup that I've been tempted to top up the engine oil with. Add to that the daily pleasure of gay banter with two or three pretty girls and, well... I rest my case.

Back to The Mountain for a sec. - As a driver, I always thought of the run to the edge of Hamilton as a fairly flat one, which makes the idea of Hamiltonians living in a hole irresistible. Then, one day, temporary insanity made me walk from Brantford to Hamilton (wearing indoor soccer shoes!) along an old rail route. That 7 hour stroll gave me a previously unsuspected insight into the true nature of the regions hilliness. There is, in fact, a distinct and fairly steady rise from the Grand River valley to the Ancaster area, which then either either slithers down the Dundas Valley or plummets off the 'mountain' in Hamilton.

The best cup of coffee I've ever had, I think, was at an Ethiopian restaurant off Yonge Street. Mahvelous!

I'm never sure what brand of insanity it is that has the Hamiltonians driving down "The Mountain" as over 100 klicks, when the road is icy, as it inevitably is Fall, Winter and Spring. My ex and I used to drive down to Six Nations fairly regualrly, and that chunk of the trip was pretty scary. Worse, if my father-in-law was driving, not me.

There is a street in Brantford named after my ex's grandmother.... Edith Anderson....

It's a type of madness I dread, not because I sometimes seem to catch it myself, but because it makes the daily trip to Oakville and back so harrowing. With the new express route across Hamilton Mountain, The Alexander Parkway (or something like that), the volume of traffic that pours onto the highway right at the beginning of the descent is often terrifying.

Do you know what role Grandmother Edith played in Branford history?

It is called Edith Monture Avenue (Anderson was her maiden name). She dies at age 106, in 1996.

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=history/other/native/nurse
http://www.manataka.org/page48.html
http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/americanindian/women.html#charlotte
http://www.nativewomenveterans.org/VivianCora.htm

died, not dies....

She must have been a remarkable woman, and very beautiful. Have you thought about writing an Entry about her?