Robert Pogson

One of the wonderful things about being in the North and being an early riser are some great sunrises. Here is today’s:
(click for the full deal) I apologize that this image shows the event past its full glory because it took me a while to find my camera.

There has been an attack of mushrooms in my little community. I took a break from my writing to have lunch and look for mushrooms. After slogging around in knee-deep moss for an hour I came out of the bush with only enough lactarius deliciosus and suillus cavipes (hollow-stalked larch bolete) to have a bowl of soup. To my surprise, along the edge of the school yard I found a leccinum boreale (aspen rough-stem) a little the worse for wear but with a still-solid stem and a mess of coprinus atramentarius (common inky-cap, edible for non-drinkers like me ) .

Needless to say I rushed home and sauteed those coprinus before they turned to black goo. I left the sautee in the refrigerator for dinner, likely with rice and pepper. Ahhh, the good life, low-calorie-haut-cuisine. Mushrooms are one of the great things about teaching in the North.

I have been shopping a bit lately, two trips into Winnipeg to pick up supplies to last a year of teaching in the North. I have two pet suppliers, Dino’s on Notre Dame just west of Isabel, and The Great Canadian Wholesale Club at Route 90 north-bound just north of Ellice Avenue.

Dino’s is a very interesting place. You can always find 10kg sacks of cornmeal and beans there and sacks of rice, too. For $20 a sack of beans lasts me all winter and is a great source of protein. I use a pressure cooker to do the job in 30 minutes, less if soaked. Rice takes only 5 minutes in a pressure cooker although the time taken to reach operating temperature is a bit longer.

The Great Canadian Wholesale Club is interesting too. It is a big box place with huge carts and sacks and cartons of stuff. I like the fresh produce. I bought farmed mushrooms, green bell peppers and onions. The onions have increased in price a lot for some reason. A 50 lb./22 kg sack cost $27 this year but was only $18 last year but that is way ahead of Northern Store prices which can be $3/lb where I work. I bought fixings for pizza too. Sauce and cheese and lean ground beef which I make into salami. I bought two bushel cartons of bell peppers and two sacks of spinach which I blanched and froze. I diced and blanched 50 lb of carrots which I froze. 10 kg sack of dried peas to make pea soup all winter only cost $7. Five minutes in the pressure cooker will do it.

I usually use Morton’s TenderQuick for making salami but I cannot find it in stores these days. Fortunately, I discovered Canada Compound at 900 Bradford Street between the two halves of route 90 just south of Saskatchewan Avenue and north of Wellington which sold me a lifetime supply of something similar to Prague Powder for a few dollars a sack. I mixed 22 lb of lean ground beef in a large pot with two tablespoons of the stuff, two tablespoons of garlic powder, one tablespoon of pepper and one tablespoon of Mrs. Dash to make my salami. I mixed it thoroughly and allowed it to marinate a day with refrigeration. Then I formed it into loaves about 8 cm in diameter by hand and wrapped it in SaranWrap/food wrap and baked in a 300F oven for one hour. It took two batches in my oven. I punctured the bottom of the wrapped loaves with a fork and caught (most of) the drippings in a cookie sheet on a lower rack. It was a little difficult to form the loaves. It would have helped to include a cup or two of cornmeal to make the mix more cohesive but I did not want to open the sack I will ship by air. This salami will survive a while without refrigeration as sometimes happens along the way. Ground beef after it thaws is much more perishable.

I dried the mushrooms and onions in a drier from Bosch Kitchen Centre on Pembina Highway. The driers are expensive but pay for themselves in a year of not shopping at the Northern Store… I sliced the mushrooms longitudinally about 8mm thick and place them barely touching on the trays. They dry in a few hours at 140F. The onions I diced and dry at the same temperature. You want the mushrooms to be soft but shrunken and the onions almost crisp but not brown. I dried peeled garlic in 2mm slices at 115F for 12 hours.

One of the rare gems and one of the few canned products I ship north is catsup. I buy it in cases of six large cans. One can will last me a month and I use it on everything: soup, pizza, pasta, meat, and diluted as tomato juice.

I like to bake and bought 8 10kg bags of whole wheat flour, yeast and sugar. I extend the yeast by using the sourdough technique so a pound will last me all year. I bought 10kg of white granulated sugar and 4kg of brown sugar for cinnamon buns. Don’t forget lots of cinnamon, raisins, prunes, and nuts… You can buy a substantial 18L jug of canola oil there and butter, too. I am trying to lose weight so I am cutting down…

Altogether I filled two carts at the Great Canadian Wholesale Club and spent $1000. That will last me 300 days in the North, about $3.33/day. If you shop at the Northern Store, it will likely cost you $10 unless you buy their $5 pizza and not eat one or two at a sitting… I think my groceries are a more balanced diet. I have been eating this way in the North for 14 years and it works for me. I hope it helps some newbie teachers live more affordably.

One last note. As you may have to shift cartons loaded with these heavy items, be sure not to put too much weight in each carton. You can put a heavy bag in the bottom and your clothes on top, for instance. Use cartons with no openings or wrap contents in plastic to prevent dust/sand/dirt from runways getting in.

Don’t forget Hallowe’en treats for the kids. About 200 pieces is enough in many communities and you can always deal with leftovers.