RKS Tea Meister: Hysson Green Tea from Gorreana in the Portuguese Azores

I attended “Wine and Travel Week” in Porto, Portugal in February. The takeaway was that wine is only a gateway into tourism. Yes wine and wineries are a great attraction for many but broaden that experience to include, gastronomy and local cultural sights and you have “wine tourism”. This is the reason so many wineries have their own restaurants where wine and food are the stars. And after some press trips to Italy and Portugal some of these winery restaurants are spectacular.

So I have strayed into food tourism outside the realm of a restaurant and brought back to Canada some tea, jams, honey, canned tuna, cheese and sardines. Gastronomic products perhaps!

Green tea in Portugal? No not green tea from outside Portugal but Portuguese green tea! In this case it is from Gorreana in S. Miguel in the Portuguese Azores. Gorreana is the only tea plantation in Europe. It produces 40 tons of tea annually.

Aroma: Green apple, bitter Azorean orange marmalade, apricots and asparagus.

Palate: Pear, mango, apricot are smoothly and delicately intertwined for a perfect mid weight afternoon tea. Long but a gentle finish with low tannins.

Personality: I am a Portuguese tea grown in the verdant Azores rather out there in the Atlantic Ocean. I am a serious green tea grown without pesticides, preservatives fungicides or herbicides. Gorreana has been growing me since 1883.

Food Match: Zucchini bread.

RKS 2023 Tea Meister Rating: 89/100.

RKS 2023 Film: Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival: “B-Side: For Taylor”: A Trail of Rejection and Misery

The 2021 American film “B-Side: For Taylor” is a trail of rejection and misery. The solution or a possible attempt at obtaining it lies on the B-side of a cassette tape. Do you remember those 45 records years ago. The hit was on side A and the filler was on side B.

Being a reviewer of films, I don’t always accept the obvious premise so why don’t I take a leap and say perhaps the B-side applies to the quality of life to almost all the characters in the film. All are rejected by life and circumstances. Taylor, a 14-year-old Korean American living in small town Virginia, feels rejected by her birth parents. Other characters feel rejected by their parents, by the death of their spouses, by the desertion of their fathers, by their family, by the death of their parents, their failures and by their past. Their life is not an A-side hit but a B-side filler with multiple scratches on the B-side of the record.

Although Taylor is appreciative of the wonderful home and life her adoptive parents have given her she is “curious” about locating her birth parents. With the help of newly moved in Korean immigrants across the street, all suffering from rejection, an abortive attempt to locate her parents in Seoul reveals hidden secrets. Taylor finds that all that glitters in gold is fool’s gold until the B-side offers her the opportunity to step into the unknown and move from rejection into reality. The B-side and its quest grant almost all characters another lease on life. As one of the character’s mother puts it, “If we keep wanting the life we lose we might lose the life we have now.”

This 2021 100-minute film is directed by Christina YR Lim will be screening in Los Angeles at Regal L.A. Live and will be streaming on May 15th on VC online.

RKS 2023 Film 88/100.

RKS 2023 Film: Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival: “Dinner is Ready”

Korean-American Julie was to visit her mother Yeonhee in another U.S. city for a meal. A very special occasion but due to a rescheduled business meeting Julie can’t make the dinner with her mother and calls her to tell she will be arriving the next day. The brutality of fate shows its ugly face with Yeonhee dying all alone in her kitchen. Do the spirits offer Julie a second chance for a good-bye? Will her Korean meals have a special meaning in the future? It is impossible to avoid fate but a spirit can mitigate if not partially defeat fate and alter regrets.

This 15-minute short is directed by Eleanor Cho. It shows at Regal L.A. Live on 13May with “Parenthood”.

RKS Literature: Madame Hortense’s Mini Cretan Hotel (Zorba the Greek)

“Madame Hortense’s miniature hotel consisted of a row of age-old bathing cabins glued together one behind the other. The first cabin was a store; it sold candy, cigarettes, Arabian peanuts, lamp wicks, kindergarten alphabet books and frankincense. Four other cabins in succession were the sleeping quarters. Behind them, in the courtyard, were the kitchen, laundry, hen coop and rabbit hutches. Reeds and prickly pear cacti were thickly planted in the fine sand all around the perimeter. The entire complex smelled of the sea, animal droppings, and pungent urine. Only occasionally, when Madame Hortense passed by, did the air change its odor, as if a barbershop’s slop bucket had been emptied in front of you.”

