Pho on the Go

I live across the street from a Vietnamese restaurant. Every month or so, my man and I will arrive home from work too drained to cook. We put our jackets on and dodge the traffic Frogger-style until we arrive at the doors gates of the small restaurant heaven. Our order is always the same: number 21. Pho tai sach. Beef noodle soup. Pho at its finest.

I sometimes joke about opening up a Vietnamese take-out restaurant and calling it "Pho on the Go." The fatal flaw with this plan is that I don't cook any Vietnamese food.

Last week, I saw a recipe for beef pho in Canadian Living magazine. I decided that I will attempt the dish tonight (if I fail, I will run across the street, order some take out, bring it home, pour it into bowls, ditch the styrofoam containers, and take credit when the man arrives home.) However, I have some reservations about using a Vietnamese recipe from a "Canadian" magazine. What if it is not authentic?

I could use your help. Have you ever made Vietnamese beef noodle soup at home? Do you have any tips or suggestions to enhance the recipe?

Thanks! In the words of Joey, "Mmm, noodle soup."

 

Letters about a Pipeline

Last week, Joe Oliver, Canadian Minister of Natural Resources, published an open letter to Canadians regarding the public proceedings over the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project. Many media outlets picked up on the letter and made it the topic of their news programs. Read the letter for yourself here. Not long afterward, Elizabeth May published a response, which you can read here.

Hold on to your hats, folks. This debate is going to be one for the history books, and it's just heating up.

One Morning in the North

The recent news coverage of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project has reminded me of how much I love the BC north coast. Last year, some friends and I took a phenomenal cruise through the inside passage to Prince Rupert, and then carried on to Haida Gwaii. We disembarked from the ferry in Skidegate (at 6:00 am!) and drove the short distance to Queen Charlotte City before parking at the beach to wait for the town to awaken. I sat on a damp wooden picnic table and counted a dozen eagles while they enjoyed their breakfast in the soft morning sunlight. The air was brisk and invigorating, while by contrast my coffee was hot and soothing. The breeze carried an essence that was, well, different from my urban home. Finally, I understood the phrase "fresh air." It was in that moment, a moment that I will never forget, that I re-prioritized and re-defined "the best things in life."

I wish that I had words that could do justice to the experience that I had that morning. Fortunately, I have some pictures.

Some of these were taken by myself, some by Ginny Casey, and the rest by Jeremy Krogh. I owe many thanks to VIU's ACER project for the opportunity to take this trip.  

Joe Oliver vs Evan Solomon

There has been recent political debate regarding the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. This pipeline would carry oil from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat, BC. This oil could then be very easily traded with countries in Asia Pacific. Canada could stand to gain strong economic growth and trade diversification from the project, which could lead to improved social services such as education and healthcare. However, the risks include hazards to the environmental health of the BC coast, as well as changes to the way-of-life of the Aboriginal people who live there. Additionally, by extracting fossil fuels, Canada is contributing to climate change which has a large portfolio of economic and environmental risks such as increasing global surface temperatures, increased severity of storms, melting of alpine and polar ice, and decreased biodiversity.

In the video below, CBC's Evan Solomon interviews Joe Oliver, the Canadian Minister of Natural Resources. Solomon asks Oliver some very tough but fair questions regarding the public relations tactics used by the government who strongly support the pipeline project. Take a look at the video here.


Although I have formed an opinion regarding this debate, I am not going to state it on here. The point of this article is not to persuade you to agree with my political views. I just liked the types of questions that Evan Solomon asked of Joe Oliver in this interview. They were tough, but they were also clear, fair, and extremely relevant. It is essential to ask these types of questions of those on both sides of this debate in order to hold them accountable to their statements. This helps to preserve the integrity of the information that we, the public, receive from the media.