Friday, May 8, 2020 3 Brooklin Town Crier Plant-Based Eating by Sheree Nicholson Have you got picky eaters? As a mother, stepmother, and grandmother, I've got lots of experience cooking for children who can be pickyeaters. So when trying to introduce new foods, like plant-based ones, you can get lots of pushback. The most common thing I hear from moms is that, while they'd love to eat more plant-based meals, their kids are picky and it's too much stress to cook separate meals. What generally worked for me (and still does with my grandson) is including my children in the meal planning and creative process. The more I involved our children in the meals, the better they were received. With social distancing, it's an excellent time to draw your kids into the kitchen, not to mention it being another way to spend quality time versus screen time. Family time is reassuring for children that things will work out. If you're planning meatless meals, ask your kids what they'd like. There are plenty of options such as pizza (let them pick the toppings), pasta, burritos, tacos, and more. Another great way to introduce plant-based foods is to re-create their favourite meals as a vegan. Make veggie burgers, pizza, veggie sushi, pasta, and tacos. My favourite pizza crust these days is the gluten-free Cauliflower Crust from Farm Boy. With pizza, anything goes if each child has a favourite veggie. The best veggie cheese for pizza is the pre-shredded Earth Balance, which has a mild taste. There's other shredded fake cheese, but some have an odd taste. A fun thing to do is take the kids vegan cooking classes that are offered by Copper Branch. These free classes are hosted on Zoom on Wednesdayss and Fridays.. Find them on Facebook at Copper Branch - Brooklin. Last Friday, they made vegan "turtles." Here's an easy recipe for banana "ice cream" that has only two ingredients. Ingredients 2-3 bananas 2-3 tablespoons cocoa powder Instructions To prepare for this, slice the bananas and freeze on a parchment-covered baking sheet for at least 25 minutes (or until frozen). Put the frozen sliced bananas, and cocoa powder in a food processor or Vitamix, and turn on. Blend together until the mixture looks like soft-serve ice cream (1-2 minutes). Sheree's Hack: Slice and freeze all your overripe bananas so they're always ready for banana ice cream and smoothies. Our Brooklin Kids By Leanne Brown Making a Feature Movie at Home During Isolation For Dummies My daughter has decided to make an isolation movie. She has roles for the entire family including grandparents, aunts and uncles who are in other cities. Even her four month old cousin has a role (she does his voiceover). And the best part is that we're doing it all on Smartphones. The Script Want to make your own isolation movie? Start with the script. Keep it simple and use those in other locations for your "location" shots. For example, Grandpa plays the wizard in our film and is acting via a recorded facetime call in his basement "lair." Break your story into scenes. Each scene stands by itself, kind of like a chapter in a book. Rehearse each scene with blocking to show where the actors will move while they're being filmed to ensure everyone stays on camera. Try shooting a single scene in a day so you don't overwhelm your actors. Shoot one scene at a time and give your actors lots of breaks. Tech stuff Your Smartphone is an entire production studio. You can write your screenplay on your smartphone with the Final Draft app. Storyboard right on your phone with Storyboard Animator (with in-app purchases). You can create a shot list on your phone with an app called Shotlist - Movie Shoot Planning. Edit your entire movie on smartphone apps like the Film Maker Pro - Free Movie Maker & Video Editor (with in-app purchases). When you've completed your movie, use your phone to upload it directly to YouTube or Vimeo! Camera tricks Shooting with your smartphone is easy. You just point and shoot. The first thing you have to remember is to turn your smartphone sideways to landscape mode. If you don't, your movie will not fill the entire screen. Put your phone in airplane mode unless you want your filming to be interrupted by the phone ringing or text popups. A tripod allows for rock-solid shots or for smooth panning ones. You can pick up a smartphone tripod on Amazon for under $20. Use a selfie-stick as your camera crane for high shots or low to the ground shots. Use furniture sliders to slide your smartphone along carpets or hardwood floors for smooth dolly shots. Use several smartphones as second or third cameras. Lighting A ring light is amazing but can be pricey. You can use a work light or flashlight to flood or spotlight the scene. Sound Your built-in smartphone microphone only picks up good sound close to the phone, or ambient sound from all around your environment. Use a directional mic if you have one. Saving your footage iPhones allow you to wirelessly download your footage from your phone using Airdrop. Then you can erase it from your phone and continue shooting. There's an app called Simple Transfer (a free version with in app purchases or the Pro model for $20.99) that lets you view all your phone's photos and movies on your computer desktop. You can choose which shots you want to download from your phone to your computer in one batch. If your smartphone is synced with the cloud, your footage will automatically download to your computer. Move those shots (digital video files) to a separate folder outside your camera roll. If you don't, they will all get erased off any device that talks to the cloud when you erase them from your phone. You'll lose everything. Don't worry if your film isn't OSCAR worthy. Years from now, when isolation is a memory, your film will be a treasured memento.