Braggin' on my Man

N has had a number of pieces of work published lately, and one came in the mail yesterday, so it is high time I shared the links with you.  I'm proud of him!

* Part 1 of a four-part series for the Marketplace Institute, Regent College, Vancouver, Canada.

* A book review of a collection of essays for Cardus, Canada.

* An essay, adapted from his public address in NZ recently, in Winter Selection 2012, Maxim Institute, Auckland, New Zealand. (This is what arrived in the mail.  The essay link goes to Maxim's publications site but it wasn't available for upload just yet.)

Plus, you get to see an action shot!  Now just add his beard.  :o)

Here's the pic taken at ReFrame, before we left Vancouver.  The Marketplace Institute is currently seeking funding to film the course for global distribution.  You can see our friend, Mark, explain more here if you want to support this worthy project.  They hope to have secured the necessary pledges by October 31st in order to start distribution by mid-2013.  (Here endeth my shameless plug for them!)

Fire!

Don't be alarmed - we haven't had a fire!  Though I did neglect to turn off the oven for a few hours in the weekend so we were toasty warm as we had our dinner and dessert with Grant, Gloria and Chelsea on Saturday.  They were over to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with us, which is actually today.  Happy Thanksgiving to all our dear Canuck friends!  We miss you all and are so thankful for our time together.

Back to the fire...

...truck, that is. :o)

When Grandma and Grandad were staying with us this time last year, Grandad rescued this pedal-car from next to the dumpster.  He discovered it just needed a new washer, nut and bolt, and fixed it up for J. We've been waiting until he is big enough to reach the pedals to give it to him.  

 He still needs to practise steering and pedalling a lot more but he loves it.  Especially the bell!

Thanks Grandad!

Independence Day and Rootedness

Today we have joined in the local celebrations for Independence Day.  Happy 4th of July!

It was kind of funny that a Texan (C), a Canadian (J) and a Kiwi (Me) had to scramble around to find anything red, white, and/or blue to wear!  There does seem to be a secret compartment in the closets/wardrobes of Americans that contain outfits for days such as this.  We managed to score a couple of miniature flags to wave from a friendly parade organizer and joined some of N's classmates to watch the fun in the suburb of Lakewood.  I think my favourite float was the kids playing (original, I think) rock songs on  a big trailer - those tweens were talented!  J enjoyed collecting candy (which I kept referring to as lollies) and C munched on his hat and flag (which cleared the way for the appearance of tooth #3 today).  Some of the costumes were elaborate, the political buttons were big (election year here) and the classic cars were cool (or should that be hot?)

Afterwards we had a barbecue lunch with our friends, complete with octopus sprinkler in the back yard.  C took a nap at last, J had a blast in the sprinkler (but wasn't so keen on the sand down his pants from the sandpit) and I had fun talking with everyone.

The holiday today celebrates 236 years of independence from British rule.  Canada celebrated the birthday of their nation 145 years ago on Sunday (belated Happy Canada Day!) and New Zealand commemorated 172 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (between the indigenous Maori and the British Crown) on February 6th.  In reflecting on these community markers of national identity I have been struck by how much we define ourselves by (or against) our history - our roots as nations, communities, families and individuals.  It is from our understanding of the past, the values and virtues that were cultivated there and passed on, the stories that we retell and those we choose not to, that we define our present selves and move forward into the future.  For those of us with faith, that identity is even more rich as we layer in the stories that have shaped our beliefs (and, hopefully, actions) too.

I have also been reflecting on these past weeks 'flying solo' most of the time in my role as parent while N has been away.  (I am looking forward to redistributing the wife/mother balance again soon!)  In reading a blog this week I was reminded that our role as parents is really to raise kids to be independent, and to let them leave.  In teaching our boys to be independent, however, I believe we need to teach them how to 'be' with us - within the community of our family, neighbourhood(s), nations, world - in order that they might have healthy roots through which to draw strength and sustenance as their independent identies emerge and they leave the nest.

