Anne Rice

I have to admit, I have never read Anne Rice... not being a big fan of vampire stories. Pretty much all I know about her is that... she is a famous writer, whose novels deal primarily with vampires... And somewhere, I think I read that she was a Christian, which surprised me for some reason!

Anyhow, she's in the news again and this time with a bit of a spectacular headline..."Anne Rice Leaves Christianity"... Eh, said I, what's this about... So I took a look at the article below and learned that she refuses to be “anti-gay,” “anti-feminist", “anti-science” and “anti-Democrat.” Wow... that's a pretty powerful commentary on Christianity... I wonder though if her voice will be heard or if it will just be swept under the rug... Interesting too that she is a Roman Catholic... correction... "was" a Roman Catholic... Yes, yes, I know that you can never "undo" baptism but still... She has made a choice, and one that is sending her off in a direction that many will condemn. I've read up a bit on her here and... I might have to start reading her books as they seem to have a deep theology to them... Could be interesting... In the meantime, courage to all who choose to leap into the wild unknown and follow their conscience rather than blind obedience...


http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/30/anne-rice-leaves-christianity/?hpt=T2

Virtual Preaching

This is an interesting idea... Have a preacher in one place, preaching a sermon and being videotaped holographically. This hologram is then beamed into a bunch of other satellite churches, where people can see the same sermon... I'm not so sure it's a great idea... The preacher might react to the faces of the real congregation, which would look weird to the satellites... And it sort of seems kind of... cheap somehow... Are we that short of good preachers that we have to resort to holograms? Or maybe it is the new wave of preaching... After all... we used to be fixated on live music performances and are now quite happy with recorded ones... What's the difference here?? Maybe I'm just old fashioned?? Or maybe it is a great thing... it can go out and reach all sorts of people who might never otherwise hear a famous preacher... Mind you, how is this different from Billy Graham on TV or something? What does it mean to be really present... what is "presence" anyhow... If we watch the Sunday Mass on TV, does that mean we are "present"? And even if we are present to a virtual preacher, are they present to us???

Are we starting to shortcut our human interactions. What's to prevent us from someday staying in our homes and interacting with colleagues, preachers, etc... all through virtual reality... Too much trouble to do it face to face?? Or maybe, like many things, when used in moderation, it can add a whole new level of living to our lives... no replacing the really important things, but supplementing them in some way... Only time will tell...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/07/14/virtual.preaching/index.html?hpt=T2

Oscar the Bionic Cat

If you haven't seen this stuff already, you should take a look. This little cat is amazing... I read about it on CNN. Oscar lost parts of his hindlegs to a combine harvester and was taken to a vet who specializes in "bionic" limbs for pets... Take a look... The first video is early on... and the second one looks like it came later... Oscar is previewing cutting-edge medicine that one day might be used for humans... He's a spunky little cat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcy78rnDKiQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmDqVN7vr8E&feature=related

Another tornado watch

Well, this time I was listening to the radio and heard the beep, beep, beep of the Emergency Warning System. Interesting how focused my attention can get... I was here at the computer and immediately went to the weather.ca network to get the radar image. Luckily this rotating thunderstorm is SE of Calgary and continuing SE... Still... a wake-up call!

Not a Test...

You know how every once in a while, the radio will do a test of the emergency broadcast system, followed by a series of beeps, and a test message, followed by a statement that this was just a test... Well... the other day, we were watching TV... and we had an actual, real, live, emergency broadcast... The screen went blue with "Alberta Emergency Public Warning System" across the screen, followed by a series of beeps. Then Environment Canada came on announcing that there were two severe rotating thundercloud systems near Milo and Bassano and a high tornado risk. Then instructions on how to take cover etc... Yowsa! Our eyes went wide and we immediately went to the computer to find out where Bassano and Milo are... luckily about 90 km SE of Calgary... Stil... it got the old adrenaline flowing and I think it's the first time I've ever heard a real emergency broadcast... It's nice to know the system works... and it was on the radio at the same time too... Luckily, the thunderclouds didn't produce any tornadoes... but still...

It did make me think... what would be the safest part of our place to hunker down in... how to grab the cats... what else to take that would be irreplacable... I know my mom always had an "emergency" kit in a rubbermaid container that she could grab and run... with some canned food, bottled water, etc... Hmmm... always a good thing to be prepared... now to just do it...

Vegetable, Fruit Other

I've been doing a bit of research into flora... specifically what we call vegetable, fruit and... stuff... And the truth is, a lot of things that I have called vegetable... and which we all call "vegetable" are actually fruits. Oh sure, we know about tomatoes... but what about peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, sqaush, pumpkin, avocado, beans, peas... Yeah... I wondered the same thing... what's left in vegetable after all that!

