The Little Red Kitchen

Leonhard’s Cafe and Restaurant, Charlottetown

2012-01-20T21:46:00.001-07:00

It’s so lovely looking at these sunny photos and remembering our wonderful vacation on P.E.I. last summer. What a great time we had.

Leonhard’s opened in downtown Charlottetown in the summer of 2008, right before we moved to Alberta. I know that if we still lived there, it’s a place we would visit frequently.

The cafe is owned by a very friendly German couple who previously had a stand at the Charlottetown Farmers’ Market where they sold their delicious baked goods. I think everyone was happy when they decided to open their own place. It’s a beautiful, European-style cafe that serves specialty coffees and teas, lots of baked goods, and a full menu of sandwiches, soups, salads and hot foods. I’ve never eaten a meal there, but I’ve heard good reports, and it always looks tantalizing. I was very happy to see that all of their soups are gluten-free.

Leonhard’s also makes an effort to source their ingredients locally. They buy a lot of produce and meat from vendors at the farmers’ market. Their coffee comes from a coffee roaster in New Brunswick, and their tea from a Charlottetown tea company. Some of their pastries are made on-site and others are made by a local pastry company. It is great to see this kind of commitment to supporting the local food scene. You can visit their website to learn more.

I was very happy to discover they have a chocolate espresso torte that is gluten-free. I was expecting a dense flourless cake, a popular GF dessert in many restaurants. This was so much more. It’s silky and rich, but not too sweet, with a prominent espresso flavour. Paired with fresh, unsweetened whipped cream, it’s a heavenly dessert I would go back for time after time if I was closer.

J loved his seven-nut pie, similar to a pecan pie with a brown sugar filling. He’s also a big fan of their florentine cookies.

I brought my friend Mackenzie to Leonhard’s when we spent an afternoon together. We each savoured iced coffees, hers a simple cafe-au-lait, mine an iced mocha. I didn’t realize it would come with more of that delicious whipped cream on top, but the whole thing hit the spot.

I love the feeling at Leonhard’s. It’s relaxed but elegant. And it’s always busy, filled with all different groups of people: girlfriends out for lunch, couples, and young families. It’s a cafe with character, and I’d love to see more places like it in Charlottetown.

Leonhard’s Cafe and Restaurant
42 University Avenue
Charlottetown, PEI
www.leonhards.ca

More weekends like this

2012-01-16T22:10:00.001-07:00

What a great weekend it was. It's rare that we have one with so few commitments and schedules to follow. As a result, there was lots of sleep and lots of relaxing.

We had lunch at one of our favourite casual restaurants ...

… and supper at a newly discovered place right near our apartment - we'll definitely be back.

We took the streetcar across the High Level Bridge, and talked about how great it would be if that route ran year-round. It could whisk us right into Old Strathcona.

There was a birthday celebration.

With delicious almond-orange tuile cookies.

I made a huge whack of gluten-free pancakes, because I love eating them leftover. (I’ve been making these pancakes for a year now. They are so good. They always turn out. This time, J said he prefers them to glutinous pancakes. That’s a winner there, folks!)

And I took a very cold walk around the beautiful ice and snow sculptures on the Legislature Grounds.

I also finished a really good book and we watched this fascinating documentary on paper-folding. I even got some useful things done, like cleaning the bathroom and working on our new household budget. Wow! What a weekend.

Hopefully this winter there will be more weekends like this, as we get more and more used to the idea of a new family member coming our way soon.

Happy Weekend!

2012-01-13T19:25:00.001-07:00

I must say I breathed a sigh of relief when I got off work this afternoon -- it's been a busy week.

These photos are from last weekend, which was very relaxing. I’m hoping the next few days are more of the same. I plan to visit the farmers' market for the first time in quite a while. I might take a ride on the High Level Bridge streetcar over to the Old Strathcona market. Now that the downtown market is year-round, it's been at least a year since I've made the trek over to the south side one. I've also never taken the streetcar across the bridge, which is running for free between the Ice on Whyte festival and the Alberta Heilongjiang Winter Festival on the leg grounds.

I'm also excited about a trip to La Shish Greek and Lebanese restaurant for a friend's birthday. She misses the Lebanese food in Charlottetown and wants to see how an Edmonton shawarma compares. Maybe eating so much of it back home is the reason why I've never been to a Lebanese restaurant here in Edmonton. There are so many other great ethnic foods to try that don't exist on PEI. I do love middle eastern food though, so I'm excited to try La Shish.

I hope you enjoy a relaxing, peaceful weekend!

Food Shopping in Charlottetown

2012-01-10T21:40:00.001-07:00

It’s time to play a bit of catch-up. I have a couple of posts about our trip back to the East Coast last summer that have been waiting on the back burner for months. Here’s the first of at least two.

Everywhere we travel, there’s always a focus on food. A big part of our trip home was visiting all of our favourite restaurants. PEI is also a great place to go shopping for food, especially in the summertime. Fresh seafood is a huge draw, and there’s also great produce, meats, cheeses and other foods. These are a few highlights from our trip.

We didn’t have the chance to do much cooking, but we had one supper at J’s parents’ place, and I wanted to cook seafood. We tried to buy some at the farmers’ market, but it was a Wednesday and the seafood stall wasn’t there. So we headed to another amazing place to get fresh seafood: the Queen Street Meat Market.

I know, it doesn’t sound quite right, does it? Not only does the market sell more seafood than meat, it isn’t even located on Queen Street. (I assume it once was). It’s one block over, on University, in a not-very-nice strip of the avenue, across from the Dairy Queen. But it’s a great little shop that feels like it hasn’t changed much since the 1950s.

My Dad used to frequent this market a lot to pick up his meat and fish. They sell premium Island steak, all kinds of other meat, fish and seafood, cheese, and some local produce too. The wooden interior is painted white, and it’s a little cramped, with a long L-shaped glass display counter where you place your order, big freezers against the wall, tanks swimming with live lobsters, and food stacked on tables around the room. Taped to the walls are old calendars and charts detailing the different cuts of meat you can get from a cow.

There’s nothing fancy about this place. The pricing labels made from styofroam meat trays and scrawled with black marker can attest to that. But fresh products have nothing to do with extravagance. And what you get at this market is the best – the mussels we ate that night were fantastic.

For a more touristy but nonetheless delicious food shopping experience, Anne of Green Gables Chocolates on Queen Street does the trick. They also have locations in Cavendish and Borden. Yes, many things in this town and across the Island are named after our beloved heroine, though as far as I know there is little to no mention of chocolate in the Anne books.

The chocolate shop is a large store selling everything from individual truffles to PEI “Oysters” (like chocolate turtles) to hard candies. They also carry Avonlea-brand preserves and cheddar cheese, and cheese from Cows Creamery (makers of the famous ice cream).

A very popular item is the chocolate-covered potato chips made from PEI potatoes. I saw these packages sticking out of many tourists’ bags as I walked around town, and there’s even a display set up in the store where you watch the staff making the treats. I didn’t sample them myself, but how could you go wrong? Sweet and salty is the best combination ever.

