The Christmas Ham

The Greenwood Family Christmas has always included a ham, and since about 1971 it has been prepared according to the instructions of the December issue of Gourmet Magazine from the same year. This recipe, for "Stuffed Braised Ham," involves drilling little holes all over a ham, filling the holes with pistachio nuts, port-soaked raisins and breadcrumbs before giving the exterior a little cinnamon-sugar rub and then dousing the whole darn thing with the rest of the bottle of port before throwing it (the ham, not the empty port bottle) into the oven to bubble away magically for a few hours, after which it's transported across town still in the roasting pan now wrapped in blankets to the appointed Christmas Dinner house.

Somewhere in the last 10 years when a lot of our Christmas traditions were slowly changing and morphing into others, Scott and I took on the tradition of the Christmas Ham including the traditional Gourmet recipe. Scott, who thinks the mere idea of a ham (let alone stuffed) is a brilliant one, has embraced this tradition wholeheartedly.

This year Scott ordered the ham from Oyama Sausage Co. who in turn highly recommended the boned Swedish Ham, which is fairly different from a standard issue ham in that it's uncooked. Now the challenge became to merge our traditional recipe into a preparation of pork which looked very different from what was originally intended (I believe Scott used the words "diametrically opposed.")

Instead of drilling the ham with holes we filled the boneless centre cavity with stuffing, and owing to it's already moist consistency we decided to skip the 'dousing-with-port' part and proceed with baking instead of braising.

The result was one fine ham - moist, flavourful, delicious - but not without room for improvement (we did miss the port-soaked flavour.) So Scott and I have decided we may need to schedule a couple of 'test-ham-events' for 2009 so that we can perfect our ham techniques before next Christmas dinner.

With that in mind, feel free to send an email if you like to be included on our test event invite list: the more, the merrier!

A little light reading

Christmas goodies this year included a nice big stack of books, which I always love. I've already cracked open most of them and even finished one or two, but it's this french translation - "How to talk about books you haven't read," which I'm currently engrossed in. I've only skimmed the prologue and the first chapter but it's fantastic. 

I'm already guilty of dabbling in this particular skill- I've regularly passed opinion on various tomes that I only know the vaguest details about. I've discussed Ekart Tolle's almost cult-like "A New Earth" based on watching part of an Oprah episode; I've rambled on about Malcolm Gladwell's book "Blink" despite having only read his other book, "Tipping Point." According to my new buddy Pierre, I'm on the right track. In fact, I may always have been following his theory without knowing it: I usually read books pretty fast, skimming at best and skipping pages at worst (why bother with the boring sections?) Again, apparently not a problem. And as that's the case, the next person I'm lending this book to is my father, who flips through books faster than you can say "English Literature." 

I may or may not finish Pierre's book because obviously the first bit has already given me enough to talk about to make his title self-fulfilling. But given the insouciant, sarcastic and slightly esoteric (a.k.a.  French) sense of humour he's displayed so far, it may be worth it anyway. 

Snow update

Me and my ego...

...both appeared in the National Post this weekend. Check out the below pic.




Carefully.
Lower half.
The right side.
A little further...and a little further... there! That's me pictured with the rest of last week's west coast cognoscenti/glitterati. The event was for the opening of the new Peak 2 Peak Gondola in Whistler, quite an amazing (and smooth) new ride between the two mountain peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb.

For this opening, much of my day was taken up with official events. However, both me and my new skis really wanted to be able to take advantage of being on top of Whistler Mountain to take a few runs. But my ulterior motive of skiing during a work day was hindered by an external force: luggage.

Because while I had come up to Whistler early in the morning the day of the launch - a Friday - Scott was following late in the evening after his work day had wrapped up, which meant most of my overnight gear was with him. And here's where the problem emerged: the above pictured event began after skiing ended but before he could arrive with my bags.

So in order to fill the various wardrobe requirements of the day, I did my own version of "carry-on-luggage." I filled up the backpack usually used for adventure gear and instead packed it with more glamourous contents: a cocktail dress, heels and mascara. With that, I threw the bag over my shoulder, and skied for most of the day with the cocktail dress packed on my back (my colleague Carla rescued me halfway through the day and took the bag back to the hotel I would later check into.) Late afternoon after some great early season skiing, I took a final run back to the base and headed into the village. With a one-hour turn around I had shed the Gore-tex and donned the cocktail dress, and then we were off to the event at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler.

Now I'd like to say that it was my fantastic sense of style that caught the eye of the columnist from the National Post, but to be quite frank, I think it may have been because he had forgotten my name and felt a bit sheepish about it :) Either way, it was a very fun day and night and at the end of it all, my picture ended up in the paper and another story gets told.

The weather outside

The current arctic outflow (so this is what they mean by a nor'eastern!) that has most of the country locked in sub-freezing temperatures hasn't bypassed usually-mild Vancouver. For the past week or so we've had snow, and we're on-track for one unusual phenomenon - a white Christmas! ( I can only clearly remember having one white christmas previously, from about 10 years ago. ) And as the snow keeps falling it's easy to get into the holiday spirit. Here's how much has fallen so far, and it's still coming strong:


Luckily our daily routine doesn't require us to drive our car, which is good because most vehicles on the road right now have the same amount of traction as a curling stone. It's lovely and peaceful to be able to walk everywhere we need to go.

And although it's cold outside, it's cozy inside: check out these fantastic flannel bed linens I found last week. What could be better than warm and fuzzy bedcovers with scenes of wintery fun? There was only one queen-sized set left in the store and I loved them so much that had them taken right off the display bed for me:


Since I started typing, the snowflakes have gotten bigger and at least another centimetre has fallen, with a few of my patio planters now entirely covered.

Hm.

It may be time to research where the closest toboggan hill is...

Holiday hosting

The holiday season is in full swing - our tree up, the lights lit. I love our eclectic mix of decorations - this is the African pot-bellied Santa who hangs on our Christmas tree, a gift originally found at UBC's Museum of Anthropology.

