Earth Hour 2011 - Go Beyond the Hour

First notice I had of this year's Earth Hour (and I haven't thought about it in at least a year, maybe more) was a glimpse I caught on a posted ad on the subway going home today.

The second was a tweet on Twitter by NatGeo, leading to this article.

I don't think I've every participated in an Earth Hour, in all the years it's been organized, but I like the idea (and check out the image of Hong Kong in the article - find 10 things that are different in the second photo...see more pictures).

I like to think I've been living greener than ever here in Toronto, partly because the city composts, partly because I have no access to a car, and due to a few other little things: having a bona fide thermos to take my coffee to school in; being too poor to afford ziploc bags or new leftover dishes; not having a dishwasher or laundry in my apartment. Of course, not all of these things automatically reduce my carbon footprint, but I re-use glass jars, wash my dishes without running the water except to fill the sink; and I avoid doing laundry until it is absolutely necessary.

Turning off lights is harder, but right now, for instance, the only light I have on is the one by my bed. I've unplugged all non-essential electronics, too.

So if I participate in Earth Hour this year, I'm sure it will be exciting worthwhile. If I don't, well, I won't feel too badly about it. I'll just remember to keep turning off lights I'm not using, for the rest of the year.

Details:
Saturday, March 26, 8:30pm - 9:30pm (local time)
The only rule? No lights!
See my new widget!

Party like it's... 1413? Happy Anniversary, St Andrews!

Last night the St Andrews Alumni Club of Toronto hosted the Principal and Vice Chancellor of St Andrews University, Louise Richardson, for a black-tie dinner at the Royal York in celebration of the 600th anniversary of the university.

Aside from a few minor glitches, and in planning anything, there will always be one or two, the event went off without a hitch. Approximately 85 guests showed up, everyone dressed snazzily, and mingled with refreshments before the dining room opened. I spent most of this time handing out name cards and answering the question, "where is the coat room?"

If I had a digital camera, this post would include pictures, but sadly, such is not the case.

At any rate, we sat down to dinner with a slide show of Googled images of St Andrews (and Kate Middleton posing in her underwear - a picture that just sold for an obscene amount of money in London) and beautiful live harp music in the background. The salad was the best part of the dinner, except for the rolls. Having worked a few weddings last summer, I wasn't really surprised.

Between the main course and dessert, Doug Gibson traveled around the room with a mic, gathering stories from anyone interested in sharing their St Andrews experiences with the rest of the room. The first speaker was a woman who graduated in 1944!!

After dinner Louise Richardson addressed the guests, and did a wonderful job. I was very impressed with what she had to say and with her plans for the university. I hope she achieves the things she's set out to do. Recent graduates might be interested to know that the new library project had to be scrapped due to little to no financial support from the government, and instead the less-costly renovation plans have focused on increasing seating ... and books. The university has bought land out by Guardbridge in order to house graduate students and unused library stores, among other things - and I believe some of that acreage has been earmarked for a bio-mass plant. She mentioned other interesting projects, but sadly I didn't take notes and can't remember any more. She fielded several questions about tuition (no mention of the outrageous hikes in England), the library, student demographics, and the Prince and soon-to-be-Princess's visit to the campus last month. Apparently the couple has fond memories of their experiences there. Who doesn't, I would like to know?

Which reminds me. Of course the biggest piece of news surrounding the university at this time is not, as you might think (but you probably know better), the university's anniversary, but rather the university's status as top matchmaking university in the [world]. Taking advantage of this were GlobalTV, who attended the event in order to interview any guests who met and fell in love with their partners while at St Andrews. Somewhat unflatteringly, the Principal and Vice Chancellor gave half the credit for this status to "isolation." Hmm. Making the best of a small selection, perhaps? I kid.

Door prizes were awarded, I stood up to be acknowledged for my role in the planning of the event, and walked home with the centerpiece, a small bush of Scottish heather - but that completes the surfeit of interesting news about the event.

The Proper Way to Remove a Staple...

... Involves a spatula.

