Young Téo Doucet was all dressed up with somewhere to go on Friday as he was accompanied by his Mom, Kayley Robson to the art exhibition opening at the Revelstoke Art Gallery. Monsieur Doucet was almost as popular with gallery patrons as the fabulous paintings hanging on the walls. You can enjoy the three shows, too, by visiting the Gallery anytime Tuesday to Saturday from noon until 4 pm. Dacid F. Rooney photo

Welcome to News Without Borders, a feature of The Revelstoke Current intended to link you to timely and interesting stories.

June 19, 2013

Canada’s strict party discipline perverts democracy — In B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s fantasy world, her party’s members in the provincial legislature “frequently” oppose positions she’s taken.

That’s what Clark told voters during the province’s recent election campaign, citing the example of a Liberal MLA who “stood up and said he didn’t support” an amendment to a “forestry bill.”

It’s the kind of assurance Canadian politicians often give when they are accused of being “trained seals” or “potted plants who park their brains at the door” and only vote the party line.

But, says Sean Holman in the Toronto Star, in the real world, the kind of public opposition that Clark cited isn’t frequent in B.C., or in most other legislatures in this country.

Troubled Waters — The Experimental Lakes project has influenced environmental policy around the world. So why would the Harper government abandon it? This is a very provocative article from The Walrus.

A Better-Than-Bird’s-Eye View — Birds are fascinating to watch as millions of Americans have discovered. And much of a bird’s daily life and common routine are easy to see and observe with unaided and aided eyes-except when a bird is on the nest with eggs and young. Then birds want to be secluded and undisturbed-period. They drop into hiding.

Today, however, there are many ways to view birds on the nest or as they are caring for young. In most cases remote cameras are placed nearby and viewers can log onto websites and observe the otherwise secret lives of nesting and rearing birds. Bird cams open the door to observation. From big eagles to tiny hummingbirds and swift falcons to slow herons, today there’s a cam for that-or those.

Log on, sit back and learn more about birds. The Birding Wire has a list of several web cams you can use to watch our feathered friends.

Movie Trailers Are Getting Insanely Fast. Trust Us, We Counted the Cuts — The claim: Trailers are getting faster. Film critics have long lamented the degradation of moviegoers’ attention spans. Movies, they say—and their mini-versions, trailers—have gotten more manic and misdirected in their quest to appease ADD audiences. We wanted to quantify such claims. So we took to YouTube and counted the number of cuts in 154 trailers over the decades—a sample of Oscar winners, top grossers and personal favorites. Read about it in Wired.

***

June 13, 2013

How the cold war spawned the environmental movement — This will perk you up, a story in New Scientist about how ‑ back in the 1960s — the Western military alliance coined the term “environmental warfare” and for years actively considered how to wage such wars. More than that, argues Jacob Darwin Hamblin in this startling account, much of modern environmental thinking originated with the scientists and military strategists during the dark days of the cold war.

Should we purge plastic from our lives? —A growing number of people are giving up plastic, for health or environmental reasons. So how easy, asks Kira Cochrane in The Guardian, is it to become a plasticarian? And what would you struggle to give up?

The Secret War— Infiltration, sabotage, mayhem. For years four-star General Keith Alexander has been building a secret army capable of launching devastating cyberattacks. Now it’s ready to unleash Hell, says a provocative story in Wired.

Into Africa — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday proposed declaring all chimpanzees endangered, which would reverse a 1990 decision to classify wild chimps as endangered but captive chimps as merely threatened. The split classification facilitated medical research, and a new designation could make it more difficult to perform experiments on chimps. How many captive chimpanzees would be capable of surviving in the wild? You can find the answer online at Slate.

***

June 6, 2013

What China’s Arctic ambitions mean for the environment — It may be a long way from home but China is muscling its way into the Arctic, cosying up to countries that line the Arctic Ocean. So what does this mean for the environment?  In May, says the New Scientist, the nations of the Arctic Council opened the door to six non-Arctic states, including China. Although mostly symbolic – they were admitted as observers so don’t get an official say – for China, it was the culmination of years spent trying to gain a foothold in the region.