Last week, Scott and I used the holiday season to stretch our hosting and culinary skills and had the holiday party for a volunteer group that Scott is involved in, here at home. I really threw myself into party planning mode and found all kinds of delicious recipes, many from my friend Amy's cookbook: mushroom phyllo rolls, savory spinach balls (Scott's favourite, along with it's accompanying spicy mustard sauce), smoked salmon blinis, plus tonnes of cookies and sweets. The unintended menu theme became retro-chic: this was the perfect opportunity to pull out Scott's "partycrock" for a great white bean dip, and I also made another well-known favourite dipper featuring artichoke and crab (below). Judging by the speed at which it disappeared, it was the hit of the party - I'm making it again Christmas day!


But here's the party secret that really made the night a success: I called up a local caterer and had them put together a few knock-out dishes for me. Not only did the additions round out the menu, I figured if my own edible experiments crashed and burned, I had backup. Delicious, little effort and easy to pass off as my own amidst the other dishes: "Yes, of course I made it! The recipe? Uh, a family secret..." Luckily, every bit of the menu came off without a hitch and the night was a lot of fun. I might even offer to do it again next year.

Whew.

This was the week that has been lurking in my calendar for a while, a perfect storm of the corporate Christmas season. On one hand office parties have officially begun, yet on the other hand people are madly scheduling meetings with each other before disappearing for the rest of the month. The combination doesn't leave much time to spare.

So, my this week, my Monday to Friday of: (at least) twelve hug-hug-kiss-kisses, eleven nice-to-meet-you handshakes, ten glasses of wine, nine different outfits, eight cab rides, seven urgent phone calls*, six social engagements, five 'important' meetings, four new projects, three fed-ex packages, two out-of-town trips, and one conference call.

*and I'm not even counting my email 'cause its over 12.

I am not kidding.

But with that kind of jam-packed schedule, there's bound to be some interesting moments. Here's a few of the highlights:

On Monday, my meeting was at the Roundhouse at Whistler. As the Roundhouse is at the top of Whistler mountain, the most convenient way to get to the meeting is on skis (well, not really, but it made for a really good excuse.) Here's a pic of me and my colleagues Cindy, Sam and Steve on our way to the meeting. Actually, while we were on our way to the meeting but somehow accidentally took one more run first. Oops! I blame Sam:


On Thursday I had a catch-up session with my good friends Miga, Quatchi and Sumi, the 2010 Olympic mascots. Actually, the catch-up was fairly one sided because these guys are, well, mute. Many of you know that I've bonded with this great group of friends on the road - April in Los Angeles, July in Quebec city... good times. When you tell people you're tight with the mascots, it's like telling people you're best friends with Santa...it's hard to believe, because they all seem happy to see anyone. But really, in this case it's true. Here's me and Miga after sharing stories:


Today I capped off the week with a day in Kelowna. Normally I would linger in the beautiful Okanagan Valley but alas, this trip was all business. Although the beautiful lakeviews made it hard to concentrate on said business, we still got a lot done. Really:


By Friday at 5pm I was on a flight home with a bottle of Okanagan wine tucked under my arm for Scott. By eight, Scott and I were sitting down with a glass of the wine and some mac & cheese comfort food.

Great week... but wow, am I glad it's over.

Holiday Spirit

James Bond's martini. Carrie Bradshaw's cosmopolitan. Practically anybody who's anybody has a signature drink.

It turns out, according to a recent PBS documentary, that the Queen's cocktail of choice - and the only person in Buckingham Palace allowed to order it - is Dubonnet and Gin. My first reaction was to ask "Dubo-what?" But earlier this week I was with a group of friends at the posh Four Seasons Hotel and thought: if anyone knows what Dubonnet and Gin is, the staff here will. And they did. The only question they asked was: would I like that with ice?

I accepted the ice (because the Queen does too.) It turns out that Dubonnet is a wine-based aperatif, not unlike a sherry or light port. Mixed with gin it's a little bit sweet but packs a punch.

Luckily, the Queen looks like someone who can handle a stiff drink. Luckier still, she carries with her a staff that could rival that of the Four Seasons. It may be a little more difficult for me to start ordering D&Gs on a regular basis. But I may just adopt it as my holiday drink.

A possible new hobby

Scott and I headed up to Whistler this weekend, but it's still early in the season and the skiing is currently less than ideal. So instead of heading up the mountain, we explored other parts of town. One new part of town is the recently opened Whistler Sliding Centre.

The name gives very little away but the venue is actually home to bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events. Obviously built in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics in 14 short months, the centre is already completed and the Canadian athletes are getting a leg up, so to speak, on practicing on what rumour has is the fastest track in the world (training times remain unproven until the venue hosts international competition, which will happen in early 2009 with World Cup events)

We dropped by the centre to check out the national development skeleton team take a few turns down the track.
The thing that looks like a bug stuck to the windshield is actually a person on a rickety little skeleton, travelling head first and sideways down the track at over 100km/hr.

This 15 second video might give you a better sense of the speed



Inspired, we all trooped back to the information centre and signed up on the spot. It turns out that this is what a skeleton looks like:

Not exactly a piece of equipment that inspires confidence for travel at up to 140km/hr.

But our hardy crew was not deterred. Bobsled is an alternate way to get down the same track, and who doesn't love bobsled teams? Here's James, Eva and Scott practicing their technique:


And here they are practicing their medal acceptances:


And here they are fighting Scott for gold:

Ah, the spirit of competition... let the games begin!

Spring Cleaning

Back in the day of kerosene lambs, spring cleaning was begun when the bright spring sunlight revealed the winter's accumulation of dust. It may be just me, but in spring I'm least interested in household chores: longer days and warmer temperatures mean I'd rather be outside.

