Judy's Olive Bread

Some years ago, my wife and I spent a week in Venice. I'm cheap so it wasn't a lavish vacation. It was a cheap week in the off-season. For lunch one day we stopped at a small bakery and bought some fresh olive bread.

Wow! Eureka! This stuff was good! No, it was great!

The Venetian olive bread was a very small loaf which released oodles of green olive flavour when one took a bite. You see, the loaf had an inside cavity lined with mozzarella and filled with juicy, green olives.

A bottle of Prosecco, a popular white in Venice, a loaf of freshly baked olive bread and a Venetian piazza - ah, what more could one ask for? I found that the olive bread and wine made Venice glow even in the off-season. Well, maybe it was not the bread.

It is said that Prosecco is the "perfect compliment to the small sandwiches and finger foods that compose the Venetian lunch."

Judy has tried to make Venetian olive bread, and at one point came close, but she lost the recipe. The following is her second attempt. It's good but I think she has some work ahead of her if she wants to duplicate our Venetian experience.

If you'd like to try Judy's olive bread, make some bread dough - a bread making machine makes this easy - and make the dough for a two pound loaf. This is the perfect amount. When the dough is done, remove it from the machine and punch it down; Let it rest for ten minutes. Then divide it in half and flatten each half into a rectangle.

This post adds to an older one, improving upon the original recipe.

Cover half of one rectangle (lengthwise) with mozzarella cheese. Use good quality deli mozzarella. Spread drained olives on top of the cheese. Cover with more mozzarella and fold the bread over, sealing by dampening the dough with a little water.

Now, make the second loaf using the remaining dough and preparing it as above. Let both loaves rest for 45 minutes, giving the yeast time to work and the loaves time to rise.

Slash both loaves three times on top to allow the release of steam and place the loaves on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

Enjoy. And oh, remember to uncork some wine; A crisp, flinty Chardonnay is a good choice. The wine is important, very important.

Dreadnought Effect May Doom Newspaper Chains like Quebecor

As she slid down the slipway on February 10, 1906, few realized the role the British battleship HMS Dreadnought was to play in the shaping the position of Great Britain on the world stage.

The Dreadnought was designed to make all existing battleships obsolete overnight. And she did. She could outfight and outrun every other ship afloat – including those in her own navy, whose previous large numerical advantage she wiped out with one stroke, or launch.

Of course, if Great Britain had not launched the Dreadnought some other world power would have. Both the Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States were also building all-big-gun battleships. Naval technology was changing. Great Britain's massive navy was sunk no matter what Great Britain did.

In the end, rapidly evolving technology doomed the dreadnought class of battleships itself. The oldest remaining dreadnought, the USS Texas, launched in 1912 is now a floating museum.

The Dreadnought has given its name to a technological event of such game changing magnitude that the development levels the playing field, rendering all competitors equal. This is the Dreadnought effect.

Today newspapers are locked in a Dreadnought effect technological problem, but unlike the original Brits they have taken a different approach; the news organizations are stripping their companies of their big guns – jettisoning some of their heaviest artillery – reporters, photographers and editors.

You need look no further than Dave Chidley, one of the best photographers in the business, who was given his layoff papers about four years ago during a Sun Media-wide slashing of jobs. If Chidley should ever be picked up by a competing online news outfit and the Chidley talents are aimed against his former employer, smart money would bet on Chidley.

Paul Berton, the editor-in-chief of The London Free Press wrote:

"It is not too wild a guess (and this is really just that) that newsprint could be dead in five years, or perhaps less."

Wow! Five years and print could be gone. And what is Quebecor doing in its wisdom to ensure that it remains a major player in the news game in Canada? The amazing answer: Quebecor under the leadership of Pierre Karl Peladeau is locking out staff.

Credit: Benoit, Rue Frontenac Facebook photo

Nearly a year ago, Quebecor media locked out 253 employees. The response, according to this Magazine, "Le Journal de Montreal's journalists and other employees banded together to form the online news site Rue Frontenac.

The site’s name, cannon logo and tag line, "Par la bouche de nos crayons!" are a play on Governor Frontenac’s retort, memorialized in a Historic Minute,  that he would respond from the mouth of his cannons. A healthy union strike fund is estimated to be enough to pay employees 76 per cent of their salary for two full years—at which point Rue Frontenac may have enough advertisers to  stand on its own feet.