Eight prehistoric boats surface at Fens creek in record Bronze Age find — A fleet of eight prehistoric boats, including one almost nine metres long, has been discovered in a Cambridgeshire quarry on the outskirts of Peterborough, says a story in The Guardian.

The vessels, all deliberately sunk more than 3,000 years ago, are the largest group of bronze age boats ever found in the same UK site and most are startlingly well preserved. One is covered inside and out with decorative carving described by conservator Ian Panter as looking “as if they’d been playing noughts and crosses all over it”. Another has handles carved from the oak tree trunk for lifting it out of the water. One still floated after 3,000 years and one has traces of fires lit on the wide flat deck on which the catch was evidently cooked.

Obama’s unparalleled spy state — Now, says this story in Salon magazine, we know for sure: The Obama administration has presided over the most thorough expansion of the domestic surveillance state of any US presidency. Even as the nation was still absorbing the news, broken by Glenn Greenwald at the Guardian on Wednesday night, that the National Security Agency has been routinely collecting phone call records for millions of Americans, the Washington Post and the Guardian published articles revealing even broader government snooping powers: Since 2007, the NSA and the FBI have had the power to watch nearly every aspect of our online life as well.

Actually, Most Countries Are Increasingly Spying on Their Citizens, the UN Says — The revelation that the National Security Agency seems to be collecting the phone records of millions of Verizon customers is shocking, but, says this story in the Atlantic, it’s actually part of a growing trend in which governments worldwide are relying on widespread, unrestricted surveillance in the name of national security.

***

May 27, 2013

All Alone in the Night – Time-lapse footage of the Earth as seen from the ISS — This video on YouTube is really worth a gander.

Remember when the Google Street View car came to town and added us to the list of places you can visit using your computer? Well, the Street View folks are at it again only this time they’re taking Street View images with special cameras carried on their backs in very, very hard-to-get-to places. Google Street View image

Google ‘Trekker’ cameras capture the Galapagos — Fans of Charles Darwin can already tour their hero’s former abode, Down House, near London, on Google’s Street View service – but pretty soon they’ll be able to take a similar look around the cradle of his theory of natural selection, the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. According to the New Scientist, a team from Google has just completed an imaging mission there in which they explored every nook and cranny of the rocky, tortoise-filled, equatorial Pacific outcrop – and they did so using a truly bizarre camera system.

Swedish riots: if instability can happen there, what might unfold elsewhere? — More than 20 cars torched in one night. School classrooms gutted by fire. Fifty far-right extremists chasing immigrants around a suburb. You probably haven’t seen much about it in the papers, but, says The Guardian, for the past week Sweden has been racked by rioting. The violence began in a suburb of Stockholm, Husby, and spread around the capital’s edge before other cities went up in flames. Police have been pelted with stones; neighbourhoods have turned into no-go areas, even for ambulances. Such prolonged unrest is remarkable for Stockholm, as those few reporters sent to cover it have observed. Naturally enough, each article has wound up asking: why here?

It’s a good question. Don’t surveys repeatedly show Sweden as one of the happiest countries (certainly a damn sight cheerier than Britain)? Isn’t it famous for its equality, its warm welcome to immigrants? Whatever happened to Stockholm, capital of progressivism, the Mecca towards which Guardianistas face for their daily five minutes of mindfulness?

A Feverish Debate.  Are common bacterial infections making children entally ill? — One morning in July 2011, five-year-old Sammy Kennedy woke up before dawn. He was surly and withdrawn, and he did not smile once, which was unusual. He trudged through his day, out of sorts. In the evening, when his mother, Margo, asked him to tidy up his Lego pieces, he blew up. He screamed, head-butted her, and dug his nails into her arms. He growled and spat on the living room floor. When she went to the bathroom, he followed her and pounded and kicked at the door. His rage lasted almost four hours. According to a story in The Walrus, this behaviour may have been caused by exposure to a common bacterial infection.

Fears Grow of a Himalayan Tsunami as Glaciers Melt — Melting glaciers and rising temperatures are forming a potentially destructive combination in the deep ravines of Nepal’s Himalayan foothills, and, says Time magazine, the Phulping Bridge — on the Araniko Highway linking Kathmandu with the Chinese border — is a good place to see just how dangerous the pairing can be.

