Explore Durham

Vintage autos at Haugen’s cruise-in night

For vintage cars buffs, summer means cruise nights: parking lot gatherings of highly polished vintage autos (usually 1979 or older) where their owners enthuse with like-minded car-buffs about restorations and paint jobs.     In Durham Region, few cruise nights are quite as famous as the Wednesday-night gatherings at Haugen’s Chicken & Ribs Barbeque, south of Port Perry, which attract everything from big-wheeled muscle cars to open-engine roadsters.

   

Although a good cruise-in night will attract hundreds of cars, when my friend Rob and I rolled into the parking lot in his black 1969 Chevy Impala on Wednesday evening the crowd was pretty thin. Even Steve, the owner had left his white 1965 Mustang at home.

“That’s because of the weather,” said Brigid, the event’s hostess. “Many of them don’t like to take their cars out in the rain, but you might see a few of the hard-core types come out later in the evening.” She was right. An Oldsmobile 442 and a 1960s Malibu soon pulled in. Never mind the cars; I was delighted with Brigid’s 1950s outfit, a classic wide skirt with a rock-and-roll appliqué, vintage fuzzy sweater, rhinestone jewelry and even real saddle shoes. “I have three different skirts including a turquoise one with pink flamingoes and a gingham one with poodles.”

 

The 1950s theme seems appropriate since Haugen’s has been serving the same house-cooked pork ribs, chicken and barbeque sauce since 1953. Why change when you have a winner? The tomato-based barbeque sauce is so popular it is served in mug-sized containers. “Some people drink it like coffee,” said our friendly waitress. Although we preferred to use our sauce for dipping, we are definitely fans.

   Although we’ll have to come back on another Wednesday night to see more cars, the ribs were good enough that I was happy just watching the view out of the windows of tractors ploughing the neighboring fields.

Teeing up for spring at Cider House Golf Course

As apple trees gradually come into bloom this week, any excuse to walk through an orchard is fine with me. But who knew you could enjoy an orchard while playing a round of golf? At Archibald Orchards in Clarington the Cider House Golf Course boasts a pretty par three that will get you out enjoying the blossoms amid some 20 varieties of apple trees.

Although my last game of golf was nearly 30 years ago, Sandy Archibald reassured me that this course offered a good short game without being too grueling. I thought it was only fair to warn her that when I last played I was the recipient of the most-honest-score trophy. “I have one of those too!” she replied. But for the many women and families who love to golf here – there are two ladies leagues – the score is not as important as a great afternoon among friends.

As we teed up at the first hole at the orchard’s edge, I inhaled scent of new-mown grass and watched the bluebird boxes for nestlings. Perched on the Oak Ridges Moraine, the orchard and the course rise 20 meters in altitude from south to north, make for some very pretty views.

We ignored the scorecard; concentrating instead on positive reinforcement. When I tore up a divot large enough to plant potatoes in, Sandy just said, “Great, you’re getting right under it. With the pros, you always see dirt flying.”

She also taught me the helpful flag-hold stance to assume while your partner putts. It’s something like ballet’s first position with feet strategically planted behind the hole to prevent your partner overshooting her putt. OK, the pros might not do that. But they would certainly find plenty of challenge on these rolling greens, not to mention a great bottle of cider to take home at the end of the game.

I’ll definitely be back for Archibald’s Fruit Wine & Food Festival on May 31 when local chefs pair great foods (smoked trout mousse, mini bison burgers, pulled pork and chocolate Lava Cakes) with Ontario fruit wines.

Birds, blooms and bunnies in Thickson’s Woods

On Wednesday afternoon I came home from Thickson’s Woods with what my bird-watching friend Doug Lockrey joking calls “warbler neck,” that ache you get from tilting your head back as you stare into the tops of tall trees looking for migrating birds through your binoculars.