I left home when I married N at the ripe old age of 20.  Now I realise how potentially scary this was for my parents!  One of my favourite wedding presents was actually orchestrated by my mum in the weeks leading up to the wedding.  Knowing we were setting up a brand new household, she gave me a box of goodies each week with a different theme.  All those little things you need but don't realise you don't have them until you want them to hand immediately.  I can't remember them all but some highlights include gift wrap and ribbons; a bucket of cleaning supplies; a box of stationery and office supplies; lightbulbs, super glue and other fixity stuff; and so on.  It was like getting an elaborate Christmas stocking of independence every week!  Essentially these gifts represented my parents' work teaching me not only to fly the nest but enabling me to soar (as an individual, and together with N in our marriage).

When I dream of what my boys may be like by the time they leave home I hope each of them can draw their identity from who they are in Christ, our family, communities and nations. (We've sure created some interesting scenarios by providing them with multiple passports!)  I pray that they will be both independent and rooted.  I hope they will share the wealth of their heritage, in all its glory and shortcomings, with those they know and love.  And I hope I can let them soar too.

P.S. Food Course: Other Resources

Films

• Babette's Feast
• Eat Drink Man Woman
• Big Night
• The New World
• Fiddler on the Roof
• Garbage
• The Future of Food

Children's Books

• Jam: A True Story - Margaret Mahy
• Whose Garden Is It? - Mary Ann Hoberman
• Mrs. Moskowitz and the Sabbath Candlesticks - Amy Schwartz
• Goops and How to Be Them - Gelett Burgess
• Mice Squeak, We Speak - Arnold Shapiro
• Stone Soup - various versions of this traditional tale
• An Angel For Solomon Singer - Cynthia Rylant and Peter Catalanotto
• A Bad Case of Stripes - David Shannon
• Blueberries For Sal - Robert McCloskey
• Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder (and other books in the series, especially Farmer Boy)
• Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss
• The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake - Nancy Willard
• The Pipi Swing - Sarona Aiono-Iosefa
• Bread and Jam for Frances - Russell Hoban

Websites

• Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer
• Love Food Hate Waste
• Eat the Seasons
• Koanga Institute
• Salt Spring Seeds
• BC Farm Fresh
• Local Food BC
• River Cottage
• Jamie Oliver
• Simply Good Food (NZ CSA)
• City Farm Boy (Vancouver)
• Kitsilano Farmers' Market

Food Course: Final Day

Our final day on the food course was a flurry of activity as we prepared to leave, packing and cleaning and scurrying to take final notes from books we wouldn't be able to access easily as we went our separate ways. We had a brief class time where Emily had an opportunity to share about her choice to be a vegetarian, and Loren shared some thoughts and quotes about the communion meal.

The highlight of the day was the outdoor banquet of left-overs from the week, which we began with a simple and informal communion meal. It was a joyful revisit of our previous meals and an opportunity to thank Loren and Mary Ruth with some gifts (a cut-paper picture with an uncanny familial resemblance, and a wood-turned arbutus bowl), and Sarah for her TA work (chocolates). We were all blessed to receive a copy of our very own 'Galiano Cookbook', a collection of recipes used on the course. Then, with tummies full of pie and plenty for our minds to mull over, we packed ourselves off to the ferry and our various homes.

Loren and Mary Ruth celebrated their hard work (and our departure) with a meal at their local French restaurant, and were pleasantly surprised to discover we had all chipped in to pay for their meal!

Food Course: The Hungry Soul

The discussion this day focussed on food disorders: obesity, anorexia, bulimia, and the greatest food disorder, hunger. Mary Ruth explored three basic roots of all these disorders - geographic change, cultural change, and familial change.

The conversation about geographic change focussed on the effects of urbanisation, changes in the size and nature of farms, and the change in how we use our homes (especially how zoning and consumerism 'feed' our lifestyles in the latter). We talked about how cultural changes are shown in the denial of real stages of life (e.g. in fashion, aging or anti-aging, tween culture), conformity to a prescribed beauty, and denial of classic sources of wisdom (family, place, and self are replaced with media influences). Familial change reflected the impact of households where both parents work, changes in food preparation and preservation, and children's schedules that rival their parents.


