Ukrainian Orthodox Church

It was a glorious day of sunshine today in Vancouver. My first day out since my return the other day. I snapped this shot of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church just as the sun was setting.

Comfort Foods

This week was a time of comfort foods for mom and I. We were blessed with a gift of moose meat. Today I cooked some up and this is what we had for dinner.

It was so good that mom kept saying "this is so good", and when she finished, she said she couldn't eat another bite. I didn't bother with any starch accompaniment. We simply had baby greens, radishes and sticks of English cucumber. Mom doesn't like salad greens chopped into pieces so that is why the salad greens look as they do. But they are good no matter which way you eat them! I also stir fried some slices of red pepper with mushrooms and stalks of celery. This mixture is what is obscuring the meat somewhat in my photos.

The moose meat has been cut into slices off a slab, pounded and dipped into flour on both sides before frying in hot oil. One must use enough oil so as not to dry out the moose meat which is very lean. Read more about the moose meat here.

Earlier this week, I made pan fried bannock. I've blogged before about oven baked bannock. See here and here. For the pan friend version, you omit the oil/shortening from the recipe. Once you form your rounds or pieces of bannock to be cooked, you heat some oil and fry the bread, turning it over once it has browned. Once cooked on both sides, you lay it on strips of paper towel to blot out the excess grease. Eat. It is especially good with butter and jam.

Here is a picture of what the fried bannock should look like.

Just as I was finishing this blog, mom's daily aide came for the night service. Lo and behold she brought some minced buffalo meat. See a photo of a buffalo here. Wow, we are so blessed.

Scenic Sunset

Southwest facing view of the mountains in North Kamloops, BC.

Sky Above the Valley

This was the sky above Kamloops this week.

The Sky's the Limit

For more sky photos see here

Tree at Dusk

This is a photo of a tree I took at dusk against a dark sky in late Fall. I thought the red berries looked so pretty.

Aboriginal People's Heritage reflected in Winter Olympics 2010

I am very proud of the Vancouver Olympic Opening Ceremony which incorporated so much of the First Nations and Aboriginal culture into the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. I didn't mention it in my post last night about the Opening Ceremonies but Aboriginal presence and participation was one of the highlights of the show for me.

The First Nations of the traditional territories on which the games are being held were recognized as heads of state and seated directly behind the Canadian Prime Minister and the Governor General. Four totem poles were raised from the centre of the stadium, and greetings were given to the crowd (and the world) in the languages of the four host First Nations (Squamish Nation, Musqueam Indian Band, Lil'wat First Nation, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nation), as well as English and French. The arms of the totems were raised in a traditional gesture of greeting to welcome the athletes and the world. The Aboriginal peoples later formed a welcome circle to prepare for the forthcoming Parade of the Nations and danced traditional welcoming dances as the athletes entered the stadium. In addition to the representation and welcome by the four host First Nations, there were representatives of the 52 tribal groups of Aboriginal peoples in Canada, the First Nations, Inuit and Métis.

[Photo credits: Canoe.ca]

[Photo credit: gymnasticscoaching.com]

This year's Olympic medals are stunningly beautiful and so unique. They reflect the First Nations heritage of Canada, and in particular, British Columbia, the host province for this year's winter Olympics.

It took a team of people two years to make this year's medals. It was a collaborative effort between Canadian Aboriginal designer/artist, Corinne Hunt, internationally renowned industrial designer, Omer Arbel, the Royal Canadian Mint, Teck Resources Limited, and VANOC’s in-house design team.

The medals are made from master artworks created by Corrine Hunt, a Vancouver, BC-based artist of Komoyue and Tlingit heritage. Hunt chose the orca as the motif for the Olympic medals. Each medal is hand-cropped and no two are alike so each Olympic medal athlete will have a treasured and unique creation.

(Orca panels)

The orca, designed across four panels in the style of a traditional West Coast First Nations bentwood box, is often associated with the attributes of strength, dignity and teamwork.
The first of Canada's medals is a silver medal won by Jennifer Heil, from Spruce Grove, Alberta, for mogul skiing. Congratulations Jennifer! You make us Canadians proud.

In closing let me link you with the video to the full Opening Ceremonies.
I could not embed it so I've linked it here.

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/collections/collectionid=40427/index.html

I decided to put this up after my dear blogger friend, Laura from Paris asked for suggestions. If you look at the bottom of the video screen you will see a long bar divided into several parts. The main portion of the Aboriginal participation is included in the first bar. You can also go to the link for more Olympic coverage.