Wanderlust and Words

Rhubarb Festival, Aug. 4-5  The Marr Residence is holding its annual Rhubarb Festival from 1-4:30 pm , August 4 and 5. Who knew! Preserving Food, August CHEP Good Food Inc. is sponsoring canning workshops and demos on August 7, 14, and 21. On August 10 and 24, from 10 am to 4 pm , the kitchen at Station 20 West will be available for 5 people who are experienced in food preservation. Phone 306.655.4575 to register and for information about additional workshops that are in the planning stage. Volunteers Wanted: Fruit Harvesting  Out Of Your Tree is looking for neighbourhood coordinators and volunteers to cooperatively harvest local fruit trees, putting the fruit to good use rather than leaving it to go to waste. YXE Food Trucks  Saskatoon’s first food trucks hit the streets this week: Disco Dogs ( @discodogtruck ) is serving up hot dogs with a variety of toppings. Rumour has it that they will be offering a vegan/vegetarian version. Joy Ride ( @joyrid...

“I’m from Colorado, the craft beer capital,” says Heather Williams. “In the United States, everyone knows what craft beer is, and three new breweries are opening every day of the week. Every block has its own brewery – small neighbourhood pubs, just like it was before the Prohibition.” Heather’s partner, Cameron Ewen, can attest to Canadians’ lack of knowledge about craft beer. “When I started working at Paddock Wood Brewing four years ago, I thought that all beers tasted the same,” Cameron says. “I tasted Paddock Wood’s beer and thought, ‘Wow! This is so good!’ I got hit by the beer bug: I was making beer all day long and reading about it on my lunch hour.” Cameron worked his way up from washing floors to head brewer at Paddock Wood. Heather was working there as well. “We saw how much fun it was to make beer,” says Heather. “It became our thing, and we believe there’s a huge market for it, so we decided to open our own craft brewery.” Cameron will be the brewmaster, while Heathe...

“We’re an old-style winery producing new-style wines,” says Isidoro Pérez de Tudela, Export Manager for Bodegas Luzon . I visited the Luzon winery when I was in Spain in 2011, and their wines are distributed in Saskatchewan by Doug Reichel of Fine Wines Sask . I met up with Isidoro when he was in Saskatoon for Top of the Hops, and we discussed the history of wine-making in Jumilla and the Luzon wines. Isidoro Perez de Tudela at VinExpo, June 2013 Jumilla was first settled, and the first grapes were turned into wine over 4500 years ago by the Iberians. Wine from Jumilla became popular with the Romans when they settled in the Iberian Peninsula, and it is still being produced and sold around the world today. Monastrell is the primary grape variety grown in the region, linking Jumilla to other wine-growing regions of the Mediterranean where Monastrell, also known as Mourvedre, is grown. Isidoro says that it spread throughout the region because, “If it works for your neighbour...

What do you get when you combine a love of words with a love of food or wine? A visual essay of brands and the stories they tell about their products.   Penny McKinlay, Communications Consultant

I recently spent three nights at Anglin Lake with my family and I was, as always, on the lookout for good places to eat. Here are a few that we discovered. Yellow Fender Eatery, Christopher Lake What a delight to find a place that serves not one but two vegetarian main courses. The Lentil-Walnut Veggie Burgers are excellent. There are also quesadillas. And there are picnic tables outside. A review on Flora Bora Forest Lodging’s website provides additional information. Angry Taco, Waskesiu So, how can you resist a place that calls itself the Angry Taco? The décor is lots of fun, and we enjoyed the food. Don’t miss the cornbread, which was really good. Copper Ridge Dining Room, Elk Ridge Resort  For a more elegant meal in fancier surroundings, head just outside the park to Elk Ridge Resort. The high-ceilinged dining room looks out over a pond surrounded by woods. We were very impressed to find that our waiter had spoken with the kitchen and made sure t...

Old Friends  It was great to catch up with some old friends this weekend. Kevin, formerly of Saskatoon Sous Chef, is now working full time at Earth Bound Bakery. Brad, also of Sous Chef, is using the kitchen facilities and helping out in a pinch. Lunch at Boffin’s  I had a great lunch at Boffin’s at Innovation Place last week – and there were 3 or 4 vegetarian main courses to choose from – I’m impressed! My brother and I enjoyed the roasted bell pepper stuffed with toasted quinoa, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and sautéed spinach with a grilled asparagus and bean salad. My sister had the house-made gnocchi with roasted peach segments, fresh herbs, blue cheese and toasted pecans in a Champagne, shallot butter sauce, while Shelley had the stir fry with jalapeño ginger sauce and rice. For dessert, the chefs had made their version of a coffee crisp chocolate bar, and it was excellent. 2nd Avenue  I finally made it to Congress Beer House and will have to go back fr...