Wanderlust and Words

Foodie news and events in and around Saskatoon – home brew, bird feeders, vegan soups, simply sinful haskap and puddle jumper Winefest, November 9 Winefest on Wednesday, November 9 , from 7:30 to 10:30 pm is a great opportunity to enjoy European wines while listening to great music played by Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra musicians. Tickets are available from Cava Wines & Spirits or by emailing office@saskatoonsymphony.org Paddock Wood Brewing November 8   The Beer Club is meeting at 7:30 pm on November 8 at the P addock Wood Brewery to discuss the art of brewing lagers. November 12  Join the Headhunters home brewing club at Paddock Wood on November 12 from 9 am to 4 pm and spend the day learning how to brew your own beer. Club members will bring their own gear and brew up different styles of beer. Everyone is welcome. For more information, contact Justin at jymana@gmail.com Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Pat Halter of Mistik Acres has been hard at work making...

It’s been a tumultuous couple of months for Andrée Bobinski and Anna Chernichan, the bakers at the brand-new Hot Racks Bakery . It’s not easy to design and furnish your own business and start baking in large quantities, always wondering which products will be popular and which won’t. But it’s also very exciting. “The freedom to bake what we want is awesome,” says Andrée. Her goal is to produce fantastic food that people love so that by the end of the day all the shelves are empty. Learning the trade Andrée was a dental assistant and dental sales rep. for many years, but she had always dreamed of becoming a baker. She finally took the plunge and enrolled in the Baking program at NAIT in Edmonton. She fell in love with bread-making – taking the time to make it from scratch and delighting in the final product as it emerged from the oven. Andrée works with 100% scratch ingredients and carefully nurtures her two natural sourdough cultures that will be three years old in May. While s...

Foodie news and events in and around Saskatoon – SaskMade Marketplace, Caffe Sola, Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, That Pie Guy, Food Bloggers of Canada and more SaskMade Marketplace, November 5 Don’t miss the Grand Opening of SaskMade Marketplace on Saturday, November 5 from 10 am to 5 pm . If Music be the Food of Love, Play On A Pair of Prairie Duos , 7 pm, November 11, Third Avenue United Church Saskia & Darrel will be joined by Freddie and Sheila Pelletier and backed up by violinist Kim de la Forest. The concert is raising funds for church operations as well as awareness for veterans with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Tickets are $15 and are available at McNally Robinson or at Third Avenue United Church (652-6812). (via Darrel – thanks!) Caffe Sola Caffe Sola is open 7 days a week for the winter months; Sunday hours are 10 to 3. Do make the opportunity to visit. They have the most amazing baked goods and desserts for really reasonable prices, and the staff a...

Foodie news and events in and around Saskatoon – foodie apps, international food shortages, cooking with pulses, blogs and websites Muffin Swarm, October 19 Three Sisters/Nestor’s Bakery is celebrating their grand opening with a muffin swarm on 20th Street and downtown on October 19. Be on the lookout for young people giving away muffins and cookies! Raj Patel, How to Feed the World, October 25 Raj Patel , the author of Stuffed and Starved , will be speaking about real solutions to international food shortages and inequality at the University of Saskatchewan 2011 Whelen Visiting Lecture on Tuesday, October 25 at 7 pm in the A dam Ballroom, Delta Bessborough Hotel . Admission is free but seating is limited so arrive early. A public reception and book signing will follow the talk. World Food Challenge Oxfam is encouraging people to take the World Food Challenge this week and share a meal made with organic, fair trade and/or local ingredients. On a related note, you may...

A community bakery offers training opportunities for at-risk youth A Long History Nestor’s Bakery was founded on December 1, 1937, when brothers-in-law Jack Jaciuk and Nestor Wiwchar formed a partnership to buy Brothers Bakery located at 238 Avenue I South. They moved to the bakery’s current location at 912 20th Street West shortly thereafter. In 1979, John and Audrey Matushewski became the new owners of Nestor's Bakery and maintained many of the old traditions. For example, the bakery still uses the original 1940 recipes for Nestor's rye, pumpernickel and Easter bread. Audrey says she has got to know a lot of people over the years and that the neighbourhood seems to undergo changes every 10 years. “It’s a different century now and different people,” she says. “The food has to change too.” A New Beginning After 37 years in the business, Audrey started thinking about retirement. The pieces fell into place when she spoke to Keith Jorgenson, one of the founders of the Yo...

Foodie news and events in and around Saskatoon – good food on 20th Street, wine tastings, bath products, honey and a divinity trio Community BBQ and Health Fair, October 12  St. Thomas Wesley Church and fourth year nursing students from the University of Saskatchewan, in collaboration with the local community, are hosting a Community BBQ and Health Fair at St. Thomas Wesley Church (20th Street x Avenue H) on Wednesday, October 12 from 11 am to 2 pm . Lunch is free, and there will be health and community resource booths. Three Sisters/Nestor’s Bakery, October 13 Three Sisters/Nestor’s Bakery is hosting a "Sneak Peek" on Thursday October 13 from 4 to 7 - come and sample what they are offering! I dropped by last week and was impressed by the variety of sweet treats – from fresh doughnuts daily to lots and lots of squares. Do check out the Bread Box options – Sweetie Pie, Health Freak, Flour Power and Flying Solo. You can also add in local eggs and honey. Taste o...

Premier is a big, often crowded event, but there are pockets of calm, such as the South Australian wine seminar sponsored by Doug Reichel Wine Marketing . We tasted approximately 7 wines from Cape Jaffa Wines in South Australia (300 km south of Adelaide). The winemakers are Derek and Anna Hooper, and they planted their first vineyards in 1993. Their wines are marketed under three different labels: Southern Reef, Cape Jaffa and La Lune. The wine seminar was a wonderful opportunity to taste and compare good wines. I was particularly intrigued to learn more about organic and biodynamic wines, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Botrytis Semillon. Organic / Biodynamic Derek and Anna Hooper deliberately chose to make organic, biodynamic wines as they wanted to let the land speak through the wine. Southern Reef is their entry level wine. It is not organic and the grapes are outsourced from the general area. Cape Jaffa wines are organic and are in conversion to biodynamic; the grapes are ...

Foodie news and events in and around Saskatoon – veggie Thanksgiving recipes, organic breakfasts, new restaurant, new wines, job opportunity and a contest Vegetarian/Vegan Thanksgiving Ideas I know that for many of you it just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a turkey, but there are some outstanding vegetarian and vegan Thanksgiving options. The New York Times offers everything from gluten-free pumpkin dumplings to tempeh and wild mushroom fricassee. Nava Atlas of VegKitchen has an entire page of yummy-sounding recipes – pueblo corn pie, black bean and zucchini tortilla casserole, cranberry slaw, maple and tarragon sweet potatoes and sourdough stuffing with pine nuts and raisins. Vegetarian Times suggests potatoes stuffed with walnut guacamole, layered eggplant and cashew nut roast or veggie pot pie. Canada Organic Week, October 15-22 Celebrate Canada’s organic farmers and producers by participating in the Organic Breakfast Challenge . Plan an organic breakfast, then take...