the whinery 2.0

Photoquai is a biennale photography exhibition founded in 2007 by the Quai Branly Museum to showcase ‘non-western’ photographers.
The term ‘non-western’ sounds vague, but these are mostly emerging photographers from countries that aren’t usually included in larger photo exhibitions.
The 2011 exhibition, held outdoors on the banks of the Seine, right across from the museum in the 16th arrondissement, ran between September and November last year, and I was lucky enough to have caught it while on vacation.

The photos are snapshots of the world; unique and intriguing, showcasing a world perhaps different from many at the exhibit.
I imagine the photographers are fascinating too; their photos are varied and moving, they tell complex tales of people and places in Africa, Asia, Australia, Eastern Europe and South America.
The photos connect you to these places and make you inquisitive…. It leaves you wanting to learn more about the people and places in the pictures.
Vibrant and beautifully shot, the exhibition felt impressive under the open sky.

AutoPotraits РH̩l̬n Amouzou / Togo
Hélèn took these self-portraits for an art school assignment, at a time when she was also seeking asylum in Belgium.

Waiting Little People – Sergey Loier / Russia
This set on orphans was my favourite of the exhibition; the pictures are beautiful, haunting and poignant.
It’s almost like a fairytale with the bit in the notes that all the children in the pictures found homes
I hope they are happy

Alter Gogo Getters – Andrew Esiebo – Nigeria
The Gogo Getters are a football team made up entirely of grandmothers

Adrián F. Milanès / Cuba

Spring Summer Collection 2018 – Hassan Hajjaj / Morroco
I loved these playful photos from Hassan Hajjaj

And the picture I didn’t take… is young Mack Magagane’s ‘I’ll Be Gone Soon,’ black and white pictures shot in Johannesburg which shed light on teen suicide in South Africa

The next Photoquai exhibition happens in 2013

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Ahh… the coleslaw sandwich, I used to think I invented it.
It’s another one of my quick weeknight meals; I do this mostly on Mondays, because that’s when I try to do the least work for my dinner.
I know it’s a little unconventional having a lunch item for dinner… but I hardly eat lunch and this sandwich is really good at any time of the day.
I spruce up a bag of store-bought pre-shredded coleslaw mix with onions and red bell peppers, and jazz it up with a simple balsamic vinegar and lemon dressing.
It’s colourful and filling; sometimes, I skip the bread, toss in some nuts and cranberries and viola… I’m having a salad for dinner!

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©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

 


“Spring is coming!†the old woman at the market tells me.
She inches closer and I smile in agreement; we’re picking through a cart of oranges.
“I love oranges, they’re always so plentiful in winter†I try to make small talk.
“You know what else is coming?†she asks, “Valentine’s Day†she says, tapping on the oranges.
“What, oranges for Valentine’s day?†I’m intrigued.
That’s when she tells me about ‘winter’s sunshine’, a tangy citrusy drink her husband makes especially for her.
For years, he would make it on the weekends with breakfast, which they had in bed.
“I used to get the cold a lot when we were first married†she explains.
It’s perhaps the sweetest thing I’ve heard in a while; she tells me she’s been married for a very long time, so I ask her what her secret is.
“It’s love, silly! And a little patience but mostly love, that’s the secret to any long and happy companionshipâ€

The old woman and I both grab a couple of oranges, lemons and limes; I thank her for the recipe and bid her a fond goodbye.
For the next several weekends leading up to Valentine’s Day I test out her recipe, I make modifications – more lemons, lime only, sub maple syrup for honey, blood orange and grapefruit (which is a winner), but I like the simplicity of the original recipe.
I would sip the drink often thinking of the old woman, and enduring love; the kind that lasts decades… that quiet lifelong friendship.
I want to hear her stories, perhaps there’s a lesson there; on love beyond the heady passion and heartache.
Indeed, spring is coming!