 ***

May 16, 2013

Orcas battle sperm whales in cetacean battle royal — In the coastal waters around Sri Lanka, the waters churn and froth as a pod of killer whales ambushes another of sperm whales – the first time such a battle has been seen in the Indian Ocean. New Scientist has a series of underwater photos captured by Shawn Heinrichs after he leaped from a boat into the heart of the action. “I realized this was a once-in-a-life time opportunity and summoned up the courage to jump in the water and join the frenzy,” he says. You can click here to see a more extensive suite of photos and a video by Heinrichs at Blue Sphere Media.

The Supreme Court Case Looming Over Angelina Jolie’s Breast-Cancer Column — When Angelina Jolie disclosed Tuesday morning that she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy, she didn’t just shine her white-hot starlight on the gene, BRCA1, that significantly increased her chance of getting breast cancer. According to the Atlantic she also indirectly raised anew profound questions the federal judiciary — and now the United States Supreme Court — has been pondering for years: Where does patent law stand on gene research? Where should it stand? Can the law protect patent holders while also ensuring that the marketplace can most efficiently deliver genetic testing to the people who need it most?

NDP loss shows the powerlessness of positive thinking — As the room of shattered New Democrats emptied out of the election night party, Moe Sihota, the NDP president, shook his head in response to the unspoken question: What went wrong? “We want to reflect on this,” he said in a story appearing in the Globe & Mail. But after a minute, he conceded the obvious: Adrian Dix’s insistence on a positive campaign had failed. “Positive didn’t work.”

Voter apathy will crush us — Ian Cobb, publisher-editor of the East Kootenay News Weekly, asks if anyone else out there left stunned by Christy Clark’s Liberal Party’s amazing come-from-behind election victory last Tuesday? I am personally thanking the heavens for not biting on some bets, because I would have bet, with complete arrogant confidence, that Adrian Dix would have sailed the NDP BANANA straight into the Minority Government harbor berth in Victoria. I am also thankful I didn’t write a pre-election prediction column, because I would have been eating crow and wiping egg from my bashed in frontal identifier along with handing over bitter sums of cash.

Come on… crack a smile! It’s good for you!

June 19

June 18

June 17

The Current is pleased to present short videos by and about local people and events. Most videos are produced by The Current, but we will accept other videographers’ clips in the two-to-four-minute range taken of local people and events.

If you would like to see more local video from The Revelstoke Current’s YouTube Playlist please go to The Current Editor’s Channel on YouTube to see the full list of Revelstoke Current video productions.

West Nile virus (WNv) was first detected in BC in the South Okanagan during the summer of 2009. To date there have been three human cases of WNv acquired in our province — all of which have been in the Okanagan.  Last year, several parts of the Canada and the US saw significant increases in West Nile virus activity.

“We would like to remind residents to take steps both here at home and when travelling to avoid mosquito bites this summer,” said Jennifer Jeyes, IH’s communicable disease. “While the risk of becoming seriously ill from WNv infection is low for many people, it is higher for some such as the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. It is important to remember there are preventative steps that everyone can take in order to reduce the risk of infection.”

She offers the following tips:

• Use mosquito repellent. Apply mosquito repellent to areas of exposed skin. Check the product label for instructions on proper use.  Repellents containing DEET are safe for those over six months of age when used according to the directions on the label. DEET-free products are available, but may not provide long-lasting protection. View the HealthLinkBCFile on DEET (link below) for guidelines on how frequently to apply repellent.
• Wear protective clothing. If you are in an area with lots of mosquitoes, wear loose fitting, light coloured, full-length pants and a long-sleeved shirt.  Avoid perfumes, soaps, hair care products, and lotions with floral fragrances.
• Avoid outdoor activities at dusk and dawn. This is the time of day that the mosquito species that can carry WNv are most active.
• Install screens on windows. Screens will help prevent mosquitoes from coming indoors.
• Prevent mosquito breeding around your home. It doesn’t take much time or water for mosquitoes to develop from eggs into adults. Anything that can hold water can be a mosquito breeding area. Identify and remove potential breeding areas on your property — empty saucers under flowerpots; change water in bird baths twice a week; unclog rain gutters; drain tarps, tires, and other debris where rain water may collect; and install a pump in ornamental ponds or stock them with fish. Stagnant backyard pools can be a big source of mosquitoes and should be maintained regularly to prevent mosquito growth.

