personalities

Stir, snap, scribble: Chef Richard Nigro

Written
by
Ashley
on Tuesday, December 20, 2011
.

Photo courtesy of RichardNigro.com

You may know Chef Richard Nigro as the founder of Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar. Maybe you recognize his warm face from a Duelling Chefs dinner, or remember the sound of his fabulous laugh coming from the kitchen.  Nigro helped establish Juniper as one of the better restaurants in this city, and that success is certainly a testament to his talent. Earlier this year he left Juniper’s kitchen, but fret not, he’s still cooking up a storm.

An advocate for both seasonal and local cuisine, Nigro is producing artisan small batch preserves. Made with local produce bought in season, they’re meant to help us capture some of our glorious warmer months, so we might make it through our dark, destitute winter. The most recent preserves list boasts over 30 choices, from pickles to chutneys, barbeque sauces to spice rubs. Juniper aficionados may recognize his Nine Day Pickled Cherries (they spend 2 days in vinegar, 7 in sugar) or Roasted Three Pepper Chutney.  Ever the explorer, Nigro developed recipes for this venture that you aren’t likely to have tasted before, nor are they easily found elsewhere. His mostrada di cremona and mostrada di mantova, based on a 15th century Italian recipe, are like chutney, but softer. The fruit is just slightly pickled so it’s sweetness still shines through, making them a good substitute for fresh cherries or apples in December. His website not only lists the various preserves he makes, but also unique recipes and suggestions for how to use them, so you won’t be left with half filled jars in the fridge door.

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On the Public Service – An Apartment613 Special Series

Written
by
apartment613
on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
.

Photo courtesy of the talented Justin Van Leeuwen

Post by Nick Charney

Recognising that “Government Town” might be one of the adjectives that come to mind when thinking about Ottawa, we recruited public-servant-blogger-renaissance-man Nick Charney for an occasional series on the culture of the public service. He will be highlighting the interesting personalities running our national government and the cool stuff they get up to in the nation’s capital. You can read more from Nick on his blog CPSRenewal.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect when Kym agreed to meet with me for this series.  Unlike my previous exposé on the confluence of Burlesque and the Public Service, I had no history with the person to whom I was proposing an interview.  Well, I suppose that’s not entirely true.  Our paths crossed online right around the time she featured a friend of mine in her 100 strangers project; a project that immediately caught my interest.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, our paths would cross in real life a few dozen strangers later as we both travelled to Toronto for unrelated business.  In fact, I’m a little ashamed of what transpired.
I was sitting in Porter Lounge with friend and local open data activist Edward Ocampo-Gooding talking about the confluence of data and decision-making, a conversation that was so engrossing that I failed to notice that Kym was boarding the same plane to Toronto that we were until I was literally walking right by her.  If you think trying to introduce yourself in the middle of boarding a plane is difficult try expressing interest in their work in some meaningful way, it’s downright impossible.  Opting to avoid looking like a complete idiot (not to mention the guy that delays the flight) I opted for simplicity.  Eye contact, a polite smile and a prompt trip down the fuselage to my assigned seat.

After we landed, Edward peeled off to head for New York and I made my way over to the ferry to cross into downtown Toronto.  I was hoping that I could find Kym and make up for the lackluster airplane introduction; but by the time I got there I was too late. Kym was elbow deep in a work-related conversation, and sporting a power suit to match.  I hung back, unwilling to interrupt her business, which she was conducting with a noticeable air of professionalism and drive, even at a distance.  Rather than interrupt, I jumped on Twitter and tried to apologize for my lack of real world manners, a move that was met with a good-natured and well-deserved online ribbing.

Months later my opportunity to redeem myself finally materializes when Kym and I sit down for a chat at the Bridgehead at Bank and Albert.  Kym entered the space like a crack of thunder, loud, fast, and exuberant. It didn’t take me long to realize she was my kind of people.  Our conversation jumped back and forth between her work for the federal government and her passion for photography.  Given the stated focus of this series I found myself looking to bridge the two conversations in some meaningful or clever way, but every time I did it felt forced.

Was I looking for something that wasn’t there?  Was I disappointed that I wasn’t finding it?

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Kellylee Evans plays the Ottawa Jazz Festival Fundraiser

Written
by
saxby
on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
.

We thought it would be a good time to replay an interview from Apartment613 Live, where we chat with Kellylee Evans about her upcoming fundraiser for the Ottawa Jazz Festival. Kellylee spoke with us for our show in early November, but tickets to the show this coming Thursday at the Library and Archives are still available online at the Jazz Festival website. Have a listen to Kellylee discuss her new album, what we can expect from the show this week and her plans for the future. Apartment613 Live is broadcast every Thursday afternoon from 2-3pm on CHUO 89.1 FM.
Kellylee Evans by saxby

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Waking up to a new voice for CBC Ottawa Morning

Written
by
saxby
on Monday, December 5, 2011
.