Doug, Hugh Peacock and I were walking through this remnant old growth pine forest at Whitby’s south end, looking for warblers. Truth be told, there’s as much listening as watching. When Hugh heard the “zur zur zur zree” we quickly searched for the source of the song and spotted a black-throated blue warbler almost gleaming in the sunlight.

Warblers hold a special fascination for birders. As Doug explained, “if you are a birder it’s great to see birds that you don’t have all winter. We only see most warblers for a few weeks a year as they pass through on migration; in spring they are particularly colourful.” The names say it all: golden-winged warbler, yellow warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, cerulean warbler, black-throated green warbler…well you get the idea. Some are nearly as bright as the marsh marigolds that bloom in the wet hollows. This colourful feather was left behind by a flicker, a type of woodpecker. Now I'm using it as a bookmark.

Thickson’s Woods is a particularly good place to find them. This old growth pine forest was protected as a source of masts for the British navy in the days of tall ships. After several of the tall pines were cut in 1983, many local nature-lovers banded together to purchase and protect the land. Today the moss-covered remnants of those pine stumps are still much in evidence. Warblers touch down in this green refuge after crossing Lake Ontario.

At this time of year you don’t need to be a birder to enjoy the woods as they burst into bloom. Masses of trout lilies were just starting to open, as were trilliums.

Besides warblers we were treated to glimpses of a Cooper’s hawk, a great horned owl, several white-throated sparrows (as seen in this photo taken by Hugh) and many others.

Birders share their observations in a journal, but I decided not to write in my best observation: this little rabbit scurrying through the underbrush.

   

Beach and burgers in beautiful Bay Ridges

The recent spate of sunny weather had me heading to the lakeshore to watch sailboats and walk a little of the waterfront trail from Pickering’s Frenchman’s Bay through the Beachfront Park at the foot of Liverpool Road.

Watching sailor’s readying their boats and swans dabbling offshore, I thought it was one of the most interesting stretches of waterfront along Lake Ontario. Birders come here to spot sandpipers and terns. I didn’t see either but saw plenty of geese, loons, bufflehead ducks and noisy red-winged blackbirds. Swallows have already occupied the nesting boxes alongside the protected wetland.

On a clear day the views are impressive: to the west the CN Tower rises above the Scarborough Bluffs, to the east Ontario Power Generation’s massive windmill towering above the willow.

All that time outdoors left me hungry so I decided to follow up on a tip and check out one of south Pickering’s favourite fast food restaurants.

The Big M on Liverpool Road turned out to be real treat. On a sunny Saturday, folks were lined up out the door for the flame-grilled burgers. I was so fascinated with the action inside that I pulled up a stool at the window-front counter to better soak in the ambience. Unlike most of the corporate burger chains, this little joint is as old as the Bay Ridges neighborhood that sustains it. Welcome to 1965. On the wall is an ad that dates back to the construction of the area, offering a “Cape Cod 3-bedroom home for the unbelievably low $11,598.”

Being old enough to remember Frank Mahovlich playing for the Leafs, I naturally assumed that the photos of the famed winger that hang above the counter had something to do with the restaurant’s name. Not so. “The M is for Macedonian,” I was told. Well, if the Big M hockey player wanted a really great burger, he ought to visit his namesake restaurant. One of these massive burgers makes a meal all on its own.

On a return visit to the waterfront later in the week, I followed up another tip, this one for Jasper’s Fish and Chips. Not only is the food great, there’s a fun collection of souvenier tea towels donated by customers. Now it’s back to the waterfront to walk off those calories.

Going Green at P’lovers in Port Perry

With Earth Day coming up on April 22, a to visit P’lovers The Environmental Store in Port Perry seemed in order. As I walked down Queen Street, sunlight glinting off Lake Scugog at the end of the road, it struck me that this handsome lakefront community with its historic main street is an ideal location for an eco-friendly shop. Originating in Halifax, P’lovers has been a fixture in Port Perry since  2002, quickly becoming popular enough to warrant a move to its current location in a Victorian-era building, complete with original tin ceilings.

