Eat Food!

Bullet Shaped Carrots

Looking for blog inspiration this week, I was struck by a fantastic article in the Calgary Herald, written by my friend and dietician Andrea Holwegner. In it, Andrea writes about how in many families, children are not aware of where their food comes from. While this strikes me as a little sad (re: her line about tiny bullet shaped carrots), I know that it is also quite true. I was lucky enough to have parents and grandparents that taught me about farming and gardening at a young age. However, I can see how that might not be a part of the conversation these days. How do we eat actual nutritious food (i.e. whole, organic, locally grown) without compromising taste or desire to eat it? My friends that are parents can attest to the difficulty of getting their kids to eat anything remotely related to vegetables and resorting to "hiding" them in food that kids will eat (i.e. pureed squash or cauliflower in mac and cheese), never-mind teaching them about how that squash gets into their fridge.

Garden Fresh

My mother-in-law has a very cool tradition with her grandkids at Easter that is both fun for them, and mildly educational. She will purchase a bunch of carrots with the green tops still attached (harder and harder to find, I am told), and bury them in her garden. Then the kids head out Easter morning, and "pick" the carrots for the Easter Bunny. While the ground is likely still frozen in April in Calgary, this tradition teaches the kids that carrots grow in dirt and opens the floor for conversation around the topic. The possible distraction from all of those chocolate eggs present during Easter doesn't hurt either. 


I am interested in your tips to get your spouse, children, parents, to eat more real food? OR, how you educate yourself on the topic? AND, where you buy your real food from? 


One last note; My very favorite food author (or my "food-boyfriend", as my husband calls him) Michael Pollan has 7 poignant words of wisdom: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Sounds good to me, pass it on. 

A Case of The Februarys

Sunshine! Lime Green Salad Varietal Tomatoes From Casey's 

February is not my favorite month. I dream of sunshine and often suffer from that "getaway" feeling. You know, where if you don't getaway to somewhere else, you might tell your colleagues, friends and family to get away from you... Anyway, Spring & Summer here in Calgary are short, and I like to harness some of that delicious brightness by growing some of my own veggies. I started with just a little tomato pot here and there, then moved to a 2' x 5' box, and now I have rented a garden plot from my Community Garden. Last year we had a plethora of potatoes, swiss chard, lettuces, carrots, and kale. It was amazing what that little plot produced for us. To augment the garden supply of veggies, I also lovingly tended to heirloom tomatoes that I started from seed. My seeds came from a fantastic community seed event called Seedy Saturday, and Casey's Heirloom Tomatoes of Airdrie. My unique tomatoes were so beautiful and interesting, and truly tasted amazing. They were perfect in salads, bruschetta, and even just on their own with a little Himalayan pink sea salt. 


A friend recently gave me a cookbook that was compiled by some of her friends and family, and the community of Nelson, BC. (Check it out if you are ever there; Seasonings: A Year of Local Flavour in Words and Recipes). In it, there was a wonderful ode to tomatoes, written by Antonia Banyard. Here is just an excerpt...

JD's Special C-Tex Varietal From Casey's 

"You have flushed with new colours. The light bounces off your curves. The lines on your skin darken from white to yellow to orange. Your smells are so familiar, I could find you with my eyes closed. I know every blemish and wrinkle, every scar. Some of you are misshapen or maturing too quickly. I will keep all of you. I will wait until you ripen. I will take you all in." 

Can you smell that terrific, oh-so-Summer scent of those tomatoes yet? I can't wait for Seedy Saturday to get started on growing some new varietals.

Pass the Bearnaise! Recipe Share

Recently, we were invited to a cook-off dinner party. Before you start imagining Kitchen Stadium or Top Chef style blow-outs, this was a good-natured, friendly competition between friends, about culinary training, and the general enjoyment of cooking beautiful meals. We were all winners for being involved.

The party started with Prosecco (something all parties should start with, in my opinion), and we enjoyed a feast highlighted by Saganaki, private reserve olive tapenade, Spanakopita done with HAND-MADE (!?!) phyllo pastry, secret recipe chicken curry, perfectly done beef tenderloin, and what might possibly be the world's best béarnaise sauce. This meal was the definition of decadence. We even had the luxury of a sommelier in our midst! 

Besides these culinary masterpieces, we were also treated to great conversation with new friends, and old. While it can sometimes be difficult to schedule time for socialization, dinner parties are a perfect excuse. You have to eat! If your evening is topped off by an animated discussion about wine that smelled like garlic sausage (you could have served it with sauerkraut and mustard!), then a good time is sure to be had. Gratitude to all involved. 

I'd like to share with you the Best Simple Béarnaise sauce recipe, brought to you by one of our fantastic chef's, that would like to remain anonymous. His wife says he will usually do the "Béarnaise Walk" around the table about half way through the meal, just to be sure you have had enough. Is there such thing as enough?

Best Simple Béarnaise

• 4 tbsp fresh tarragon
• 3 egg fresh yolks
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 lb unsalted butter
• salt & pepper to taste
• cold water, if necessary

1. Roughly chop fresh tarragon, and crush it gently with a mortar & pestle.

2. Combine tarragon, egg yolks, chicken stock in saucepan over very low heat, whisking vigorously and constantly until thickened and warm.

3. Slowly add butter by spoonfuls, still whisking constantly.

4. Add salt & pepper to taste.

4. If sauce is too thick for your liking, remove from heat and thin with small amounts of very cold water. Serves 4 people very generously, and is good on almost everything. 