As Paul Berton has correctly pointed out:

"The ability to set up a website (the modern electronic equivalent of the printing press) and populate it with entries, photographs and links does not automatically make one an authority . . . "

Very true, Mr. Berton. If a news organization locks out its editorial staff what authority does it retain?

Credit: Benoit, Rue Frontenac Facebook photo

According to the National Post: Rue Frontenac "competes with the Journal now for revenue and attention. It is attracting advertisers, like TD Canada Trust and Telus. It's delivering scoops quoted by other media."

But Rue Frontenac cannot take all the credit for its successful online operation. They really should give some credit to PKP himself. PKP locked-out his staff in Quebec City and the experience gained in that labour battle is serving the fighting workers in Montreal very well.

Attention news folk;This is for you.

Since I broke the story about the layoffs at The London Free Press, I have taken hundreds and hundreds of hits. I have fun blogging but there is no promise that I will tackle stuff of interest to those working in the news industry. Here is a link to a man whom I am sure you will find interesting and thought provoking.

Reflections of a Newsosaur

This blog is now in its 6th year. An accomplishment in itself. Here is a little about the author of Newsosaur straight from his blog.

Alan D. Mutter is perhaps the only CEO in Silicon Valley who knows how to set type one letter at a time, just like his hero, Benjamin Franklin. Mutter began his career as a newspaper columnist and editor in Chicago, starting at the Chicago Daily News and later rising to City Editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. In 1984, he became the No. 2 editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. He left the newspaper business in 1988 to join InterMedia Partners, a start-up company that became one of the largest cable-TV companies in the U.S. Mutter was the COO of InterMedia when he moved to Silicon Valley in 1996 to lead the first of the three start-up companies he led as CEO . . . He also is on the adjunct faculty of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California- Berkeley, where he teaches a class entitled "Journalism in an Age of Disruption."

This is another good link, Fading to Black.

Cheers,
Rockinon

London lost its theatre district to the 'burbs

The destruction of the Capitol Theatre in London, Ontario, has taken me deep into the realm of "Welcome to the Third World". There are just so many better ways to use an essentially abandoned movie theatre than demolishing it for a parking lot.

When I moved to London there were three downtown movie theatres. Today there are actually more when you count all the screens at the Rainbow Cinema on the second floor of the Citi Plaza. Yet, I feel, and I think accurately that as a community we are poorer for the loss of those three Dundas Street movie palaces.

But, and this is the frightening idea, maybe we are not poorer. Maybe the reason they are gone is that we, as a community, are poor, and getting poorer with every passing year.

Maybe we lost them because we could not afford to keep them. Maybe we need to stem the economic bleeding in our community, return Londoners to a firm financial footing and then maybe we can then consider building a new and gorgeous performing arts centre.

If saving the Bowles facade taught us anything, it is that beautiful buildings are just that, beautiful buildings. We built 'em, we tear 'em down, and we can build 'em again if we want. We just have to have the bucks and the will.

This is the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore. It has a bit of the feel of London Ontario's Grand Theatre, yes? This is but one of many old movie theatres across North America truly saved from the wrecker's ball.

So many places have saved their theatres. It is time to stop taking such deep bows for saving a facade, and not even all of that.

More brick-a-brac from readers

Attention: Rockinon

Was reading your "Irreplaceable Buildings. Can't be made today" blog. Actually the title should be "Irreplaceable FACADES" and in the case of the Bowles facade maybe not so irreplaceable since not much of the skin seems to have been saved.

Anonymous


Toshtensen send this comment and I added the art:

In Indianapolis the Indiana Theatre was remodelled into multiple stages for the Indianapolis Repertory Theater and the Circle Theater is being use as a concert hall for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.





On non-performance dates Circle Theatre is available for meetings, seminars, receptions, concerts, or other functions.

Photo credit (left): Jason Young

What happened in Lansing is unfortunate, because the office building destroyed the theater portion of the building and the arcade of shops that was inside the entrance.

The State Theater in Ann Arbor was made into a clothing store, while the Michigan Theater is still operating.



(My add: The Michigan Theatre has a good Internet site complete with a photo tour of the theatre today. It is interesting to note that the Michigan has only a few hundred more seats than London's now demolished Capitol Theatre.

