Tuesday Night Jammin’
Each Tuesday it sounds different: harmonicas mix with guitars and voices echo into the dark night on Brock Street. This is sound of Open Mic at Col. McGrady’s Pub & Grill each More »
Easy Slow Cooker Lasagna
Slow cookers are enjoying a resurgence, and my family takes advantage of ours almost weekly. This truly is an easy and versatile recipe that can be adapted to your family’s tastes. It More »
Locavesting: Be Part of a Revolution
If you’ve been to the soccer fields on Ball Road on a hot summer night, sat at our arena at 6 a.m. watching a hockey game, enjoyed a local play or waved More »
Keep Close: March Break Staycation Ideas
If a trip away to the sunny south is not in the cards for your family this year, don’t despair! There are plenty of things to do around town to keep everyone More »
Random Acts of Kindness at Uxbridge Public School
“Filling buckets” is the new term at Uxbridge Public School (UPS). Coined from the children’s book How Full Is Your Bucket by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer, it means when you do More »
Tuesday Night Jammin’
Each Tuesday it sounds different: harmonicas mix with guitars and voices echo into the dark night on Brock Street.
This is sound of Open Mic at Col. McGrady’s Pub & Grill each Tuesday from 8:30 p.m. – midnight. It’s a fun, welcoming and open environment for musicians of all skill levels, says organizer and host Tania “Joy” Senior.
“We have a supportive crowd as well as spectators,” she says. “We love having that night to hang out, socialize, grow, work on material – covers and original songs.
“It’s a great forum to get comfort in front of an audience.”
The crowd will often sing along, and other musicians will join solo artists, Senior adds. This sense of community is the reason for the night’s growing popularity.
“It feels very safe,” she says. “It’s not very intimidating, and we’re all very supportive of the different skill levels. People don’t feel like they have to sing a certain type of song or at a certain level to perform.”
The musicians have developed a Cheers-like friendship the past six months the nights have been on. Interested performers can visit on Tuesdays, and search Facebook for Col. McGrady’s for more info.
Easy Slow Cooker Lasagna
Slow cookers are enjoying a resurgence, and my family takes advantage of ours
almost weekly. This truly is an easy and versatile recipe that can be adapted to your
family’s tastes. It makes a ton of leftovers, feeding approximately 6-10 hungry tummies. Note that slow cookers vary by volume and shape, so watch your meal to ensure even cooking and timing for readiness. This version is for a large, 7 L slow cooker.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs of lean ground meat, cooked and drained
- 1 package of oven ready lasagna noodles – whole grain, regular, gluten free etc.
- 1 container of ricotta or cottage cheese
- 2 c finely chopped baby spinach
- 1 500g brick of mozzarella or your favourite cheese, grated
- 2 jars of your favourite tomato sauce, or 5-6 c of homemade sauce
Directions
Combine ground meat and sauce in a separate bowl/pot. Mix well. At this time you may add your favourite cleaned and chopped vegetables to your sauce mixture.
Mix chopped spinach into ricotta/cottage cheese.
Using approximately 1-2 cups of sauce mixture, evenly coat the bottom of the slow cooker.
Measure and break the uncooked noodles to the size of crock pot, and layer across evenly. Coat the noodles with another layer of sauce, then mozzarella cheese, then noodles. Layer the ricotta/cottage/spinach cheese mixture atop the noodles, then add a layer of noodles, then sauce, then cheese, then noodles etc.
Continue until you have reached the desired portion size of your slow cooker, or run out of ingredients.
Cook the lasagna for 6-8 hours on a low, or 2-4 hours on high. For the first time cooking, check the doneness every half hour or so nearing the end of cooking to determine when cooked.
“Most times this recipe allows for extra sauce, which we freeze in a convenient freezer bag and enjoy
spaghetti or a second batch of lasagna at another meal. Serve with a fresh salad, garlic bread and top your piece with Parmesan cheese and fresh pepper.”
Stephanie Mulhull
The motivating factor driving Stephanie Mulhall’s lifestyle can be summarized in one word: kindness. And it is a remarkable act of kindness that surfaced in Uxbridge late November during the disappearance of a young local man.
Mulhall recalls reading a comment by the missing man’s brother who was upset over the lack of searching for his brother. It was this cry for help that spurred Mulhall into action by organizing a search party using social media to muster close to 1,000 people to assist in the search.
“Something just snapped in me to do something. I had to give (the family) hope,” she says.
This act of kindness contributed in a happy ending with the return of the young man following three anxious days where the community held its collective breath.
But her random act of kindness did not stop there. Mulhall is now on the quest of spreading the kindness concept to everyone. Inspired by a website/blog that encourages “guerilla goodness,” Mulhall created a Facebook page entitled Kindness Changes Everything where people can post inspirational messages and examples of real-life random acts of kindness.
“My dream is to start a movement in a bigger way and to get the message out there that kindness changes everything,” she says with a smile.
