The reasonable life

I recently pulled out a 2006 issue of upfront,  the magazine I used to publish in the Prince Edward County, because I needed the cover shot for a clothesline art project I have underway.

As I read my editorial from five years ago, I was surprised at how relevant the content remained. I offer the pdf to read here editorial .

Krishnamurti really knew a thing or two. By the way, I’m sometimes asked for back issues of the magazine, including those from when it was called express, and I just found a stash of a few if anyone wants a copy.

People don’t like bad news, and who can blame them? We’re all living with personal challenges, and it can take a great deal of fortitude to face the realities of the world. It’s not easy to step beyond our own agendas, or to allow what’s happening in the world to sink into our consciousness to challenge our comfort zone.

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to see the tremendous turnout today at a talk presented in Picton by Nicole Foss, a speaker on economic decline and the energy crisis. www.financialsense.com/contributors/nicole-m-foss

I don’t know that the audience came away understanding everything this biologist and Research Fellow of the Oxford Institute for Energies Studies said, or accepting her position on the state of world finances, energy, and the future, (I did get lost a bit) but I’m not sure that that was the most important thing about the event in any case. What mattered, more importantly I think, is that people came out to listen.

They came despite knowing that this wasn’t going to be a pep rally. This wasn’t going to be all good news and positive vibes but they came anyway, even on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. In fact, it was such a gorgeous day that I almost didn’t go. I wavered, thinking I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for bad news on such a day, and because I‘ve probably already read too much on the topics discussed.

I did go after all, of course, or I wouldn’t be writing this. I went because I wanted to support the efforts of groups like www.countysustainability.ca and http://transitionpec.ning.com and because I recognize that I’ve still got a lot to learn. Surely, I figure, if this woman who specialized in nuclear safety as an Oxford Fellow, with a graduate degree in air and water pollution control and an international law degree has something to share, and feels strongly enough about the issues to travel on speaking engagements, I should take the opportunity to hear her. 

In the end, it was frankly a bit long and, as I suspected, it wasn’t all good news. But, I believe we can acknowledge difficult truths, and in accepting them, we can take positive action. So yes, don’t worry (it doesn’t help), be happy (that’s good for you and fun!) and let’s engage in reality and act accordingly.

Christine

I’m always looking for recommendations for books and movies from people, and since I keep a list of ones I’ve enjoyed, I thought I’d pass a few along. I haven’t written reviews, but you can easily find some online for each of these books. This is by no means a full list of all the books I could recommend, but it’s a start. Next post will be movies. Here goes, a few in no particular order:

Books: Any by Rohinton Mistry (he’s not prolific, sadly, but his few works are exceptional), Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (unforgettable story), Three Day Road (though war tales aren’t usually my thing, this one is so much more… story of two young Cree men as snipers in WWI, and it was  just longlisted for Canada Reads)  and Through Black Spruce. Both are by Joseph Boyden. Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam (who’s a doctor, so he should know about these things), Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns both by Khaled Hosseini, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (who knew a circus story could be entertaining?), The Tenderness of  Wolves (complex murder mystery set in 1860′s Ontario. The author is an agoraphobic and grandniece of Norman Bethune) by Steph Penny, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (everyone I know who read this enjoyed it – light without fluff, it’ll make you want to go to the isle of Guernsey), Clara Callan by Richard Wright, The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. (one in a trilogy of historical fiction, also not usually a genre I like, but this one hooked me) by Sandra Gulland, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls (not fiction, but I’m skeptical about memoirs) and, along the same lines, Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill (both about dysfunctional families, but no, Walls is not Canadian) , DeNiro’s Game by Rawi Hage , The Courilof Affair by Irene Némirovsky (who wrote the well known La Suite Française), The Island Walkers and The Last Woman both by John Bemrose, Stones from the River and The Vision of Emma Blau both by Ursula Hegi, The River Thieves and The Wreckage by Michael Crummey, Small Ceremonies by Carol Shields, The Namesake by Jumpha Lahiri (made into a pretty good movie), The Recipe for Bees by Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards, Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, The Known World by Edward Jones,  The Palace of the Moon (Janet, the storyteller, at her best) and On the Head of a Pin (she can write a mystery, too), both by local PEC author Janet Kellough, The Devil in Me, Bright’s Kill and 74 Miles Away by David Carpenter (mystery and crime readers take note – excellent and local!), Balzak and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie (semi-autobiographical novel  and apparently a movie of the book done by the author was released in 2002, though I haven’t seen it), Someday this Pain Will be Useful to You by Peter Cameron (the 18-year-old protagonist with biting wit is obsessed with language  – a funny book even though it’s classified as YA, which I totally don’t get!), The Help (about African-American maids working in white households in the south in the 60s, (would make a great movie) by Kathryn Stockett . That’s it for now, and please don’t forget to support your local library. Feedback always welcome! Movie recommendations next time.

Christine

To balance out what I just posted on my other blog kindradical about important, fiery issues relating to erosion of civil liberties, G20 and so forth, I thought I’d share the lighter side of life in this post: a fun little animation unlike any I’ve seen.

Watch it – kids can watch too

Christine

Enjoying a delicious meal prepared by one of the County’s most talented chefs (quite possibly “the” most talented), served al fresco while overlooking autumn fields is a quintessential County experience. Combine it with welcoming, attentive hosts, the company of friends, laughter, book chat and wine tastings, and you have the makings for a perfect night. That’s what took place, in fact, when our book club gathered at Karlo Estates on Monday, September 13th.