Veggies are technically edible plant stuff, usually, leaf, stem or root... There are always exceptions of course... like the artichoke which is a flower bud of a plant that looks like a huge thistle... Go figure... And something like rhubarb, which I've always thought of as a fruit... is actually technically a vegetable, since it ain't all that sweet and it is the stalk of the rhubarb plant...

Fruits, technically are the structure of a plant that contains its seeds... except for pineapple and bananas which are bred without seeds, but are still fruits...

Then, of course, we have nuts, seeds with a hard casing... like coconuts... presumably peanuts, etc... Although technically, I guess they could also be classified as fruits...

Finally, the ones that don't fit... like mushrooms... nope, not a vegetable... they are a fungus, which is something else entirely...

Anyhow, when I look at our diet... rich in tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers... I don't think we are eating all that many "vegetables" and an awful lot of fruit! Which is probably why the Canada Food Guide lumps them all together... Call it what you will... most of them are darn yummy... even eggplant... And our next foray into the wild world of veggies is going to be the dreaded... artichoke... We've both eaten them and liked them... but never cooked them... There are hour long videos on the internet on how to properly prepare an artichoke, so this should be interesting....

P.S. Eggplant

Hmmm... I may be a fanatic convert! Go to Safeway.ca... check on Recipes... search by ingredients and see what shows up if you type in eggplant...

Roasted Eggplant Dip - "A creamy texture and smoky-spicy flavour that is absolutely addictive" (drool...)

Roasted Eggplant, Onion and Red Pepper Dip - (slurp)

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan - on the BBQ no less... (yum!)

OK, I'm done with the eggplant promotion... or Queen of the Fruits as we'll call her from now on...

Eggplant Adventures

I have to admit... I've never really had a hankering for eggplant... Don't like it, don't buy it, can't stand it... Mind you, that was all before I tried it about 4 years ago in Toronto... It was a conference and the buffet dinner that night was eggplant parmesan with no other choices. No slices of bread with a can of tuna like back in university days... So I pulled back my lips and gingerly nibbled my teeth into it... eeeewwwwweerrrrrrwaitasecondthisisactually... kind of... hmmmm... yummy... hmmm.... Another few nibbles, and I decided I had given eggplant a bad rap for 40 years!!!

But then... how do you cook it.... what do you do with it???? Sigh... too much trouble... We'll just stick with broccoli and cauliflower, carrots and celery, cucumber and tomato... Except, I sort of always sidle by the eggplants in the supermarket and look at them longingly... Let's face it, they are a very fetching shade of purple, quite attractive really. And every store I've been in usually has huge piles of them, so... they must be popular? Yes??? Either that, or the grocery stores are wasting their money on disposable eggplants! And Superstore actually has Chinese eggplant, long and slim, and a lighter shade of purple... But what to do... How to cook it???

The other day, I was in Superstore and circling around the eggplants and finally decided to go for it. The next issue was, how to pick an eggplant... Do you go by weight? Sheen? Colour? Heft?? They all felt equally... funny... to me... I thought they would be hard like a squash, but no... sort of soft and yielding but super smooth... After testing a variety of eggplants, I chose a likely looking specimen and gently laid it in my cart. My sense was, this little puppy would bruise very easily!!! Tiptoe-ing through the store and careful not to bump my cart... I made it to the checkout, to the truck and home with an intact eggplant!!!

Now what??? Thank God for the internet!!! I'm not sure what people did about cooking before the internet... Oh yeah, cookbooks... uh-huh... whatever!! So, I did a bit of research... Eggplant is actually part of the nightshade family, a relative of tomatoes and sweet peppers... That must be one huge vine that the eggplants grow on!!! I also learned that in Europe it is called "aubergine", so much more fancy sounding than "eggplant", which sort of goes out of your mouth and falls with a splat on the floor!

I learned as well, that "eggplant (purple)" is a colour, and was introduced by Crayola in 1998... how cool to have a crayon named "eggplant purple"! Except, eggplant can also come in white, yellow, orange(!), green, pale purple, black and grey... go figure... That does however explain why it is named "egg"plant... because the white ones look like eggs (duh)... They can also range in size from long skinny things to the traditional eggplant shape to small round ones. Who knew eggplant could be so... varied!

I also learned that eggplants are not vegetables... no, they are actually a "berry", as with tomatoes... This means it has a lot of soft seeds, which are bitter to the taste because they contain nicotinoid alkaloids, not all that weird, since it is a close relative of... tobacco... All you who are looking to ditch your cigarettes, don't use the patch... eat eggplants (20 lbs = 1 cigarette)!

