Cottage Season & Canadian Culture
Ah Yes! Canada Day!
If you live in Ottawa, the first thing you do on Canada Day is escape to the cottage. Cottage season is a quintessential Canadian Cultural experience, read Mr.Redshoes‘ for a sociological deconstruction of the phenomena - at least the single male’s version! Just change the demographics a bit, and you get the idea. My brother, sister and I purchase food now because we have children to feed. Otherwise why on earth would you fill up that short supply of cooler space with anything other than alcoholic beverages! Really!
My family, being somewhat maniachical on logistics and organization as it relates to parties & having a good time, combined with a long sordid history of being working class members of the service industry organizing parties for rich & self proclaimed important people, we prepare a menu a week ahead of time and actually stick to it. So, for the sake of prosperity, legacy, procrastination and the archival record here is the first family communiqué on the matter (re-draft outline of a menu).
Renée;
As per our discussion while you were drinking wine celebrating la St-Jean as i was slaving over work, below please find the outline of the menu for the cottage festivities chez tante Cécile! I understand that you will apply your catering skills extraordinaire and expand on the details!
Sincerely
your eldest (but necessarily more mature) sister
Departure:
- maybe Friday night but most probably Saturday morning
- # People - Tante Cécile, Oncle DouDou, Den, Renée, Thal, Tracey, Arturo, Camille, Mathieux, Chris, Cynthia, Jacques (12)
- Breakfast:
- on the road - Poutine & gingerale (it’s a cultural historical thing!)
- Potatoe & Macaroni salad (way fancier than the fare in the movie CRAZY made on Friday!) - Thalie
- Thai noodles - Tracey
- Salad - Tracey
- Chicken - Renée
- Shrimp - Den
- Spring rolls (veg + meat) - tante Cécile + many labourers
- Berries & d’la 35% - Tracey
- Breakfast:
- ziplock omelet (don’t ask!) & toast - Thalie
- coffee - tante Cécile
- quesadillas - Arturo
- salsa - Tracey (mango + herbs) Renée - pepers and such + sour cream
- Burgers - Renée
- Tofu - Tracey
- greek salad - Tracey
- green salad - Thalie
- condiments - Renée
- brownies (spatial ones!) - thalie w/Tracey’s chinatown connections
- Breakfast - "whatever the fuck is leftover tabernak" sais my brother in law Arturo!
- 5% coffee cream in vast quantities for an endless supply of coffee are essential - Renée
- 35% cream - for all the fruit (Renée)
- Beer - Den is in charge (he won lots on a bet against his brother in law - re-Mexico’s loss!)
- Russian Vodka + mountains of limes - Tracey
- Brandy (for medicinal purposes) - Tracey (cuz she does not like beer)!
- Belgian rasberry beer - Den for Tracey (the only beer she’ll drink) & Thalie
- Bread - Renée
- Fruit - for the weekend - Tracey
- Junk food - Tracey (promised to not include organic wasabi peas!)
- Juice & milk - for the chillin’ they need to drink too - Renée
- butter - w/salt
- Den’s roasted super hot peppers!
