Talk about a sugar high

Hundreds of people turned out today in Toronto to witness the construction of the world's largest ice cream cake.
Guinness World Records was on hand at Dundas Square as the 10,130.35-kilogram cake was created.
A forklift brought pallets of vanilla ice cream into the square as 22 workers from Dairy Queen built and iced the cake.
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Note: A kilo is 2.2 pounds, so those whose countries continue to refuse to join the modern world, double the weight above and add 10%.


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Kids just wanna have fun

It's official. I have entered my second childhood.

This past Friday, despite the humidex being 90+ F. (33 C.), I decided to go for a walk. Here in the Great White North, the mercury this summer has been so high and the humidity even higher, that any day where it only feels like 90 is a good day to go out. I haven't been getting out nearly as much as I like--it's been feeling as hot as 112 F., making it impossible to do anything more than walk across the street to buy groceries. And even then, you're all sweaty by the time you get back.

Anyway, I hit the road and was planning to do a route that takes only about 15 minutes, but the sun was intoxicating and I felt so good, I decided to extend my outing to the 30-35 minute route. This new route takes me toward, but still some distance away from my local Dairy Queen outlet.

This very thought entered my mind (the Dairy Queen), along with a chocolate sundae, one of my favourite treats and which I haven't enjoyed in several years, and although I was starting to get hot, or perhaps because of it, I decided to yet again, extend my walk. This meant that my total walk would be about 50-55 minutes--a very long walk in those conditions.

The fact I haven't made any mention of my second childhood in three subsequent paragraphs is probably testament to it. I've forgotten how to properly write. I'm almost there--I promise.

When I reached the intersection where the cool, delightful treats are located, I spotted a couple of young girls in front of the place, one of them inside a 6'6" paper mache or plastic ice cream cone, trying to drum up business. I have news for them. If the devil were visiting this town that day, he wouldn't need to be encouraged by a fake ice cream cone to get a cool refreshment. I crossed the street and went up to "the cone"--oh, I could tell she was a young girl by the shape and size of her legs. I peered into the slot that was the cone's "mouth" and said "I know you're an ice cream cone and all, but aren't you hot in there?"

Her response was "Awww...gimme a hug". So, like a little kid seeing a Disney character for the first time, I gave her a hug...to the apparent approval of the people on the patio based on the oohs and aahs, not to mention a passing motorist. I felt a bit silly and a bit childish, but it actually felt very good. I smiled at the barely visible face, bid her "Take care", and made my way to the shop.

One step into the place and I was hit by this beautiful rush of very cool air. Ironically, I hadn't noticed until that moment just how hot I was feeling. I seemed to sweat more rather than less as the queue moved along.

I glanced up at the menu and found the sundae prices. A "small", what I always have gotten at Dairy Queen, and always chocolate (I'm a creature of habit), was priced at $2.49...plus tax, of course. In this neck of the woods, that would be 13% or 32 cents, bringing the total not far from $3. It seemed excessive...until it arrived. Then, it seemed ridiculous. To put this in persepctive, a couple of weeks ago, I purchased two litres (almost half a gallon) of name-brand ice cream at the grocery store for $3.99. I could literally consume that sundae with one large bite assuming I wanted to risk the resultant brain freeze killing me.

I exited and almost without thinking, I wandered over toward Miss Ice-cream-cone and asked her if she'd like a little taste of my sundae. She said "Oh, sure!". I scooped up some chocolate syrup and some ice cream and carefully slipped it through her "mouth" and then toward her lips. She said, "Oh, that's so good! Thank-you very much! Give me a hug". And so, this "kid" put his arms around this giant cone for a second time and on this occasion, I hear a slight commotion over my shoulder. I let go of the giant treat while saying "You're very welcome" and "Bye", and glanced to my left to see an Asian man fidgeting with a camera and who had obviously just snapped a picture of the kooky, old man feeding ice cream to the ice cream cone. Those Asians will photograph anything!

As I embarked on my way home, glancing back, I saw that the man was asking to have his picture taken with Miss Cone. A few moments later and as I was 50 yards or so from the Dairy Queen, I heard shouting from behind me. I turned to see the two girls calling at me and waving good-bye. I'll tell you what--it's not at all bad being a kid...again.



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Moooo!

In following one news item, yesterday, I came across another that described Canada's Speech From the Throne from just over a month ago. For those unfamiliar with the term, there is no throne involved and it sometimes barely qualifies as a speech at all. Like most things in government and law, it's steeped in tradition, much of it silly in this day and age...like men wearing blonde, braided, powder wigs in courtrooms.

The speech is used to outline what the government of the day intends to do in the near future. This one was fairly brief considering the economic climate here at home and around the world. But it did mention that they would put stimulus money into various programs to kick start the economy. I briefly surveyed them and found a couple of interesting ones, one of which I'll share.

For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with Newfoundland, it would help if I described it a bit before explaining the funding that is to soon take place. Newfoundland is one of the most impoverished areas of Canada. It was bad enough even before all the codfish were taken from the Atlantic, which was one of its main occupations, so you can imagine what it's been like since.

So, to help out our poor brethren on The Rock, what do you suppose the federal government of Canada has committed to do? Build a state of the art research centre? Relocate a government ministry to St. John's, Newfoundland? Perhaps, commit money for retraining of unemployed fishermen? Actually, the feds say they will make available about $200,000 so that peat moss can be developed into an alternate bedding material for dairy cows. Go ahead--read the previous sentence again, but I guarantee it won't sound any less bizarre. Maybe the thinking is that if those big, fat dairy cows can sleep more comfortably, they might be persuaded to produce cappuccino or other exotic drinks more lucrative than plain milk. I'm all for making animals comfortable, but how, exactly, will this stimulate the local economy?

Test cow with peat moss bed: