Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

Rime posted:

I hate food derails but it really does boggle me that the rear end-end-south-pacific loving penal colonies maintained a stronger European culinary tradition than Canada did. :wtc:

Why would that surprise you? 85% of our population lives within 50km of the border with a country with 10x the population that not only had a much more diverse colonialization history than the Antipodes, but also has ten times our population and split from England a hundred years earlier than the other colonies.

Australia and New Zealand are really completely isolated from any other culture that they respected enough to steal bits of culture from. And I don't know about NZ, but for Australia, the real defining moment when they truly became "a country" and not "part of England" from a cultural point of view was 1915, just over a hundred years ago. That's really not a long time to completely lose the UK culture, especially when they're not directly exposed to any others that they haven't tried to commit genocide against.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

McGavin
Sep 18, 2012

Also, who wants English culinary traditions? See all these wonderful meats and vegetables we've got? Now let's BOIL THE poo poo OUT OF THEM!

Rime
Nov 2, 2011

by Games Forum

HookShot posted:

Why would that surprise you? 85% of our population lives within 50km of the border with a country with 10x the population that not only had a much more diverse colonialization history than the Antipodes, but also has ten times our population and split from England a hundred years earlier than the other colonies.

Australia and New Zealand are really completely isolated from any other culture that they respected enough to steal bits of culture from. And I don't know about NZ, but for Australia, the real defining moment when they truly became "a country" and not "part of England" from a cultural point of view was 1915, just over a hundred years ago. That's really not a long time to completely lose the UK culture, especially when they're not directly exposed to any others that they haven't tried to commit genocide against.

But none of this is a particularly good reason for why Canadian food devolved into barely-edible junk & convenience recipes, rather than holding a strong base and diversifying, while the penal colonies filled with criminals and largely isolated from the outside world chugged along and blew right past us. :confused:

Baronjutter
Dec 31, 2007

"Tiny Trains"

The isolation let them keep their traditions and develop their own. Canada on the other hand is fully in the US's sphere of influence and we're just going to follow their trends in every respect.

mashed
Jul 27, 2004

Rime posted:

But none of this is a particularly good reason for why Canadian food devolved into barely-edible junk & convenience recipes, rather than holding a strong base and diversifying, while the penal colonies filled with criminals and largely isolated from the outside world chugged along and blew right past us. :confused:

New Zealand was not a penal colony :colbert: It was effectively a mid 1800s property development.

HookShot posted:

Australia and New Zealand are really completely isolated from any other culture that they respected enough to steal bits of culture from. And I don't know about NZ, but for Australia, the real defining moment when they truly became "a country" and not "part of England" from a cultural point of view was 1915, just over a hundred years ago. That's really not a long time to completely lose the UK culture, especially when they're not directly exposed to any others that they haven't tried to commit genocide against.

NZ is pretty much the same there. Its why we have Anzac day vs remembrance day etc. tldr UK sent Anzacs to get hosed up on the cliffs of Gallipoli leading to massive casualties and the idea that maybe blindly following what daddy UK says is not the best idea.

Rime
Nov 2, 2011

by Games Forum

mashed_penguin posted:

New Zealand was not a penal colony :colbert: It was effectively a mid 1800s property development.


NZ is pretty much the same there. Its why we have Anzac day vs remembrance day etc. tldr UK sent Anzacs to get hosed up on the cliffs of Gallipoli leading to massive casualties and the idea that maybe blindly following what daddy UK says is not the best idea.

Oh poo poo, you're right. I thought Van Diemans Land was NZ for some reason. Booooooo on me.

NZAmoeba
Feb 14, 2005

It turns out it's MAN!
Hair Elf

Rime posted:

But none of this is a particularly good reason for why Canadian food devolved into barely-edible junk & convenience recipes, rather than holding a strong base and diversifying, while the penal colonies filled with criminals and largely isolated from the outside world chugged along and blew right past us. :confused:

Our quality food tradition is actually quite new. My parents have an anecdote about arriving in the 70s to NZ, and the supermarket having an entire aisle dedicated to the sale of Watties baked beans. Just a single brand.

