Susan is (getting) famous!

My friend Susan sells hot sauces at farmer's markets around Edmonton. I'm planning on stocking up on some to bring back when I visit this summer because they sound wonderful. Yesterday she was written up in the Edmonton Journal - check it out:
















Sauce it up with tang, zip or heat
Condiment as common as ketchup on some tables

Judy Schultz, Journal Bistro Writer
Published: Wednesday, June 28, 2006

EDMONTON - THE VENDOR: Susan Chin

THE PRODUCT: Molly's Hot Sauce. These are condiments with Southeast Asian flare. In order to accommodate varying tastes for spices, condiment maker Susan Chin divides her products into three handy categories: mild, medium (the original strength) and hot.

She offers a long roster of tasty sauces including Molly's Original Hot Sauce, with a milder version for beginners. "It's a nice balance between sweet, tangy and hot."

Then there's Somewhat Spicy Hot Sauce (Medium) which starts out tangy, followed by some heat. Super Spicy Hot Sauce (Hot) has a tangy top note and lingering heat.

Molly's Sugar-Free Hot Sauce features Hot Sauce for the Brave (XHot), "Very tangy, very spicy," says Susan.

Molly's Ginger-Free Hot Sauce offers both the Somewhat Spicy Hot and the Super Spicy Hot versions. The Sambal Hot Sauce also comes in three heat levels -- chili pepper paste, which people love on green onion cake; chili pepper and garlic; and the deluxe, a combination of chili pepper paste and all the ingredients that are in Molly's Hot Sauce.

Finally there's Susan's newest creation, a spring roll sauce.

"The ginger-free, sugarfree and spring-roll sauces were added to the product line based on feedback from customers," says Chin. "Some people are not fond of the taste of ginger. For those who are diabetic or enjoy their hot sauces without any sugar, these are perfect."

THE MARKET: The sauces are available in five farmers markets: Festival Place Market, Sherwood Park, Wednesday, 5 p.m.; Millwoods, at 7207 -- 28th Ave., Thursday at 5 p.m.; City Center, 102nd Ave. and 104th St., Saturdays, 9 a.m.; St. Albert, corner of St. Anne's and St. Thomas, Saturdays, 10 a.m.; Callingwood market, 6655 178th St., Sunday.

THE BACKSTORY: "In my family, we've always used the sauce as a regular condiment at the supper table," she says, pointing out that hot sauce -- and we do mean HOT -- is as ubituitous on Southeast Asian tables as ketchup is on Canadian tables.

"We lived in Brunei, and the sauces were my mom's (Molly Chin's) creation," says Susan Chin. "I started eating them at the age of three. Mom is a professional cook, so she just made them up," says Susan, whose mother now cooks at Julie's in the Edmonton Inn. She's been there for several years, but is looking forward to retirement, says Susan.

Meanwhile, the dark, deep, spicy tones of the Chin family hot sauces continue to evolve.

"Our customers have come up with amazing uses for the sauce," she says. The sugar-free sauce has been used as a salad dressing (just mix with a little olive oil), and added to a multi-layered dip for nachos.

"One customer used the original hot sauce as a baste for chicken and shrimp skewers for the barbecue. Others have used the sambal sauces mixed with a sweet sauce (hoisin or maple syrup ...) as a rub for baked salmon."

Book of the Week

Well, the ALA conference in New Orleans is over, and I and my 67 pounds of books (not including the ones I mailed back to myself) have finally made it home. Due to really bad weather all along the east coast yesterday, our flight from Chcago to Philadelphia was delayed from 4:20 to 6:30 and then we sat on the runway for an hour and a half. Good thing I had a bag full of nifty advanced reading copies of upcoming books!

My new favourite upcoming book is by Ken Jennings, he of the record-breaking Jeopardy run a couple of years back. This is part memoir, part trivia history, all very entertaining. Jennings has a natural way with words and can occasionally be quite hilarious. I kept giggling to myself while reading it, earning strange looks from Jen and Liz.



This is the second year in a row that I've lucked out on a great book for the plane ride home (last year was Julie and Julia). It has already been passed along to Jen, who is enjoying it as much as I did.

And once I unpack, organize who is getting what books, and catch up on sleep, I'll let you know the highs and lows of New Orleans 2006.

New Orleans

I've been in New Orleans since Friday for the American Library Association conference. This is the first time I've gotten to a computer since then, and I only have a minute or two.

