I came across this recipe for Ancient Roman stew and I absolutely had to try it. My husband, thankfully, is perfectly OK with me using him as a sort of test animal and when I mentioned I’d found a stew that had been adapted, but not modernized much, from an Ancient recipe that happened to be Roman, he knew it was only a matter of time before I cooked it. I have a love of all things ancient and Roman, especially when it might have been something the Legions did or ate. Chris indulges me. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: February 2012
BC Teachers vs. the Provincial Government
I’ve been reading quite a bit about the latest dispute between the BCTF (British Columbia Teacher’s Federation, the Province’s teacher’s union) and the BC Provincial government. Sadly, the government is threatening to legislate an agreement again and the sticking point seems to be all about the salaries. The BCTF had originally included a (in my opinion) outrageous demand that teachers be given the option to take a 26 week paid leave for compassionate care among other things that I didn’t think were necessary, but they have pared all of these away. They do, however, want a 3% increase in salary each year (http://bctf.ca/publications/bargainingbulletin.aspx) for cost of living an additional 3% market adjustment in years 2 and 3. Continue reading
David Gemmell’s “Drenai” Novels
After reading Reamde, I felt the need to re-read Legend, the First Chronicles of Druss the Legend, and the Waylander series. I’ll probably dive into The Swords of Night and Day and White Wolf as well because I adore the character of Skilgannon. There wasn’t anything that really connects Neal Stephenson’s writing to David Gemmell’s. I just simply had an overwhelming urge to revisit stories that have entertained me for years. Maybe I’ll even finally get around to reading the Rigante novels, but I’ve waited this long already. Continue reading
A Readable Door Stopper – Reamde
I’ve read several books by Neal Stephenson and I’ve enjoyed his “alternate reality” or “alternate history” pieces, despite the fact each of the books I’ve read would almost put the Bible to shame in terms of length. Reamde is certainly a door stopper in terms of size. It’s nearly a thousand pages long and can be somewhat intimidating because of its size for some. But it is very much worth the read.
Set all over the world, but largely in British Columbia (I may be a little biased toward it because of this), the Northwest USA, China, the UK, the Philippines, and various other places around the globe, Reamde is an extremely entertaining novel involving an unlikely cast of characters that somehow mesh really well together. Continue reading