test blog #10

Tl;dr version: TruLocal delivers a wide variety of local meat, poultry, and seafood from family farms to your door. They serve Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. And they're great! * * * * When we lived in Ontario, we often ordered meat from Beretta Farms . Beretta distributes products from small, local farms, as well as from their own, located in King City, Ontario. ( Here's an old post about them. ) Distribution is often the missing link between consumers and healthy, local, non-factory-farmed meat, as the large supermarket chains buy in huge volumes that, by definition, excludes these producers. I personally am not opposed to humans eating animal products, and I quite love them myself. But the horrors of the factory farm are legion -- for animals, for the environment, for human health, for climate change. So I would try to buy meat and poultry either from Beretta, or from Whole Foods, where I could see the local origin. Now that we live in a small town in a remote area,...

Each year on April 28, we recognize and remember workers who have died, been injured, and become ill through their work. In 2020, the year of the coronavirus pandemic, this day carries profound and urgent meaning. Health care workers, emergency workers, supermarket workers, and others put their health at risk and their lives on the line daily. Most poignantly, health care workers risk illness and must isolate from their own families in order to save the lives of others. Low-wage workers like supermarket cashiers and couriers, already working physically demanding and monotonous jobs, suddenly find themselves in potentially life-threatening danger. * * * * The canary is a potent symbol and a powerful reminder. Not so long ago, this small, fragile bird was the only thing that stood between miners and a suffocating death. The world over, workers are little more than canaries in their own workplaces. No worker should ever be killed or injured because of work, yet it happens on a regular bas...

Continuing the series, started here . I've decided not to review these books, but instead to post a cover image and a quote. It was difficult to choose quotes for these books, since they are books about ideas and events, with hundreds of different people quoted and referenced. After flipping through the books and seeing quote after beautiful, stirring, inspiring, infuriating quote, I decided to pull the lens back to more general thoughts from introductions and prefaces. Wobblies!: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World , edited by Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman (many contributors) The world of the Wobs was made up of immigrant workers without steady employment, health plans, social security or drug benefits (like the future that Republicans and many a Democrat envision), without any responsibility on the part of the filthy rich for the growing class of poor -- so much like the society around us today. The world of the Wobblies was one realized in its best moments ...

Isn't this beautiful? I had an instant flashback to stores we visited in Amman. For a healthy snack, you can't beat nuts. They're packed with protein, healthy oils, vitamins, and minerals. They're high in fibre, they have antioxidant properties, and they contain almost nothing of what you want to avoid eating. (They are also vegan and gluten-free, for people who want those.) All kinds of health claims are associated with nuts , but whether or not those are true, nuts are the perfect between-meal snack. They are what I call self-limiting, as opposed to, say, potato chips. I eat a small amount of nuts and feel satisfied, likely because of the protein and fibre. Unfortunately, here in our remote area of Vancouver Island, I discovered I cannot buy fresh nuts locally. The selection is poor, and more importantly, the nuts are not fresh. I guess they don't get enough turnover -- which is a shame, as more people should eat nuts! Also unfortunate as it causes people who do e...

Here are some facts about US elections. There are mountains of evidence to support each of these. If you have doubts, do some homework. This is merely a summary of facts. 1. The Electoral College. Up to 50% of votes in any state are wiped out. Canada has first-past-the-post voting based on ridings (Parliamentary seats), but imagine if all of Ontario was one riding -- 51% and winner take all. 2. Partisan oversight. Elections are governed on the state level, and the person in charge of them represents a political party. There is no equivalent of Elections Canada. Imagine, for example, if Jason Kenney's party ran elections in Alberta, and oversaw vote-counting and potential recounts. 3. Voter suppression. This takes place on a dozen different fronts. In many states, registration is complex and very limited. There are onerous ID requirements. Voters can be and are disqualified based on any number of arcane laws. Voter list are "purged" -- hundreds of thousands of voters dro...

It doesn't look anything like this. When I mentioned on Facebook that I was making this, many people were interested in the recipe. So here it is, adapted from the awesome Instant Pot Bible . ( My review of the cookbook is here. ) This dish, as the authors say, crosses a retro rice casserole with the taste of classic Chinese takeout. The rice will be sticky. The original recipe is here.  Below, the recipe the way I make it. What's different: - I double everything. I have an 8-quart Instapot (yes, I know), and I always double recipes and freeze half or more. - I find the IPB recipes to be overly cautious with seasonings. I don't eat spicy food, but I do like a lot of flavour, so I add much more herbs and spices to whatever they call for. - The only exception to the above is salt and anything that adds salt, such as soy sauce. I use all reduced-salt products and when I'm doubling the recipe, I do not double the salt or salty things. - This recipe has a strong orange flavo...

Chalk Mark In a Rainstorm , 1988 After writing my first negative review in this series, I was half-dreading listening to the album. Happily, I ended up pleased and relieved. Chalk Mark In a Rainstorm is a solid album with some lovely and memorable songs. There are choices that don't work for me, and one truly awful song, but overall the album is a great improvement over the previous Do g Eat Dog . On Chalk Mark , Joni's writing is strongest when she's at her most topical. "Tea Leaf Prophecy," quotes the old spiritual and anti-war song "Down by the Riverside," using one of my most cherished lines, "study war no more". The song tells an unlikely love story of two people who met during the Second World War -- inspired by Joni's own parents. With the song's rhythmic refrain "study war no more" and "lay down your arms," not only have the lovers chosen love over war, but we are asked to do the same. In "The Beat of ...