I was wondering about the Caesars, Ginger. Poor United Statesians, never knowing the savoury goodness of clamato juice, worcestershire sauce, tabasco sauce, vodka, with a lime and seasoned salt rim and celery stick.
Here’s a recipe for Canada’s favourite clamato drink (invented in Calgary, no less). It also has some very interesting variations.
And all I can say is, “thank goodness.” Many’s the time I’ve ordered a Bloody Mary in Canada, only to have a #@$^% Caesar put in front of me. At least in the US, I can get a real Bloody Mary.
I hate Bloody Caesars. Always have. Tomato-and-clam juice just doesn’t agree with me physically. When I’m in the USA, I always order a Bloody Mary, and I always get a proper one. Unlike Canada, where they assume I that what I really want is clamato and vodka. Or, in the more enlightened places, where I’m informed that I have to pay extra for opening a dusty tin of tomato juice that’s been behind the bar forever. No thank you; I’d rather have a proper American-made Bloody Mary any day.
Now, other than missing well-meaning servers and bar staff who mistakenly assume that what I want is some clam juice concoction, here’s what I’d miss if I was to permanently leave Canada:
– Coffee Crisp
– The Globe and Mail. I did once find a copy of the Saturday Globe on sale in Seattle–for US$6! Gee, given that the Saturday Globe is about US$2 or less in Canada, how does one justify a whole two-hour trip to transport the papers from Vancouver to Seattle costing $4US per paper? Gimme a break! Overseas papers weren’t even this expensive at the Seattle newsstand where I found the Globe.
On the other hand, I did also find the Saturday Globe in the Alexander Library of Perth, Australia, where I could read it for free.
– Ontario’s Creemore Springs Lager Beer. Or Alberta’s Big Rock beers. Or BC’s Shaftesbury’s or Granville Island beers. Or Newfoundland’s Quidi Vidi beers. Or Nova Scotia’s Propeller beers. Or…well, you get the picture.
– Pizza Pizza. Yes, it’s a southern Ontario thing, and it’s the McDonald’s of pizza. But they’ve never screwed up a home-delivery order yet, which becomes a plus for them, especially when I feel like pizza at 2:00 a.m.
– Thoroughbred racing at Woodbine. Often dismissed as sub-par by the self-styled “more knowledgeable” American racing authorities, I feel that Woodbine thoroughbred racing is on par with that found at the major American tracks. Why anybody would voluntarily choose to play second-rate horses or also-rans at Mountaneer WV or Fair Grounds LA when they could be playing Woodbine is beyond me.
There are no doubt more that I’ll think of, but this is enough for now.
Hawkins Cheezies - quite simply the finest cheese flavoured dry things in the known universe. Apparently the founding company was American and they opened a branch plant in Belleville, Ontario. The parent company folded, but the branch lives on.
Moosehead beer, obviously. Poutine (I actually miss poutine currently, as no one in Manitoba has a hot clue how to make it). Lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba, can there be lakes like that anywhere else in the world?
Why has nobody said: the northern lights? More specifically, whistling at the northern lights to make them dance?
Everything’s been mentioned except HP Fruity and Red Rose Tea. But they may have these these things stateside by now.
Ginger of the North you must be speaking relatively about Cdn. govt offices vs. US Govt. offices…? I’ve had plently of problems dealing with govt. offices around here.
I must say I’ve never had a problem with getting a proper Bloody Mary though. Funny.
Triss, all I can say is that you have to have dealt with US Government offices in order to fully appreciate what we have at home.
Tim Horton’s. Coffee everywhere else sucks ass.
OHIP. My best friend moved to California and he reports that dealing with his HMO is an utter nightmare, the stuff that Kafkaesque movies are made of. He was bigtime for getting rid of medicare before he moved there. He has totally reversed his position. The tales he tells me are just unbelievable.
Clean inner cities. Safety in general. This is especially noticeably absent if you go to third world countries.
All the local newspapers, except the Sun.
Smarties.
Woodbine. Hear hear, Spoons. I love Woodbine. I go 15-20 weekends a year.
CBC sports coverage. Here in Canada, they actually show athletic events! Really! And more than just the 3-4 events we’re doing best in - we actually get to see ten, twelve hours a day of honest-to-god athletics, rather than 30 minutes of athletics and three hours of “Athlete Profiles In Soft Focus.” CBC airs garbage the rest of the time and they’re as corrupt and inbred as a West Virginia municipal council, but no network on earth puts on a better sports program.
The Blue Jays. I love them so much.
Open country within 30-60 minutes drive of any city. (I guess you wouldn’t miss this if you moved to the States or Australia.)
Over the counter Tylenol with Codeine. Works on my migraines.
I used to like Harvey’s. Then I found out about their record for cleanliness. They make McDonald’s look like a HACCP facility. If you don’t want food poisoning, stay away.
All of the above, plus CFL football - it’s faster, livelier, more unpredictable, and the players don’t earn so much money that they’re spoiled rotten.
Go Riders!!!
Oh yeah - would also miss my job. It’s sort of Canada-specific.
By the way: Mom sends Tim’s by the big-ass can. I will be nice and mail some (but not a lot) coffee to a Canadian in the US if you email me your address.
I don’t have a ton, but I’ll share enough for a pot.
Wilderness canoeing.
“As we made our way along the coast we grew used to the marvellous openness of the ocean. We would take the tide out for kilometre after kilometre, far out of sight of land, and then return on it many hours later. Every hour we would stop to take a fix, set our next bearing, and lie back in the boat, surrounded by nothing but water and sky and each other. Hour after hour, day after day, we paddled and sang and slept under the hot sun on the northern ocean, wanting never to return.” http://my.tbaytel.net/culpeper/KattawagamiUntouched.html
AC&C - much like Tylenol and codeine but cheaper
Caesars - sorry, but they kick the ass of Bloody Marys… especially the ones with horseradish.
