Hi Everyone,
The weather report for Barrie this Sunday doesn't look too encouraging but I will be there at the start rain or shine. I did the preride last Sunday and the roads are good. If anyone shows up and wants to ride, I'm prepared to ride with them. I have a mec helmet rain liner, makes me look like I'm wearing a long flowing burnoose and a rain jacket. If you do make the trip up to Barrie, at the corner of Duckworth and Grove (Tim Horton's parkinglot) is a fruit stand. They sell fresh picked corn, local wild blueberries and produce. And gas is cheaper in Barrie, not much cheaper but every little bit helps. If you decide not to come but want a map for another day when it's sunny, click on Ice Skating and and the iceskating email will be rerouted to me and I'll email you the maps.
Here's an idea I just thought of. If you show up and it's monsoon season, bring your hiking boots and go up to Algonquin Park or bring lots of cash and go to casino Rama. I have a 7 passenger van, can take 6 hikers or gamblers, chip into the gas kitty. Better still, pray for better weather this Sunday.
Fred Lee
Barrie/Bass Lake Country Cruise ride, Aug. 22
Fri, 08/20/2010 - 3:44pm
Hi Everyone,
It was raining this morning as I started to drive to Barrie hoping it would stop but it didn't. Got to the start at 09:45, didn't bother to set up my bike and waited till 10:15 and no a soul showed up. I went to the fruit stand and bought some corn and a basket of wild blueberries. No cycling report so I'll write about corn, a topic I know something about as I grew up on a farm. Please visit your local farmers' market or fruit and vegetable stands in the countryside as corn is in season. The best way to cook corn is to nuke it. Just trim the base (base is the end without the silk) flush to the cob, trim the silk and side leavers sticking out and for a 1200 watt microwave, cook on high 2 minutes per cob, no more than 6 cobs at once. Take it out (wear oven gloves) and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. It's too hot to eat and the cooking process is still continuing as it sits. When you can pick it up without burning your fingers, peel back the leaves and enjoy. No need to boil a pot of water as the water takes away some of the flavour and nutrients and no need to peel the cob of all the leaves first like a lot of city dwellers do in supermarkets. You can select corn by how it looks and feels. The larger and fatter the cobs, the better and if the silk is brown, this indicates a mature ear of corn. Clear silk and small diameter cob and the kernels will be small and underdeveloped, not much to eat. Brown silk and you can actually feel the big kernels under the leaves. Be sure to drop the eaten cob into your green or composte bin. I read in an old farmers' almanac about what corn cobs were used for in the days before toilet paper were invented. :)
Another way is to roast it in a campfire. For those going to the Presquile Prescription weekend and don't know what to bring for the Saturday night potluck dinner, you can't go wrong by bringing some corn. Bring a bucket and soak the corn for about 15 minutes before roasting in the campfire as this way of cooking tends to dry it out. When the leaves are browned, it's done. I was thinking of bringing the corn but I've already had a few requests to bring what I brought last time, Italian sausages and peppers roasted on my hibachi. Hope it don't rain next weekend.
Fred Lee