The State Theatre in Ann Arbor was designed by the same architect who designed the Capitol Theatre in London, Ontario, of which only the facade minus the marquee canopy remains.

In 1979 the State was chopped into four separate screening room with two on the main floor and another two sharing the balcony space. Not ten years later, Urban Outfitters took over the main floor of the theatre and gutted it for a clothing store.

According to Wikipedia, the two balcony theatres are still in use. Remnants of the original architecture are still visible throughout the building.

Thoughts from a reader on the saving of historic theatres

To: Rockinon

I am sending you some examples of theaters in Chicago that have been restored (exterior and interiors!). Chicago utilized sponsors to help with the funding to restore the historic character of the theaters. The corporations add their names to the theatre's. This is probably not as viable a funding tactic in today's financial climate.

These are images of the Oriental Theatre, both inside and out..



This is another theatre interior.

Signed,
Anonymous.







My question: Would the City of London been wiser to have spent more time on the Performing Arts Centre proposal, putting their support there rather that in the simple, but effective, save-the-look approach? Remember, it's the city behind the facade. Without the city as a 20-year tenant, the facade restoration would most likely never have been done.

Irreplaceable Buildings. Can't be made today.

 It's a heartwarming story.

"The Capitol Theatre and Bowles building, once thought to be too derelict to restore, have made majestic comebacks on London's Dundas Street, breathing new life into a block of core buildings between Clarence and Richmond streets that badly need a new draw." - The London Free Press

The story is made all the more powerful when one recalls the words of developer Shmuel Farhi: "We purchased the building (Capitol Theatre) solely to provide parking . . . "

Actually, he got his parking. After acquiring the property, Farhi razed the theatre. The auditorium is gone.

Oh well, no loss. What use could a city find for a 1400 seat auditorium? There are some who think it would have made a fine performing arts centre. A 1400 seat PAC needs parking, and the closer the better. Well, PAC got its parking, lots of it, and it couldn't be closer. PAC got the parking it needed, but lost the auditorium. You can't win 'em all.

"Two side-by-side downtown London historic gems that came close to a date with the wrecker's ball have returned to their former glory." - The London Free Press

To be completely honest, the remaining Capitol Building, mostly an ornate foyer, was the victim of "demolition light." The shell was left intact but the interior detailing was removed and donated to renovation projects at the Palace Theatre and the Aeolian Hall.

O.K., we lost the theatre and we lost the foyer but at least we kept the two facades.

" . . . these buildings were originally written off, considered too expensive to restore." - Paul Berton, The London Free Press

Well, the naysayers were proven wrong, right? Well, not completely.

"The Bowles used to have a terracotta front, but 80% of the 400 tiles were damaged. The decision was made to change all of it to stone that was meticulously carved. " - The London Free Press

O.K. The naysayers were right. It was too expensive to restore; they rebuilt it. It is now brand new. It was cheaper.

We lost the theatre, the foyer, and the Bowles Building facade is essentially new. It is a new facing in limestone and not antique terracotta. It could be erected anywhere - downtown, uptown, White Oaks Mall.

As The London Free Press tells us, there is "potential in heritage buildings, not simply because they're old (in fact, in spite of it) but because they are unique and interesting . . . "

And they just don't make buildings like the Capitol and the Bowles anymore. Right? No craftsmen left, dying art, lost skills, and all that... Right? You just have to love these old, unique, irreplaceable buildings. Hey, when they're gone they're gone. Impossible to replace.

Now, about that Capitol Theatre front and the missing marquee . . .
_____________________________________________________
Obviously, the truth is if you want the look of your downtown back, go for it. The skills needed to build old-looking stuff, especially facades, are still around; It is just expensive. Shmuel Farhi will tell you that.

Let's stop all the silly irreplaceable jewels stuff. I've heard of art deco, and art nouveau, and Victorian but I have never heard of jewel. You want it? Design it and build it. Have a style, an approach, and adhere to it.

All the fawning talk over heritage buildings that are often the newest construction on the block is silly. You know, if there is one word I would never use for Shmuel Farhi it is fawning. He's pragmatic. And oddly enough, parking lots and all, the city may be better off because of it.

The Palace and the Aeolian Hall owners may agree as they benefited from his pragmatism.