Eartha Kitt, a talented woman who played Catwoman – and the best one at that – in the Batman series in the 1960s passed away yesterday at the age of 81. When I first saw her on Batman she was already a celebrity - like all the other villans on the show. She was also a talented singer, actress and stage performer. However, I will remember her most for her sultry voice.
I recently went to a Vietnamese restaurant, Au Petit Cafe, with some Couchsurfers. Before I arrived, I knew there was nothing vegetarian on the menu, but I knew it was easy enough to make something vegetarian by omitting the animal products.
What I received was a vegetable banh mi, a Vietnamese baguette sandwich (see above photo above). The vegetables were pedestrian enough, however, the bread was fantastic. It was the best French baguette that I’ve had outside of France. What makes the bread so good is that it is baked on premises at Au Petit – the way it should be done – just like all the neighbourhood bakeries in France.
The sandwich brought me back to the time I spent in Nice, France eating the pan bagnat – a sandwich loosely based on the salade Niçoise. For years afterward, I used to make these sandwiches myself but the bread was always lacking. Unfortunately, the pan bagnat is not vegetarian; however, I may try to create my own vegetarian version with some of these amazing baguettes.
As I was going through some things tonight, I ran across two posters that I had forgotten that I had. The first one is of Björn Borg as he won the finals at Wimbledon in 1978. This was a pretty famous image in its day. I got it autographed in the 1980s when he made a promotional appearance in Toronto. The poster has been rolled up in a tube since then. I was lucky enough to watch the finals live at Wimbledon in 1988 when another Swede, Stefan Edberg defeated Boris Becker. I’ve been to Wimbledon (twice), the French Open and the US Open. I’ll have to complete the grand slam in Australia soon.
The other championship that I watched was the Whistler World Cup in 1995. Me and some friends traveled there for a weekend to ski and watch the race – but we all know we like to watch it for the wipe outs. We stationed ourselves at a corner where many skiers lost it and sometimes hit and bounce off a snow fence in midair like Spiderman might do. It’s a crazy sport, but it’s fun to watch. I was at Whistler in 2008 for the World Cup race but it was canceled due to fog. Hopefully the weather will cooperate in 2009.
I’m on my way to NYC this weekend for some parties, events and general fun. I’m taking the bus and we crossed at the Rainbow bridge in Niagara Falls. It was the second time in a week that I crossed here.
I crossed on Sunday with some friends to visit the American falls. Europeans seem to have a more difficult time crossing that Canadians. On Sunday an Italian friend had a bit of delay; tonight it was some French that experienced a delay. I got through without any hassle.
Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Mount Everest, the ‘goddess of the sky’ has its peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 feet) – some airplanes normally fly at this altitude. If you stacked Blackcomb mountain (1609 m vertical) on top of Mont Blanc , you would get the approximate height of Everest.
I’ve always enjoyed the sight of and being on mountains, however, I’ve never really had a desire to climb them. I’m more apt to take gondolas to the top and ski down them. The first documented attempt to climb Everest was made in 1924 by British mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew Irving, however, they never returned. It was only recently in 1999 that Mallory’s body was discovered; however, they never found his camera and therefore no proof that they had made it to the peak. Irving’s body has yet to be found.
The two books pictured above are from two different angles. Touching My Father’s Soul by Jamling Tenzing Norgay (whose father Tenzing Norgay was one of the first to reach the peak with Sir Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953), is a personal account of his lifelong desire to climb the mountain. Into Thin Air is the account by Jon Krakauer, a mountaineer and writer who was on assignment for Outside magazine. Both climbed Eveverst in 1996 and returned to write their books about it.
The events that unfolded on the mountain in 1996 were particularly notable because 12 people perished on the mountain – both inexperienced and seasoned climbers. Their deaths were likely the result of poor judgment or just plain bad luck. Both books tell the same story, but from different angles and both are enjoyable to read in their own way.
The only mountain that I’ve ever climbed is Mont Blanc in France in the fall of 2005 – and I only climbed to mid-station in summer attire. I took a gondola to the peak, the Aguille du Midi, which listed the altitude at 3842 m (12,602 ft). This is the highest elevation that I have been at while standing on land. Basecamp of Everest is listed at 5380 m – I’ve been considering trekking to here as some of my friends have done – they’ve all returned with amazing stories and beautiful images. A friend recently suggested that I put myself in more danger by skiing down mountains than by climbing up them. I’ll think about this further.
At mid station (approximate altitude: 2000 m) on Mont Blanc in 2005.
Once in a while it’s good to review what keeps me ploughing forward. Anf challenged me to this a while back and I’ve been thinking about it for about a month.Over the last twenty years, my life really hasn’t changed that drastically – I do many of the same thing now that I did then. The biggest change was becoming vegetarian several years ago. The other items in the first list I’ve been doing since I was a child.
