some humour

Another aspect of this tragedy in Haiti

From the New York Times:

Along with everything else stolen by last week’s earthquake, Haitians must now add another loss: the ability to identify and bury the dead. Funeral rites are among the most sacred of all ceremonies to Haitians, who have been known to spend more money on their burial crypts than on their own homes.

It is the product in part of familiarity with death — the average life span of a Haitian is 44 — but also the widespread voodoo belief that the dead continue living and that families must stay connected forever to their ancestors.

“Convening with the dead is what allows Haitians to link themselves, directly by bloodline, to a pre-slave past,” said Ira Lowenthal, an anthropologist who has lived in Haiti for 38 years. He added that with so many bodies denied rest in family burial plots, where many rituals take place, countless spiritual connections would be severed.

“It is a violation of everything these people hold dear,” Mr. Lowenthal said. “On the other hand, people know they have no choice.”

...

After the 2004 tsunami in Asia, aid groups and governments established a system in which people were photographed before being buried so loved ones could search for them. Here, all the dead are anonymous. Mr. Lowenthal, the anthropologist, said this did not reflect callousness on the part of Haitians, but rather an unprecedented catastrophe that has overwhelmed the country and the aid groups.

“This is worse than the tsunami,” he said. “Look at the concentration of destruction.”

We've lost a McGriddle :-(

Oh noes! Friend Midnightstreet sent me this article--one of my favourite artists has died. Hapoo. Here's a quote from Rufus Wainwright, her son:

"as I was saying to her sister Anna last night while sitting by her body after the struggle had ceased, there is never enough time and she, my amazing mother with whom everyone fell in love, went out there and bloody did it. I will miss you mother, my sweet and valiant explorer, lebwohl and adio. X”

Here's one of her best songs: I Eat Dinner

I eat dinner
At the kitchen table
By the light
That switches on
I eat leftovers
With mashed potatoes
No more candlelight
No more romance
No more smalltalk
When the hunger's gone
I eat dinner

At the kitchen table
And I wash it down with pop
I eat leftovers with mashed potatoes
No more candlelight
No more romance
No more smalltalk
When the hunger stops
When the hunger stops

Never thought that I'd end up this way
I who loved the sparks
Never thought my hair'd be turning grey
It used to be so dark
So dark

No more candlelight
No more romance
No more smalltalk
WHen the hunger's gone
No more candle light
No more romance
No more smalltalk
When the hunger's gone
When the hunger's gone

I'm the luckiest giiirl in the woooorld

The first time my brother and I saw this, O How We Laffed. And I still love to say: "I'm the luckiest boy in the world. I'm the LUCKiest Boy in the WOOORLD!!"

I'm feeling lucky too. I was on the staff holiday party committee this year, and it all went off without a hitch tonight. Now I have sore feet, and four gigantic slabs of the heaviest cake you've ever carried, which I have to find a way to bring into work. It's a cake-boss time cake... have you ever lifted a cake with a fondant cover? You could do a workout with fondant.

And we had a vegan cake too. Minoum-minoum.

Great song alert! Charlie Winston - In Your Hands

I'm sure this is the best "free single of the week" I've ever had off Canada's iTunes store. Free until end of day Monday.

Costume - trial run

I had to put together my costume to make sure it would all work. It's hard to see the details cause it's black (and I was photographing myself in the kitchen), but the 3 key parts turned out to be:

1. Tying a ribbon tightly along the empire waistline. The original waistline didn't fight tight against the body, which it needs to for Regency effect.

2. Pinning the wraparound skirt along the waistline to create a train. I found a picture online of a train, and it was pinned all the way up to the front sides of the dress, and I think that ended up being the key to the train effect.

3. The accessories. (I forgot to photograph my little reticule, and my black handkerchief for weeping in, or for challenging zombies to duels.)


I'm wearing my high quality boots, so my feet should be ok. And they passed the dancing test. (You don't want shoes that grip too well.) My skirt's a bit short, but better for running and fighting. (Or I'm very fast and showing off my ankles to the boys.)

The Vair Serious look on my face is the famous British Stiff Upper Lip in the face of disaster.

I still need to make a sword, and maybe a fan.

Rich Person Guilt, Comfort Food, and one Good Cookbook

I guess when I'm in a blah mood I feel like cooking. Yesterday I made pasta, and vegetable soup with dumplings. Today I made muffins and bread. There's something comforting about the process. I turn on CBC radio, then I sit down and poke through my cookbooks until I find what I'm in the mood for (and have ingredients for), then I unload and reload the dishwasher, clean all the counters with vinegar and water, fire up the oven, pull out my beautiful green mixing bowls, and get started. I load the dirty cooking things into the empty dishwasher as I go, so by the end I have a warm kitchen, good food, and a clean kitchen.

The CBC show was Definitely Not the Opera, and the theme was guilt--parental guilt, cultural guilt, survivor guilt, guilt of a woman who got out of Afghanistan, guilt of the grandson of a concentration camp doctor, green guilt, etc. It was perfect for my mood, because right now I'm steeped in Living in a Rich Country guilt.

I should plug my favourite cookbook again. I was in the mood for muffins and for a herbed no-yeast bread, and decided to go with the two recipes in Jae Steele's book because 99% of her recipes turn out great. And they did once again.


I made apple cinnamon muffins (but with cranberries instead of raisins) and the "almost focaccia bread." Both turned out dreamy. I've never seen a bad review for this book, and you don't need to be vegan to enjoy it. She doesn't rely on prepared vegan foods (fake cream cheese, fake cheese etc) but instead emphasizes whole foods, so at work I recommend it to people just looking for a healthy cookbook. The recipes are also quick... so good for lazy people like moi...
Get it in...

Canada
The US
The UK
France
Japan
and probably a lot of other countries.

And she has a new book out this spring! Yays!