Wanderlust and Words

Local Happenings If you’re on Broadway, stop by Beppi’s Gelato for Italian coffee and cake. While you’re there, check out the expanded range of groceries. Beppi’s winter hours are Tuesdays to Sundays , 9:30 am to 8:30 pm . Derek Hooper, winemaker and co-owner of Australia’s biodynamic Cape Jaffa wines, will lead a tasting at Blairmore Co-op Wine Spirits Beer on Oct. 18 . These are lovely wines and I highly recommend this event. Don’t miss the pop-up weekend lunch options at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market . They’re often international in flavour and always reasonably priced. Food for Thought For all you farmers who are looking forward to at least a few more restful hours over the winter, here’s Food Tank’s fall reading list . There’s everything from history lessons on wars caused by food shortages and the history of meals in Christianity to school lunches, a New Orleans cookbook, and wild apples/real cider. Grin! “What I have been doing lately, in a fit of lazine...

Saskatoon has the great good fortune to have one of the best farmers’ markets in Canada, and I fail to understand why the City of Saskatoon doesn’t recognize that fact. Year after year, Chatelaine magazine proclaims Saskatoon Farmers’ Market as one of the top 10 markets in Canada. Bloggers rave about it when listing the top things to do and see when visiting Saskatoon. And yet, the City seems determined to force the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Co-operative out of its present year-round, indoor location. The future of the former municipal electrical building site is on City Council agenda again on Monday, September 30, and I will be there to reiterate my support for the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Co-operative. Here’s why. If It’s Not Broken, Don’t Try to Fix It The Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Co-operative has been providing Saskatoon residents with fresh fruit and vegetables since 1975. Over the past 45 years, they’ve expanded from a small outdoor summer-only market to a year-round i...

Local Happenings  Both the Empress Hotel in Victoria and Christ Church Anglican in Saskatoon are 110 years old. But the similarities end there. High tea at the Empress would set you back over $600, while high tea at Christ Church on Sept. 28 with sittings at 1 pm and 3:30 pm is a much more reasonable $25. You have your choice of cakes and goodies at the Farmers’ Market. MODA Cakes is a new venture out of Christie’s Il Secondo . Order a cake online and upload the photograph of your choice to decorate the top. There’s a choice of cake sizes. For something a little less elaborate but with a story to tell, stop by the Mexican Bakery stand. I bought a Pan de Pueblo, which is often served at small town fiestas. I was very impressed by the appetizers served at a Nature Conservancy of Canada event at the Delta Bessborough this past week. The hotel and event organizers made sure that at least half the appetizers were vegetarian or vegan. The tofu skewers and mushroom tarts w...

It’s a pleasure to walk into a vegan/vegetarian restaurant and be able to order absolutely anything on the menu – no more being confined to one or two token vegetarian options. Yay! Thai at 152 2nd Avenue South is Saskatoon’s newest vegetarian restaurant. It’s a bright, colourful space. I particularly appreciated the tropical mural and the children’s area with small tables and chairs. Dishes on the menu range from green curry and pad thai to appetizers, soups and tac’o bao – Asian steamed bun tacos. A Thai chef helped them establish their menu items. Asian cuisine incorporates lots of mushrooms, mostly fresh, so you’ll find vegan calamari made with oyster mushrooms and a bun taco with stir-fried wild mushrooms. They also plan to serve chaga mushroom latte made with mushroom powder (no caffeine). I had the Bangkok Pad Thai with rice noodles, bean sprouts, crispy tofu, garlic chives, preserved radish and fried onion, topped with roasted almonds, tamarind sauce, and a squeeze ...

Local Happenings  TCU Place and Saskatoon Co-op Wine Spirits and Beer are hosting a Wine Expo on Sept. 27 and 28 with over 200 wines from 50 exhibitors. The sour cherry vanilla jam from The Night Oven Bakery is really yummy! It’s not cheap, but there’s local organic fruit in every mouthful. Recipes  Sarah Galvin ( Foodcraft by Sarah ) shares recipes using eggplants . I plan to try the smoky eggplant soup. How interesting to know that eggplants originated in India and still grow wild there. Food for Thought  At an organic farmers’ market in Japan, “Takako Yoshino weaves past stalls brimming with fruit and vegetables, greeting farmers and customers. She answers a question from a market volunteer and then heads to a small table to shake hands with a young man who wants to talk about how to become a farmer. For the founder and manager of the 15-year-old weekly market that serves as a hub for a growing network of organic farmers, customers and apprentice farmers,...

Local Happenings CHEP ’s Good Food Mobile Market Bus launches Sept. 10 . They’ll be bringing fresh, low-cost food to King George, Downtown, Sutherland, and Nutana neighbourhoods on Tuesdays . Night Oven Bakery is now open 7 days a week. Sunday hours are 9 am-4 pm . Margot Hurlbert, Canada Research Chair in Climate Change, Energy and Sustainability Policy, will speak on climate change, land, and food from 10:30 am-12 pm , Sept. 13 . The Friends of the Forestry Farm House are holding a harvest dinner with seatings at 5 and 7 pm , Oct. 6 . Email c.bear@sasktel.net or call 306.373.1787 to reserve. Slow Food Saskatoon is holding a fundraising dinner featuring local and northern bounty on Oct. 6 . Food for Thought What are your daycare options if you are vegan or vegetarian and want to ensure your child receives healthy meals at day care/preschool? With Chef Justin O'Reilly , formerly of Nosh restaurant on Broadway, in the kitchen at the Building Brains Early L...

Local Happenings Do you have an over-abundance of garden produce? The Saskatchewan Nursing Student Association of Saskatoon will help you harvest it and see that it’s distributed to people in need. Email sponsorship.snsas@gmail.com to make arrangements. Learn the basics of mushroom cultivation for lion's mane and shiitake mushrooms at a workshop hosted by Moss Mama from 7-9 pm , Sept. 19 . Celebrate Seabuckthorn Days and Pumpkin Fest on Sept. 14 and 15 . Saskatoon Co-op Wine Spirits and Beer is hosting a whole range of events over the coming months with wines from Italy, France, South Africa, and the United States. Check it out. Prairie Sun Brewery expects to open its new facility on Oct. 5 . It will include a pet-friendly side room, a tap room with 48 beers, and a restaurant, along with a large area for brewing beer. There will be reminders of the site’s past as the Farnam Block and Lydia’s: “bricks retained from Lydia's will adorn a second-floor bar, while ti...

“ Curiouser and curiouser the world makes me curiouser I’ve so many dreams that come and go Why is it so? Does no one know?” “Curiouser and Curiouser” Tall and white when they first emerge, Shaggy Mane mushrooms soon transform as they autodigest, turning into a black gooey liquid. “The spores aren't digested , however. They are released in the liquid and exposed to air currents, enabling them to be carried to new areas.” You can see why they are also known as Inky Cap mushrooms. Another name is Lawyers Wig . Percy Bysshe Shelley, included 4 lines about Shaggy Mane mushrooms in his poem, The Sensitive Plant (the lines were omitted from later versions of the poem). They’re a bit morbid! “Their mass rotted off them flake by flake,  Till the thick stalk stuck like a murderer's stake,  Where rags of loose flesh yet tremble on high,  Infecting the winds that wander by.” “It’s Delightful” No, it’s not spring blossom. Unlike the Manitoba Maple, ...