BC. and Interior Health are on the watch for West Nile virus. Surveillance programs include reporting dead birds from the corvid family (crows, ravens, magpies, and jays). These birds are more likely than others to die from West Nile virus. Members of the public are encouraged to report dead corvid birds using the BC Centre for Disease Control Dead Bird Reporting page: http://westnile.bccdc.org/.

Interior Health will also continue to collect mosquitoes for testing at 14 sites across the Southern Interior and will work with local governments to control mosquito populations and coordinate planning.  Visit our West Nile virus surveillance web page for the latest information: http://www.interiorhealth.ca/YourEnvironment/CommunicableDiseaseControl/Pages/WnV-WhatAreWeDoing.aspx

Representatives from environmental groups across the region will discuss ways to build its vision as a new non-profit tackling invasive species in the region.

Highlights of the meeting are likely to be a brief history of CSISS by Hamish Kassa, a primer on strategic planning and a discussion of operational planning led by Juliette Craig of Silverwing Ecological Consulting, a talk by Francis Maltby about invasive reproductive control and a discussion about the Invasive Species Council of BC’s Clean, Drain Dry Initiative.

The meeting is set to begin at 9:30 am and will continue through the day until 3:30 pm.

***

Queen Victoria Hospital is 100 years old and you can help it celebrate by attending its centennial birthday party on Tuesday, June 18, from 3 pm until 5:30 pm.

It is helping mark this significant event with a presentation by Revelstoke Mueum Curator Cathy English and the opening of the Revelstoke District Health Foundation’s new Donor Recognition Wall.

Activities at this event include Cathy’s presentation, tea and dessert, an ice cream stand and music. There is no cost to this event and all Revelstoke residents are invited to attend.

***

Here’s something to sate the appetite of local number crunchers: the City of Revelstoke Consolidated Financial Statement as audited by BDO Dunwoody.

“In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the City of Revelstoke for the year ended December 31, 2012 and their financial performance and cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with Canadian public sector accounting standards,” the accounting firm said in the statement.

The statement found the City had 18,894,417 in revenue in 2012. It’s budget for 2012 had estimated its revenues at $18,909,667.

Its expenses in that year came to $18,395,333. The 2012 budget had estimated municipal expenses at $17,753,771.

There are a lot more figures like that in the statement, which you can read by clicking here.

***

International Skateboarding Day? Who knew? Well, it’s real:

According to Wikipedia:

“The name for the holiday possibly originated from the ‘No Skateboarding’ signs which often were changed to “Go Skateboarding.” by local skaters. The holiday was conceived by the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC) to help make skateboarding more accessible to the world through various events held in major cities around the world.”

Held on June 21, which is also the longest day of the year, you can celebrate the solstice and skateboarding at The Traverse to support the Columbia Valley Skateboard Association starting at 9 pm for the International Go Skateboarding Day aprés party.

Tickets are on sale at Society for $15. They’re $20 at the door. Proceeds from the ticket sales go towards the CVSA. The CVSA has an ambitious plan to build a modern skateboard facility near the ball fields at Centennial Park.

Fernie’s Shred Kelly will start off the night just after 9 pm with their 6 piece band. Jackie Treehorn’s funk/rock/soul sound storm from Vancouver will keep the party moving. And local DJ Big E will wrap up the night spinning tunes to keep you dancing into the wee hours of the night.

***

Social Development Coordinator Jill Zacharias reported an excellent year in her field.

She applied for, and received, grants worth $51,300 to support a variety of initiatives including age-friendly exercise equipment at Kovachs Park near Mount Begbie Manor and it villas, healthy living, and the Welcoming Communities Action Plan.

Click here to read her entire report.

Click here to visit the Social Development website.

***

Burned once by their clumsy handling of Benoit’s Wine Bar’s original licence request, City councilors complained about the bar owner’s drawing of a back deck he proposed but went ahead and approved his plan.

Bar owner Benoit Doucet had applied to build a back deck that could seat 50 people. He included a drawing of the deck in his application. But Councillors didn’t think it answered some of their questions even though the RCMP, Fire Rescue Service and the Planning Department had signed off on it.

