"ontario" news and stories

A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country (and this week, beyond).

It's been a couple weeks since I last dropped a "What's On Tap" post for inquisitive craft beer heads who can't travel across the entire country, so I figured I would have to go an extra mile to make it up to you. Hopefully using that extra mile to cross the U.S. border will do the trick as we take a look at the draft selection at Volo in Toronto, Ontario, Canada!

At the risk of offending some of our neighbors to the north, Toronto is probably Canada's most cosmopolitan city. One can only expect they have a few beer bars to back up such a reputation. Checking in at my old standbys -- BeerAdvocate and RateBeer -- a number of pubs got high marks. BeerBistro looks like it's worth a stop. And Smokeless Joe not only sounds like a healthy guy, he sounds like he has a healthy beer selection as well.

But both sites have Volo positioned at the very top of their lists. Seems like they way to go, right? Let's see what Volo has on tap...

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A 32-year-old woman in Canada was participating in a Chubby Bunny contest, a game in which participants attempt to stuff as many marshmallows into their mouths as possible and still say "chubby bunny." It is often played by children at camps and sleepovers and, more often than not, all efforts subside into laughter after about the fourth or fifth mallow. Adults take these things more seriously, however, and instead of ending up laughing, the above-mentioned woman ended up in critical condition at a London, Ontario hospital after choking on a marshmallow. The contest was already over and she was walking backstage when she collapsed. She had no vital signs when the paramedics got to her and is currently in critical condition.

The future of Chubby Bunny contests at this fair are seriously in doubt, as it may be in other venues since this is not an isolated incident, and it is possible that other food-events will be more closely monitored in the future ,a reminder to all competitive eaters that chewing your food could potentially be far more important than winning.

Update: Unfortunately, the woman did not recover from the incident.

[image via wikipedia]

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If you are a mushroom lover, sometimes the specimens growing in your yard or in the nearby park look quite tasty. The problem is that it is difficult to determine exactly what kind of mushroom it may be - and since mistakes can be potentially fatal, it's not wise to experiment. This week, a Toronto man plucked a few mushrooms that looked harmless, only to end up hospitalized and in grave condition because they were poisonous.

The man's chances for recovery are uncertain.

The particular species of mushroom actually looks very similar to several nontoxic species, and health officials say that they did not realize that it was growing in the area. The director of Ontario's regional poison center said, "You fry them up, they taste great and the symptoms don't come for 12 hours. You may not connect it to the mushrooms, think it's just gastro [gastroenteritis] and think it'll get better. But it gets worse, and all the while it's eating away at your liver."

Play it safe and stick with the mushrooms for sale at local shops and markets, instead of taking chances with ones growing wild.

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