What we had been doing well for a while was farming. Good conditions of plenty of rain and sun, plus fertile soil, meant our primary produce was ace, we just didn't know what to do with it.

Enter loosening immigration rules in the 80s and 90s. These foreigners with their strong culinary heritage saw what we were growing here, and how we were wasting it, and decided that they needed to set up restaurants immediately. There's no such thing as NZ cuisine, but every restaurant, including ethnic ones, will boast of their locally grown ingredients.

Then have a bunch of kiwis grow up in this environment and become food producers/chefs and it just snowballs from there.

But all that fancy milk people were talking about? That only started less than 5 years ago, when Lewis Road creamery (who no one had heard of) launched their chocolate milk with Whittaker's (a local chocolate brand we love) and poo poo started riots in supermarkets because they couldn't keep up with the initial demand. It was in the news a lot, because lol New Zealand.

vyelkin
Jan 2, 2011

McGavin posted:

Also, who wants English culinary traditions? See all these wonderful meats and vegetables we've got? Now let's BOIL THE poo poo OUT OF THEM!

Conquer the world to get spices, then decide you don't like any of the spices anyway.

Furnaceface
Oct 21, 2004




vyelkin posted:

Conquer the world to get spices, then decide you don't like any of the spices anyway.

Cold on a Cob
Feb 6, 2006

i've seen so much, i'm going blind
and i'm brain dead virtually

College Slice

mashed_penguin posted:

New Zealand was not a penal colony :colbert: It was effectively a mid 1800s property development.


NZ is pretty much the same there. Its why we have Anzac day vs remembrance day etc. tldr UK sent Anzacs to get hosed up on the cliffs of Gallipoli leading to massive casualties and the idea that maybe blindly following what daddy UK says is not the best idea.

I saw the Gallipoli exhibition in Te Papa when I visited in January and it was amazing.

ocrumsprug
Sep 23, 2010

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

NZAmoeba posted:

But all that fancy milk people were talking about? That only started less than 5 years ago, when Lewis Road creamery (who no one had heard of) launched their chocolate milk with Whittaker's (a local chocolate brand we love) and poo poo started riots in supermarkets because they couldn't keep up with the initial demand. It was in the news a lot, because lol New Zealand.

What are you trying to do? Rime is trying to shame us with our culinary culture wrt Australia and NZ of all loving places, and here you are contradicting him about the depths of that culture. Boo on you sir.

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

NZAmoeba posted:

But all that fancy milk people were talking about? That only started less than 5 years ago, when Lewis Road creamery (who no one had heard of) launched their chocolate milk with Whittaker's (a local chocolate brand we love) and poo poo started riots in supermarkets because they couldn't keep up with the initial demand. It was in the news a lot, because lol New Zealand.

Hahah yeah, I remember that. I don't think I was IN NZ at the time but I'd recently come back from there I think and I really, really needed some of it. I tasted some this time, it was pretty good but the Puhoi Caramel/White Choc is better. And yeah, that's good to know that Galippoli is basically the same for NZers as it is for Australia.

Also Canada does have its own culinary traditions and good food, Rime I think you're strongly over-exaggerating in your own mind what food is like in New Zealand because it's basically exactly the same as here, but with more of an English focus. The main difference is Canada has a lot more chain brands, whereas most cafes in NZ will be independent and they'll all be good.

mojo1701a
Oct 9, 2008

Oh, yeah. Loud and clear. Emphasis on LOUD!
~ David Lee Roth

HookShot posted:

The main difference is Canada has a lot more chain brands, whereas most cafes in NZ will be independent and they'll all be good.

I have to wonder whether or not the over-reliance on chains is due to US influence. Even then, I'm starting to suspect our over-reliance on chains has dulled the Canadian palate so much that most Canadians are lazy and unimaginative.

