favourite things, april

I happened to pick up the "100 best things" issue of Saveur magazine awhile ago...some nice inspirational stuff to be found there!

you can't go wrong with butter.

Just thought I'd add to the list with a few food/eating/drinking things that I really liked this month.

1) Live BC spot prawns (random T&T visit), quickly blanched, to be devoured with soy and chili sauce. With a cold beer to wash it down.

2) Salty crunchy nori snack packs. Same T&T visit! Man I love that place.

3) Last brunch at Niagara Street Cafe. Homemade bacon and perfect egg goodness...glad we ate the entire menu! (I liked the buttery toast soldiers for yolk dipping very much.)

4) New best drink. Ever. Thanks to Bryan! Hendricks gin, Fevertree tonic - it's some artisinal, small batch super tasty stuff - and pink grapefruit wedge. Amaaaazing. Will have to come up with a good name for that one. Suggestions?

5) Southern Fried Sweetbreads at the Hoof. Plump little nuggets, crispy coating, collard greens, cornbread and Franks hot sauce. Ummm....

Your turn!

farm visit, part one

The kids at Grace were invited up to Stadtlander's farm a few weeks ago (March 14th? yes, that sounds about right)...outdoor cooking, here we come!

The event? Strangely, I'm still not entirely clear on what the deal was - I think it was a chance for cross-country skiers/snow-shoers/outdoorsy good eaters to enjoy a full day of tasty snacking and drinking (byo, how awesome!). And a great day for us too...

Lots of pictures, by the way. Think this'll have to be a two parter!

Up and at 'em. Thank goodness for coffee.



On the road



Nobuyo, Chef Stadtlander's wife and organizer extraordinaire called us the day before to remind us to bring our snowshoes! Lucky for us, we had our slushiest slush boots ready for such an occasion.




Looking for a place to set up...



Our station




Once we got a fire going - it was a little chilly out here - we started to unpack our gear. (Adam from Oyster Boy left us some shells in case we wanted to use them for plates, how nice.)






Outdoor dining room!








On the menu, cider braised pork belly, apple salad and apple jus.




I felt so sneaky good building our fridge. Yay!



All ready to go.




Oops, I forgot to take pictures of our actual dish! But yes, the fine folks that came out seemed to enjoy it all. (I did snap a couple later on in the evening...)



wookie boots




We wandered around the farm for a bit after we wrapped up...


look at those teeny tiny piglets!



The lone black wolf, er, pig.




Chef Stadtlander invited us up to the "tire house" to join the rest of the cooks for a bite to eat. Yes please!

...to be continued...

Group Hate

If we all focus our energy on this, perhaps we can make it so it never even existed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csNh_-khisA&feature=player_embedded