Food Day Canada

Today... July 30th is officially Food Day Canada with lots of wonderful ways to celebrate. I'm not sure how it all happened, but I do know that Anita Stewart, who is an awesome lady and wrote one of my all time favorite books Anita Stewart's Canada, had a hand in it.

Here in Halifax Nova Scotia. I started the day at the Seaport Farmers Market buying locally grown, bred or baked delights. Frankly, I try to make everyday Food Canada Day.
I heard that my favorite butchers from Getaway Farms were going to roast a whole pig to star in a fantastic supper feast, celebrating their grand opening. They are also serving up their awesome burgers and the fun won't stop there. Free beer from local Garrison Brewery and an oyster bar (I believe provided by The Fish shop) not to mention a fantastic live band to round off the festivities.

Some of my favorite local restaurants were creating special menus to showcase local Canadian foods, but the pouring rain kept the delicate flower (me!) indoors. No complaints though with all those goodies we bought this morning. A salad of baby romaine, young onions, boiled new potatoes, and some Dragon's Breath Cheese from That Dutchman's Farm, served with crusty Good Hearth Bread from Julien's The most gorgeous garlic ever will make any vinaigrette even more spectacular and the first corn of the season would be amazing rubbed with some olive oil and one of my spice blends from Epices de Cru.

Tomorrow morning will continue our Sunday ritual with my Honey serving up his delicious French Toast made with Julien's Brioche. I'm only regretting that I didn't buy some of the strawberries & blueberries.

Even if you don't live in Canada... make it a Local Food Day Celebration. What will you be doing?

Change of Plans & Dining Alone

What do you do when your evening plans change at the last minute? My Honey just got back from Israel last night. It's six hours ahead of us, so I wasn't quite sure how awake he'd be by supper. Plan A was to spend supper and bath time with little ones... and their parents. After all, Poppa's been away for a week and it's always fun to get together.
And since I spent another great afternoon at doing Kidz Magic Cupboard with some fantastic 7-10 year olds and some amazing volunteers, I knew I'd be too tired to cook. I promise to tell you all about the program one day soon. But back to tonight's dinner plans. Since supper time in Nova Scotia is around midnight in Israel, guess who was asleep when I got home? Good thing I had Plan B in mind yesterday.

Another Roasted Spatchcock Chicken (done in the morning before it got hot). It only needs to roast at 500 degrees F/260 degrees C for 35 minutes or so. This time I made a paste of olive oil, garlic and Tlalelolco Rub from Epices de Cru to rub under and over the skin. It was the centerpiece of an awesome salad of romaine hearts, sweet red peppers, avocado, oil cured black olives, red onions and grated Manchego cheese with a white wine vinegar and avocado oil vinaigrette.

I ate it mindlessly in front of the TV flipping channels, stumbled upon ET Canada and discovered that one of my favorite TV chefs .... Chuck Hughes of Chuck's Day Off beat Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America... Another show I never watch. Congratulations, Chuck!

Just curious.... what do you do for dinner when you end up eating alone?

The Latest Bon Appetit Stars in a Busy Week

It's been a wonderful, insanely busy couple of weeks with little time for writing here. I've been developing a fantastic kids cooking program called Kidz Magic Cupboard for Feed Nova Scotia and I promise to write all about it soon. That said, I'm rushing out in a few minutes - it's week one of the pilot project and so far it's terrific.

But I did have time to make this awesome dinner ... just no time yet to write about it. So I thought I'd just link to the originals and share my spin at another time...

Lamb & Shrimp Kebabs

(I did them in a skillet and left the skewers for another time on the BBQ)

Carrot Cilantro & Chili Slaw

Tuscan Kale Caesar Slaw

Yesterday was Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and many of us did our small part to make a difference. What nice thing did you do.... help a senior, babysit to give a frazzled mom some space, mow a neighbor's lawn? I'm happy to be a volunteer with Feed Nova Scotia.

More Local Food Delights

While Saturday turned out to be a write off - weather-wise, Sunday made up for it in spades! It was sunny and glorious and we spent much of it at the Halifax Jazz Festival on the Waterfront. And yet still had a most delicious supper of grilled Getaway Farm strip loin steaks, rubbed with finely chopped rosemary leaves and pepper, with a side of new potatoes, roughly mashed with lots of butter and chopped garlic scapes, which you can sort of see peeking out from behind the steak and another side of grilled asparagus from Noggin Corners Farm Market. And if you look closely you'll spot the Honey Wheat beer brewed locally by Propeller Brewery.

A perfect end to a great weekend and leftover steak (not to mention the last of the mushrooms I picked up at the Wolfville Market last weekend) enough for a fantastic pasta... if I do say so myself. And for you vegetarians out there... even without the steak, the hearty mushrooms, salty black olives and the splash of balsamic vinegar will have you drooling!

Steak & Mushroom Pasta

I'm sharing this one with Presto Pasta Nights which is being hosted this week by Tandy at Lavender & Lime. You have lots of time to think of a pasta dish to share. Just drop her a line by Thursday - lavenderandlimeblog (at) gmail (dot) com and cc ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com

Taking Local to the Next Level

The family all got together at my daughter and son-in-law's Friday night... a typical event. And usually the dinner consists of as much local fare as possible. But Joanna has taken eating local to a whole new level.... she's planted an awesome garden... from seed and it's starting to reap a harvest. The herbs are in, as are the lettuces, spring onions and flowers on the squash and tomatoes mean the rest are sure to follow.

The grilled vegetables are from local markets. No photo because the one I took definitely did not showcase just how fantastic they looked and tasted. I'm not sure what marinade she used so I'm giving my standard for you to try. I was too busy playing with Batman & Spiderman to notice.

