Wanderlust and Words

It’s a holiday tradition to review the books I’ve read over the past year. Here are my favourites for 2012. (It was a tough choice; when in doubt, I chose books that were less well known.) Travel I love to travel – both physically and mentally. The following books taught me a great deal about life in other countries. Dancing in the Fountain: How to enjoy living abroad , Karen McCann Oh, if only I could move to Sevilla, Spain, and really learn to speak the language and experience the culture like Karen McCann! Home is a Roof Over a Pig , Aminta Arrington This book provides an exceptional overview of education (kindergarten and university) in China and the inherent contradictions between what people believe and what they say. Running Away to Home: Our family’s journey to Croatia in search of who we are, where we came from, and what really matters , Jennifer Wilson A family lives in a small village in Croatia for a year. Food Chasing Chiles: Hot spots along the...

“Slow food is real food,” says Mike McKeown of Prairie Harvest Café. Rather than mass-produced food that has been transported thousands of miles and contains unpronounceable chemicals and preservatives, I eat Wally’s carrots, Michelle’s macarons and Trent’s bread. My brother, Andrew, and his wife, Shelley, share my appreciation for high-quality, local, organic food, so we decided to host a Slow Food Tapas Party for the staff of Andrew’s company, Axon Development Corporation . We had so much fun, and the food and drink were both beautiful and tasty. Here are some of the highlights. Many hands made quick work of the set up and preparation. Shelley did an amazing job of cooking and organizing, and we’d never have been ready on time without help from Jennie. Saskatchewan grains and pulses: Shelley made Wild Rice Balls and Hemp, Lentil and Flax Cookies. We served bite-sized portions of Wheat Berry Salad, and there were four varieties of bread from Earth Bound Bakery: Red Fif...

As Saskatoon grew, the large supermarkets moved out to the suburbs, leaving older neighbourhoods, such as Riversdale, without a grocery store. For 13 years, local residents, who often didn’t own a car, didn’t have easy access to fresh fruit and vegetables. Good Food Junction: Fresh Fruit and Vegetables  That’s no longer the case. Good Food Junction opened in September 2012, and the first thing you see when you enter the store is a display of fresh fruit and vegetables. It’s not a big grocery store, but it has an ample supply of local vegetables (carrots, potatoes, beets, cabbage from the Milden Hutterite Colony), fresh bread made by local youth at Three Sisters/Nestor’s Bakery , a dairy and a meat section, as well as a variety of dried goods. “Gene Dupuis, the owner of Prairie Meats, is so community-minded – he’s done an awesome job,” says Ralph Winterhalt, the manager of the Good Food Junction. “He vacuum packs all our meat so that it will have a longer shelf life.” G...

P r airie Pie Co.’s Home Baked Oatmeal My go-to breakfast at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market is home baked oatmeal topped with fruit and cream from the Prairie Pie Co . It’s healthy and delicious – the perfect way to start the day. And now I can enjoy it at home as well. Mary Uzelman and her sister, Cindy Placatka, are selling ready-to-serve baked oatmeal in two flavours – Tart Cherry & Almond or Saskatoon Berry. Yum! A New Look for City Perks City Perks on 7th Avenue starts renovating their space on December 27 . They’re finding a little more room for customers and redesigning the kitchen to make it more convenient. Their designer is Jacqueline Neusch from Sew Chic Eco Décor . I spoke to Jacqueline last year about her environmentally-friendly design practices , working with refurbished, repurposed, and sustainable furnishings. Great Tea, Great Service I’ve been purchasing loose leaf tea online from Camellia Sinensis Tea House in Montreal for a number of years. They have a...

Ingredients Artisan Market  I visited Ingredients Artisan Market at the north end of Earl’s on Saturday and fell in love – big windows, classy décor, wine tasting, deli with cheese and fresh products, an Italian espresso machine, bread from Christie’s, and lots of intriguing products from around the world (English crisps, Tahitian vanilla extract, tipsy olives, chocolates). I’ll be going back very soon for a more extensive visit. Sunday Brunch at Root Down The Root Down Workers’ Cooperative is now serving Sunday brunch (Belgian waffles, burritos, tofu scramble, paddy cakes and more). Sounds delicious! Life, Legumes & Pursuit of Nitrogen, Dec. 13 Saskatchewan is the world’s largest exporter of lentils, and commercial lentil varieties bred at the U of S account for a third of global production. Best of all, lentils and other legumes add nitrogen to the soil where it can be used by other plants. Bert Vandenberg, NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Lentil Genetic Impr...

