Tag Archives: Food

Fresh Turkey: Breaking Thanksgiving Tradition

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Thanksgiving traditions are treasured. Thinking back though, I realize that it has been a very long time since I had a traditional Thanksgiving. Hearing people discuss their plans for the upcoming weekend of feasts had me feeling a bit dejected for the past few weeks. If you share this circumstance or have occasionally caught your lower lip jutting out towards self-pity in recent days, take heart. I am here to tell you that missing out on all the usual trimmings really isn’t the same thing as missing out on all the fun.

The Gumboot proclaimed winner of the ‘war of the holidays’ earns its crown for many reasons. Many of those things that make Thanksgiving so favored are conspicuously absent from what has become my atypical Thanksgiving.  If upholding tradition is an option, it is still probably the best option but, if not, there is still hope for your Thanksgiving weekend to be full of all the warmth and happiness it’s meant to bring.

Coming from a large matriarchal family, my Italian grandmother and her many daughters (my mom and aunts) have always been counted on to orchestrate incredible feats of holiday gatherings where food and family take center stage. Thanksgiving, however, has become the exception to this rule since the year my family elders decided they would rather roast themselves in the Palm Springs sun than roast turkeys to feed 40 people.

Since the first abandonment occurred, I have been launched from my cozy continuum of consumption and into an experiment of creating my own holiday rules. Each year a new occasion has been invented or discovered. One year was an Oregon art gallery where many new friends were eagerly introduced to the Canadian version of a holiday they also love. Another year was a potluck pool party with all the fixins. Another was simply a long table in a tiny apartment packed with close friends. Whether they were spent with old friends or new, these deviations from the thanksgiving norm that I grew up with have been filled with good company, delicious food, and the thrill of breaking free from the norm and creating something new.

The emptiness left by a tradition lost can seem much more difficult to fill than that of a hungry belly. But losing one isn’t always an occasion to grieve. It can also be an opportunity to create new experiences that will stand out from the repetition of other holidays and to create something truly memorable and soul filling. The hunt is on for this year’s adventure. I’m still not sure what it will be, but I am certain that I will find a sense of community, if not a sense of tradition, wherever I wind up.

School lunch – tastier than I remember

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For the past few weeks I’ve been deployed to Churchill Secondary School with other VSB exempt staff. We’ve been tasked with supervising school lunch. Each day I arrive at 11:40 and plant myself in front of the lunch line. When the bell rings, the lunch room is swamped by hundreds hungry of students. Kids come from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures. The lunch line quickly grows as kids pile in to pick up their lunch.

The options are numerous. In addition to the burgers and pizzas one might expect, there’s also great soups and chopped salads, Chinese dumpling soup, chowmein, spicy chicken Caesar salad, daily-made sandwiches and pasta. In fact the local lunch cooks are empowered to occasionally bring their culture cooking-styles to the table. Things like French fries and corndogs are still sold, but they are baked (not fried). In fact the kitchen apparently tossed out their deep-fryer years ago. In the vending machines students can purchase healthy snacks. No coca-cola allowed.

It is a long way from some of the horror stories I’ve seen on Jamie Oliver’s infamous Jamie’s School Lunches. Certainly not a lot of the reheated crap that made England’s school lunches so famous and sparked such a reform campaign.

Still, after talking with lunch staff, the battles stay the same. Keeping cost down and preparing food that will be eaten (rather than ignored) seem to be as important here as they are in England. According to the Churchill lunch cooks, it can be a fine balance to find something that checks both the healthy box and the “kid friendly” box.

This afternoon I sampled the spicy chicken Caesar and I gotta say I was impressed. The salad was fresh and the chicken flavourful. In fact it seemed to be particularly popular among the students.

Certainly feels like a long way from the deep fried chicken strips I remember in my youth.

CLJ Reviews Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

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What We Read

This month, Vancouver’s Circle of Literary Judgement read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (with Steven L. HoppKingsolver) and Camille Kingsolver. The story – a non-fiction narrative that follows the path of the Vegetannual through the seasons – chronicles The Kingolver Clan’s locavore experiment, which saw the family live from the local culinary bounty produced by their multi-acre farm (and revenue generated by two decades of best-selling novels) in Virginia. Barbara Kingsolver (BK herein) provides the – ahem – meat of the story, revealing her passion for food, her instructive advice on how to grow/raise food, and her commitment to changing the way people (specifically educated women who are over 45, have healthy disposable income, and who probably live in a rural community) think about food and where it somes from. BK’s stories of asparagus, tomatoes and turkeys are nicely supplemented by info-boxes about sustainable local food procuring from Steven Hopp and recipes from Camille Kingsolver (CK herein).

What We Did

With food at the centre of the book we made food the centre of book club! An hommage to Iron Chef was our activity of choice. Team Kitchen took on Team BBQ in a battle to build creative, delicious, local, fair, and organic dishes that reflected key themes from the book. The cooking took about 90 minutes and the final products were absolutely exceptional.

In terms of ingredients, I provided some basics (potatoes, tomatoes, herbs and spices, flour, yeast, water, milk, etc.) and then each team had to select twenty dollars worth of items from another list of options (eggs, fruit, alcohol, cheese, fish, etc.). The secret ingredients were chicken and rabbit (from my parents’ home in Merville on Vancouver Island). But enough writing, here are some photos that tell the tale:

This is the menu for Team Kitchen - written on Stew's back, for some reason...

In the end, Team Kitchen edged Team BBQ, as their pizza, rabbit stew (made by a guy named Stew) and sangria were as delicious as they were creatively presented. When dinner wrapped up, though, we sat at a table of winners; very full and satisfied culinary winners.

What We Thought

This was interesting. The table agreed that food is important and that it will become more important – and more politicized and businessified – in the future. That was about all we agreed on. One person had no time for the message or the book’s style, citing the recipes as the only piece of value in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – this person scoffed at any local food projects, too, stating that the economics of oil would eventually make our world smaller simply because of the cost and that BK got nowhere near the hardship of farming. If it was so easy, everyone would do it. Another person has actively changed her shopping habits based on BK’s insistence on eating seasonally. And many of us thought that the message was old news. Not many of us cared for BK, CK or Steve’s style, either; however, we agreed that our table was jealous that they got to the project before we did and that people don’t like our writing as much as they like the narratory trinity from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

Another interesting part of the discussion came out of our material conditions and our upbringings. I am the only member of our nine-person book club who grew up in a rural community. And my parents refer to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle as “the bible” for locavores everywhere. I was surprised and impressed by how passionate and opinionated a book about food – and an activity with very strict financial and menu parameters – made everyone. People chided my choice of book, complained about the Kingsolver Clan’s unabashed pretentiousness, asked to use out-of-season and non-local ingredients, and three people repeatedly warned me that we wouldn’t have enough food. Needless to say, last weekend’s book club experience was a wonderful case study of urban local food experimentation. Thanks for the inspiration, Barbara, Steven and Camille, and for the deliciously lively dinner, members of the CLJ community!

Community on a European Vacation

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As it turns out, the recipe for Community is very simple; Singing in public, beer, and a little dash of wild animal. Surprisingly, I am not talking about drunken nights of karaoke (exclusively). I recently spent 6 weeks studying in Copenhagen, Denmark and followed that up with a two week northern European Vacation. Below is a selection of the top five community building places and activities I encountered in my travels. These are the things that made me think, “Man oh man, I wish I could do this at home!”

 

1. Mauerpark Market and Bearpit Karaoke (Berlin)

Late on a Sunday morning we headed over to Mauerpark for the Berlin’s local favourite flea market. After several hours of exploring the winding stalls of the outdoor market, with several stops to rest in mini-manufactured-beach beer gardens, we had had our fill of bargain hunting and novel snacks. So, made our way over to Bearpit Karaoke just outside the market gates. We were lucky enough to arrive just in time to hear a rousing rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way performed by a bearded, German, older gentleman. I was not entirely surprised to find out that this was not his first time in the Bearpit. The only performer who gave him a run for his money was this little girl who made the crowd fall silent before we all joined in to clap along with her song. It was a gorgeous day and the hill over the stage was stacked with people of all ages and walks cheering on the performers. The organizers turned an umbrella, a wagon, a laptop, and some speakers into one of the best boundary breaking, community-building events I have been to.

 

2. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Denmark)

This was my favorite museum and is a great example of how to make art an accessible and fun experience for a wide range of people. Before I made the trip myself I had heard from many people who couldn’t speak highly enough of the museum and one who said he took his kids there as often as possible. After spending several hours exploring the facility, all that I felt was missing was that feeling of backache that usually accompanies long walks on hard museum grounds. These grounds were not the usual museum grounds though and moved the visitor almost seamlessly between in and outdoor exhibits. There was even one point when we got to use a slide for transportation! (A transportation method that should be adopted on a much wider scale.)  Exploring the outdoors was a refreshing way to discover Louisiana’s impressive collection of sculptural works against a backdrop of the beautiful Øresund beach front and manicured hills that are perfect for a picnic on one side of the property and a beautiful lake nestled into a wooded area on the opposite side.

 

3. Midsummer’s Eve Celebrations (June 23, Copenhagen)

People go out en masse, not just to one spot but basically to any park, beach, or barge in town. They eat hogs, drink beer, and laugh and chat until someone lights a huge bonfire with a scarecrow/witch on top. That’s when they start singing in unison. Amazing.

 

4. A la Mort Subite (Brussels)

Founded in 1928, this was a stunningly beautiful Belgian bar whose name translates to  “At the Sudden Death”. Well if sudden death were to strike, there are plenty worse places you could be. Picture soaring ceilings, golden yellow walls and pillars, and locals enjoying a selection of Belgian beers so flavorful that it is probably impossible for anyone to claim they don’t like the taste of beer after trying these variations. This place had an incredible community atmosphere. We sat down at one of the long communal tables next to an older couple from Brussels who were only too happy to share with us the secret of the Brussels classic brew called Gueuze (it has to do with a reaction between the yeast and a bacteria that is only found in the air in Brussels) and their life long dream to travel to Canada. A perfect Belgian experience.

 

5. Elephants in the Park (Frederiksberg, Denmark)

Anyone who remembers when the Vancouver Zoo had a place in Stanley Park is not likely to have forgotten how awesome it was to go and watch the polar bears from the zoo’s outer confines. The Copenhagen Zoo has elephants that you can get within about 40 meters of from the surrounding park without paying the zoo’s hefty entrance fee. They play and throw dirt and swim and splash and break sticks and lift logs and sit on each other. Watching gigantic, beautiful, social creatures makes for easy conversation with the other observers and was a perfect place to chat with the very friendly Danes who always seem to out for a leisurely afternoon. The elephants were a mere five-minute walk from my apartment so I made a practice of visiting regularly.

If we can’t travel to Europe or have elephants in our backyards at least we can get together to drink some great craft brews and sing about it. Anyone got a karaoke machine?

 

 

 

 

Fans, food and flummox: The Vancouver Canadians Experience

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Last Saturday night, I had the pleasure of attending a Vancouver Canadians game with a group of family and friends. Having spent the last year focused on learning the basic rules of soccer so that I could muster my way through a Vancouver Whitecaps game without completely embarrassing myself, I’m flummoxed and somewhat hesitant to admit that I somehow lost all of my knowledge of baseball. After receiving a crash course (and braving the incredulous response I received from my husband, who asked more than a few times, ‘you’re joking, right?’), I was able to sit back, enjoy the game, and, more importantly, critically analyze some of the key differences and similarities between Vancouver’s sports teams. In no particular order:

1. The fans

The ever-enthusiastic Whitecaps fan base

One of the key things that struck me was the difference in tone, atmosphere, and make-up of the fans. The Canadians game was definitely more family-friendly – a claim I can confidently make after astutely observing the large number of families in attendance. That, plus the fact that I left the game without hearing one swear word or having any beer spilled on me – two things one can always count on at any given Whitecaps game. What’s more, I didn’t notice a lot of folks on their cell phones or wearing business suits, which tend to be frequent sites at Canucks games.  I chock this difference up to – not surprisingly – the low cost of tickets and marketing efforts geared towards families.

2. The food

Sadly, the food is one similarity that I wish was different. It tends to be overpriced, unhealthy fare no matter what the venue or sport. While fans justify overindulgence with the explanation that, “you gotta have [insert unhealthy food option here] when at a [insert sport here] game!”, for those of us who care about what we put into our bodies or where our food comes from, having some healthier options would definitely be appreciated.

3. Advertising and corporate sponsorship

Advertising at the Nat - No space left unspoken for

While advertising and corporate sponsorship are of course prevalent across all sports organizations, I found there was quite a difference in advertising methods, dependant on opportunities for promotion within the structure and coverage of the game. Given the continual flow of soccer, with few breaks other than half-time, advertising is done through marketing materials, clothing and gear. With a large Bell logo on the front of our jerseys that we wear to every game, we the fans advertise on our team’s behalf. On the contrary, with the frequent commercial breaks and high viewership of Canucks games, most advertising is done through commercials. In the most hilarious of advertising efforts, the Canadians squeeze it in where they can: between innings. A Smart car driven around the field between second and third inning? That will do!

So there it is – a few observations from a casual fan, slowly learning about the fascinating world of Vancouver sports.

Alex Grant – Man with the Mustache

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Who are you?

I’m Alex Grant, a near American ex-pat and fully committed Canucks fan. I am the proud caretaker of a mustache some have called “Mercury-ian” and other have called “disturbing.” I appreciate the finer things in life such as eating, cooking, laughing, chair-dancing, and summer. I keep friends and family at the centre of my life, and trust that formula to keep everything else humming.

What do you do for fun?
For fun I enjoy pairing sports and food in whatever ways I can. This includes making Bacon Explosions during the Super Bowl, eating kettle corn at baseball games, and devouring barbecue while I trounce John Horn during our annual March Madness tet a tet. I also enjoy reading funny things and then retelling these funny things, in a much less effective way, to any and everyone I meet. My girlfriend and I also regularly travel across the Northwest in search of roadside ice cream stands and other worldly vistas. That’s a lot of fun too.

What is your favourite community and why?

My favorite community has to be my family (which, in my definition, includes plenty of non-blood relatives). The group’s sense of humor, our similar (and not-so-similar) passions, and quiet camaraderie are things that I treasure and keep as my bedrock. I count myself extremely lucky to have a healthy family close at hand, and I do all I can to draw in the wispy threads of family afar.

What is your superpower?

My superpower probably is my ability to get along with nearly anyone. I love meeting new people, hearing their stories, and learning wherever I can.

How do you use this power to build community?

I use this power to connect a lot of the amazing people I meet into super groups or productive partnerships. There’s nothing more satisfying or super-charging to me than making these connections, and helping people find what they need. And if chicken wings can somehow be involved in that process, well, all the better.

My Three Favourite Things About Alex Are…

1. His mustache. Somethings help us stand out and Alex’s mustache is one of those things. Put simply it’s awesome. How can a mustache be so wonderful? Because it’s individualized nature and semi-trend setting way blends with a comfortableness with all things hip and happening. That’s where Alex predominately exists – between the hip and the happening. When one looks at Alex’s mustache, and by extension, Alex, one sees a man who is unafraid to wear his facial hair in a way that makes you notice and makes you smile.

2. An engaging generosity. I’ve been to a number of food oriented soirees with Alex and his fantastic partner Robin. Each time, I’m blown away by the amazing spread that’s put out in front of us. Sometimes its paella with prawns the size of your fist and some of the finest spicy Ooyama chorizo this side of Granville Island. Other times its the BEST SUPER BOWL PARTY EVER – complete with keg of beer, phenomenal nachos and homemade buffalo wing sauce for crispy and succulent chicken wings. I  still salivate over that meal today. All of these evenings have one thing in common – an incredibly generous host who will go to the utmost to ensure both your appetite and hunger for good (boisterous) conversation is satiated.

3. Genuineness, thoughtfulness and kindness. Alex ALWAYS sees the best in people. His genuine nature and kindhearted style allows him to always find some sort of way to like someone. I have a feeling he’d even find a way to like that guy you see cruising around Commercial Drive in a Hummer. He’s just that good-spirited. That same genuineness allows him to be amazingly empathetic. You know he’s the kind of person you can depend on if times get tough and talk to about your problems when you need a sympathetic ear. And then there’s the general kindness. The kindness ekes into just about everything he does. Be it the way he socializes, hosts or works. Alex is a fellow who’s committed to leaving the world better than he found it.

Kim Horn – Adventure Awesome

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Who are You?

My name is Kimberley Rosanne Horn, I am a fairly excitable, opinionated gal (in a good way, I think) who was raised on Vancouver Island – currently living in Victoria.  I work in immigration policy for the Government of BC.  I like the outdoors, and I have freckles.  Also, my cat hates me.

What do you do for fun?

In my spare time, I  like to ride bikes, camp, hike, have picnics on the beach, cook new things in the kitchen, and, now that I have a BBQ, have garden parties.  I also like to drink wine, and am currently enjoying trying my hand at triathlon (which includes learning how to spell triathlon).  I’m getting married this summer to my fiancee, Ian, and so wedding planning is also fun (sort of).

What is your favourite community? Why?

I don’t think that I really have a favourite community, per se, but I have experienced many wonderful communities around the globe  (as well as some not so wonderful ones).  Allow me to explain – I really enjoy communities which have a few key traits:

1) a nucleas or gathering point of some kind, where people can come from all over to meet, eat, drink, play, chat, learn, do business, etc.etc.  I like being a part of a bustling little area, because it makes me realize that I’m connected to something much bigger than myself.

2) good, fair trade, organic coffee – because I am a little bit pretentious when it comes to my coffee, and I’m okay with that.

3) you don’t necessarily need a vehicle to live your life – you can get to work, school, the gym, grocery stores, etc. on foot or with a bike.

4) emphasis on the local – I don’t like the big boxy stores or franchises; rather, like to support local businesses by buying things that are grown or made locally – it’s more special and sustainable that way.

5) parks – there have to be parks, because in parks you find things like flowers, lovers, puppies, and children laughing…these things can always put the trials and troubles of life into perspective.  Parks also happen to be great places for picnics...which I happen to fancy.

7) friendly people – these days it seems folks would rather listed to their ipods or talk on their cellphones and wander down the street in their own little bubble, as opposed to engaging with those around them.

Favourite communities include - Copenhagen (maybe the coolest city ever), Fernwood, Cook St. Village, and James Bay in Victoria (minus the freezingness of James Bay), Commercial Drive, the uptown part of Amsterdam, Sorata (Bolivia), Korcula (Dalmatian coast in Croatia), la Condesa (Mexico City).

Least favourite communities include – Langford, Orleans, Kanata, basically anything suburbia, where everything and everyone are generic and there is no spice or sass to life (also, you can’t do anything fun without a car…which is just sad).

What is your superpower?

I feel that my superpower changes depending on where I’m at in my life.  Currently, I have two 1) making spreadsheets, and 2) finding tasty foods that are wheat and/or gluten-free!

How do you use it to build community?

I use my first superpower to organize things, which is important in any community, large or small.  I use my second superpower to make me feel better about having to reduce my wheat and gluten intake!

My Three Favourite Things About Kim Horn Are:

1. Brother-Sister-Connection. Those who know us will say that the Horn Children are super-connected-to-each-other, hilarious, talkative, performers, helpers, competitors, athletes, and good looking. Most of these traits come from Kimberley.This being said, like the Sedin Brothers, my sister and I have an unspoken, almost psychic, connection that allows us to seamlessly navigate conversations, events, dinners, and to know what the other is thinking and feeling at all time. We’re not even twins. Or Swedish. This supwerawesome connection has seen Kim and I deliver over a dozen high-quality, family-oriented skits, songs, roasts, speeches, and extended improvised toasts. Our performances have become a staple of Horn Family Celebrations – Mama Horn’s 60th Birthday is going to be epic. And being epic is always a possibility when you have talent like Kim Horn in the mix.

2. Sense of Adventure. Hiking through uncharted Bolivian mountains. Taking her allergic to the Sun brother on the Nootka Trail. Backcountry skiing in avalanche-riddled mountains. Marathon running. Iron Man racing. Possibly being slipped a Geoffrey at a music festival. Exchange and solo-traveling experiences through Downtown Europe. You name it, Kim Horn has done it and done it well. Her sense of adventure is the stuff of inspiration and the stories that she’s collected during her treks through the remote locales of BC’s West Coast as well as following her near-death-experiences on the salt flats of Bolivia are truly the stuff of legend.

3. Professional Awesomeness. “Kim is your older sister, yes?” This is the question that I am often ask after introducing Kim to my colleagues or after she presents to my students. And, fair enough. My younger sister has accumulated more professional currency than many other Canadian women her age – the responsibilities she’s been given and the projects and portfolios that she has managed reflect someone who is as intelligent as she is responsible as she is mature. Kim’s drive towards her vision of success is inspirational and impressive and really, really makes my heart smile. She will be a leader of positive change on the provincial and federal bureaucratic circuit for years to come.

Special bonus reasons! Kim Horn is a really, really good photographer. She’s also really, really stylish (we used to sit next to each other in English classes at Bishop’s and I’d be wearing pajamas and my toque while she’d be wearing Montreal’s finest universite-chique outfits, and it was a hilarious juxtaposition). Kim’s a really good cook, too, and her Thai Green Curries are delicious. Finally, her athletic prowess is outstanding. For example, during the 2010 Merville Cup Championship run of Team Horn, Lamb, Horn, it was impressive to see my sister, who doesn’t actually play soccer, take to the field and absolutely dominate the competition by running them down and, maybe, hip-checking them into the garden fence every now and then. Amazing.

- As told by John Horn…

Voting for Community

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In less than a week Canadians will be voting in the federal election.  While federal politics often seems remote, the outcome of the election will have an impact on your community.  The federal government provides funding to a range of programs and projects in our communities and has the potential to develop new community focused policy.  Plus, the federal government will have a major influence on Canada’s place in the global community.

Municipalities get a significant amount of funding  from the federal government, including investments into local roads, water systems, public transit and affordable housing.  And a number of the funding programs are set to expire in the next couple of years ( if they haven’t already like the Public Transit Capital Trust), which means that the next elected government will be making major decisions about what our communities looks like, how they function and what services are available.  As pointed out by the Canadian Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), different parties have different emphasis in their platforms on how they will support local governments across Canada.  The Conservatives have a focus on infrastructure funding, the Liberals on affordable housing, the NDP on public transit and the Green Party on urban renewal and the green economy.  You can read the full FCM comments on the party platforms and their own priorities for communities on their website.

