Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day Everyone!

We have been in the US since 2001 and have celebrated eight Canada Days down here. Over the years we have celebrated by having BBQ’s, Poker Tournaments, Dinners out and Friend in but this year is going to be quiet.  I have a big presentation tomorrow so we are keeping it quiet.  We will make it up on the Weekend but for now I am going to write about the foods we miss back in Canada and try to have each time we go back.

Donna and I compared list and had a few common items.  Hot Hamburger Sandwiches, Donairs, Poutine, Chow-chow, Dulse, Crispers and Caramilk chocolate bars .  My Canadian friends will know what these are but for my American friends, I’ll provide some details on what the items are.  A Hot Hamburger Sandwich is a lot like a hot roast beef sandwich except a large hamburger patty replaces the roast beef. Beef gravy goes on the patty, bread covers the patty and more gravy on the bread. Fries or mashed potatoes and vegetables comes with it.  Sounds simple but we haven’t seen on down here yet. A Donair is a spiced meat in a pita wrap sandwich with onions, lettuce, tomatoes and sweet donair sauce.  It’s a lot like a gyro but the garlic sauce is sweet rather than savory. I have posted about these in my post on Middle Eastern sandwiches.  Poutine is basically french fries, grated cheese and gravy. Again simple but haven’t seen it in the US. If you go to Quebec that have restaurants that serve 20 different combo of poutine including putting foie gras on it.  We do make our own for Ryan and Robbie from time to time but not as good as a serving at 2:00 in the morning on say St. Catherine Street in Montreal. Chow-chow in Canada is simply pickled green tomatoes and yellow onions.  US recipes have all kinds of other vegetables added but even though recipes show up on several recipe sites but no Chow-chow is seen on the stores shelves near us. Dulse is dried seaweed that has a strong salty taste with a crunchy texture at first that ends up being chewy. You get a big bag and eat it like potato chips – salty and crunchy.  The best dulse comes from Dark Harbour in Grand Manan. Crispers are a Nabisco salty snack that are part chip – part cracker. Robbie loves these and we bring back bags of different flavours, Salt & Vinegar, BBQ, Ranch and Regular. Caramilk Bars are chocolate bar made by Cadbury that has pockets of caramel inside a wrapping of chocolate. Donna craved these when she was pregnant with Robbie so much we had a constant supply in the frig for the entire pregnancy.

We miss these foods but vacation time is coming soon so we re-stock.  If you are reading this in Canada, send us a care package if you can.  LOL  Happy Canada Day!

Update – Ryan added some restaurants we miss back in Canada. Swiss Chalet – Rotisseary Chicken, Tim Horton’s – Coffee & Donuts, Deluxe French Fries – Fish & Chips, Osaka Japanese Grill – Beef Teriyaki, Vitos – Pizza and QB’s-Best Wings in the world.