Nikos Kazantzakis, “Zorba the Greek”, 1952

RKS 2023 Wine: Valpolicella Rarely Disappoints

We try a Brigaldara Valpolicella Ripasso from Italy of course. Valpolicella rarely disappoints with an easy drinking personality. Mellow, smooth and warm perhaps is a good way of describing it. And to continue in non-technical terms choco cherry!

50% Corvina, 25% Corvinone and 25% Rondinella.

What does this Ripasso mean? It derives from the verb ripassare meaning “passover” or “do something again”. Amarone pomace is added to the fermented Valpolicella for a couple of weeks during which time the wine picks up extra color, tannin and flavour from the Amarone pomace. Amarone wine is made from both “regular grapes” and some grapes that have been left to dry hence their juice is sweeter making the Amarone wine richer and more concentrated.

Aroma: Fresh picked Washington cherries intertwined with cherry syrup and milk chocolate. Compelling simplicity.

Palate: Earthy cherry centric with hints of chocolate covered raisins but not sweet. Valpolicella on steroids.

Personality: Fun loving not bothered by the small annoyances of life. A kind of Zorba the Greek wine!

Food Match: Seared duck breast with cherry and Port sauce.

Cellarbility: This will hold nicely until the end of 2024.

Price: $23 (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 89/100. Monica Larmer Wine Spectator 90.

(Brigaldara Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore 2019, Az. Agr. Brigaldara Soc. Agr., San Pietro in Cariano, Italia, 750 mL, 14.5%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 16090).

RKS 2023 Film: Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival: “Liquor Store Dreams”

Self titled “liquor store baby” So Yun Um recounts her story as the child of Korean immigrant South Los Angeles liquor store owners in the documentary “Liquor Store Dreams”. In the late 80’s Um says that 70% of all liquor stores in South Los Angeles were owned by Koreans.

She also has her Korean friend Danny recount his stories about being a liquor store baby.

Um and Danny’s parents abhor the idea that their children would continue to operate the liquor stores as it is dangerous and exhausting with long hours. Family life and personal relationships suffer. First generation immigrants often share the same stories and aversion to their children following in their footsteps.

Um notes the racism directed toward Korean food mart and liquor store owners may have had impetus due to negative stereotypical portrayals in American cinema. It caused her shame and rage. I had to watch this documentary having just recently seen Spike Lee’s 1989 film “Do the Right Thing” where Korean liquor store owners operate in a predominately black neighbourhood of New York. Um believes that film was an accurate predictor of the future.

In 1992 in the Los Angeles Riots one half of city-wide damages were to Korean owned businesses. You’ll see archival footage of armed Korean shop owners protecting their property. Was it the 1991 death of 15-year-old black Latasha Harlins shot in the back of the head by a Korean food mart owner over a dispute over a $1.79 container of orange juice or the five-year probation sentence of the shooter that enraged the black community? The 1992 rampage did not reoccur after the death of George Floyd but many Korean food mart and liquor store owners feared the worst which fortunately never materialized. However we watch footage of younger Koreans marching in the Floyd protests in solidarity with the black community decrying racism. Will Danny and Um continue in their parent’s footsteps? Are their dreams continuing their family liquor stores or escaping them?

Um’s father reminds us of the continuing influence of immigrants in the California liquor store business. The Jews ran much of it initially, then the Japanese then the Koreans and now the Bangladeshis are moving into the territory. As her dad said there is a saying amongst Koreans that you often will become what the people picking you up in the airport are working at.

A roughly similar immigrant story to Cambodian immigrant Ted Ngoy in the documentary “Donut King”.

It will be showing on 10May at 19:30 at the Gardena Cinema in Los Angeles.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 79/100.

RKS Literature: Young Men as Wild Animals (Zorba the Greek)

“What is this raging lunacy that makes you pounce on another human being who has done nothing to you and bite him, cut off his nose, help yourself to his ear, and tear open his belly while calling upon God to come down and help you, which means for him, too, to slice away noses and ears and tear open bellies? But then my blood was boiling, you see. Where was some brain to get to the bottom of things? Accurate, honorable thoughts require the tranquility of old age. A mouth full of false teeth….a man in his youth is a wild animal, a ferocious beast who eats other men.”

Nikos Kazantzakis “Zorba the Greek”, 1952

RKS 2023 Film: “Nathan-ism”: Nathan Illusion or Nathan Reality or a Combination of Both?

