Wednesday, November 16, 2011


Japanese Garden in Seattle





Located within the Washington Park Arboretum, a 3 1/2 acre formal garden designed and constructed under the supervision of world-renowned Japanese garden designer Juki Iida is enchanting visitors. A must-see in Seattle and opens in mid-February already.


http://www.seattlejapanesegarden.org

Short Video:
http://www.lonelyplanet.tv/Clip.aspx?key=D17D38A7D40FBE75

Thursday, November 10, 2011


Food Film Festival Wolfville, Nova Scotia










Melange of great Chefs and great films

If Robert Redford can turn Park City, Utah, into a film festival destination, Michael Howell believes he can do the same for Wolfville, drawing parallels between the home of the famed Sundance Film Festival and Wolfville, which has the Al Whittle Theatre on Main Street.

Howell, chef-owner of Tempest Restaurant in Wolfville, is organizing the second Slow Motion Food Film Fest November 10 - 13. At the first festival in 2009, 1,000 people came out for a retrospective of classic food films like Babette’s Feast and Ratatouille. Other films are:

Land Awakening, set in Greece, France, Italy, Spain and Canada, the 89-minute feature is lovingly photographed and "an unbelievably beautiful view of the world."

Blood into Wine, a documentary about the singer for the rock band Tool moving to Arizona and opening a winery, gets its Canadian premiere at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Another Canadian premiere is El Camino del Vino, an Argentinian film about a sommelier who loses his sense of taste and his journey to recover it. The movie, which has been written up in Wine Spectator magazine, screens at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

At 8 p.m. at the Harvest Gallery, learn from an expert How to Really Taste Wine.

Jason Priestley will take part in the festival’s opening "Barn Dinner" on Thursday at the Wolfville Farmers Market, joining these celebrity chefs in cooking a four-course meal.

- Craig Flinn (Chives),
- Dennis Johnston (FID Resto),
- Peter Dewar (NSCC),
- Jason Lynch (Le Caveau),
- Luis Clavel (Atlantica Hotel),
- Peter Jackson (formerly of Jacks Grill in Edmonton),
- Renee Lavallee (The Feisty Chef),
- Chris Velden (Flying Apron),
- Brad Bowden (Glen Arbour) and
- Jesse Vergen (Saint John Alehouse)

There will be awards for best documentary feature, best documentary short, best feature and best feature short. Winners will be given papier mache snails, the symbol of the worldwide slow-food movement.

Information on the festival can be found at http://www.slowmotionfilmfest.ca