Wanderlust and Words

Stonebridge  I don’t venture out into the suburbs very often, but I did meet a friend for lunch at Brown’s Socialhouse last week. There aren’t a lot of vegetarian options, but the Veggie Burger is excellent – lots of sauce and cheese and lettuce and tomato in a fresh bun, and the burger has excellent taste and texture. I like the restaurant layout as well. Brown's is a small Canadian chain that originated in BC. Two doors down from Brown’s Socialhouse is Mortal Sin Foods . They sell single-serving tarts, cakes and cheesecakes. I tried the Lemon Lime Tart and it was excellent. The crust was just the right thickness and it was nice and tangy. But my personal favorite was the Hazelnut Layer Cheesecake. It was light and fluffy like a mousse. The top layer was white chocolate with flecks of hazelnut, then there was a layer of chocolate, and finally a graham wafer crust. It was sweet but not too sweet, had lots of chocolate and hazelnut flavour, and melted in the mouth. It’s worth...

I noticed a new store – Fiesta Pinoy – at the corner of Clarence and 8th and decided to investigate. Some online research told me that the word “pinoy” is an informal name for Filipino people and the store was full of food from the Philippines as well as products prepared in a Filipino style. I was surprised to discover a Filipino Style spaghetti sauce . Apparently, Filipinos add sugar to their spaghetti sauce, and it’s often served with sliced hot dogs as well as ground meat. There were packages of small cakes in every colour of the rainbow, but I was particularly struck by the purple ones. There were also jars of sweet purple yam spread. Purple yam isn’t unique to the Philippines, but I learned ( Jun-blog, Stories from my Filipino Kitchen ) that Filipinos use it more than anyone else to flavour and colour their sweet treats and breads. Purple is the colour of a one hundred peso bill and making something purple to serve on New Year’s Eve is believed to bring...

  Roasted Chickpeas   Three Farmers is testing a new product – roasted chickpeas. They’re currently considering the following flavours: Sea Salt & Lime, Balsamic & Cracked Pepper, Barbecue. I’m particularly eager to try the first two. Souplicious I visited Simon Reynolds at Souplicious Creations this past week. Of course, I had to pick up some sticky toffee pudding (amazingly generous portions). I also bought Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese soup and Minestrone. Yummy. If you’re in Avalon at lunch time, Souplicious is a great place to pick up a hot lunch. Pedal Power Check out this East Vancouver coffee shop . It serves organic, locally sourced groceries and fair trade meals. And you can you create your own electricity to power your laptop by pedalling. Haute Cuisine Imagine cooking for the president of France! Hortense Laborie did just that, serving the dishes her grandmother used to make. I highly recommend Haute Cuisine ; it’s available on Netflix ...

Films & Fermentation I’m looking forward to attending the opening session of the Saskatoon Environmental Film Festival at 7 pm, April 24 , at the Frances Morrison Library . Following a screening of the film Growing Cities , Noelle Chorney, Slow Food Saskatoon, will lead a workshop on fermentation. Participants will learn about the fermentation process, its health benefits, and get to taste a few samples as well as taking home a little fermentation project of their own. At 7:30 pm, April 26 , at the Roxy Theatre , you can watch GMO OMG , a look at how the loss of seed diversity and the growth of genetically modified food affects our health. Saskatoon’s Terra Madre Delegate  Photo credit: Daybreak Mill Nicole Davis, Daybreak Mill , will be attending Terra Madre/Salone del Gusto on behalf of Slow Food Saskatoon. The diversity of food producers and food products from around the world showcased at Terra Madre/Salone del Gusto is truly amazing. I’m thrilled that on...

Tucked away in a strip mall on Primrose Drive (north of Lawson Heights Mall) is Petra Market, a treasure trove of food products from the Arabic countries in the Mediterranean. I’m fascinated by grocery stores full of unknown-to-me products but also a little nervous about trying things, so I was really happy when Nour Dabbour, the owner of Petra Market, showed me around and told me about the different items. Nour is trying to stock products from as many Middle Eastern countries as possible. He even stocks the same product from a number of different countries because he says that each country’s product tastes slightly different. Za’atar , a spice mix, is a prime example with packages from Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and each one is a slightly different colour with a slightly different taste. The most popular areas of the store are the nut and treats bars with an amazing assortment of Middle Eastern candies and mildly spiced nuts. Nour gave me a variety to try and I’m real...

Wayward Ginger  Take a look at Jasmin Fookes’ Wayward Ginger podcasts . Jasmin talks with food entrepreneurs across North America. In the most recent episode , she talks to Ashala Daniel of Three Feet Below, an organic canning CSA in Richmond, BC. Three Feet Below [sea level] sell a variety of products, ranging from Rosemary Pear Preserves to Pickled Oyster Mushrooms and Kimchi. Southern Prairie Railway  I would love to take a trip on the Southern Prairie Railway , an old-fashioned steam train with a 1922 Pullman passenger car that runs from Ogema to Horizon. This year’s trips include Art and History in Southern Saskatchewan , an overnight trip with a wine and food pairing in the Shurniak Art Gallery; the Pangman Market Train which departs every Saturday morning; a Pitchfork Fondue ; and the Train Eggs-travaganza Brunch . Doesn’t it sound like fun! Grape Expectations  A young couple with two young children decide to invest all their savings to buy a vine...