Some possible small steps we discussed were:

• refusing to buy into fads - thinking carefully before we buy/do things
• choosing to walk - a way of promoting community, exercise, safety, slowing down...
• reducing meat consumption - awareness of animal care issues, sourcing food resulting in intentionality, seasonal eating, meat flavour trumping size
• modelling healthy attitudes to food and our bodies - acknowledging that most people hunger for love, joy, acceptance and approval... and that churches ought to be places of healing in these areas too

Our reading was from two books: Harvey Levenstein's "The Paradox of Plenty" and "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan. The quote I chose comes from the latter, page 81: “But the industry’s influence would not be nearly so great had the ideology of nutritionism not already undermined the influence of tradition and habit and common sense – and the transmitter of all those values, mom – on our eating.”


Our mindful meal this evening was an Indian meal with a focus on our senses. We started by washing our hands. The meal looked beautiful, as did the spice illustrations. We ate with our hands (even though we tried to use only one - as is traditional). We smelt all the beautiful spices as the group cooked and tried to identify them at the table. We tasted a wide variety of flavours: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, hot... And we heard the crack of poppadums, the crunch of radishes, the gentle whisper of naan scooping up dhal, and the satisfied sounds of diners as they tasted the chai tea icecream!
The menu was:
Appetizer - Poppadums serverd with Mango-Apple Chutney, Lime Pickle, Cucumber Raita, Cilantro (Coriander leaf)-Onion Relish Salad - White and Red Radish Salad Entrees (Mains) - Basmati Rice and Naan Bread with Baji Dhal (East Indian Spinach and Lentils) and Roasted Vegetables Dessert - Chocolate Cake with Chai Tea Ice Cream

This day also happened to be Mel's birthday, so the chocolate cake became a birthday cake...

complete with a hidden thimble - a la Nancy Willard's book, "The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake" (illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson).

"Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see -- how good God is." Psalm 34:8

Food Course: Our Mindful Meal

One of the assignments for the food course was a 'mindful meal': "students will work together to plan, cook, serve, and present an evening meal to the class. The presentation should include 1) their rationale for the choices of the particular meal; 2) any history they can discover about the food used, the cooking methods, ethnic origin, and so on; 3) the point of origin and transportation details of the food items. In other words, their job is to awake in us a mindful appreciation of and sense of responsibility for what we are eating - AND a delight in food as a gift of God in creation."

My group discovered early in our discussions that we all came from different countries... me from NZ, Esther from England, Matt from USA, Elly from Canada, Claudia from Austria, and Soohwan from Korea. Consequently, we planned our meal around a simple lamb stew. Wanting to bring a bit of ourselves to this meal, we chose to unite 'homestyle' elements of each of our food heritages, in the same way a stew brings together many ingredients to add flavour to one another. Since the majority of our cultures were western, we chose not to include a Korean dish, but instead, to eat our meal in the context of Korean manners, where traditional ettiquette is governed by social class and respect for elders.

Our menu was as follows (sources in italics):

REFRESHMENTS
Beer, Water, Wine
Beer: Matt’s kitchen (with transport via the ferry with Roxy)
Water: from the farm well
House Wine: from the Wilkinson’s cellar
APPETIZER
Spinach Dip in Bread Bowls with carrots and bread for dipping
Spinach: Matt’s garden (again, thanks to Roxy)
Bread: made right here
Other ingredients from Vancouver Island
MAIN COURSE
Lamb Stew with Dumplings, Garlicky Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans
Lamb: Campbell’s Farm, Saturna Island
Beans: canned by the Wilkinsons last summer
Fresh Herbs: from the Wilkinson’s garden
Other ingredients from Vancouver Island
DESSERT
Topfencreme
Quark: from Foothills Creamery, Alberta, that makes European style cheeses
Other ingredients from Vancouver Island

