Stratford Madness

Upon arrival in Stratford, we didn't really arrive. I called Ruth, the cheesemaker and owner of Monforte, and she told me I should show up and have a chat at the dairy. She did have an appointment for lunch though, so we were to be there bright and early in order to have enough brain picking time. We got lost, like three times, partly because it's in a small industrial subdivision off a main strip with no connection to any other road, and partly because a corn farmer led me astray. Either way, we were lost, and by the time we got there, she had to leave for her meeting. But Ruth Klahsen is no slouch, and instead of telling us to fuck off, she just brought us to her lunch. Good thing too, because we met up with Danielle, the food representative for the area, and she proved a great contact as well. Over a couple of inside out burgers ((cheese inside the meat, see?)clever, isn't it?) we discussed everything from the dairy to the current situation of food in the world, all the way through to our goals and dreams. We have a lot of things in common. Ruth is an amazing person, honest and blunt to a fault, no bullshit, all business, and concerned with all the right things. She has been in Stratford a long time, cooking, teaching cuisine, and finally making cheese. It was an awesome experience to be able to hang out in Strat with not only her, but her team and the people she surrounds herself with. Her right hand man, Paul, is also an awesome individual, and even let us shower at his house. We decided we had better stick around. Ruth and one of her team were kind enough to give us tickets to see the opening show of 'Dangerous Liasons'. A rather lecherous but amazingly executed play about a couple of manipulative aristocrats in pre revolutionary France. It was awesome, and it was a nice touch of civility to our otherwise quite rugged trip. It reminded me how much I enjoy live theatre as well, which was something I'd lost. I now intend to go frequently when I'm older and economically secure. Neither of which are certain. In any case, it was really enjoyable, and we even sat next to Ruth's son and his girlfriend. Though Daniel was on the verge of collapse from exhaustion, we did convince them to join us for a drink afterwards at a local bar. After that we returned to the dairy to catch a couple hours of sleep before the next day. The following day there wasn't much going on, but we promised to return after a short jaunt to Toronto and party in the pig roast/make cheese. It was a good promise, and the easiest to keep. For now, we went to the big city to see what was going on.