The lists…
Things I am Passionate About
Being Vegetarian and spreading the word because it can help reduce disease, animal cruelty and is environmentally-friendly
Photography because it’s a great way to share memories
Being outdoors because the earth is too beautiful to spend it indoors
Travel to meet different people and hope to understand about them and their surroundings
Doing what I think is the right thing in my mind; regardless of what other people may think
Things I would Like To Do Before I Die
Be a volunteer to the less fortunate such as in a third world country where I teach a skill because education can help them work towards a different future
Learn additional languages to be able to communicate with more people
Climb to base camp of Everest for the sheer beauty of it
Things I say often (lately)
No worries
Fantastic
Books I have Read Recently (well, in the last several years)
The China Study : The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health – T. Colin Campbell
Silent Spring – Rachel Carson
Fast Food Nation – Eric Schlosser
A Short History of Progress – Ronald Wright
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People : Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
Made to Break : Technology and Obsolescence in America
Biography of Sainte Augustine
Shantaram
The Art of Travel
Songs I Could Listen To Over and Over
My Baby Cares for Me – Nina Simone
What a Wonderful World This Would Be – Sam Cooke
Goodnight, Irene, Goodnight – Nat King Cole
Universal Soldier – Buffy Sainte-Marie
Here’s To You – Joan Baez
Leaving on a Jet Plane – John Denver or Chantal Kreviaziuk
Heroes – David Bowie
Home Town – Joe Jackson
A New England – Billy Bragg or Kirsty MacColl
Being Boring – Pet Shop Boys
Go West – Pet Shop Boys
Flamboyant – Pet Shop Boys
All Through the Night – Cyndi Lauper
Guided by Wire – Neko Case
When You Say Nothing At All – Alison Krauss
Oh, Atlanta – Alison Krauss
Traits I am attracted To In Friends
Funny
Independent
Not afraid to speak about what is on their mind
Reliable
Trustworthy
Caring and sensitive
The next challenge which I have put off for even longer is to describe myself in six words. I’ve been thinking about this for almost two months and have not been able to come up with six words!
The Feist show last night was a moderate success – her voice was definitely better than in December. The show was sold out, but the crowd wasn’t really into it – a typical Toronto audience. She was trying her hardest, but just couldn’t get us going. She even performed Fucked Up Kid and that didn’t do it either. I thought the Hamilton show in December was better despite her voice being not up to par.
Feist has a very distinctive singing voice. It’s not as powerful as I originally thought – not like Annie Lennox or Neko Case – both who I consider to have very powerful voices. It will be interesting to hear how Feist will sound in a larger venue like the Air Canada Centre.
I also noticed that her second song, When I Was a Young Girl, was also one that Nina Simone also sang in the 1960s. Feist does a great version also. Here is a video from a recent performance in France.
Tonight I’m off to see Leslie Feist or Feist as her ensemble is better known. Before last summer I did not know who she was until I heard her cover of a Nina Simone song, Sea Lion Woman.
I saw Feist perform in December in Hamilton with Meaghan – it was in her car that I first heard the Feist cover of Sea Lion Woman. The Hamilton show was just okay (6/10) because her voice wasn’t as good as it should have been. We were lucky the show was not canceled because Feist was stranded in Newfoundland due to a snowstorm the on the previous day.
I’m glad I will have an opportunity to see Feist perform tonight as she is becoming quite popular and will play larger venues in the future – she’s booked at Air Canada Centre in November 2008. Tonight, however, Feist is playing at the Sony Centre (formerly the Hummingbird Centre and O’Keefe Centre) which is a smaller venue (capacity: 3,187).
It felt like spring this afternoon when I was walking home. This reminded me of the character from the film, Being There, Chance the Gardiner and his talk of the seasons,
First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again. …There will be growth in the spring!
Everyone seemed to be in a much better mood than usual. My walk home into the blinding sunlight looked like this:
On another note, I totally forgot to take photos of anything I ate today for the 30-Day Raw Challenge. Instead, I was obsessed with photographing the glassware and the soaking seeds. My breakfast was subsequently poured into and drunk from the Arcoroc glass seen below.
On April 1st, I will participate in a raw challenge; for the month of April will try to eat 100% raw food. To most, this sounds crazy, but isn’t eating pre-packaged and cooked food? Who told us that was good for us? Being vegetarian is great for one’s health, being kind to animals and the environment – for more than one hour. I don’t have to worry about cholesterol, what effort went into the creation of my food and packaging. I generally produce one small bag of non-organic waste per month.
I tried going vegetarian when I was in uni, but I didn’t have the time nor education to research it properly and I think I lasted one week. When I started going vegetarian again in 2000, the Internet was a great resource as was the Toronto Vegetarian Association and related groups. Since then, I haven’t looked back.
I’ve been eating raw food primarily for about two and a half years now and it’s the best thing that I’ve ever done – even better than going vegetarian! Going veg was great; but going raw was spectacular! I sleep better, feel alert throughout the day, do not get sick anymore, lost my allergies to pollen and have unlimited amounts of energy – because of this, I’m generally in a state of bliss. I wrote about my my experience of the first year. You can read about it by clicking here (it opens a pdf document).
I’ve been through many changes in the last two and a half years. I’ve been 100% raw for a period; but I don’t obsess about it if I eat something cooked or that is not that good for me. It can be as easy as a piece of fruit or a prepared dish that could take days of advanced planning.
For every day I am raw I am donating a dollar to charity. Dare you try it?
From a supermarket in Nice, France; May 2005,
My first raw pie, strawberry cream,
My fruits and vegetables set on Flickr. Click on the larger image to advance to the next one.
Batcave, Film, France, Music, Musicals, Uncategorized, Video | Garry December 26, 2008 | 
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