We each wrote about why we had chosen these foods and how they represented our cultures, and included this information, along with a summary of Korean table etiquette, on our menu sheets. My ingredient was lamb so I wrote about NZ sheep farming and my grandparents' farm. Our table decorations were 'homestyle' too: bouquets of grass, driftwood to sit breadbowls and hot dishes on, and simple candles.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Matt's beer and his spinach dip were great (and I don't even like beer much!) There was enough lamb stew and dumplings for two dinners (Esther and I made it stretch a long way, based loosely on this recipe). Elly's green beans and mashed potatoes were gobbled up quickly. Claudia's topfencreme (see recipe below) was delicious. By far, the most difficult part of the evening was sticking to the Korean manners that Soohwan explained to us - but that made for a lot of laughter, learning and conversation.

TOPFENCREME

• 250g quark
• 250g whipped cream (250ml whipping cream)
• 500g vanilla yoghurt
• sugar
• mixed berries (fresh or frozen)

Defrost berries if necessary. Add sugar to berries to taste.

Mix quark and yoghurt until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Add sugar to taste.

Serve cream mixture with berries drizzled over. (Leftovers... if there are any... make a nice topping for sweet pancakes or waffles.)

Serves 4.

Food Course: Food For the Household

Monday started with a class session discussing gardens, meals, and cooking. Mary Ruth talked about the gardens in The Bible. Eden and the garden where Jesus was laid in the tomb act as bookends to the salvation narrative. (I think the tree of life on each side of the river in Revelation 22 probably is a more fitting bookend). The garden of Gethsemane falls in the middle, a symbol of the opposite of both Eden & the world after Jesus' resurrection, despite its beauty. We talked about the 'more than' essence of Christian life, and the role gardening plays in being more than just producing food.

Meals are a means of celebrating culture, family, history and being mindful of God. Mary Ruth talked about creating a meal culture that cultivates these through table settings, companions, and thankfulness to God.

Our cooking discussion focussed on how we learn and teach basic cooking skills, practice economy, use gardens and make decisions about what we eat (or don't eat). My quote comes from Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food. "To eat slowly, then, also means to eat deliberately, in the original sense of that word: ‘from freedom’ instead of compulsion." (The subtitle is a good summary of his book: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.")

We then went to visit an organic 6-acre farm at the north end of Galiano, owned by Donna and Hans (friends of the Wilkinsons). It is a self-sustaining garden, that produces enough to supply a number of households on the island. Donna runs a CSA-type of arrangement with these families, makes preserves (like her yummy Kiwi, Blackberry & Orange Jam) and sells any extra veges at the local market. This place also reminded me of my grandparents' garden, but Grandad doesn't have to set (humane) beaver traps to protect his orchard!

While most of the class remained to help in the garden for an hour or so, I returned with my group to prepare our 'mindful meal'. More about that next post!

Food Course: Rest, Retreat and Worship

Sunday was scheduled as a day of rest. People had the opportunity to have family visit (and it happened to be Mothers' Day). We made pizzas (with lots of individual variations), sat and talked, and Anna pulled out her watercolours for people to have a go.

It rained some time, but it was a chance to catch up on reading, do some journalling and reflect on the course so far.

I loved the sound and sight of the rain in the forest area and wrote this poem (Disclaimer: I am not a poet!)

Tin roof timpani

Log trombone with moss mufflers

Slick, lustrous arbutus double bass

Invisibly-plucked fiddlehead strings

Shimmering pine needle chimes

Fern flutes a-flutter

Leafy piano keys fingered by raindrops

I fathom Beethoven's frustration

as I strain for the whispers

of the forest's symphonic crescendo

Food Course: Salt Spring Island

Our Saturday morning started early. We had a field trip to Salt Spring Island planned. Half of the group rowed 3-4 km across the strait between Galiano Island and Salt Spring Island. The other half drove down to the ferry terminal and caught the ferry from Galiano Island to Vancouver Island, then on to Salt Spring Island. The groups swapped for the return journey, the ferry-ers stopping to shop for the weeks' meals on the way back. I was in the group that took the ferry in the morning.

