Wait, What? An 'All-Purpose' Potato? Since When Was This A Thing?!

Apparently for a while now... but nobody told me!

I popped into Walmart to grab a bag of potatoes among other things to make a batch of potato salad I was craving. The problem is, I constantly forget which potato is supposed to be best for what... until I stumbled across these spuds sitting in the produce section.

Right there on the front, printed in giant, unapologetic bold letters: All-Purpose Potatoes.

Wait. What?!

Since when did they invent a one-size-fits-all potato?

I looked closer at the 4.54 kg (10 lb) bag of Your Fresh Market spuds, and it literally claims to cover every single culinary base: "Great for frying, steaming, boiling, roasting, salads and soups."

Talk about the Swiss Army knife of root vegetables!

Naturally, my curiosity got the better of me. Did Canadian farmers cook up a brand-new genetically engineered super-spud in a secret lab? Is this just a Walmart gimmick?

Turns out, it’s mostly clever grocery packaging meeting potato starch science. Much like all-purpose flour, it's designed to take the guesswork out of dinner so you don't have to decipher botanical names in the produce aisle. Here's the culinary low-down:

• High Starch (Russets): Dry and fluffy. Brilliant for baking and crispy fries, but boil them for a salad and they disintegrate into mush.
• Low Starch / Waxy (Reds): Firm and moisture-packed. They hold their shape like champs in boiling water, but try to mash them and you end up with wallpaper paste.
• Medium Starch ("The All-Purpose Sweet Spot"): Varieties like standard Canadian White potatoes (and our homegrown Yukon Golds). Because they sit dead-center between moisture and starch, they don't turn into glue when mashed or dissolve into water when boiled. That middle-ground balance is why grocery distributors officially slap the "All-Purpose" label on the bag - one sack handles every standard cooking method, saving shoppers from having to guess.

So it's a win-win for everyone: convenience for the customer, zero inventory headaches and steady volume sales for the retailer. It’s capitalism at work disguised as a handy kitchen tip.

The Only Store in North America: The German Outerwear Brand That Chose Niagara

Like most households, my mailbox gets flooded with a steady stream of promotional mailers, and 99% of them go straight into the blue bin without a second glance. But yesterday, a glossy foldout brochure caught my eye before it hit the recycling. Between the giant iceberg on the cover and the promise of deep-sea German shipyard outerwear, I ended up reading the entire thing right over the counter - and quickly discovered a huge retail surprise sitting right in our own backyard. (And no, I am not getting paid a dime to write this - they don't even know my blog exists! This is just pure, fascinating local trivia.)

Inside the foldout flyer I received in the mail, showing the men's collection and outlet pricing.
Photo: SCG NIAGARA

The Only Standalone Store on the Continent

If you've driven past the Outlet Collection at Niagara on Taylor Road, you probably assumed it was just another stretch of big-box outlet staples. But tucked right inside Unit 427 - just down the path from Bass Pro Shops - sits a genuine retail anomaly: Niagara-on-the-Lake is home to the only standalone flagship Wellensteyn brand store in all of North America. Not Toronto. Not New York City. Not Chicago. Right here off Glendale Avenue.

DID YOU KNOW: Canada Once Printed 25-Cent Bills Called "Shinplasters"?

If you dig through an old desk drawer or inherit a family keepsake tin here in Canada, you usually expect to find worn copper pennies, old silver voyageur dollars, or maybe a crisp terracotta two-dollar bill or two. But finding a tiny slip of paper that reads "Dominion of Canada Will Pay on Demand: 25 Cents" definitely makes you do a double take...

Yes, Canada actually printed paper quarters. They were official legal tender, circulated nationwide for over five decades, and carry one of the most delightfully sarcastic nicknames in Canadian history. I recently pulled this exact bill out of my mother's old stash, and having it sit right here on my desk got me digging into its backstory—especially when I noticed an odd printing quirk that proved it wasn't quite cut the way it was supposed to...

From my mother's collection: an authentic July 2, 1923 Dominion of Canada 25-cent fractional note.
Look closely at the very top edge—the mechanical blade cut sliced off the printer line from the bill above it!

The American Silver "Invasion" That Forced Canada's Hand

You might think Canada printed paper quarters simply because pocket coins were heavy, but they were actually born out of a cross-border currency headache. During and right after the American Civil War in the 1860s, boatloads of United States silver coins poured northward across our border.