Just down the street from the chocolate shop is a brand-new food store unlike anything I’ve seen in Charlottetown before. Liquid Gold Tasting Bar sells high-quality olive oils and vinegars, and the shop is set up in a unique way. Each oil and vinegar they sell is held in a large silver vat with a tiny spout, and each is available to taste. You can make your way around the store sampling everything from jalepeno olive oil to cranberry pear balsamic vinegar, and tons of other interesting flavours.

The store is large, bright, and airy, and there’s lots of information about olive oil and vinegars up on the walls. There’s even a special section with truffle oil – that one, not surprisingly, is not available for everyone to taste.

I love the way the store makes shopping a really participatory experience. It’s definitely a great way to get people t0 buy your product. I was shopping with my friend Mackenzie, and she chose two bottles as gifts (a 200 ml bottle is $11 and 375 ml is $18). The friendly salesperson told us the original Liquid Gold store is in Halifax, in the Hydrostone Market. This made Mackenzie happy, since she just moved there.

It was busy during our visit, and I really hope Islanders support the store through the year so it doesn’t have to become one of the many businesses that open only during the summer for the tourist trade.

Since Charlottetown does a booming tourist trade, it only makes sense for food-inclined visitors to want to check out local products. If you’re there for a visit I hope you enjoy these three spots. The Charlottetown Farmers’ Market is also a great place to enjoy a local food experience. There’s also a newer downtown farmers’ market on Sundays, though I haven’t been there yet.

Queen Street Meat Market, 368 University Ave. www.queenstreetmeatmarket.com
Anne of Green Gables Chocolates, 100 Queen St.
www.annechocolates.com
Liquid Gold Tasting Bar and All Things Olive, 72 Queen St.
www.allthingsolive.ca

Happy New Year!

2012-01-04T19:13:00.001-07:00

I have a feeling 2012 will be our biggest year ever.

Becoming an adult is crazy, isn't it? Everything seems to change so fast. Real careers emerge, plans change, you end up living in a city you never expected. Now we're about to become a real family. I can hardly believe it. I still feel like my 20-year-old self, heck, like my 15-year-old self, looking at the world with big eyes and big dreams, wondering what life will hold. I like to think I've become a bit wiser, more pragmatic, more compassionate, and definitely happier than I was then. But there's so much more to become, to do, to live.

The other day we saw the first glimpse of our baby on the ultrasound screen. I couldn’t believe how exciting it was. This is really happening!

The pictures here are from the days around New Year’s. I made the banana bread, which was delicious. I’ll share the recipe here soon. Unfortunately I didn’t eat the dumplings or drink the slushy-whipped cream concoction. One had gluten, the other alcohol.

I did form a few dumplings myself though. The dough was soft and silky. My friend’s parents who are visiting Edmonton from China were whipping them out awfully fast and showed me how. They looked delicious – this filling is spinach and egg, and there was another one with pork and shrimp.

Here’s to a new year with lots of new experiences and wonderful food shared with family and friends. J and I are aiming to have people over more often for simple dinner parties. We did a lot less entertaining in the past six months than we’d like, and we want to change that. I look forward to sharing it all with you. Thanks for reading The Little Red Kitchen in 2011!

A quiet Christmas

2011-12-27T20:06:00.001-07:00

It has been a great four days off work. I’m a little sad I have to go back tomorrow, but grateful that I’ll have another long weekend for new year’s.

We had our quietest Christmas in many years. On Christmas Eve we went over to J’s brother and his wife’s house to spend the night. We took a lot of gear with us: gifts, food, and overnight clothes. We probably looked ridiculous riding the train.

For me, Christmas is all about the special food. I bought some delicious toffee that I’ve had my eye on for several months. It’s $8.50 for a small box so it’s not something I would normally buy, but the holidays are a time for splurging. I also picked up some hot-chocolate flavoured nougat at the farmers’ market that had pieces of roasted almonds, marshmallows, and cinnamon. Very seasonal, I highly recommend it (it’s from The Newget Company for those in Edmonton).

We also brought over eggnog, homemade gluten-free gingersnaps, aged cheddar and bacon for Christmas morning breakfast, and ingredients to make a cocktail I had just read about online. It has a rosemary simple syrup, grapefruit juice, and sparkling water.

The cocktail was delicious, even without the gin. Refreshing and only slightly sweet. Again, very seasonal, but in a different way – piney and citrusy.

We spent most of Christmas eve preparing food and eating. We ate a full turkey dinner, and J and I made an amazing cauliflower-bacon gratin from his new cookbook, Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. I bought it for him as a surprise and so far this book is knocking it out of the park. It’s beautiful, fun to read, and full of recipes we really want to make. J also said, “this book really makes me want to live in Paris again!” J lived there for a year after high school, studying music. Dorie Greenspan is American but lives part of the year in Paris and writes about it with great enthusiasm.

We opened most of our presents on Christmas eve (it’s an Acadian tradition). (Up above you can see a few of the baby books my Mom gave us, some gingerbread hearts from J’s stocking and David’s tea.) Then we collapsed at about 9:30. I think the incredibly rich Danish rice pudding might have had something to do with it.

Christmas morning was low-key too. It started off with a delicious breakfast of hash browns, scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. For the first time in many months I ate one of my favourite food combinations: toast with peanut butter, cheddar cheese, and bacon. I know it sounds weird but you really have to try it …

Christmas night it was just the two of us. Our first and last (at least for a long time) Christmas by ourselves. It was lots of fun. We relaxed, watched youtube videos, and ate a slow, relaxed meal. We bought a few treats for ourselves to enjoy, and started off with thick juicy slices of buffalo mozzarella and dressed greens on slices of fried bread with roasted walnuts, topped with salt and pepper and a drizzle of basil oil. J put this together and the combo was perfect. The cheese (which we got at the Italian Centre) was amazing – soft and oozing. It made me think of all the delicious mozzarella we were eating in Italy at this time last year.

Then we enjoyed duck confit on crackers. We were so full after all that, we took a long break before our main course of this turkey casserole to use up some leftovers.

The rest of our time off proceeded in leisurely fashion. We didn’t do much the past few days but more cooking and baking. Tonight we made a Vietnamese soup to use up the rest of the turkey. This was the second recipe from Around My French Table, and again, absolutely fantastic. Incredibly easy and packed with flavour.

(you can see the leftover cauliflower-bacon gratin in the right of this photo)

I also made a gluten-free coconut cake yesterday that turned out really well. It’s sandwiched with raspberry jam and topped with coconut-lime icing. I love having time off to do more baking.

I’ve been feeling a lot better now that I’m well into my second trimester, and working much more comfortable hours at work. We’re looking forward to enjoying the next few months of pregnancy before things really get turned upside down.

Hope you all had very happy and food-filled holidays, wherever you are!

Quick Trip to Toronto

2011-12-07T20:57:00.001-07:00

I flew to Toronto a few weeks ago for a conference with my Buddhist group. After the conference I stayed in the city for a short visit with my friend emily. It was my first time there since becoming celiac, so I was eager to try some of the city’s gluten-free offerings.

By a strange coincidence, I ended up eating a lot of vegan food. And of course, a lot of baked goods. Here are a few sh0ts I took and some descriptions. I was pretty lax about photos on this trip because I forgot my camera at home and was relying on the camera on my Blackberry – not the best.

Iced latte and gluten-free dacquoise at L’Espresso Bar Mercurio

The dacquoise felt like a real indulgence, and I ate it all up before I thought to snap a picture. It’s a small, round, layered pastry with thin discs of meringue and espresso cream, very elegant and delicious. The iced latte also hit the spot on that balmy day. I really liked the atmosphere of this place too. Kind of European, very bustling. They have a good selection of GF baked goods, including cookies and cheesecake. I took a few things for the road and the almond cookie was the best. They also offer gluten-free bread for all their sandwiches, so I’ll definitely keep it in mind when I’m back in the city.

Lunch at Rawlicious

No photos. I met my friend Michelle here at the location in Yorkville. It was my first time in a raw restaurant so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I left the meal quite impressed. I appreciated the fact that everything on the menu was gluten-free, and though some things sounded more appetizing than others, there was a lot of choice. I really enjoyed the sprouted buckwheat pizza with a salad. Compared to the many GF pizza crust I’ve tried, this raw one was delicious and had a good texture too. The roasted vegetables on top were also good, and I barely noticed that the “cheese” was actually made a of cashews. The side salad was large and fresh with a great ginger dressing. The whole meal was extremely filling and I felt very virtuous when I finished.

The restaurant is small and cozy and the service was friendly. It was the perfect spot for our lunch date.

Cappuccino at Crema Coffee Co.

emily took me here for a quick coffee. Am I ever glad she did. It was one of the best cappuccinos I’ve had. Ever. Smooth and full of so much flavour I didn’t even know coffee could have. The photo isn’t much, but it was damn good.

Macarons at Nadège

I made the trek up Yonge Street to visit the new location of a pastry shop called Nadège. Wherever I travel I know I can always eat macarons, those tiny sandwich cookies made of almonds and egg whites, and since they’re still a pretty huge trend in many cities it’s fun to find new places to get them. Nadège was number one on a “best macarons in toronto” list I found online, and emily confirmed that they are excellent.

I’m so glad I took the walk. The weather was beautiful and it’s always fun to wander in a city you don’t know. On my walk up Yonge I stumbled upon a beautiful little shop called The Drake Hotel General Store where I coveted virtually everything.

Nadège did not disappoint. It’s a small storefront with a long case full of minimalistic fresh displays and a few shelves of sweet wrapped confections for sale. I was especially impressed with the fantastically coloured basil-strawberry marshmallows (above photo). I chose a few macarons for myself and a small box of chocolates to take home to J. That’s the only unfortunate part about macarons – they’re usually so expensive that I can only afford to try a few. On the other hand, they’re so sweet that a few can easily sate me.

I tried the salted caramel (always a must-try for me), blackberry chocolate and pistachio and ate them next to a nearby fountain/pool.

The salted caramel was a definite standout. I am addicted to that flavour and it was done very well. The perfect balance of salty and sweet. The blackberry chocolate was just okay, since I got absolutely no blackberry flavour from the cookie part, merely a rich chocolate from the filling. The pistachio was good too, but neither of them caressed my taste buds like the salted caramel. I was pleased to realize that the macarons from Duchess Bakeshop in Edmonton are just as good as these.

That’s all for this time, Toronto. Thanks for all the fun.

Gluten-free Christmas Cookies & Some News

2011-12-03T15:16:00.001-07:00

The Christmas baking started a couple of weeks ago around here. A little early, yes, but I had an excuse: I attended a cookie exchange for my friend Mackenzie's wedding shower. It was a great excuse to make up a big batch of dough for the holiday season. There's still some in the freezer for the coming weeks.

The wedding shower was great. Unfortunately I couldn't eat most of the tasty-looking treats, but since neither the host nor I can eat gluten, her mother brought a few gluten-free chocolatey things from the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market which were delicious.

The cookies I made are my first attempt at converting a favourite Christmas recipe, and they were a huge success. . J and I first made Nigella Lawson's Christmas Decoration Cookies five years ago (!) when we were living in our first apartment together in Charlottetown, the site of the original little red kitchen. We've loved them ever since. I think it's the unexpected spiciness from the black pepper, and the use of brown instead of white sugar. It turns them into a cross between sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies. They adapted perfectly well to my whole-grain gluten-free flour blend, without any xantham gum or guar gum. The dough was easy to work with and the taste was just what I remembered.

The icing is a nice way to dress up these cookies, but I'm not sure it's entirely necessary. I think the spicy flavour comes through better without it.

(We don't usually make these to hang on the tree anymore - we'd rather eat them fresh. But they do look lovely if you want to turn them into decorations.)

J and I are getting pretty excited about Christmas. We're staying here in Edmonton, and it's the first year that neither of our families will be coming to visit us. A different, quieter Christmas, but I think it's a good thing. From here on out Christmas will probably be crazy, since there will be an added element.

Yes, this is our last Christmas just the two of us. By next year we'll have a seven-month old for everyone to spoil and enjoy. We're expecting our first baby on May 25. Needless to say, we're pretty pumped about it!

And that's the main reason the blog has been so quiet over the past few months. I haven't been feeling so great - lots of nausea and fatigue. It's been an adjustment, and blogging is not a big priority. But having rounded the three-month mark a few weeks ago, I'm hoping that more energy lies ahead. We'll see how it goes.

Enjoy these cookies and the start of your holiday season! These days I'm really enjoying candlelight in the evenings and looking at the sparkly coloured lights on the legislature grounds outside our window. Here's to lighting up the Edmonton darkness however you can.

Gluten-free Pepper-Spiced Christmas Roll-out Cookies
adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Christmas Decoration Cookies

Ingredients
For the cookies:

3 1/2 ounces (100 grams) unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 ounces (100 grams) dark brown sugar
10 1/2 ounces (300 grams) Gluten-free All-purpose flour mix, plus extra for dusting (I used this one)
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 to 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper (I like it with 2 teaspoons)
2 large free-range eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons clear honey

For the icing and trimmings:
2 ½ cups icing sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons water
Gold or silver sugar balls or sprinkles
Ribbon or wire, for hanging

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C).

Place the butter and sugar in a clean bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the color and texture of the mixture becomes pale. Place the mixture into the bowl of a food processor* and add the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and freshly ground black pepper. Blend the mixture. While the food processor is blending, gradually pour the eggs and honey down the funnel of the food processor's lid into the bowl until a dough has formed (you may not require all of the liquid if the dough has come together before it is used up). If the dough is too dry add a little water to the mixture. If the dough is too wet add a little flour.

*If you don’t have a food processor – blend the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add the butter and sugar mixture and beat with the electric mixer until it is a sandy texture. Then gradually add the egg and honey while the beaters are still on until the dough comes together. Stop and test after you’ve added about two-thirds of the liquid to see if you can squeeze the dough together into a ball. If not, continue to add liquid until you can.

