From Farm to Table: A six-part Food and Culture series on sustainable food systems hosted by Barbara Jo’s Books to Cooks and Farmfed
I’m helping Anthony Nicalo and Natalie Jensen of Farmfed, a non-profit organization dedicated to building transparent, sustainable food systems, promote their six-part food and culture series entitled Provenance: You are what you eat.
If you want to help, grab the widget in the sidebar or pull some info from below. Or just come to the events! Hope to see you there.
From Farm to Table. Provenance: meaning source or origin. You Are What You Eat
Over the course of the series, experts will join host Anthony Nicalo for classes directed at understanding the origins and sources of the meat, seafood, wine, and produce that appear on our kitchen tables and restaurant tables.
Location
* Part 1-5: Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks in Vancouver at 1740 West 2nd Ave.
* Part 6: UBC Farm at UBC
Tickets
$65 for individual tickets or $360 for all 6.
Call Barbara Jo’s Books to Cooks at 604.688.6755.
Tuesday, April 21
Join Anthony Nicalo for the official book launch of Provenance: a blueprint for the modern eater. Guests will learn to assess the sources for food they eat and will learn practical tips for buying clean, healthy food.
Monday, April 27
Special guests include Mike McDermid, Program Manager of Ocean Wise, and Chef Robert Clark of [C] Restaurant discussing the importance of understanding seafood’s impacts on our oceans. Guests will enjoy sustainable seafood hors d’oeuvres prepared by Chef Robert Clark and fish-friendly wines.
Tuesday May 5
Jason Pleym, founder of Two Rivers Specialty Meats will shed light on what is really going on in grocers and butcher shops, while guests taste naturally raised meats.
Wednesday May 20
Mark Bomford, the Program Coordinator for the Centre of Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm will share tips for buying and growing sustainable produce.
Tuesday May 26
Farmstead Wines founder Anthony Nicalo lifts the veil on wine marketing and connects guests to authentic wine and artisan farmers.
Saturday June 6 at UBC Farm
This special fundraiser features international food expert and author of In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan. Pollan will share his manifesto for eating. Guests who participate in the full series will receive a gourmet picnic lunch at UBC Farm.
“Having these experts share their knowledge with us is very empowering”, remarked Anthony Nicalo. “Because the food we eat has clear implications for everything from clean water and climate change to hunger and obesity, the power to change the world is right in front of us, on our plates.”
I’m really excited to be at SXSW this year. I have wanted to come every year and have always had some excuse. This year, I’m here!
Today is my second day and I’ve attended two sessions so far that are worth blogging about. Here are my notes on the Boxcar Marketing site:
Everything You Know About Web Design Is Wrong
This was a quick comparison of transcendental changes in the film industry and how those same types of changes need to occur in web design.
Curating the Crowd Sourced World
Nice panel discussion from people who are currently letting the crowd do the driving (but, of course, the wheel is only controlled at any one time but one person). Perhaps the panelists are more interesting individually.
Fun Facts
There are 6500 registrants for the interactive portion. These are the participant bags.
The speakers’ name signs are last name only. This is so that the cards can be reused by all speakers with the same last name. Now that’s a cool planet-saving measure.
Blogger Night at the Opera included a lot of photo taking by those much better equipped than I. Here are a few of my favourite picks from my fellow opera bloggers:
Did you attend last night’s performance of Rigoletto, performed by the Vancouver Opera? Share your thoughts. Did you like it? What was your favourite opera this season? Are you a regular opera goer? Ladies, did you have a great dress? Gentlemen, best part of the evening?
Backstage Tour
There are a series of lights below the raised stage-cage where most of the performance takes place. We got to climb up to the stage from the lower deck.
On stage, we had a close look at the rigging for the cage doors that open and how the placements are marked out on the flooring.
Prop management is terribly important. Each thing is in its place and easy to grab as the performers go on stage. And it is returned to its place after use.
Downstairs in the bowels of the theatre are the props room, wigs and makeup and the repairs department. This dress is next up for a fix.
Live blogging the opera.
We were a small curiosity, sitting out in the lobby, tapping away on computers. It gave us a chance to talk about opera and here people’s stories about why they were there and what they like best about Vancouver Opera.