But November? The days are dark, summer adventures have ended but the ski season is yet to start. I'm spending lots more time at home and so my spring cleaning has just begun. In the past three weekends I've re-arranged closets, cleaned out cupboards, ordered furniture, bought lampshades and finials (yes finials, including one the shape of a pineapple. Pineapple!) repotted plants and pruned trees, picked out fabrics and re-arranged art.

Scott has been remarkably calm and unruffled by these changes, which is nice because sometimes I have the ability to drive him crazy when on one of my 'jags,' as he calls them. But we seem to have reached some kind of balance on these activities, which is I happily run around choosing colours and patterns and he only puts a stop to it when I choose something he considers particularly vile. I'm getting pretty good at guessing what he'll hate.

(ps: he liked the pineapple.)

This one's for Mika

Some people (I won't mention any names) react in amazement when they hear that in our house when I was growing up, dinner was a formal affair.

Every night in our dining room, established yet unwritten traditions were fulfilled - candles, china, linen, plates passed clockwise, yes please, no thank you. There were certainly moments of discord, but as my parents were lucky to be endowed with two (relatively) well-behaved girls, it was as close to a Rockwell painting as you could find in the 80's.

Then, a few things started to change. Sons-in-law started showing up, and a table that had previously been well-ordered experienced a bit of a coup.

First Keith arrived, and threw the seating arrangement into disarray. Since birth, I had sat to the left of my father and to the right of my mother, but now? Who knew. The new perspective was a bit disconcerting.

Then Scott appeared and showed flagrant disregard for the 'clockwise' rule. My father was left sighing at the head of the table, waiting for the potatoes to make their way around the wrong direction.

But these small infractions were no match for what came next: grandchildren.

Suddenly, the dinner hour was a madhouse: dishes flying every which way, upset wine glasses, forks discarded in favour of fingers, tears and tantrums. My mother gallantly kept up her efforts through gourmet multicourse menus and a well-set table: ironed linen napkins, the good silver, even introducing at the darkest hour heirloom salt cellars. But it was no use: the damage was done.

Welcome to our family dinners today. There are elbows on the table and there are fingers in the berries. Keith may be about to lick the cake-knife, and Scott may be grumpy because Dawson keeps kicking him. And Dad may pour Mom another glass of wine because it's the only way they'll get through the evening.

32 Flavours and then some

Great walls of China, chickens in Texas rafters, mountain ranges across British Columbia... a much fun as we have with all our adventures on the road, the best of times are at home.

This weekend was all about my home town - taking in a concert by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (Mendolssohn: fun! Bloch: not so fun. Offenbach: fun again!), a visit to the Vancouver Aquarium (my favourite = sea otters) and last but not least, a truly Vancouver tradition... a stop at Casa Gelato, featuring 218 flavours of ice cream goodness.


I ask you, does being a kid get any better than this? Still, after all was said and done, strawberry and chocolate were the choices of the day by the under-5 set. Gianduia and espresso with chocolate flakes were the grown-up choices. Which leaves 214 flavours still left to go.

Going for Broke

I have some shocking news to report.

That is to say that I have recently indulged in buying a single pair of footwear that cost me upwards of $500. I know, shocking. Not because I've made this kind of purchase before (which I have), not even because the sum is so absurd (which it is). Mostly because this entirely selfish purchase did not net me a pair of shoes as beautiful as this:


Or even this:



Nope. Instead, I have a pair of these:

I'm certainly not going to win any fashion awards wearing these, but I am hoping I'll get some style points for my newly improved ski turns on the snow slopes. Meanwhile, if anyone can rationalize an equivalent purchase on a pair of city-slicker heels, I can. Now if only I can get my bank account to agree.

Day of the dead

Today, as millions of Canadian and American children recover from a Halloween sugar hangover, Latin Americans are partying it up as they celebrate Dia de los Muertos and Europeans take a more sombre approach for All Saints Day, to be echoed shortly when we also observe Remembrance Day later this month. 

The range of sombre to celebratory November holidays occurred to me yesterday as I remembered an Oct 31 evening that Scott and I spent a few years ago in a small town in France. Residents there had understood the concept but not quite the spirit of dressing up for All Hallow's Eve. Festivities began and ended with bored and laconic vampires quietly smoking cigarettes and sipping red wine on bistro patios, apparently uninterested in unleashing holy terror or demanding free candy.

Meanwhile, Scott and I spent this year's Halloween on BC Ferries on a journey to visit his mom. It was a cheery rather than scary trip despite the gloomy skies and ferry cafeteria, the latter which we managed to avoid by bringing aboard our own treats of Serrano ham and a half-bottle of pinot.  The most frightening part of the night wasn't realized until this morning when Scott's mom said that her dreams last night included George Bush chasing her with a pitchfork and demanding that she play Mozart's horn concertos. A scary night, indeed.

(picture credit: the creepy crawly lawn of my sisters-in-law who do Halloween much better than the French ever will.)

Autumn

Fall is my favourite season and this year has been spectacular, with plenty of clear skies and crisp days. The maple trees on our patio are exploding in beautiful colour - here's a quick picture from this morning.

Shopping in Houston

For Project Runway fans in the crowd, meet Chloe Dao, winner of the Season 2 show.

I got to meet Chloe today on a visit to some of Houston's great shopping. According to Chloe, she thinks she got cast in Project Runway because she told the panel that she ran a 'one-woman Asian sweatshop.' But trust me, her store and clothes are a lot more glam than that.

I'm headed home tonight, and can't wait. See you soon!

Country music, Texas style

I'm at a conference in Texas, and this evening we had a brief stop at a teensy town with a big music scene in Luckenbach, Texas. Here's a short video I took to share the evening with you.


Ifyou listen closely you'll hear my new friend Diana's surprise that it was raining in the bar.

Turns out it wasn't raining so much as it was the chickens that were roosting in the rafters.

Thanksgiving at my supermarket...

