When I was young we often had roast beef at our Uncle Ken and Aunt Grace’s place.  Granted they raised beef cattle and they needed to use the product.

Being typical prairie people they roasted the beef to be well done until it was stiff.  Mashed potatoes and peas.  Aside from salt and pepper not much else.

When we moved to Toronto we experienced a whole new environment of dining alternatives for beef.

When we finally got some money to dine out, we went to this place called Ed’s Warehouse.  A huge restaurant with artwork and antiques galore.  All the waiters wore tuxedos and as a man, you could not get in without a jacket and tie.  Only served prime rib meals.  Nevertheless, it was the high-end dining experience in town with every movie star and entertainer making it a must.

Fabulous prime rib and mashed or baked potatoes with veggies and the hottest horseradish you could imagine.  Wonderful condiment, but you had to be careful.

Since then we often have horseradish with all our beef meals and sometimes mixed in for a seafood sauce.  But almost all the horseradish we buy at the local stores are at best OK.

This morning I had a brief trip to Costco to pick up supplies, and they had Keg Restaurant Horseradish on sale.  I bought a jar and brought it home.

Tonight we were having steaks and smashed (not mashed) potatoes.  I included a small bit of the Keg’s horse radish and it was devine.  Cleared my sinuses it was so hot.

Best I have had since the 70s at Old Ed’s.

Pat and I went to a funeral, well more correctly called a memorial service, today.  The second for me in the last 6 months.  These were the first non-family funeral / memorials I have been to in 30 years.  Both of them were more acquaintances than friends but people we knew and liked from our social clubs.

Particularly sad today because Sherry was only 63, and a great, friendly lady.  Not sure if that is the right term but if you met her, you liked her.

I guess this is going to be a more regular experience as our circle of friends and contacts get older.

Huge turnout for both the memorials.  Surprisingly crowded, standing room only.  I kept thinking that there is no way there will be that many at my service.

We discussed this on the way home and Pat said… do not worry dear, we will offer an open bar for yours.

A fact most people do not realize is that there were more deaths in the RAF and RCAF and the American Army Air Force on bomber commands in WWII than all the Allied armies and US Marines in the war.

A very high percentage of young men who served, died.  Probably the highest percentage except for German sailors in U-Boats.

I always think I am lucky because my father volunteered to be in the air crew, but because of less than perfect eyesight he became an air engine mechanic.  Pat’s father was good at math and became a Navigator — so good he was assigned for Navigator training.  True stories…  but not the point of this blog.

When RAF and later USAAF bomber crews were being sent off on missions they were given a reward.  Bacon sandwiches.  If they made it back they got the same.

Men love bacon.  Not sure I want to die for it, but a great treat.

It is Friday, a week before Good Friday.  Now normally we would be having fish.  I had proposed Bouillabaisse, but Pat woke up with an upset tummy, so a change in plans.

Tonight we had mac and cheese.  Now not the Kraft out of the box, but lovingly prepared with elbow pasta and fresh Cheddar cheese and lots of butter etc.

A little too boring for me, so once I served Pat’s portion,  I added chopped cooked bacon to the pot, let it warm up, and a great meal.

Would I be prepared to head off on a near suicide mission after being served bacon… well let me say……

As many of you know, I broke my right incisor tooth last August.  Went through months where I could not use my front teeth for chewing.  Despite my cheap medical insurance program,  I chose to have an implant replacement.  Months went by where everything had to be shoveled to the back of the mouth for chewing.

I told my dental surgeon in October, when he asked me what I expected from this implant, I told him I wanted to eat ribs and a hot dog without cutting them up.  I think he thought it was so I looked good.

Finally I got my tooth implanted just before we headed off to Australia.  Apparently they do not do hot dogs and ribs down under.

Tonight (Saturday) we chose to have proper hot dogs.  Now these are not those steamed meat sticks on a bun that we fed our kids over the years, these were proper Hot Dogs.

Start with the long Polish sausages you get at Costco.  Grill to perfection.  Take some sausage buns (toasted) for the extra length.  Add cheddar cheese, sliced kosher dills, grilled onions and spicy chili, and you have a proper Hot Dog.

It is worth the 8 months of waiting and the thousands of dollars for the implant.  Yum

James sent me a couple of ebooks by John Scalzi a Sci Fi writer.  Some time in the future a massive infection kills 400 million people and leaves 40 million as paraplegics.  They develop androids that are connected to the brains of the paraplegics so that they can go out in public, go to school or get jobs all while the body lies comatose. They call them Hadens. Think of the robots in I Robot each controlled by one person and they are called threeps.

So I am lying in bed this morning at 6:30. It is a workout day and I am lying there kind of achy from yard work and think would it not be wonderful to send my threep to the gym to greet the other regulars and do my exercises.  No need to worry about heart rate just battery drain.

But then it occurred to me that would mean me lying like a slug on a bed with tubes taking my body waste to a bag and being fed by tube from a bag (hopefully a different bag) waiting for someone to roll my body to avoid bed sores….  so I got up and went to the gym instead.