..."to the vagrant gypsy's life"... WHERED THE SUMMER GO?

Bulk Barn - the ones you go to/used to go to in New Brunswick.

I ued to go to LO FOODs in NB. or Canadian Tire. I dont recall Bulk Barns as a name.

Weve had the concept of supermarkes that selll mostly repackaged flour ,sugar, cereals, etc etc for years here in Pa Dutch Country. Just (except for B&B's, ) no chains

found the first thread

where you learned about Bulk Barn

https://able2know.org/topic/100991-4#post-2794239

somewhere there is another thread which mentions your first (and at least one subsequent visit)

they tend to look like this





(trying to remember the location of the second one you talked about - that you apparently quite liked)

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there are some packaged goods, but most is literally bulk - you put it in smaller bags/containers yourself.

the newest thing (to me) was the extensive range of peanut butter grinders. there was always one, in addition to the coffee grinders. the one we went to last week had 3 or 4 different grinders for peanut butter, as well as another nut grinder. Also a few types of honey in giant barrels. It was wonderful. Banana Breath seemed to be happy with the wine gums and specialty licorices he found, among other treasures.

I should have picked up some white popcorn kernels. We finally learned how to use plain paper lunch bags for nuking them.

Jeezus, that was 11 years ago. It was a fun thread though. Popcorn used as insulation, I recall the wool delivery trip .IT WAS DISASTROUS as I recall. We got stopped at the US border coming home by a bunch of postal employees with guns. They harassed our selfs and we hadda get a broker to inspect and certify our processed wool as being disease free. (WE just took the same wool INTO Canada two days prior and had it washed steamed pressed and spun into yarns. Then they bundles it into huge bulk batches witn different colors.
So the US didnt think you Canajuns knew how to spin waash, dye and pack wool without causing a pqndemic of what?? Foot and Mouth??

Bulk Barning must have been forgotten because we hadda visit the home office of US Customs in Philly when we got all the way home.

Our B&B bulk stores are somewhat different after seeing the pics you posted 11 years ago. Ours dont let us touch any of the product. They are already bagged into small to lqrge lot. All in plastic baggies.

One of the other threads where we talked about Bulk Barn was a cooking (?) thread where I talked about going to buy one cardamom pod (and one clove) for some kind of Swedish cookies. Others were complaining about having to buy bottles of them to get one for a recipe so were skipping the recipes. You knew about being able to buy one clove (or an entire barrel) at the Bulk Barn.

know, I sorta recall that but Im almost sure I got cardamon at some Indian market because My Karala friends used it to make a really spicy tea that was an infusion of cardamon seeds in boiling water and the using a sweetish lemon to bring it all home.
Im getting to be an old man .

so tempted to go on a big riff on cardamom and lemon and the spice route (and ships)

maybe a little one

my dad, hamburger, grew up in the harbour in Hamburg. Literally in the harbour. his father and grandfather were harbourmasters. his brother was a tallyman. he rowed to the mainland to go to school - starting in kindergarten.

my mother is from the Baltic - East Prussia. Also lots of shipping/captains/sailors in the family. I have a cup her grandfather brought back from China. Cousins have other pieces of the set.

The recipes from East Prussia really reflect the eastern shipping influences. Wonderful spices in both sweet and savory dishes. Sweet and sour meatballs with cardamom etc in them. Cold fruit soups with cinnamon and lemon - sweet and very tangy. The recipes from Hamburg - in common with many European harbour cities also reflect the use of spices in a way you don't see in inland towns/cities.

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Ships and spices. Great memories.

When I visited Hamburg, Walter visited with me and gave me a tour of the area. We spent time by the Elbe, and had a meal at the restaurant next to the river. That was some years ago, and my memory is failing. I know he came to Amsterdam to drive me back to Germany, and we stopped at a restaurant by the lake where we had lunch. He gave me a tour of his hometown of Lippstadt. Walter has since visited the states a few times.

Southampton boat show is on right now. The roads are bloody chocka. I thought of you, and those like you who've brought gridlock to the city.

What's the cost of a 30' sloop?

You're asking the wrong person. It's not a place I frequent, but I'm sure they've got one somewhere.

https://www.southamptonboatshow.com/boat-buying/

Im a marine commercial licensed (-20M) (thats why I can transport sail boats) . My old boat was a rebuilt and outfitted diesel lobster yatch "Beale Islander "LOA about 40 ft . I miss that ****** but I hadda sell it to buy a drill rig for the company.

sailboat [prices can vary greatly. The used prices are usually a steal but its like buying a car thats been in a flood. Boats float but once water gets on-board, everything underneath the skin will dry rot in 5 years.
I can buy a 45 foot liveaboard ketch for under 20000$ but itll take maybe half a million to get it seaworthy and trim again

In my younger days, I had a friend who owned a boat that was moored in San Rafael. We used to go fishing between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island by shutting the engines and floating to fish for striped bass and mackerel. Back in those days, the water wasn't polluted, and we had fresh sashimi. Those days are long gone.

The boat show is an annual event, so if you ever decide to give it a visit let me know and I'll try to organise some terrible food for you.

Really? I heard things were improving. The Thames is a lot cleaner than it was. We keep hearing of different fish returning.

That is indeed good news. London used to be my favorite destination in my early years of travel, and have visited most of the art galleries and museums. They have some of the world's best. Must've walked a thousand miles in London. LOL. Even cruised from London to Greenwich one time to visit the time meridian and Maritime Museum. Visited the ship, Cutty Sark with a bust of Abe Lincoln. There's a plaque where Captain Cook was killed in Hawaii, and a painting at the Maritime Museum of that incident. That's only one of many connections I have been able to make from my travels.

Got the boat into safe harbor and all tied down. A crew came in and is sweeping and clening it for the new owner.
Mrs F and I are staying in town and will recharge till Fri when we fly home and put away watery dreams for another year.

We saw lotsa whales in the Gulf of Maine and off Block Island.

Well, were piloting another boat to Block IIsland and then SW harbor. Its a neat way to have a little vacation and get paid to ferry a Hinkley Talaria . The owners organization had this one totally re-outfitted and the boat yard in MD did a really excellent job. The new electronics alone is nough to make Dr WHo jealous. The new engine and tranny is a keg mounted one so it allows the boat to burn less than 2 gal/hr diesel at 11 knots Technology has taken off with the abilities to conjoin various outputs at a spoken command. Boy I thought our old boat was snappy, this one is gonna be a joy. The solar takes care of mot of the cooking and AC and pumps. There is a backup diesel stove which I think is disgusting(not all ideas are good ones)
We should be gone till Sat or Sunday and Ill be off air(I dont FB).