Council received only two comments from members of the public. One woman said she did not think it was in the public interest. Another resident, and business owner, said he saw “no negatives” in the plan. It even held a public hearing but only one person attended.

However, Mayor David Raven’s prompted Council’s collective memory by reminding Councillors that they bobbled Benoit’s original application.

Councillors voted to approve the plan.

Click here to read the staff report to Council.

***

A request that Council renew the Visual Arts Society’s use of the old RCMP detachment has been sent to staff for more study.

The original five-year lease between the City and the society had contained a clause that automatically called for renewal.

“We are concerned with the proposed new Lease Agreement document in that “Section 2.00 Renewal” has been deleted,” Visual Arts Society Chairman Ken Talbot said in an e-mail to the City. “Previous versions of the Agreement contained a Renewal clause as follows:

“’If the Tenant duly and punctually observes all of its covenants and agreements in the Lease, the City shall, at the expiration of the Term, at the Tenant’s written request delivered to the City one month before the end of the Term, grant the Tenant a renewal lease of the Premises for a further term of five years on the same terms and conditions of the lease.’

“Our concern, of course, is proceeding with the $10,000 flooring project without some sort of assurance of lease renewals beyond 2017. This lack of certainty would be even more of a concern for a structural expansion and landscaping project, or any other leasehold improvements beyond regular maintenance and upkeep.”

Removal of that clause could allow the City to sell or otherwise dispose of the building, which now houses the Revelstoke Art Gallery, its community woodworking studio, pottery studio, classrooms and studio spaces.

Council asked staff to meet with the society board to discuss the issue.

Click here to read the report to Council on this issue.

***

The City approved nine new business licenses in May.

The new licences went to Revy Sled Rent Ltd, Leapinʹ Lizards Family Day Home, Kamloops Harley Davidson, Little Journeyʹs Child Care, Sarathaimassage, Stoke Paddleboard Adventures, Have a Nice Stay bed & breakfast, Monashee Lodge Revelstoke and Hodgson King & Marble Ltd.

They bring to 877 the number of licenses currently in Revelstoke. At this same time in 2012 there were 912 business licences in the city.

Click here to read the full report.

“Thank you Revelstoke for another great successful Relay For Life,” she said in a statement.

Cheryl said the great prizes went to:

Top Teams

The Waterways Houseboat Trip went to Team Gloria for raising $18,304.15, in turn they gave their trip to the Cancer Group.

Halcyon Hot Springs Pool Passes went to Coopers’ Troopers for raising $6,540.77.

Honorable Mentions went to Farmersavers for raising $4,409.25, the Wright Cause team who pulled in $3,317.41 and the Dazzling Divas who raised $2,734.48

Top Individuals

Wayne Murray, who raised $4,381.50. He won the first prize, a day of heli skiing with Selkirk Tangiers .

Carrie Ball won the second prize — a season’s pass to Revelstoke Mountain Resort for raising $1,425.

Honorable Mentions went to Brenda Schonfelder for pulling in $1,335, Bruce Tremblay who raised $1,300 and Trevor Hollenberg, who had donations of $1,090.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of the committee members: Lindy Silano, Kim McTaggart, Evelyn Daniels, Leslie Pirnke, Rob Tippe , Lyn Welock, Greg Louttit, Wayne Murray,  Joel Olson, and all of the volunteers for the day,” Cheryl said. “You all did a tremendous job. Thank you also to our two MCs for the day — Jeff Murray of E-Z Rock and James McDonald of A&W.”

She also thanked all of the event’s sponsors:

Hillcrest Hotel and Coast Resort, Waterways Houseboats, Revelstoke Times Review, EZ-Rock Radio, The Revelstoke Current  Stoke FM, Revelstoke Pharmasave, Revelstoke Mountain Resort, A&W Restaurant, SkyTrek Adventure Park, Halcyon Hot Springs, Cooper’s Foods, City of Revelstoke, Rona Building Supply, School District 19, Class A Construction, Revelstoke Septic Service, the Last Drop, Free Spirit Sports, Flowt, C.P Rail, Isabella’s Ristorante, Conversations, La Baguette, Infinite Power sports, Buns and Beyond, Beyond Gifts, Evolve, Grizzly Auto, Rev Child Care Society, Regent Inn, Mt Begbie Brewing , Apex rafting , Tim Hortons, Southside Food Mart, Revelstoke’s Own Water and Ice, Signs Ink, Refinery Day Spa and Salon, Salon Safari and Academy, Revelstoke Florists, Ron Nixon, Bonafide Accessories, Carol’s Corner, All Good Things Revelstoke, Miranda Astra, Lashed and Lavished, Selkirk Graphics, Benoit’s Wine Bar, Kowakubo, the Inn On The River and everyone in the community else who helped this be a successful event.