“Nathan-ism” is a riveting documentary. Just when you are glowing and basking in the warmth of an incredible story the rug gets yanked under your feet. How you interpret your spill is your business but be prepared for a spill!

Nathan Hilu, a Jew of Sephardic ancestry, at 18 years of age and serving with the United States Army is ordered to guard Nazi war crime defendants at the Nuremberg war crimes trials. He chats with Albert Speer and Goering and understands what the defendants are accused of by reading the daily court transcripts.

Hilu is not a writer so there are no written memoirs rather a huge mass of sketches relating his memoirs of his interactions with the Nazi defendants. Almost cartoon like they are crammed full of remarks and annotations affording an insight to the criminals and Hilu’s reaction to them. They are visual memoirs. They are commented on by art curators and archivists.

Hilu is in his early nineties and most co-operative yet at times asked questions that might be addressed towards his credibility he turns slightly argumentative and hostile. He keeps saying his stories are true. Hmmmm?

Particularly interesting is his recounting of the pending hanging of Goering who committed suicide 3 hours prior to it. Hilu claims Goering’s wife at a last visit with Goering had a particularly long kiss with him. He says it was a cyanide capsule orally exchanged.

Some doubts are raised about Hilu but it is established he was a guard at Nuremberg but beyond that the rug is moving under your feet.

Not intended I am sure but how reliable, truthful and accurate are documentaries? A valuable unintended lesson here is don’t always believe what you see even if it is in a documentary.

In theatre performances have passed for this Toronto Hot Docs documentary but it streams until 9 May for Canadians. It will also play in Israel’s Docaviv between May 11-20.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g98mGOsYs28 RKS 2023 Film Rating 89/100

RKS 2023 Wine: Bordeaux The Quieter Side of Sauvignon Blanc

Many of you love your New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. But have you given thought to how forceful it can be? Happily trying to avoid generalizations I have found Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc to be quieter and gentler than its Zealie cousin. We try a Cap Royal 2021 Sauvignon Blanc.

Aroma: Lemon, vanilla, white grapefruit, tangerine, ginger with a tad of vanilla extract.

Palate: Mango, lemon with a hint of Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. Moderate finish with is that some pepper on the finish?

Personality: Don’t let anyone turn their nose up at me should they be obsessed with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc by force of habit, temerity, or ignorance. I am unmistakably and proudly Sauvignon Blanc cher ami!

Food Match: Haddock with capers, garlic and dill.

Cellarbility: Drink this year. One of those good outside hot summer afternoon wines.

Price: $19 (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 90/100. Carolyn Evans Hammond Toronto Star 92.

(Cap Royal 2021 Sauvignon Blanc, AC Bordeaux, France, 750 mL, 12.5%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 18491).

RKS 2023 Hot Docs: “Who’s Afraid of Nathan Law?”: People’s Republic of China Kryptonite Chases Clark Kent from Hong Kong!

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) promised 50 more years of democracy in Hong Kong after the British lease on its “colony” expired. That promise never materialized as the PRC tightened its grip on Hong Kong gradually stripping away any vestiges of democracy. Why would one of the worst greed driven imperialistic dictatorships afford its new colony any more than it gave its own citizens!

So some baby faced students started protest campaigns in 2014 looking for the PRC to deliver on its promise. These baby-faced kids turned out to be savvy and politically adept beyond their years. The three key student leaders were Nathan Law, Agnes Chow and Joshua Long. Like Clark Kent they were mild mannered and apparently inoffensive but they terrified the PRC so watch the documentary and see why and how!

Despite police brutality and political heavy handedness of Big Brother Lex Luthor in Beijing these students caused the PRC to show its true and ugly face of desperate repression including arresting and removing pro-democracy leaders from Hong Kong’s legislature and in the end imposing martial law where Nathan Law escaped to Great Britain fearing for his life of course perhaps rightfully considering the PRC directed massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Law graduated from Yale with a master’s degree and continues to advocate for democracy in Hong Kong. Wong was nominated for a Nobel Prize in 2013.

PRC kryptonite may have chased Nathan Law from Hong Kong but this superman powers on.

Next on the imperialistic PRC menu will be Taiwan. The PRC will be afraid yet again! They might even be terrorized!

The film screened at the recent Toronto Hot Docs Festival and will no doubt be making the rounds on the documentary film circuit. Nice progression from the “Faceless” documentary from 2021 Toronto Hot Docs.

The director was Joe Piscatella.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 92/100.