Pirates of the Seine

In which we use the occasion of the Academy Awards as an excuse to gather around a small box with moving pictures and feast.


The parrots were a bit disturbed. Maybe it was the extreme nature of the event--a strange celebration of the extremes of human behavior, from deep dark diggity down violence to Disney's trickly sickly sweet chansons de crap. Were we (dis)enchanted? A little. There was a bevvy of bright scarlet dresses. Helen Mirren's robe rouge with shimmering silver sleeves caused us to take a collective intake of breath. There were some really hot guys with sexy accents: Javier, Colin, and James McAvoy. (I love you James!) There was the understated wit of John Stewart (as played by Cate Blanchette). But when the women presenting the Oscars start to outstage the penguin suits who win the awards, you gotta admit the whole thing was a bit of a dry biscuit. The presentation of a statuette from the trenches of Iraq was painful on many levels. Those Enchanted song and dance numbers--what were they thinking? Disney lambs dressed as Hollywood mutton.




We ate and drank well. I think our party upstaged the Oscars. The parrots certainly did. Our Sweeny Todd made an excellent Argentinian flan. I provided minted blood oranges for a macabre effect. There were samosas, salsa, spanikopita, pita, prosecco, burfi, baked brie with cranberries and cashews. and an almost ratatouille.





The theme was quite open this year. It was a la français, an homage to the film(s) of your choice with a little Gallic seasoning thrown in. I wore a Jack Sparrow wig with a chapeau Parisienne. M. wore a gorgeous skeleton gown and tiny wings as a nod to the Todd and the Diving Bell Reflex, or whatever the hell that movie is called. (Apparently it's brilliant.) Ms. K had some new lacy pants. There was a contingent of cowboys and a 2-D character from Persepolis (another must-see, I hear).

We root for the movies our costumes represent. We root for the movies we loved. We cheer for Canadian movies, lesbian documentaries about mechanics, and movies with hot dudes and babes in them. The parrots were not amused, and when little Lucky, dressed as le petit sparrow entered their territory they screamed that theirs was not a country for little dogs dressed as little birds.

We munched, we moaned, we squawked, and we yawned.... Thank goodness for the clever folks at the party trading zingers over my head. Then Baba Wawa came on and we yawned some more and headed home. Thanks to Ms. K. for hosting, and thanks to the parrots for finally going to sleep.

Seedy Saturday 2008

Pussywillows of all sizes!

Seedy Saturday gently nudges us out of hibernation and reminds us to get get our seeds sorted, order the manure, save our yogurt containers for seedlings, clean out the back porch and convert it into a temporary green house. I went to all three talks, and learned so many things for free! I bought a bunch of bargain-priced second hand gardening books, including one dedicated to using a "glut" of zucchini. Such an ugly word, glut, for such a wonderful state of abundance. The book cost twenty-five cents.

I bought Fanny Bay Wildflower honey, an Etruscan Honeysuckle, Hops 'Baynes Sound', American Ginseng seed, and wild bergamot seed from Twining Vine Garden. I bought seeds from C-Intra Botanicals in Richmond as well: Blue Vervain, Fenugreek, Milk Thistle and Nodding Onion.

I was so happy that the Golden Valley Mushroom lady was there because I had to miss the Winter Farmer's Market, which was happening at the same time. I even convinced my mother-in-law to buy some mushrooms she'd never tasted before.

Have any of you tried wasabi greens? I had some at the Comox Farmer's Market last spring and became addicted to their spicy bite. I ran out of room to take one home, but I'll be on the look out for them at plant sales this summer.

Don't you love those pillowy soft cardoon seeds?

Whipped Cream, Snow Moon

"I notice we've been eating a lot of whipped cream lately," Peter says.
"Yeah, what's up with that?" I say.
"It's just that we've been having whipped cream with waffles in the morning, whipped cream and apricot jam with coconut and hazelnuts for dessert..."
"Yeah, what's up with that?" I say. "I mean why?"
"Does there have to be a reason?" he asks as he sandwiches two stroopwaffels together with whipped cream."
Then he goes on that monologue about how much better and cheaper the stroopwaffles are in Amsterdam and I look at the ingredients on the ones he bought here, which are mostly evil, and oddly enough include lupin flour. (Don't eat it if you're allergic to peanuts.) "Buy the organic ones with maple syrup," I lecture him. "I don't care how expensive they are." Our son is listening to this harangue. Wonder what he thinks of it all?