The bigger question is this though... It is native to Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka... so how did it end up in our Superstore as a regular denizen?? Well, it was introduced to the western world by... the Arabs around the 1500s and the rest is history... Eggplant was a big hit!

Another thing to know about eggplant is that the stem can be spiny... and that means that the cute little green hat that the eggplant wears also bears spines... as my fingers can attest... "Where did I get so many slivers from???" Watch out for eggplants... they bite!

Now, as for cooking it... That is another story... Wikipedia says that when it is eaten raw, it is slightly bitter, but when cooked develops a "rich and complex flavour"... Hmmm.... The skin is edible, although most recipes call for peeling... Salting it can help dispel any bitterness, but luckily our modern varieties aren't bitter at all... No, they've dealt with their issues and are quite mild-tempered! The French use it in ratatouille... the Italians in eggplant parmesan, the Greeks in mousakka, and the southeastern Asians in a variety of dishes...

You can stuff it, you can grill it, you can deep fry it, you can bake it, you can mash it, you can stew it, you can braise it... You can do pretty much anything with it, and it'll be yummy (I think)... Let's just say it's versatile and it now kind of makes sense that the Indians call it "King of Vegetables"... 'cept for the fact it's technically a fruit and well... being so versatile, it might even be a Queen... You never know, could happen... So it's "Queen of Fruits"... That is... kind... of ... an... interesting image... Perhaps it could be the official fruit of the Rainbow!!

By the way... in case you are not convinced yet... eggplant is effective for the treatment of high blood cholesterol... maybe... some studies say yes... others say no... still... it can't hurt!

Now, let's get to the crux of the matter... cooking my delicate little eggplant. I had perused the internet and pulled off four likely recipe contenders. Two called for breading and frying... two called for baking... In the interests of health, I went with one of the baking recipes... Most recipes call for spaghetti sauce, so lacking that, I went with the one that just called for tomato slices... After pulling off the leaves (silly me... prickles!), I sliced it into 1/4 inch slices and peeled them... I was a bit flummoxed by the texture and kept poking the slices trying to figure out what sort of texture they reminded me of... A really soft apple-inside comes to mind, but not as juicy... And yes, there were tiny fruit seeds in there... Brushed with olive oil and garlic, the slices were sent into the oven to bake and brown... Afterwards, they were layered in a casserole dish with tomatoes, basil, mozza and parmesan, and sent back to the oven...

I have to admit... secretly, I had my doubts... Even though this was supposed to be dinner... I had a backup plan in place, in case it was a complete flop... In this case, hand-made sushi... If push came to shove, we could always fall back on that... When the time was up, I pulled it out of the oven and thought... well, at least the cheese melted...It didn't look all that appealing, but I kept saying, think of it as a sweet potato (the white not the orange variety)... Could be... With some trepidation, we cut pieces out and put them on our plates... a bit of salt and pepper and we agreed to eat our first bite at the same time... presumably so that when we both spit it out, it would land on the other's plate and seal the deal (no more eggplant)!

Some chewing... some more chewing... some swallowing... and a second forkful for each... Hmm... maybe this isn't a flop! After three mouthfuls, we looked at each other and agreed "This isn't half bad... in fact... it's pretty good... like 8/10 in fact!!" Wow... And, we finished the whole casserole dish... Who knew???

I may try the pan-fried variety next time... might leave the skin on next time... But I think I can safely say... eggplant is now a welcome addition to our grocery cart!! And the lesson?? Well... for me... trust in my cooking instincts I guess... And don't diss something until you've actually tried it. I do that a lot... I don't like sourcream. Don't like cottage cheese. Don't like _ _ _ _ _ ... "Well, have you tried it?" No! But that's beside the point! My favourite line is... "it's sour"... Sourcream is sour (duh)... cottage cheese is sour (it comes in the same shaped pots as sourcream)... mustard is sour... mayonaise is sour... yes, I know... I've grown beyond "it's sour!"... So... there is always hope for each of us... try something new... anything... browse the produce section and bring home something new... you never know... you might make a new flora friend!

Stampede

Well, this is my third summer in Calgary... and I have yet to get down to the Calgary Stampede!! Last year it was an out-of-town workshop that kept me away... and the year before that, I don't remember what the reason was! Stampede in Calgary is huge... The police say that on any given day, the Stampede grounds comprise Alberta's third largest city with a population of around 120,000. Now, I have nothing against people... but crowds of that sort... I just wonder how much fun it really is  to wait in line for events and rides and food and God knows what else. I gather that the Stampede is more than chuckwagon races, bronco riding and steer busting but still... All those crowds... Or maybe it's just the ambience of the whole thing... you know... plaid is the new black and the chicest hairpiece is a cowboy hat. Given that I was horse-mad as a kid, you'd think I'd be chomping at the bit to get down to Stampede. But... it is expensive... and they aren't all that kind to horses... And maybe there are more funner things to do in Calgary than watching a bunch of cowboys subdue a bunch of animals. I'm kind of interested to find out the "free" things to do in Calgary... if such a thing exists... Perhaps another blog topic...