Seriously, that's what the tool is called. It looks like a miniature spatula, and although it makes the staple-removing process cleaner, it also makes it more arduous.

This, among other things, I learned at a special "crash course" that took place this past Saturday on the conservation and preservation of rare materials and museum artifacts. The two instructors gave very interesting presentations, one of which was on "conservation concerns," meaning things like insect poo, vermin and pest management, disaster plans, the hazards posed by visitors, moving giant ceramic Chinese horses so they can be transported to the next city on their world tour, and safe lighting for artwork. The other focused on rare books and paper conservation. We learned a bit of the history of paper (for example tumors that grow on trees, called "galls," cause discoloration and deterioration of paper) and the proper techniques to use in ordering and organizing archival material. These included removing both metal and plastic paper clips, unfolding folded sheets, and as I mentioned, staple-removal. Then we got to practice these on as-yet unprocessed archival files.

Overall, a very fun and unique way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Take Coffee, Add Indie Music...

... and you have a great evening in store. Or at least, that's how last night went for me. 

The line-up at my neighborhood coffee shop last night included two of my new favorites (I'd never heard either before): Emily Spiller and the Jessica Stuart Two, a temporary derivative of the Jessica Stuart Few. I know what I like in music, but I'm not a music critic, nor do I know much about describing music, so you won't find any details here, but check out these links to their websites, where you can sample some songs and buy CDs if you're so inclined.

One of my near and dear Toronto friends and I arrived a little late, sadly missing the opening numbers, but we did get to hear awesome music for the greater portion of three hours. Being late, we got front-row seats on the staple cozy vintage couch, about three to four feet away from the "stage." For the first time, I watched how a one woman manages to sound like a five-piece band and heard/saw a koto (a traditional Japanese instrument that is longer than I am tall, looks amazingly complicated to play, and sounds great with a bass).

So now I'm a huge fan of coffeehouse concerts, and can't wait to see more at the local hub!

King James and Gutenberg are Together at the Fisher Library!

Somehow I never arrive at these things directly. I suppose it's more fun to find out about them indirectly...

Went to the opening of the exhibit on the King James Bible that is currently on display at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, and have seen the amazing variations in form that the Bible has taken over the centuries. In the context of research for another project, I came across this:





On a side note, very proud of my computer skills, since I just figured out which part of the embedding code creates the green color of the play bar on the bottom of the video! Okay, so it was cutting and pasting, but reading coding languages is like reading Greek for me.

Anyway, if you're in Toronto, and you haven't checked it out yet, go see the exhibit at the Fisher - they have the really big Bibles (and a page from the Gutenberg press, ask to see that one) and really really little Bibles, pop-ups, cartoons, ancient languages and more!

If you can't get to Toronto before June 3, listen to PJ Carefoote talk about it here:

Zen and the Art of Baking [and the honey bar recipe]

Two nights ago I had a craving for Sweet. This happens frequently in my life, so I'm quite used to it, and usually have chocolate chips on hand. Only, I decided last week not to buy more because I bake chocolate chip cookies (and eat them) way too often.

So instead, I turned to my favorite baking cookbook In. The. World: the Tassajara Bread Book, by Edward Espe Brown. The author, who has a very zen outlook on life (perhaps because he is an ordained Zen priest), is simply amazing. He's a genius. His introduction to the copy my mom has, which I don't think made the cut for the 25th anniversary edition, and which I own, states that you cannot make a "bad" loaf of bread. Each loaf is different.If you enjoy baking, or want to start baking, I suggest you try the Tassajara. It's not all bread, either, but breakfasts and desserts, muffins and butters and pastries.


To get back to my craving, I found a recipe at the back, in the desserts section, called "Honey Bars." To cut a long, boring story short, these are what I made. I didn't have enough honey, so I added a bit of maple syrup instead, and they still tasted great (maybe next time I'll learn how they're really supposed to taste).

I shared them around because initially I didn't like them (now I think they're the best), and I know a few people asked for the recipe. So after that long written perambulation, here it is, with a few notes of my own:

I have always loved the soft but chewy texture of these bars and the exquisite bouquet of spices, honey and fruit peel. They can be kept for several weeks in a tightly closed tin. 

1 1/2 cups honey [I added maple syrup]
3 tablespoons butter OR margarine
2 cups whole wheat flour, sifted with 1 tablespoon baking powder [I used unbleached white here]
2 tablespoons chopped lemon or orange peel OR 1 tablespoon of each
2 teaspoons cinnamon [I never really measure the spices]
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon mace OR allspice OR ground coriander (optional) [I don't have these]
1/2 cup chopped almonds or other nuts [almonds are perfect]
1 1/2-2 cups whole wheat flour [my dough looked really thick, so I ended up only adding about a half cup of whole wheat flour here]

[Makes about 24 large bars. Preheat oven to 350F]

Have all the ingredients ready to mix quickly before the mixture stiffens with cooling. 
Heat the honey in a saucepan slowly [this doesn't take very long] just until liquidy; remove from the heat. Stir in the butter or margarine and then the sifted flour with baking powder to make a thick batter. Add the fruit peel, spices, and nuts, and then add the additional flour until a dough forms.  [I ended up using much less than 1 cup extra flour]
Pat the dough into a buttered pan until you have a layer 3/8 inch thick. Bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes. Be careful not to overbake or the cookies will be quite hard. When done, the bottoms will be lightly browned and the tops dry but not browned. 
Remove from the pan while still warm and slice into bars. Then cool before storing.  

Enjoy! I'd love to hear about variations, too, so let me know how it turns out!

Green Drinking - Water, That Is.

There's information out there (Green Guides from two years ago was my source; but I'm sure elsewhere, too) that drinking bottled water is awfully hard on the environment. Here's another article, from 2010, with some quick facts (like this one: "The bottled-water industry is so successful, it has outpaced milk, coffee, and juice in number of gallons of drinks sold—putting it behind only beer and soda" about water bottle pollution.

Read down to the health section and you may never re-use a plastic water bottle again.

But, to get personal about this issue, I've had some interesting conversations about the "water bottles" I use. Everyone knows there are SIGGs and other aluminum bottles, which have become popular over the past few years... but when you carry around an old jar that used to have salsa in it (and still has the label on it, and a pepper on the lid) you get funny looks, raised eyebrows, and amused comments. Some of my friends have even laughed at my salsa water jar.

Yes, they're heavy, and yes, you get all those reactions from incredulous friends and acquaintances - but, I don't have to buy aluminum water bottles, and I get to re-use the glass jars that I buy at the grocery store, when they're not holding nuts or cream of wheat or other dry goods.

And, frankly, I like their uniqueness, their quirkiness. To all those with the raised eyebrows and incredulous looks - Yes. I proudly drink water out of salsa jars.

An Informal Book Review

I recently started a new book, one which I found at the library where I volunteer. You may remember it from this post. One day, as I was putting books back on the shelves where they belonged, I straightened up some of the books already on the shelves, and came across a title I'd found (serendipitously) on The Great Internet. Which I almost immediately put on my To-Read List. Here it is, in its lovely hardcover jacket.

I haven't finished the book yet (as I should, before I post a review, but does anyone mind?)

This book reminds me of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (a favorite of mine). The narrative travels through time, and follows several individuals who play a role in the rescue of the Sarajevo Haggadah over the past 6 centuries. It opens with the main protagonist, a young Australian book conservator in 1996, who gets asked to recently war-torn, tense Sarajevo to conserve the text. She finds an insect's wings and other anomalies in the book. Her search for the history of the book itself, and how it has survived over the centuries, leads to the other narratives, the first of which takes place in (again) war-torn Sarajevo, this time the Second World War. This second narrative follows a young, poor Jewish girl in Sarajevo, fighting to survive. Her trials lead her to the kustos of the National Museum, a Muslim with a passion for history and diversity and the kindhearted motivation to save a young Jewish girl.


That's as far as I've gotten, but the writing is beautifully evocative, the plot suspenseful and quick-moving, and the stories engaging.