A Life, Lived

Photo Hunt -Model

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'model'. I was going to post a pic of model good looks but after last week's theme of humble I thought better of THAT! Plus the fact that I have no model good looks. *smile*

Instead I am going in this direction ...

This is the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was the seat of city government - where the Medici worked their deals.

You see versions of this building crop up throughout Tuscany whereever a town or city came under Medici rule.

In Volterra . . .

Siena . . .

Montepulciano . . .

All of the copies are slightly different but all are clearly based upon the original model in Florence.

National Geographic Secrets to a Long Life

For the past eight years Dan Buettner, the Blue Zones team of scientists, and National Geographic researchers have explored five places around the world where people live measurably longer lives: the interior of Sardinia, a remote peninsula in Costa Rica, a Greek island, a Japanese archipelago, and a community in southern California.

The secret to longevity has less to do with diet—or even exercise—and more to do with the social and physical environment in which people live. Buettner identified nine powerful yet simple lessons that debunk the most common myths and offer a science-backed blueprint that could give the average American another 12 quality years of life.  

The Power 9 ™ from The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest:

1. Keep moving
Find ways to move naturally, such as walking and gardening, using fewer laborsaving devices.

2. Find purpose
And pursue it with passion.

3. Slow down
Work less, rest, and take vacations.

4. Stop eating …
… when you're 80 percent full.

5. Dine on plants
Eat more veggies and less meat and processed foods.

6. Drink red wine
Do it consistently but in moderation.

7. Join a group
Create a healthy social network.

8. Feed your soul
Engage in spiritual activities.

9. Love your tribe
Make family a high priority.

Ginger Apricot Honey Jam

Last year the local aproicot crop was pretty well destroyed by a late frost killing off the blossoms. This year things were different and I was determined to make some jam when I spied ripe apricots in the market.

First I made some of the raspberry apricot jam which is my mother's favourite! There may be ajar in her future. :-)

I had plenty of apricots left over so I searched online for another jam to make. I found this recipe for Gingery Apricot Honey Jam and decided to give it a shot. I am glad that I did - the resulting jam is less sweet than others I have made and has a hint of spiciness from the ginger.

Gingery Apricot Honey Jam

10 cups of Apricots, pitted and diced small
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of honey
2 packages of no-sugar needed pectin
3 tbsp grated ginger
1 thin slice of ginger for each jar

Add apricots, ginger, sugar and honey to a pot. Boil until you can crush the apricots down into a jam-like consistency and the sugar is dissolved.

Add no-sugar needed pectin, bring back to a boil and let it hard-boil for one minute.

Take off the heat and ladle into jars. Before putting a lid on the jar, put one thin slice of ginger atop your jam.

Process in a boiling water bath 10 minutes.

The Butler

Paul and I recently headed to the VIP theatre to take in the Butler. I was looking froward to seeing a rare summer movie that didn't involved super heroes, fecal jokes, aliens, or groups of friends waking up in Vegas. We both loved the film but came away with a good deal of white person's guilt - unusual given that we were not alive when the events depicted in the film were taking place (particularly Paolo), we have never been to the south, and well, we are Canadian where things were different.

The movie, which opened on August 16, is based on the real story of Eugene Allen (in the film his name is Cecil Gaines and he is portrayed by Forest Whitaker), who served as a White House butler from 1952 to 1986, a tumultuous period of race relations in America. The film follows Gaines from his childhood on a Georgia cotton farm through his relationships with Presidents Eisenhower, through Reagan. Over the course of the film, we see Gaines standing in the Oval Office as Eisenhower debates sending the National Guard into Little Rock, Arkansas, to allow African-American students to walk in the door of their high school and as President Reagan argues with members of Congress about support for South Africa during apartheid.

Many have howled with outrage over the fact that the film is very loosely based upon a true story (both men were butlers, black, worked at the White House, and born in the south). We hadn't read the back story but when the one son just happened to be about every major Civil Rights battle in a prominent role we started to get suspicious. Others have howled at the casting - Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan???? The challenge with shooting a movie that arcs through history is that the viewers know what the various characters are supposed to look like. Lee Daniels doesn't try to have his actors look like the famous folks, rather he encourages they to act like them - and in most cases they get this down.

