Wanderlust and Words

Wanderlust has had a facelift (thanks, Andrew!), and I’ve added some new pages to make it easier to find information about Saskatoon’s culinary establishments and great food products. Enjoy! Great Saskatchewan Food Products Broadway: Great Food Places Riversdale: Great Food Places

Thank You I would like to thank all the culinary entrepreneurs (farmers, chefs, winemakers, food producers and store owners) who shared their passion for good food and drink with me this year. I am awed by your hard work and dedication – not to mention your fabulous products. You help make Saskatoon and Saskatchewan a great place to live. I would also like to thank all of you who have read my blog over the past year. It has been a pleasure to share my ideas with you, and your positive feedback has been extremely rewarding. I am grateful to be part of Saskatoon’s foodie community. Happy holidays and all the best to you and your families in 2012. Thank you. Wine for Christmas I’ll be enjoying some of my favourite wines from some of my favourite wineries this Christmas. They include: Altos de Luzon, Bodegas Luzon , Jumilla, Spain (SLGA) Biancco, Morning Bay Winery , Pender Island, British Columbia, Canada (Cava Wines) Blanc de Pacs, Parés Balta Winery , Penedès, Spain (Cava Wi...

Foodie news and events in and around Saskatoon – from quail eggs to cheese-making, market dinners and an edible education Chef’s Dinner, January 19 The Saskatoon Farmers’ Market will be hosting monthly Chef’s Dinners in 2012. Anthony McCarthy, Executive Chef at the Saskatoon Club and Saskatchewan’s 2011 Gold Medal Plate winner , will prepare a five-course meal and wine pairing on January 19. Chefs Brent Lloyd and Mike McKeown (Prairie Harvest Café) are lined up for later in the year. Market Cooking Classes, January Judy Thiesson, the Market’s Events Coordinator, also has plans for cooking classes , starting with a Mexican cooking class in January with Linda Ortiz who sells fresh salsas, flour and corn tortillas at the Market. I sampled Linda’s quesadillas with a nopal (cactus) filling this week, and they were delicious. Cheese-Making 101, January 30-31 The Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre Inc. will be offering a cheese-making workshop on January 30 and 31 at the Foo...

Foodie news and events in and around Saskatoon –gift ideas, Farmers' Market events & gingerbread design contests Demos in New Market Kitchen, December 14 Hold the presses! I have just learned that the Agrium Market Kitchen at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market will be hosting its first event at 11 am on Wednesday, December 14. Two cooking demos – one Spanish and one Mexican – unmissable if you’re a Hispanophile like me. The licensed commercial kitchen will hold its official grand opening in the second week of January. Contact Judy Thiesson, the Market’s Events Organizer, ( sfmevents1@gmail.com ) for more information and to make a booking for cooking classes, food preparation, catering, etc. Here are the Market’s Kitchen Rules . (via Judy and Wally – thanks!) Holiday Lunch Buffets, Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, December 15 & 16 Riverbend Plantation and The Garlic Guru are holding holiday lunch buffets with turkey and all the trimmings at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market on...

“organic grains, legumes and cereal mixes: grown and made in Saskatchewan” Alvin Scheresky, one of Saskatchewan’s organic pioneers, started growing and processing organic grains near Glen Ewen on Saskatchewan’s southern border in 1964. According to the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan , Scheresky was “one of the first organic farmers in North America to have production facilities on the farm to process and add value to grains, and he operated the first organic flour mill in the province.” He was instrumental in forming the Saskatchewan chapter of the Organic Crop Improvement Association, the first Canadian organization to confer organic certification. In 2003, Alvin Scheresky was ready to retire. A local farming couple, Ray and Marianne Aspinall, purchased Scheresky’s grain-processing equipment and set about developing a greater variety of packaged consumer products at the  Daybreak-Scheresky Mill . The farm is still completely organic and continues to grow the crops Scheresky h...

Foodie news and events in and around Saskatoon – Food Sovereignty, Hestia Organics, Christmas Macarons & Rainbow Carrots Food Sovereignty in Canada, December 9 Attend the launch of Food Sovereignty in Canada: Creating Just and Sustainable Food Systems on Friday, December 9, from 7:30 to 10 pm at Caffe Sola. Several of the authors and editors will be at the event – Nettie Wiebe, Annette Aurélie Desmarais, Darrin Qualman, Kevin Wipf, Rachel Engler-Stringer. “In case studies of practical action, Food Sovereignty in Canada provides an analysis of indigenous food sovereignty, orderly marketing, community gardens, the political engagement of nutritionists, experiences with urban agriculture and the strengthening of links between rural and urban communities. It also highlights policy-related challenges to building community-based agriculture and food systems that are ecologically sustainable and socially just. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in holistic, hea...

My parents were British, and I have spent many happy months in England visiting family friends and relatives. I used to enjoy shopping at the Canadian outlets of Marks & Spencer and was very sorry when they closed, so I was delighted to learn that Saskatoon now has its very own British food store. Brit Foods is located in Cumberland Square, in the covered alleyway just down from Safeway. It’s a treasure trove of British food. The owner, Tony Badger, says they try to stock the national brands, so you’ll find soups by Marks & Spencer and Baxter’s, Yorkshire and Typhoo tea, Heinz beans, Rose’s preserves, Thornton’s chocolates, and Walker’s chips. In addition to the food products (primarily packaged although there are pork pies and a few other items in the freezer), there is an entire wall devoted to loose candies. You can also pick up a linen tea towel or an English magazine. There is a second Brit Foods in Parksville on Vancouver Island, but Mr. Badger says that the demog...