“I apologize if I left anyone out as there are so many to say thank you to,” Cheryl said.

“See you all next year — Sunday June 8, 2014, at the Mountain View School Ball Field.”

“We are absolutely thrilled to have met the requirements of both Habitat for Humanity Kelowna and the Community Housing Society and to get on with the excitement of building in July,” project team member Cindy Pearce said in a statement.

“A huge thank you to our project team, to everyone who made financial donations, to all the businesses who have committed trades and materials and to all the volunteers who have signed up to help out – you’ve made this happen.”

Through a memorandum of understanding with the Revelstoke Community Housing Society, the Kelowna affiliate of Habitat for Humanity will help with a renovation of the Hunt family’s home to create an accessible, supportive space for the family, which includes two young daughters, as they all learn to live with Pauline’s diagnosis of ALS/Lou Gehrig’s disease. Lou Gehrig’s disease is a debilitating illness that eventually requires wheelchair accessibility and costly patient care in the later stages. Patients with ALS become progressively paralyzed due to degeneration of the upper and lower motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord.

A team of co-workers and friends have come together to make this happen for the family and the community. They have raised all but about $12,000 of the $200,000 goal in just six months – and are hoping to receive an elevator through a supplier’s Giving Back program. The family is making a significant contribution of their own to the project through $60,000 that was raised by family and friends, through repayment of a substantial no-interest loan that will create a legacy fund for future projects in Revelstoke and by putting in sweat equity during the project.

“Habitat for Humanity Kelowna is proud to be part of this community effort,” Ed McLean, chairman of the board said in the statement. “Revelstoke can take real pride in the impressive progress that the Home for the Hunts’ team has achieved so far. They have clearly contracted what is known as Habitatitis and I expect they will soon be infecting many others in the community.”

Habitat Canada’s motto is “A hand up — not a hand out,” and Habitat Kelowna’s mission is to help establish a region where everyone has a decent place to live. Both of these aims will be supported through successful completion of this project. As well, Habitat volunteers from Kelowna and Vernon hope to contribute to the construction, along with volunteers from Revelstoke, and materials will be made available via the newly opened Habitat ReStore in West Kelowna.

The Revelstoke Community Housing Society is sponsoring this pilot to showcase Habitat’s programs to the community and measure the interest in and fit of these programs in Revelstoke.

“The Housing Society knows the community will embrace Habitat for Humanity and support this pilot project,” said society chairman Mark McKee. “We look forward to working with the project team, Habitat for Humanity Kelowna and many community supporters to make this a successful project.”

A community celebration of the start of construction is planned for the near future, so please watch for a community notice about the date and time.

Revelstoke citizens can still help create a community legacy for future Habitat projects and give this family a hand up by:

• Volunteering during construction – Fill out the volunteer form at http://www.homeforthehunts.com/volunteer.html, send a note to the Volunteer Coordinator at jolsen@lendingmax.ca or talk to Team members – Dean Prunkle, Geoff Battersby, Pam Doyle, Bill Shuttleworth, Joel Olsen, Bob Fournier, Dana Prunkle, Tuulikki Tennant or Cindy Pearce;
• Making a financial donation, either to the Home for the Hunts community fund at the Revelstoke Credit Union, or for a charitable tax receipt, by mailing a donation to Habitat For Humanity Kelowna, 1793 Ross Road, Kelowna, BC V1Z 3E7 or contributing online at http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=18591
• Purchasing materials from the project registry at Home Hardware; or
• Donating your Coopers Save On More points – Coopers will match them dollar for dollar.

Soccer Berry Pie has an obvious inspiration, but was invented by Thomas MacDonald. Watch the video of Leslie and Tom showing how to make the non-roll crust for this end of soccer-season dessert.