She continues to forge ahead in a Don Quixote-like manner leaving messages of love and kindness on sticky notes in public places. The distribution of hugs on Valentine’s Day was another gesture she hopes can change attitudes.
Mulhull looks forward to completing her Bachelor of Social Work degree this April with an interest in suicide prevention and having aspirations.
“People don’t think one person can make a difference. It’s never going to be a perfect world, but it’ll be ten times better when you do something good. It’s all about action,” she says.
“Things won’t get better on their own.”
Locavesting: Be Part of a Revolution
If you’ve been to the soccer fields on Ball Road on a hot summer night, sat at our arena at 6 a.m. watching a hockey game, enjoyed a local play or waved at floats during the Santa Claus parade, you have experienced it.
You have felt the benefits of supporting the local economy. As kids run across the soccer field with Lawson Home Improvements Inc. emblazed on their uniform back or Rutledge Jewellers donates a diamond to the Uxbridge Half Marathon – these acts are part of a revolution.
In the new book Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit from It, Amy Cortese asks us to rethink the way we invest, so that we support the small businesses that create jobs and healthy, resilient communities. Her focus and history is American, but her ideas can easily apply north of the border. Small businesses are mighty in Canada, as they contribute slightly more than 30 percent to Canada’s GDP, says Industry Canada.
Cortese believes that the financial and political system is stacked against small businesses as main streets and downtowns are slowly dying. But she then gives examples of revitalization and rejuvenation, outlining the grassroots revolution of citizens banding together to save small business. Examples include nine police officers in Michigan saving a 111-year-old bakery and helping revive their downtown to the grassroots organization Slow Money that mobilized citizens to create new funding models of financing for local farmers
Texas’ Black Star brewery is a shining example of a co-op where more than 2,000 people paid out $100 to be a lifetime member of the brew pub, raising the $600,000 needed to open this community-minded place inspired by neighbouhood-owned cafes in Belguim.
“A co-op is what ‘working together’ looks like grown up,” Cortese says. The idea that co-ops are just for foods stuffs is wrong, as more that 800 million people worldwide are a partner of co-ops that are in sectors such as energy and housing.
Uxbridge is lucky. We have a very engaged business community that is very involved in the civic life of our town. Whether it’s being a member of a local service group, donating to causes like the Splash Pad or Skate Park, sitting on the numerous boards, supporting your children’s sports activities, employing local people at a fair wage and so much more – our businesses do this.
Next time you drive out of town to purchase something that could be bought right here, remember that studies have shown every $1 spent at a locally-owned enterprise generates three times more in the local economy.
Whether you are a small business owner, interested in crowd funding, co-ops, finances or politics, Locavesting is a well laid out, researched and written book that shows us once again the importance of supporting local.
Keep Close: March Break Staycation Ideas
If a trip away to the sunny south is not in the cards for your family this year, don’t despair! There are plenty of things to do around town to keep everyone happy and busy over the March Break. Here are some ideas for a fun staycation March 12-16, 2012:
Go for a hike: Uxbridge is the Trail Capital of Canada, so be sure to get out on the trails and experience our great outdoors. Trail maps can be downloaded at town.uxbridge.on.ca/trail_maps or picked up at the municipal offices at 51 Toronto St. S.
Skating – The Uxbridge arena (291 Brock St. W.) has public skating 12-1 pm during March Break. If it’s cold enough, you can also skate or play hockey on Elgin Pond or at the outdoor ice rink in Goodwood
Day Camp – The Township of Uxbridge is running a ton of camps for all ages, including sports, tour and swimming. Call Uxpool for more info: 905 852 7831
Movies – Plan a movie night at home, complete with dimmed lights, popcorn and treats. Getting the whole family into their
jammies is fun, too
Swimming – There will be public swimming at Uxpool from 1-3pm Monday-Sunday, and 7-8:30 pm Monday-Thursday
Visit the library – Let the kids browse for a while, and check out
some books and movies. The library is also offering a special Alligator Pie program on Wednesday for children in JK & SK and Babysitter’s Training on Thursday, for kids in grades 5-9
Bowling – Kids always love the glow-in-the-dark and bumper bowling at Uxbridge Bowl (uxbridgebowl.com )
Maple Syrup Festival – Siloam Orchards is open daily from March 12-18. Bruce’s Mill in Stouffville and Purple Woods Conservation Centre in north Oshawa are also holding events during the week
Learn about our
environment – On Tuesday, kids 10 and up can attend The Brook Never Sleeps eco-workshop, offered through the Uxbridge Youth Centre (uxbridgeyouthcentre.com)
Crafts – Let everyone explore their inner artist with creative crafting. Fun activities include painting, jewellery making, scrapbooking, or making collages. Googling kids crafts will bring up a ton of ideas
Fun at Home – Schedule a few fun activities at home. Let the kids invite some friends over or make it a family event. Try Wii Olympics, a board game tournament, dance party, pizza making or ice cream sundae party
Day Trip to Toronto – visit the Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Science Centre, CN Tower, Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto Zoo or the Eaton Centre