The young blond girl in the baked goods area on her cell: "Is apple crisp the same as apple pie? Should I get the apple crisp? What if it's not the same as apple pie?"

The young tall guy perusing the dairy section. "Is that the real stuff?" he asks as I and a small crowd each pull out some whipping cream. "I think so..." says another young girl in a slightly doubtful voice on the other side of him.

The other day a friend and I were discussing when we might start feeling like grown-ups, and suddenly it feels like this might be it: the ability to locate, and know what to do with, a variety of supermarket ingredients without panicking.

The pumpkin pie filling was sold out, but the pure pumpkin - which is what I was after - was fully stocked. I grabbed a can and got the heck out of there.

Right to Play

One of the interesting things that I learned during my visit to the Beijing Paralympics was the relationship and role of sponsor companies during the games, and the immense value that corporate sponsors can find by becoming involved in the games.

I personally came away with newfound respect for Samsung* and PetroCanada for their support of the games and the athletes, both Olympic and Paralympic. On the flip side, I came away with less respect for GE and Johnston & Johnston, who packed up the show and left town before "Part II." You can guarantee that when I'm next looking for home appliances, I'll be choosing the Korean company with a strong ethic of corporate responsibility over the American company that just seeks short-term glory.

Unfortunately, my impression another Olympic Sponsor, General Motors, was deeply tarnished by two recent articles in the Globe. Sadly, the Vancouver organizing committee also takes a large part of the responsibility for the decision to exclude Right to Play from the 2010 Games, and I can't help but be deeply disappointed.

For those of you not familiar with Right to Play, it's an organization that seeks to bring sport - fun stuff like soccer - to kids in desperately poor and complicated countries, where even finding a ball and field to play in safety is a challenge, let alone a short release and distraction from the day-to-day struggle to survive. I was introduced to the organization when one of my colleagues left Vancouver to work for Right to Play in Africa, and I've been following and supporting the organizations activities wherever possible since then.

Ironically, at this summer's games in China Right to Play was present and active. It seems wrong that, here in Canada - a country with more apparent freedom of speech - we would be the ones to restrict their extraordinary activities and message.

I really hope that organizers can find a way around this arbitrary restriction. Meanwhile, you can count on me to give my opinion to VANOC on this choice, as well as make my own buying choices that reflect companies with a conscience - hopefully you'll do the same.



*one of the things I learned about Samsung is they created one of the first guide dog training programs in Korea, and are current working to set up the a similiar school in China, which will be a first for that country. How great is that?

Shoulda known better

Maybe I shouldn't have blogged from China.

Or called home with Skype.

Or posted on Facebook.

Check out this Globe and Mail article in today's paper. Do you know what this could mean?

I may never be able to shop for handbags in Beijing again.

Sigh. I knew I should have gotten to know Gucci while I had the chance. Or should I say, Guccci.

Building confidence

I started on outdoor sports like skiing and mountain biking late in life, and I presume that it's for that reason that approach both these sports and similiar adrenalin-powered adventures with very high levels of caution.

This weekend, for example, a group of friends headed to Merritt for some mountainbiking, and I came face-to-face with my fears a couple times.

Side note, we stayed at the local Ramada because it has a waterslide (marketing depts are probably missing a key demographic here - I bet the slide was installed to attract parents of the under 12 set, although there was no-one among us under 30).

Embarrassingly, it took me about 10 minutes to work up the courage to jump into that black hole of raging water and ride the 5 second surge to the base (what can I say, it was really dark in there. And the tunnel was tiny! A breeding ground for claustrophobia and God-only-knows-what.)

When it came to the biking though, the mountain trails we rode on were really great - much better than the 6-foot drops and nutty stunts found on the trails around Vancouver and Whistler. No, these were swooping, flowing trails still with enough bumps and turns to keep me on my toes.

That's not to say the tricks were missing. We found this one, 'The Big Easy,' thanks to some guidance from the locals. Here's Scott riding across it, and I'm happy to say that after a few attempts I made it across as well.


Oh, I should mention the locals who showed us the route were a family, and their five-year-old son had just tried this one out for the first time. Yep, me and the five-year-olds, breaking new ground.

Insomnia

It's three am and I'm wide awake, a side effect of jet lag. I think that's explanation enough on finding this surreal vintage Henson creation pretty funny. I'll let you decide if it's funny-ha-ha or just funny-strange. But I guarantee if you get up at 3am to watch it, it'll be funnier.

New heights

Today my colleague Faye and I visited the Great Wall. We chose the location of Simitai as it was close to Beijing with a less touristy reputation, and we were not disappointed. With the exception of two hawkers that attached themselves to us for the first few minutes of our journey, the wall at this location is serene, and we only met a few dozen other visitors. The wall climbs a rather dramatic and steep mountain spine just past where we were able to walk, and it seems impossible to have built the wall in such an impossible location.


Tonight was the closing ceremonies of the Paralympic Games, and this time a ticket came through for Faye, which was fantastic as she wasn't able to join me at the opening. As for me, I returned to my now favourite haunt 12SQM, the smallest bar in Beijing, where my colleague Darlene and I sipped perfect cocktails and the TV was tuned to the ceremonies. The proprietress not only helped translate the commentary on the CCTV broadcast, but also gave us her thoughts on a positive hope for Beijing - and China's - future.

It feels like both China and Paralympic sport are on the cusp of something great. Both are engaged - and succeeding - in the Herculean task of showing the world that the limits of possibility are not what was once thought. Nothing is impossible, and "Impossible is nothing," as Adidas says.

For China, Beijing is emerging as a modern and prosperous city, with citizens who seem eager to embrace a new way of life. I remarked to someone how familiar and comfortable Beijing felt: I can't tell for sure if that's because of the westernization influence on the city, or because of how my own multicultural city has influenced me.

For the Paralympics, the critical mass of audience and interest is gathering (although sadly, most slowly in North America) and the potential of the Paralympics as a viable and mainstream spectator sport is starting to become a reality.

