Greetings yet again from an undisclosed location – yes, it’s another episode of “Where is Brian this week?” First hint – I’m in the same time zone as Barb, so that should narrow it down a bit. I’ll drop a few more hints in the write-up of this weeks puzzle, but to do that we have to complete the puzzle, so away we go…

• Name: Kitchen Party
• Grid size: 15×15
• Number of entries: 72
• Difficulty: Easy (my solve time: 6:25)

Not 100% sure I got the theme for this week, but I’ll give it a shot: The “kitchen party” consists of various vegetables that have had a few drinks (at a party?) – the themers are vegetables prepared in different ways that are slang terms for being drunk. The first three work fine, but not so sure about the third:

• 19A: [Potent food for roma lovers?]: STEWED TOMATOES – I think the term “stewed” for being inebriated is kind of dated; I recall hearing it in black and white movies from the 1930’s and 40’s.
• 30A: [Potent food for spud lovers?]: FRIED POTATOES – I’ve heard “fried” used more when referring to someone high on marijuana, but pretty sure it can be used for drunkenness.
• 36A: [Potent food for shallot lovers?]: PICKLED ONIONS – Again, I think “pickled” is kind of outdated but not too much.
• 53A: [Potent food for tiny herring lovers?]: CANNED SARDINES – I don’t think I’ve ever heard “canned” used as a synonym for being impaired – usually it’s used when someone is fired from a job. Sardines used to be a big fishery where I am this week.

Maybe I’ve totally whiffed on the theme – feel free to offer your thoughts in the comments below. It was a pretty easy solve again this week – stuff I didn’t know off the bat (like 61A) I was easily able to get with the crosses.

Canadian content:

• 13A: [Alberta-to-Manitoba expanse]: PRAIRIE – At first I read this as “Alberta-to-Manitoba express” and I though “How is anyone supposed to know the name of a regional train line?”
• 15A: [To be discussed, and Rosemary Barton’s segment on “The National]: AT ISSUE – I am vaguely familiar with The National but not at all with Ms. Barton.
• 27D: [Holly Cole’s “Make ____ Away”]: IT GO – If you check out her website she already has her Christmas songs ready to listen to.
• 29A: [Ontario classical music grp.]: TSO – An easy guess for this one was the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
• 35A: [CBC streaming channel]: GEM – Ooooohh – I’m going to see if I can install this on my phone and smart TV.
• 38D: [Pound of poetry or Levant of Rebel News]: EZRA – While I knew of the poet, I was not familiar with the activist.
• 65A; [Left of Lib.]: NDP – I’m unfamiliar with them, but I’m guessing the New Democratic Party is further to the left on the political spectrum than other parties.

Other stuff:

• 3D: [Drink that may be dry]: MARTINI – The Martini was supposedly invented in the city where I am this week. Maybe I’ll have one before dinner tonight…
• 20D: [Fervently talk up]: TOUT – I confidently entered “hype” in here and had to see how the crosses wouldn’t work before I took it out.
• 37D: [Pretend to know the lyrics, maybe]: LIP SYNC – I think you actually do need to know the lyrics in order to successfully lip sync.
• 40D: [Have dinner delivered]: ORDER IN – i think “order out” can mean the same thing… 🤔
• 42D: [___ -Puf (fabric softener)]: STA – Not to be confused with this.

Quote of the week:
“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in _____________.”
– Unknown, but apocryphally attributed to Mark Twain