Is it because I'm ovulating, or the snow moon with a lunar eclipse taking bites out of my spine, aching back, flushed cheeks, hormone whoopsies? I don't know. I just want a big bite of of that stroopwaffle whipped cream pie in the sky. Organic, of course.

Lovecraft, Baby

So there's a running joke in our house about my creating a World of Lovecraft because the boys are addicted to Warcraft. (Insert rolling eyes here.) I've been meaning to create some seed storage vessels, and I saw an idea in Sartha Mewart Magazine that I had to try. First, ya got to eat a lot of cheese. Goat brie to be exact. Done that. Next you glue a circle of paper over the top of the box and ribbons around the edges. Note that I've been using CD sleeves to store seeds, but they tend to leak if you don't tape them at the top. I like the windows, though. They are also great for storing ends of embroidery thread.

Share the love. Make lovecrafts, not war. What kind of seed vessels are you creating this year?

Tomorrow is Seedy Saturday!

http://www.bcseeds.org/seedy-sats.php

"A seed is a little bundle of determination to grow."
--Louise Riotte, Sleeping with a Sunflower

Oh, the anticipation! All those determined seeds in one room!
Van Dusen Gardens, tomorrow, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
I've been telling everyone Brian Campbell's going to talk about gardening for bees is at 3 p.m. and I see on the schedule above his talk is at 2 p.m. Arghhh! Anyway, come for 2 p.m. and hang around and buy some seeds!

One Thousand Blessings: John O' Donahue

He's like the swallow that flies so high.
He's like the river that never runs dry.
He's like the sunshine on the lee shore. He'll love his love for evermore.

-a Nova Scotia folksong (slightly altered for the occasion)

I was lucky enough to attend O' Donahue's talk in Vancouver last year. He was sweetness and light. His charming humour and scholarly intelligence were enchanting. I have his book called Beauty: The Invisible Embrace on CD, so I can listen to his inspiring voice any time. When I heard on CBC's tapestry that he had died suddenly, (on January 3, 2008) I was sad, shocked, angry--all those things you feel when someone you have a great fondness for is dead. He was a spiritual advisor in a time when we so need those people who can help us perceive Divine Beauty. I was angry at him for having deserted us, but I've come to realize he's helping us "behind the scenes" now. He taught me that the materiality of our world is only the smallest part of what really exists.

I will tell the bees. I invite you to do the same.

I attended his memorial service here in Vancouver, which was loving, but much to solemn, in my opinion. Where was the fiddle music? Where was the whiskey? All back home in Ireland, I guess.

When I die, I want the chocolate to flow as freely as the booze. Live music by anyone who wants to play or sing, and anyone at all can speak their mind. A party, s'il vous plait. That is all.

"When I can hold a stone within my hand
And feel time make it sand and soil, and see
The roots of living things grow in this land,
Pushing between my fingers flower and tree,
Then I shall be wise as death,
For death has done this and he will
Do this to me, and blow his breath
To fire my clay, when I am still."

--Richard Eberhart

For more memorials to John O'Donahue follow these links:

http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/index.php?p=966

"Greenbelters know that he had a way with words that made you feel whole again" he created a space with language, both spoken and written, that felt like the home you never knew you were missing, but now never wanted to leave.

His work on retrieving the earthiness of celtic spirituality and helping make sense of it in a postmodern world is so profound that its impact has not yet been fully felt, and it represents something rare in a consumerist, post-Britart culture: a work of art that will outlast its author."
--Gareth Higgins

http://www.jodonohue.com/inmemoriam/

"John was a love-letter to humanity from some address in the firmament we have yet to find and locate, though we may wander many a year looking or listening for it."
--David White

UBC Farm Circle

This is a nest I found on the side of the path as I walking to UBC farm. The university has been developing the land around the farm, building a supermarket and luxury condos. They've been cutting down trees in some of the best bird habitat I've ever seen. The staff, students, and community members involved with the farm care about it passionately. My friend Charlotte suggested we start a circle of elders to try and protect the future of the farm. I think it's a good idea, since the voice of the community needs to be heard, even by people who don't want to hear it (and who have decided not to let UBC farm harbour community gardens for local residents). We need a group of elders, gardeners, environmentalists, ecologists, chefs, foodies, children, beekeepers, chicken feeders, and birders. Please come and join our circle. We need to sing out, shout, complain, rail against, raise hell. We need to put our passion into words. Stay tuned for more about how you can get involved.