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Last year I met an Italian man on the stairs of Rue Maurice Utrillo in Montmartre, his eyes lit up when I told him I lived in Vancouver, “Ahh Vancouver…†he said smiling “very beautiful city.â€
He told me he’d visited Vancouver a few times for business, and listed off some of his favourite things about the city, and then he said; “But it’s too bad about the rain, I cannot stand so much rain all the timeâ€
That stopped me on my tracks for a moment; I got a little defensive – “Rain? What rain�
All those times I railed against the rain, who would have thought I’d get so defensive when someone else complained. I should be commiserating with him,
Instead, I fed him the same tired and annoying platitudes I’d been hearing for years, “oh, but it’s the rain that makes it so beautiful, you should see the city on a sunny day after the rain, It’s so invigorating, everything comes alive… so bright and glorious, you’d agree the rain is worth it.â€>

I went for a walk one late afternoon just after the rain had stopped, I couldn’t help but think… the city is most beautiful right after the rain.

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

I’ll be the first to admit it; basil and Smarties… it’s a peculiar pair.
I didn’t start out wanting to make basil and smarties cookies, I had leftover basil, not enough to make pesto and I didn’t want it to go to waste.
Lemon-lime basil cookies, that’s what I wanted – every refreshing lemony bite tastes like summer, and yet I was out of lemons and limes.
For some reason, maybe because it was the only candy I had lying around, I wondered what I’d get by infusing basil’s sweet subtle minty flavour into a Smarties cookie.

What I got were these Smarties & Basil cookies; rustic, crispy and slightly spicy from the basil and molasses

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These pictures are from November when I first got the Jawbone UP, back then there was so much keenness to try this little bracelet.
I didn’t mind that I had to go all the way to Mount Vernon to get mine because the at&t store in Bellingham was sold out of the UP that morning.
The UP is basically a cool little wristband step-counter and sleep tracker that syncs with the Jawbone iPhone app and displays data in a user-friendly graph .

According to Jawbone,

As a self-proclaimed lover of ‘shiny new things,’ I took to the UP quickly and loved how unobtrusive and easy it was to use.
I’ve never been focused on tracking my fitness activity before; sure, I turn on my running app when I go running, but I’ve never tried to figure out overall how much I move in a day.
The band has three activity settings, regular, active and sleep. Active is for when you’re exercising.
I keep mine in regular mode most of the time except for when I’m sleeping. I thought I walked a lot, but wearing the UP put it in perspective.
I could do better, in fact I’ve made a few changes since I started wearing the band; I take the stairs, I try to take little walks during the day, I generally try to move more, and that’s what the UP aims to do.
I love the little buzzes (reminders) that remind me if I haven’t moved in two hours.
The sleep tracker is fairly helpful, it tracks sleep cycle, and shows light and deep sleep.
It has a built-in alarm clock that gently rouses you from sleep…
I find using the meal tracker a little cumbersome, same for finding friends who have the UP so I don’t use these features.

The UP isn’t without issues, I’m on my second device – the first had battery issues, couldn’t sustain a charge past a day, and then one day it died.
The replacement works perfectly so far, but I’m not sure how long that would last.
In fact the UP has been bogged down with so much hardware issues that Jawbone has a ‘No questions asked guarantee’ refund
Still, I love my UP, it’s helped me make some little lifestyle changes, I try to walk more, I’m horrified at how poorly I sleep and trying to work on it.

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

Every year when purple potatoes start appearing at my local Whole Foods I buy them with a certain fervency that scares me a little. I’m never this passionate about anything!
They appear unceremoniously over a brief period of time, and disappear just as quickly. If you blink you might miss them.
I got purple potatoes for the first time a few years ago on a whim, and found that I really liked them.
Purple potatoes taste much like regular potatoes with an earthier and slightly nutty flavour.

Roasted Purple Potatoes with Roasted Okra and Black Beans

Similar to other like-coloured foods (like blueberries, eggplant, purple corn, etc) purple potatoes are rich anthocyanin, which acts as antioxidants.
Last year a small study came out that suggests that purple potatoes may help lower blood pressure.
But that is isn’t why I love these spuds, I like that they’re different and how marvelous they taste when roasted.
I don’t do much with these potatoes, I just roast them with a bit of olive oil and salt – the flavour is intense!

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Pushing Daisies was a charmingly quirky series about a pie-maker who could bring the dead back to life by touching them – a second touch would kill them again.
The characters lived in this visually stunning whimsical world, where they solved bizarre murders using the pie-maker’s abilities.
Pie was a central theme in the show, with much of the action taking place in the pie-maker’s shop, the Pie Hole.

Pushing Daisies made me really want to bake a pie! And to this day, I can’t think of baking a pie without thinking of myself as a ‘pie-maker’ – said in narrator Jim Dale’s voice.