Halve the dough. Wrap one half of the dough in plastic wrap, place it in a freezer bag, and refrigerate. Place the other half of the dough onto a floured work surface. Roll the dough, with a rolling pin, into a disk to about 1/4-inch thick. Using cookies cutters, cut decoration shapes out of the dough. Re-roll the remaining dough and cut out more shapes until the dough is used up. Remove the second half of the dough from the fridge and repeat this process.

If you want to hang your cookies on the Christmas tree: with the pointed end of a small icing nozzle, puncture a hole just below the top of each decoration (through which ribbon or wire can later be threaded to hang them).

Arrange the decorations on baking sheets lined with a layer of reusable silicon baking parchment and cook for 15-20 minutes or until they are cooked through and golden-brown in color. Transfer the decorations to a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing, mix approximately six tablespoons of boiling water with the sifted icing sugar and stir until you’ve got a thin, glossy glaze. Ice the cold decorations using a teaspoon (use the tip of the spoon for dripping the icing onto the decoration and the back of the teaspoon for smoothing). Scatter sprinkles or gold and silver balls as you desire. Cut the ribbon into short lengths and thread the ribbon through the holes in the decorations.

Pumpkin apple upside-down cake–again

2011-10-20T18:49:00.001-06:00

In my last post, I forgot to include the link to the recipe for that pumpkin apple upside-down cake I made for Thanksgiving, so here it is. J also made it for his co-workers the other day and they all loved it. The office resounded with the typical refrain of "I can't believe it's gluten-free!"

I've actually found it quite easy to make delicious gluten-free cakes, especially when you add great flavours like pumpkin. (I recently made a fantastic and very easy chocolate cake for a dinner party, also from La Tartine Gourmande blog. You can find the recipe here. )

Since I now turn to the Ahern's whole-grain gluten-free blend (just scroll down to find the recipe) so much, I substituted that mix in equal weight for the flours originally called for in the pumpkin cake. This time I mixed up my blend using brown rice, sorghum, millet, buckwheat and teff flours, along with a few starches.

That's the great thing about the mix - so easy! Just dump it into the bowl and weigh it. You don't even have to get out all your different flour containers. Using the whole-grain blend (which is a 70/30 mix of whole grains to starches) created an even darker, moister cake. Maybe it was the teff and buckwheat. It almost reminded me of gingerbread. Perfect for these blustery fall days.

To Be Honest

2011-10-11T15:55:00.001-06:00

It’s been quiet here on the blog lately. But anything but quiet in our lives. Just not much time or (to be honest) inclination to write anything here. I’m okay with that. Sometimes it comes in waves.

Instead, here are some photos of the Thanksgiving feast we enjoyed at our friends’ place yesterday. Somehow we always get away with not having to cook the turkey on Thanksgiving, and this year was no exception. I think my favourite dish was the turnip puff. Or maybe the brown sugar-glazed carrots. I brought this amazing pumpkin-apple cake. I haven’t made it since last fall and I forgot how delicious it is. Definitely on the roster some more for this season.

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

The Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market

2011-09-18T17:10:00.001-06:00

It’s no secret that I love farmers’ markets. The earliest one I can remember was in Halifax, where I grew up. It’s also North America’s oldest farmers’ market. It was in an old brick building downtown that used to be the Alexander Keith’s brewery. I loved the energetic bustle of the market – it was always filled with people, all working their way through the warren-like maze of rooms stuffed with vendors.

The year I moved back to Halifax to go to school I visited the market a few times. In fact, I did my first ever radio story on the new building the market was planning. Many vendors felt the old brewery building was just too packed and too crowded. Some shoppers found it claustrophobic. Other people loved the historic, chaotic character of the market and didn’t want to give it up. (Tension! Perfect for a journalist.)

When I did that story almost four years ago, the new building was supposed to open the following summer. Instead, it got delayed two years and opened in August 2010. When I was home for my sister’s wedding last summer, I got to visit the old market one last time. I really loved that market, but I wasn’t a fan of having to push my way through the crowds. If you were actually trying to do your weekly shopping, I can see it taking a very long time. I was looking forward to the new building.

I visited the new market with my Mom on a cloudy, chilly day in July. It’s a short walk from the old building, smack dab on the water at the south end of downtown.

The building is impressive. Not only because of the harbour location, but because of its focus on the environment. Panels inside explain how much energy the building is saving with its four wind turbines and geothermal heating. It also boasts a green roof and a living wall. The building has LEED Platinum certification, one of the highest environmental designations in the world.

It’s wonderful to stroll down the aisles with the harbour just outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. There are two floors of vendors and the entire building boasts soaring, warehouse-type ceilings . The second floor is more of a mezzanine-type area, where you can look over the railing to the floor below. I read that this new market is double the space the old market had.

The building has some permanent store fronts and is open six days a week, with the farmers’ market held on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. We went on a Wednesday and there were only a handful of vendors. I’d love to see it on a bustling Saturday too.

The one stall I really cared about was there, though – Schoolhouse Gluten-free Gourmet. I read about this business online before the trip and I knew I had to check it out.

It’s a small bakery run by a family in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, and they visit the market twice a week. Not only did they have the cutest little stall, their treats were great. I wanted to try so much stuff that Mom kindly treated me to some of it. It’s not every day you come across a gluten-free bakery!

We ate our pumpkin muffins right away. Though very crumbly, they were moist and had a rich, delicious pumpkin flavour. We tried two kinds of cookies – ginger and chocolate chip. The ginger were definitely superior. They were thick and chewy, as good as any ginger cookie I’ve ever had. The chocolate chip tasted a bit like rice flour and were pretty dense, but not bad.

I was really impressed with the cinnamon-raisin bread. It passed my two tests for great GF bread: it didn’t require toasting to enjoy, and it was good even after the first day I bought it. Definitely the best GF bread I’ve tried. Too bad this bakery isn’t closer!

Although it would have been great to see more vendors, we had such fun exploring the building. There’s a small deck with benches on the second floor. But the best part is the deck on the roof. It’s so wonderful to emerge from the building to an amazing view of the harbour and the two islands – George’s and McNab’s. I also loved the garden up there, the plants creating so many different colours and patterns.

We also had the most delicious lunch – gluten-free buckwheat crepes with egg, cheese and ham. I was really happy that the crepe stand not only offered gluten-free batter, but the women working there took great care cleaning off the cooking surfaces and using GF utensils to cook my crepe. I devoured the hearty crepe with the salty, peppery filling.

The old market in the brewery building is still open, since some vendors didn’t want to make the switch to the new place. I’m curious how many people still visit the old one. Of course it has its charm, but I found the new location so spectacular that I’m wondering how long the old one will survive.

Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market
1209 Marginal Rd.
www.halifaxfarmersmarket.com

Schoolhouse Gluten-free Gourmet
7014 Highway #3, R.R. 2, Mahone Bay
www.schoolhouseglutenfreegourmet.com

Baking with summer fruit

2011-09-10T16:28:00.001-06:00

Before all the summer fruit is gone from the farmers' markets, I need to tell you about two new, gluten-free fruit desserts we got hooked on this summer.

I really love baking with fruit. It adds so much beautiful flavour and colour to baked goods, not to mention it makes desserts more healthful. And when there's so much fruit in the markets, I always feel inspired to turn some of it into an after-dinner treat.

Back in July I had a glut of overripe strawberries, and I remembered a strawberry cake I'd seen on smitten kitchen, a blog I read frequently. It's originally a Martha Stewart recipe. The cake looked simple and I decided to adapt it using my gluten-free flour mix.

It turned out wonderfully. It's a simple yellow cake base with a strong vanilla flavour, and I made it partly with whole-grain flours so it was golden and hearty. The fruit releases its juices in the oven and bleeds into the cake, so every bite tastes like summer.

We fell in love with this cake and made it again with cherries, then again with raspberries. It was delicious with both, but I think I like strawberries best of all. No matter what fruit you use, it should be as ripe as possible so the cake has plenty of flavour.

The second dessert is a similar concept. It was J's idea to try a clafoutis, a French cake traditionally made with cherries. It's one of the simplest desserts I've ever made. Clafoutis is almost like a cake/custard, since there's only a little bit of flour and lots of eggs and milk.

I made it with fat, luscious blackberries, and then with the traditional cherries. I preferred the blackberries since they were so juicy, but on the second go-round I baked the clafoutis less and the custard was more apparent. It almost separates into two layers, with cake on the bottom and custard on top, with fruit in every bite. This would be a great thing to fancy up by baking it in individual ramekins. It would turn something something incredibly simple into a truly elegant dessert.

I adapted the clafoutis recipe from our Larousse Gastronomique cookbook, and it has so few ingredients that you could also add vanilla or almond extract or lemon zest. This is literally the type of dessert you can throw in the oven in about 5 minutes while supper is cooking on the stove (you just have to toss the fruit with sugar a little bit earlier).

A little more about the gluten-free flour mix I mentioned earlier. There are many GF mixes on the market, and many more recipes in cookbooks. When I was first started baking with gluten-free flours, I used them all separately, and there are still recipes where I use them that way. But I also use two mixes from Gluten-free Girl. I use her all-purpose and whole grain flour mixes and so far I've had great success substituting them in many regular gluten recipes.

When substituting GF flour, it's much more accurate to use weights than cups, since all flours have different weights. That's why I started baking with a scale -- and I love it! Fewer dirty dishes and more accuracy. If you bake gluten-free it's one of the best investments you'll make, and I often use it when I cook as well, to weigh vegetables and meat.

I'll be sharing more of my adapted recipes here soon. For now, whatever flours you might use, be sure to bake with summer fruit while you still can. Here in Edmonton the weather is fantastic, so let's squeeze everything possible out of the end of summer.

Gluten-free Strawberry Summer Cake
Adapted from this recipe

6 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
188 grams gluten-free flour (I used 88 g wholegrain mix and 100 g AP mix)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
170 grams plus 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup (118 ml) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound (450 grams) strawberries or other summer fruit, hulled and halved

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch springform or cake pan.

Whisk flour or flours, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.

Pour into prepared pan. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer (though I had to overlap a few to get them all in). Remember the strawberries will shrink in the oven. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. Let cool in pan on a rack.

Gluten-free Clafoutis
Adapted from the Larousse Gastronomique

500 g unpitted cherries or berries
butter for pan
100 g sugar, divided
125 g gluten-free flour
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

If using cherries, take the stems off put do not pit them. This is the traditional way to serve it - apparently the pits add to the flavour of the cake. Wash your fruit and drain in a colander. Toss with 50 g (1/4 cup) of the sugar, and leave for at least 30 minutes so the juices can come out.

Butter your pan. I used a square 9.5 – inch dish which worked great. You could also use a 9 or 10-inch cake pan, but NOT a springform. Arrange the fruit in the pan.

Mix together the flour and the remaining sugar with a pinch of salt. Beat the eggs and add them to the dry mixture, stirring well. Add the milk and mix well until you have a smooth batter. Pour the batter over the fruit and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. You want it to be completely set and browned at the edges, but the middle should still be custardy. If you prefer, you can bake it a few minutes longer until it's browned all over and it will be more of a cake and less of a custard.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm or at room temperature.

PEI Fried Clams

2011-09-07T17:23:00.001-06:00

Fried clams are a PEI summer staple. Not just on PEI, in fact, but all around the Maritimes. There are a couple of legendary clam spots in the small town of Cap Pelé, New Brunswick. My family always went to Camille’s (could have been because my father’s name was also Camille, but I think it was mostly because of how good the food was), and some people are loyal to Fred’s. Cap Pelé is a common stopping place on the highway that takes you through New Brunswick to Quebec.

We had no reason to go to Cap Pelé on this past vacation, but there are lots of good fried clams on the Island too. Unfortunately, I can’t eat them anymore – no one has come up with a gluten-free version that I saw. But J decided to do the work for both of us and have a sort of fried clams taste-off around the Island.

You generally find fried clams at small, roadside restaurants where you order at the counter. I’m pretty sure they sell them at almost every dairy bar on PEI (and there are many – perhaps a subject for another post). They’re also popular at pubs or other restaurants with table service that focus on seafood.

There’s also a fried-clam debate among some people, and right within our marriage. There are two basic versions of fried clams: “whole” and “strips”. Either the whole clam is fried, or just the rubbery part that attaches to the clam shell. Clam strips are often frozen and thus served year-round, but in my experience whole clams are fresh and in-season.

From everything I've heard, most people prefer whole clams, which are more expensive. That's the category I fall into. I love the textural variety of eating a whole fried clam: the crunchy batter, the chewy end, then the juicy, soft burst of the clam body. Plain strips – all chew and no creaminess – just don't compare.

Others love whole clams and clam strips equally, and that's J's camp. (He's always had the ability to appreciate all kinds of foods, whereas I can be guilty of food snobbism.) He says the two versions are completely different, that you can barely even compare them. His exact words were, "it's like comparing fries with mashed potatoes".

I must admit that on this trip even the clam strips looked appealing. I think it was the promise of the batter.

Rick’s Fish ’N’ Chips, St. Peter’s

The drive from Charlottetown to the small town of Souris by way of St. Peter's is one I've taken likely more than a hundred times. My father's family is from Souris and we spent time there every summer of my childhood. One of the most beautiful views along the highway is St. Peter's Bay. You come upon it gradually, the blue water glinting in the sun out of the left-hand window of your car. When you turn the corner at the stop sign, you're in town, and you get a great look at the bay as you drive over the small bridge. It's usually dotted with buoys holding the mussel traps on the bottom.

If you keep going straight you'll end up at Greenwich Beach, part of the PEI National Park. Turn right to continue on to Souris, and if you're craving fresh seafood or ice cream, stop at Rick's.

