Wanderlust and Words

Artisan cheeses from Souleio, Saskatoon I spent 2 ½ years in France during my university years and fell in love with cheese – creamy, stinky, hard, soft – I love them all. It was really tough coming home to Saskatoon because, and I show my age, there was NOWHERE to buy good cheese in those days. A friend and I tried aging some goat cheese once to see if that would improve it. Nope! Of course, the cheap red wine was equally awful – we were young and broke! The situation has certainly improved over the years, and there are now several places where I can buy good cheese in Saskatoon. But the one that excites me the most is Souleio , so I was really happy to sit down with Cathy Engel and learn more about Souleio’s selection of cheeses. Intellectual stimulation Cathy is originally from the United States. As a stay-at-home Mum in small-town Texas, she appreciated the occasional intellectual challenge. She was delighted to start working in a high-end wine store. “I love languages, geo...

“from grandma’s comfort food to high-end dining” Brent Lloyd’s first cooking lessons were from his grandmother on the farm near Swift Current. He went on to complete the Professional Cooking Program at SAIT in Calgary and apprenticed at several Calgary restaurants . Restaurants: Energy and Excitement Brent discovered he had a knack for garde manger – transforming leftovers into pâtés, ice into elaborate sculptures, and vegetables into decorations. He still gets excited when he remembers a phone call from Chef Michael Allemeier asking him to work as the garde manger chef for Teatro, one of the top 10 restaurants in Canada at the time. Brent loved working at Teatro and being part of the team. The average age in the kitchen was 25. “It was a feeding frenzy of knowledge,” says Brent. “There was friendly competition to try and wow the other guys. We’d read up on things and try them out.” Cooking in a restaurant can be challenging. Brent remembers one occasion when the restaurant he was...

Wine tastings are so much fun as you get the opportunity to compare several different wines. I’m delighted that I’ve been given the opportunity to attend and write about the Reds Rule the Wine Horizon event at 5:30 on Friday, October 1 at TCU Place, Saskatoon. The event is sponsored by Doug Reichel Wine Marketing , and you can purchase tickets from http://www.tcuplace.com/allevents.php or (306) 975 7770. There’s an interesting line-up of wines from around the world: Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa, Spain, Italy, and Canada. Organic Wines I did a little online research and was delighted to discover that at least five of the wines are being grown organically. This makes sense to me as winemakers have always valued the connection between the terroir, the place where the grapes are grown, and the taste of the wine. Melipal is a family-owned winery in the foothills of the Andes. They view their land as a legacy to be passed on to the next generation. They grow green...

"20 years of authentic Indian cuisine" In 1989, the banks refused to lend Rano and Nitu Vasani money to open a restaurant. And the bank manager wasn’t happy when Nitu’s response was to cash in all his RRSPs. “I was 42 years old,” says Nitu. “I wanted to take a chance then when I still could, not wait until I retired.” And over 20 years later, it’s obvious that the Vasanis made the right decision. The Taj Mahal restaurant has been and continues to be a highly successful restaurant with a loyal clientele. The couple seems to make a habit of defying convention and beating the odds. Rano and Nitu were next-door neighbours in Nairobi, Kenya. They fell in love and wanted to get married but were forced to elope. “Rano is Sikh, and my family is Gujarati,” explains Nitu. They celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on July 31 of this year. Childhood Cooking Adventures Rano says that she always wanted to own a restaurant. She started cooking when she was 12 years old. Her parents...

“Solve problems like an engineer – and don’t have a Plan B” Michelle Zimmer is the owner of Wild Serendipity Foods in Saskatoon. She has always loved to cook, but obtaining a degree in Engineering absorbed every waking second. For a number of years, cooking was delegated to second place. However, after working as an engineer in British Columbia for a few years, cooking and recipe collecting, which had been a serious hobby, turned into an obsession. “I felt a desperation to do anything with food,” says Michelle. Michelle walked into a high-end restaurant in Victoria and begged the chef to hire her. That was the start of a very busy summer. She was an engineer by day and plating and serving in the restaurant at night – “fancy squiggly things – really cool.” But one summer was enough. “Working in a line kitchen is totally crazy,” says Michelle. “You have to be an adrenalin junkie.” Michelle thought of setting up a high-end dessert bar as desserts can be prepared in advanced and it’s...

