“Travels to a Different Time” : 16July1974: Bucharest, Romania: Stay Away From “Nick the Big Boy”: Overnight in a Romanian Villa

Up at ten for a big spaghetti brunch. Sorin loved it but with the right spices it would have been worthy for the top bureaucrats in the Romanian Communist Party! After the tasty feast Sorin left for work while I washed some clothes and started to pack up. I am planning on leaving in a couple of days. I am now at the halfway point of my vacation. I am enjoying my “down time” here in Bucharest. Good company, East German beer and lots of fruit and vegetables. I went out picking up supplies for my next dish boeuf bourguignon. Out on my shopping I saw a beautiful hand embroidered sheepskin vest for $32. I saw a similar one in Contanesti for $82. It will be a hassle to carry but it is a beautiful garment. I really never buy anything for myself so I will splurge. I took the bus home which almost jolts your guts out. It’s like being a bingo ball in a machine.

I couldn’t find beef so I substituted it with pork. He helped me with some of the preparation and had to go buy a train ticket for his mother who was going to Bacau. He said he would be back in 90 minutes but showed up three hours later and I had already eaten. His flat had that rich smell of a dish cooked in wine. He gobbled his down with a happy smile on his face. First time he has had this classic French dish. We had some tangerines and ice cream for dessert. We then stopped over at his mother’s place so he could give her the train ticket. She is jolly rotund woman. We watched a bit of television with her and headed out to a beer garden in a park. We picked up his brother and sister-in-law at Sorin’s villa and we went to the beer garden but it had run out of East German beer so we went to one of Bucharest’s biggest and best restaurants called Pescarus. Not too shabby! Like big party bureaucrats we sipped champagne, had a charcuterie platter (pastrama), ate pastries and listened to jazz. To think of all the pig slop I have eaten it seems that money can make up for what the commoners have to endure! We went to Aviator Square but couldn’t find a taxi so we stayed overnight in Sorin’s villa where I had a room all to myself. Sorin pointed across the square and said that is where “Nick the Big Boy” operates. You want to avoid that thug. There was a heavy police presence at the square.

“Travels to a Different Time” :15July1974: Bucharest, Romania: Sorin Has to Register Me with the Police: Meeting up With Pusha the Daughter of a Defector: My Imitations Cause Mirth and Terror

Up at 10:30 and Sorin and I went out to buy some milk, bread, cake and Romanian “Corn Flakes”. The milk was not very good and Sorin said if you arrived before 8:30 there was a higher quality milk available. Sorin has never had spaghetti and meat sauce! Is that possible! So we went to the market to buy the supplies. We squished into a tram and arrived at the marketplace. It was a huge market full of peasants selling produce from their personal plots. Finally an abundance of food including fruits and vegetables which is good as I feel like scurvy should be setting in soon. I purchased all the supplies needed for the sauce and we headed back in the sardine packed tram. Sorin departed for work and Chef Robert prepared his spaghetti sauce which despite the lack of spices was perhaps the most satisfying food I have seen in Romania. Another girlfriend of Sorin, Pusha, arrived and they had a cognac and a beer for me. She is not that attractive but unlike his previous girlfriend she is very intelligent. We left to see some Davis Cup matches but the line-up for tickets was too long so we walked to a nearby park and played some Frisbee. A crowd of 15 Romanians gathered to watch us. Frisbee is new to them. Some kids joined in the game. They always ask for gum and money. Many of them smoke! We then went a block away from Pusha’s family’s flat and she went into change and Sorin told me her father had recently defected in New York and it was not a good idea to go in with her as the secret police were most likely watching. The idea of a Westerner like me going into her apartment would only aggravate the situation. Sorin said that he had to register me with the police as you have to do that if you have a Westerner saying with you for more than 48 hours. We went to a restaurant and had some East German beer and a platter of cold meats. We walked home through the park and my dirty old man cough and jungle imitations brought laughter to passersby’s. Then we were followed by two musicians with an accordion singing songs to us. I then did my Fuhrer imitation which sent two ladies running down the street in terror. We hailed a taxi and dropped off Pusha.

The author introduces spaghetti sauce to his Romanian friend

RKS Film: “Visionary Gardeners”: Episode # 3 “People and Plants”

The Canadian television series “Visionary Gardeners” is a five-part series premiering March 7, at 9 p.m. ET on Vision TV and it runs for 5 weeks in half hour segments. It features avid Canadian gardeners with their own vision of what a garden is. You may think the series is about them and their gardens and that is true and of course that is interesting particularly if you are gardener. But these episodes may spark a certain reaction on your part particularly where you fall in the gardening vision spectrum?

