C4 - Sunday, August 22, 1982 - North Shore News

CE £00 cl

STRICTLY FOR MEN
Finding the aristocratic onion

Some things are better
than they used to be.

That’s not an easy ad-
mission from someone like
me, my taste buds and
memory cells packed with
the odours and flavours of
vanished passions.
But years ago the Queen of
Onions, the true Spanish,
crisp to the knife and polite
to the tongue, was a com-
monplace item in every

kitchen.

Sometimes they were
called Chilean, sometimes
Bermuda, but they all shared
the large size and lack of bite
and were perfect in the mid-
night sandwich.

For several barren years
they were apparently unob-
tainable.

Three or four years ago,
on a visit to the San Juan
Islands, I learned about the
Washington onion, a hard,
white, “sweet” onion, not as

large as the Spanish of
memory, but delicious in the
raw state. I brought some
back, and occasionally
thereafter have found them
for sale here, usually in a
place like Granville Market.
And fairly recently, that
same market place has
begun to offer the Maui
onion, as does a vegetable
specialty shop on the south
side in Park Royal.

Awful price, I warn you,
but you can get a lot of

mileage out of one big one if
you slice it paper-thin and
carefully wrap it in plastic
paper and store it in the
refrigerator. Certainly such
an onion makes all the
difference to spinach salad,
and hamburger patties can
look and taste like
aristocrats with some sliced
Mauis on top.

Remember to mix cold
water into the meat first, and
some sauteed finely-
chopped mushroom stems,

ES cra vc]

ar tripping with the kids

The hairbrush was handy

My kids were reminiscing
the other day about the
family car trips we used to
take. Somehow, as the kids
get older, we find we do this
less and less.

Oddly enough, the kids
can only remember the good
things about those
marathons. My memories
include things like break-
downs on the freeway,
mosquitos bigger than horse
flies (we had those, too, for
comparison), hundred deg-
ree heat and the time
youngest daughter got car-
sick.

Perhaps the worst hazard
of car travel with a back scat
full of kids is the fights that
erupt. Although I may get
cited for child abuse, I
handled this very firmly and
on our first trip.

We hadn‘'t got three miles
from home when World War
Three crupted in the back
seat. “Pull over!” I snapped
to Brian. Whipping my
hairbrush out of my pursc,. |
belted all three on their little
Pink postcriors. | put the
hairbrush on the dash and
we carried on. Any yelps
from the back and | tapped
the brush.

And I had the only three
kids on the road that ducked
every ume Mother brushed
her hair

The wise family on a road
tmp starts carty tn the
morning and quits carly in
the afternoon First of all, 1
gives you a couple of hours
before the sun gets too hol

Music Dy Johnny Fucco & Patricia

1: Tai ,

it AD

ance (\: (F a
DAP ids Fell

Second, most kids are early
risers and if you don't get
going, they get an early start
on the fight of the day.

I found that most
squabbles started when the
kids were hungry or tired. By
stopping for food before
anyone asked, we headed off
problems.

Stopping early in the
afternoon gave us a good
choice of cheap motels
although we always chose
one with a pool.

While Brian and the kids
went for a swim, I headed
the car for the nearest
supemarket for the day’s
supphes.

We carried a cooler, a
huge thermos flask, a
barbeque and a box of
supplies. Each evening I
bought meat for dinner, fruit
and rolls for breakfst and
picnic stuff for lunch. We
even had boiled = cggs.
prepared in a litle gadget
called a “Hurry-Hot” which
also boiled water for tea.

Sometimes a whole weck
would go by before we
succombed to a pair of
Golden Arches.

When the kids were littic,
I kept a bag of surpnses -
little games, pens and paper,
cut-outs and sacker books.
These were rationed. | also
kept a supply of pmzes for
games mostly wholesome
snacks but the odd sucker or
wrapped candy

We devised our own
version of Car Bingo,
starting with o hast of ten
items to spot along the road.
We watched for police cars

ff
i]

l/s
pe

c
'
#

Friday and Saturday

° Weekly Lunch Spcociais

hanchea: 11:50 2 pm

Dinners: G6 p.m.
L408. 2nd St.,
980-6818

North Van.

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(very helpful for Daddy),
Coke signs, various types of
gas stations, two riders on a
motorcycle, Winnebagos
(had to have the W on the
side), various colours of
Volkswagen Beetles, purple
cars of any variety, station
wagons with canoes on top,
cars pulling trailers, farms
with red barns and yellow
school buses.

Mother kept score and the
first person to spot an item
got it ticked off their own
list. First person to complete
all ten got a prize.

Another popular game
was naming types of animals
or breeds of dogs. If a
contestant missed a turn or
duplicated an answer they
got climinated. The going
gets rough when yoy get
down to platypus and ar-
madillo.

Collechons were lots of
fun - match folders, paper
napkins, postcards” -
anything not nailed down
was fair game for our little
scavengers. I supervised the
haul with great care!

Diaries of weather, costs
of food and motels,
descriptions of sights and

Choice of

Don) forget to

Video Games
7 games
teatures clock. alarm, bullt-in stand,,
multipie skill levels.
screen Batteries included

$495

ask any travel agent for
Gulliver s Vacation Checkist Or drop in to
Cudttver 6 Wo have over 500 hard to tind and
umique travel accessornes in stock!

922-9650 | .
844 Park Royal North, West Van,

sites, mileage and maps were
kept and compared. One
day, I provided white paper
bags, blunt scissors, tape and
colored paper. The masks
they made terrified the
carload of people behind us.

We kept lists of car

licences from various states
and provinces.

Come to think of it, I'd
really like to take another
family car trip. 2

Each has 4

LCD Mine TV:

and when they're fried
quickly to perfection lift
them out to warm plates and
deglaze the pan with red
wine, which you then pour
over the meat. Now a
topping of very thin delicate
onion. Just like a night out.
If you're still young
enough that you can afford
to eat before you go to bed at
night, try buttering some
wholewheat bread, one side
to have as well a spread of
HP sauce. Thin rounds of

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LAST CALL FOR S. AFRICA

Your chance to ride the Blue Train!

Tour South Africa with Cliff and Ann Henning.
October 16th - November 14th, 1982

After a Stopover in London the Tour wil visit Johannesburg.
Kruger Park, the Settlers Country

Cape Town, Durban,
(Grahamstown) and more!!!

. Lorna Lowis at Ventra Travel: 263-1951

sweet onion layered thickly
on to the buttered side,
salted and peppered, then
mated with the other slice
which now bears a carefully
fried egg. Use two hands and
a large napkin.
Sweet dreams.

LOW
RETURN
AIR FARES

Call us for detaiis:

986-1377

110 14th Sc., Ean
North Vancoever

owned and operated

(home) 266-8724 .

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