Rick's is pretty well-known across the Island, but we rarely ate there as kids. I do recall one time when we stopped with my Dad and ordered pizza, of all things. I don't think it was very good. I loved the homey feel of the place, but the fried clams were mediocre. The batter was their downfall. It was a traditional fish and chips batter, and much too thick, so J said the flavour of the clam got lost in all the breading.

Basin Head Beach, Red Point

While spending time with family in Souris, J and I visited one of my favourite spots on earth. Basin Head Beach is popular across the Island, because of the “run”, a river flowing from inland to the sea, with a wharf and a bridge to jump off. As a child I spent many happy hours jumping off and letting the current float me out to the sea. The white-sand beach at Basin Head is also beautiful and endless, typical for the Eastern end of the Island. When I was growing up my family rented a cottage every summer one beach over from Basin Head, where the tourists were less plentiful but the surroundings every bit as beautiful.

J and I were at Basin Head Saturday morning at about 10:30 am. It was deserted, except for the teenage lifeguards on the wharf waiting for kids to show up. The softly lapping water reflected the grey sky, awash with heavy clouds. It was not ideal beach weather, but I’m so glad we went anyway. Just walking along the beach soothed every part of me. The water there is so clear the underwater ridges of sand carved by the surf are visible from the shore. We were determined to go swimming, even when it started to spit rain.

The water was numbingly cold, but diving under felt like going back to the womb. Swimming in salt water is a sensation I’ve known nearly my entire life, but it had been three years since I'd last felt it. The clarity of the water, the way the waves bob at your chest, the slight buoyancy -- there's nothing like it.

A snack of fried clams was just what J wanted after we dried off as best we could and made our way back up the beach. The snack bar offered nothing for me, but J thoroughly enjoyed his clam strips, temptingly presented on top of a lettuce leaf with homemade tartar sauce and a slice of lemon. The batter was dark golden, crunchy, and crumbly, almost like fried chicken. J declared them excellent clam strips, and he was even converted by the tartar sauce, which he has never enjoyed before.

Brits Fish and Chips, Charlottetown

Brits is a chain restaurant with a location in Edmonton too, but I’ve never been to either. The Charlottetown restaurant moved into an old spot downtown on University Avenue that had several previous tenants. I remember going to the same space in high school when it used to be Checker’s Diner and drinking thick chocolate milkshakes.

The reason for our visit to Brits this time was because I found out they have gluten-free fish and chips, fried in a separate GF fryer. This is all too rare, and since I was trying to eat as much fish as possible on our trip, I had to give it a try.

My haddock was delicious, though the batter was nothing fantastic. It definitely didn’t have the delicious golden crunchiness that makes regular fish and chips so good. It was stiff and plasticky and the flavour was missing – I suspect it was made principally with white rice flour and cornstarch.

It can be tough to get your hopes up about special GF foods like this, because often the reality is not the way you imagine. Fish and chips is something I've loved my whole life, but it would be hard for a restaurant to recapture the wheat-filled taste the way I remember it.

J, of course, chose the clam strips, which came with fries (often called a clam platter). He enjoyed the clams, but we both found the fries kind of soggy. He said the strips did not measure up to Basin Head's version.

The Frosty Treat Dairy Bar, Kensington

Our fried clam tour really made its way across the Island. Kensington is in the Western end of PEI, near Summerside, the second-largest city. Frosty Treat is definitely the most well-known spot in town. Its somewhat inane slogan, “Don’t drive by, drive in” has become sort of a joke among our friends.

Again, it’s right on the highway, and it’s the perfect stop for a snack or an ice-cream cone between Summerside and Charlottetown. We've stopped here many times on the way home from concerts at the Indian River Music Festival nearby. On warm summer nights the deck is always alive with people.

Frosty Treat is atypical of most PEI dairy bars, being a larger and flashier affair. Their menu is printed in bright colours, rather than black sliding letters on a white board, and they offer non-traditional treats like deep-fried Mars bars.

J’s favourite dairy bar treat is always a soft-serve combination (chocolate and vanilla) chocolate dip cone with nuts (which he now enjoys much more since he can take lactaid before eating it). This time he went for the fried clams too. The whole clams are served with crinkle-cut fries, and these turned out to be J’s favourite whole clams of the trip. He ate them in the car on the way back to town, and they smelled incredible. The breading was not quite as crunchy as the Basin Head clams, but crispy and thin, just the right amount.

With that, our fried clam tour came to an end. The clam strip winner was the Basin Head canteen, and Frosty Treat took home the whole clam trophy. Though I didn’t get to eat any this time around, I hope I have enough taste memories to rely on for the rest of my life.

The Charlottetown Farmers' Market

2011-09-02T13:49:00.000-06:00

Well, that was a longer-than-planned blogging break!

We went on a glorious vacation for three weeks to PEI and Nova Scotia. But then right after we came home, we moved into a new apartment. It's been three years since our last move, and I think we forgot just how much work it is. We're also experiencing a long delay getting our internet installed. Now that we're settled into our new (bigger!) place, getting back into a routine, I have so much to talk about.

Let's start at the Charlottetown Farmers' Market, shall we?

The market is THE place to be in Charlottetown on a Saturday morning. During the summer it's also open on Wednesdays, which means we got to visit three times while we were home.

J and I were talking about how this farmers' market is our favourite one ever. Of course, there are lots of memories and nostalgia tied up in that opinion, but it really is a special market. I think it's because it's such a social place. I'd say more than half of the stalls sell food you can eat right away, from hot breakfasts to shawarma, perogies, Indian and African food, smoked salmon on a bagel, baked goods, and more. There's a large dining section on one side of the building with communal wooden tables, and more seating outside too. This turns the market into a very popular meeting place. Some groups of friends have been meeting for Saturday morning breakfast there for decades.

On your way in, you can stop and get a delicious sausage. We have tried lots of homemade sausages at Edmonton's markets, and quite frankly, nothing compares to these. You can also buy fresh ones inside, where there is usually a long lineup.

There's a very popular coffee stand, with a fresh juice stand right behind it. There are stands selling vegetables, meat, fresh seafood, cheese, flowers, and crafts. We didn't end up doing much cooking while we were on PEI - too many restaurants to eat at - but we bought some delicious mixed greens and new potatoes.

I even discovered a new stand selling German baked goods, including some gluten-free options. Though the other cakes looked much more decadent, my GF carrot nut cake from Angelika's German Bakery was hearty and not too sweet.

I have so many memories of coming to this market with my parents and my sister on Saturday mornings for breakfast, then later with Jacques and our friends. You always meet someone you know. This summer, we saw a friend who works at the tea stand, and ran into two friends of Jacques' mother. That's just the way things work on PEI.

(I kind of wish we had indulged in that maple cream up there ... it looks so scrumptious!)

I have lots more to tell about delicious, gluten-free food experiences from our wonderful vacation. And coming soon, food cooked and baked in our new kitchen!

Please excuse the strange spacing in this post ... I'm posting from the blogger software rather than the program I usually use. Back to normal soon!