You could be an elite gardener right up there amongst with the brilliant gardeners featured in “Visionary Gardeners”. You have the technical skills and the vision as lofty and intellectual as these gifted visionary gardeners. These gardeners are pros.

You could be a “semi-professional gardener” technically sound with a passion and enjoyment of gardening but you have no grand vision for your passion.

You could be a basic gardener happy to toil away planting this or that without any ideology or vision other than having fun and watching the fruits of your labour. You realize you must weed to fight for the plant’s health and choose the right soil for your planting.

You might be a utilitarian gardener who loves to grow fruits and vegetables for consumption without much vision other than having a penchant for that basil you’ll use to make pesto and for that tomato or cucumber that will make that perfect salad.

On the other hand you couldn’t give a damn about gardening and chuckle about the eggplant head nerds fussing and fidgeting over their garden.

Put another way “Visionary Gardeners” may assist you in establishing and validating where you fit in the gardening world. I am not saying in the “gardening hierarchy” because that may infer some sort of superiority. The point I make is that if you have fun with your gardening hold up your head high. And remember it is a fact that gardeners have a longer and healthier life!

From my viewing of the episodes of “Visionary Gardeners” there is no superiority shown by the visionary gardeners nor the creators of the series. So no guilt please! No matter where you are on the spectrum you should enjoy all the episodes for the fascinating ideology of the visionary gardeners and compelling cinematography.

The pattern of each “Visionary Gardeners” episode is simple. Pick two Canadian visionary gardeners and hear their vision of gardening and luxuriate in the rich cinematography.

In episode three “People and Plants” which airs on March 21st at 9 p.m. on Vision TV meet Chancal Cabrera from Courtenay, British Columbia and Paul Gellatly from Toronto, Ontario.

Cabrera in addition to being a talented gardener seems to be a medicine women, spiritualist and natural healer growing plants that heal and that connect plants with people. Gellatly presents as more of a technician breeding and “creating” new plants but like Cabrera he espouses a belief that plants connect people with nature.

Wherever you are on the gardening spectrum or if you are not on it at all why not view these visionary gardeners as simply human beings with a passion and a vision as don’t all of us have passion and visions whether we are gardening, writing, making music or simply living?

“Visionary Gardeners” is a new series from filmmakers Ian Toews and Mark Bradley of Victoria, British Columbia based 291 Film Company. After each episode airs it can be seen by Canadians free for two weeks at www.visiontv.ca

RKS Wine: Wine from Alentejano in Portugal

There has been an increasing number of wines coming our way in Canada from the Alentejano Region in Portugal.  They have all been red wines.

The Monte da Ravasqueira is a blend of Trincadeira, Aragonez, Syrah and Alicante Bouschet.

As for aromatics there is some black cherry, raspberry, strawberry and some spice. On the palate very smooth with very little tannic impact.  Notes of cranberry and Bulgarian cherry jam. The finish is short with just a hint of pepper. This is a solid wine which is well made and laid back like it is not trying to dazzle but simply trying to be your friend. It is good for sipping but even better with food. The label says good with grilled dishes and salads. I would say specifically with grilled pork, beef, octopus and chicken. As for salads I would think a field tomato or octopus salad.  

There is no wood involved in the wine which gives it a degree of honesty and straightforwardness. Drink by the end of 2022.

(Monte Da Ravasqueira 2019 Classico, Vinho Regional Alentejano, $13.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 54842, 750 mL, 13.5%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 91/100).

“Travels to a Different Time” : 14July1974: Contanesti, Bucharest, Romania: Getting My Ass Pinched by Romanian Girls

Auto stopped into Constanţa with a truck driver. We stopped for a lunch of 4 grilled meatballs and bread which cost 70 cents. I eventually found the train station and took the 3:30 train to Bucharest. The train was overcrowded with you guessed it no seats so we were stuck in the corridor with people mashing into us particularly several people with massive stomachs. I even had my rear pinched by some Romanian girls who had a good giggle. The train was not cheap. The countryside was beautiful and perhaps that was because I was not in a car worried about a crash. At one station a group of gypsies came up hawking apricots. We arrived at the Gara de Nord which was full of gypsies, soldiers and all manner of human beings. I found a phone and after two hours of trying got hold of Sorin and took the bus to his flat. It was good to see a friendly face and his sourpuss girlfriend was back in Bacau. We had a beer and had some fried eggs which were delicious as all Romanian eggs are. Had a hot shower and hit the sack at midnight.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 13July1974: Contanesti, Romania: No Tourist Ghetto for Me: Invasion of the Ladybugs

