Beautiful Canadian snowflakes get U.S. stamp of approval
October 26, 2006
Two very short-lived Canadians have been immortalized by the United States Postal Service in a newly issued series of stamps that will grace millions of pieces of American mail this Christmas.
Apparently covetous of one of its northern neighbour’s most abundant natural resources, the U.S. government agency selected two perfectly crystalline snowflakes from a frigid Ontario town for its special holiday stamp issue.
The stamp set, featuring the two “stellar” Canadian flakes alongside two bulkier specimens from Michigan and Alaska, was unveiled this month at a Washington ceremony attended by top postal officials and Kenneth Libbrecht, the California Institute of Technology crystals expert who captured the super-zoom photographic images of the “tiny ice sculptures” he calls “wonderful examples of nature’s art.”
Libbrecht told CanWest News Service that “I thought that was kind of funny” when the U.S. Postal Service “didn’t seem to balk at putting Canadian snowflakes on U.S. stamps, although I’m glad I had some home-grown crystals for them to choose from, too.”
Libbrecht, who has published numerous research papers and five popular books featuring his magnified snowflake portraits, uses a custom-built, microscope-equipped camera to snap pictures of ice crystals collected on a wooden board during snowfalls and then transferred to glass slides with a small artist’s paintbrush.
He said he typically has one or two minutes to photograph an individual snowflake before it melts on the slide, unless temperatures are just below freezing. Then, he says, it’s a race against time and “you can’t breathe” or do anything that would generate heat before the image is captured.
One of his favourite snowflake shooting sites is Cochrane, Ont., the small town north of Timmins that produced the two Canuck flakes on the American stamp set.
“You get a lot of snow up there,” said Libbrecht, adding that the flakes in that part of the country “are these nice-looking, symmetrical crystals. It’s hard to get really nice crystals.”
Mark Saunders, a spokesperson with the U.S. Postal Service, said the snowflakes on the stamps were chosen “to reflect their beauty and variety” regardless of national origin.
A Christmas polar adventure holiday
October 26, 2006
If most adventure holidays are just not adventurous enough, then you might want to consider saving up to have the adventure of a lifetime with a trip to the Arctic or Antarctic.
Among the polar trips adventure holiday specialist Exodus is launching for 2007 to 2008 is a new trip to Antarctica from Argentina. Exodus’ new adventure Christmas holiday, Shackleton’s Trail, is an exploratory trip to the remotest regions of Antarctica from Argentina.
For 17 days from December 2007 to January 2008 travellers will experience perhaps the most unusual white Christmas on the planet. Highlights on the voyage are huge icebergs, a chance to see thousands of adelie penguins on Paulet Island and even the occasional emperor penguin when passing an iceberg. The one-off trip costs £4,919.
There are also three other holidays available in the southern hemisphere, with a variety of departures available from 15 to 23 days.
The longest of these is an exploratory voyage across Antarctica, the Falklands and South Georgia over 23 days where you can learn about each area’s history, as well as take in the wildlife and stunning scenery. Prices start from £6,049 with two departures available in November 2007.
At the other end of the planet is Exodus’ 12-day Spitzbergen Adventure in northern Norway. This has been updated to include a new Special Photography Charter, which leaves in July 2007 and is led by explorer-anthropologist Martin Gray and the BBC’s Planet Earth editor Andy Chastney.
Highlights include lunar landscapes, a wide variety of wildlife, icebergs, glaciers and sea cliffs. Prices start from £2,899 per person.
Polar Expeditions programme manager for Exodus, Paul Goldstein, said: “For anybody who has visited the poles, they’ll know that there’s no experience like it, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Those lucky enough to sample Shackleton’s Trail or learn from Gray and Chastney may well reach the zenith in polar adventure, even for those who have visited these polar areas before.”
For more information see www.exodus.co.uk
Other tour operators that offer similar packages include www.Explore.co.uk, www.Arctic-experience.co.uk and www.Naturetrek.co.uk
Christmas cocktails
October 26, 2006
Give your Christmas party some added sparkle with Shloer
To celebrate the festive season, sparkling juice drink Shloer has been working closely with top mixologists to create an 11-strong range of fabulous Shloer cocktails - both soft and alcoholic – to add some “Sex and The City” style to any Christmas or New Year’s party.
The days of drinking cream liqueur or a nasty fortified wine are over. What us girls want on a night out – or in - is sophistication and glamour, which can be found by the bucket-load in Shloer’s new cocktail recipes.
The in-crowd will love the ‘Juniper and Clove Collins’, a twist on one of this year’s hottest cocktails, which muddles fresh juniper berries and cloves with premium gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup all shaken with the seasonal limited edition Red Grape, Elderberry and Clove Shloer to create a festive mulled wine-style long drink.
For the adventurous among us, try the ‘Santa’s Hat’, a luxurious blend of Chambord liqueur, Amaretto, and Red Grape, Elderberry and Clove Shloer, shaken vigorously with fresh lemon juice, delicious homemade pomegranate and honey syrup, and the piece de resistance - a dash of egg white - for a fluffy finish.
If you fancy staying hangover-free but still want something a bit sexier than a glass of orange juice, the ‘Shloer-p-a-licious’ uses fashionable fresh pomegranate while ‘Winter Wonderland’ is a wonderful and unusual blend of apple, cranberry juice, fresh mint and raspberries combined with Red Grape, Elderberry and Clove Shloer and… black pepper!