Our main destination was Salt Spring Seeds. This farm, dedicated to growing food and seed of older varieties of plants, is run by Dan Jason. His 'seed and plant sanctuary' is funded by the sales of his heirloom seeds and the yoga centre on the property. (Some similar heirloom seed and plant growers in New Zealand are Koanga Gardens, Seed Savers, Edible Garden, and Eco-Seeds.) Dan spoke to us about the need to save seed, his philosophy of conservation and farming, the problems associated with genetically-modified seed, and then showed us round part of the farm.

The farm reminded me of my grandparents and their 3-acre farm in Levin, NZ. They have a fabulous vege garden, orchard and flower garden. Grandad enjoys sharing his produce and Heath family Christmasses wouldn't be the same without their potatoes, peas, and salad greens!

After visiting the farm we swapped transport and my group headed back to the boat. (The Wilkinsons use this boat on their summer school boat course each year.) On the way to the dock we stopped at a market day in the settlement called Ganges. There were lots of crafts, preserves and plants from the local artisans and gardeners. The other group had stopped there earlier in the day.The trip back to Galiano took about an hour and a half. It was much more difficult to keep in time with each other than it looked. I'm sure I'd get the hang of it by the end of the boat course, but my fellow rowers may have thrown me overboard by then! There was no wind and......we broke an oar about halfway back across the strait!We got home safely enough, and scrambled up the rocks before reheating some nettle spanokopita (picked by myself and Nathan, and prepared by myself, Joe Ellis and Sarah Crowley before the course started).

Food Course: Day 2

Okay, so I haven't been on the food course for the last 2 months, but here is my attempt to begin to catch you up with what has happened (briefly!)

Day 2 was entitled "Eating to Live / Living to Eat" and our lecture and discussion focussed on the flow from the biology... to ecology... to philosophy... and to theology of eating. We talked about the need to eat and how our bodies use food, especially about the misleading analogy of the body as a machine (machines burn fuel, while bodies are rebuilt by the food we consume). We discussed agriculture as a simplified form of a natural ecosystem, which in itself can also be a large threat to the natural ecosystem! The philosophical and theological discussions ended up melding into one discussion but I can't really sum it up in a sentence. We ranged far and wide!

The quote I chose for today was from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (page 10): “I used to take my children’s friends out to the garden to warm them up to the idea of eating vegetables, but this strategy sometimes backfired: they’d back away slowly saying, ‘Oh man, those things touched dirt!’”
Kingsolver's book was an easy, informative, and entertaining read. Her website continues the story from her book, which documents her family's move to a farm in the Appalachian countryside.

Food Course Intro

I am currently on a course called "Food: Creation, Community, and Communion," held on Galiano Island, one of the Gulf Islands off the west coast of British Columbia. I am one of 25 Regent College students who are privileged to be participating in this course in its inaugural offering. It is being taught and hosted by Mary Ruth and Loren Wilkinson, who have taught me (separately) in other courses I've taken at Regent.

So far, we have had a busy time. Our general daily rhythm is lectures in the mornings and rest or chores in the afternoons. We have 50+ pages of reading for each class and some evenings we watch food related movies.

On Sunday night the class arrived at Galiano Island (rather late) and we had gingerbread for dessert and settled into our places of sleep. I am staying at the Fee/Martin house, about 7 minutes walk from the Wilkinson's farmhouse. It has a beautiful view of the water, looking out on Salt Spring Island.

Monday morning saw us consume crepes and multiple toppings for breakfast, before our first lecture in the Wilkinson's living room. Our scripture reading was from Luke, where Jesus invites his disciples for breakfast on the beach. We then introduced ourselves to the class, saying where we were from (before Regent) and why we had come to the course. It was amazing how diverse and how similar many of our answers were!

