Wanderlust and Words

Local Happenings Core Neighbourhood Youth Co-op is hosting their second annual Snowdrift Fundraiser on Feb. 2 . Tickets must be purchased by Jan. 25 . There will be 3 floors of fantastic food and desserts made by some of Saskatoon’s amazing chefs along with roasted marshmallows and hot chocolate. Slow Food Saskatoon is sponsoring a workshop on regenerative agriculture on Feb. 7 . Check out Shannon Parton’s beautiful macarons on Instagram . They’re available at CUT Steakhouse as well as for birthdays and other events. Jenn Sharp (Flat Out Food) and John Cote/Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote (Black Fox Farm and Distillery) are finalists for Western Living magazine’s Foodies of the Year . Congratulations! They’re talking about the University of Saskatchewan’s dwarf cherry breeding program from Hungary to Montana. Have any of you tried Field Fox Gardens and Cookery ’s ready-made meals? The website says they’re intended to be as healthy, local, and organic as possible. A lot of the di...

“Curiouser and curiouser the world makes me curiouser   I’ve so many dreams that come and go  Why is it so? Does no one know?”  It’s so easy to follow routines, to see what you expect to see, to fail to look around you. In an effort to explore the world around me with fresh eyes, I plan to post occasional photographs of things that have surprised me, made me laugh, or delighted me. Here are a few of the surprises I discovered in Richmond and while walking along False Creek in Vancouver. “Curiouser and Curiouser” It took me a while, but I was finally able to identify the beavers working on their lodge outside of Richmond Brighouse Canada Line station. Is it a lighthouse? A birdhouse? Or maybe a beached boat? None of the above! After digging around online, we found out it was a piece of public art installed by an anonymous artist , protesting the high cost of housing in downtown Vancouver. “I Love to Laugh” Who knew? An entire restaurant dedi...

Galiano Island is the Gulf Island closest to Vancouver. It’s small, not as touristy and developed as Salt Spring, and with many, many inlets and coves as it’s long and skinny. I spent 3 days on the island with my sister, Clare. We admired the sandstone at Sturdies Bay and the arbutus attracted my attention at Retreat Cove. We carefully left our treasures behind after a happy afternoon spying on the crabs in the tidal pools near Pebble Beach. We visited 5 artists’ home studios. I enjoyed the pottery by Sandra Dolph , but my absolute favorite was Marcia deVicque’s studio . The glasswork was lovely and her wild, tangled, forest garden was a feast for the senses.

Local Happenings  I’ve been travelling recently and have particularly enjoyed sampling flights of  3 different wines and pairing them with different courses. I highly recommend Homestead Bar à Vin in Regina. The food was great and the owner has an amazing selection of natural, limited distribution wines. My absolute favorite was a rosé from TH Wines in Summerland, which paired perfectly with a strawberry salad. They have a wine club so you can sample 4 of their wines every 2 months without leaving your own home. It’s not cheap, but having tried 2 of their wines I would highly recommend it. In Vancouver, check out Salt in Blood Alley for a great selection of cheese and wine (look closely as they have no sign at present). organic beets from Our Farm Food for Thought  A British supermarket chain plans to use unsold bread to make olive crostini and bread pudding. “ Bread is the second most wasted food in the home , with an estimated 1m loaves thrown away each...

Global Food Security, Mar. 19  Dr. Maurice Moloney, Executive Director & CEO, Global Institute for Food Security, will speak on Global Food Security: Not Just Quantity but Quality at 7 pm , Mar. 19. Easter Dinner at Friendship Inn  Saskatoon Friendship Inn is looking for volunteers to help with their Easter meal. Easter Egg Hunt, Mar. 31  Make sure your kids don’t miss the Easter Egg Hunt at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market from 11 am – 1:30 pm , Mar. 31. Love those Vegetables! Chain Reaction Urban Farm is offering 20 weeks of bulk deliveries of fresh produce to groups (friends, neighbours, workmates) with at least 8 members. The deadline for group memberships is March 31 . Chain Reaction has also set up a Vegetable Academy with tools, methods, and resources to help you grow your own food. Nuts for Cheese I made an impulse purchase at Dad’s Organic Market on Saturday – a Smoky Artichoke and Herb Cashew-based Vegan Cheese made in southern Onta...