Back when I was unemployed, I'd watch "You Gotta Eat Here," and half the customers interviewed would say the exact same thing about all the (usually non-"ethnic") restaurants.

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

mojo1701a posted:

I have to wonder whether or not the over-reliance on chains is due to US influence. Even then, I'm starting to suspect our over-reliance on chains has dulled the Canadian palate so much that most Canadians are lazy and unimaginative.

Back when I was unemployed, I'd watch "You Gotta Eat Here," and half the customers interviewed would say the exact same thing about all the (usually non-"ethnic") restaurants.
Yeah, I think it's because of America. All our biggest chains are really just American ones that have jumped the border, apart from like, Tim's and White Spot and Boston Pizza.

Though lovely chain restaurants are one of the things millenials are "killing" so hopefully in 15 years they'll all be gone.

James Baud
May 24, 2015

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

HookShot posted:

Yeah, I think it's because of America. All our biggest chains are really just American ones that have jumped the border, apart from like, Tim's and White Spot and Boston Pizza.

Though lovely chain restaurants are one of the things millenials are "killing" so hopefully in 15 years they'll all be gone.

You'd better believe that between economies of scale, semi-solid management processes, sheer marketing spend, and high commercial rents making starting independents entirely unfeasible because so few people can absorb the losses at start-up, the exact opposite will happen.

Best case you end up with 20 totally "independent", unique, and hipster approved restaurants owned by the same person/group. (Which is exactly what you see with the non-chain places in downtown Vancouver and Seattle, for example)

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

HookShot posted:

Yeah, I think it's because of America. All our biggest chains are really just American ones that have jumped the border, apart from like, Tim's and White Spot and Boston Pizza.

Though lovely chain restaurants are one of the things millenials are "killing" so hopefully in 15 years they'll all be gone.

How could you forget the best of all Canadian chain restaurants: The Keg???

mojo1701a
Oct 9, 2008

Oh, yeah. Loud and clear. Emphasis on LOUD!
~ David Lee Roth

PT6A posted:

How could you forget the best of all Canadian chain restaurants: The Keg???

The Keg is not a restaurant. It is a way of life.

DariusLikewise
Oct 4, 2008

You wore that on Halloween?
The Keg is the fanciest restaurant in my city :negative:

Fuzzy Mammal
Aug 15, 2001

Lipstick Apathy

James Baud posted:

You'd better believe that between economies of scale, semi-solid management processes, sheer marketing spend, and high commercial rents making starting independents entirely unfeasible because so few people can absorb the losses at start-up, the exact opposite will happen.

Best case you end up with 20 totally "independent", unique, and hipster approved restaurants owned by the same person/group. (Which is exactly what you see with the non-chain places in downtown Vancouver and Seattle, for example)

I like all the Renee Erickson places :shobon:

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

mojo1701a posted:

The Keg is not a restaurant. It is a way of life.

This is the best post if you read it in the Central Scrutinizer voice. The idea of the Keg being the only fancy restaurant available fits perfectly into the dystopian future imagined on Joe's Garage.

dev286
Nov 30, 2006

Let it be all the best.
Even if it is an independent restaurant their food all comes off the back of a Sysco truck anyway. Have you ever been to a small town restaurant? It's like paint by numbers for food.
It's amazing that non-fancy local places in the middle of vegetable farming areas will still use pre sliced tomatoes and poo poo from the foodservice catalog.
In Ontario at least...

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005
I legitimately assumed The Keg was an American brand because of, well, literally everything about it :negative:

The Butcher
Apr 20, 2005

Well, at least we tried.
Nap Ghost

Ze Glob posted:

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/re...obeandmail.com&

Vancouver’s push for density presents opportunities for small-time investors


Vancouver's push for more housing could be a potentially big profit maker for small-time hobby investors.

An east-side dad who purchased a large property says that after years of arguing for a far denser development, he's got no choice but to build a luxury duplex.

