No. 11, February 13

It’s Valentine’s Day all over

Irked by your favourite restaurant pushing a pricey special dinner menu for Valentine’s Day? Consider Le Bristol. The grand hotel on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris is offering a Valentine’s Day special in the Restaurant Le Bristol Paris.
Lovers can dine either in the winter restaurant, a former private theatre with Regency-style Hungarian oak panelling and Baccarat crystal chandeliers, or the summer restaurant, which features views of the hotel's magnificent garden.
Head chef Eric Frechon, who is expected to be awarded three stars in this year's Michelin Red Guide, has devised a menu comprising: cauliflower mousse with a sherry-infused red onion jelly and haddock foam; stuffed macaroni with black truffles, artichokes and duck foie gras, gratinéed with mature parmesan; sole "from the sand" stuffed with chanterelle mushrooms in a fishbone essence with vin jaune; pigeon glazed with honey and lemon, with a compote of cumin-flavoured onions and fennel and sauce diable; sparkling mango with lemon sorbet; Meringue soufflé with raspberries, coconut milk and ginger elixir; petits fours and chocolates; and coffee.
The price is 350€ ($556) per person, sans beverages; or just about $80 for each of seven courses (unless you include coffee as a course). And then there is the cost of the Champagne . . .

Back to the future with the A.P.P.?

From 1917 to 1932 the A.P.P., Alberta Provincial Police, took care of policing in the province, outside the major centres. The RCMP have performed that role since then.
Does Premier Ed Stelmach now want to do away with day-to-day RCMP policing in Alberta and bring back the A.P.P.?
Recently some former RCMP duties in some areas have been taken over by officers from the provincial Sheriff’s Branch, prompting speculation that this may be the first step toward replacing the Mounties.
On February 13, Kent Hehr, Alberta Liberal shadow solicitor general and shadow minister of justice, called on Stelmach to publicly state if he intends to replace the RCMP.
“By removing RCMP officers from traffic-related policing duties in selected areas, the government is causing Albertans to wonder if the province is gauging public reaction to the move. Is this the first step to creating a provincial police force?” said Hehr.
He pointed to a letter written in 2001 by Ted Morton, now a member of the cabinet, advocating an end to the RCMP policing contract and creation of a provincial police force.
Hehr: “Has Ted Morton swayed the Premier into getting rid of the RCMP? Come clean premier, are you intending to replace the RCMP?”
He stated he will oppose any move towards granting the Alberta sheriffs additional powers of arrest.

Hard times indeed

Getting a loan to finance a boat purchase is much tougher in the U.S. these days, according to recreational boat owners group BoatU.S. Many banks have dropped out of the market and “gone are the days of ‘relaxed guidelines’ and ‘no documentation’ loans.” For would-be boat buyers in tough times the group provides tips on getting loans that include ensuring their credit is good, having enough cash for the down payment and filling out the loan application properly.

World o’ beans

It’s a blast of nostalgia for the UK, where Heinz is running a TV advertising campaign for its canned baked beans that features the return of the “Beanz Meanz Heinz” slogan that was hugely popular in the 70s. According to creator Maurice Drake he came up with the slogan “after two pints in a pub in London.” More than $600 million worth of canned baked beans are sold annually in the UK, where beans on toast are a national staple and beans are an essential part of the full English breakfast (along with eggs, bacon, sausage, baked tomato, sometimes mushrooms and black pudding, and toast or fried bread).