We are open to suggestions.

http://www.ams.ubc.ca/clubs/friendsubcfarm/Site

UBC Farm Needs Support Now

I just received this e-mail from the friends of UBC Farm:

Hello friends of the UBC Farm,

As you may already be aware, a group led by the Friends of the UBC Farm recently initiated a campaign to enact an AMS climate change action fee referendum that would provide some financial support for the Farm. We were cautiously optimistic about this process, as it seemed like an opportune time to go ahead with a student referendum. However, in the past two weeks, the university has taken some actions demonstrating a decision-making process around South campus development that is still far from being transparent and democratic**. As a result many of the Farm’s allies now are concerned that a referendum, no matter what the outcome, could be used to support a unilateral decision to shrink, move, or eliminate the UBC Farm**.

(**Background information on these events and decisions can be found below)

Meeting: Friday, Feb. 29 12 noon, SUB 205

Now is the most crucial time to get involved and take action! This is possibly the most critical time the UBC Farm has faced. Although we are not going to further pursue the climate change referendum, our concentrated efforts to compel transparency in University development are needed NOW to put the Farm on the map and keep it there. We are going to initiate a campaign to garner a critical mass of support from community, government, and media. We invite letters of support to show the university administration how important the UBC Farm is to the community. We aim to include Metro Vancouver (formerly the GVRD) in the decision-making process, hence ensuring community voices in community planning. We will raise awareness through a targeted media campaign. Most importantly, we need as many voices and as diverse a set of ideas at the table as possible. Come to the meeting on Friday the 29th at noon in SUB 205 and we will plan the steps ahead, form sub-committees and begin to take action. If you have been thinking about doing something to help the future of the Farm – NOW IS THE TIME!

=================
**BACKGROUND

Student leaders are committed to finding innovative ways to improve
the learning experience at UBC and also to address the most pressing
issues our society faces. During the last seven years, the efforts of students working in partnership with faculty, staff, and the community
have given rise to a number of programs that accomplish these goals,
thanks to the presence of a unique facility on campus: the UBC
Farm.

Continued student effort has allowed these programs to grow with the
assistance of funds from forward-thinking foundations and businesses,
contributions from a number of UBC Faculties, and countless donations
of time and money from the wider UBC community. Despite these efforts,
the funding base at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS) at
UBC Farm has not been stable or large enough to meet the demand of a
growing number of students wanting to learn at the site. The addition
of stable revenue streams is sorely needed, and option under consideration was to seek support from the larger student body through an AMS student fee referendum.

When this idea was first discussed several years ago, a spring 2008
vote time seemed to be a reasonable date to pursue. The initial
timelines for the Main Campus Plan review process and reassuring
discussions with UBC's senior administrators suggested that the
long-term future of the land itself would be substantially decided by
this point. The emerging societal consensus that climate change was
the major challenge of our generation coupled with emerging scientific
evidence that reforming the food system would be a key part of the
efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions provided a good rationale
and context to pursue an issue-focused student fee referendum. A
committee was formed to develop a plan for a fee referendum and put it
into action.

WHERE WE ARE TODAY

As of February 2008, the long-term future of the farm site is undecided and appears increasingly elusive. The extended timelines for the Main Campus Plan review, the uncertainty about the process used to determine the future of the farm, and a barrage of ambiguous
communication from UBC's administrators have left students with no
expectation that the land's future will be secure at the time of a
March 2008 vote.

The failure to explicitly address the long-term future of the farm and
the lack of reassurance that a transparent public process will be
initiated to make this decision has led to a disquieting atmosphere
where rumors and speculation flourish and trust is eroded between
UBC's administration and the student body.

OUR DECISION

In the absence of a transparent planning process, we are deeply
concerned that the future of the farm can be too easily manipulated by
special interests. Specifically, we feel that something as inherently
contentious as a referendum vote - regardless of its outcome - will be
misconstrued as political evidence in a unilateral planning decision
that will not be in the best interests of students.

Our interest in pursuing this strategy was to improve programming for
students. The current planning climate has made us fear that our
strategy could, instead, compromise the long-term future of the
facility that is absolutely essential to run this programming. For
this reason, we do not want to proceed with this strategy until such
time as the land's long-term future is secure, or a transparent
community planning process is assured, and open dialogue between all
stakeholders can replace an atmosphere of speculation with one of
trust and good faith.