Just Ginger  Just Ginger is right beside the door as you enter the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. The vendor has an amazing collection of preserves made with ginger – candied apple ginger jam, ginger seabuckthorn syrup, garlic ‘n chili sauce, raw pickled ginger and candied ginger (with and without seabuckthorn) and more. I really like the chutney. Eagle Hill Foods Shelley, my sister in law, visited Sun Dog Craft Fair this past weekend and brought back some Eagle Hill Foods chocolates. They were delicious! Each large square was filled with a fruity mixture of saskatoons and cherries (with a little sugar, corn starch and rice krispies). Eagle Hill Food also sells fruit toppings, cherry juice and iced teas. All their products will be available at the Little Corner Store at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market; some are available at SaskMade Marketplace and Nutters. Herschel Hills Artisan Cheese I am delighted by the variety of different cheeses that are now available from Hersc...

Christmas Shopping Goes Local LocalSask has made it easy for us to shop locally this Christmas. Their online catalogue includes everything from children's toys to alpaca socks and gourmet food baskets. And it's all local! Two Gun Quiche House My sister in law, Shelley, had lunch at Two Gun Quiche House on 20th Street last week and gave it a good review. None of the sandwiches were vegetarian, but she thought they sounded good. And at least 4 of the 8 to 10 quiche options were vegetarian, and there was a chick pea salad that sounded interesting. Shelley says that the spinach feta quiche was excellent, and the vegetarian carrot-ginger soup was awesome with a little crème fraîche drizzled on top. They were serving loose leaf teas (including vanilla earl grey) – a sign, according to Shelley (and I agree), of better quality. The restaurant is bright and colourful, and there’s lots of room between the tables so it didn’t feel crowded. Two Gun Quiche House will be expandi...

Wild Cuisine Catering, Nov. 20   Wild Cuisine Catering opens for breakfast and lunch at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market on November 20. The menu is fairly meaty with a boar sausage sandwich and a maple bourbon barbecue burger, but there are also soups and pizzas that will include some vegetarian options. Be sure to support this new, local business. Wine Tasting, Nov. 30  Souleio’s wine tasting on November 30 features three wines: Kuyen , a biodynamic wine from Chile; Mitolo Jester Vermentino from Australia; and T erra d'Orro Zinfandel Port from California. The musical accompaniment will be from Percussion Syndicate. Mediterranean Breeze Be sure to visit Mediterranean Breeze, one of the newest vendors at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. I’m particularly enjoying their spinach rolls, but they have a variety of other options as well, including a Persian Salad. Paddockwood’s Sour Red  I had supper at The Woods Alehouse last week. I tried Sour Red , one of Pad...

Images of starving children are heartbreaking. Their immediate need is food, but that’s a very short-term solution as Dan West, an Indiana farmer, realized as he ladled out powdered milk for Spanish Civil War refugees. If he could give hungry people a cow, rather than just milk, they could feed themselves. Heifer International was formed in 1944, and West and his neighbours began distributing cows throughout Europe following World War II. Heifer International’s scope has expanded enormously over the past 65 years. “Livestock is just a tool for community development,” Gord Enns, Executive Director for Heifer International Canada , explains. “You can’t just come in with solutions. The challenge is to build social, economic and environmental sustainability.” Nowadays, the tools are changing. Instead of a cow, it may be a bike trailer for a young woman starting up an urban farm in Toronto or an internship program to help young people who want to take up farming. But Heifer’s goal re...

Telling Our Story: Helping Non-Profit Organizations to Get Their Message Across  Penny McKinlay, Communications Consultant  9 am – 3 pm, Wednesday, November 28, 2012  Room 403, Galleria Building, Innovation Place, Saskatoon  Advocacy organizations want to touch the hearts and change the behaviours of their public. That’s not easy, but effective communications can help you to get your message across. I am offering Telling Our Story , a hands-on, interactive workshop, to assist the staff and volunteers of advocacy organizations to share their message. Small group discussions and activities will help you learn new skills and integrate them into your professional life. The workshop is based on my study and practise of storytelling, effective writing, content design, and change management. Similar workshops for the League of Educational Administrators, Directors and Superintendents of Saskatchewan (LEADS) have been very well received. “The workshop...

Souleio Christmas Open House, Nov. 22 Souleio is holding a pre-Christmas open house on November 22 from 5-8 pm . There will be samples, complimentary canapés, demos and gift wrapping. They promise to have plenty of holiday candies, chocolates and gift ideas. Gluten-Free Food Fair, Nov. 25 The menu for the Gluten-Free Food Fair from 5-7 pm on November 25 at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market looks delicious – everything from lentil-stuffed mushrooms to quinoa and roasted beet salad, spicy polenta bites, chocolate bean cake and pina colada cream pie. Sample plates are $2 each. Gluten-free beer or wine will be available for $5. Simon’s Sticky Toffee Pudding Christmas, Nov. 29 Chef Simon Reynolds will be hosting an open house from 3-8 pm on November 29. You can taste or purchase his sticky toffee puddings. Summer jams, hot pepper jelly, mango chutney and gift certificates for cooking classes will also be available for purchase. Wild Serendipity Foods Wild Serendipity Foods has a...

On a very snowy Saskatchewan day, it's been such a pleasure to review my Baja flower photographs. Enjoy!