Flavourful Saskatoon May 9, 2011

Foodie news and events in and around Saskatoon – White Birch Catering, Melipal wine, cupcakes and cake balls, Korean BBQ

White Birch Catering
White Birch Catering, Saskatoon’s latest special events catering company, is under the direction of Chef Moe Mathieu and his wife Reola.

Moe is a champion of local foods and was formerly part owner of The Willow on Wascana and Beer Brothers in Regina. Reola is the mastermind who coordinates all the logistics and administrative details of their events. They are joined by Lindsay Adams, a Professional Cooking Apprentice.

In addition to catering, White Birch hosts a monthly dinner club. The most recent was held in a flower shop and upcoming dinner themes include Mushrooms, Mushrooms and More Mushrooms in June and an Orchard Dinner in July. I attended a dinner with a beer theme last year and thoroughly enjoyed it (here's my article).

Top of the Hops – Grapes and Grains
– May 26-28, 2011
Top of the Hops will be held at Prairieland Park from 6:30 to 10:30 pm on May 26, 27 and 28. Tickets are $22.50, and there will be over 200 wines, spirits and beers to sample – from Kung Fu Girl Reisling, to Chase English Potato Vodka and Beyerskloof Diesel Pinotage, to Dead Frog Nut Brown Ale and Cracked Canoe Premium Beer. Gotta love the names – I haven’t got a clue what any of them taste like!
Luis Manino, Bodega Melipal
The POW City Kinsmen Charity Winemaker Dinner will be held on the Saturday night and will feature local foods paired with great wines from Bodega Melipal in Argentina.

Proceeds will go to Farm in the Dell, a non-profit organization providing residential and vocational opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities in a rural farm-like setting.

Luis Manino, Export Manager for Bodega Melipal, will be at the dinner to introduce his company’s wines. I met Luis last year when he was in Saskatoon for Premier Saskatchewan (here's my article). He’s a delightful advocate for Argentina and Melipal wines, and I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to explore several different wines from the same winery.

Sweet Trends –
     Cupcakes, Cake Balls and Pie on a Stick
Crave Cookies and Cupcakes
I’m always intrigued to see how food trends wax and wane. I would have thought that cupcakes were a dying craze but apparently not as Crave Cookies and Cupcakes will be opening shortly at 802A Broadway Avenue (across from Bulk Cheese Warehouse).

I’m not a huge fan of cupcakes so I was interested to learn that they also sell cookies. Double chocolate pistachio sounds very good. There are also oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, ginger snaps and more.

Crave is an Alberta company started by two sisters who grew up on a farm just outside of High River. They bake from scratch using real eggs and butter – excellent!

Sphere-Licious, The Chocolate Cake Ball Company
A local variation on cupcakes is cake balls – homemade cake blended with homemade icing and dipped in a rich chocolate coating - from Sphere-Licious, The Chocolate Cake Ball Company.

My friend Karen says they’re “yum” and I trust her judgment on all things chocolate. There are a wide variety of flavours from chocolate and toffee to lemon, pina colada and chocolate raspberry cheesecake.

Check out their website or visit their kiosk at The Centre Mall during mall hours on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until June 30.

There’s also an interesting article in The StarPhoenix on how Celeste Bodnaryk started her business.

Pie on a Stick
I don’t think that anyone in Saskatoon is selling pie on a stick, but this seems to be an emerging trend and is sure to be of interest to the many pie lovers out there. They are available from the Sugar Pie Bakery at Calgary’s Kingsland Market (via Only Here for the Food).

Or you can make your own – here’s a lovely visual recipe and photo from Luxirare.

Sura Korean BBQ
Sweetsugarbean has a very helpful review of one of Saskatoon’s newest restaurants – Sura Korean BBQ at 1517 11th Street West. Sounds like the meal was a hit – a bit too heavily meat oriented to interest me, but I’m sure that carnivores will love the table grills where you can barbecue your own meat.

Flavourful Saskatoon is a weekly Monday feature. Email me if you have products, events or places that you would like me to include.