Mandazi Madness: trying something new, for the sake of hospitality

It was going to be a challenge for me. I don't deep fry well. I was determined to try my hand at making the Kenyan donuts called Mandazi for our lessons in Kenyan hospitality. I invited the Cue-Up crew to my house to help out, but the night before I decided to do a trial run. The recipe that Jackline gave us used a cup of Margarine--eek! I found another recipe online at this site that uses two tablespoons of butter and an egg. The recipe calls for warm milk and water, so I decided to melt the butter on the stove to with the milk and water. I also added some freshly ground cardamon seeds, which release their fragrant oils when they are worked into the warm dough. The first donuts I made were burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. (I told you I sucked at deep frying. ) I decided the dough had to be thinner, so I rolled it out to 1/2 cm thickness, and cut them into 1 1/2 inch squares. Bingo! They browned nicely and puffed up in the middle. I also took the liberty of dredging the warm donuts in sugar and powdered green cardamom. Have I told you how much I love cardamom? I bathe in the stuff, literally. I have an aromatherapy oil that includes cardamom in the mix.

My taste testers at home approved on the donuts, so I was pleased, but the real test would be Jackie's opinion. So, yesterday Pierre and I made another batch of mini mandazi. He rolled and cut the dough and I worried them about in the hot oil, flipping them over when they were browned and taking them out of the oil when they were cooked on both sides. I had roasted a Polderside chicken and made some borscht from my mom's recipe, so Lois joined us for a quick supper. Pierre brought sour cream for the soup, which we supplemented with a bit of superdynamite vegetable hot sauce from Italy which I love just about as much as cardamom, although I don't bathe in it. Lois brought bread and hummus, which I dipped in the soup, putting my clothes in deep jeopardy of being stained bright purple. People who eat borscht should have a special maroon wardrobe to wear while eating borscht. Maybe I should talk to LuluLemon about that--borschtwear.

Anyway, we bustled off to VIVO to prepare for the evening's festivities. I had a hell of a time making chai because 1) no stove 2) no tea pot and 3) no tea strainer. I ended up boiling the water in an electric kettle, heating the milk in the microwave and using coffee filters to strain the tea. Ack! I don't recommend this method. VIVO needs a big tea pot and a tea strainer. Every artist run centre should have one. As I' desperately fumbling around making tea, Jackie arrives. Lois immediately offers condolences because of the violence that is currently erupting in Kenya. Jackie says yes, it has upset her, made her sad, and she's been staying up late watching the news unfold online. I offer her a donut. Her eyebrows raise. "Oh! too much sugar! My mother would say that is a waste of good sugar. When we want sugar we just eat some sugar cane. Processed sugar is so expensive." But she said it made her happy that I had tried and she approved of my beginner's effort. Phew! I was very pleased. Jackie said we'd made the donuts too thin, so they were too dry to her taste. She said that if I made them for a dinner at her house I would be teased mercilessly all evening long as that woman who'll never get a husband because she doesn't know how to make mendazi! Tough love, I tell ya.

Cue Up's Mini Mandazi Recipe (makes about 5 dozen mini mendazi)

Here's the recipe I ended up with. I recommend you roll out the dough at least 1 cm. thick and experiment from there. Lois says that when Jackie makes them, they are like savoury Timbits. I've altered the recipe from the original source if you want to make our version of mini mandazi.

Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 4 cups white wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup of regular sugar or honey
- 1/2 tsp salt
- sunflower oil

For dredging:
1 cup sugar and 2 tbs. powdered green cardamon

Melt the butter over the stove, add milk and warm water. Mix dry ingredients and make a well into the centre. Mix the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and add the beaten egg. Add more flour if the dough is too sticky. Knead the dough until elastic and smooth (6-8 min.). Cut them into the shape you prefer (in Kenya they are typically triangular) and fry them in the hot oil. The oil should be between 300-400 degrees F (150-200 degrees C). You can test the oil by putting a little bit of dough into the pan which should float, sizzle, and turn brown. Roll the warm donuts in sugar on them before serving. These are best served as fresh as possible with spicy Masala chai.

Christmas in February

"Why post these pictures now?"
you may ask.
Well, I didn't have a blog at Christmas,
did I?

Chez Zucchini

Sewing Machine Angst

Hello and welcome. It's the middle of the week. Full Moon. I'm starting a blog.


This is a blog about family, community, artistic endeavors and everyday life.

A couple of weeks ago I was sewing this mermaid dress I'm working on and "pow!" the needle broke and just about took out my eye. Since then the machine, let's call her Melba has refused to work. I'll have to admit, I'm taking this personally. Anyway today Peter took a look at some things inside Melba's head and decided that my needle is up too high. He lowered the needle and it works. I hope. The sun's just come out and I have a twinge of spring fever. Who wants to stay inside and sew? I'll sew when the sun goes down.

1000 Blessings,
Zucchini Mama