Truth

The End is Near...??

Finally a backlash against urban hipster foodies? I've training and a certificate in patisserie from Le Cordon Bleu. My brother is a professional chef. I abhor the elitist food trends just to make a buck. So I appreciate the seriousness (and humor) of this article from Slate: The Great GoogaMooga and elitism: What Brooklyn’s food festival says about foodies.

Quotes:

"So much of the festival seemed designed to congratulate those self-satisfied consumers who act like they deserve a Congressional Medal of Honor for spending $10 on a bratwurst. ... a crowd gathered to watch celebrity chef April Bloomfield butcher a pig, as if she were Hemingway diagramming a sentence."

and this...

‎"The trend toward locally, ethically sourced ingredients prepared thoughtfully is a good one... But foodies’ focus on ingredient and chef pedigree has morphed into an aesthetic cult for the wealthy, in which status trumps sustainability."

Very telling...

"Bloomfield makes food for rich people to excrete."

Now, go devour your breakfast pain au chocolat.

PROTEST SKATEBOARDS

Skateboarders use their boards as signs in Montréal.

Photo courtesy of Tim Cast, whose live stream from Montréal you can watch here.


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Manifestation de Casseroles

Génial! "Manifestation de casseroles sur la rue Fabre, le 19 mai 2012. C'est tous les jours, partout, à 20h." Make a musical clanging sound! Spreading through Montreal neighbourhoods to support the 2012 Quebec student strikes. Zut alors!

BREAKING NEWS: SOUTH BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL NIXES F-35!

Per Juliet Buck, blogger and activist (via Facebook): "South Burlington City Council just voted AGAINST basing the F-35 in Burlington by a vote of 4-1!!!!!!!!!! So this is what winning one feels like?"

A victory indeed. Juliet and the other activists have struck a blow against the evil jets of Lockheed Martin. The Feds, of course, can do whatever they want, but after years of propaganda and misinformation, the victory is that four city officials said NO!

It's Starting

Holy Shit. Bond set at 1.5 million dollars each. Official press release.

This is the weekend prior to the start of the Nato Summit in Chicago. The terrorists were charged under the ridiculous Illinois terrorism statutes. They were accused of making molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices. Trumped up charges to create fear among the citizen protesters? But it looks like an FBI sting operation. Could very well be another Reichstag. There's no way to know, for sure.

But one thing we do know for sure. They are lucky..............once the NDAA is in effect there'll be no bond, no habeas corpus rights, no nada. But, the so called Patriot Act took care of most of their Constitutional rights already. Why do you think 9/11 occurred?

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

These PS 122 5th graders from Astoria, Queens chose to study fluoridation as a class research project. At a rally with Queens councilor Peter Vallone in Manhattan last Tuesday, they urged the New York City Council to stop endangering their health by adding fluoride chemicals into their bodies via the water supply. (See this link with video.) No one asked them, they said. Any legislator who claims they can't understand fluoridation isn't as smart as a fifth grader who does her homework!

Nine Tons and What Do You Get?

A Mayan temple built from 9 tons of chocolate, that's what. The small white and dark chocolate Alpine village that our Superior class at Le Cordon Bleu made in our course work was nothing compared to this monument! From designboom:

quinza [sic] specialty foods has created the world's largest chocolate sculpture: a replica ancient mayan temple weighing 18,239 pounds.

...
the chocolate temple will be on display at the quinza institute of chocolate and pastry in irvine, california, USA from june 4th until the date of december 21st, 2012 upon which the mayan calendar ends and the massive dessert sculpture will be destroyed.

More, with photos at QZNA.COM.
Image © qzna specialty foods.

Burlington's Embarrassing Regulations

Ridiculous bureaucracy.

What heppened to this couple is an embarrassment to the city.

Andy Bromage in Blurt/Seven Days: Burlington Couple Busted For Gardening Structures in Front Yard

"We want to control our own food as much as we can," says Rooney, who lives on South Willard Street near Champlain College. "Sustainable living. We live in Vermont. Grow your own food. All that stuff —– we believe in all of it."

But last month, the couple got a notice from the Burlington Code Enforcement Office that their gardening structures were a code violation and would have to come down to avoid penalties. The code office received anonymous complaints — three of them — about the homemade hoop houses.

Rooney says he was told that, under city zoning regulations, hoop houses qualify as "stable structures" and that the couple's raised garden beds qualify as "retaining walls" — both of which require permits from city hall. So does a two-foot-high metal fence that lines the garden to keep out hungry rabbits.

"This is ridiculous," Rooney says on a recent spring day.

Rooney and Dorn are master gardeners, certified through classes at the University of Vermont Extension School and hours of apprenticing. Their front yard on South Willard Street, a well-heeled part of town with stately colonial homes, has been turned into an urban gardener's paradise — with bountiful gardens, peach, apple and pear trees, and strawberry beds alongside the steps that lead up a slope to their front door.

But to at least one neighbor, the hoop houses are an out-of-place eyesore. Rooney says he doesn't know who made the complaint. He called one neighbor to inquire about it, but says he never heard back.

Urban agriculture is alive and well in the Intervale, why not allow it in other neighborhoods? City council, are you listening? As a friend remarked after reading this story, "What a great example for others in a tight economy: grow your own healthy food! Beat the high cost of quality nutrition! Find your own solutions, in a cold climate!"