Page 48 - BR June 2024 with duck - converted
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June  2024                                                                          June 2024

                                        we  saved  and  sailed  1  from  Liverpool  to     CAN COOK, WANT TO COOK, WILLING TO
                                        Quebec  City,  where  Jean’s  uncle  met  us.
                                        We  had  seen  an  iceberg  at  close  quarters    GIVE IT A GO?
                                        on  the  way,  at  the  entrance  to  the  St
                                        Lawrence  River  –  a  first  and  not  to  be     As it has every month for the past 10 years, Salt and Pepper cooked and served a
                                                                                                                                    th
                                        repeated experience!                               3-course  lunch  to  50  people  on  Thursday  16   April.  Lunchers  and  helpers  alike
                                                                                           enjoyed a friendly gathering, a good lunch and plenty of chat.
                                        Soon after our arrival, 2 Jean’s aunt took us
                                        to the local tennis club 3 so that we would                                                 Our  cooking  team  is  a  bit  short
                                        start  making  friends.  As  we  knew  no-one                                               handed,  and  would  love  to
                                        other than Jean’s relatives, that was a very                                                welcome anyone who is prepared
                                        good  idea.    We  were  also  job-hunting.                                                 to help out. You don’t need to be
                                        Once  we  had  decided  that  we  were                                                      a Michelin starred chef, or to have
                                        Canada-bound and started to save for the                                                    appeared  on  Master  Chef.  If  you
                                                                                                                                    enjoy home cooking, are prepared
                                        fare, I took a secretarial course, specialising                                             to get involved, and like working in
                                        in medical terminology, as I wanted to work                                                 a  team  please  get  in  touch  and
                                        in some  sort  of  medical  environment. I was                                              see if you might be able to offer us
       lucky to be quickly offered a job working for an Ear, Nose & Throat Surgeon and                                              a hand.
       had  decided  to  apply  to  do  a  Degree  in  English  Literature  at  the  University  of
       Toronto, too.                                                                                                                      Ian Ventham, 007836643210
       Jean and I then found an apartment and our lives became busier, particularly as it
       began to include boyfriends! I visited Ontario’s lake district, called Muskoka, which
       has about 1,600 small lakes. One of my boyfriends had a sea plane and he flew
       me  to  his  family’s  cottage  in  Muskoka  on  several  occasions  which  was  a
       wonderful, new experience! I also visited the many seasonal faces of Niagara Falls,
       Ottawa  and  Montreal  and
       particularly   enjoyed   the
       bilingual aspect of the latter. By
       then,  I  had  started  my  Degree
       as  well  as  doing  evening
       courses   in   journalism   and
       interior  design,  and  had  met
       many members of the medical
       profession. This led to my being
       asked to write the history of the
       Hospital  for  Sick  Children’s
       (HSC)  School  of  Nursing.  4  This
       was  to  accompany  the  first
       research  project  of  its  kind,
       looking  at  the  possibility  of
       moving  nursing  education  from  hospitals  to  educational  institutions.  The  project
       needed  to  be  handled  sensitively  as  several  of  the  HSC’s  Board  Members  had
       children and grandchildren who had graduated in nursing from the hospital.
       While doing my Degree and writing the HSC history, I had a particularly interesting
       experience.  Having  been  asked  to  help  with  research  into  epilepsy,  I  was  then

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