The store boasts an excellent selection of books—including familiar titles by big names like Suzuki and Gore, as well many fun and funky titles like How to Eat Like a Tree or the self-explanatory Survival Wisdom & Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Subsist in the Wilderness.

Proprietor Stephen Kreider strives to source locally made products like Nature’s Body Works lime-scented Beach Butter (from Guelph) and Ella’s Botanicals soaps from Toronto. Ella’s Chai Latte soap has such a wonderful cinnamon scent I keep sniffing a bar of it as a write this.

Recycling doesn’t get any more Canadian than the Muskoka chair made of old wooden hockey sticks.

The stroller-pushing young mums were loading up on organic lotions and chlorine-free diapers, biodegradable laundry soap and environmentally friendly cleaners--Citra-solv comes highly recommended--then lingering to chat over organic fair trade coffee in the Queen Beans Coffee House in the same space.

On Earth Day P'lovers will offer special promotions for shoppers, but as Stephen pointed out “really every day is Earth Day.”

In keeping with the Earth Day spirit, I set out to see where else I might find recycled goods in Port Perry and stumbled upon a wonderful antique shop, Caviar and Cobwebs Garage Sale, with lots of antique toys, Victorian furniture and a pink-and-chrome 1950s dinette set. I’m all for recycling, especially when it’s this much fun.

Looking for frogs in Oshawa’s Second Marsh

Never mind what the calendar says, spring arrives with the sound of the first frog. In Oshawa's Second Marsh that means the soft duck-like quacking of the wood frogs. Found in all provinces and territories across Canada, the wood frog is an early riser, emerging from a thin layer of leaf litter after spending much of the winter being frozen solid.  This unique ability to survive freezing gives the wood frog a head start in the short breeding season when it lays its eggs in ephemeral vernal pools that will evaporate in summer.

Since 2008 has been designated the Year of the Frog by the international organization Amphibian AArk, I was determined to do a little frog spotting at Oshawa’s Second Marsh . A few days ago I set out with long-time amateur naturalist Doug Lockrey and President of the Friends of Second Marsh, Hugh Peacock. First we checked out the explored crushed stone paths circling ponds at the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve where a painted turtle was basking in the sun and migrating ducks were dabbling in the marsh. Pussy willows looked very spring-like. But no frogs.

Our search continued in their most likely habitat, the Ghost Road Bush. Where we followed the boardwalk through the flooded woods. Even if you know nothing about frogs, well-illustrated signs help in the task of identification. “Most of the tadpoles you see are black. These are American Toads. Keep a sharp lookout for the wood frog tadpole which is greyer with a sharply pointed tail.”

Doug explained, “frog identification is done primarily in breeding season because they are so elusive.” We walked slowly, listening at every pool, but while the frogs eluded us, we did spot hairy woodpeckers, as well as logs bearing the chiseled holes made by pileated woodpeckers, and remarkably tame chickadees and nuthatches gorging themselves on seeds left alongside the trail. It was a delightful walk, even without the frogs. “Of the 45 species of frogs, toads, snakes, turtles and salamanders found in this province, 15 species have been recorded in this general area,” said Hugh, including green frogs (like the one pictured) and leopard frogs. To know which one you are listening to it’s helpful to hear a recording.

Then on Wednesday Doug sent me the following email: “At 2 p.m. today the low fast quacking of Wood Frogs was heard emanating from just south of the north platform on the west side of Cranberry Marsh. Spring has sprung.”

On April 18 Doug sent me this photo of a wood frog in Pegg's Pond in Pickering.

Brick Oven Baking at Mary G’s

No wonder these guys are having such a good time baking bread. It requires two of the activities men seem to enjoy most: building a fire and talking about gadgets. I’ve arrived at 8 a.m. for the second day of a two-day brick-oven bread-baking workshop at Mary G’s Artisan Breads in Prince Albert. There’s already a fire roaring in the backyard brick oven behind the pre-Confederation house, and the wild yeast starter has fermented into a bubbly mass, ready to leaven our loaves.

