Ann’s Weblog

I didn’t take the camera to the Social last night. Aside from the mosquitoes causing some misery, everyone I spoke to had a pretty good time.

There were so many functions in the Valley this Canada Day Weekend, that I thought the Ice Cream Social would have a huge turnout. Instead, the conflicts of schedules, and PERHAPS even the huge mosquito outbreak, kept some people away; there was a “medium” crowd of about 400 folks. Many of us stayed indoors while we had our treats of ice cream and other sweets, and then went outside for more visiting and coffee. The bugs were horrendous, as they have been in many spots in our region.

It was a good visiting evening, and Gary and I didn’t stay for any dancing as we were both tired. The health inspector was not in attendance at the Ice Cream Social, but our local MLA, Shirley Bond, was. Bless her heart for coming out to such a controversial function; she seemed to be truly enjoying herself.

On with my day! We’re expecting several friends for dinner tonight… it was my chance to cook the 23 pound farm-raised turkey which was resting in the freezer. We have rice pilaf, gingered yams and other things on the menu, and one friend is bringing a salad (we LOVE her salads!). For dessert we’ll have baklava, a new batch that I made late last night. Gary’s uncle, who is more like a brother, and his girlfriend, who is more like a sister-in-law, are on their way here. I am so excited about the crowd who will be here for the evening, and we’ll either hide out in the house (because of the mosquitoes!), or perhaps, later, sit around a bonfire (NOT singing Kumbaya). ~ Ann

Since no name was left with this comment to my last post, I’ll respond in this blog…

“The Inspector is just doing his job and any other market in the province has its vendors follow the same guidelines. You have to look at it from the perspective of the buyer. Just because you may follow food safe guidelines doesn’t make it safe. Young children and weak immune systems make consume your products and they have to be 100% safe. You should have nothing to worry about and not even stress about it if you are up to date with your food safe certification and adhere to those guidelines. As for the Ice Cream social, I have gone for years and a few times there was questionable food handling. Now I just eat the Ice Cream.”

I have been a “buyer” at the markets and a consumer of food served in similar venues for a lot longer than I’ve been a vendor. In the case of the Ice Cream Social, I’m not sure what questionable practice you observed, but there has never been a case of food poisoning in the 30 years of the tradition, in a person of any age. In the case of the ethnic potluck in Fort St. James, there had been no problems with shared food in the 15 years that they had held that Canada Day function.

When I discussed the whole regulatory system with the man who held the inspector position last year, he gave me an example of a high-end restaurant, employing a professional chef, whose practices led to illness in 50 people. The chef claimed “This has never happened before!”. MY reaction was that, if the restaurants are making people ill, perhaps the Ministry should be policing them more than the community members who share food.

I do want to offer that I am a kind person and generally thought of as “polite”. To suggest that I don’t realize that the Inspector is just “doing his job” is condescending. I did not launch any personal attack, and in fact would have enjoyed a visit under other circumstances, and to the last health inspector, stated, “I realize that you have a job to do.”. On the other hand, we are being regulated in almost every phase of our lives, “protected” by our government, ostensibly, and this has gotten alarming and tiresome. We have responsibility PERSONALLY for what we consume and for many other aspects of our lives.

All well, it is time to go for breakfast at one of McBride’s “high-end” restaurants… thanks for reading my weblog; it’s interesting who visits here, and it’s fine if we don’t always agree. Often there are valid aspects to all facets of an issue. ~Ann