Wanderlust and Words

If you love good food and quality ingredients, I hope you’ve already discovered the Riversdale Delicatessen . And if you haven’t, you’re in for a treat. Quality  On one side of the large, light-filled space are the dried goods. Don’t miss the Rozendal vinegar from South Africa, the olive oils from Portugal and the San Marzano tomatoes from Italy. The delicatessen’s goal is to provide the best quality ingredients possible – wherever they come from. So alongside the imported goods are carrots and beets from Wally’s Urban Market , fresh greens and tomatoes from Floating Gardens , and garlic from Meadowlark Farm . Three Farmers camelina oil is alongside the European olive oils. The Happy Days goat milk yogurt and cheese are from British Columbia. The fair trade Galerie au Chocolat products are from Montreal. Organic air-dried PastaJesce sits alongside the largest line-up of gluten-free pasta in Saskatoon, including a buckwheat pasta for people who also have corn al...

Christie's Bakery Slow Food Salon, Nov. 30  Slow Food Saskatoon is hosting a Slow Food Salon from 1-2:30 pm , Nov. 30, at the Agriculture Greenhouse (45 Innovation Blvd, across from the Synchrotron). Doug Waterer will introduce the U of S Vegetable Research Program, which provides commercial and hobby producers with information on production, handling and marketing of horticultural crops. Riversdale Rumblings  Riversdale Deli now has house-made mustard for sale. Drift Sidewalk Café has a business license. I’m looking forward to the cafe/creperie opening on 19th Street (next to Escape Sports). Thrive Juice Co. will be opening a store on 20th Street in January. Saskatoon Food Council  Gord Enns, Executive Director, Saskatoon Food Council, recently attended the annual meeting of Food Secure Canada. He will be part of a cross-Canada group that will be developing material for the upcoming election to ensure that MPs are aware of the importance of good f...

The Grazing Goat I enjoyed my lunch at The Grazing Goat on 20th Street this past week. The falafel wrap included lots of fresh greens and halved cherry tomatoes as well as a cucumber-rich tzatziki, and the truffle fries are addictive. The restaurant is spacious with lots of room between tables so that you can have a private conversation. I compared the lunch and supper menus and there are more vegetarian options at lunchtime. Night Oven Updates I mentioned last week that The Night Oven Bakery is now selling bialys (like a bagel but baked not boiled). Bryn Rawylyk tells me that he is always researching recipes that will take advantage of the full range of heat produced by his wood oven. Bialys and pretzels can go in when the oven is really hot, while bread goes in a bit later. I thought that canelés (small custardy pastries) were always sweet, but apparently not. Bryn occasionally makes a savory version – you can try it out at Flock and Gather’s upcoming craft sale ...

The Inglewood neighbourhood , just a few blocks from downtown Calgary is a world away from the towers and franchised stores. In just a few short blocks, there's an interesting combination of independent food and art/design stores. I started my neighbourhood visit at Choklat where you're invited to design your own chocolate. This was new to me and I had a hard time selecting the “perfect” combination of centre, dip and coating. This is a bean-to-bar chocolate store – no ready-made ingredients here. Silk Road Spice Merchant is in a wonderful old building with a pressed-tin ceiling. You could spend hours sniffing and sampling all their spices. Presentation, product and service are first class. If you just want a small amount, they’ll weigh it out and put it in a small bag for you so you can try something new without spending a fortune. I had lunch at one of Wild Grainz Artisan Bakery ’s outdoor tables (there is lots of outdoor seating all the way along 9th Avenue)...

I had less than a week in Calgary in October, but I made sure I visited at least one of their markets. The Market on MacLeod is, I believe, relatively new. And it’s super convenient, even for pedestrians, as it’s only two blocks from the Heritage LRT station . You enter via a seating area, so I wondered if the market was primarily a food court, but that wasn’t the case. There were certainly lots of vendors selling hot lunches, but they were also selling frozen and take-out food. There were also fruits and vegetables, dairy, cakes and chocolate. Here are just a few things that caught my eye. I loved the mini paletas (Mexican fruit bars) from Sabores , and I was even happier when I realized they were organic with 100% natural ingredients. I bought a slice of Mexican cake that was very good. The stuffed olives from Angela’s Olives were spectacular. I had the Cadillac mix, which was stuffed with almonds and marinated with feta cheese and herbs. The curr...

Coming later this week - two stories from Calgary Tastings, Saskatoon Co-op Wine, Spirits, Beer Here are two of the upcoming tastings at Saskatoon Co-op Wine, Spirits, Beer . Nov. 13, 7 pm – Port wine tasting Nov. 21, 7 pm – Orofino wine tasting with winemaker John Weber Wine & Cheese Tasting, Nov. 15  Riversdale Delicatessen is hosting a wine & cheese tasting with Doug Reichel, Fine Wines Sask , on November 15. Contact them quickly if you’re interested as tickets are selling fast. Black Market Market, Nov. 30  I just read about the Black Market Market on Nov. 30, and it sounds like fun. They describe it as “Berlin flea market meets Christmas market” and there will be treats from The Night Oven Bakery. Did you catch my story about the 8 Street China Supermarket? Choo-It Coffee Choo-It is planning to roast coffee and make cold-brewed coffee . With cereal and coffee in their repertoire, it’s almost a complete breakfast. Bialys Comes to Saskat...

Adithya Ramachandran, Kaleidoscope Vegetable Gardens , sent me a message: “If you’re looking for vegan imitation meats, check out the Chinese grocery store on Louise Avenue. They have a freezer full of everything from beef to squid .” Well, I had to check this out, and it’s true that the 8 Street China Supermarket has an amazing collection of imitation meats. The Vegan Lemongrass Chicken is excellent. It’s in a spicy sauce that goes perfectly in a vegetable stir fry over rice. I’ve also purchased a package of Vegan Citrus Spareribs but haven’t tried it yet. Adithya says the Vegan Lemon Chicken was too sweet for his tastes, but his wife is looking forward to trying out the Vegan Sea Cucumbers – she’s more adventurous than I am! The store has lots of other interesting products. I’d like to try the Fresh Dried Guava and the Red Bean Jelly Ice Cream Bars. The Dumplings and Sesame Seed Cakes sound interesting too. If you’re curious or looking for something differen...

New at the Farmers’ Market  Kaleidoscope Vegetable Gardens is selling chickpea microgreens . They are so cute – little feathery leaves – and full of flavour and texture. A great salad addition.  I’m looking forward to trying the Lemon and Hemp Hearts chocolate – this month’s special from Those Girls at the Market . New Products at Dad’s   I spotted a couple of new products at Dad’s Organic Market this week. There was a raw, vegan, organic CheeSauce from Rawfoodz as well as naturally fermented kraut and ginger carrots from Firefly Kitchens . Earth Bound Bakery  How could anyone resist the croissants at Earth Bound Bakery ! The options change frequently, but this week I enjoyed a savoury croissant with squash, sage and cheese and a mango-raspberry-blueberry cheesecake croissant. Delicious. Riversdale Deli Tastings  I watched Chef Darby make wild mushroom risotto at Riversdale Deli this past Saturday. It was very tasty! He pla...