And suddenly, we're next in line for the games. In a scant 18 months, Vancouver, Whistler, British Columbia and Canada will host the world for the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. If the Chinese hospitality and enthusiasm has taught me one thing, it's the importance of individual Canadians to become engaged with the Paralympic games.

I cannot recommend strongly enought that you include Paralympic sports in your plans for 2010 (viewing either live or televised). As I'm sure you've noticed, I have enjoyed ever minute of competition I've watched, and spectator participation is central to the competition and broadcast success of the Paralympics. I really, truly hope that Canada can show our support and excitement for the Paralympics the way the Chinese have. One thing is for sure: you can bet on finding me in the stands during the Paralympics, cheering for Team Canada.

Silver Linings

Just back from men's wheelchair basketball finals, where Canada took silver. Which means we didn't win the final game, but it was a great match to watch. Canada was definitely the crowd favourite, and we were well represented in the audience.



Earlier today I took advantage of some free time to visit the Lama Temple, and marvelled again at the intricacy of traditional Chinese architecture. I was also impressed by the gigantic 4-storey high Buddha which is the centrepiece of the temple. No pictures allowed, but the building below appears to have been constructed primarily to house this rather amazing gold-gilded likeness.



Tomorrow is my last full day in China and we'll be topping off our rather incredible journey with a trip to the Great Wall of China. And then homeward bound, back to where the heart lies.

Crowd Control

Tonight was a visit to Beijing's water cube to watch some of the swimming competitions. Although Canada has performed extremely well in swimming, there were few Canadians competing in tonight's races. However, we did get to cheer on Benoit Huot, who won bronze in his 400 metre race.



The amazing thing about being at the Beijing Paralympics (among other things) is the remarkable participation and energy of the locals in attendance. The stands are always packed, and the crowds cheer on the races, especially when China participates (and often wins - they're in the lead for medal wins, coming from 'out of nowhere', as one colleague put it, in Paralympic sport).

The Chinese have been criticized in the western media for filling the stands with workers and students, as if that's not a valuable audience for the events. That may be the case to a certain degree (I've seen a few yellow shirts emblazoned with "Chinese Workers Cheering for China"), but most of the spectators are regular Beijing residents, who perhaps couldn't access or couldn't afford Olympic times tickets - or are simply interested in the Paralympics. And let me tell you, never seen a more enthusiastic and engaged audience. Standing in the Olympic Green, you can hear roars echoing from the Bird's Nest Stadium, and tonight the Water Cube was alive with cheers. This is not a passive crowd, uninterested in the sport and taking only direction from an unseen force. This is an audience truly loving the sport and the athletes they're watching.



Outside of the events, the Olympic Green (the massive campus where most of the venues are located) is filled with life; families strolling, taking photos, touring pavilions, and taking in the atmosphere. This stands in sharp contrast to the stories my colleagues brought back from the Olympic period, when the access to the green was minimal and you could send an out-of-control bus through the area and not hit a soul. But now, this massive area of wide squares and long promenades is truly being used and enjoyed. The sense that the Paralympics has become the 'people's games' is strong for me, and I hope the legacy of being exposed to such remarkable and interesting sport is one that lasts for this city.

Tonight the sky is clear, the air is warm and the sight of the full moon rising over the Birds Nest Stadium is beautiful. I feel very luck to be here.



PS excuse the blurry pics on Flickr, I'm operating without the benefit of a tripod. Or time.

Lazy Sunday

Yesterday was Sunday, and after a busy and long week my colleague Faye and I decided we needed some down time. So we did what any girl would do: spa and shopping.

The shopping here is pretty great and the process is pretty overwhelming; bargaining is the norm. Thank god we have the advice of colleagues who've come before us, to choose which shop or stall to visit. And with a relaxing massage beforehand, we were good to go.

But by dinner my energy was flagging, so we dropped into "Beijing's Best Noodle House" which had been recommended by a number of locals. Our dinner was fantastic, as I count noodles as one of my favourite foods. Tossed in a black bean sauce with chopped vegetables, I couldn't have asked for anything better. The bill for all three of us, including three giant bottles of beer, was under $15.

Today is a non-stop day, checking out a number of venues with some of the local officials, and then tickets to swimming tonight. Hopefully the Canadians will be in as great form as they've been all week, and we'll be able to cheer them on.

Recordbreaking news

Today, we were among the spectators in the Bird’s Nest Stadium for a very special moment – the playing of the Canadian anthem.

The occasion was Dean Bergeron's gold medal in the men’s 100 meter wheelchair race and beating the paralympic record (the photo above is the finish line of the race); his teammate Andre Beaudoin won bronze. Meanwhile, Chantal Petitclerc, our Canadian superstar who’s already won 10 medals in this games, won her heat of the 800 metre wheelchair race and also broke the existing paralympic record for that distance. You can find more news on Canadian medal wins here



All of this excitement for the Canadian team was after watching Oscar Pistorius win the men’s 200 meter dash. Oscar, a South African, is a superstar. A double amputee, he’s continually breaking records and this year gained the right to compete in the qualifications for the Olympics. This man is superfast, and super amazing to watch. Needless to say, he broke records tonight as well.



Have I mentioned how inspiring these games are? Let me mention it again. These are elite athletes, continually pushing the boundaries of expectation and performance. It's amazing to be here to experience their energy first hand.

Addendum

The awesome purse in the pic below is a knock-off of the Hermes Birkin bag, an apparently rare and outrageously expensive bag. My version might be fake, but in the 24 hours I've owned it I've already received a lot of compliments. I did, however, feel a bit sheepish last night while sporting my conspicuous new purchase, I found myself in conversation over cocktails with members of the RCMP's Integrated Security Unit. Happily, they were discreet enough to not mention anything. Or they didn't care. Whatever - I still have my Birkin.