Pierre and part of the gang packed up their tents and were off. I headed off to the beach and ran into Vasha. But as soon as I sat down a huge invasion of ladybugs descended. They covered the air like locusts. It was hilarious watching everybody twitching trying to swat off the ladybugs. In any case the water on the Romanian Black Sea is numbing and I have had it with the constant haze in the air. I returned to the campground which is beginning to annoy me with its cold showers and stinking toilets. The lighting is poor. The restaurant serves disgusting food. They don’t empty the garbage cans. I went for lunch at the campground autoservice and the soup and donuts were inedible and not worth the line-up to get in. I took a bus or two and went to investigate Magnolia and Jupiter two resort areas full of shoddy hotels. I gotta get out of this place. A decrepit campground and a socialist “Beach Paradise” is not for me. As a leader of the few new Western tourists we snuck into the young communist camp discotheque. Vasha was with us and I danced with her off and on until she left at 11. I changed some money with Rick the DJ and then we all went to some new discotheque which was pathetic. Millions of guys but no girls.

“Andrij The Orphaned Ukrainian Rescue Dog” : Chapter 12: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!

As I sit in the cockpit of the US Navy jet taking me to Buffalo New York, I have time to ponder many things. First and foremost is the attack of autocrat Tsar Putin on my country very much like Hitler attacked Poland in 1939. He is ordering the murder of civilians. His sophisticated missiles are targeting hospitals, residential complexes, churches and causing destruction on the civilian population INTENTIONALLY! Can he sleep at night seeing pregnant women with their guts ripped out as a result of Holy Mother Russian missiles targeting civilian targets? Putin is a combination of Stalin, Rasputin and Hitler.

And there are platitudes amongst the Western countries about how the Ukraine is struggling to uphold democracy but there are no troops and jets as NATO is terrified by Tsar Putin and his hollow promises to use nuclear weapons of which his inner circle knows will be the end of Holy Mother Russia and the rest of the world.

Send your jets and wipe out the Russian dogs I say. But you are cowed by a new Hitler. Are you suckered in by his desperate and hollow pleas and lies that are so vile he kills all opposition to him in Holy Mother Russia. Vlady baby is coming for you as by your inaction you sanction his barbaric attacks that slay Ukrainians and his own fodder troops that exist to protect the swindling Russian oligarchs. So what is different from 1939 you loud mouthed powers. It rather reminds many of the ships full of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany that you refused entry into your countries. I may be a stupid dog but you are hypocrites pandering to Tsar Putin. And at this point I say Tsar Putrid! You have turned a blind eye to his barbarism in Syria. He is a monster that does not deserve your diplomacy.

RKS Film: “Jump Darling”

As soon as I saw the movie poster for the film “Jump Darling” I concluded this drag queen movie is not for me. I was never a fan of drag queens prancing about in outlandish costumes but was really turned against it after seeing a documentary from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “Drag Kids” where children were performing drag. Judge me if you wish but that documentary was sickening.

I told my press contact at Breaking Glass Pictures that I was not into drag and would not be reviewing the film. He responded by saying the film was” light drag” and Cloris Leachman’s performance was excellent. Both these statements were true.

Russell (Thomas Duplessie) plays Fishy Falters a failing actor that unleashes his passion for drag but has a meltdown at his Toronto gay bar Peckers and runs out preperformance and leaves his live in relationship with a successful straightlaced lawyer and heads to his grandmother’s house in the scenic Prince Edward County which is about a two and a half hour drive from Toronto. His grandmother Margaret (Cloris Leachman) is a very old grandmother with a sarcastic and droll sense of humour who embraces Russell as a person without any gender labels.

Russell is deeply hurting from something I am not quite sure of but he rebuilds himself by bonding with his grandmother and establishing his drag queen persona at a local gay bar.

Margaret is being pursued by her daughter (Linda Cash) to enter a long-term care facility called Millbrook skillfully shot so that it looks like the Millhaven penitentiary in nearby Kingston! Margaret and Russell fight her daughter’s attempts to resettle her at Millbrook.

Leachman plays her role as a subdued feisty grandmother perfectly. She is tolerant, wise, loving, bitter and is beginning to realize there is not much point in living further. Leachman won an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress in “The Last Picture Show” and holds the record for most Emmy nominations at 22! Leachman died at the age of 94 in January. Again I would like to say her strong performance is not flashy and grand but subdued, poignant and at times tender.