This is Rose of the Vancouver Opera Guild, which helps fuel appreciation and support for opera in BC.
Post-performance, we were invited backstage for the after party, where there was some delicious food and general milling about and hobnobbing.
And the singers were applauded and much merriment took place. So much so that I couldn’t get a sharp photo. This could also have been because I had a glass of wine in hand.
I enjoyed the opera very much, especially getting the chance to go backstage and understand the behind-the-scenes workings.
Just before I lost the wifi connection, I was trying to post this ...
Last minute preparation is in full swing. We just came from backstage where a couple of performers are walking the stage. We had a peak into the wigs and wardrobe room. Great set of red heels was in there.
Now we’re in the lobby drawing curious glances from the swish and swanky.
Lots of lovely beaded bags, cute shoes and every now and then a bit of sparkle, feathers and fur.
Favourite conversation thread:
Guest: What are you doing?
Us: Blogging the opera.
Guest: Oh, blogging.
Walk away.
Us: Giggle and tweet (ok, maybe that’s just me)
Ladies and Gentlemen the auditorium will be opening shortly. We hope you enjoy the performance.
Rigoletto, who is now obsessed with seeking revenge, has plotted with the assassin Sparafucile to kill the Duke. Gilda, who despite everything is still in love with the Duke, pleads with her father for his life. Rigoletto takes her to Sparafucile’s inn and forces her to watch as the Duke, again dressed as a student, seduces Maddalena, Sparafucile’s sister. Gilda is devastated and Rigoletto sends her away while he and Sparafucile finalize their plan to murder the Duke.
Meanwhile, Maddalena pleads with her brother to spare the handsome young student and to murder the hunchback instead. Sparafucile refuses to kill Rigoletto but agrees on a compromise: he will kill the next stranger who comes through the door so as to be able to produce a dead body. Gilda, who has returned, overhears the plan and she decides to sacrifice herself. She enters and is stabbed.
Rigoletto returns to the inn to claim the duke’s body. Sparafucile produces a heavy sack, which Rigoletto begins to drag away. As he does so, he hears the Duke singing in the distance. Frantic, he tears the sack open to find his dying daughter inside. As she dies, Rigoletto cries out, remembering Monterone’s curse.
Alone in his palace, the Duke is upset: when he returned to Gilda’s house he found it deserted. His courtiers enter and tell him how they have tricked Rigoletto, abducted Gilda and left her in the Duke’s chamber. Overjoyed that Gilda is now his, the Duke hurries off to meet her.
Rigoletto enters, desperately searching for Gilda. The courtiers are astounded to learn that she is his daughter, but refuse to take him to her. A Page reports that Gilda is alone with the Duke. Mad with rage, Rigoletto tries unsuccessfully to rescue her and is finally reduced to begging for her release. When a distraught Gilda rushes in, Rigoletto embraces her and orders the others to leave them alone.
Gilda then tells of her abduction and seduction at the hands of the Duke. Monterone is led through the room on his way to execution. Rigoletto swears both he and the elderly Count will be avenged, while Gilda, who loves her betrayer, begs her father to forgive the Duke.
At a riotous gathering, the Duke of Mantua boasts to his guests about his talent with women and especially his excitement over his latest amorous adventure. For the past three months he has been secretly pursuing a young woman he first saw in church.
Seeing the Count and Countess Ceprano, the Duke boldly seduces the Countess while his hunchbacked jester Rigoletto mocks her enraged but helpless husband. The courtier Marullo bursts into the gathering to share the latest gossip: Rigoletto has a mistress! The other courtiers, who all hate Rigoletto, discuss the news while Rigoletto continues to taunt an enraged Ceprano.
The debauchery of the evening is interrupted by the sudden appearance of the honourable Count Monterone, who denounces the Duke for seducing his daughter. Rigoletto delights in ridiculing Monterone as the Duke has him arrested. Turning on the jester, Monterone curses him, leaving him terrified.
Later that night, on the way home, Rigoletto runs into Sparafucile, an assassin. Sparafucile offers his services should Rigoletto ever need them and continues on his way. Forlornly, Rigoletto reflects on the parallels between Sparafucile and himself: one kills with his sword, the other uses his sharp tongue as his weapon.
