Canada Post, Snow.

News yesterday is that Canada Post are planning to stop door to door deliveries in urban areas – as far as I can gather, this means people will have to go to the Post Office to collect their mail which is certainly something which happens in urban areas of the US. This means they will be cutting down their employees by several thousand, but they say normal attrition over the same period accounts for a lot more that they would be letting go. They are also putting up the cost of postage as well in an endeavour to cut the downward spiral of their profits. With the internet together with private delivery systems, this was bound to happen and it won’t be many years before snail mail is a thing of the past although there are still lots of people out there who cannot, or will not, use computers. It’s a shame though, for instance, at this time of year, I love to get Christmas Cards. eCards are just not the same somehow. We like to hang ours on coloured ribbons and they add to the Christmas decorations. Just looking at that Canada Post logo, it isn’t legal, the bottom line should also be in French. Tut tut.

We have certainly got quite a lot of that white stuff today. Maybe we’ll have a white Christmas this year. Our dinner guests emailed that they had a lot of snow on the way home and there has been lots of snow coming down since. Some dummy, mentioning no names, ensured we went for our 10:30 a.m. appointment with the foot nurse and got there on time to find her house/clinic all closed up. When we finally got home, I discovered our permanent appointment had been changed for yesterday to 1 a.m. Duuuh. Driving there and back twice, lots of people were out shovelling driveways and pathways, and I sat there feeling smug because we don’t have to do that any more. Actually, when I look at the age of some of the shovellers, it makes we wonder how many of them should be doing it rather than, maybe, hiring a youngster to do it for them. I remember it as being damned hard work. I recall one year, Matt was on crutches and we had to go to the hospital; the snow was that heavy wet stuff. I was a lot younger and fitter but it nearly killed me even so. In the end we went by cab. The current snow is at least light and fluffy.

This sounds like a delicious was of serving Camembert. This is from BBC Good Food. I see it also suggests Kirsch. If you have it, Kirsch gives an excellent flavour boost to things. This is going to be added to my holiday dishes for sure.

Baked Camembert

Serves 4 - 6

Oven-cook your favourite soft cheeses until gooey for this simple, last-minute crowd pleaser
Ingredients

• 250g Camembert, or Brie, or other similar cheese
• 1 tbsp vermouth, or dry white wine, or kirsch
• 2 thyme sprigs
• pinch dried chilli flakes
• crackers or toasted bread, to serve

Method

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Unwrap the cheese from its packaging, then place back into its box. Tie string around the box to secure. Slash the cheese a few times and top with vermouth, thyme sprigs and a pinch of dried chilli flakes. Bake on a baking tray for 20 mins until gooey. Serve with toasted bread or crackers for dipping.

Have a great day