 

    Five brick-oven aficionados from Halifax to Edmonton have traveled to this little village south of Port Perry to learn the finer points of baking in brick ovens from Jim Wills, a man of many careers, from race engine builder to academic. He is also an expert bread maker and has already steered this merry band of would-be bakers through the previous day’s dough theory, bulk fermentation, hand kneading and oven firing. There’s even a leftover cinnamon bun to show for their efforts – but not for long. Mmm, cinnamon bun. Now we’re ready to get down to the business of baking bread, lots of bread.

    We mix dough for ancienne baguettes, carefully calculating ingredients on a scale and even measuring the precise temperature of the spring water (40 degrees F) before adding. Wills uses an instant-reading digital thermometer to measure every step of the process, from raw ingredients to baked loaves. Even his wood-fired brick oven has four digital temperature probes.

    Clustered around the table in the 1856 kitchen, we stretch and fold dough, tend to boules raised in reed baskets and learn how to use a well-floured linen cloth to keep the ciabatta in its square shape as it rises. Dressed in black aprons and caps, everyone looks very professional as they delicately load loaves onto long wooden peels, ready to be baked in an oven much hotter than any home appliance.

   With its classical roofline, the brick oven resembles an ancient temple, a fitting finale for our cheese-filled potato breads and seed-covered bagels.

     By lunchtime our olive boules and ancienne baguettes are ready to eat. Served with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, the olive-rich bread is remarkable. The baguette is unlike any I’ve every eaten, with a softer crust and a more complex tasting crumb.

   

Baking continues into the afternoon, ending with trays of bagels pulled from the oven and a round of applause for our efforts.

Discovering Flour Power at Tyrone Mills

Watching Robert Shafer emptying grain into the hopper at Tyrone Mills, you’d hardly know this is 2008. It’s only minutes north of Highway 401 and Bowmanville, but the sleepy hamlet of Tyrone seems a world apart. Here, a water wheel still generates power for the nineteenth century mill that produces lumber, cider and flour.

Earlier this week, I dropped by to find Robert Shafer milling organic red fife wheat, a heritage variety with a strong Ontario history. Amid the groaning gears and whirring belts, we chatted about the 1846 mill where he grinds wheat into wholesome whole-grain flours, using antique millstones.

“Essentially, the process hasn’t changed for hundreds of years,” said Shafer. Grain drops into the eye of the runner stone as it rotates over the stationary bed stone. Caught between the two stones, the grain is ground finer and finer as it works its way to the edge, then falls into a chute.

Where there’s flour, baking is never far away. Tyrone Mills certainly delivers the pastries; cookies, tarts, and pies abound, but the mill’s cider donuts, fried right in the store, are legendary. I came away with two bags of flour, ready to try a little whole-grain baking of my own.

Looking at shelves lined with locally made jams, preserves and dozens of types of organic flour, I couldn’t help but think the place feels like an old-time general store. A ginger cat greeted me out front and coffee was offered while I admired the collection of antique flour bags. Even the cash register was a vintage 1915 model.

Milling continues into June, but stops in the height of summer when Shafer lifts the 2-tonne runner stone off the bed stone to recondition both stones in preparation for autumn’s harvest.

Next week I’ll try baking bread using a brick oven.

The art of Oshawa’s Robert McLaughlin Gallery

After visiting Oshawa’s Robert McLaughlin Gallery for the first time earlier this week, I know I’ll be back. As soon as I saw the sculpture of the beavers in front of the museum, I fell in love with the place. Mary Anne Barkhouse’s trio of bronze beavers posed on a polished slab of Canadian Shield granite suggests a truly Canadian take on the three graces of the ancient world—all done with wit and intelligence.