Flavourful Saskatoon May 2, 2011

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flavourful Saskatoon, August 28, 2017

Image
The Next Great Food Business Public Tasting, Sept. 7 The Local Kitchen is hosting a public tasting with samples from each of the finalists in the Next Great Food Business competition. Finalists are: King’s Jerky, Kind Condiments , Smoke and Salt BBQ, Bannock Express , and Voodoo Van . Wine Tastings Guess the most expensive wine (Sept. 8), sample some Rhône wines (Sept. 22), or attend the 2017 Premier Showcase Wine Dinner (Sept. 28) sponsored by Saskatoon Co-op Wine Spirits Beer. Premier Showcase is also offering a Portugal with a Splash of California wine seminar (Sept. 29) and a Women & Whisky seminar (Sept. 30). Refresh and Renew I had a chat with Trent Loewen about his plans now that he has sold Earth Bound Bakery. He is heading east to visit chef friends in Ontario and then off to New Zealand to explore what's happening there. After 9 years with a single focus, it's time to explore new ideas. Interestingly enough, the bakery's new owner is a business
Read more

The Golden Towns of Beaujolais

Image
Heading north out of Lyon, you pass through a long tunnel and exit into a lush green countryside leaving the city far behind. You then turn and head up the hill onto winding roads between a patchwork of vineyards. Many of the vines are really old with short, thick, twisted trunks and a thin stem of green leaves and buds. These are the Gamay vines of Beaujolais, interspersed with a few fields of greener, leafier Chardonnay vines. South Beaujolais, just 45 minutes northwest of Lyon, encompasses 25 medieval villages of orangey-gold stone (limestone and iron) that is surprisingly vibrant (I had been expecting something lighter, similar to the Cotswolds in England). Some of the villages still have the remains of 14th century castles. Oingt is classed as one of the most beautiful villages of France and it really is lovely. You can take a walk around the town on the former ramparts and the church is austere and beautiful. I was on a half-day tour , which combined stopping to
Read more

Petra Market: A Mediterranean Grocery

Image
Tucked away in a strip mall on Primrose Drive (north of Lawson Heights Mall) is Petra Market, a treasure trove of food products from the Arabic countries in the Mediterranean. I’m fascinated by grocery stores full of unknown-to-me products but also a little nervous about trying things, so I was really happy when Nour Dabbour, the owner of Petra Market, showed me around and told me about the different items. Nour is trying to stock products from as many Middle Eastern countries as possible. He even stocks the same product from a number of different countries because he says that each country’s product tastes slightly different. Za’atar , a spice mix, is a prime example with packages from Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and each one is a slightly different colour with a slightly different taste. The most popular areas of the store are the nut and treats bars with an amazing assortment of Middle Eastern candies and mildly spiced nuts. Nour gave me a variety to try and I’m real
Read more

Flavourful Saskatoon, August 21, 2017

Image
Prairie Harvest Café I was sad to learn that Prairie Harvest Café has closed its doors. It’s been one of my favorite Saskatoon restaurants since day one, and I really appreciated the fact that the chefs focused on cooking with local ingredients, many supplied by the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. All the best of luck in your new adventures. We’ll miss you. Hug a Farmer This has been a tough summer for many farmers. Prairie Sun Orchard lost their entire cherry crop to insects. Drop by their stand at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, tell them you care, and have an ice cream. My favorite is the chocolate cherry fudge, but Clare Pearson, the principal ice cream maker, says her new favorite is the salted caramel. Peppers If you’re like me, you assume that all small, skinny peppers are super hot and avoid them like the plague. But that’s a big mistake. Kaleidoscope Vegetable Gardens is offering two long, skinny peppers – one can be hot, but the other isn’t. Padron chile pepper
Read more

Spelt and Millet: Ancient Grains for Today's Healthy Diet

Image
When I was growing up, whole wheat flour and rice were exotic options. Now we have a whole range of intriguing choices – buckwheat, spelt, millet, kamut – the list goes on and on. My problem is that I don’t know very much about some of these grains, so I arranged a phone call with Nicole Davis, the Owner/Manager of Daybreak Mill near Estevan. Daybreak Mill grows and processes approximately 18 different kinds of flour, whole and de-hulled grains, flakes, cereals, and legumes. They are 100% organic. “We want people to have access to healthy, wholesome food,” Nicole explains. Two of Daybreak’s products – spelt and millet – have been nourishing people around the world for over 9,000 years. Spelt Spelt was cultivated by ancient civilizations in Europe and the Middle East for thousands of years. It grows well in poor soil and doesn’t require fertilizer. It’s resistant to frost and the thick husk protects the grain from insects. However, spelt requires more processing than wheat as
Read more