Unlikely as Pairing Chocolate and Garlic

And just as delicious.
















Rock legend Robert Plant and bluegrass queen Alison Krauss come together in the hypnotizing album Raising Sand. The tone of the whole is mellow without being sleepy, but each song feels special. The pair take us through sultry, delightful, moving, haunting, rock-and-roll, sweet . . . Their range is dynamic and they keep us interested from song 1 to song 13.

But don't take my word for it!

Mantra

Though I already have my theme for the year ("Enjoy the Ride" - a forgiving motto to set the tone for my first year as a mama), I love love love this mantra found at Natural Family Living Blog:

Use it Up
Wear it Out
Make it Do
Or Do Without

This old school motto is a wonderful counter to our obsession with consumption and our misplaced feelings of entitlement. Try it - it works! I found a cozy bathrobe on sale last weekend and although I own a perfectly good one, I found myself justifying the purchase: "It's a new colour" ... "It's a slightly more luxurious material" ... "I've had this one for 10 years!"

When I recalled "Make it Do or Do Without" it conjured images of my grandmother's "tupperware" - a 1970s becel container that she used over and over until finally it cracked a few years back. So, while I continue to have a working solution, it just does not make sense to indulge in something new. Instead I'll use up what I've got and look forward to the day that my bathrobe wears out.

Product of ______

For many different reasons, more people are choosing to buy Canadian food products. Some do it because food that has traveled less retains more flavour, some do it because safety regulations in Canada are different from other countries, some do it to support Canadian food growers and others do it to cut down on the environmental impact of food transport. There are lots of reasons to seek out the "Product of Canada" label in the grocery store.

Recently, Wendy Mesley of CBC's Marketplace did some research into "Product of Canada" food labeling. Unhappily, she found that such labels do not guarantee the food is from our country (I know!). The only legal obligation of this claim is that 51% percent of the food's production costs are spent in Canada - in some cases, that is covered by packaging alone. Mesley found that President's Choice minced garlic (labeled "Product of Canada") is grown in Mexico or California, and the milk ingredients in No Name ice cream are imported from New Zealand, Europe or the U.S. Fish does not follow the 51% rule. Instead, the "country of origin" claimed by fish products is simply wherever the product has undergone its "last substantial transformation". Highliner's Canadian labeled fish is shipped frozen from Vietnam, Indonesia, Russia and China and battered in Canada.















But Captain Highliner looks so trustworthy!

The moral of this story?
"The more processed a food is, the more obscure its origins become, because of the 51% rule. If you buy fresh vegetables and meats instead of TV dinners you'll have an easier time figuring out where it all came from."