I think that the point of the film is not to be a historical accurate tale but a depiction of the perspectives of black people over the decades of the 20th century, not to be a history channel documentary of all the presidents. In fact, the presidents are minimal characters.

Parallel to Cecil Gaines’s story is the story of his son, Louis (David Oyelowo), who joins the civil rights movement when he goes away to college, participates in the Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In in 1960 and, in the sixties, segues into the black power movement. While Cecil has been taught not to speak out or talk about politics, Louis sees no other choice but to speak out loud and to protest. The film juxtaposes the refined state dinners, august halls, and polished silver of the White House with the gritty reality of the segregated South and the struggle for civil rights. To highlight the tension between the two worlds, Daniels filmed the scenes in the White House and the scenes of Louis and the Gaines family with different tones, color palettes, cameras, and lenses.

Overall, with its own share of strong drama and some humor, The Butler impresses but does not overwhelm; it may fail expectations but does not really disappoint. It's good but not great, though it is definitely worth-seeing. With effective lead actors, a star-spangled cast and a significant plot, who knows, the film may earn some nods at the Oscars.

On Top of the Pinnacle

This week for Travel Tuesdays I am featuring a shot taken at the top of a mountain in Stowe, Vermont. I traveled there with two friends to help one celebrate her 50th birthday. On the actual day she was determined to hike up the top of the Pinnacle.

Here we are at the top overlooking Stowe valley.

I will NOT lie and tell you it was an easy hike- it was NOT. Nonetheless it was a brilliant experience and a ton of fun.

Be sure to pop on over to Sandi's blog to see what else is happening on Travel Tuesdays!

Egg Salad Sandwiches with Bacon and Sriracha

It seems that Sriracha - that amazing hot sauce from Viet Nam that was brought to North America in 1980- continues to be a trendy ingredient. Sriracha is made from sun ripen chilies which are ground into a smooth paste along with garlic and packaged in a convenient squeeze bottle. It is excellent in soups, sauces, pastas, pizzas, hot dogs, hamburgers, chow mein or on anything else to give it a delicious, spicy taste.

We go through bottles of the stuff. In fact, we love it so much that we even made a bottle of our own last fall.

It seems that every food magazine features some recipe each month which uses it - almost to the point that we must be nearing sriracha overkill! Even Cooking Light got on board last month with a tasty sounding sandwich involving eggs, bacon, and sriracha sauce. As soon as I saw it I knew we would have to try that sandwich!

It was every bit as good as you'd imagine (so long as you like tasty food with a wee bit of heat)!

Egg Salad Sandwiches with Bacon and Sriracha

2 center-cut bacon slices
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 tablespoons canola mayonnaise
1 tablespoon plain fat-free yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons Sriracha (hot chile sauce, such as Huy Fong)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
6 hard-cooked large eggs, chopped
2 cups arugula
8 whole-grain bread slices

Cook bacon in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; crumble. Place bacon in a large bowl. Stir in onions and next 5 ingredients (through salt). Gently stir in eggs.

Arrange 1/2 cup arugula on each of 4 bread slices. Top each serving with 1/3 cup egg mixture and 1 bread slice.

An Impromptu Visit to Niagara

There are times when we plan our visits to wine country well in advance - carefully researching the wineries we hope to visit, the wines we wish to sample, and the places to go for a hike, food, or to shop. Other times we wake up and just head out. A few weeks ago we had just that sort of visit.

This visit started when I read a tweet from one of our favourite food trucks stating that they would be at Dillons distillery for Sunday brunch withthree other food trucks. Hmmm - I had wanted to visit Dillons for some time.

Then I received an e-mail from one of our most visited wineries which we had rather ignored of late because there were just too many wineries to go to. Malivoire had a new release that they were celebrating  AND the Cheesy Guys food truck was to be parked there. This food truck is reputed to have Canada's best grilled cheese sandwich.

Our day was set!

Malivoire was out first stop. They have really focused on the tasting room doubling the space and including a few interactive aspects to add to the experience. We tasted the new releases and bought a case to bring home.

The Cheesy Guys were set up outside.

We sampled some of their cheeses - all artisanal and handcrafted products . . . all amazing (at least the ones we tried).

On that day they were featuring two grilled paninis. Since we had heard so much about their grilled cheese made with a cheese blend and served with their house-made salsa ketchup we had that.

It was every bit as amazing as we had heard!