Sense of Place

Last night, a colleague and I found ourselves with exactly 45 spare minutes prior to an event. Similar to the previous night's escapade, Anna has also been in full Paralympic mode, 24/7 since she arrived - an exciting time, to be sure, but she hasn't seen anything of Beijing save for the traffic and the venues. Time for an intervention.

We miraculously found a cab (a small feat on the Friday night of a long weekend, it's the Moon Festival here on Monday) and whipped over to Nanluoguxiang, a hip hutong area (hutongs are the traditional courtyard-style neighbourhoods of Beijing, only a few remain after the ongoing 'redesign' of the city). We scheduled ten minutes for shopping and 20 minutes for a gin and tonic in Beijing's smallest bar (pictured above), at 12 square meters. It oozes charm, and finally, after 10 days, Anna felt like she was actually IN Beijing.

Time quickly ran out, so we jumped in another cab and high-tailed it across the district to the BC Canada Pavillion, where a Canadian Paralympic Committee event was being held. The pavillion is located on the edge of Tianenmen Square, so the taxi let us off in the general vicinity - communicating exact location to drivers can sometimes be a bit of a challenge so I usually cross my fingers and hope I'll end up where I instructed. This time, the drop off point was on the opposite side of the square than we were expecting, so the last part of our journey was a walk across the bustling attraction, filled with families and couples in early evening. The buildings were lit up and there was no doubt about where we were, amidst the remarkable icons of Beijing.

I couldn't have said it better myself

Just back from dinner out with a friend working with the Canadian team. She's been in Beijing two weeks but has barely left the Olympic campus, so we went out to a local neighbourhood for a little change of pace from the cafeteria of the athlete's village. She - and many others - are putting in long hours behind the scenes with the athletes helping to achieve their goals, and as a result is getting a unique and rare perspective. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and is an enthusiasm that I think has affected everyone who is involved in these games... as a particant, spectator, organizer or volunteer.

Scott Russell's blog on cbc.ca is a much more eloquent description of the Paralympic experience here in Beijing than I could ever hope to capture, and reflects many of my thoughts over the past few days. Enjoy.

Forbidden City

Forbidden City
Originally uploaded by Janamel

How can you not love a place with names like Hall of Supreme Harmony ( followed in quick order by Hall of Medium Harmony, a personal favourite), Palace of Celestial Favour, Gate of Loyal Obedience and Garden of Established Happiness (not to mention the Pavillion of Literary Profundity)? I'm tempted to start naming the rooms of my own humble abode in the same way.

The former Imperial Palace here in Beijing is enormous. Entering from the south, the scale begins on a dramatic and overwhelming size, but moving from courtyard to courtyard, slowly changes size and tone until reaching the much more intimate but no less beautiful residential wings and gardens.

In paralympic news, today we made the journey to the rowing venue, about an hour drive from the city centre. The stands were filled with groups of Chinese workers and students, enjoying the facility and the races. The excitement was palpable when China led, and won, the last race. The hot weather meant my colleagues and I ate a couple rounds of ice cream to keep cool. (Who can say no to ice cream, even if it does replace lunch?) So now it's off to find a proper dinner.

The game have begun

Wheelchair basketball
Originally uploaded by Janamel

After four days I’ve scratched a bit more of the surface of both Beijing and the Paralympics. I’ve just returned from the Olympic Green from watching two wheelchair basketball games, men’s Canada vs. Sweden and Great Britain vs. USA.

We were meant to arrive in time to also watch the women’s team competing immediately prior, but logistics in Beijing are not always easy, and finding cabs at rush hour, loading six people and two wheelchairs into the vehicles, coordinating ticket pick-ups, meeting locations and finding directions to the venue, took a wee bit of time.

Wheelchair basketball is a great game to watch – the rules are understandable to anyone familiar with basketball in general. It’s also fast, and a little bit rough. Ok, sometimes quite rough… it’s not unusual for players to be knock an opposing player off their wheels, or shift their own weigh forcefully enough to end up on the floor. The players themselves are pretty burly guys who look like they can handle a few hard hits. Tonight, at least, there was plenty of both tattoos and bad attitudes on the court.

You’ll be happy to hear the Canadian team won their match, and if all goes well and they make it to the finals, I’ve already got my tickets in hand. If they’re playing either the British or Americans I saw follow later tonight, then God speed… I would not want to run into either of those teams in a back alley (by the way, it’s more likely to be the British, as they won their match after coming from behind).

I’m disappointed most of you won’t be able to see much of the games through CBC as they are providing a shockingly minimal amount of coverage, especially in comparison to many other countries such as Britain, Australia and China and many others. The CBC has some nominal coverage on their website, but the best coverage to be found is likely at Paralympicsport.tv, where you can get a very good sense of what the action is like yourself. In the meantime, I’ve also posted a few pics from the game as well as some photos I’ve taken around Beijing over the last few days.

It’s raining here (as it has been, on and off, for the last few days). It was past midnight when I made my way back to the hotel tonight and the streets are quiet, near deserted, providing a brief sense of stillness in a city of over 15 million people. I swear I could hear a cricket chirp as I walked down Wangfujing Street. Time for me to call it a night, too.

If I had known, I would have dressed for the occasion

Canadian Team
Originally uploaded by Janamel

I've arrived in Beijing and started to get my bearings, both on the city and my role here, which is to observe and learn from the Paralympics, arriving next in Vancouver in roughly18 months. Shortly after my arrival, the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Paralympics was scheduled, but I was unclear on the process and unsuccessful at getting tickets in advance.

But luck was in the air and on the day of, a colleague from a related organization emailed at 5pm: he had a spare ticket, and asked did I want to use it. Yes please! He arranged to drop it at the front desk of his hotel, where I would pick it up and head onward to the Bird’s Nest Stadium myself. Everything clicked into place, and I was seated and ready for the show to begin at 8pm.