I had a few firsts last year as far as culinary expeditions go; I baked my first apple pie!
I’ve been meaning to bake a pie for a while now; it’s on my to-make list, I’m just not ready to delve into the complexities of pie crusts yet.
In Pushing Daisies, the pie-maker’s girlfriend bakes Gruyère into the crust of the very special apple pie (laced with homeopathic antidepressants) she sends to her aunts.
One day I shall try my hands at the perfect flaky crust, there’s vegan coconut oil crust I’m itching to try.

Being my first try, I figured I’d be forgiven for using store-bought pie crust.
I chose the TJ’s crust for its simple ingredients; flour, butter, palm oil, water and salt.
And the pie filling is an old recipe I’d been holding on to for years, it’s simple too, apples, lemon juice, sugar and spices.

Unfortunately something went wrong and my crust fell apart, it thawed and broke into pieces.
I just piled them on the apples and hoped for the best.
In hindsight, I should have re-rolled the dough.
Still, the pie turned out really well for a first try.
I feel hopeful… I’m on my way to becoming a better pie-maker

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

I wish I had a more sophisticated palate, sadly, I don’t think my palate developed beyond that of a ten-year-old’s.
I wish I was more open to all the wonderful varied food out there, yet there are so many things I just can’t bring myself to like – such is the plight of the picky eater.
I was at a fancy restaurant recently where everyone was excited to try roasted bone marrow, everyone but me, “I’m a vegetarian†I said – I’m beginning to hate that label, it feels limiting.
“That’s ok,†says the waiter, “We’ll find you something equally special.â€
I ended up with an un-special plate of pasta with tomato sauce, and watched my dining companions literally moan with pleasure at every bite.
I should be eating that! I thought to myself, my people were sucking marrow from bones centuries before Fergus Henderson put roast bone marrow on the culinary map.

For over a decade I wouldn’t eat soup because my family kept reminding me that I hated soup as a child.
And then one day I was stuck in a cabin and all we had was minestrone, I didn’t want to seem irrational so I ate it. I realised then that maybe I didn’t hate soup after all, and now I can’t imagine why anyone would hate soup, especially with so many kinds out there.
Soups aren’t only heart-warming and nourishing; soups warm and nurture the soul.
Soups are healing, uplifting and comforting, there nothing more satisfying than a warm bowl of homemade soup on a cold dreary day, or when sick or feeling a little down.
I wish I made soup often – especially around this time of year when every day feels like a soup day; did you know that January was national soup month in the US?
I’ve been collecting soup recipes and working my way through them this winter…
I knew I was going to love this soup the minute I saw the ingredients; carrots, coconut milk, ginger and curry powder.

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Prep and cook time for this easy recipe is 30 – 40 minutes and serves about 6 – 8

This is by far one of the best meals I’ve ever made; the thing about this soup is that, it’s not just good… it’s really, really good. It‘s spicy, creamy, and savoury with a hint of sweetness from the carrots.
It’s also soothing, the week I made this, I had a bowl every night at dinner and could just feel my worries slip away with every spoon – it’s restorative.

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I have a sweet tooth, there’s no denying it, and I don’t make excuses for it –
I own it… which is why I’m always ten pounds away from my ideal weight.
I love healthy food too, almost as much as I love junk food, so I’m constantly on the lookout for food that is all healthy, sweet and junk-ey.
Because let’s face it, as blasé as I am about my sweet tooth, the potential health implications aren’t lost on me.
So while I’m trying to put my days of polishing off a pint of ice cream in two servings behind me, I still like to indulge.

This is where recipes like this sweet cashew cream comes in; it satisfies the sweet tooth but it’s not all junk food.
Cashew cream is used mainly in raw-food diets as a substitute for dairy; raw cashews are soaked overnight, and blended into a smooth cream that can be used in both sweet and savoury recipes.
For this sweet cashew cream, I used roasted and salted cashews –
Roasted cashews are sweeter with a rich nutty flavour.
And salt is the greatest flavour enhancer.

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This sauce is amazing! It’s delicious; I slather it over bagels, toast and crackers.
It’s wonderful over ice cream, cakes, and other pastries, and as a dip for fruit.
I like to experiment with other nut butters too, almond butter, peanut butter, etc.

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.