Amazingly intimidating swanky hotel: check!
Beignets: check!
Blistering heat: check!
Bourbon Street: tomorrow night
Boatloads of free stuff from the exhibits: check!

Right, and back to the exhibits I go, before I go into a full day of programs and a cocktail party tonight (with maybe a harbor cruise somewhere in there).

I am a 12 year old girl...

...and I have a teenage girl crush on Jason Dohring:



Sigh. He's so dreamy.

(2 episodes left in my own personal Veronica Mars-athon - 2 seasons in 1 week)

New TV Obsession

As some of you know, I have a tendency to get obsessed with TV shows. Previously it's been Buffy and Angel, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, Lost (not the one you're thinking of), Amazing Race, Coupling (the good British version), Hex, The IT Crowd, and others too numerous to mention. Well, as I spent hours lying on my couch last week, I decided to start watching Veronica Mars. Liz is obsessed with it, and has been for two years. I never even got started watching it, but decided to give it a shot because a) it is available on DVD and b) the Save Veronica Mars campaign sent many copies to my library in an effort to get new viewers hooked. It worked.

I watched the entire first season in three days, and have started on the second (9 eps in, 13 to go!)

Note to self

When recovering from surgery, it is unwise to go berry picking just a few days later. While the berries are delicious, I think I pushed myself a wee bit too hard. Ouch.


But I have raspberries, straweberries, and cherries to last the week.

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Everyone's being utterly fabulous! Last night Liz brought me Kool-Aid popsicles. Sally just stopped by bearing a chocolate malt and a little gift box of Godiva chocolates.



While Sally and I were having a nice visit, I got a delivery of a HUGE fruit basket that my two wonderful supervisors from work sent.







And there's still duck and cupcakes tonight. I love everybody!

Oh yeah, and recovery is going well. I'll be good as new really soon.

Under the knife

I just got back home from minor surgery and I'd just like to say how wonderful the Pennsylvania Hospital is. I've never had such consistently cheerful service in a hospital, doctor's office, or the like. Plus, my doctor rocks. And all the other people, from the waiting room receptionist on up. From now on, whenever I have to go to the hospital, I'm going there!

I haven't been allowed to eat or drink since eight last night, and as you know, that makes Dena a very cranky camper indeed. Thankfully they gave me juice and crackers when I woke up, but I'm still starving. I'm craving a bacon cheeseburger, but I'm not allowed to eat fatty foods today. Sigh.

Just in case anyone in the Philly area feels like stopping by to coddle the invalid, food is a lovely recovery gift (Micaela is bringing duck and cupcakes tomorrow. I love Micaela.)

Sailing, sailing...

Today I learned how to sail! Dot took me out on her sailboat, The Minx, and taught me the basics of sailing. I learned how to tie some kind of knot, was able to be in charge of the ropes (lines) on the bow of the boat as we left the dock, and steered for most of the time we were on the river!

We had so much fun, even when we accidentally locked the car keys in the cabin of the boat when we were done. Fortunately there were some really nice people (Allen and his wife) who drove us to Lowe's to buy bolt cutters to cut the padlock on the hatch, and then drove us all the way back to the marina. They were awesome!

And to cap it all off we went for Brazilian food afterwards. It was a great adventure, and we had a blast. I'm definitely going to go sailing again and learn even more. I'm feeling very yacht club.





Dot at the helm








Dot's boat, The Minx








Me at the tiller - I rocked the steering







Relaxing after the sail (but before we realized that I had locked the keys in the cabin)

It's like a magical library elf...

I've discovered a really cool new toy. Library Elf is a web application where you can enter all your library cards and see what you have out in one centralized location. It also emails you before your books are due to remind you, lets you know when your holds are in, and nags you when you have overdues (if you want it to).

It's super useful (and good geeky fun), especially if you belong to more than one library. Check out the site and see if your library is supported (Edmonton Public, Toronto Public, and the Free Library of Philadelphia are all supported).

A good cause

This August my sister is walking 60 km in two days to raise money for breast cancer research in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer. She needs to raise at least $2000 (CAD), so if you have any urge to be charitable this summer, I highly recommend sponsoring her. You can donate online at her walkathon website

Go Judy!

VACATION!!

Yay, at six tomorrow morning Liz and I will be heading to the airport on our way to Toronto! Four whole days of vacation in a row! I'm so happy, I don't even care that I haven't even started packing and probably won't get any sleep tonight!

See y'all next week, and see all y'all Toronto people this weekend!