Napa Valley Wine Tasting, Oct. 21 Ingredients Artisan Market is hosting a tasting of 4 wines from Copper Cane Vineyard in Napa Valley starting at 2 pm , Oct. 21. Portuguese & Spanish Wine Tasting, Oct. 21 Sample wines from Medeiros and Ego Bodegas wineries at Sobey’s Liquor, Stonebridge, from 12-1 pm , Oct. 21. Powered by Love, Oct. 24-26 Grandmothers to Grandmothers are hosting book launches in Saskatoon ( Oct. 24 ), Swift Current ( Oct. 25 ), and Regina ( Oct. 26 ) for Powered by Love: A Grandmothers’ Movement to End AIDS in Africa . Fall Beer Dinner, Oct. 25 Enjoy a f our-course meal paired with beers from 9 Mile Legacy Brewing at the Cathedral Social Hall on Oct. 25. Güd Eats Güd Eats , showcasing crave-worthy plant-based eats, is opening a storefront restaurant at 2917 Early Drive (formerly Prairie Harvest Cafe) at the end of October. They will still run their food truck with a limited menu next summer. Fabulous Faba Higher in protein than peas a...

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...

Go Local, Mar. 12  The College of Pharmacy and Nutrition is hosting GO LOCAL! , a nutrition student initiative about the local food system and bridging the gap between producers and consumers, from 2-5 pm, Mar. 12. Seedy Saturday Seedy Saturday is happening now around Saskatchewan. Check out the dates and venues here. Floating Gardens Floating Gardens is planning to have community garden plots behind their greenhouse in Osler this summer. Local Feta Balkan-style feta from Coteau Hills Creamery is available at SaskMade Marketplace . Cutting Down on Waste  The University of Saskatchewan has installed a food dehydrator to handle food waste from the Marquis Hall dining room. They hope that the machine “will turn roughly 2,500 pounds of weekly food waste into a nutrient rich material that can be added to its compost mixture.” Warman Collective Garden This sounds like a great program: “The Warman Collective Garden focuses on creating community through progr...

Hot and Sweet, Feb. 12  D.A.M.N. Fine Foods is hosting a sampling event with recipe cards in the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market kitchen from 11 am – 3 pm , Feb. 12. Globetrotters Worldly Wines, Feb. 17  Join winemaker Cesar Baeza who is launching a series of small-production wines at Saskatoon Co-op Liquor on Feb. 17. Perfection from Portugal, Feb. 25  Explore Portuguese wines at Saskatoon Co-op Liquor on Feb. 25. Asian Teapot Restaurant  Asian Teapot Restaurant has just opened in Westgate Plaza . They’re committed to using fresh food and no preservatives. 38 Essential Vancouver Restaurants  Number Two on a list of 38 essential Vancouver restaurants is The Acorn , a fabulous vegetarian restaurant. Other choices range from Filipino to Japanese-Corsican with a chocolate store selling Fisherman’s Friend-inspired truffles (???). Stodgy and Soupy – Misunderstood  Yamisi Aribisala, author of Longthroat Memoirs: Soup, Sex and Nigerian Taste Bu...

I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of days in Steveston and Vancouver prior to flying to Europe. I love Vancouver and am always happy to spend time here. Here's why. Vancouver False Creek displays its autumn colours. Granville Island Market is always a riot of colour. I'm not quite sure about some of these macaron flavours. What do you think Michelle ( Wild Serendipity Foods )? I prefer elegant chocolate designs, but these ones made me chuckle. Steveston It's such a pleasure to walk along the Fraser River in Steveston. There are birds and boats and the old canneries and shipyard to explore. The buffalo cauliflower tacos at the Britannia Brewing Company in Steveston were an excellent blend of spicy cauliflower and fresh salad fixings. I really enjoyed their Rye IPA, which had a refreshing grassy flavour. If you're in Steveston, be sure to visit Sinfully the Best . You'll have a hard time deciding which chocolate...

At 20 years of age, the Trout Lake Farmers’ Market is Vancouver’s oldest farmers’ market. It’s an outdoors-only Saturday market without a permanent location, but it’s very popular and offers a wide variety of fruit, vegetables, cheese, baked goods and more. It was threatening rain when I visited the market, but the vendors were undaunted by the weather. There were some really lovely displays of vegetables. Eye candy really does help sell. Most of the farmers at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market avoid the use of chemicals but are rarely certified organic. By contrast, the majority of the vendors at Trout Lake had biodynamic as well as organic certification. One vendor was selling both old and new cucumbers. Old cucumbers are used in a Chinese Old Cucumber Soup : “Old cucumber is actually matured cucumber, hence its brown in color, wrinkled and hard skin. My grandma told me that old-cucumber is a cooling food. And we consume it to counte...