Special thanks to our wonderful hosts, winemaker Richard Karlo and Sherry Martin, whose passion for what they do clearly makes for a special place, and to Michael Hoy who proved that he is not only a brilliant chef, but that a completely vegan meal can be absolutely delicious, satisfying and elevated to culinary art.

Alas, I did not enjoy the gift of the grape that evening (I was designated driver), but others sipped nine or ten different wines and bottles were bought to take home – always a good sign.

I’m looking forward to another visit soon though, when I will sip the wine and hopefully also see the winery’s unique hand-built dry stone bridge.

Cheers, Christine

My apologies for the long lag since the last post.  I’ve been  writing activist posts for my other blog,  kayaking, working at the library…well, I’m sure you all know how it goes. But I’m  focusing on my cookbook again – The County Cooks Veg!

It turns out though, that this is taking a lot more cooking time than I thought it would.  Of course, the last book I published in 2007, The County Cooks, was a compilation of recipes from other people, those of local chefs and food purveyors (the cookbook is still available at Books & Co. in Picton or by contacting me) while this one is just me cooking and recreating recipes to make them all vegan and delicious. And great things are coming from all this time in the kitchen!

First, I’ve come up with some pretty tasty dishes,  (I do have “tasters” to back me up on this) and secondly, for a while anyway, some of my desserts are available to try locally.

I’m very excited to say that Robyn Cakebread, who recently took over the Regent Café, is offering up my vegan, organic baked goods at the café.

One of the reasons that I think  people are enjoying  them is that I use quality ingredients that are, as much as possible, local (fresh!), organic and fair trade. I’m using certified organic flours, organic oats, flax seed, organic fruits and veggies (the zucchini and pears are from my own backyard), and the vanilla and cocoa are both organic and fair trade. I also use local maple syrup (I’m trying to buy some in bulk if anyone has a lead on that).

I’m making zucchini muffins, pear bread and pear and ginger muffins (I’m working with the season and my pear trees are loaded!), and some super healthy and yummy granola cookies. You could have these for breakfast, they’re that healthy! This morning I also baked a batch of Chocolate Lovers double chocolate cookies and delivered those to the café (these are probably not breakfast fare!).

I’m working on new recipes, too, for next weekend when I’ll be at Vicki’s and Tim’s stupendous Heirloom Hurrah.  I’ve almost perfected my frosted Chocolate Zucchini Cake. I hope you can come by to try some.

Christine

I’ve been out of the kitchen and into the streets lately turning my attention to writing and my activist roots in light of the recent G20 in Toronto.  I have a blog devoted to those writings. If you’re interested, you can find my recent piece following my experience at the G20 protests at my “kindradical” blog .

Meanwhile, life balancing continues with more work on my vegan cookbook - I have been concocting some tasty dishes with the summer bounty – and kayaking in my brand new handcrafted kayak made by my husband, Gren.

bye for now,

Christine

Garden May 24, 2010

Last weekend, the 24th of May, we got most of the garden in. Gren has actually done most of the work, but I did manage to plant a few tomatoes myself, transplant my dear rosemary bush (that I have now overwintered for three years) and relocated some lavender. I realized today that I forgot to plant kale! Must get on that. We are continuing with our sheet mulch garden. To learn more on this you can view a couple of YouTube videos ( 1 and 2 )  filmed in 2008 when we moved from the traditional garden to sheet mulch, also called lasagna gardening or no-till.

The cooking for the cookbook has slowed somewhat because of the garden and other things, but I’m laid up with a flu this weekend, so hope to use the little energy I get in fits and spurts to type out recipes from the growing mound of paper scraps I’ve used to write and refine some of my favourites. The notes are starting to look like indecipherable code and a few are scarred by food spills, so I best get at it before the ink fades to nothing…now what could “1/4 c. o o” mean?

Please feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or comments about the blog. Also, I’m interested in hearing if anyone has a favourite recipe they would like me to “veganize”.

Christine

Vicki Emlaw knows how to throw a party – with a little help from her friends.  On Saturday, May 8, almost 300 people got together to celebrate Vicki’s 40th at the Crystal Palace in Picton. It was unseasonably cold and the Palace wasn’t heated, but the crowd stayed warm by burning up the dance floor. What a blast! Great people, great party and great food.

I was asked to  contribute something to the food table and I was more than happy to do it especially because it offered a chance to try out more new recipes for my cookbook and prove that delicious food can be vegan.

I chose to make an appetizer and a dessert. I wanted to create something that: used tomatoes in honour of Vicki, (the heirloom tomato queen and BDGirl), would feature local produce, could be served at room temperature, could be transported easily and could feed a crowd fairly inexpensively.

I ended up whipping up Herb Marinated Mushrooms with local mushrooms and Tomato Cake. The mushroom appetizer was simple and marinated all day while I was at work, and as weird as Tomato Cake sounds, it was really delicious. I drastically adapted a tomato soup cake recipe I’ve had for years transforming it into a relatively healthy, low fat yet very tasty dessert. Cut into “one bite” squares and topped with a swirl of soft icing, the cake was gobbled up quickly and I came how (thankfully) with empty platters.

The long weekend is coming up and my plans include lots of cooking and an anticipated  visit to Vicki’s Veggies Annual Seedling Sale. Check it out  www.vickisveggies.com

Happy growing and cooking,

Christine