“It would be wonderful if everyone spent 10% of their food dollars locally” Gail Hall, Seasoned Solutions , has been in the food business for 25 years (see Part One: Culinary Entrepreneur ), and she is passionate about local food. She welcomes public speaking engagements in order to reach more people and to talk to them about the importance of eating local. Gail wants to help people understand the connection between what they eat and how they feel. “What we put in our mouths is so important,” she says. “When food was pure, we didn’t have to think about it. But we can no longer trust the food industry.” Supporting local food is not only a healthier personal choice – it’s also healthier for the local economy. “It would be wonderful if everyone spent 10% of their food dollars locally,” says Gail. Culinary Tours: Combining Food and Culture Gail’s appreciation for the relationship between food and culture has grown as she has travelled around the world. Gail’s husband suggeste...

“There are still opportunities for entrepreneurs on the Prairies.” I am planning a short holiday in Edmonton in October and was doing some internet research to identify local food businesses to visit. I came across Gail Hall’s website and realized she had years of experience and would be a great source of information. As she will be away in October when I’m in Edmonton, we had a telephone conversation. Today’s blog post looks at Gail’s business experience. Tomorrow’s post will explore Gail’s ideas around food and culture and supporting the local economy. Follow Your Passion “You have to follow your passion,” says Gail Hall . “I worked for the government in Ontario and Alberta. I did it well, but I didn’t realize that you should love what you do.” Gail’s husband reminded her that she loves cooking, feeding people and having friends over and urged her to change careers. In 1985, Gail quit her well-paid government job and started Gourmet Goodies catering company. The company grew exp...

If you shop at a Farmers’ Market on a regular basis, you get to know the farmers and producers who you buy from every week. They’re friends, and you miss them if they are absent. But you never have the opportunity to sit down and visit with them. I have received a short-term contract from the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market to lay the groundwork for a Friends of the Farmers’ Market association. My goal over the next few months is to build stronger ties with as many Market-goers as possible by sharing “inside” information about the Market vendors. I’m the lucky one who will sit down and visit with the farmers and producers in order to share their story. I’m posting photographs and information, recipes, new products, farm news, on Facebook. And I’ve started a newsletter to provide Market-goers with more in-depth information about the vendors. The first issue of the newsletter ( see attached ) has articles about Mistik Acres (an additional blog posting is here ), an article about Michael H...

Giving People the Tools and Skills to Make Healthy Food Choices Cathy Langdon enjoys food. In fact, she’s been selling homemade cheesecake and focaccia bread at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market for the past few years. But she’s also aware of how many people struggle with their weight. “It’s really hard,” she says. “You have to make a conscious decision to eat healthily.” Cathy is a Registered Dietitian with a university degree and 14 years of experience. After taking some time off to raise her children, she is now returning to her work in nutrition and has established The Food Mentor to help people achieve a healthy weight. Cathy doesn’t offer a quick fix, because she says that diets and food plans just don’t work in the long run. “It’s very difficult to lose weight unless you change your habits,” Cathy explains. We don’t just eat because we’re hungry. 80-85% of why we eat is based on learned habits, food triggers and emotional eating. Our environment makes it even more difficult...

  A Flower Farm on the Prairies Nestled among the wheat fields and tree-filled gullies just east of Alvena, Saskatchewan is a farm with a difference – a flower farm. Mistik Acres is the home of Joanne and Pat Halter, and it’s a wonderful place to spend a day, particularly if you’re a photographer (see slideshow at end). A few sunflowers are visible as we park beside the house, but not very many, and I’m afraid I’ll be disappointed. Never fear! Joanne leads us off to the left, and we begin a long, winding tour of the garden patches. There is a tangle of flowers and vegetables of all shapes, sizes and colours. I immediately fall in love with the cheerful sunflowers, but there are so many other flowers as well – sweet peas, snapdragons, borage, sea holly, strawflowers, asters, dahlias – and the list goes on and on. A rocky patch has a snug coat of sedum; a row of leeks shelters beside a row of sunflowers; and there are tomatoes, squash and corn amidst the flowers. The Florists’ F...

When you apply for a job or a contract, you have to rely on written words to express your education, experience and personality. So it’s really important to choose the right words. And yet, it’s tough to market ourselves, and we tend to underplay our abilities. I have to push myself to say, “I’m a good writer,” rather than wording it more carefully as “I’ve been told I’m a good writer” or “I enjoy writing.” I recently helped my sister with her resume and a couple of cover letters, and I realized the importance of using “power words” – words that express energy and ability and personality. Here are a few examples based on my sister’s cover letters. Lesson #1: Clearly outline what you have to offer.      Good: “I look forward to contributing my skills to maximize the success of your organization.”      Better: “My passion for ___, combined with a wealth of practical experience in ___ and ___, will strengthen your organization’s mission to ...