Gluten-free dining: Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company, Canmore

2011-07-21T17:32:00.001-06:00

We escaped to the mountains last weekend.

It was glorious.

I think growing up in the mountains must be similar to growing up near the ocean. You take it for granted until you leave, and then you miss it like crazy.

Canmore is a beautiful town. The mountains are a constant backdrop, rising up all around you. I had to fight the urge to photograph every scene, even the peaks behind the Starbucks. As it was, I took lots of photos. Especially on our walk to Quarry Lake.

Quarry Lake is a spring-fed lake that used to be a mining area and is over 100 metres deep in some areas. It's a popular place to swim, with a little "beach" (keep in mind I'm from PEI) carved out of the gravel at the edge of the lake. We lay in the grass and watched the sun move in and out of the amazing clouds above the mountains.

I was hoping to go swimming, but the water was some of the coldest I've ever been in. I jumped in and lasted about four seconds before I crawled, shivering, back up onto the shore. The lake, however, is apparently one of the warmest places to swim in Canmore this time of year.

That night we went out for pizza. Thanks to the Celiac Husband, I knew that the Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company made gluten-free pizza.

Our 30-minute wait for a table was worth it. Everyone at our table of six loved their pizzas, remarking on the fresh, interesting flavours. The menu is packed with original combinations, such as the Mexicali, with chocolate-chili sauce, corn and jicama root.

The glutenous flatbread crust got good reviews, and it looked delicious. My GF crust was very good as well, ranking above Boston Pizza's version, which I've eaten several times. The menu says it's made with brown rice, buckwheat, and chickpea flour. When J had a taste he found the bean flavour overwhelming, but it didn't bother me.

I chose the Apple Chicken Harvest: free-range spiced chicken, Granny Smith apples, red onions, cherry tomatoes, pesto and cheddar cheese on a tomato sauce base. I'm glad I chose something a bit different, because the sweetness of the apples and juiciness of the chicken with the pesto was fantastic.

J and I also shared a fig and goat's cheese salad which we really enjoyed. It was fresh and tasty, and we especially liked the pea shoots on top. There was plenty of goat cheese, but I couldn't really taste much fig from the dressing.

Our server was excellent, giving us the right amount of attention throughout the evening. She also knew all about the GF options. For dessert, unfortunately, they were all out of the GF creme brulee and cheesecake, so I had to content myself with a scoop of vanilla ice cream while others devoured the brownie with cookies and cream ice cream. It got raves.

I was impressed with the restaurant’s emphasis on the environment and using local products. They buy green electricity from Bullfrog Power and source all of their meats and many of their vegetables from within Alberta. All of their fish and seafood is certified by Ocean Wise, a sustainable fisheries program. Their claim is that every meal is carbon-neutral, due to environmental initiatives in their restaurants, and their use of carbon assets. You can learn more on their website.

We wandered back to our hotel, full of pizza and ice cream and content to gaze on the beautiful scenery and the setting sun. Though I'm heading for the beautiful shores of PEI in a few days, I also can't wait to go back to the mountains. For an Eastern girl like me, they're something special.

Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company
#1 838 10th Street, Canmore
www.rockymountainflatbread.ca
(There are also locations in Vancouver)

Gluten-free Winnipeg

2011-07-09T16:36:00.001-06:00

In a way, visiting a new place is even more fun now that I have celiac disease. You might think it would be the opposite, but discovering gluten-free food on menus and at markets is so exciting!

It could also be that the places I’ve traveled to since finding out I have celiac (all within Europe and North America) are very gluten-free-friendly. There have been no gluten-free wastelands. Instead, it’s been just the opposite.

When I went to Winnipeg for the weekend in June, I came prepared anyway (a key thing to do when you have celiac). I brought a package of nuts and a few gluten-free fruit and nut bars with me. It turns out I barely needed them. Winnipeg is full of gluten-free gems.

I went to Winnipeg to visit my friend Matt, who was born and raised in the city, and moved back about a year ago. We met in journalism school in Halifax more than three years ago (hard to believe it’s been that long). We were both living on the same floor in residence, a 12-room community called the Roost, designed for older students going to J-school. Living there was one of the best decisions I ever made – I forged really close friendships because of it.

Matt and I bonded over a shared love of music – we both play the piano – and I always loved his wacky sense of humour and his sincere, outgoing personality. The emails he writes me still make me laugh out loud every time. We both fell in love with radio at school and are both now working in the field. He’s a lover of sports, especially baseball, and is a reporter at a sports radio station in Winnipeg.

Having Matt as a tour guide around the city made Winnipeg seem like a crown jewel. I’d never been there before and several people had told me it wasn’t particularly nice. I couldn’t disagree more! It felt like a prairie city, but since it’s smaller than Edmonton, it was homier, and I loved the distinct neighbourhoods and huge, old trees. The level of green was also astounding – as we drove through the streets, it was sprouting up everywhere! I think I also saw Winnipeg in its best light, on a gorgeous June weekend that was sunny and warm.

Matt and his girlfriend Heather live in Osborne Village, the most densely populated neighbourhood in the city, full of young people, cute cafes and trendy shops. It’s quite close to the centre of town, where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet. The city has created a meeting place there called The Forks, where we went on Saturday morning. There’s a market and a building of shops, some restaurants and a beautiful place to sit and watch the river flow by.

Matt told me he usually takes all his visitors to the same restaurants – his favourites. But I threw a wrench into the works with and forced him to be more creative. Heather helped out too, though she wasn’t in town, by recommending a few spots. There were no disappointments. Here are some of my favourite eats from the weekend:

Prairie Ink Cafe

We came here straight from the airport to have lunch. The cafe is inside a large, independent, local bookstore, McNally Robinson. The store looked beautiful and I probably could have spent hours browsing there, but our focus was on food. The cafe is also beautiful, and we sat on the patio, with cute blue furniture and plenty of umbrellas for shade.

The cafe serves three meals a day and the menu is extensive, including lots of baked goods and desserts. They have gluten-free bread from Kinnikinnick, so I was immediately drawn to the sandwich section. I went for the roasted chicken club, which was delicious. Besides the tender, flavourful chicken, there was bacon, tomato, cheese and buttermilk-ranch dressing. The bread was toasted and crisp, and the coleslaw and pickle on the side freshened things up. Matt enjoyed his burger too. Our server was friendly and knowledgeable about gluten, pointing out that the BBQ sauce on several sandwiches was made with worcestershire sauce which was not gluten-free.

The Forks

If you visit Winnipeg you should not miss The Forks (see second and third photos in this post too). It’s a great place to wander around, especially in nice weather. I even came across a cello performance outside. I also saw a sign for a farmers’ market there on Sunday mornings.

The Forks market has food stalls on the bottom floor, mostly prepared foods, with fresh produce down the centre. The top level is shops. Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen, on the bottom floor, carries gluten-free bread and baked goods from Gentle Grains Gluten-Free Bakery in the city. I tried their cinnamon buns, which tasted good but were quite dense. If I had been staying longer I definitely would have tried the bread as well.