But the main reason for writing about taking eating local to the next level is the nine mackerel Joanna and her friend Jason caught the night before... from a dock about a 10 minute drive from her home at Terence Bay on the Atlantic Ocean. The photo might actually be from any of the fishing coves jutting in and out of the Atlantic near Peggy's Cove. When we first moved to Nova Scotia back in 2007, we did lots of exploring the coastline and falling in love with each fishing village we saw. Naturally I took a bazillion photos and just as naturally... I've spent the last 40 minutes hunting for them without success. Bottom line... imagine being able to fish so close to home. But I digress.

Jo stuffed the fish - after gutting and scaling, with spring onions & herbs from her garden (handfuls of oregano & mint) and after brushing with a bit of olive oil, Ezra grilled them on the barbecue. What an excellent team! Local new potatoes were simply boiled and tossed with butter and chives from the garden.

And the other reason for the post... I shared my last weekend's food adventures... Naturally, my eyes are always bigger than my stomach when I go to a local market and it was no different. So by Friday I still had mixed greens, these stunning sweet pea pods and sugar snap peas from the Hutten Family Farm (yes, they have a stand at the Wolfville market too) that I brought over. They were still so fresh, so crisp, so sweet, that we couldn't stop ourselves from munching.... forget about adding them to the salad.

The moral of the story... and the reason for the post... I know that some people say shopping at farmers markets and supporting local farmers is too expensive. So let me end with this question to you.... If you shop at a grocery store and buy salad greens, herbs, other produce like pea pods... how long do they last before you throw them out... or at least are so wilted, you have to pick through them to find barely a handful worth adding to your dish? How long before they lose that totally awesome just picked flavor? Three days? Two days? And then you have to go buy more. My score was a week old and still tasted like they had just come from the fields they grew in!And this week's score to really tempt you to support your farmers... flank steak & strip loin from Getaway Farms; bread & pain chocolat from Julien's; fennel, Japanese turnips, more peas from Hutten farms; lamb & eggs from Wood 'n Hart farm; a basil plant for my balcony garden from River View Herbs; strawberries... strawberry season is in full bloom around here; beets & young onions from Elmridge Farms.

Still Drooling Over Last Weekend's Meals

It's already the NEXT Thursday and I'm just getting around to sharing my great Canada Day Long Weekend adventures. Although I really did mean to share each day and savor each delicious taste... I guess we'll have to settle for an abridged version.

Friday, we headed down to the waterfront for Multi-Cultural Day, anticipating great foods from around the world and lots of entertainment too. Somehow, we were too early, or too late for most things, and ended up at home enjoying our own trip to Thailand on our balcony with a Mark Bittman treat

Chicken Satay with Peanut-Coconut Dipping Sauce while we watched the fireworks from our own comfy seats.

Saturday was spectacular! Sunny... a perfect day for a drive to the Annapolis Valley and check out the new permanent home of the Wolfville Farmers Market.

I was going to share lots of photos and talk about the musicians and each of the vendors... organic produce, fresh grass fed beef, free range chickens, great munchies, crafts... But you'll have to settle for a photo of my "score"... except for the croissants and pain chocolat from La Boulangerie La Vendeene (also at the Halifax Seaport Market) ... Those we munched on our way to Grosse Coques on the French Shore just across from Digby. It's an Acadian town and we ate lunch at Chez Christophe, famous for its Acadian Rappie Pie and other tasty delights. The pie is definitely an acquired taste... chicken or clams in a potato sauce unlike any I've had. I do have to find out how they get the gelatinous texture from the potatoes. One of the most wonderful things about Nova Scotia, is how friendly everyone is. The restaurant is in a renovated house with bedrooms converted into small dining rooms. Very quaint. In our dining room, there was a table of "locals", who come by often for the seafood lasagna (I had some and it was delicious), the Mayor of Kentville (about an hour's drive) and a business associate, and some tourists who were interested in the lobster dish (which actually was the reason we were there... my Honey had been there on a business trip a couple of weeks earlier and knew I'd love it) which wasn't on the lunch menu. The reason for the convoluted tale, is that everyone got engaged in the conversation about the area, what to visit, what to eat...

But I was in a hurry to get to the farmers market just down the road from the restaurant, hoping to find some Acadian dishes to take home before it closed for the day. Unfortunately, I didn't make it in time. Fortunately, we bumped into a business associate of my Honey's and we got to talking about how I missed out on lobsters because the season had just ended for that area. He said... don't worry, my brother-in-law owns the lobster pound and let's see if he has any. Bottom line, although this was going to be a big post all by itself...two gorgeous lobsters, plus a bottle of Atlantic Ocean Salt water and fresh seaweed. After a glorious drive home, dinner was the best way to end such a spectacular day...

Steamed Lobster

But the weekend didn't end there. On Sunday, we went to the International Pow wow that was spectacular, even if my photos weren't. The little ones love the teepees the bestNot to mention the "big kids" playground at the other end of the park.

Needless to say, Gramma was pooped at the end of that adventure. Dinner was brilliantly easy and so good...

Pasta with Lobster in a Creamy Tomato & Baby Beet Greens Sauce

Naturally, I had to share this dish with Presto Pasta Nights, this week hosted for the fourth time, no less!!! by the lovely Helen of Fuss Free Flavours. I'm just getting in under the wire. Perhaps you can too.

And now it's time for bed... I wonder what adventures are in store for me this weekend? I hear the annual Pictou Lobster Carnival is on. After all, it's been a few years since we've been.