Recipe Share: Potato, Cheese & Onion Tart

A few blogs ago, I mentioned in passing, a potato tart. I would like to share this recipe with you, in case you like to impress your friends and family with your culinary masterpieces. This recipe first impressed me in Vancouver over brunch with our very good friends. It might have been the experience, or the smell of the melted Gruyere, but this is one of the best things I have ever tasted. For you purists, don't balk at the use of ready to bake puff pastry or frozen hash browns. They are just time savers, make your own if you want. This recipe is being shared with you, from a beautiful Kitsilano kitchen...

• 2 (9 1/2 by 9-inch) sheets puff pastry, thawed
• 1 1/2 cups of shredded Gruyere cheese
• 4 cups frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
• 6 slices bacon, chopped
• 3 shallots, peeled and sliced thin
• 1teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/3 cup créme fraiche or sour cream
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place puff pastry on baking sheet and press sheets together at the short ends. Brush perimeter with water and fold over to create 3/4-inch border. Poke interior with fork and make horizontal cuts around outer perimeter. Tops with 1 cup cheese and bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, pat potatoes dry with paper towels. Cook bacon in large non-stick skillet over med-high heat until crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towel lined plate. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat. Add shallots and cook until softened, about 1 minute. Stir in potatoes, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until lightly browned, 4-6 minutes. Stir in bacon.

3. Combine créme fraiche and tarragon in small bowl. Top parbaked pastry with potato mixture. Cover with remaining cheese and dollops of créme fraiche mixture. Bake until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Serves 4 people generously.

It really IS good to be close!

Kendall-Jackson Pinot Noir

I'd like to take a moment to write about the importance of good, neighborhood restaurants. The kind that you can go to on a Tuesday or a date-night Friday, and you are always satisfied with the outcome. Near my house, that restaurant is now Stonehill Restaurant & Tavern. We have several choices around; standard Italian, good Vietnamese, dim sum, chains and fast food. But, when Stonehill finally opened, for me, there was a warm glow and choir music surrounding the place. It meant that I no longer had to compromise on experience for food, or wine for price or any of the other concessions that I make when I want to stay close to home. Here is my review of our most recent experience...

Spicy Pork Tacos

We were there to celebrate and without a reservation, and still were welcomed with excellent service, and beautiful cozy booth, and the well-thought-out wine list. A note about wine lists from someone like me, that thinks a $6 house wine cannot possibly be good; I like it when places list their glasses separately from their bottles, I like glass choices besides merlot and cabernet sauvignon, and I REALLY like the Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Pinot Noir. A good wines-by-the-glass list to me says, "Hey, try a few different things!" and "It's ok that your husband doesn't like wine enough to drink a whole bottle with you!" (Yes, I am personifying the wine list, it only really speaks to me after a bottle or two. I digress...). We shared the Spicy Pork Tacos for an appetizer. These are a treat of spicy pulled pork, cilantro and pineapple salsa in tiny little taco shells. For dinner, my Fettuccine with Lamb Ragout and Wild Mushrooms was, simply put, amazing. It was earthy, rich, and even decadent, if you can say that about meat. My husband's Forno Roasted Chicken was a spectacular feast, plated high and served with a well-made, flavourful reduction, and beautiful unique vegetables. Service was great, music was fun, and there was a happy hum to the whole room that said the other guests were having a similar experience to ours. Have I mentioned the wine tower in the middle of the place? Pretty cool, since there is an elevator running up the middle of it. All of this within walking distance to my house. 

Forno Roasted Chicken

I know that some of you live in places where a good meal, I mean a really good meal, is always close at hand. But, for those of you living in the 'burbs like me, where greasy, theme based restaurants abound, it is certainly a pleasant surprise to indulge in something so good, so close to home.

First Coffee, Then Life

This morning, on my way to my day, I sat holding my freshly brewed, deliciously sweet, satisfying and completely blissful cup of coffee. I lovingly looked down on it wondering how anyone could live without this promise that anything could happen... Ok, ok, I understand that I might be placing a little too much emphasis on a cup of coffee. But it did get me thinking about rituals, and how we use these daily, or weekly or seasonal rituals to create positive bubbles in our life, and how often these bubbles are centered on food & drink.

Besides my necessary daily coffee (or NDC, just ask my husband how necessary that coffee actually is),  I often look to create ritual bubbles in a Sunday dinner, or a celebration or habitual seasonal gathering (read: Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas). I must always have some delicious, comforting culinary element to bring it all together. Skating parties must have hot chocolate and cookies. Dinner parties must have appetizers, wine and dessert. Christmas must have an endless array of homemade and purchased (sacrilege!) baking. I think that it gives us something to fawn over, to talk about, a start to a conversation or an end to a long day on your feet. Even if a guest cannot grasp the delicious intricacies of a well-made potato and onion tart with tarragon créme fraiche, or revel in the joy of cracking through the crisp sugar on a créme brûlée, there is still, inevitably, a kind of warmth in the moment; a sense of togetherness in the ritual bubble. And, regardless of what else may be permeating life in general (family feud or fallen soufflé), at least we can sit down to something satiating. 


I would like to know where you find inspiration for your ritual bubble. Do you have favorite traditions, recipes or other comments? What is your NDC? 


Just think, all of this commentary stemmed from just one little, perfect, steaming cup of coffee :)