The Big Winter Drain: What Happens Beneath the Welland Canal

If you take a stroll along the Welland Canal trails once winter sets in, the view is downright surreal... where massive 740-foot lake freighters churn all summer long, suddenly there is nothing but mud, bedrock, and empty air.

Every year around Christmas, one of North America’s busiest commercial shipping routes shuts down for the season. The St. Lawrence Seaway begins its annual "unwatering" routine, draining the canal reach by reach down to Lake Ontario—leaving the chambers bone-dry straight through January and February. But pulling the plug on a waterway that holds billions of litres of water isn't quite as simple as opening a drain in a bathtub...

The exposed floor of the Welland Canal during the winter maintenance shutdown.
Illustration by SCG NIAGARA

The Careful Drain: Why Engineers Can't Just Rush It

You might think workers simply open up the gate sluices and let gravity dump all that water into Lake Ontario overnight. In reality, Seaway operators have to throttle the drainage down to a crawl—strictly keeping the drop between 6.4 and 7.6 cm (2.5 to 3 inches) per hour.

VIDEO: Threat of flooding looms over Niagara as heavy rain forecast | CHCH NEWS

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for the Niagara Region today, forecasting upwards of 50 millimetres of rain.

While there is no significant rainfall reported this afternoon, the next 24 hours could see the same type of storm pattern that caused major basement flooding across the region weeks ago.

“Training storms” are back-to-back-to-back systems that bring heavy volumes of rain to a localized area over a short period. This dynamic drove the initial wave of storm damage in St. Catharines and the Town of Lincoln, and remains the primary concern for the incoming system.

“The special weather advisory today kind of feels like some cosmic joke.”

— Ashley Brown, St. Catharines resident

For the Brown family in St. Catharines, the first round of storms brought floodwater straight through their basement window. “I think it makes us all shudder just a little bit,” Brown told CHCH News as residents monitor conditions and prepare for another wet 24 hours.

Video & Report via CHCH News

The Rat Surge: What Niagara Floods Could Mean for Neighbourhood Pests

Just when we thought the worst of the summer storm cleanup was finally behind us across Niagara... another mess could surface.

Between late July and early August, our region was hit by two severe, back-to-back storms that overwhelmed municipal drainage, left heavy standing water across neighbourhood roads, and flooded basements across the area—mine included, twice. It was exhausting, frustrating, and pushed storm systems past capacity.

Now that the water has receded, if you put two and two together on where all that runoff went, we aren't the only ones dealing with disrupted spaces. When underground sewer lines and burrows submerge, rodents are forced upward to seek dry ground—and our yards, foundations, and garages could easily become their next stop...

Flooded municipal sewer lines and storm drains push subterranean pests upward toward residential areas.
Illustration by SCG NIAGARA

The Science of Displacement: Why Post-Storm Conditions Matter

You might not see pests darting down the sidewalk in broad daylight—rats are nocturnal and avoid open spaces whenever possible. However, basic urban pest biology explains why severe flooding disrupts their habitat so drastically.

Why the US Tax System Hates Canada’s TFSA (And Why You’re Foolish Not to Take Advantage of It!)

Wow, that TFSA... talk about a masterclass in policy design. Yet every spring, Canadian banks launch a massive marketing blitz screaming at you to dump your hard-earned cash into an RRSP.

This isn't a bank script, folks. This isn't even coming from a financial advisor. It's even better—I’m sharing this purely from real-life experience.

But let's get real: if you are a low-to-modest income earner, rushing blindly into an RRSP is a financial trap that will actively slash your senior benefits later in life. While high-income earners benefit from immediate tax deductions, everyday working Canadians are often better off using our absolute best tax shelter—the TFSA. If you are sitting at 40, 50, or 60 trying to protect your future on a modest paycheck, it is time to stop listening to generic bank pitches and start playing the smart hand...

The mainstream financial trap hitting everyday savers.
Illustration by SCG NIAGARA

The Mainstream Trap: The Illusion of the RRSP (For Modest Incomes)

For my entire working life, I’ve heard people constantly hyping up the RRSP. I always had a gut-level dislike for it. In fact, I used to warn my kids not to dump their money into one. Back then, my reasoning was simple: your wages are already taxed, so why put them into an account where they will just get taxed again when you take them out?

