Month: July 2009

Food Notes for July 20, 2009

The City Centre Market has invited me to kick off market day this Saturday, July 25 by ringing a bell up and down the lines of stalls. Past “bellringers” this year have included Mayor Mandel and Geoff Linden of Credo Coffee. I’m so honoured to have been asked, and excited for the opportunity! Now on to this week’s food notes:

  • Liane Faulder broke stories about two new restaurants in the works. First, Nate Box, formerly of the Sugar Bowl, will be launching a new eatery in October in the space currently occupied by Hulbert’s, which is closing in July. Look for a menu featuring local food.
  • Liane also posted today about Health Fare’s second location in the Adecco Building downtown. It will be a fantastic location for them, and the best thing? They will support ordering via text messaging.
  • Scott McKeen wrote a story about Credo Coffee and Axis Cafe – will 104th and Jasper become a great coffee juncture in Edmonton?
  • This New York writer is so over cupcakes. Though Edmonton is far from cupcakery-saturation, I know some in the city are feeling like their patience for cupcakes is waning.
  • Tim Horton’s has moved into the U.S. How will Americans warm to the Canadian institution?
  • At Superstore last week I spied a new culinary-focused publication called The Food Magazine. With Bon Appetit and Gourmet struggling to stay afloat, it’s rather gutsy for the magazine to launch at this time. That said, it’s focus on well-known stars of the food world does match with the public’s increasing thirst for cooking stories and techniques from chef-turned-celebrities.
  • Bazaar asked an interesting question – are there certain products you feel you cannot buy generic? Heinz ketchup and Kraft peanut butter are two for me.
  • Mack and I had a quick dinner at Elephant & Castle before Food, Inc. last week. I haven’t been there in a while, but boy, was the food disappointing. Mack’s plate of fish and chips was lined with an admittedly novel E & C “newspaper”, but that was nearly all that was good with his dish. The gravy atop my chicken pot pie was a mistake – it made the potentially crispy crust soggy all the way through.

 

Fish and Chips

 

Chicken Pot Pie

  • My coworker offered to split an order of food from the African Somali Restaurant (101, 10610 105 Street, 780-423-6614) about a block away from our office on Friday. I have never been there (my usual haunts are in Chinatown), but I have to say it was quite good. This was my first experience with goat – stewed, it had a mild flavour but a texture similar more to beef than anything else. The “Somali rice” was really the star of the show though – my coworker said it had been soaked, cooked with a number of spices, then finished in the oven. Whatever the technique, it was delicious.

 

Goat, Somali rice and salad ($12)

Sharing the Breyers Love

A marketing company working with Breyers Ice Cream contacted me to ask if I wanted to sample three new flavours they launched this summer. The “bakery-inspired” Double Churn varieties include Dark Chocolate Velvet, Banana Cream Pie and Chocolate Cheesecake. I happily accepted, knowing my sisters would gladly join the tasting.

In addition to three full-value coupons, I also received a sharing kit complete with petite bowls, spoons, and a page of suggestions on how to share the love with ice cream. Though a few of the ideas were intriguing, including a banana cream bellini freeze (blend a scoop of banana cream pie ice cream with a quarter cup of peach nectar and a cup of ice) and ice cream shooters, I decided to share the love with our very own mix-in bar.

A trip to the bulk aisle of Save-On yielded gummy bears, dark chocolate M & Ms and vanilla Clodhoppers, perfect mix-ins for Double Churn Chocolate Cheesecake and Caramel Fudge Ice Creams. We had picked up Dark Chocolate Velvet on a different occasion, and though we did our best to locate Banana Cream Pie – visits to several retailers across the city were fruitless.

Breyers Caramel Fudge and Chocolate Cheesecake

Mix-ins!

With swirls throughout the box, Chocolate Cheesecake was the most eye pleasing. As I am not a fan of cheesecake, I appreciated that the cheesecake notes weren’t overpowering. My Mum in particular liked this flavour.

Ready to eat

Mack and Amanda leaned more towards the Caramel Fudge variety, enjoying the ribbons of caramel and chewy fudge pieces buried amongst the vanilla ice cream.

 

Amanda loves ice cream! (and her vintage Oilers sweatshirt)

My favourite was hands down the Dark Chocolate Velvet – I was a little afraid it would be too rich for my taste, but I think the extra creaminess and real cocoa helped temper the sweetness.

With my bowl of Breyers

We did find that the ice cream melted really quickly though – meaning that unless you tend to inhale food (*cough*Mack*cough*), you will be risking the emergence of a puddle before you’ve had a chance to savour your dessert. As well, although the ice cream was perfectly smooth and easy to scoop out of a freshly opened package, for whatever reason (including, perhaps, a too-cold freezer), it was rock hard on subsequent occasions.