Photo courtesy of the CBC

As radios across the city flipped on this morning, a new voice eased Ottawa into the day. It was the first real day on the job for Robyn Bresnahan, the new host of CBC Ottawa Morning. Fresh from a posting in London for the BBC, Robyn has spent the last week shadowing the team and getting ready to take the helm of an Ottawa institution.

Ottawa Morning is the most popular radio program in the city and according to new rating numbers released last week over 200,000 people are tuning in each morning. Robyn has some big shoes to fill, but seems to be taking this challenge head-on.“We’re building on the strength of the show.” says Robyn “What I’m bringing to the job is that I’m coming fresh from the BBC, which I think is the best broadcaster in the world. It’s the best training ground. They have put me out on assignments that I couldn’t believe my luck I got to do. I spent a month in Louisiana after the oil spill to cover the real stories of fishermen and how they were affected by the spill.” She’s looking at using this international experience to help give the Ottawa show more of an international flavour. “You have to go to the centre of the story” she says, something she’s done around the world over the past decade, from covering food in France to politics in Africa.
This position in Ottawa is a homecoming for Robyn. She cut her radio teeth getting up at 3:30am to work on Ottawa Morning while in her fourth year of journalism school at Carleton University. This is also the city where she met her husband, and they both have some good friends here to help ease the transition back to Canadian life. Robyn is quite humble in her realization that much has changed in the past ten years and she’s got a lot of learning to do. Although the Mayor might be the same, Ottawa is a different place. She’ll be relying on a strong team from the show to keep her up to speed on Ottawa happenings, but she’s also looking to get out and see things for herself. “I pitched myself as a host that loves to get out and interact with people,” she says - adding jokingly, “as long as I’m in bed by 9pm.”

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Dirty Laundry: Christmas quandries and appropriate allies

Written
by
Katie
on Friday, December 2, 2011
.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Ruano.

A professional sexual health educator with an alarming lack of tact, Nadine Thornhill is used to airing out other people’s unmentionables. Dirty Laundry runs once each month on Apt613. To ask your questions, or to say hello to Nadine, contact her at dirtylaundry613@gmail.com.

Dear Dirty Laundress,

Are handcuffs an appropriate Christmas gift for someone you’ve just started dating?

-An Officer and A Gentleman

That depends, AOaAG. If your partner enjoys bondage, a fondness for 90s-era sitcom shenanigans involving lost keys, or listed “handcuffs” on their Christmas wish list, then go ahead and shop with confidence.

However, if you aren’t sure how your partner feels about being chained to a bedpost, signpost or other post of your choosing, you may want to consider an alternative stocking stuffer until you’ve had time find out where they’re at. Try bringing it up as a sexy hypothetical during your next conversation and see what the reaction is. Alternatively, instead of the cuffs you can stuff your partner’s stocking with an invitation for a shopping date and a gift certificate to your favourite adult store. By browsing together, your partner gets exactly what they want and you’ll have a chance to learn exactly what sort of toys and games turn them on.

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Being better neighbours through open data

Written
by
saxby
on Wednesday, November 30, 2011
.

Photo courtesy of Edward Ocampo-Gooding from Flickr

If you thought that an open data hackfest was not the place for you, think again, Ottawa! Open Data Ottawa is hosting an event this weekend at city hall where they hope to bring together a group of people interested in open data sets and people interesting in finding unique ways to use them. This coming Saturday at Ottawa City Hall from 1-4pm, bring your ideas, skills, issues and love for data to a forum where you can turn them into action.

The open data movement in Ottawa took off this past year, with the Apps 4 Ottawa contest, where developers took city data sets and created apps that can do everything from find the closest dog park (and, according to Open Data Ottawa co-founder MaryBeth Barker,  also rate the level of poopiness), to report on the safety and comfort of bike paths.

Open Data Ottawa hopes to take things to the next level this weekend, by opening the event up to new skill sets and new perspectives. They have invited user experience designers, video game developers and the usual hackers to the December 3rd event, hoping that some new voices will start to move the project in interesting new ways.

This is all less about technology than you might think. “You could do all of this with pens and pencils and paper,” says Open Data Ottawa co-founder Edward Ocampo-Gooding. The Open Data Ottawa team is committed to making sure that everyone can contribute to the event regardless of their technical skill. They want to take things like restaurant inspection reports or recreation information and turn them into things that can bring people together. Imagine a Facebook application that can bring foodies together at the latest restaurant based on when they file their first inspection report or digital libraries that can bring citizens with common interests together to share skills and connect.

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The uOttawa Postdocs’ Public Lecture Series

Written
by
Katie
on Tuesday, November 29, 2011
.

What: The uOttawa Postdocs’ Public Lecture Series
When: Dec 8th, 6 – 8pm
Where: Canada Science and Technology Museum
Admission: Its FREE!