Hockey Night in Canada - or any ice hockey whatsoever
Vinegar on my french fries - as opposed to freedom fries (sic).
CBC - radio and to a lesser extent TV
Not worring too much about crime
Affordable healthcare
Out in the West of Canada we don’t have so many Tim Hortons, and I wouldn’t miss them if they were gone. I wouldn’t miss Starbuck$ either (of which there are a ton out here)… I would miss my local coffee place though; The Grind. It rocks.
YES! RickJay, you’re right on with that one. Sports, sports, and more sports; that’s what you get with the CBC (as far as their sports coverage goes that is; I have little use for them otherwise).
I’m assuming, of course, that your “Athletic Profiles in Soft Focus” refers to the annoying habit of the American networks to devote 30 minutes of air time to how a proud and patriotic American athlete managed to overcome a debilitating handicap (like a pimple or the death of a pet just before the Big Race) to achieve a medal of some sort.
Jeez, folks, the USA has the money and the athletes to do well to begin with. Why try to milk it further?
And vinegar on french fries. Harvey’s, for all of its faults, provides vinegar packets, right by the salt and pepper. At times, it seems like it’s hard to get any vinegar out of the American chains like McDonalds and Burger King. Some days they have it, and some days they don’t. Go there on a wrong day, and you’re SOL. But it’s always at Harvey’s. Thankfully.
By the way, RickJay, let me know when you’ll be at Woodbine next. We could meet up, if you like.
All of the above, plus…
TACO TIME!!!
Yes, there are some US locations. But considering that it only exists in 13 states (several of which have only one location), I think I would actually have to plan my (fictional) move to the US based on those locations.
I’m actually dreading my trip to the US next year just based on the fact that I won’t be drinking any of Tim Horton’s finest once I cross the border. My best friend just came back from Disneyland, and she said that she couldn’t even find a reasonable subsitute.
One thing I loved about living in Victoria was the British Sweet Shop on Yates street. Aniseed beads!
I also miss the cheap CD prices.
The college/independent music scene. Sloan, Ron Sexsmith, Hawksley Workman, The New Pornographers, The Constantines, The Sadies, Broken Social Scene, The Weakerthans - there’s a lot of excellent Canadian music that I wouldn’t be able to see live if I lived elsewhere. I’d probably even miss The Hip after awhile, too.
Canadian Heritage commercials (Vince Coleman, dispatcher!) And the money. What can I say, I like the loonie.
And the girls. I think Canadian girls are cute. 
Shreddies. God how I love that cereal. In fact, I’m going to ask my father to bring some back. That and Ancient Grains cereal (a presidents choice product) nothing stays crisper in milk. Nothing. I wish that Coffee Crisp was available here, they are the finest candy bar ever.
mmm.
I can’t believe I’ve forgotten these wonderful things: cheezies (yes, the best ‘cheese flavoured dry things’ on the planet - and I have tried a lot of cheese flavoured dry things, so I know whereof I speak!), poutine, Swiss Chalet sauce (although I no longer eat these two things I very much appreciate their existence), and bloody caesars. I had a friend over from England and he was nauseated at the description (as is everyone - who would not raise an eyebrow on hearing “Clam and tomato juice - together at last!”) but I convinced him to try it. He was very impressed and immediately began to plan how to reproduce it in the UK. The liquid from a tuna can mixed with tomato juice was the best he could come up with, another great reason to stay in Canada !
Plus, the Tragically Hip/Rheostatics/Big Sugar/Great Big Sea/all those other bands you only ever hear in Canada. I never listen to them in Canada but again, I love that I could if I wanted to.
Buddha’s (666 Dundas Ave West) hot and sour soup. The first place I ran to after the airport. Also Montreal-style bagels, although I’m not certain you can’t get them in the U.S.
Ginger: I finally googled “donair” to find out what everyone is on about. They serve them in England but call them kebabs (rhymes with “flabs”, if you say it to rhyme with “Bobs” they call you posh), they are standard post-pub food there since you can’t buy pizza by the slice. At least I think they’re the same thing, not having eaten either.
President’s Choice Decadent Triple-Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Also vinegar on fries, Harvey’s, television news programs that don’t make me feel like I’m watching stupid pet tricks, and Tim Horton’s. I would also miss the vague sense that I actually have a choice in what kind of political party I vote for, even though “choice” in Canada right now translates to “choose your favourite moron from our wide selection”.
Geez, folks. You can buy food in lots of countries. Some places don’t have nice scenery, polite policemen, civil servants who sometimes try to solve your problems and folks willing to help strangers out of a jam. There are other places that do, of course.
But what you miss most about Canada would be a snack? If you don’t believe your country, should stand before yourself… (Easily the scariest of the Stompin’ Tom opus).
The place I’m not living in now does have nice scenery and polite policemen. I can’t say much about the civil servants 'cause I’ve never interacted with them, and I’ve never been in a jam that strangers have had to help me out of.
Y’see, the bulk of the routine that makes up my life (and I suspect most people’s lives) are the little things like the radio stations I listen to, the TV I watch, and yes the food I eat. When those things change it’s discomfiting and very noticible, so those are the things I miss the most. I’m sorry my life in the U.S. isn’t a Reader’s Digest Drama in Real Life where I have to struggle daily against uncaring U.S. civil servants and hateful strangers, but it just isn’t.
Looking back on my post I did mention politics, so maybe that will assauge you until someone comes up with some concerns you find worthy.