I would buy the Dark Chocolate Velvet flavour in the future, particularly for a girls night in. Thanks Breyers for the samples!

Farm Visit: Nature’s Green Acres

On Monday afternoon, I had the privilege of accompanying Chef Sebastian Lysz to meet one of his clients. Since leaving Devlin’s in March due to a carpal tunnel-related ailment, Sebastian has started a culinary consulting company called Relish.

We drove to Viking, just under two hours east of Edmonton to meet Danny and Shannon Ruzicka of Nature’s Green Acres. The Ruzickas have two young children (with another on the way) and have been farming for about six years. They currently raise cattle, pigs and chickens, mostly for direct sale. As a small family farm, they are working with Sebastian to grow their capacity over the next year, and hope to supply several Edmonton restaurants with their products beginning in the fall, in addition to eventually having a weekly presence at the city’s farmers’ markets.

Shannon and Danny Ruzicka (their dog Nash crashed the photo)

All of their animals are hormone free, pasture-raised and grass fed. With the dry weather conditions up until last week, the Ruzickas were certain they would have been forced to fold if rain hadn’t arrived (hay bales are up to $200 each). Although I had read stories about the drought affecting farmers, hearing Shannon and Danny’s story firsthand made it all the more real.

Shannon points out an area of pasture still crunchy and brown

Shannon and Danny were more than happy to provide a tour of the farm – the transparency of it all was so refreshing. We started with the pigs – 20 animals contained within a movable pen, with continuous access to water. The pen is hitched to a truck at least twice a day to be moved, which ensures the pigs have access to fresh greenery.

Moving the pig pen

Seeing the pigs swish their tails around, ecstatic with fresh grass available, I thought back to Joel Salatin’s comment about how animals are happy when they are able to do the things they were naturally meant to do. I had no doubt that these pigs looked happy.

Four month old pigs

Next up were the cattle. Their 31 cattle have a large run of the land, and obviously require the most space of all the animals. As their farm totals 480 acres, just how much land is required to support the grass-fed approach blew my mind – such a contrast to the industrial system of grain-fed CAFOs.

Cattle out in the field

Nature’s Green Acres is the only farm to produce what they call “nouveau beef”. Instead of butchering the cattle at the conventional 18-20 months, they are butchered at a much younger age – 6 months, in fact. The result is very tender beef with naturally less fat.

What are you looking at?

Our last stop was a viewing of an area of their land that archaeologists have said may have been a buffalo jump at some point. With a pool of water at the valley’s base and an uninterrupted view of green, Shannon brought up a novel idea of holding an outdoor barbecue on the site – similar in nature to vineyards hosting meals in the orchard itself. Sebastian and I thought it was a great concept – I will definitely be posting details of the dinner if it happens on my blog.

Potential buffalo jump

Shannon and Danny were beyond hospitable – they did not just invite us onto the farm and into their home, but also prepared a hearty, home-cooked meal for us. Barbecued rib steaks with mustard, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil were served with a sage onion compote alongside mashed potatoes and an apple, avocado and feta salad. The steaks were by far the star of the meal, undeniably tender and flavourful.

Visiting farmers’ markets and speaking with producers firsthand are one thing, but seeing the land that allows it all to happen is something else entirely. Thanks to Shannon and Danny for their hospitality and allowing me a peek into their daily lives – I certainly have a greater appreciation for where my food comes from. And thanks of course to Sebastian for taking me along for the ride!

Watch my blog for updates about when products from Nature’s Green Acres are available in the city – at restaurants and beyond.

Film: “Food, Inc.”

Mack and I had the chance to attend an advance screening of Food, Inc. at the newly-overhauled Empire City Centre Cinemas on Wednesday night (the theatres look great by the way – seats where the springs aren’t loose, plus stadium-style seating!). A nearly full house took in director Robert Kenner’s look at the pitfalls of the industrial system of agriculture and its ramifications on an unsuspecting public, including obesity, food safety and environmental degradation.

Anyone who has read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma or Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation will not find anything surprising in the movie, as Pollan and Schlosser act as the narrative backbone for Food, Inc. However, it is worth seeing for the inglorious visuals alone – the overhead shots of CAFOs, the dire conditions in claustrophobic chicken houses, and the assembly lines of mechanized meat factory workers.

On one hand, the scope of the film is admirable to encourage awareness of issues on a grand scale. But touching on everything from corn to tainted meat to Monsanto’s seed monopoly meant the film wasn’t as coherent as it could have been. In addition, several tangential storylines seemed unnecessary to me, such as the raids of illegal immigrants and the family struggling to feed itself well on a low-income. That time could have easily been spent providing more detail on some of the more central material.