His mood is lifted as he reaches his home and greets his beloved daughter, Gilda, a convent-raised young girl whom he tries to shield from the ugliness and danger of the outside world. Gilda asks for stories about her long-dead mother and Rigoletto describes her as an angel. He adds that Gilda is all he has left, so he fears for her safety. Gilda reassures him that, while she aches for more freedom, she ventures out only to go to church.
Hearing someone in the courtyard below, Rigoletto warns Gilda’s nurse, Giovanna, not to let anyone enter. As he leaves to investigate the noise, the Duke slips in and bribes Giovanna to leave him alone with Gilda. The Duke, disguised as a poor student, declares his love for Gilda, who has also noticed him at church. Giovanna comes in, warning of footsteps outside. The Duke leaves and an entranced Gilda relives the beauty of their romantic encounter.
Outside, the courtiers have gathered in the street intending to abduct Gilda, whom they believe to be Rigoletto’s mistress. Rigoletto appears, interrupting their plans, so they tell him they are going to abduct Count Ceprano’s wife, who lives nearby. Rigoletto agrees to help and is duped into wearing a blindfold and unknowingly helps them with the abduction of his own daughter. Laughing, the courtiers break into the house and carry Gilda away. Realizing he has been tricked, Rigoletto removes the blindfold and rushes into the house. He discovers Gilda is gone and collapses as he remembers Monterone’s curse.
My fellow blogger/tweeter at the Vancouver Opera tonight is Tris who’s sweetie is soprano Sheila Christie. Sheila is performing in Verdi’s Rigoletto.
Tris says:
Tomorrow night I’ll be joining my fellow bloggers for Verdi’s Rigoletto which is done in a new way with a punk-goth-mediaeval feel to it. In fact Sheila had some pink and purple highlight in her hair at the start of rehearsals (which could have been problematic) and they asked her to punch them up a notch for the performance! How rockin’ is that!?!
Our great opera-blogging evening is happening on opening night, which means fancy fashion, high heels, sparkles along with falsies and falsettos. Vancouver Opera posts their fashion favs in their Fashion at the Opera facebook album.
Want to See Rigoletto? Queen Elizabeth Theatre @ 7:30 pm on the following dates:
Saturday March 7th
Tuesday March 10th
Thursday March 12th
Saturday March 14th
Tuesday March 17th.
Did I mention we get a backstage tour and will be live blogging before the show? Stop by at our table. I’ll let you know the wifi password.
I missed blogging Carmen because I was out of town in San Francisco. Apparently Carmen had actual smoking onstage, but there will be none of that for Rigoletto. I bet Verdi smoked.
Regardless, there will be nudity and suggestive scenes, and, according to publicist Selina, “a cage, and a girl who dies in a sack.”
What the hell is Rigoletto about?
Rigoletto is a misshapen jester whose barbs enrage the courtiers and induce an ominous curse. Gilda is his adored daughter who becomes the innocent victim of their revenge. Seduced by the philandering Duke, Gilda sacrifices her life to save his. Rigoletto is left broken and alone.
The Decor Hell Photo Contest is offering Gift Cards to HomeSense in the amount of $300 based on the judges decision.
Although I love my mom and brother for giving me this lamp, it falls under the “decor hell” column. Please still love me.
The delightfully ducky lamp is tacky. A white duck lamp. Where does this belong? My head screams “no where!” But where is it? On my home desk. Most of the time under the desk. Except when I need light. Please Chris and Monica: illuminate my home workspace with something less frightfully white and less shaped like a duck. I want a big girl lamp.
Beverage Companies Are Favorite Advertisers Among Super Bowl Viewers:
According to comScore's pre-Super Bowl survey, respondents cited strong preference for beverage brands. In that light, here's AdHack's "Not What Happened" ending.
Plain Words, Uncommon Sense A blog on books, writing, tap dancing, technology, and the other amusements of Monique Sherrett (or Monique Trottier in unmarried form).
Monique Sherrett lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada and is a litblogger, among other things. Find out more ...
"So misguided." A comment often uttered in my eclectic salon.
Contact
Send me book galleys, ARCs or review copies. Contact me at monique at somisguided dot com Contact me at Boxcar Marketing
