Shameless Self-Promotion

I have a good friend who adopted the term "shameless self-promotion". In his case it was invariably justified; in my case, I'm not so sure. Nevertheless, I'm pointing you to "my name in lights" at Ottawa Magazine. I'm way down there, listed under "Special Contributors". So far I have 4 articles to my name, about which my friends are no doubt tired of hearing: one on Aubrey's pate (April/May 2007), a tour of the Lansdowne Market (June/July 2007), Tea at the Chateau (October 2007) and an insert on some of the kitchen gadgets that I've bought recently (again in October 2007).

My writer's pride was slightly piqued by the dramatic editing in the October article on Tea - not the least of which because I felt it had a particularly creative and entertaining introduction, but it was still a hoot to do the interview with Gerry Vandergrift and I picked up some fascinating stories behind some of the teas that have found themselves in high demand in the market. In a follow-on conversation that I had with Gerry, he told me a great tale of the birth of Lapsang Souchong which varies from one of the popular versions. . . so it must be true!

So it's been a fun, creative outlet. And I can't ask for more than that.