Someone like Mack, who watched the movie with further distance from the subject than me, was hungry for facts, and commented that like other documentaries focused on getting a rise out of the audience, it played too much to the viewer’s emotion. He wished for more balance of fact and reason. Mack did really like the piece on the Stonyfield Farms CEO working with Wal-Mart – though some might frown at that partnership, it does make some sense to take organics mainstream, especially if it means reducing growth of the alternative.

My biggest criticism of the movie (echoed by Ron Berezan during the Q & A following the screening) was the lack of explicit actions empowered consumers could take. Particularly because the film was billed as containing some “opportunities for activism”, the lines of black-screen text suggestions were put together as seeming afterthoughts. Why didn’t they show consumers making deliberate choices at local farmers’ markets or growing their own food, and end with a resonating vision of what’s possible? While it’s true that the movie is just a catalyst, and that further education would have to follow, listing a website address before the credits just seems like a cop-out.

At the end of the day, I don’t know if this film will reach the wide audience that it should, but the fact that it is getting attention from the mainstream media is a positive step.

Food, Inc. premieres in Edmonton on July 17 at the Garneau Theatre.

The Cooking Chronicles: Udon with Tofu and Spinach

The second recipe I had my eye on that employed the tofu and spinach leftover from our salad the night previous can be found in the June/July issue of Food Network Magazine. Having never cooked with udon noodles before, the dish of udon with tofu and Asian greens caught my eye.

I wanted a broth more substantial than fortified cooking water, so heated up about three-quarters of a cup of chicken soup for each of us to serve as a base. Other than that, I followed the instructions fairly closely. I had forgotten how fragrant simmering sesame oil could be (as I seared the slices of tofu), and as it perfumed the kitchen, it set up a wonderful anticipation for the meal.

Udon with Tofu and Asian Greens

Mack much preferred the tofu in this dish, though as a whole, most warm meals would win his vote over cold salads any day. He especially liked the wilted spinach greens, and the spicy kick from the chili flakes. I was happy with how easy the meal was to prepare, and though we copped out with pre-cooked udon this time, I wouldn’t hesitate to take the extra effort for uncooked udon noodles next time.

This recipe is definitely a keeper in our kitchen!

The Cooking Chronicles: Warm Spinach and Mushroom Salad

Mack hates tofu. I love tofu. This tends to put our meal planning a little at odds, particularly when I am craving tofu.

While Mack has been amenable to the deep fried cubes of tofu typically included in an Asian hot pot spread, my personal favourite variety are the firm yet silky squares of fresh tofu. We have a wonderful local producer of tofu – Ying Fat in Chinatown (which Brulee Blog wrote a great post about), and really, any easy-to-prepare alternative to meat protein is always a welcome addition to my kitchen.

I earmarked two recipes to experiment with in order to test the tofu waters, so to speak, with Mack. The first was a warm spinach salad recipe from Company’s Coming Cooking at Home.

I tossed some Edgar Farms spinach with sautéed brown mushrooms, a light vinaigrette, and cubes of tofu that had been marinated in the same vinaigrette for an hour. I had thrown the tofu into the skillet containing the mushrooms to warm it gently just before serving, which suited the dish as a whole better, in my opinion.

Warm Spinach and Mushroom Salad

The marinade didn’t seem to penetrate the tofu at all however, and I could have done without that step. I really enjoyed the vinaigrette though (made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, grainy mustard, honey, garlic, salt and pepper), and can see myself using it as a base for other salads. Lastly, some freshly grated parmesan would have provided a needed savoury aspect. Mack’s opinion: after his hesitant first bite, he said the texture was still a bit off for him. He did finish his plate though!

A light summer meal, this salad has a quick turnaround time, but is hearty enough to satisfy warm-weather hunger pangs.

Food Notes for July 14, 2009

Apologies for being a day late with my food notes. But sometimes, life gets in the way.

