No Grits in Canada

No Grits in Canada

In prepping Polaris for departure, I was amazed how much food I could squirrel away in the six compartments assigned for food. Three of these are in the galley, the others are below and behind the dining cushions. And, there's no such thing as pull out shelves so everything is piled on top of each other. The challenge, while underway, is recalling where you put things. I made a map of sorts, plotting the location of everything. The challenge while underway is maintaining the same location and keeping it as neat as the first pack, which invariably fails to happen. I made a 2 week menu and provisioned accordingly. The challenge after two months is the emerging disquiet, not yet a mutiny, at the recurring menu. It has been intimated that my favorite, beef and broccoli stir fry, should walk the plank.

I tend towards simplicity, fewer pots to clean, less water needed to clean, less time over hot stove...etc but maintaining crew morale through food is a daily priority, especially during our days "at sea."

Which brings me to reprovisioning. There's enough food on board to last during draught periods...i.e no convenient grocery stores nearby...which you would expect when migrating outside of civilization, but even the occasional tiny towns along the way don't often offer much, or if they do, it's a drive...except Tobermory.

Tobermorey is a summer destination option I suspect for most of eastern Canada. It's a cute little harbor town on the east end of Geogian Bay. The clearest water we encountered so far is there. People come to take glass bottom boat rides to wrecks and hike the trails at the nearby Provincial Parks and explore grottoes and admire the last evidence of the escarpment that extends from Tobermory to Niagra over which we enjoy the Falls. You can drive there..though many arrive by ferry. This became evident when, without much notice (the ferry dock is just out of plain view), the town was suddenly inundated with hordes of people toting luggage. They all headed to the local hotels and disappeared. I know this because the vast majority of the newly arrived women were splendidly attired Indians. Later, in the day there were almost none.

There are a smattering of restaurants around, the most prominent were ones offering "World Renowned" fish and chips. We succumbed. Our waiter was a very gregarious lad dressed sort of like a pirate, who augmented our experience by teaching us a new way to tie a boland knot. Cool. Brian reciprocated by teaching him to made a paracord keychain. The waiter seemed delighted to have a new trick to keep the scrappy guests at bay.

We enjoyed our crunchy oily meal. It was very...crunchy and...oily, but good. John got the "all you can eat" and proceeded to do so. But, I can't imagine people's gall blatters bearing up with this day after day. Nor, their wallets for that matter. Tobermorey makes sure you leave town with an empty wallet. Restaurant food there was pricey even considering the exchange rate. And then they add a whopping 13% tax. So, there is one handsomely supplied grocery store for the locals and tourist's, to help manage their money as it flies about of their pocket.

I had my list in hand and was able to find most of our needs, except for one highly prized item...grits. I realize a store can't carry everything and grits are clearly a non-local specialty but cheesy grits is the preferred comfort food for Brian and I, and it's a pretty essential component to one of my two week rotating menu meals, shrimp and grits. I dare say there must be some other Loopers who may be grits gourmands. Heck, just two days ago we met some loopers from Chattanooga! Surely they must find themselves running low on grits. Brian and I may have to tough it out if our barrel runs out as sadly none of the Canadian stores we've visited carry it. If I do a Looper Guidebook...I'm thinking of titling it "But Do They Have Grits?"