Originally Posted by confused_uk

Public transport in NS is pretty non-existent but their version of rush hour is having 3 cars in front of you at a junction, so even though your only real option is to drive it's a pretty smooth journey. Parking in the downtown area is pretty easy too & not at extortionate rates either, there's definitely plus points to living in under populated areas

Originally Posted by dbd33

Oh, no doubt. I went to NS a few times when one of my children was at school there. I liked it with the caveats that:

- work is problematic
- it's a relatively homogenous society and so it's more difficult to get a variery of food products there than in Toronto

Originally Posted by confused_uk

I haven't done much cooking there, what food products does it lack?

Originally Posted by dbd33

Camembert, garam masala, dim sum, gefiltre fish, durains, plantains, bacon ends, okra, Cailler chocolate, the perfect chicken korma.

Not a comprehensive list and I accept there may now be a Turkish restaurant in Meat Cove but, in general, the population lacks diversity compared to Toronto and so the food lacks diversity compared to Toronto.

Originally Posted by dbd33

I commuted to the boystown area of Toronto from Melancthon for a year and a half. Melancthon is the least populated part of southern Ontario and is rural by southern Irish standards. The commute was too much for me but the worst of it was from the bottom of the 427 to Jarvis and then up. If one had a job that wasn't right downtown it would be workable. Most of the people I knew out there drove to town every day.

A poster on this board who has recently moved from NS to Alliston ON reports that the neighbour commutes to Toronto, Alliston is in an area of rolling hills with many horse farms, manicured rural one might call it, Berkshire rather than Shropshire.

If one could find a job in Kitchener/Waterloo/Guelph/Barrie, somewhere like that, then one could fill one's boots with rurality. There's no ocean which is a shame but there's no shortage of rural pursuits:

Sweatpea's Mudbog - Home

Gosh, there are even two local tractor pulls and a ploughing match this coming weekend!

Originally Posted by DandNHill

Would that be me?

Originally Posted by confused_uk

No Camembert???? What kind of backwater cesspit is this place, I shall have to break the news to my husband very gently.

Originally Posted by Novocastrian

Similar to the UK in this respect. The only Camembert you can find in either backwater is pasteurized (although I did once find a Camembert d'Isigny Lait Cru in the St. Lawrence Market and another time in Bruno's, both in or around Toronto).

Unfortunately on each occasion I paid over $17 for the stuff. It costs 3.25 euro here from whence I type, about one kilometre from the Isigny St. Mere factory gates.

Originally Posted by dbd33

I see unpasturised camembert and other unpasturised cheeses at the market fortnightly. I don't look at the prices, I just pile the cheese up at the till and point the staff to my overdraft.

Can one obtain raclet cheese in NS or do the people living in the east fetch it individually?

Originally Posted by DandNHill

Yes you can... In boutique stores though, not regular stores... is it easy to find in ON, haven't tried yet...

Originally Posted by dbd33

Can one obtain raclet cheese in NS or do the people living in the east fetch it individually?

Originally Posted by DandNHill

Yes you can... In boutique stores though, not regular stores...

Originally Posted by dbd33

Easy, yes. Convenient, well, only if you're going to the Yard anyway.

Originally Posted by BristolUK

You're kidding? They don't stock it in Sobeys and Superstore like they do here?

Originally Posted by DandNHill

OK, deal. I will come to the Yard only so you can reveal the whereabouts of raclette cheese...



Bristol, I grew up in France. Raclette was a weekly meal in eastern France so I hunted high and low in NS and only ever found it in Pete's frootique...

Going off to dust off my raclette machine now...yum yum... need some good charcuterie to go with it too! Yay

Originally Posted by dbd33

At the St. Lawrence Market, on the east side of the upper floor, there's a stand called Olympic Cheese (they also have a shop near the 404). They keep both French and Swiss raclet cheeses. There are other, parvenu, cheese stands but I don't go to them. A pound and a half of French raclet is currently about $27.




There are several stands where you can get bundefleisch (or however you spell that) and similar though we have discarded tradition and have sausages and mushrooms.

Originally Posted by DandNHill

$27 for 1 1/2 pounds seems cheap... must check it especially for in a couple of months time when it's cooler!!! Bundnerfleish I think you mean? Looks interesting. I always liked Black Forest ham or jambon de Luxeuil which is what it was called locally where I grew up...