Saturday, March 31, 2012

Meat Pies and Earth Hour and that Lottery

A Schneider's Meat Pie
Lovely to eat!
Saturday March 31, 4:20 p.m.

Gotta get this off my chest. I really missed meat pies when I was in Japan. Tokyo is a great foodie town, but there are examples of gastronomic delights that are still largely missing from the largest metropolis in the world: good reasonably-priced Greek food, decent hot dogs, and meat pies.

Heck, I was just so happy to have the frozen food variety of meat pies for lunch once a week. I have to say that I do like my Schneider's. Ground beef (or something) in a savory meat sauce wrapped in a buttery, flaky pie shell. I know that you will tell me that there are far better alternatives out there in Toronto for home-cooked meat pies, but I have yet to find them. When I do, I'll head over there like a guided missile, but in the meantime, I'll have Schneider's to tie me over.

The annual Earth Hour is scheduled for later tonight. However, like last year when I was in town as a temporary refugee from the quake, I missed out on it. I had the lights in my room on during the designated 8:30-9:30. I'll have to eschew it again tonight since I've got my Skype student for about 2 hours. Gotta have the computer on.

Man, that was one crazy lottery down Stateside, eh? $640 million big ones. Apparently, three folks down in Maryland have probably secured their lives for good. At this point, I can actually imagine the pot going all the way to $1 billion. Someone can literally go from pauper to billionaire in an instant. That's the American way. Mind you, a lot of that will go away for taxes. But the question begs to be asked: what does one do with over half a billion dollars? I don't think daily Tim Hortons combos for the rest of one's life will simply do. In Japan, there is also lottery fever as well. There is a New Year's Jumbo Lottery which brings out the lineups in an nation in which lineups are a national pastime. The grand prize: $3 million. That's so cute!