Years later, I finally figured out the real mechanism: it isn't double-taxation, it's just delayed taxation. But for people living on lower or middle incomes, that delay isn't a benefit—it's a trap. You aren't avoiding taxes; you are just pushing them into your retirement years, where every dollar you withdraw can slash your senior benefits like the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).

If you live on a modest income (under $50,000/year), those future RRSP withdrawals will count as taxable income. This can instantly disqualify you from crucial low-income senior benefits like the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). You aren't beating the system; you are setting yourself up to lose your government support when you need it most.

Niagara's Tap Water is Ranked #1 in Ontario

For years, locals and visitors alike have poured a glass of tap water in the Niagara Region without realizing they are sipping an award-winning beverage. While most people take municipal utilities for granted, the unique infrastructure behind our local water supply recently brought home a massive point of pride for our community.

Niagara's local tap water supply consistently ranks among the highest quality in the province.
Illustration by SCG NIAGARA

The Tastiest Tap Water in Ontario

To the delight and surprise of many residents, the Niagara Region officially claimed the title for Ontario's Tastiest Tap Water. The prestigious award was handed out at the Ontario Water Works Association (OWWA) conference, where the Niagara Falls Water Treatment Plant won a highly competitive blind taste test voted on by over 1,000 industry professionals. Proving it wasn't a fluke, the region's water team defended their crown the following year when the Rosehill Water Treatment Plant in Fort Erie brought home gold for a back-to-back victory.

The End of the QEW Ghost Ship Era

For decades, commuters on the QEW have looked for the familiar silhouette of the Jordan Harbour "Ghost Ship." Whether you saw it in the morning mist or the evening glow, its disappearance marks the end of a massive chapter in Niagara’s local landscape.

The iconic 42.67 m (140 ft) silhouette of La Grande Hermine before its 2024 removal.
Illustration by SCG NIAGARA

The Final Voyage of La Grande Hermine

The ship wasn't actually an old pirate vessel, but a 1914 steel ferry originally named Le Progrès. While it was built to look like Jacques Cartier's 1535 flagship, this specific hull was "dressed up" in its wooden replica shell in 1991. After serving as a restaurant and even a haunted house, it was brought to Niagara with dreams of becoming a casino in Chippawa—a dream that ended when the owner passed away.

SHAREABLE Tip #22 - The "Toonie Test" for Your Tires!

Forget fancy gauges! In Canada, we have the perfect tire tool right in our pockets. Whether you're driving a hybrid, a sedan, or a heavy-duty truck, this trick works for ANY vehicle on the road.

A Toonie and a little bit of tread—the classic Canadian safety check!
Illustration by SCG NIAGARA

The 10-Second Toonie Test

Take a Toonie and slip it into your tire’s tread groove with the polar bear's paws facing down. While some people look for the letters, checking the rings as shown in the image above is the only way to be 100% accurate every single time.

The Historical Curve of St. Paul Street

Modern-day St. Paul Street in downtown St. Catharines.
By Municipal Affairs and Housing - CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Driving through downtown St. Catharines offers a much different perspective than the straight, rigid grids found in most other Ontario cities. St. Paul Street remains a rare exception, following a winding path that has shaped the city's identity for generations.

VIDEO: Canadian shoppers ditching made-in-USA goods as tariff threat looms

With the looming threat of American tariffs on Canadian goods, some shoppers are swearing off U.S.-made products. CTV's Kimberley Johnson reports.

St. Catharines - Not so Ratty After All

Hmmm... for some reason, we thought St. Catharines was one of the rattiest cities in Ontario.

Perhaps it stemmed back from an old 2016 article we read about a former GM property on Ontario Street in St. Catharines that was infested with rats (see more near end of post!)... and then later, our own experience with them outside an old townhouse we used to live in.

So needless to say, we were quite surprised when Orkin came out with their Top 25 'Rattiest' Cities in Ontario and discovered St. Catharines barely made the list. Yay for St. Catharines!

Image: Orkin

According to their website, Orkin ranked the cities by the number of rodents (rat & mice) treatments the company performed from August 1, 2020 through July 31, 2021. The ranking included both residential and commercial treatments.