Built in 1987, the current Arthur Erickson-designed gallery cleverly envelops the 1960s original. Like so much in Oshawa, it owes a great deal to the generosity of the McLaughlin family. Hence the corner on the ground floor devoted Robert McLaughlin, founder of the carriage company that eventually became General Motors. Black and white photos show Robert as a stern-faced Oshawa mayor, but he was also a passionate amateur artist. “As a youth he would take the money he earned making axe handles in Tyrone and walk into Bowmanville to buy art supplies,” said executive director, David Aurandt.

His passion for art spread through the family. Granddaughter Isabel was a credible painter in her own right, an early member of the Canadian Group of Painters (that included such notables as Lawren Harris). She befriended and collected the works of many other Canadian artists, including Louis Archambault whose bronze sculpture stands in the lobby. Paintings by her friends Arthur Lismer, A.Y. Jackson and many other famous names in Canadian art hang in the gallery.

Isabel’s career, both as patron and painter is documented in a delightful exhibit running to May 4. I was struck by the vivacity of her work as seen in All Aboard, painted on her 1948 Yukon trip. But it’s the correspondence with fellow artists that most fascinates. Dozens of hand-painted Christmas cards from fellow artists including A.Y. Jackson and Prudence Heward are evidence of her rich artistic influence.

With a permanent collection of some 7,000 art works, the gallery rotates its displays frequently and mounts special exhibits that tour major Canadian galleries, including the current Razzle Dazzle on view until March 30. This intriguing exhibit links First World War battleship camouflage and modern abstract painting through techniques of optical deception.

This gallery is full of pleasant surprises. Not the least of which is found in a hallway on the lower level. It’s a mural taken from William Kurelek’s kitchen, painted to amuse the artist’s children with comical scenes of cake-eating children and a many frying an egg on the sun.

The gallery’s sun-filled café makes a great place to end your visit.

Coffee and Chocolate hit the sweet spot at Isabella’s

With Easter just around the corner, it’s time for chocolate shopping. All the better if you can do that shopping over a large latte or a chocolate fondue for two at Isabella’s Chocolate Café in downtown Oshawa. An intense cup of espresso with a dark chocolate truffle on the side is such a natural combination I found myself wondering why someone hadn’t thought of it sooner.

Marble-topped bistro tables and vintage chocolate posters channel a European vibe into the smart space on Oshawa’s busy Simcoe Street. One look at the fern leaf pattern in foamy cup of coffee,  and you can tell that proprietor Giacomo Bruno is an art school graduate who’s turned his design skills to making a lovely latte,  sweet treats and a great space to serve them in.

Made with quality Callebaut couverture chocolate, tempered until they gleam, Isabella’s sweets are no ordinary candies. These shiny chocolates beg to be sampled and I was happy to oblige. Popular flavours include the Gianduja filled with roasted hazelnut paste, and a Caramel Machiatto that echoes the flavor of the sweetened coffee. My own favourite: a seductively spicy Mayan chocolate seasoned with cinnamon and cayenne. “People question it at first, but after a sample I had one customer back and buy another 10,” said Giacomo.

With its selection of fair trade brews, freshly made panini and Dufflet pastries, the café is a popular hangout for lunch and coffee breaks. But it takes more than a great sandwich to turn a café into a local fixture. That’s why Giacomo has turned this space into a burgeoning cultural corner. A small stage at the back of the restaurant is the scene of Friday night concerts by local musicians, including Patrick Dorie who works at the coffee counter by day, but performs Beatles and Bob Dylan tunes as well as sings his own compositions in occasional coffee house concerts. Poetry readings on the first Friday of every month have already proved a big hit. When I stopped by, several patrons were admiring a funky collection of posters by a local artist. Bargain sales of used CDs and books support the local library. “Downtown Oshawa is undergoing a renaissance,” said Giacomo.

I left with an assortment of colourful gift bags filled with sweet and spicy chocolates for favourite friends, and plans to return in spring when Isabella’s new line of cocktail-inspired chocolates hits the shelves.