I've just loaded a selection of the photos onto flickr, so you can have a sense of the evening, but let me also share with you some highlights.

The entrance of the athletes takes most of the evening’s time, and watching the athletes as they enter the stadium is pretty moving. I could spot a few who were making the journey around the perimeter with considerable effort; one man with crutches was walking without their assistance, holding the support canes over his head in a sign of victory; a girl in a wheelchair was wheeling with the assistance of another teammate also in a wheelchair; one man, a double amputee, was walking without assistance. It was a slow process – he had fallen behind by about the length of a block by the time the rest of his teammates had been seated.

The part that brought tears to my eyes was when the torch relay entered the arena and the flame was passed from athlete to athlete as it made its way around the stadium. Finally, the last athlete manually raised himself and his wheelchair up a loooong rope, arm over arm, to the edge of the open roof, where the flame lit up the giant torch. I got a little weepy.

A few weeks ago in preparation for this trip, I met a colleague who’s been quite involved in the Canadian paralympic movement for a few years. She asked me if I’d ever been involved before: I said no. “Be careful,” she said, “This is something that can really capture your heart.”

I think it already has.

Good Karma

This weekend Scott and I and some friends went hiking near Whistler. While absolutely beautiful, our destination is a popular one with the winter snowmobiling crowd. Along the way, we picked up a lot of trash to clean up a little of this pristine wilderness.

Karma swung into action as, along with crushed beer cans and plastic bottles, we also found five bucks in loonies and twoonies scattered in the alpine meadow. In the spirit that it was 'lucky money,' Scott spent the change on lottery tickets and won $25!

The money has now been converted into a nice bottle of Spanish Rioja which we'll enjoy next time we're out with our friends. And you can guarantee we'll be returning the bottle for recycling after it's emptied.

Good Eats

In addition to helping out at the rooftop garden at the Y, I've also been doing some container gardening on our own patios. Scott only claims interest in plants that are edible (although he's broken his own decree by the recent addition of a second maple tree... theoretically edible, I suppose, if we tried to tap it.) In any regard, let's just say that in this year's crop, there were both hits and misses.

A big miss was the squash plants which, while prolific with growth and flowering, failed to produce a single squash. Almost as bad was the onions and shallots, but I admit I messed those up pretty badly by planting them upside-down. Yep, I felt pretty stupid about that.

After a couple tries in the cold spring, the basil took off, and similarly, the rest of our herbs flourished - chives, cilantro, lavender and two varieties each of mint, parsley and oregano.

The tomatoes are, of course, the best. I also played with a few root vegetables, with a small (literally) measure of success. Here's me last night with our tiny harvest of beets and carrots -


Next year the strawberries and rhubarb should be developed enough to produce edible fruit, and along with those we'll take a few lessons learned this year to choose and plant for next.

Happy Birthday

Yes, another three or four months have passed since I last posted. My negligence has been a fairly conscious one, as I grappled with questions of why am I keeping a blog, who I am doing it for, and what on earth am I going to write about today.

But I got over that. Yes, blogs are personal thoughts in a public arena - argue for or against it, at the end of the day it's a damn good exercise to keep my brain sharp. (I say that being fully aware that I sound like a 90-year-old polishing off the latest NY Times Sunday crossword.)

So what better time to resume my inner-voice ramblings than my birthday - an anniversary of sorts, even if it's a date not directly related to this monologue. Even more exciting, I'll have something to write about - I head to China in 10 days, to cover and observe the Paralympics for work. If that doesn't get the creative juices flowing, I truly and honestly don't know what will.

But in the meantime, today is my birthday, and I'm writing this at the end of long and exciting day after having consumed a few lovely glasses of wine, so my reiteration of the day's events may be a bit unfocused or, worse, loquacious. In any regard, it's been a busy one.

I'm proud to say that I devoted the first few hours to the greater good, volunteering at the rooftop garden I wrote about many months ago where the harvest is now coming in. After digging up carrots, green onions and picking zucchini, basil, parsley and beans, the whole lot was loaded into a bicycle trailer which I then navigated through the streets of Chinatown and the east-end to the women's shelter, before retracing my steps back to the downtown Y.

Feeling very virtuous, I indulged in a midday workout and shopping spree, cycled back home, cycled to Granville Island, where I exchanged the lovely birthday gift Scott bought me for an even lovelier one (I'm going to pay for that one, I know - but as beautiful as the necklace was, it was remarkably similar in shape and colour to one I received as a gift a year ago. What's a girl to do?) ...anyway, back to my day - ate a kick-ass doughnut then called Scott and demanded he take me out for a post-work-birthday-drink. Which he did, without delay.

By the time we were ready to start heading home it had started to rain - hard - which made the decision to cycle down to the island dubious. But with no commitments and light hearts, we worried not about the inclement weather conditions.

But maybe we should have, because by the time we got home a short 15 minutes later, we were soaked to the skin. A change into dry clothes, a chilled glass of white wine and an order of pizza quicky set things back on track.

And so here we are, on a cozy night with the rain falling, enjoying the moment.

A happy birthday indeed.

I've made a terrible mistake

See the guy in the labcoat on the right in the picture below? I know, tricky to spot amongst all the black and white, but he's there. And, it turns out, that's a job. I had no idea! Where was this guy when we had career counselling day at high school?

If I had seen this back when I was choosing a job, you can bet I would have pointed to the photo and said "that guy," when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I would have become an expert in coo-ing panda lullabies in flawless Mandarin, and my business card would have read "Panda Wrangler."


Sadly, this man got my job instead.
Sigh. He must have had a kick-ass career counsellor.

Like the Amazing Race, only different.

I'm in recovery mode this week, after some travel to Los Angeles where I was challenged to take competitive shopping and creative small talk to new levels.