By Leslie Savage

To celebrate the wrap up of local soccer team, my grandson and I made a video about making Soccer Berry Pie. We also made Hockey Puck Pizzas, which you can see next week as the Stanley Cup playoffs come to an end — great combo game supper.

This is cheesecake pie, really, with ricotta and mascarpone, and makes a great after-game snack — full of protein, but super delicious. The berry part consists of fresh berries atop soccer insignia. We wrote soccer words around the edge of the pie, which are fun but optional. The flavours are mild but delicious.

The pie crust is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe (Jamie’s Kitchen) for a sweet pie crust that is great because it needs no rolling out, and the filling is also a simplified version of a Jamie Oliver dessert. But credit for the soccer berry part is all to Thomas MacDonald, who came up with the idea. Watch the video to see how it’s done.

Sweet No-roll Pie Crust
This is fun to make and requires no tricky rolling out. You can use any pie plate — a springform pan with removeable sides makes a pretty presentation, but is a little more difficult to handle in that you need a big cake spatula to remove the crust and pie from the bottom of the pan.

1 cup plus 2 tbsp cold butter
1 cup plus 6 tbsp icing sugar
¼ tsp salt (omit if your butter is salted)
3 cups all purpose flour
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp cold milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp orange zest
1 egg white

Put into a big bowl or a food processor the sugar, butter, flour and salt. Whiz until it looks like fine crumbs. Depending on the size of your processor, you may have to do this in two batches.
Add the egg yolks, milk, vanilla and zest, and whiz again until the dough forms a ball in the middle of the bowl. Press together into a neat log and wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate one hour in the fridge, or ½ hour in the freezer.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Remove the wrapping from the dough and slice into pieces about 2 mm thick  — a little less than a quarter of an inch.
Lay the pieces on a pie plate, close together, and press together so they form a single crust. Add side pieces and press them into the bottom crust with your fingers, Shape the whole crust this way, overlapping pieces slightly then pressing with fingers to even up the thickness. You will use up about 2/3 of the dough for a 9” or 110” pie crust. (You need some in reserve for the soccer shapes later on.)
Once the crust is complete, prick it all over with a fork to help let air escape so the crust won’t balloon up. To be sure it won’t, put a large piece of foil on the crust and fill the shell with pie weights, macaroni or dried beans.
Pre-bake the pie shell for 15 minutes in a 350°F oven. Remove and cool. Remove weights and foil after 5 minutes, and paint the bottom of the crust with the egg white. Return the crust to the oven and bake for 5 minutes. This thin layer of cooked egg prevents the filling from penetrating the crust and making it soggy. (This works well for fruit tarts as well.)
With some of the remaining dough, cut seven pentagon shapes approximately 2-3 inches across. Keep these in reserve on a flat surface.

Make the Filling
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup mascarpone cheese (the whole of the small 250 gram container)
7/8 cup icing sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup raspberry jam (optional)
Mix the ricotta, the mascarpone and the icing sugar together until smooth. Beat in the yolks of 2 eggs and the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whip the 2 egg whites until stiff.
Fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture until well blended.
Spread the jam over the bottom of the pie crust.
Pour the filling into the pre-baked pie shell.

Arrange the soccer shapes on top of the pie so that they resemble a soccer ball.

Bake the pie in a 350 oven for 60 minutes. This seems like a long time but will produce a firm filling and a nicely browned top.

Finish the soccer berry pie
1 cup raspberries
1 cup blackberries or blueberries
½ cup water
½ cup sugar
Dissolve the sugar in the water in a small saucepan and boil like mad until the sugar begins to get thick, about 4 minutes at a high boil, stirring all the time with a long wooden spoon. Cool slightly.
With a small brush, paint the soccer shapes on the top of the pie. Some may have disappeared beneath the filling—don’t worry, paint on top of the shape anyway. Arrange the berries on top of the soccer pentagons, and drizzle the remaining syrup on top of the berries.

Uncle Bad Touch, perhaps better known simply as UBT, will bring their near 60s sound to the Last Drop on June 20. Find out more about this great band at https://www.facebook.com/ubtiscool. Photo courtesy of UBT