Events around the community this fall will keep you feeling warm and fuzzy and connected to your neighbours. Read about the recreation, arts, history and festivals happening here in latest issue of the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News.
Join in the 2024 Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival: Water Reflections
Fond farewell from the online editor of RCC News, Julie Cheng
Collingwood Corner: John Connon’s home on Kingsway
Overcoming insomnia: Reclaim the night with sleep hygiene and acupuncture
Bruce field soccer festival
Vintage car shows: Show and Shine at the 2400 Motel and Johnny’s 23rd Annual Car Show at the Italian Cultural Centre
Read On! news for English learners: Provincial elections in B.C.
Plus, Collingwood Neighbourhood House fall 2024 recreation guide
Do you have a local story to tell or an event to share? We’d love to hear about it! Email rccnews-editorial@cnh.bc.ca.
The deadline for the October 2024 issue is September10.
We welcome story submissions from 300 to 400 words long. Accompanying photos must be high resolution in a jpg file at least 1 MB large and include a photo caption and the name of the photographer.
After stepping down as editor of the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News, Julie Cheng will have more time to take care of her garden and mason bees. Photo by Bryden Fergusson
My involvement with what’s now called the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News started more than 25 years ago when it was first founded as part of the Building Communities through Cultural Expression project. It has been an amazing journey as the editor of this local newspaper for more than 15 years to encourage people to share their thoughts and speak up in the community.
But now, it’s the right time for me to step down. Paul Reid, the original founder of this newspaper, takes over the editorial duties and I’ll stay on as the online editor.
It has been a privilege and a joy to have shared your stories, artwork and events with the wider community all these years. The RCC News has always been a way for me to bring neighbours together and build community.
I first learned about community-building when I sat on the board of Collingwood Neighbourhood House in the early 1990s with such local luminaries as Terry Tayler, Don Van Dyke, Rob Burkhart and David Hanuse. Paula Carr, CNH’s visionary executive director back then, taught me one important value that I still live by today: Everyone has a gift to share.
This has translated, through the RCC News, as “everyone has a story to tell.” I came from an immigrant family whose parents kept their head down, worked hard and didn’t have a voice. That’s why my motto with the RCC News has long been “every voice matters.”
Our regular series evolved and have been popular over the years. Paul Reid and Emily Tam give us the scoop on local restaurants in the Eating Out column. Loretta Houben gives us history galore, starting from her memories of Chatty Cathy and moving on to her Family Tree Tips and Collingwood Corner series. And the Read On! series by Sophia Han and Tony Wanless has been a staple for English learners across the community.
I’ve so enjoyed sharing your charming voices and remarkable gifts in stories such as the ones celebrated during the newspaper’s 20-year anniversary (just search Renfrew Collingwood RCC News 20 years). Our wonderful contributors include Akberet Beyene, GeekBoy, Susan Wong, Deanna Cheng, Esther Yuen, John Mendoza, Crecien Bencio, Yoko Tomita, Ann Wong, Rania Hatzioannou and her student writers. More recent writers and artists have included Karen Vanon, Penny Lim, David Penny, Robert Edwards (aka The Other Guy), Vince Prasad, Carmen Rosen and Still Moon Arts Society as well as students from the Windermere Leadership program, who have long fought for climate justice. There are so many more contributors – thank you to you all.
Please keep telling your stories and supporting the newspaper as RCC News celebrates its 25-year milestone. You can send your stories to Paul Reid at editorial@cnh.bc.ca.
The sweet, salty soy-mirin sauce from J Zone makes a quick and delicious vegetarian meal. Photos by Julie Cheng
No more French fries, no more barbeque pork, no more bread with my butter. All those years eating deep-fried foods and saturated fats have given me high cholesterol, and I need to get it under control, fast.
According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, high cholesterol increases the risk of heart disease and stroke because it can cause plaque build-up in your arteries, making it harder for blood to flow and increasing the chance of a blood clot developing.
I’ll become vegetarian rather than take medication like statins to reduce cholesterol, I vowed. For now, I’ll eat more vegetarian meals, which generally contain only a little saturated fat and a lot of nutrients and fibre.
You can get all kinds of sauces and noodles from J Zone on Renfrew near 1st Avenue.
Trouble is, I’m not a good cook. But recently, I discovered a Japanese store called the J Zone (1663 Renfrew near 1st Avenue) that offers many beautiful sauces that I can use to make a tasty noodle dish. Some sauces can be simply tossed with hot or cold buckwheat noodles and vegetables, and some sauces need to be cooked. Just ask the kind person at the counter what to do. I tried a sweet, salty soy-mirin sauce, and it made a quick, delicious meal.
I truly believe that eating more vegetables has helped lower my cholesterol levels, according to my latest blood test. It’s a reason to celebrate with a French fry or two.
Fresh, in-season vegetables are packed with nutrients and fibre that are essential for heart health.
Heart-healthy soy-sesame buckwheat noodles with vegetables
3–4 cups fresh vegetables such as carrots, asparagus, broccoli, spinach and green onion, julienned or chopped
3 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated (soaked in water overnight), sliced thin
1 tablespoon olive oil
2–3 tablespoons soy-mirin sauce or sauce of your choice, or more to taste
12 ounces (350 grams) buckwheat noodles
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and add the buckwheat noodles. Turn heat to medium and simmer until done, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, julienne the carrots and chop the asparagus, broccoli and green onion into bite-size pieces. Thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms.
In a large pan, heat the olive oil and add carrots and mushrooms. Stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the asparagus and broccoli and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Stir in the soy-mirin sauce, spinach and green onion. Remove from heat and cover.
When the buckwheat noodles are done, drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Return the noodles to the pot and toss with the sesame oil. Add the vegetable mixture and toss.
Serve warm or cold.
Julie Cheng has been the editor of the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News for more than 15 years.
Renfrew-Collingwood Community News 