 Holiday baking, a new documentary and an anthology of holiday epiphaniesNXNW Dec. 2/3, 2023 | | | Happy Friday, and welcome to the latest edition of the NXNW newsletter! There are many great things to cover this weekend following a fantastic CBC B.C. Food Bank Day show on Dec. 1. Thank you for your generosity! We're chatting about holiday baking, a new Christmas anthology, and a new film opening at the Vancouver International Black Film Festival.
Looking for something from a previous show? Be sure to check out our archive, or stop by our CBC Listen page. | | | Coming up on the show this weekend: |  | Director Ilhan Abdullahi talks about her filmmaking journey and the stars of her new documentary, Dreamers, as it premieres at the Vancouver International Black Film Festival (VIBFF). | | | | | We explore a new exhibit at the Penticton Art Gallery, In Search of Wandering Spirit, which honours the late Cree artist Alvin Elif Constant. Alvin's sister, Shirley Constant, and curator Paul Crawford join us for the show. | | | | | Holiday Baking: Celebrated chef and baker Anna Olson kicks off our December Holiday Baking with a chat about her new cookbook, Baking Wisdom. | | | | | Acclaimed writer and former CBC broadcaster JJ Lee shares Better Next Year, a new anthology of Christmas epiphanies. | | | | | As Canadian rock band Max Webster gets inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, musician and writer Bob Wegner shares some of his knowledge of the band with the book, Max Webster: High Class - The Definitive History. | | | | | | Dec. 3 marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Dustin Galer joins us to talk about the life of disability rights activist Beryl Potter. | | | | | | Pop culture columnist Kristen Hutchinson explains why podcasts are at the forefront of examining cults and how they operate. | | | | | | As Sam Wiebe's Sunset and Jericho gets shortlisted for the Crime Fiction Lover Award, we revisit our chat with him from June. | | | | | | | | | Documentary on Somali youths' journey to Vancouver premieres at VIBFF | | | Director Ilhan Abdullahi joins NXNW to talk about her new documentary film, Dreamers, premiering at the Vancouver International Black Film Festival on Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m. at the Vancity Theatre. Dreamers tells the story of two Somali refugee youth, who embark on different journeys to Vancouver, and their dreams of becoming professional soccer players. | | |  | Ilhan Abdullahi in the NXNW studio | | | | | | | Retrospective of Alvin Elif Constant opens in Penticton | | | Alvin Elif Constant (1946-2006) was a Cree artist also known as Wandering Spirit, who sold his work on the streets of Vancouver and Victoria. Constant died in 2006, when he froze to death in Calgary, and was laid to rest in the James Smith Reserve. The Penticton Art Gallery (PAG) opened a retrospective of his work, In Search of Wandering Spirit, which runs until Jan. 20, 2024. Shirley Constant, Alvin's sister, and PAG curator Paul Crawford join us to reflect on the exhibit and Alvin's life. | | |  | | |  | In Search of Wandering Spirit is now showing at the Penticton Art Gallery. (Photography by Ron Marsh) | | | | | | | New book explores holiday epiphanies | | | JJ Lee, acclaimed writer, former CBC broadcaster and editor of Better Next Year joined NXNW this week to talk about the book, a new anthology of Christmas stories published by Tidewater Press. Each story in the book contains a unique epiphany that occurred to the author during the holiday season. | | |  | JJ Lee is pictured with Better Next Year at the NXNW studios. | | | | | | | Holiday Baking: Anna Olson's Baking Wisdom | | | This December, we're kicking off a new series on the world of holiday baking! Our first edition connected us with baking expert and Food Network Canada host, Anna Olson. She joined NXNW to talk about her new cookbook, Baking Wisdom, which aims to answer every baking question you've ever had — with over 150 recipes.
Here's one, for example:
Giant Chocolate Meringues Ingredients: - 5 large egg whites
- 1½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- Pinch of fine salt
- 2 tbsp (15 g) of Dutch-process cocoa powder
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 225°F (107°C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the egg whites, sugar and salt together in a metal bowl placed over a pot filled with an inch (2.5 cm) of gently simmering water. Warm the eggs to no more than 98°F (37°C), which helps the sugar to dissolve better as you whip the meringue.
(Warming the egg whites with the sugar fully dissolves the sugar, which gives the meringue its structure.)
3. Transfer the warmed egg whites and sugar to a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, or use electric beaters to whip the whites to a stiff peak on high speed.
Sift the cocoa powder and fold it into the meringue, but only partly — you want to see streaks and ribbons of the cocoa powder and not have it fully mixed in.
Because these crisp meringues have a high sugar-to-egg ratio (sugar is double the weight of the eggs), it takes longer for the whites to reach a stiff peak, and you really can’t overwhip them.
Sugar stabilizes a meringue, so resist any temptation to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe — any less sugar and the meringues may collapse or crumble.
4. Use two large kitchen spoons to make six big dollops of meringue on the baking tray.
Bake the meringues for two hours, until they lift easily away from the parchment paper.
Cool the meringues. The meringues will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for one week.
Enjoy! | | |  | | Giant chocolate meringues photographed by Janis Nicolay | | | | | | | In case you missed it... | | | Vancouver's Ruby Singh joined NXNW to talk about his latest music projects, Polyphonic Garden Suite II and kraKIN. The award-winning music artist uses field recordings and bio-electric information from plants and mushrooms to create an ambient, meditative offering that explores our relationship to the natural world.
Read more about Rudy and his music. | | | | | Thanks for listening! | Have any comments or suggestions you'd like to share? Email us!
Jeremy Ratt, editor | | | | | |