'SMART CART'. Coming to a Store Near You... (VIDEOS)

2026 Update: Where Are the Smart Carts Now?

Looking back from 2026, it is fascinating to see how the grocery tech landscape has shifted since this post was originally written. Sobeys launched their initial AI-powered Smart Cart pilot using Caper technology at select Ontario stores, functioning as a complete self-checkout lane on wheels. While the tech was impressive, wide-scale rollout ultimately hit a massive financial wall due to three brutal realities:

• High Fleet Costs: A standard metal shopping cart costs roughly $100, while a single AI cart ranges from $5,000 to $10,000 due to complex touchscreens and scales.
• Razor-Thin Industry Margins: Supermarkets operate on brutal 1.5% to 2% profit margins, making fleet purchases an immense risk for local operators.
• The Nightmare of Maintenance: The cost to repair fragile electronics, cracked screens, or scratched camera lenses left out in wet parking lots and freezing Canadian winters drained store resources too quickly.

Because of these heavy hardware expenses, major Canadian chains quietly shifted away from physical carts to prioritize software-driven mobile scanning apps and advanced checkout conveyor belts.

Below is our original 2021 article coverage from when this smart grocery tech first hit the store aisles:

VIDEO: Safety at Niagara Parks

Good to know...

We have implemented additional measures across Niagara Parks to ensure the health and safety of our guests and our employees.

INFOGRAPHIC: History of PANDEMICS

Interesting graphic on the history of pandemics...

Pan·dem·ic /panˈdemik/ (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.

As humans have spread across the world, so have infectious diseases. Even in this modern era, outbreaks are nearly constant, though not every outbreak reaches pandemic level as the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has.

Today’s visualization outlines some of history’s most deadly pandemics, from the Antonine Plague to the current COVID-19 event.

Source(s): visualcapitalist

VIDEO: Coronavirus outbreak: Canadian travellers scramble to get home; provinces announce school closures

Don't travel if you don't have to people! And for goodness sakes, wash your hands!...

screenshot

Abigail Bimman reports on the scramble of Canadian travellers to get back home as the federal government prepares to escalate its response against the COVID-19 pandemic. Plus, Heather Yourex-West looks at the tough measures provinces are taking to keep people safe.

COVID-19: The FACTS (14)

Some interesting facts, we discovered, from the World Health Organization through myths they are trying to bust on the covid-19 virus. Some may be scary, some may be amusing, but all are the facts!...

Are there any specific medicines to prevent or treat the new coronavirus?

To date, there is no specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

However, those infected with the virus should receive appropriate care to relieve and treat symptoms, and those with severe illness should receive optimized supportive care. Some specific treatments are under investigation, and will be tested through clinical trials. WHO is helping to accelerate research and development efforts with a range or partners.

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Are antibiotics effective in preventing and treating the new coronavirus?

No, antibiotics do not work against viruses, only bacteria.

The new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is a virus and, therefore, antibiotics should not be used as a means of prevention or treatment.

However, if you are hospitalized for the 2019-nCoV, you may receive antibiotics because bacterial co-infection is possible.

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COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in areas with hot and humid climates

From the evidence so far, the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in ALL AREAS, including areas with hot and humid weather. Regardless of climate, adopt protective measures if you live in, or travel to an area reporting COVID-19. The best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 is by frequently cleaning your hands. By doing this you eliminate viruses that may be on your hands and avoid infection that could occur by then touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.

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Cold weather and snow CANNOT kill the new coronavirus.

There is no reason to believe that cold weather can kill new coronavirus or other diseases. The normal human body temperature remains around 36.5°C to 37°C, regardless of the external temperature or weather. The most effective way to protect yourself against the new coronavirus is by frequently cleaning your hands with alcohol-based hand rub or washing them with soap and water.

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Government of Canada: Avoid ALL TRAVEL on CRUISE SHIPS

We know you all have plans and looking forward to that cruise but is your health or your family's health worth it? ...

If an outbreak of COVID-19 occurs on your cruise ship:

• you could be subject to quarantine procedures, on-board ship or in a foreign country
• the range of consular services available to those on cruise ships, in particular in situations of quarantine, may be significantly restricted by local authorities

Read more: Canada

INFOGRAPHIC: Facial Hairstyles and Respirators

The infographic below, first published in 2017 by the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Healthy, was circulated on social media recently and actually has nothing to do with the new virus.

The NIOSH published the infographic to show workers what types of facial hairstyles affect a tight-sealing mask/respirator.

Facial hair that lies along the sealing area of a respirator, such as beards, sideburns or some moustaches, interferes with respirators that rely on a tight facepiece seal to achieve maximum protection, according to the CDC.

Source(s): CDC-blog