While FCM has a lot of focus on areas that the federal government is already acting in, there is potential for the federal government to move into other areas that will benefit our communities.  The Canadian Urban Transit Association points out that Canada is the only country in the G8 without a national plan that provides long-term predictable funding and aims to reduce car ridership, increase transit ridership, and improve economic competitiveness, quality of life and air quality.  The People’s Food Policy Project goes beyond advocacy into policy writing, drafting the first-ever citizen-led national food policy that lays the groundwork for a Canada free of hunger, with decent livelihoods for food producers and sustainable environment for the future.  However, without a supportive federal government many of the solutions identified may never be implemented.  There are a lot of other areas where the federal government can take on a new or improved community building role, such as national daycare programs, preventive health care, and climate change planning (both mitigation and adaptation).

And while many of these close to home issues are important, there is also Canada’s place in the global community.  It doesn’t seem that long ago Canada had the reputation as an environmentally progressive and peacekeeping country.  Now it seems we’re  better known for our stable economy and as an ally to the US in Afghanistan.  A lot can change in a fairly short time.  And the outcome of the election can reinforce our current international role or place emphasis elsewhere.

So, even though I understand that our first-past-the-post electoral system can make the thought of voting frustrating, I think that if you are going to vote you should do it with community in mind.  Which party can help your local government deliver the services and infrastructure your community needs or wants?  Which party is looking to make creative and innovative investments into our communities that will make them economically, socially, culturally and environmentally better places to live?  Which party will make Canada a member of the international community that makes you happiest to call Canada home?

Foodie February

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This week I’ve spent a fair amount of time enjoying the foodie communities of Toronto through three events: my cookbook reading group, Seedy Sunday and A Lovely Feast.  It was hard to pick only one to write about so here is my recap of my fantastic week of delicious food and dreams of food to come, including my top 3 favourite things about each event.

Cookbook Reading Group
The cookbook reading group is a monthly gathering of a group of friends where a cookbook is the centre of conversation and a potluck.  Jim has already profiled the first meeting of the group a year ago on the Daily Gumboot.  This month’s book was “Vij’s at Home: Relax, Honey”.  Vancouverites may know Meeru’s and Vikram’s restaurants, Vij’s and Rangoli, but I’ve never been to the restaurants.  It was quite well received by the entire group, with only a few minor complaints (including recipes calling for too much water or roasting and grinding large amounts of spices just to use a fraction of them in the recipe).  But overall everything was delicious.  My favourite things about the cookbook were:

  1. Spices – I’ve learned a lot about cooking with Indian spices with some hands on cooking lessons from a friend.  Jim and I have more or less been able to replicate curries in our own kitchen, but Vij’s has added another layer to our knowledge and has a great reference section describing less familiar ingredients to help out when shopping in little India.
  2. Local Ingredients – While the spices are Indian and veggies are almost all things that grow in Canada and it was easy to find lots of curries that could be made entirely of available Ontario produce, even in the winter.  And it even gave us lots of great options for all the celery root we’ve been collecting from our CSA over the last few weeks.
  3. Pressure Cooker – This cookbook embraces the pressure cooker, one of my new favourite kitchen tools.  It means that even complicated curries or brown basmati rice can be done in a fraction of the time, making the cookbook a winner for even weeknight cooking.

Seedy Sunday
Seedy Sunday (previously Seedy Saturday) is a long-time favourite of mine and focuses on looking forward to the upcoming spring.  Coming just in time to get tomato seeds started, Seedy Saturday/Sunday has become a regular part of my mid-Februaries in Toronto.  The idea of Seedy events is to bring together the grassroots groups in your community that are interested in organic, heirloom seeds to sell, swap and giveaway seeds.  Since I’ve been in Toronto, Seedy Saturday/Sunday has grown exponentially, starting in a community centre, moving to the The Stop’s Green Barns and this year being held in the University of Toronto’s Hart House.  And there are two more events planned this year in March for Scarborough and North Toronto.  Seedy Saturdays and Sundays happen all over Canada in late winter and early spring and the full listing can be found on the Seeds of Diversity website (including in Vancouver on February 26th).  My three favourite things about Seedy Sunday were:

  1. I always learn something new – this time it was the new work being done by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre on growing a wider range of foods in Ontario that appeal to the GTA’s increasingly diverse communities, like bitter melon and okra.  There were even lots of seeds that they were giving away.
  2. Great timing – every year it comes just in time for me to start planting my seedlings.  As an apartment dweller space is limited so I focused on tomatoes and basil, but this year I’m adding peppers and garlic to the mix.  Most of these I’ll give away, but some will end up on my balcony as my container garden.
  3. It feeds my tomato addiction – it is no secret on the Gumboot that I love tomatoes.  And Seedy Sunday has hundreds of different kinds of tomato seeds available in all shapes, sizes and colours.

A Lovely Feast
A Lovely Feast was a community Valentines dinner organized by my CSA farmers at Kawartha Ecological Growers and my coffee/chocolate traders ChocoSol that celebrated eating locally and sustainably in winter.  They teamed up with Hot Yam! from the University of Toronto, who are a volunteer-run vegan food collective to deliver a delicious 5 course vegetarian meal for the reasonable (at least by Valentines/foodie standards) price of $50 per couple at the Chocosol loft downtown.  Dinner was served family style at two large tables, giving a great chance to get to know your neighbours a bit.  My three favourite things about A Lovely Feast were:

  1. Mexico meets Ontario – as one might expect when eating locally grown food in February there were a lot of root vegetables and squash, but Chocosol brought a mix of Mexican flavours and spices to the meal that are ethically traded, including handmade corn tortillas, epazote (a Mexican herb), and of course chocolate.
  2. Random conversations – ranging from how to best pour out of pitchers that had a very high chance of spilling (we concluded that they should be under half full for best results), to how lentils grow (we guessed in a pod like peas and beans), and looking up nostrils (there was a 4 year old at our table).
  3. Thanksgiving II – on a number of occasions over the course of the night Jim and I referred to the day as Thanksgiving rather than Valentines.  And as someone that has never really celebrated Valentines with anything more than cinnamon hearts that is how I preferred it.  The whole event had a vibe that celebrated community and food, which is what I love most about Thanksgiving.

So that was my week.  Have you been to any great community based foodie events lately?

Melissa Orozco – Publicook

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Who are you?
Melissa Orozco, a publicist by day, an aspiring cook by night and a New Yorker at heart.
What do you do for fun?
Shop for antiques, paint, dog watch, try new restaurants, look at old photographs of my parents and imagine how I’ll turn out one of these days.
What is your favourite community? Why?
Dog-lovers and people who have an appreciation for great films and good music.
What is your superpower?
I’m oddly flexible – I can pull my feet around and touch my toes to my nose.
How do you use it to build community?
I do yoga!

My Three Favourite Things about Melissa Are…

1. Her AMAZING cooking. It’s just so damn good. Melissa shares my love for good cooking. She’s a bit more gourmet than me, which I respect. Her guacamole is the best I’ve ever sampled and her New Mexican style chili is terrific. Don’t even get me started on the Kobe beef steak…

2. She calls it as she sees it. Melissa doesn’t take crap from anyone. She’s a straight shooter who shoots from the hip and will let you know if you’ve crossed the line, been really nice and made her smile or are just being plain ridiculous.

3. Her professionalism and mad PR skills. Most of us have had the unpleasant experience of dealing with a difficult client. In the PR industry, we’ll often get angry, irritable clients who expect to be on the front cover of the Economist. Melissa is able to deal with these troubling clients like a pro – sympathetic and driven, but firm. Oh, and she’s the only consultant I know personally who’s had her stuff featured in the New York Times. That’s “Boom goes the Dynamite” in the PR world.

As told by Kurt Heinrich…