I have an interesting part-time gig. When not clicking away on my keyboard as a freelance journalist, I zip into a phone booth and quick-change into a newly minted ambassador — make that student ambassador — at Emily Carr University of Art and Design (ECUAD) in Vancouver.
The school — which I've attended part-time for so long the running joke is will I graduate with my own teeth still in my head? — has observed over the years that quite a few students, especially international ones, can have a hard time adjusting to life on campus and to life in Vancouver. This also holds true for other students from "away," as they say in Newfoundland, even if they're from Red Deer, Alberta, or Fort St. John.
We student ambassadors are meant to help our new fellow students feel comfortable in their new setting, and no small part of the orientation is how to cope with Wet Coast winters.
If you've lived here a while, you know the drill: when the skies close over with a such a thick, wet blanket of grey for days, weeks, what seems like centuries on end, you fear you'll suffocate. Then just as you think you'll go mad, or at least murder your roommate, it breaks, the sun shows its almost forgotten face, and you remember once again why you love to live here.
This explains why any signs of summer's end — a yellow leaf or two, frighteningly chipper "back to school" flyers, Labour Day weekend or, horror of horrors, actual rain — send us West Coasters into paroxysms of dread much more intense and horrifying than those borne by other Canadians.
Now try to imagine your reaction if you've just flown in from Indonesia, which enjoys an average of 8.2 hours of sunshine every day, or from Qatar, where the average rainfall for January, the rainiest month of the year, is 14 mm, or about five millimetres less than what we experienced last week alone when those new students were going through their first days of orientation.
That's why ECUAD started a program of fellow student ambassadors armed with advice like, if you see a glimmer of sun, stop whatever you're doing, unless you're in class or having surgery, and get your lovely self outside for as long as you can. Nothing beats rubber boots and an umbrella. And, yes, on Georgia Street you can catch the bus to Whistler, where at least the precipitation creates a winter wonderland.
As for the rest of us getting glimpses of summer's end, I say, buck up. Buck up and put away that pasta and shepherd's pie recipe at least for now. Yes, we'll need a stew and all that comfort food soon enough, but to me there's nothing more depressing than abandoning all our summer habits at once because it's "back to school."
I know, I know — no matter how many sparkly new outfits or iSomething gadgets you've treated yourself to in compensation, the phrase alone carries a certain amount of anxiety for us all, even if you slammed your last school book shut 30 years ago. All the more reason not to succumb to "normal" cold turkey.
And with that perfect segue, may I introduce my three best tips for keeping the summer dream alive on your plate, even if it's a plastic container in your lunchbox at school or work:
1. Don't turn off that barbecue.
Yes, we all need to organize ourselves for schedules, school lunches and all the other accoutrements that come with "back to normal" but the last thing you want to do is abandon your barbecue. One of my favourite things about barbecuing is there's virtually no clean up. Pop the plates and cutlery in the dishwasher, et voilà — you're out of the glue. As for meal prep itself, you couldn't ask for a better friend than your bar-b, even in the dead of winter. Later, much later, we'll all get into brewing up that huge stew pot of, well, stew or soup or chili to get us through to next weekend. But for now, go buy a turkey thigh or three, a nice whole salmon, a pork loin, or a gaggle of squashes and peppers. Grill them up and serve as you like all week long, lunch or dinner, cold or gently heated, as mains, side dishes or both. Just seeing those grill marks will bring a smile to your face and help you cling to the fact that in only 10 months it will be summer again.
2. Don't short-change your kids' good taste.
The Dirty Apron Cooking School in Vancouver did culinary boot camps for kids and teens this summer and they were amazed to discover what kids liked when they were literally guided by their own tastes. Goat cheese, for one. So if you ascribe to the concept that more taste can equal less of everything when it comes to food — less hassle, less prep; fewer quantities and calories — try using simple, easy components to beef up taste and satisfaction, and keep those un-wanteds to a minimum. A little goat cheese or tapenade can transform a sandwich or salad from mundane to marvelous. Both, even in September, are as playful and lighthearted as a picnic. And don't tell me kids don't like olives. We used to watch my four-year-old goddaughter skip over the candies and chips to rob the olive dish at parties. As for goat cheese, it doesn't have to be expensive. Besides the delicious ones produced locally, which can be a bit pricey, try Boursin's new goat cheese and rosemary. M-m-m, good.
3. Don't get complicated.
Over 98 per cent of the mass of every living thing on Earth is composed of the same seven atomic elements: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulphur. Remember that when meal planning. Meals composed of good simple elements echo summer's simplicity and speak to our essential selves. A slice or two of the above grilled turkey or pork loin, a nice salad based on quinoa or beans, and some cold sliced tomatoes and cukes — locally grown, of course, and topped with nice olive oil and a sprinkle of fresh herbs, and you'll have it made without making much. Just pretend it's the start of summer, not a wrap, and you'll feel inspired, not harried. Speaking of wraps...
Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who hates to say good-bye to summer.
