a little bit of Canada

I met a Canadian girl the other day who has been living here for 5 years and hasn’t until now, met another Canadian.  She was so excited to have Brendan (my Canadian room mate from Manitoba) and myself there that she invited us over for dinner. She and her Norwegian boyfriend made us a kind of Norwegian stew, which had both beef and bacon as well as veggies in it and was served over mashed potatoes, mmmm.

It was -14C only two days ago and today it is +6C!  Such a fast difference in climate and also Ill mention yet again that there is still very little snow!  I thought living above the Arctic circle would make for cold and snowy winters, but that is not the case.

Apparently being Canadian means that you can make pancakes.  I haven’t actually made them in years and even then I probably used pancake mix.  Anyways, tonight for dinner we made pancakes for a few people.  They turned out all right, but Ill have to make them a few more times to perfect them.  We used some maple syrup I bought in the airport before coming, mmmm!  Luckily I went for a long jog in the indoor soccer field beforehand so I could eat to my heart;s content!

Aside from pancakes and maple syrup, what are other Canadian foods?  Aside from poutine, wild game, beavers tails, butter tarts and Nanaimo bars I cant think of anything truly Canadian.  Most foods have been integrated into our culture through immigration and aren’t authentically Canadian; although maybe that is our identity as Canadians, to be a mixture of cultures, thoughts?