Mary Ruth then spoke about the main components of a meal: tongue, table, guests and grace. She read two children's books, An Angel for Solomon Singer and Mrs Moskowitz and the Sabbath Candlesticks, and based her lecture on our two readings (selections from Margaret Visser, The Rituals of Dinner, and Leon Kass, The Hungry Soul). It was interesting to see how aspects of a meal we take for granted are quite significant in "being human."

For lunch we had nettle soup (yes, some of the nettles we picked and prepared, Nath) and "biscuits" (scones). Then my group had a 'rest day' so I read and napped in the afternoon.

I picked my 'daily quote' from the required reading for our class anthology from Visser, page 14: "…(the Maori word tapu is the origin of our “taboo”)…" It formed part of a discussion of the etiquette of cannibalism amongst Maori and other cultural groups! I thought it was particularly interesting, given my understanding of tapu as holy, and its use for conserving resources in local areas.

Dinner was kedgeree. Yum! It was an opportunity to put some 'cultural context' around the food. I know kedgeree as a British breakfast dish, derived from India (when occupied by the British). This was confirmed by our two UK students, Debbie and Esther. I explained this to Soohwan, our Korean friend who has spent a lot of time in Bangladesh, and she laughed: "Kidgeree is a dish made from leftovers or the mash fed to babies! I've never had it with smoked fish."

After dinner there was a showing of a Danish film (with subtitles), Babette's Feast. It explored community, acceptance, gratitude, and generosity. A fine way to end our first day.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Here is our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner before: And after:We had roast chicken with cranberry sauce, roast sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and green beans. For dessert we had pumpkin pie with whipped cream (sorry, I forgot to take a picture).

As you can see from the first picture, I got the cranberry sauce from a can, and a ready-made pumpkin pie from the supermarket bakery. I had not intended to do this. Being on a budget, however, I was surprised to find that it was cheaper to buy both these items rather than to make them from scratch. Even cheating - by making it with pumpkin pie filling in a can - was more expensive!

Apparently, the North American art of baking is being lost. It is rare to find someone who has the time, budget, and inclination to cook from flour, sugar, butter, etc (except in food blogs - see links). Maybe this is why the faculty are gobbling up my baking so readily! It is generally accepted that cookies come from a tube of dough, frosting comes in a can, muffins are packet mix with milk added, pie crusts are not made but bought, and afternoon tea for guests is bought at a bakery on the way home. This is a tragedy! (Can you tell I'm calling for a counter-cultural revolution?!)

The tragedy of packet cooking aside, the other possible tragedy of big dinners is wasted leftovers. So the chicken and veges were made into potato-topped pie and the pumpkin pie was happily consumed in the following days. My one dilemma was what to do with the cranberry sauce because most of the can was leftover. After a stint in the freezer as I deliberated, the sauce was drained of excess liquid and became the filling, along with a red eating apple (skin on), for a cranberry & apple shortcake. Here it is with some apricot yoghurt, before being devoured.

P.S. Check out the library blog my mum contributes to here. It is a great resource for teachers and lovers of children's books. She is 'Lynn, P. North', and you can see a picture of her display "Kikorangi Blue" there too. Well done, Mum!

What's Black and White and Red All Over?

Homemade pizza of course!

This was the glorious result of using up the leftovers in our fridge. The toppings included tomato paste, fresh tomato, bacon, red capsicum, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, and mushrooms (which I forgot until the last minute, which is why they are on top!) All this was served with fresh salad leaves. Yummmmmmm!

Not quite 'black, white and red,' but not far off, is a discovery of our friend, Claire. She brought these 'cookies' over last night to share with us and compare with the NZ biscuit.

So our conclusions are: Dream Puffs are two-thirds the size of Mallow Puffs, have a lesser proportion of marshmallow, are very sweet, and the raspberry is a bit like the 'deluxe' versions available in NZ at present (e.g. jaffa). Worth a try, but not quite the same!