  • My first attempt at “growing” something isn’t going too well – my basil have been overrun by aphids. The ironic thing is – Mack’s balcony is usually a haven for ladybugs…except when I need them most. A few people have suggested spraying the plants with a heavily diluted water and dish detergent spray, which I have done. I hope that helps, but I am open to other suggestions!
  • Original Fare’s discount dining days, also called Fork Fest, starts next week. It runs from July 19-23 and 26-30, with fixed course meals offered at $20 and $35 price points. Notoriously slow with menu information, scope out your picks and make recommendations once all the information is up.
  • The Journal kicked off their spotlight on CSAs on Sunday, with three feature articles by Sheila Pratt. She spent some time with Graham Sparrow of Sparrow’s Nest Organics (it surprised me to learn they only offer 35 shares in their farm). Watch on Wednesday for Liane’s first of a series of recipes inspired by their weekly produce delivery.
  • The latest issue of Alberta Views is focused on food, and contains a local food guide, and a great piece by Kris Vester, a young Carstairs farmer who shares his experience supplying the city with sustainably grown produce.
  • Chris from Eating is the Hard Part checked out Edmonton’s newest cupcakery this weekend – Cake Couture.
  • Cyrilles Koppert and his revamped tapas menu at Manor Cafe was featured in the Journal over the weekend (I’m still waiting for the new website though!).
  • Isabelle over at The Little Red Kitchen spent some time with the ladies behind the Eatery at the ARTery, and will have some behind-the-scenes pictures up on her blog soon.
  • A reminder that Kerstin’s Chocolates’ The Cocoa Room is closing for the month of August because of the heat – while Chocophilia is available online and through other stores, there’s nothing like a trip through temptation.
  • Mack and I stopped by Vi’s for Pies for dessert along our after-dinner walk last week. We sampled their oreo cake. Made with layers of pound cake, it wasn’t exactly a light item, but it was enjoyable. We couldn’t figure out what gave the dessert its name, however, besides the token chocolate-drizzled cookie on top.

Oreo Cake from Vi’s for Pies

Slow Food Edmonton’s 4th Annual Wild Boar and Beer BBQ

Sunshine (and a steady breeze) flooded the skies for Slow Food Edmonton’s 4th Annual Wild Boar and Beer BBQ today, held at Alley Kat Brewery.

Wild Boar and Beer BBQ

I had helped with some of the early promotion, including putting together a scavenger hunt, but this was my first time attending the event. I found it to be well-organized, complete with volunteers directing cars to parking spaces.

All of Alley Kat’s beers were on tap, and attendees were not limited in the number of glasses they could drink. I stuck with my tried and true favourite of Aprikat (which, upon further inspection of the label, reads “beer cooler”), while Mack cooled off with Charlie Flint’s Original Lager.

Beer!

In addition to beer, our $35 ticket also granted us one heaping plate of food, all sourced locally. Chef Sebastian Lysz put together a menu that included: wild boar from Hog Wild Specialties with accompanying mustard from Walden Foods, tomato, mixed greens, mushroom and coleslaw salads from Greens Eggs and Ham, Lola Canola Honey and Morinville Greenhouses, bread from Tree Stone Bakery, Pinocchio ice cream and Saskatoon berry tarts.

 

Buffet-style line-up

 

Boar carving station

 

Mack helps himself

The boar didn’t taste gamey at all, and was moist and nicely marbled all the way through. Up against pork, however, I’m not sure I would have been able to taste the difference. Mack preferred the crunchy, gristly bits of the end-pieces.

 

Our plates

For our meal, we were privy to the company of Lea and her husband Rob, and Jim and his wife Elaine. Thanks for the conversation about food and travels!

Dawn Desmarais and her band provided entertainment all afternoon, a mix of covers and original songs, seemingly all dedicated to her ex-boyfriends. Perhaps it was a joke that we missed.

 

Dawn Desmarais

I also had the chance to meet Maria, the winner of the boar and beer scavenger hunt.

 

With Maria, who isn’t the slightest bit camera shy!

After our meal, we decided to take advantage of the tours being offered of Alley Kat’s microbrewery. As an employee of Labatt recently relayed that they can do what Alley Kat does in a year in three days, it helped put the craft brewing business in perspective. All of the stages of their beer production are far from automated, and it was interesting to be able to see all of the work that goes into a bottle of Alley Kat Beer.

 On the tour

 

Bottling and packing area

Thanks to Tara of Slow Food Edmonton for spearheading the work, Neil and the rest of the staff at Alley Kat for hosting, and to the volunteers and producers who made Wild Boar and Beer possible. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Not Our Kettle of Fish: Hook

Mack came up with the title.

Although “seafood” isn’t a dirty word, certain varieties of fish, including bluefin tuna and chilean sea bass are heading in that direction. I readily acknowledge that I need to learn more about sustainable seafood practices, and while eating in a restaurant doesn’t necessarily provide education, I found Hook to be at least cognizant of the need for change.

Hook

Located on a busy Georgetown street, Hook’s subdued blue awning could be easily missed. The tiny storefront gave way to a long, rectangular space, loosely divided into a small front dining area, a bar, and a larger dining room in the back. Décor was minimal, but helped establish a serene sense of being – white light fixtures, sealife art, polished hardwood.

