DRESS ME UP, DRESS ME DOWN: 1000 ISLANDS, ONTARIO CANADA

Actually, 1865 islands. Formed from a precambrian rock bridge, Canada claims more of the individual islands.

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 The USA claims more land area (some of the islands are quite large and have schools and businesses for year round residence) and more of the water surface in this part of the Saint Lawrence River exiting Lake Ontario. The First Citizens called it the “Garden of the Great Spirit”. The mob played cat and mouse with the Feds here during Prohibition as the Islands created countless places to hide the booze.

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Many Manhattan celebrities had homes here including Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein and George Bold, the owner of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Bold built a castle for his wife (a Tudor version of the Taj Mahal story) who died without inhabiting it. The castle below  is the smallest of the three structures on the island. We enjoyed a 2.5 hour boat ride to explore both the Canadian and American sides.

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Also, Bold’s personal chef, Oscar, created the salad topping: Thousand Island Dressing. It is made with mayonnaise, chives, paprika, garlic, and salt and pepper. Chili sauce is then swirled across the top to suggest the sunsets here, and then finely chopped dill pickles are sprinkled over the top to suggest the 1000 islands. One of the best versions of this dressing is used as the “Secret Sauce” on In-N-Out hamburgers in California, a secret to their success. You can even order fries, “Animal Style” which means topping the fries with Thousand Island Dressing and freshly fried onions, and raw onions, way better than the Quebecois favorite, Poutine, which tops fries with gravy and cheese curds, and looks like vomit. I am sure reasonable minds can differ on the best way to mess with a french fry.

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About Sally

A Studio Artist and painter trained at Stanford university, Sally has since then graduated from a long career as an Attorney with the Public Defender, and returned to painting. Living in Mexico with her son for a year, they adopted a feral dog, Lety. Sally's son left for college and their dog adopted her new best friend, Steven.

2 thoughts on “DRESS ME UP, DRESS ME DOWN: 1000 ISLANDS, ONTARIO CANADA

  1. jan Grant

    Hi Sal! Your last 2 emails were the first ones that displayed the pictures without any further clicking. I love love love your writing…you missed your calling, sweetie.
    I am pea green. Your adventure is beyond fabulous.
    We are having a cool summer, thank goodness. Going to see the AC boats practice next week. FUN FUN!!!
    xoxoxoxox
    Jan

    Reply
    1. Steven

      Hey Jani-pants! We played tennis today in West Lafayette, Indiana and I thought of you. Thanks for your kind words about the blog. Bummer about the photos not posting. Thanks for the heads up; Techie-Man will check it out. Lety says Hi to you also! I hope you are sailing/racing a lot this summer; it is killing us to miss the Louis Vuitton and the AC matches this summer at home (not to mention it is so much cooler there!). We’ve done some camping out at sports bars to catch bits and pieces of the races. 39 knots…Screaming!!!…that must feel scary hanging up there during a foiled gybe! What a ride! Love, Sal y Steven

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