Jason Del Vicario had wanted to build five two-bedroom units on his single-family lot in the Cedar Cottage neighbourhood, where he lives, at 3282 Dumfries St.

But the conditional zoning only allows for a 6,800-square-foot duplex on the property, which is 48 feet wide and 196 feet deep.


Mr. Del Vicario guesses that he will be able to sell the half-duplex for about $2-million, and he will live in the other half with his family.

The 41-year-old portfolio manager says he's frustrated that he can only maximize the potential of his oversized lot by building luxury duplexes at 3,400 square feet each. He argues that it contradicts city policies for more density in central areas, such as the plan to rezone nearby the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood for more multifamily housing.

If he had his druthers, he'd build five units at 1,200 square feet each and sell them for about $1.2-million. In that case, however, he would not live in one of the units because it would be too small for his three children.

"It's a very unique proposition, right? Because find me a 3,000-plus-square-foot duplex with a view in East Van. It doesn't exist. And [the duplex] will be 15 feet higher than this, so the view will be awesome," Mr. Del Vicario says.

"Let me be clear: We bought the house and realized we could take advantage of the development potential, and it snowballed," he adds. "But I never sat down and said, 'How can I make more money on the side?'"

His property is in a neighbourhood with zoning that allows the contruction of duplex or multifamily homes, but only under certain circumstances. Mr. Del Vicario says he's been told his property is 450 square feet too small for multifamily housing. He's working on a design for a duplex and he'll submit a proposal to the city.

He paid a little more than $1-million for the property four years ago, which was a good deal at a time when the average 33-foot east-side lot was selling for around $900,000. He estimates construction costs at $300 a square foot, which brings total costs to around $3-million. He figures his own half-duplex will be worth $2.5-million. And he acknowledges that he will be creating housing that is in no way affordable to the average Vancouverite.


"It makes no sense," he says. "[The city] flat-out won't support [multi], even though it makes zero sense to build a 6,800-square-foot duplex."

He previously purchased and lived in another house on the east side of the city and maximized its value by adding a coach house.

"I was looking at my wife and saying, 'There's $600,000 tax-free lying in our backyard, where we play bocce ball or whatever. So we ran the numbers and it was obvious."

He is also a hobby property investor with a group of partners. They've purchased two Vancouver properties so far. They've acquired development and building permits to build a multifamily structure on a Kitsilano lot now occupied by a single-family home. In that case, they found the zoning allowed renovation for a multifamily home if the character of the house was retained. They purchased the site for $2-million and have accepted an offer of $4.1-million, although the deal has not yet closed. And they've applied to rezone a large single-family lot on Southeast Marine Drive to 18 rental units, under the city's interim rezoning policy for affordable housing.

They paid $1.7-million and Mr. Del Vicario estimates it will be worth $3.5-million to $4-million if approved for rental. He says that price would still allow a profit margin for the builder. The group doesn't take on construction.

Mr. Del Vicario spends about an hour a week searching the Multiple Listing Service for potential investments. He says they are flipping the sites, but not in the way that others merely purchase properties in Vancouver and flip them without any improvements.

"We are changing the use of the site and then flipping it. But we are buying with a view to increase the value through changing the use of the property."

If he were to practise property investment full time, he says he'd buy in Toronto, where prices have dipped, in part, he says, because of the new tax on foreign buyers. He says that market will rebound the way the Vancouver market did six months after its foreign-buyers tax was introduced.

Although prices look as if they've maxed out in Vancouver, Mr. Del Vicario says the push for densification opens up the door to tremendous potential

"As far as I'm concerned, that's the only place left to make money in Vancouver real estate," Mr. Del Vicario says. "If you think about it, most of the people in our group, we own our own homes. So if Vancouver real estate keeps going up, we do well.