Mack at Hook

We were seated in the front, sandwiched between a glass pane that separated the host from our table, and another table that bordered the storefront window. It was a little distracting, having to see and hear other patrons as they arrived and were greeted, but the rear dining area probably wasn’t much better – the floor echoed the conversation in the room.

The menu was obviously seafood focused, with a token chicken and beef entrée available to placate those unable or unwilling to eat seafood. Our server was keen to answer our questions, particularly when it came to decoding the varieties of fish we were less familiar with. However, his efficiency bordered on annoying during our meal, as he literally stood behind us and waited for clean plates to clear. Surveillance dining is not for us.

We decided to start with an order of the grilled calamari with potato salad and basil walnut pesto, which the server promised would be amazing. Our entrees were based entirely upon our desire to try a new type of fish and our server’s depiction of them. I ended up with a prosciutto-wrapped lingcod, which was likened to most other white fish, while Mack chose moonfish, described as being “pink”, which we compared to the flesh colour of salmon.

While we waited for our appetizers, we munched on slices of baguette. Instead of butter or perhaps olive oil and balsamic vinegar, we were given a bowl of mayonnaise to accompany our bread – needless to say, we chose to enjoy our bread unadorned.

Bread course

The calamari plate was plumped up with a fair quantity of potato side. I have never been a fan of squid’s chewy consistency, but Mack was impressed by the contrasting flavours – the slightly charred tips, and the tang of a citrus finish.

Grilled Calamari

Both of our entrees contained a fair amount of fish. My lingcod was tender, but in terms of flavour, was nothing special. I’m not sure I would have been able to distinguish this variety from others. The underlying gnocchi was actually the star of the plate anyway, and easily rivalled Proof’s meltingly delicious dumplings.

Lingcod with Gnocchi

Unfortunately, Mack had a terrible experience with his fish – it turned out our server’s definition of “pink” fish spoke more to the cooking technique of simply searing the fish, leaving the core of the steak raw. He probably should have sent it back to request that it be cooked through, but he managed to finish most of it.

Moonfish

Dessert was a chocolate tart with ice cream and caramel. Made by “DC’s Pastry Chef of the Year”, it was indeed a decadent desert, the richness of the chocolate cut through by the salt and caramel. This was a savoury-sweet combination I enjoyed thoroughly.

Chocolate Tart

With our billfold we were given a handy pocket-sized copy of The Blue Ocean Institute’s Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood. It listed, in descending order, types of seafood that are relatively abundant, with fishing or farming methods that cause relatively little damage to habitat and other wildlife, with species containing high levels of mercury or PCBs clearly marked. It is a great resource to have (and one which I now keep with me at all times), but for a restaurant that prides itself on sustainable sourcing (and to some extent, education of the consumer), this guide should have either been provided at the beginning of the meal, or incorporated into the menu somehow.

As a whole, our meal at Hook was the least memorable of our restaurant experiences in DC.

Hook
3241 M St NW
Washington, DC
(202) 625-4488

“Food, Inc.” Edmonton Premiere

I’ve been looking forward to the Edmonton premiere of Food, Inc. since I started reading about the buzz surrounding the movie at its June 12 premiere in New York (NYT review here). Michael Pollan of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defence of Food fame narrates, so those who have read either of those books will likely already anticipate the film’s content and thesis. For those who aren’t familiar with his work, here is a synopsis of Food, Inc.:

“You are what you eat. It is a simple expression that bears scary implications as you watch the acclaimed documentary, Food, Inc. Director Robert Kenner draws upon the searing reportage of authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) to explore how modern developments in food production pose grave risks to our health and environment. These writers aren’t radicals or even vegetarians (Schlosser admits that his favourite meal is a hamburger and fries), but they are crusaders when it comes to exposing problems and naming offenders. There are stories of heartbreak and outrage, but the film carefully channels these emotions towards opportunities for activism. Watching Food, Inc. gives you a strong appetite for better meals.”

If you have been as eager to see the movie as I have been, you will also be excited to know that there is a special screening taking place on Wednesday, July 15 at 7pm at Empire City Centre Cinemas, and I have been provided with 5 double-guest passes by a company representing Alliance Films in Alberta to give away! Following the screening there will be a Q & A with a special guest panel featuring food experts, including Ron Berezan, The Urban Farmer.

If you are available and interested in attending, please leave a comment with a valid e-mail address below (in the e-mail address field, not the comment itself) by noon on July 12. I will randomly select five names and contact the winners by e-mail on Sunday evening.

Good luck!

Food, Inc.
Classification: PG (Mature Subject Matter)
Premieres in Edmonton on July 17 at the Garneau Theatre