Wow! What a Weekend

This was one of our busiest weekends so far this summer.
We started off Saturday with the London Ribfest, a trip to Port Elgin, a hike over the Menesetung Bridge and through the Tiger Dunlop Heritage Trails in Goderich and a look at the Salt Mines.

Then Sunday we visited Fort Malden in Amherstburgh for the Military Heritage Day, followed by a walk around town to see the cars and their proud owners at the Amherstburg's Gone Car Crazy and travelled to the Emancipation Day Celebrations at Windsor's Civic Plaza. Finally an opportunity to taste jerk chicken (vicariously), which I was told, is very spicy but soooo good.

I'm guessing there are a whole lot of people not sitting at their computers this weekend, if the turnout at the various functions is an accurate indicator. If you were one of the lucky people out there, we'd love to see your pics.... in the meantime, check out ours by clicking on the links in this blog entry.

The links open in new windows.
Enjoy!

New Drinking & Driving Law: Effective May 1, 2009

New Drinking & Driving Law: Punishing you before you break the law
3-day licence suspension, $150 fine for blood alcohol level between .05 and .08

Currently, you have to reach .08 on a breathalyzer to get a 12 hour license suspension with no monetary fine or administrative fee. Apparently, Ontario cannot reduce the blood alcohol threshold to .05 or zero tolerance ("probably with good reason" Brian Ducharme speaking this morning on AM 800 CKLW), so this is a way around it.

"Police Chief Cory McMullan said the new law will keep streets safer and should encourage drivers to think before they have a drink. The changes allow police across the province to take motorists off the road who are a threat to public safety, she said.

“It used to be when we did the warning it was a 12-hour license suspension and they came back the next day to get their licence and, really, other than the inconvenience of that night, there was no real consequence,” McMullan said.

The chief added anyone who repeats and registers between .05 and .08 within five years of their first warning will lose their licence for seven days and be required to attend a driver training program. A third warning means the driver will lose their licence for 30 days, go through remedial driver training and will also have the interlock ignition requirement for six months."
The Intelligencer

These suspensions will be on your permanent driver abstract, will affect your insurance for 3 to 5 years, and can't be disputed. I'm in complete favour of zero blood alcohol levels for drivers but something seems terribly wrong with a law that punishes you BEFORE you break the law.

Nutella Cheesecake

Nutella Cheesecake

1 cup graham cracker crumbs or chocolate cookie crumbs
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp sugar

2 package cream cheese (room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
Nutella

Mix the graham cracker crumbs (or cookie crumbs, whichever you decided to use) together with the sugar. Add the butter and mix together. Press the mix into the bottom of a non-stick round pan, probably about 9 inches. Place it in a 325F oven for about 10 minutes. Once done, remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Mix together the cream cheese and sugar until well blended and smooth. Add one egg at a time, mixing well as you add each egg. Take a small bowl and pour about 1/2 cup of the batter into it. Pour the rest of the batter into the pan with the cookie crust. Now take the reserve batter you set aside and add a dollop of Nutella. I added Nutella until I got the colour I wanted, which was a dark rich brown, as well as making sure the batter had the taste of Nutella.

Take the reserve batter and add a spoonful to the batter. Use a toothpick to swirl the nutella batter into the white batter. Add the Nutella batter by the spoonful until you get the look of a swirly cheesecake.

Place in the oven at 350F and bake for about 50 minutes or until the centre doesn't jiggle anymore. I suggest adding a water bath in the oven to prevent the cake from cracking. What I mean by this is just add a pan of water next to the cake.

Once the cake is baked, set it aside and let it cool. Then place it in the refrigerator and let it chill for about 4 hours. Before you remove the cake from the pan, just run a knife along the edge to loosen it.

From WindsorEats.com  http://www.windsoreats.com/blog/?p=592

Nutella is made in Brantford, Ontario. Read the Nutella site FAQ

Team Canada is Gold

Congratulations Team Canada on your fifth straight championship win
Thanks for bringing the gold home and good luck in the 2010 tournament in Regina and Saskatoon.

We're proud of you on the ice and your heartfelt rendition of our national anthem, "woo" and all!