Canada Day 2021

Canada Day 2021 is different. A spotlight is shining on racial discrimination in a terrible way.

Recently the remains of 215 children were discovered, buried on the grounds of a Kamloops, BC former residential school for indigenous children, part of Canada's history of the subjugation of native people. The entire country has been shocked and many people are feeling uncomfortable about being Canadian. We are mourning this year and face a future in which probing into other residential schools may uncover more shocking discoveries and horrible treatment of native children. It is not a happy time.

Canadian country and folk singer-songwriter Don Amero performed this mournful version of O Canada at a recent NHL game to honour the lives of the 215 children.

Then, on Sunday, June 6, in London, Ontario, a young man with no sense and a lot of hatred, made the shocking decision to use his truck to murder a Muslim family out for their customary evening walk. Four members of the family, Salman Afzaal, 46, his 44-year old wife, Madiha Salman, their 15-year old daughter, Yumna Salman and 9-year old son, Fayez as well as Salman Afzaal's 74-year old mother were mowed down intentionally by this young man in his truck. Young Fayez, severely injured, is the only member of his family to survive. 

photo from The Globe and Mail

This kind of racially motivated hatred is unacceptable anywhere. How do we change these awful attitudes? 

And how can we celebrate Canada Day in the face of such sadness.

Cornelia Konrads

How inviting does this garden doorway look!

Cornelia Konrads is a German artist specializing in installations in gardens and public spaces.

I recently saw this first image on Twitter and was instantly intrigued.

 

Looking online for more of her pieces, I found that many of them have a delightful playful quality.

 

Others are determined to defy gravity.

Many more images of her work can be found on her webpage: Cornelia Konrads

Vodka from Milk?

Traditionally the distilled alcoholic beverage known as vodka, as we generally know it, has been made from cereal grains or potatoes. Now farmers have found a way to make vodka using the by-product of cheese-making, whey, which is otherwise dumped at a cost to the dairy producer. 

Whey is collected and fermented, making beer, which is then distilled into vodka. While this technique of using milk in vodka-making seems revolutionary in Canada, it is well known to Mongolians who have been turning yak milk into vodka for thousand of years.

In Canada, a new distillery, Dairy Distillery, in Almonte, Ontario, just west of Ottawa, is leading the way. 

The final product, Vodkow, as they call it, is a pure colourless see-through vodka, sugar- and lactose-free as well as gluten-free. I'm not a vodka aficionado (i.e. I haven't tried it) but apparently, Vodkow has a mouthfeel that is smooth and creamy and it's tasty in a way that gives a nod to the specific yeast that is used. 

Here's a video that explains more.

A few more bits of info:

• Dairy Distillery was one of several Canadian companies that changed over to producing hand sanitizer during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Vodkow is available at the LCBO. 
• More info on the Vodkow website.
• You have to be over the age of 19 to enter the website and to view any of their YouTube videos.
• There are distillers in Dorset, England, Oregon and New York State that are also converting milk waste to vodka.

The Girl From the Channel Islands

 The Girl From the Channel Islands                                                                   Jenny Lecoat

This debut novel by screenwriter, Jenny Lecoat, is set in the place of her birth, Jersey, one of the small Channel Islands just 14 miles off the coast of Brittany in France. 

The World War 2 story is a retelling of actual events. The main character, Hedy, has survived the Anschluss in her native Austria and finds herself working as a mother's helper on Jersey just before the island is invaded and annexed by the German army in 1940. In spite of being Jewish, Hedy is able to find work as a translator for the German authorities, a position that enables her to defy the Germans and aid her community. She ends up in a relationship with a German officer who is then instrumental in her survival. 

I don't know if most people realize the extent of the hardships faced by the Channel Islanders during the German occupation. Personal rights were obliterated overnight, most foodstuffs were requisitioned by the Germans, leaving the locals in a position of near-famine. Radios were seized, electricity was sporadic and fuel for cooking or keeping warm was hard to come by. People became so desperate that they would do almost anything to survive. 

Then, when the Allies attacked the French coast during the June 1944 D-day raids, Islanders' hopes of rescue died as they came to realize that they were being passed over. The actual rescue did not arrive until nearly a year later. 

Despite the riveting details of all these troubles and hardships (I had to put the book down and walk away a few times) I enjoyed reading  The Girl From the Channel Islands and recommend it to others. 

Edible and Non-Edible Art #5 and 6

A continuation of the food-related art series.

#5 Prudence Staite, Food is Art

Prudence Staite is a UK artist specializing in the sculpture of food materials - chocolate, cheese, fruit and vegetables, even cupcakes. Inspired at an early age, sculpting a penguin from a pear at age 6, Staite has always wanted to work with food. Her success is evidenced by the business she has grown, with many clients requesting custom work and a team she can call on to help. Her website, Food is Art explains the processes involved, from ordering, designing, delivering, installation, breakdown, disposal and recycling.

Staite holds demonstrations, workshops and provides photos and even time-lapsed videos.

100 kg of red cheddar were used to make this sculpture.

Kilmeaden Cheese Greek 'Discobulus' Statue

This 10-ft long caterpillar, made of whole-grain cereals, went on a tour to London, Liverpool, Brighton, Glasgow and Bristol.

Nestle Cereal Caterpillar

Prudence Staite and her team can create whatever the mind can conceive, from chocolate sofas, a likeness of a celebrity and even this working chocolate record that works just like a vinyl record and plays "You Sexy Thing" by the band Hot Chocolate.

#6 Sarah Illenberger

German artist, Sarah Illenberger loves to create visual puns using food. Hot peppers become the flame of a lighter, a slice of watermelon rains seeds, beets are exquisite rubies and a pomegranate becomes a grenade.

  

Illenberger is a Berlin-based artist, illustrator and designer. Her photographs of her art can be found in public places, books, magazines, digital media and window displays.

  

Food art is only a small part of her business - she also creates jewellery and fabric art. Prints of her works can be found in her online shop. 

  

Gabriela Montero

Gabriela Montero is a Venezuelan pianist well-known for her skill at improvisation. She can take any tune, even one she's not familiar with, and without any previous preparation turn it into a much more complicated piece, with key changes, inversions and so on. She enjoys interacting with the audience, asking them for suggestions, but suggesting that the tunes be well-known in order to enhance the audience's listening pleasure.

More of her work is available for all to watch/listen to on her YouTube Channel GabrielaMonteroTV.