The shopping challenge began when a friend and I accidentally exchanged credit cards after a shared lunch bill. I, blithely ignorant of the situation, tried to charge $30 at Banana Republic and was denied! When my photo ID didn't match the name on the card. Oops. Meanwhile, my friend happily racked up over $300 at three different shops on my card, including one that also checked her photo ID. Um, what's up with that?

Later, my small talk skills were put to the test with some unique conversations. My guests for an evening were Sumi, Miga and Quatchi - for those of you not already in the know, they are the Olympic Mascots for the upcoming Vancouver games. They are charming, lovely, playful creatures but communication is a bit limited. As they're mute. And I'm not sure they see very well.

But me, always wanting to fill the silent gaps in conversations, rambled on and on while they nodded and smiled and made happy paw signals. Or maybe they were just dancing. I can't tell for sure. But I am pretty sure we bonded. BFF.


Anyway, after all the hob-nobbing with celebs in LA, I felt it was important to introduce a touch of reality into my life, so upon returning home I volunteered at the local YWCA, which has a rooftop garden and donates the one tonne of vegetables produced to kitchens on the downtown east side. I also volunteered Scott. He was thrilled, as you can see:


Yes, that would be our version of American Gothic. But seriously, he was happy to help (except when he complained vehemently about vegetarian barbeques being 'a cruel joke') , and we did a lot to get the garden ready for a season of growing:


I'm looking forward to spending lots more time in this garden over the summer, plus encouraging the plants in our own patio boxes to grow. Now, if the sun would just come out in earnest...

Inspiration

Whistler Olympic Park
Originally uploaded by Janamel

While Scott and I have been puttering around on our skis this winter, we've shared the slopes with athletes that are aiming much higher than us. (which is not that hard, actually, because we're usually aiming for lunch.)

In March, we were at SunPeaks at the same time as the Canadian Association of Disabled Skiiers: watching skiers in sit-skis - or on one ski - run a gated course faster than I ever will, was pretty amazing. And last week, we went out cross country skiing at the new Whistler Olympic Park at the same time as the Canadian Biathalon Championships were being held.

Finding athletes on the same track is kinda like spotting celebrities in Hollywood; you're super impressed and then a little voice in your head perks up and says, "Hm, they're not that different from you or me... I could totally do that! Yah! Bring it on!"

Now, It's unlikely that I'll be strapping a gun to my back and racing around in a spandex outfit anytime soon, but hey, a couple of years ago I didn't know what climbing skins were. So, although I may have missed my potential Olympic podium years, anything's possible.

After our adventure in the mountains and with spring on the horizon, Scott and I have turned our attention to taming nature rather than conquering it. First, over to the Galiano cabin where we industriously ripped out a rather remarkable volume of vines slowly choking out the trees and the sunlight. Here in Vancouver, I've taken to planting things: interesting and edible things such as strawberries, lettuce, radishes, onions and a few herbs have gone into our planters (Scott's rule of planting only things-that-are-delicious is now going into effect). It's a rather daring experiment without a lot of research, knowledge, direction or planning. But how hard can growing edible stuff be? Famous last words I'm sure... so I'm signing us both up for a seminar on 'organic gardening' next week. Scott is thrilled. In the meantime, there's no sign of green and a this afternoon a hailstorm pummeled any faint hope we may have had that spring is arriving anytime soon. I think it may be time to head back into the mountains.

Mountain time

Others search out warm beaches, Scott and I search out wintery snow. Earlier this month, we drove across the province and headed deep into the mountains for some backcountry skiing. Our home for a few wonderful days was the very lovely Purcell Mountain Lodge, which has the kind of amenities that many backcountry lodges can only dream about: running water, for instance. No hyperbole here: the luxury of a hot shower at the end of a long day is not to be scoffed at. But beyond that, of course, is a whole roster of things that made this a great trip: beautiful scenery, delicious food, great guides and - not the least - a fun bunch of fellow skiers.

The one flaw in this plan is that I'm still a pretty shaky skier, and had a remarkable number of encounters with attack trees which weren't very pretty (don't worry, no one got hurt except the trees.) But every so often I would have a few moments of pure genius when the snow and skis and body and mind all came together long enough to feel what it was supposed to feel like... and just like that, I'm craving more, and more, and more. So my love affair with skiing continues, and luckily it doesn't come between Scotty and I.

A quick in and out 'visit' home for me tonight... the last week has been a series of meetings in San Francisco from which I returned today, and vacation for Scott and I officially starts now (yay!) - so we're headed off tomorrow into the wild white yonder for a week of skiing. More on that later.

The real highlight of the past few days in San Francisco was a visit to the offices of Sunset Magazine. You know, travelling can be wearying - another airport lounge, another faceless hotel. But the moments that break the rhythm really return me to all the reasons I love to travel. Such is the case with Sunset - their offices are set in Menlo Park, an hour away from downtown San Francisco. Set in this bucolic suburbia of bungalows and gorgeous mature trees is the magazine's offices, which feels more like a private home than a corporate setting.

The reception area is a lovely and large sitting room, with a wall of glass doors facing out to the expansive and immaculate gardens. Our meeting was outdoors in a nearby courtyard, surrounded by fragrant herbs like rosemary and mint. As we were leaving by way of the the airy terracotta-tiled hallway, we could smell delicious foods being baked in the adjacent test kitchen. Heaven.

Working at Sunset Magazine now tops my list of dream jobs. An unlikely development, I know... but the good news? The magazine's gardens are open to anyone passing through the area. So I highly recommend adding Menlo Park to your list of must-visits.


Meanwhile, Scott and I have packed up the car and, in the morning, we are pointing it in the direction of SunPeaks Resort for a couple of days of relaxed skiing. From there, we'll continue east to Golden, BC, where, at a pre-appointed hour, a helicopter will meet us and whisk us off to the middle of nowhere... Purcell Mountain Lodge to be exact. From this lovely backcountry lodge we will explore the surrounding snowy peaks with skis and skins until returning to the city in a week or so, with clear minds clear and wobbly legs. 'Til then.