“Tomatoes SOS.”:that’s what the yellow stickie note said stuck to the top of the plastic lid stuck to the plastic container that contained plum tomatoes skinned cooked & now spoiled & smelly…
I thought it meant…Was a warning…eat these tomatoes quickly S.O.S. !(or else they will spoil & you will have to throw them out)…
My mother explained:”No…SOS. means ‘Sauce’…”
I realized we were speaking phonetic English…
Yesterday we were in Amherst, Buffalo…Which is not the same place as the Ivy league school we visited when I was casing out Ivy League schools…
That one is in Massachusetts…
It is a one hour drive from Toronto to the Border at Buffalo, which is in New York State, in the United States, of America…
But it was really 2 hours total by the time we got to a place for lunch, which was called “Squire on Main” it was fabulous…(we had Ahi Tuna al Panko which means flour & water & egg maybe to make the pearl rice rub stick to it then lightly seared or fried, just the outside part to make it crispy, sort of ala shake & bake)…
Then to Buffalo MRI up the street(actually along the street ’cause I think we were on the horizontal east west at that point)…For the MOST FABULOUS MRI experience…(wow I said fabulous twice sorry, cannot find my thesaurus)…
Then to Camillo’s bakery along the same street for 2 double espressos & a free sample of some sort of coffee cake & a look see at their cool tins & their converted hayloft barn upstairs…(just a look up, we did not trek up the stairs)…
A drive thru Amherst a bit, we saw 3 banks, & they have this drive thru ATM experience which is neat…(I have not seen this before)…
It was a beautiful day, so we then drove instead of directly back home, we drove to Niagara on the Lake which is back on the Canada side because you aren’t allowed to buy anything in Buffalo if you only stay less than 24 hours-well you are but then maybe they might stop you & ask what that Marianra sauce & pasta is in your back seat & then you have to fill out a form & feel intimidated by the sunglasses wearing border guards…
I mean the border crossing both ways was nice & easy & no line-ups really cause it was a Tuesday morning, & or they knew we were coming & made everyone else leave ’cause they knew we had an important appointment, but still it was the most tension producing moment of our day even including all the driving back & forth, the money to pay for things, the American quarters $1.00 tollbooth(bring some)(or Amercian $1 bills), & even the whole noisy table moving brain scan type jazzy music with weird singing odd MRI experience…(good but unsual if you have never sat in an MRI room before)…
Neat thing was the internet while sitting in the waiting room…I checked for MOHS microsurgery specialists in Amherst, & turns out there are a bunch & the first website I clicked on had an excellent article about Mohs microsurgery that I would not have looked at if I was still at home in Canada looking at the sites of Canadian local facilities…
Made the decision to postpone the whole “black salve” thing until this Lifewave thing Patches was more fully explored…
Medical ADD is a problem when you have access…What I mean is medical tourism philosophically, try one thing, get bored, try another thing, get bored, then announce nothing works! That is just not good science…
So I am going to continue with these Lifewave patches for a while…
Niagara on the Lake is just shy inside Canada & is sooo beautiful awww…
Greaves (greavesjams.com I think), has teapots for like either $14.95 0r 20 something & that is what Joseph had when I met him in 1996 April 12…A brown betty teapot…made me love him again…
Didn’t buy one cause I couldn’t decide which colour but Mum bought a big jar of Orange Greaves marmalade for a friend then a little jar for us…(joseph likes Michael Graves’ work, the architect, which my Mum said was not really relevant as a comment)…
Then my Mum went on a hat trying on bing & finally bought a black & white one for $27 dollars & it is really really nice & straw with a good size brim & pretty like a British lady’s horse races hat…It was made in China & is mostly made of paper 90% & the rest is polyester…There were many many hats in this Niagara on the Lake place which makes me think the women have lots of long hair there or there is good sunshine…
My mum says it is a microclimate, & I said probably because all the water there “on the Lake” part, moderates the cold that you get nearby in Amherst, Buffalo just across the border…
There was a giant wooden furntiure place called Wall’s & the only thing about that is that wooden furniture can rot in about 10 years if left outside which is why were looking again…
There was also Mori’s Garden, which had nice hedgy looking bushy outdoor plants which were green with a nice limey look to their two toned leafs, sort of maybe like how eucalyptus might look if it moved to Niagara from Australia or New Zealand…
Then we did not have ice cream nor buy the cross obsidian bead necklace at the not for profit fair trade museum type shop, nor did we have tea because it was getting later & stores were closing & we still had to drive home because the dog was at home & needed maybe to poo or be tucked in…
But then we decided to go to Jordan a tiny village mostly owned by the Cave Springs winery people because there is a restaurant there called On the Twenty that is on the 20th sideroad there in Jordan, plus at exit 55 there is a Petro Canada gas station that is open late, plus we had to eat again because that is safer than driving hungry home in traffic if there was some, plus the light was wrong for driving it was right in our eyes & that is not good…
Turns out this restaurant was, like, unbelievable good & not too crowded & wow nice people & good art & a view that was spectacular & we sat by the window & the people were a pretty nice view too!
The sparkling wine from Cave Springs is called Dolomite & I said because Ontario is built on a geological rock called Dolomite…(magnesium based rock & pretty rare in the world)…
Then we did not stay overnight across the street even though we were a bit tired…But considered it…
Since my mum has a 407 transponder, we took the 407 route & that was worth it because no traffic & no scary big trucks pummeling by…
Home, dog, sleep, & this morning we had breakfast outside because it is finally summer here in Toronto…
Funny how one day can feel like a thousand years of vacation…(We went for the MRI in Amherst cause it takes like a year & half to get one here, & their MRI is open not claustrophobic & because you pay upfront about $465 US, you get really good service & the place is like deluxe…)
I didn’t want to go initially but it turns out it was the best 12 hour vacation I have had in a long time!
Too bad about the spoiled Tomatoes SOS. !(But sometimes you get tired of eating leftovers don’t you?)
by Sari Grove