Good Samaritan

“Love your neighbour as yourself”… Sounds pretty simple and straightforward. We’ve heard this reading for years… Christianity has heard this reading for centuries. We know what it means. We need to look around us and recognize that each person is our neighbour. And we do that… more or less. We might grumble at seeing the terrorist, the abortionist, the pedophile, the rapist, the prostitute, the lawyer, the politician, the homosexual, etc. as our neighbours. But we at least recognize that we should be striving to love them… in whatever fashion that may appear in this moment. But you can read the story of the Good Samaritan and take it bigger… and wider… way wider… way bigger.


So, who is our neighbor? Who should we love as ourselves? Well, take a look around you… Take a look at the plants in your backyard. Take a look at your pets. Take a look at the earth. Take a look at the oceans. They are your neighbours too. How do you love them as yourself?

Well, sure, I mean we’ve always thought that nature was there for us to “dominate” and “subdue”. But that’s kind of suicidal in the long run, and doesn’t really reflect our own love for ourselves. “Well, yes, I love myself and I love my human neighbours… but I’m going to pollute the oceans past the point of recovery”. Kind of silly isn’t it? “I love myself so much, that I’m going to get an 8 litre gas guzzling Hummer SUV, even if oil/gas addiction is killing our world”. Kind of sounds a bit backwards doesn’t it?

If we really loved ourselves… I mean, really loved ourselves… we’d start with the small things. We’d love the creatures around us… the life all around us… and we’d care for it, because we’d recognize that we are not islands. We are NOT self-sufficient beings, no matter how much we might like to think we are. We depend on the air, the earth, the water, the plants, the animals.

And ultimately… everything comes from the hand of the Creator. We are all created from the divine… We are all part of the One… Even creation is part of the divine… That dandelion that was just poisoned with Round-up is part of the divine… That fish that is now sterile because of too much Round-up run off in the river is part of the divine…

Can you see the Divine in the world around you? Can you see yourself in the plants, animals, earth, oceans around you? Can you recognize the neighbours beyond the frontier of the human species? Neighbours who are not there for us to abuse and use… but are there for us to be partnered with… Can we open our eyes, our hearts, our spirits that wide? Can we see a new thing… or are we seeing what we’ve always seen? What we’ve been told to see?

SeaSick

Although this book came out last year… or maybe even the year before that… it is all the more timely this year. Alanna Mitchell, an environmental journalist, takes a look at the state of our oceans… or rather… ocean (they are all connected).


Given the gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, this book is well worth the read, at any time, but particularly now.

In its chapters, Mitchell takes a look at the serious issues facing our oceans. Right off the bat, we learn that 99% of the earth’s potential ecosystems are in the ocean. Yup, not the earth, not the air… in the oceans. And the health of the oceans affects the health of the atmosphere which affects the health of the earth as a whole. Just because we don’t live in the oceans, doesn’t mean we should ignore what goes on there! In Genesis, humanity is given stewardship, not only of the creatures that walk on earth, but of the oceans as well…

Five main issues come to the fore in Mitchell’s book:

1. Coastal Dead Zones—off the coasts of major river deltas like the Mississippi. Primarily due to excessive use of fertilizer on land, which flows to the ocean, which creates a plankton bloom, which then settle to the ocean floor and the bacteria go wild and suck up all the oxygen. Some of these dead zones go all the way up to the water surface…

2. Oceanic Acidification—more CO2 in the atmosphere means more gets absorbed into the oceans which creates carbonic acid which means the oceans are getting more acidic, which means current life forms are starting to struggle (e.g. coral reefs). Our cars create CO2 which is killing the oceans.

3. Coral Reef Decline—Increasing water temperatures and increasing oceanic acidification means the coral reefs are dying. 80% of the reefs in the Caribbean are bleached and dying.

4. Overfishing—collapse of various fish stocks… Atlantic Canada and soon to be Western Canada. Within 30 years of starting to harvest a particular fish species, 80% of those fish are gone. We have overfished the rivers, overfished the coastal waters and are now overfishing the deep sea. Once they are gone… they are gone…

5. Ocean Debris—like the Great Pacific Garbage Island—a gyre in the Pacific caused by oceanic currents where all the garbage accumulates. Tiny bits of plastic that clog up fish and bird guts… and slowly poison them. That plastic bag that blew out of the garbage… that cigarette wrapper thrown away…

What are you doing to make a difference? Climate change is transforming our world before our very eyes… and not for the better.