Concept art across the street

My neighbour conceptual artist has been at work again at their favourite venue - the empty home at 200 Lebreton Street.

 Yesterday, City workers came looking for the water shut-off pipe. They didn't find it, but they left behind an excellent substrate for embedded art.

 I really like the little rhino coming out of the gravel.

I have not been given permission to identify the artist, but I wouldn't deny a suggestion that that is their shadow.

 Apparently, many of the images came from inside the home after Adrian, it's owner, passed away.

Is it nesting time for squirrels?

I heard a rustling noise outside my window this morning.

 

Gallery 101 on Saturday - Bright Light: Remembering Reuel Dechene

There will be a wonderful exhibit of work by Reuel Dechene at Gallery 101 this coming Saturday.
Along with many of Reuel's works, you'll be able to see Reuel's True Love, and Eliza's Reckless Abandon, which normally hang on our living room wall next to each other.

There is more information on the G101 website.

Bright Light: Remembering Reuel Dechene

SATURDAY DECEMBER 1, 2018
Preview: 2-4 pm
Party: 7pm-12am

Gallery 101

280 Catherine Street
Ottawa K1R 5T3

Wing beans at the Superstore!

Yes, I was excited to find wing beans at the neighbourhood Thai grocery last year. It had been more than 30 years since I'd had any. Now they're a regular part of my diet again.

But perhaps they can soon be a part of every Canadian's diet because on Saturday they had them at the Real Canadian Superstore in Westboro!

Okay, they're not cheap, but if more people buy them the demand might cause supply to go up and the price could go down.

Happy National Deviled Egg Day

I don't like to miss a commemorative day

I'm happy to report that the Instant Pot does a great job on hard-boiled eggs just like everybody says it does.

My secret for deviled eggs? Artichoke hearts.

A Mentos fizzle

I thought I would add to the Canada Day excitement by doing one of those dramatic Mentos sodapop geysers.

This effort was not so dramatic.

I couldn't get all the Mentos to drop in at once.

And several onlookers told me that it works better with a diet cola.

So next time, I will have a special insertion tube and will use a diet cola. I might even pay the extra for a name brand.

I found wingbeans!

This may not be exciting to you, but to me it is monumental.

When I lived in Ghana between 1984 and 1986, my favourite green vegetable was the wingbean.

Dana, the Peace Corps Volunteer and physics teacher, was my supplier. He had learned that the miracle wingbean thrived in the tropical climate and set about doing what he could to promote it. Dana built enormous bamboo tripods to grow wingbeans and generously shared his crops with me.

Wingbeans (Wikipedia calls them "winged beans", but they'll always be wingbeans to me) are a miracle crop because every single part of the plant is edible and they are nitrogen-fixing. Because they are nitrogen-fixing, they don't need fertilizer and after you've grown some wingbeans, you can plant another crop that needs nitrogen without adding fertilizer.

My favourite edible part were the immature green pods, chopped and added to fried rice. A bit firmer than a green bean, with a slightly sweet, mild flavour.

I've gone 31 years without having a wingbean.

Until now. I've discovered them at the Lim Bangkok Grocery at the corner of Somerset and Booth, right here in Ottawa. They're not as long and healthy looking as Dana's used to be, but they've come all the way from Thailand.

I almost whooped out loud when I spotted them.

[Bonus points for anyone who can guess what I'm going to do with the two very ripe plantains I also bought today.]