After gorging on gooey, melted cheese encased in crisp, buttered bread we hopped back into the car and headed to Dillon's (because we needed to eat more . . .)

Dillon's is a new addition to the Niagara wine country. Geoff Dillon (with degrees in biochemistry and economics), along with his father, Dr. Peter Dillon (a professor at Trent University who specializes in biogeochemistry), opened the doors to Dillon’s Small Batch Distillers in 2012. Using the bounty of natural botanicals, herbs and fruit sourced from Niagara, the distillery is focused squarely on small-batch spirits, hand-crafted at the production facility shared with Angels Gate Winery.

The first products from Dillon’s are made from a base of Niagara grapes that would otherwise have been thrown to the ground during the annual thinning process. Instead, they are dropped into baskets, fermented and distilled at Dillon’s.

The grape-based spirit provides the base for the various distilled products, including Dillon’s Small Batch White Rye (with a delightful nose of rye, minerals and a touch of citrus); the Small Batch Gin (a mellow and smooth elixir with notes of juniper, herbs, tonic and spice) and a line of bitters all made with a mixture of fresh botanicals.

When we got to Dillon's the parking lot was full and there were groups of people standing around munching on food. We made a beeline to our favourite food truck - the Gastronomo Vagabundo. Unfortunately they were not serving their famous fish tacos and we selling out of many things already.

We ordered the corn fritters and salmon kibbeh rissole even though we didn't have a clue what that was. *smile* When the food was ready we took possession of an upturned wine barrel and munched on the amazing food.

After we had eaten we noticed the menu of the Tide and Vine truck. We had thought they only served oysters but realised that they also had lobster rolls, scallop and Niagara peach skewers, and watermelon gazpacho with crab salad.  Shoot - so much to eat and so little time.

There was also a women selling 'adult' popsicles made with local fruit and spirits.

The folks from Dillon's had created specialty coctails for the day and were serving them up to happy people. I would have indulged but was worried about driving afterwards!

After eating we popped into the distillery to taste the gin, vodka, rye, and sample the bitters. It was quick to see why this spot has developed such a buzz in less than a year!

We bought a bottle of each of the spirits and a sampler box of the bitters.

I see many cocktail experiments in our future . . .

Photo Hunt -Humble

This week's Photo Hunt theme is humble. It makes sense after last week's theme of swanky! For my swanky theme I shared pictures of the Faculty Club at Harvard University.

For this week's theme I will continue with my eating establishment theme but go somewhere far more humble . . .

We ate at this restaurant in Acqui Terme back in 2008. It was recommended to us by the owner of the B and B we were staying at.

There was nothing swanky here!

The decor was simple. There was no printed menu. Very little English was spoken. The wine was a bit 'rough'. Nonetheless, for 11 euro you got a delicious three course meal (note -for some reason I forgot to take a photo of dessert. SIGH).

It was one of the best meals of our trip! Proof that sometimes humble wins the day!

A Greek Feast

So I have been so crazy busy lately that I am behind in my blogging. When we returned from the Cape I wrote a series of posts and I have just been running through them. Since then I have had three dinner parties, been to Vermont for a weekend of fun, worked a lot, eaten some amazing food, and generally rushed off of my feet.

I was going to say that things have calmed down now but that would be a lie. Work is crazy. We have three weekends away in the next 6. I am so behind in my gardening that I should just pull everything out and start again.

You get the picture.

Looking back - a couple of weeks ago we hosted a group of friends over for what has become a traditional get together before our Annual Meeting at work. We always eat way too much food, drink too much, and laugh too much . . . OK, accept the first two but NEVER suggest that you can laugh too much.

My friend Nancy was soon to be turning 50 so she picked the menu - she wanted Greek food so Paul and I whipped up a Greek feast.

We started out on the terrace with mezes and drinks.

After nibbling we moved inside for the main event . . .souvlaki, Gigantes (beans in tomato sauce), stuffed tomatoes, pastitsio, and Paul's famous Greek salad with fried feta.

In honor of the birthday gal we had a cake for dessert . . .

There was nothing Greek about thecake but I was unable to resist having some fun.*smile*

Sunset

This was the sky tonight after our company had left for home. Paul and I were sitting outside on the terrace, the bats were flitting about catching bugs (I hope), and the sky went purple and red. . .

If you look closely you'll see one of those bats in flight.