"I analyze asset prices and manage people's money and when people say, 'Vancouver is in a bubble' or 'this can't continue,' think about it … If the single-family house with a backyard is going the way of the dodo bird in Vancouver, then places are cheap here – which is a complete shift in thought," he adds.

When the city rezones areas of single-family houses to multifamily, "it will double the value of everything," Mr. Del Vicario says.


Realtor Matt Scalena says chasing after profit to be made from higher-density housing is a hobby for many rookie investor types. However, most are just trying to predict an area that will undergo rezoning for more density. They don't usually apply for a rezoning, because that takes a sophisticated level of understanding about how the city works, and what's allowed.

"The people that we're working with generally are seeing that the city has moved from talking about preservation and heritage, to talking about density and affordability – people are seeing opportunities there, around the main arteries, and those are the regular Joe types," Mr. Scalena says.

"They are people with some money who are very interested in real estate but don't do it full time, and have a little bit of capital they can throw around. They are looking at the community plans, predicting where things are going."

In other words, rezonings are the next big money-maker. But it only works if the investor purchases before the city blanket-zones areas for higher density, Mr. Del Vicario says. Once that happens, the gains are lost.

Mr. Del Vicario says higher density is needed to solve the affordability crisis. He says the "not in my backyard" people who've owned single-family homes for decades need to step aside.

"My parents' generation needs to, like, get lost. The city needs to rip the Band-Aid off."

"The other problem in this city is we build way too much housing that nobody needs," he says. "All those condos downtown are useless, the bachelors and one-bedroom apartments – that stuff is rife for speculation. They are basically a commodity, like gold or oil. So, there is separate housing for residents and housing for investors. That's a big problem."


It will be interesting if this is where a more effective push to rezone Vancouver's endless seas of SFH ends up coming from.

Everybody is a NIMBY when you can sit in place in your detached house in a quiet hood while the value appreciates 6 figures each year... But if the market actually plateaus, and the only way to squeeze more value is to rezone for density, maybe that's not such a crazy idea after all. :allears:

The Butcher
Apr 20, 2005

Well, at least we tried.
Nap Ghost
And a delicious xpost from the r/relationships thread:

quote:

I am fencing in my property. New neighbors are upset because they feel it is in eye sore.

I have just over an acre of land in a residential area. I am in the process of having a fence put up around the entire property. It is being installed by a licensed contractor, we have the proper permits for the work being done, and the plans have already been inspected by the city to confirm it fits code with respect to distance from property line and so on.

The plans for the fence were made over a year ago (they were the last stage in a series of improvements to the property) at which time the homes on both sides of me were vacant. I had spoken to the owners of both properties as a courtesy FYI in case there were any issues or concerns to address.

Unknown to me, both properties went up for sale and were sold to families who have moved in within the past month. I introduced myself at the time they moved in and talked to them about the fact that a lot of work is being done on my property - that it won't be at any odd hours and the date around which it will be finished.

As soon as they saw the fence going up both new property owners were upset. My lot is very large and their lots are substantially smaller, but without a fence the spacing of the houses could give the impression that we all have nicely sized lots (instead of me having a very large one and them having small ones). They both believe that my fence will make it obvious that their lots are small, and make them look even smaller than they are because their lots will be compared to a much larger lot.

After several weeks of discussion they are now threatening to get together and sue me for reduced property values for each of their homes, and the fact that in general they apparently believe my fence is an "eyesore."

I am wondering what the likelihood is that this will turn into anything (i.e. a problem for me and my fence).

I didn't realize property emasculation was a thing, but there you go.

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

dev286 posted:

Even if it is an independent restaurant their food all comes off the back of a Sysco truck anyway. Have you ever been to a small town restaurant? It's like paint by numbers for food.
It's amazing that non-fancy local places in the middle of vegetable farming areas will still use pre sliced tomatoes and poo poo from the foodservice catalog.
In Ontario at least...

Saying their food all comes from Sysco or GFS is like saying "so-and-so's food all comes from the supermarket!"

