Wanderlust and Words

Local Happenings  Head out to Black Fox Farm & Distillery on Wednesday nights for live music, cocktails, and a tour. Each week will feature a new cocktail. Plan ahead and reserve your spot for wreath-making classes in late November and early December. Spice up your week with chili peppers from Grandora Gardens – from mild, to medium, to off-the-scale. Recipes  Here’s an unexpected way to make bread pudding by putting the bread and milk through the food processor (and then adding figs and walnuts). Food for Thought Whole Foods has announced their top 10 food trends for 2020 , including new nut butters and vegan spreads, fruit and vegetable flours, foods from West Africa, and non-alcoholic drinks. If you’re interested in France, I highly recommend A Bite-Sized History of France by Stéphane Hénaut and Jeni Mitchell. Starting in prehistoric times, the book links food and history in a series of short anecdotes. You’ll find out why we should thank Charlemagne

Local Happenings  Dennis Skoworodko of Our Farm will teach you how to make sauerkraut in a fermentation workshop at MakeSpace from 9:30-11 am , Oct. 26 . Celebrate Hallowe’en Mexican style with Pan de Muerto from the Mexican Bakery at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. Or, enjoy a kiss of strawberry or Saskatoon berry jam with one of their Besos. I’m delighted that Dad’s Organic Market is now carrying some Miyoko’s vegan cheeses made from fermented cashew cream. They’re the best of the bunch in my opinion, especially the smoked and aged farmhouse cheeses. Of course, you may prefer a regular dairy cheese. In which case, I highly recommend Saskatoon Spruce ’s cheese. Be sure to try the smoked variety, which has lots and lots of flavour. Have you tried Black Fox Farm & Distillery ’s haskap gin? It incorporates haskap berries from boreal forests around the world. A percentage of the profits goes to the Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

What’s not to like? It’s Canadian. It’s part of a small family-owned chain of hotels. It showcases the prairies. And it’s in a great location. Alt Hotel Saskatoon is located across the street from Persephone Theatre and Remai Modern and right beside the riverbank. Choose the right room and you could lounge on your bed while enjoying the fireworks displays. There’s a building site next door at the moment – but not for long. Plans are in place for paths winding their way between grassy banks and around a pond with fountains. I was fortunate to be invited to Alt Hotel Saskatoon’s grand opening and benefited from a private tour of the facilities. There’s a lounge and pool table at the back of the main floor. On the second floor, there’s a series of conference rooms, all with huge floor-to-ceiling windows, built-in AV equipment, and whole walls set up as whiteboards. There’s also a gym on the third floor. We looked at 3 of the hotel rooms. They’re not large, but they’re we

Local Happenings  Bulk Basket , Saskatoon’s “local, sustainable, package-free grocer,” is moving to 401 20th Street West in Riversdale. They buy Saskatchewan products whenever possible and provide a discount to those who need it most. Boffins at Innovation Place will close its doors on November 15 . It’s disappointing as it’s a beautiful space with a lovely outdoor patio and a great location beside the pond/garden. “ Second Chance Food Saskatoon is an ad-hoc committee dedicated to reducing food waste in Saskatoon. Comprised of members from various local food security, poverty, and waste reduction focused agencies, Second Chance Food seeks to advocate for and enable mechanisms that increase donation of surplus food, and encourage a more sustainable food system in our city.” I chatted with Coralee Abbott and Daryl Grunau about City Perks ’ new venture last week. Sparrow will have slightly more seating than City Perks. But the big plus is a full-size commercial kitchen with

Local Happenings City Perks will be opening a second coffee shop, Sparrow , at 536 2nd Avenue North in December. The Glen at Crossmount is hosting Prairie Pours , a showcase of Saskatchewan-made alcoholic beverages from 5-10 pm , Oct. 18 . I was pleased to find a Solo Italia frozen pizza at Safeway last week. Solo Italia Fine Pasta is located in Ogema, SK, and makes wood oven pizzas and pastas. This was definitely the best frozen pizza crust I’ve ever had, but at $16 it wasn’t cheap. If you’re looking for a good bottle of Canadian wine, here are the winners of the BC Lieutenant Governor’s Wine Awards for 2018 . Food for Thought  Ranjan Datta, a board director for Saskatoon Open Door Society and Saskatchewan Multi-cultural Council, has written an account of how the University Community Garden has been able to address food insecurity, reconciliation, and cross-cultural understanding . The Canadian Love Food Hate Waste website has lots of information for those of us

There have been interesting parallels between some of the books I’ve read recently. Life Abroad  Lost and Found in Spain: Tales of an Ambassador’s Wife by Susan Lewis Solomont is brimming with American self-confidence. She is convinced of the relevance and value of their years in Spain and it sounds idyllic: staff to pave the way, banquets and travel, opportunities to use her own professional expertise. There are even opportunities to share American cuisine – hot dogs are the highlight of one July 4 celebration. Jay Martin has a very different story to tell of her years as an Australian diplomat’s wife in Poland. Vodka and Apple Juice: Travels of an Undiplomatic Wife in Poland is on the one hand a travelogue outlining her voyages around the country and her struggles to learn the language. On the other hand, it’s the story of a marriage unravelling as her husband is dragged down by the workload and Martin fails to find a satisfactory outlet for her own professional expertis