If you prefer popping a cork to shaking and stirring you will love Shloer Bucks Fizz. This sassy non-alcoholic blend of white grape, orange and blood orange comes in a Champagne bottle ideal for those Christmas Day celebrations without the usual headache and, at only 29 cals per 100ml, is good for the waistline too. Like all Shloer products, it’s free from preservatives, artificial sweeteners, colours and flavours.
All 11 cocktail recipes, including photos, are available on the www.shloer.com website. Shloer Red Grape, Elderberry and Clove (1 litre) and Shloer Bucks Fizz (75cl) are available in all major super markets from November.
Related Links > http://www.shloer.com
I wish you a bubbly Christmas
October 26, 2006
Excuse my excitement. It’s not that long until Christmas and about now I usually start looking around for ways to top up my cache of Champagnes and fizz. It’s a bit like squirrels hiding acorns (only more rewarding, I feel).
There are offers everywhere. Oddbins has six Champers for the price of five and Morrisons, offer cuts of up to £3.50 a bottle on 20 sparkling bottles, including nine Champagnes, until November 12.
Meanwhile, the pick of this week’s offerings are: Tatachilla 2005 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc Chenin Blanc (£5.49, Waitrose) a three-way blend lovingly amalgamated into a delicious white with a nose reminiscent of squeezed limes and mineral smoke. It’s almost sherbety and great with shellfish.
Chileno Gold 2004 Shiraz Cabernet (£5.99, Somerfield) smells of sweetened grapefruit, with a crush of nettle leaves in a rounded and very elegant white.
Leopard’s Leap 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon (£6.99, Threshers, three for price of two) is packed with blackcurrant, blueberry and plum aromas and is soft and ripe-fruited, finishing dry. It’ll love bangers and mash.
BARGAIN OF THE WEEK
Considering Candela Inspiration 2005 Unoaked Chardonnay (£5.99, Threshers, or three for the price of two) hasn’t been matured in oak barrels, this Argentinian is spectacularly buttery, with flashes of citrus cutting through. And the ripe fruit stands out a mile. Decadent.
WINE OF THE WEEK
I’m not long back from Germany and the devastatingly dry rieslings of the Rheingau, so the “off-dry sweetness” in Leitz Rudesheimer Rosengarten 2005 Riesling Kabinett (£7.99, Waitrose) certainly seemed different. Happily, there’s acidity aplenty to balance it all out though.
Celtic Woman > A Christmas Celebration
October 26, 2006
It’s that time of year again when the market is flooded with a million variations of soppy songs and classic carols neatly and cleverly packaged as special collections produced to celebrate Christmas.
Actually, these special albums have much less to do with Christian celebrations than with a quest for the consumer buck, just like fancy wrapping paper, Christmas trees, baubles and cheap champagne.
Call me a cantankerous cynic if you like, but there are many people like me who cringe every time they’re subjected to yet another drearily dull version of ‘White Christmas’ and the rest. Who else but shopping malls buy these albums year after year? Not me! Do you? Do you know anybody who does?
This particular album features many of those over-exposed regulars, from ‘Away In A Manger’ and ‘Ding Dong Merrily On High’ to ‘Silent Night’, ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ and, yes please, ‘The Little Drummer Boy’.
But ‘A Christmas Celebration’ is saved from the quagmire of total boredom by the polished and angelic voices of the five Irish beauties who make up Celtic Woman: Chloe Agnew, Orla Fallon, Lisa Kelly, Mairead Nesbitt and Meav Ni Mhaolchatha.
What beautiful voices they have, warm and clear. I would love to hear them stick to the type of songs that have made the quintet such a sensation, especially in the USA where their blend of Irish music and classic melodies translated into a record-breaking 68-week slot at number one on the Billboard World Music Chart. During the past year alone they have toured, produced a platinum-selling DVD, a CD that went gold and finally produced this Christmas record.
A mussels recipe
October 26, 2006
PLYMOUTH MUSSELS
Lime and Juniper
2 kg. mussels
50 g. butter
4 shallots, finely chopped
4 juniper berries, well-crushed and finely chopped
3 tbsp. Plymouth gin
Zest of three limes cut into strips, all white pith removed
Juice of 3 limes
300 mL. creme fraiche
1 small bunch fresh tarragon, roughly chopped
1 small bunch parsley, roughly chopped
Scrub and clean the mussels thoroughly, pulling off their beards and scraping off any barnacles. Discard broken mussels or those that don’t open when tapped on the edge of the sink.
Melt butter in a large pan, add shallots and crushed juniper berries. Cook gently for five minutes or until softened. Add the Plymouth gin to the pan, bring it to the boil and boil for a minute to burn off the alcohol. Add zest, juice, and thoroughly cleaned mussels to the pan and cover. Cook 3-4 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally until the mussels have opened. Tip the mussels into a large colander set over a bowl so you don’t lose the juice. Discard any unopened mussels. Strain the mussel liquor through cheesecloth or a fine sieve and transfer the mussels into a warm serving dish.
Pour the strained liquor into a clean pan, add the creme fraiche and bring it to a boil. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper, and half the chopped herbs. Pour the sauce over the mussels and sprinkle the mussels with the remaining herbs.
Gin cocktail
October 26, 2006
A refreshing gin cocktail recipe >
GIN MINT DAISY
2 oz. Plymouth gin
1 oz. lemon juice
One-half oz. grenadine
5-6 mint sprigs
Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and strain the drink into a fresh lowball glass with crushed ice. This is a refreshing drink that also looks great for the holidays because it is red and green.