I mean, it's true you could find farmer's markets, independent butchers, etc. to source everything without going to a supermarket or a foodservice provider, but honestly: what would be the point for most things?

If it's all pre-prepared poo poo, that's a different matter than "it came in a Sysco truck."

Also, all commercial food preparation is essentially paint-by-numbers. That's how good restaurants make high-quality dishes and maintain consistent levels of quality. The quality of a chef that makes them different from a cook is the ability to lead a team of people to execute a full meal service properly, and to make the paint-by-numbers template in the first place.

Throatwarbler
Nov 17, 2008

by vyelkin
We didn't have the money to eat out much when I was growing up so a visit to The Keg is like Christmas to me. Must be some real fancy places you guys are going to if it's so terrible by comparison. :unsmith:

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

PT6A posted:

If it's all pre-prepared poo poo, that's a different matter than "it came in a Sysco truck."

In Canada at least Sysco doesn't seem to sell much in the way of fresh ingredients.

https://www.sysco.ca/canada/main.cfm?id=2436

Professor Shark
May 22, 2012

The Butcher posted:

And a delicious xpost from the r/relationships thread:


I didn't realize property emasculation was a thing, but there you go.

How likely is it that their threat would work?

Jordan7hm
Feb 17, 2011




Lipstick Apathy

Professor Shark posted:

How likely is it that their threat would work?

slash how likely can that person win a counter-suit with damages

The Butcher
Apr 20, 2005

Well, at least we tried.
Nap Ghost

Professor Shark posted:

How likely is it that their threat would work?

IANAL but I can't imagine that could possibly be a thing. If the city has cleared you on it, and you don't have an HOA saying else wise, putting up a fence is a pretty normal and expected thing to be allowed to do to your property.

Besides that the previous owners knew, so it would have been up to them to disclose it to the buyers. Go bug them about it you feel you were misled about what you were buying.

TerminalSaint
Apr 21, 2007


Where must we go...

we who wander this Wasteland in search of our better selves?

HookShot posted:

I legitimately assumed The Keg was an American brand because of, well, literally everything about it :negative:

It's so cute how Canadians continue to believe they're somehow better than Americans. :allears:

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

TerminalSaint posted:

It's so cute how Canadians continue to believe they're somehow better than Americans. :allears:

I'm sorry I can't hear you over our single-payer healthcare and the lack of people being shot to death right now.

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

We've two people shot to death (and others shot but survived) in Toronto in the last week, alas.

Throatwarbler
Nov 17, 2008

by vyelkin
Is Drake from Toronto? He makes working ad the SDM there sound pretty tough.

I would blow Dane Cook
Dec 26, 2008
How popular is Godspeed You! Black emperor in Canada?

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

Subjunctive posted:

We've two people shot to death (and others shot but survived) in Toronto in the last week, alas.

At least the ones who survived won't be bankrupted while recovering :v:

Rime
Nov 2, 2011

by Games Forum

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

How popular is Godspeed You! Black emperor in Canada?

They are our most precious national music treasure. :colbert:

Ceciltron
Jan 11, 2007

Text BEEP to 43527 for the dancing robot!
Pillbug

Rime posted:

They are our most precious national music treasure. :colbert:

And as a result, are almost unknown outside of college campuses.

PittTheElder
Feb 13, 2012

:geno: Yes, it's like a lava lamp.

Professor Shark posted:

How likely is it that their threat would work?

They'd probably be able to force the fence guy to waste a lot of time and money, but ultimately no chance, assuming the fence complies with local land use bylaws. If he says he talked to the city, then odds are it does. I have no idea what Vancouver's bylaws are, but it's usually just "don't build a 20 foot high fence".

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Evis
Feb 28, 2007
Flying Spaghetti Monster

The fence laws are fairly straightforward in Vancouver. I think it's roughly four feet high for anything from the house to the street, six feet once you hit the setback. There are many houses around that don't comply.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply