Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
Barley yummy!
It’s a recipe kindof day since I just enjoyed the leftovers of this tasty dish for lunch – barley being my favourite of the whole grains (we use whole, not pearled or hulled barley in this). It’s like a healthy tuna casserole and feeds four with leftovers.
Recipe provided by BarleyFoods.
Barley-Tuna Casserole
2 cups cooked pearl or whole grain barley, directions below
1 can (15 ounces) pinto beans, undrained
1 can (6 ounces) water-packed tuna, drained and flaked
1-1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup non-fat milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon dill weed
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350° F. Coat 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick vegetable spray. Combine cooked barley with beans, tuna, 1 cup shredded cheese and remaining ingredients. Spread in prepared baking pan. Top with remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until cooked through. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings.
Per serving: calories 319, protein 23g, carbohydrates 29g, fiber 6g, fat 13g, cholesterol 115mg, sodium 646mg.
In case you are unfamiliar – some barley cooking instructions:
Pearl barley: In medium saucepan with lid, bring 3 cups water to a boil. Add 1 cup pearl barley and return to boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook 45 minutes or until barley is tender and liquid is absorbed. Makes about 3 cups.
Hulled (whole grain) barley: In medium saucepan with lid, bring 3 cups water to a boil. Add 1 cup hulled barley and return to boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook 50-55 minutes or until barley is tender. Hulled barley tends to absorb less liquid than pearl barley. It may be necessary to pour off any unabsorbed liquid after 50-55 minutes of cooking. Makes about 3 cups.
Hulless (whole grain) barley: In medium saucepan with lid, bring 4-1/2 cups water to a boil. Add 1-1/2 cups hulless barley and return to boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook 50-55 minutes or until barley is tender. Hulless barley tends to absorb less liquid than pearl barley. It may be necessary to pour off any unabsorbed liquid after 50-55 minutes of cooking. Makes about 3 cups.
Back in town, waiting for spring.
I inadvertently took a break from post-a-day this weekend as I didn’t get enough downtime in Victoria to really focus on anything. Blogging a couple of hours in a day where I’m not interacting with anyone. Not because it that long to write a post, but I just need a little space in order to do so.
In any case, I’m back in Vancouver after a somewhat eventful drive to Port Alberni on Thursday where I got stuck on the highway for two hours behind a lineup of cars held back due to a snowstorm over “the hump” (Alberni Summit), and then a trip down the island to Victoria to visit family and friends. Last night we returned home and my beehive carpenter came by to drop-off and set up my beehive, though it was too dark to get a decent photo. I’ve got a little more finishing to do on it which will hopefully get done in the next few days, but otherwise I’m feeling like I’m prepped to get my package of bees! Over at Among the Weeds tomorrow I should have a photo and a bit of a discussion about that.
I’m due to go out of town again on Sunday, but I hope that the long flight to Ottawa and alienating hotel room actually fuel writing in that case rather than stifling it. Still waiting to hear if I can even get a flight out due to some kind of crazy lack of flight availability. Can’t say I’d be sorry if I wasn’t able to go…. I’m feeling the need to spend some time around home right now getting some sewing projects underway and prepping my garden once the ground thaws again (hopefully by next week – we’re having yet another cold snap which is unusual for this late in the winter).
More better postings to come this week once I’ve got my head wrapped around work and home again….. and I’m excited to get some pictures of the garden as it unthaws and our bees come to live there over the next couple of weeks. Spring is coming soon, I’m sure of it. Once more thaw and we’ll be there!
Husband shopping and other Craigslist encounters.
From Craigslist: a carpenter to build my beehive, three antique food crocks at a good price, a fold-out couch, a very good friend, people to take away my boxes, a woman to buy some beads, a hazelnut tree, wine jugs, a contractor, fencing boards to build raised beds, a source of alder or ash logs, firewood, garden soil, and a husband.
Not all at the same time of course, but these days if I want something or need a job done, the first stop is Craigslist before I look anywhere else. Now the friend and the husband I wasn’t looking for explicitly, but each of them came into my life as a result of Craiglist’s posts and hell – I’m keeping them!
But really, it makes me think about how the Internet has changed the way I go about things. Need a financial management tool? Mint. Need a nutrition and fitness plan? Sparkpeople. Want to find out how my Mom is doing? Facebook. Bank balance? Online banking. Looking for facts about any subject? Wikipedia. And of course Craiglist is the ultimate second-hand shop, flea market and local networking venue. Trying to find anything else? Google.
Fifteen years ago, none of this existed you know, and no one in my hood had high-speed Internet either. But as I’ve grown into my adulthood, so has technology sped right alongside, and I find myself in a world altogether different from the one I was born into.
It just dawned on my Wednesday as I shook hands with a person I had never met (my beehive carpenter) – once again making a connection with someone completely facilitated by technology (and thank goodness because it turns out my carpentry skills were *not* up to the task of building that damned thing). And that despite my hardcore technology critique and skepticism of the corporations that run these sites, much bounty has come into my life because of the techno-expansion of the last decade. I mean, where would I be now if I hadn’t met my lovely Brian? Without the Internet would I have met my one true love or my appointed angel?
Perhaps yes because I would be out in the world more. But maybe not, because the truth is I’d rather stay home and read a great deal of the time (a hallmark of getting older I know) and without an easily facilitated outside world… well – I have no idea how much I’d bother interacting with it. It’s not like before the Internet Canada was some free and easy social culture with supportive urban community (unlike many intact communities I have seen internationally). But of course, it’s not possible to answer what the world would have been like without something – and my world so specifically relies on technology (I’m a web developer and manager after all) that it’s impossible to separate my adult life from it.
Mostly, life just feels a lot more convenient than it would otherwise – like we’ve got a giant bulletin board to pin notes to where thousands of people stop by and take a look every day. Even better than that, we can start the awkward conversations of living from behind our keyboards before we even have to meet face to face (I find it much easier to negotiate prices for services via the computer, rather than over the phone or in person for example). In the hyper-society in which we now live, it seems impossible that we should live without this convenience. For me personally – given the fact I really did meet my husband via Craigslist – I can’t even imagine my life without it.
About casinos and city visions
(I really don’t want to become one of those chronic letter-writers, but it seems this week there is just a lot to be said about decisions being made. Tonight is the city council hearing on the expansion of Edgewater and I am sure it will be packed. Unfortunately, I can’t make it so I am sending this letter instead. If you are a Vancouver resident, consider sending one in today. For more information check out Vancouver Not Vegas)
Dear Vancouver Mayor and City Council:
As someone who lives in the city of Vancouver, and works downtown – I am writing to oppose the expansion of gaming in Vancouver and the building of the new expanded Edgewater mega-casino. I do not believe that increased gambling is a good thing for our city, nor do I believe that enough public consultation has been done on the issue to warrant approval of this mega-project.
Not only would the proposed Edgewater development forever change the character of our downtown area, it also represents a tripling of gaming in our municipality in the form that is most problematic for those with gambling addictions – slot machines. I do not believe that the city has given proper study to the impacts these changes will bring, nor weighed out potential revenue against the increase in social services and policing needed as a result of increased gambling in our community.
While not everyone who enjoys gaming develops an addiction, study after study shows that greater access to casinos, slot machines and other forms of wagering increases the rate of problem-gambling (ie: addiction) greatly in the surrounding community. According to US studies, two out of three compulsive gamblers commit illegal acts in order to pay gambling-related debts or to continue gambling. A Nova Scotia study estimates that each problem gambler negatively affects 10 to 17 other people. And it should come as no surprise that problem gamblers are more likely to abuse their wives and children, suffer from depression, attempt suicide and file for bankruptcy than the general population.
But this isn’t just about problem gamblers is it? It’s also a question of what kind of city we want. One that attracts organized crime? One that promotes addiction as a way to make a quick dollar? One that turns prime waterfront into glass and chrome towers rather than working towards emphasizing the city’s natural beauty? A green city or a greedy city? I’m pretty sure that you have the same answer at heart as I do, and yet it’s hard to turn away from the cash on offer upfront.
This is the time to be strong, and show the residents of the city that you care about what happens to them – and that you have a healthy and positive vision of Vancouver’s future rather than the seedy one that Edgewater would rather us celebrate.
I urge you to call a moratorium on all gaming expansion until citizens have been properly consulted via a referendum or equivalent process, as is done in other cities and jurisdictions across North America.
Furthermore I urge you to sever the application for gaming expansion from the Edgewater rezoning application, so that we may have a public discussion about gambling expansion.
I don’t believe a mega-casino is what this city needs or wants – so please give Vancouverites a chance to fully participate in this discussion with you.
Vancouver is a great city. Let’s keep it that way.
Sincerely,
MA
Red Cedar 