Duplessie portraying Russell offers credibility to me about drag dancing as a highly toned performance art and moves it from kinky to highly respectable as his costuming is not over the top and the focus for him is dancing not shocking his audience most of whom like being shocked. Perhaps Russell sums up drag astutely by saying it is not about how you fuck but saying fuck off to the shame. Duplessie is both a fantastic dancer and a good actor. Linda Kash is excellent in her supporting role as a well intentioned and caring daughter and mother.

The soundtrack is excellent and as Canadians Carol Pope’s “High School Confidential” couldn’t have found a better film.

The film weaves a good story and may just make you feel at ease with the drag scene as drag queen Russell is as restrained as his grandmother if such is possible as a drag queen.

A happy ending with a bittersweet touch.

“Jump Darling” will be opening in select theatres on March 18 and on DVD and digital on March 29th.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH8Qv3BGAUk

The film is directed by Phil Connell who states, “Over a period of years, my late grandmother struggled with how to prepare for her ‘decline’ – be it physical or mental. It was the topic of conversation each time I would visit her. Meanwhile I was struggling to maintain my resolve – against the forces and voices of self-doubt that every artist faces – and wanted to explore that in the distinctly queer context of drag.”

RKS Film Rating 88/100.

RKS Wine: Gambling with Ontario Gamay? They Have Lost at the Craps Table With This One!

In the province of Ontario most wineries do a good job with Gamay. Some wineries like Malivoire do an excellent job. What can Di Profio accomplish with Gamay? Or should I say what can 180 Estate Winery do with Gamay? I visited the Di Profio website and when you check out the wines you are flipped to a new page featuring the wines of 180 Estate Winery with no explanation I can see explaining why the change of name. A sale of the winery? A simple change of name? A rebranding? Neither is there any easily locatable explanation of this on the internet.

This 2019 Gamay is from the Mia Cara Vineyard in Niagara. On the nose there is some cheerful cherry, candy cane and a tad of barnyard most of which dissipates once the wine has had a chance to breathe. It has a light bodied nudge on your palate with minimal tannins and well integrated acidity. A very undistinguished palate which lacks character and identity. Gamay can be light and fruity and almost playful but this wine has a palate that is lost in space rather like their website that gives no real explanation of why the name has changed from Di Profio to 180 Estate Winery. I would hope if this is a change of ownership their wines will be better than their website. Ontario Gamay can be so much better than this.

My advice to you is not to waste your money on this Gamay.

(Di Profio Gamay Noir 2019, Mia Cara Vineyard, VQA Creek Shores, Niagara Peninsula, Di Profio Estate Wines, Jordan Station, Ontario, $22, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 25236, 750 mL, 12.7%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 84/100).

“Travels to a Different Time” : 10July1974: Contanesti, Romania: Fighting to Get on a Romanian Bus: More Repulsive Food: Is Pierre an FLQ Terrorist?

Thank goodness this dastardly Romanian rain and wind did not blow away or soak my tent. More cloudy weather makes this place look very drab. Eric and I walked to the bus stop to take the bus into Constanţa to get some money changed. After changing some money we went to the Auto Service for lunch after waiting in line forever. To put it politely what a repulsive lunch. We headed back and decided to endure the fights to get on a bus. In Greece it was the little old ladies that were aggressive in getting on the bus. In Romania it is everyone. I had to elbow out an old lady to get on the bus. When in Romania do as the Romanians do! Bread and cheese for supper and off to the discotheque. In bed at midnight.

11July1974: More Romanian rain. This place is getting depressing. Line-ups everywhere, food shortages, gross restaurant food, rain, no toilet paper, cloudy and rainy weather and lousy beaches with freezing cold water. Around 4 I went out for walk with Eric and we bought a small bottle of rum which we had with a Pepsi. Again at 8 we snuck into the Communist youth discotheque and chummed with Rick the DJ. He is Mr. Cool here but in Canada that would be another story. He is goobery looking being tall and fat with thick glasses dressed in very uncool clothes. No dancing tonight as I talked politics with Pierre who revealed he was arrested and put in prison for three months without a trial thanks to Trudeau’s War Measures Act. Pierre said he was a friend of Paul Rose who was involved in the kidnapping of James Cross in Montreal. In fact Pierre was not even given any reason why he was arrested. Pierre said the Romanian Communists took power through a popular front with the Social Democrats. The Communists seized power in 1952 and they created co-ops for the peasants who were opposed to having their land confiscated. Romania was a very anti-Semitic country before the war when a fascist Antonescu was in power. Apparently, Jews in Romania were sent to concentration camps or murdered in pogroms.