Ever wondered what goes on at a university? Come explore with some of Ottawa’s leading postdoctoral researchers in a fun and informal presentation of cutting-edge discoveries, at 6pm on December 8th at the Canada Museum of Science and Technology. Find out how the study of yeast
can help find answers to neurodegenerative diseases; how the practice of health care can be improved by shared decision-making based on scientific evidence, and how Amazonian Knife Fish use electricity to talk to each other!
.
This Public Lecture Series is presented by the University of Ottawa Postdoctoral Association. The talks will be in both English and French. The talks will be at a level accessible to the general public, so tell your family and friends. Refreshments will be provided. We hope to see you there! Questions or for more info: contact uopdapre@uottawa.ca

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We’re looking for the best intern in the 613

Written
by
saxby
on Saturday, October 29, 2011
.

Photo courtesy of Brett Clarke from the Apartment613 Flickr Group

What are we looking for: We’re looking for someone eager to get involved in the community, with killer organizational skills, and a passion for the written word. Duties will include:

  • tracking local events and listing in the Apartment613 events calendar
  • attending events and covering them for the blog and/or the podcast
  • managing the day-to-day editorial calendar of Apartment613 and reminding writers about deadlines
  • attending weekly meetings to provide story ideas, contribute feedback on posts and take minutes
  • engaging with Apartment613 readers via social media

When is it: We’re looking for someone to join our team from January 1 to April. The position is part time and work hours are very flexible depending on your schedule and what we have going on the blog that week. Typically, we would expect that you work around 8 to 10 hours a week on blog work, although that can vary depending on your school schedule.

Where will you work: Currently we do not have an office, so you must provide your own working space.

What we can offer you:

  • a great chance to build your portfolio
  • opportunities to test your skills in editing, radio production and photography
  • a supportive environment where your interests and ideas are respected
  • a chance to build connections and sources within the Ottawa community
  • a monthly honorarium to thank you for your time

How to apply: Please send your CV and a short writing sample (doesn’t have to have been published) to us by email before November 4. We will be in touch shortly afterwards to set up a time to meet and discuss the internship.

Hope to meet you soon.

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On the public service – an Apartment613 special series

Written
by
apartment613
on Thursday, October 13, 2011
.

Photo courtesy of heLENS photography

Post by Nick Charney

Recognising that “Government Town” might be one of the adjectives that come to mind when thinking about Ottawa, we recruited public-servant-blogger-renaissance-man Nick Charney for an occasional series on the culture of the public service. He will be highlighting the interesting personalities running our national government and the cool stuff they get up to in the nation’s capital. You can read more from Nick on his blog CPSRenewal.

Boring. Unimaginative. Cubicles. Red tape.

All words at the tips of our tongues whenever anyone mentions the bureaucracy. I’ve been told that serving the public used to be a noble profession, but somewhere along the way reverence for the work turned to mockery, and the archetypes of what it meant to be a public servant shifted.  As a public servant myself, I find it incredibly frustrating that negative stereotypes dominate our mental models of public servants.  And this raises the question: is there more to this sleepy government town than meets the eye, or is it really as drab as the cubicle farms that fill its core?  In order to find out, I booked a series of interviews with public servants.

The first public servant I sat down with also happened to have an interesting night-time hobby: she is a burlesque dancer and fire-breather who goes by the name of Rhapsody Blue.  I met Blue for lunch at the Cock and Lion on Sparks Street.  It’s a familiar place that I had spent a lot of time in during my youth; and it was a place the two of us had been before.  It was comfortable and quiet enough to carry on a conversation.  The conversation was one I was looking forward to, given the steady rise in popularity of burlesque and the fact that I was completely ignorant to the Ottawa burlesque scene.  I had no idea that Ottawa boasted 7 burlesque troupes (Blue is a member of the Rockalily Burlesque Troupe), and that, according to Blue, each has had at least one public servant on the roster at one time or another. 

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Ottawa Centre Election debate is all about you

Written
by
trevor
on Thursday, September 29, 2011
.

Photo courtesty of Open File Ottawa

If there’s one thing our Neighbourhood Wars feature from earlier this year taught us, it’s that our readership has a big investment in Ottawa’s urban core. Issues like transit, intensification, and arts funding all resonate with people who click on this blog, and we’re fairly certain you want to hear what your provincial Ottawa Centre candidates have to say about them.

That’s why you should head down to Saint Paul University’s Guigues Hall this evening for tonight’s Ottawa Centre election debate. It’s being hosted by OpenFile Ottawa (full disclosure: I’m now the news curator there, but I’d probably be writing about this debate anyways) in conjunction with community associations in Old Ottawa South, Old Ottawa East, and the Glebe.

All seven Ottawa Centre candidates will be on hand. That means a full stage, so it’s great that someone as knowledgeable about municipal politics as Greater Ottawa’s David Reevely is moderating. And even if you’re not that into politics (WHAT? We can’t be friends.) a trip to Main Street always offers a great chance to hit up The Green Door for some excellent vegetarian fare.

The debate gets underway tonight at 7 p.m. If you can’t make it in person, you can follow the action on Twitter: the hashtag is #ocdb8.

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