I got a great cappuccino at a cafe called Human Bean, whose baked goods (not GF) also looked really good. Later on I had a gluten-free crepe for lunch at Caramel Crepe. They make the GF crepes on the same surface as the gluten crepes, but they clean them first. The crepe was delicious – full of smoked chicken, ricotta cheese and spinach.

The Bridge Drive-In

Known simply as BDI to locals, this is one of those old-timey places. The feel reminded me a bit of Frosty Treat in Kensington, PEI, except they focus solely on dessert. In particular, ice cream. In fact, there are so many different options/combinations of hard and soft ice cream, sundaes, milkshakes etc. that I found the menu a bit confusing and overwhelming (click on the photo with the menu further up to enlarge and see some of the options). I eventually settled on a chocolate/strawberry upside-down milkshake (i think?) which was a bit like a DQ blizzard made with chocolate and strawberry ice cream. When I saw it, I thought, there’s no way I’m finishing that. Um, well, I did. Quite handily. Matt went for a BDI favourite, called The Goog. It’s a blueberry shake with a hot-fudge sundae and bananas, topped with whipped cream. Intense.

The great thing about BDI is it’s right next to a pedestrian bridge across the Red River. The bridge leads to a beautiful neighbourhood on a little peninsula. The tradition is to buy your ice cream and then stroll across the bridge enjoying it. That’s exactly what we did, along with all the other couples and families doing the same thing.

Stella’s Cafe and Bakery

Stella’s seems like a Winnipeg institution. There are five locations across the city, with another opening soon at the airport (which is being rebuilt). And I can see why. We went to the one on Osborne Street close to Matt’s apartment. It’s homestyle food done well, with delicious desserts and baked goods. I think most people go there for breakfast, but they also serve lunch and supper.

The supper menu has several GF options, and I chose the chickpea curry. I was intrigued by the fact that it’s served with bananas, raisins and coconut. I often serve Indian food with raisins, and the bananas seemed like a great extension of that. The Curry itself was great, warming and spicy, and the sweet sides (it also came with peach chutney) complemented it perfectly.

Though we were really full, we decided to go for dessert too, since the server offered up a GF chocolate cake. Matt chose a raspberry-zucchini cake with cream-cheese frosting. Though my cake was the go-to flourless chocolate cake served at so many restaurants, this was a great version. It was Dense and fudgy but not too sweet. The raspberry sauce draped on top was a great touch. It was still too rich for me, though, and we both left half on our plates.

The service at Stella’s was a little slow, and though our server knew about GF options, she wasn’t the friendliest person. But that wouldn’t keep me from going back.

The Falafel Place

Matt definitely saved the best for last. We visited the Falafel Place for brunch on Sunday morning right before I left. It’s renowned for its all-day breakfast. The restaurant was packed, with a line almost out the door, though Matt said it’s often much busier.

We didn’t have to wait long for a table, and when I found out they have gluten-free falafel, I knew it was going to be good. I ordered a breakfast that came with 8 falafel, potato hash with banana peppers and onions, two fried eggs and hummus and tahini. I barely got through it. I noticed the GF falafel are smaller than the regular kind, but the flavour was amazing. They were moist and nicely spiced. I also loved the addition of the peppers and onions to the perfectly cooked potatoes, and the hummus and tahini. It was a really unique, delicious breakfast.

Matt knows the extremely affable owner, Ami, who kindly posed for a picture with us. When we first walked in he was standing near the front of the restaurant, taking care of seating people and chatting with all the patrons. When he found out I had celiac disease, he told me his daughter does too, which is why they have so many GF options. I found out they have GF bread too, after I ordered, though I didn’t miss the toast on my plate.

This breakfast was probably the best meal of the whole weekend, especially because the restaurant itself is so friendly and a bit raucous. It’s a casual room with booth, tables, and a bar, and you can see into the kitchen where all the good things are getting fried up. If you’re looking for GF breakfast in Winnipeg, this is the place to go.

I’m already excited about my next trip to Winnipeg. Not only to visit such a great friend, but to go back to these places and discover even more. Gluten-free food is becoming so common in North America that traveling is really not a problem. I’m looking forward to my trip home to the East Coast this summer, and I can’t wait wait to tell you about my GF finds there too.

Prairie Ink Cafe – 1120 Grant Avenue
The Forks Market
Stella’s Cafe and Bakery – several locations
Falafel Place – 1101 Corydon Avenue

Frittata with Purple Potatoes

2011-06-09T18:53:00.001-06:00

The focus of my cooking lately has been simple meals using local vegetables. I’ve started planning my weekly menu after my trip to the farmers’ market instead of before. That way, I can just buy what looks good and plan my meals around it.

J is very busy right now participating in a six-week opera training program at U of A called Opera Nuova. His days are usually 10 to 12 hours long, with only Monday off.

Needless to say all the cooking falls to me! I try to make something home-cooked every night so he can pack it for his meals the next day. I’m sticking to simple meals that don’t take too long to make – Asian noodle and rice salads with lots of vegetables, pasta with tomato-vegetable sauce, Curry with rice, lentil and vegetable soups, etc.

We’ve also been eating a lot more eggs now that they’re readily available at the market. One of my favourite – and easiest – egg dishes is a frittata.

I’ve been cooking free-form frittatas for years. It’s something my Mom used to make when I was younger. The formula is very simple: eggs, vegetables, cheese if you like, all cooked in a pan on the stove and then stuck under the broiler for a few minutes to make the top nice and brown.

The great thing about frittata is its portability. It’s easy to take for lunch and reheat in the microwave. I love egg dishes with a poached or fried egg topping a salad or other dish, but unfortunately they don’t result in easy, packable leftovers.

Heidi Swanson has a great frittata recipe in her latest cookbook, Super Natural Every Day. It’s almost the same as the recipe I use, but I like her trick of removing half the cooked vegetables and topping the frittata with them before broiling. Since I never measure my vegetables but just eyeball them, I’ve taken Heidi’s amounts as my guidelines in the recipe below.

When I took these pictures I used mostly potatoes (purple ones from Sundog Organics) in my frittata. Feel free to play around with the vegetables as you like, and find your favourite ratio of egg-to-vegetable.

Frittata with Purple Potatoes

5 green onions, sliced thinly
8 oz. potatoes (purple or otherwise)
8 oz. seasonal vegetables (good choices are asparagus, mushrooms, peppers [you can also use jarred peppers which is what i did here], zucchini, green beans, broccoli), chopped into bite-sized pieces
10 eggs
Crumbled hard or soft goat cheese

Preheat the broiler.

Either chop your potatoes into bite-sized pieces and cook them in boiling water until just tender, or slice them very thinly.

Heat about 2 Tablespoons oil in a large skillet (for this amount of eggs, 10 to 12 inches is good). If you sliced your potatoes, add the green onions and potatoes. Cover and cook until the potatoes are just tender, about ten minutes.

If your potatoes are cooking in a separate pot, add your green onions to the pan and follow the next step.

Add the rest of your vegetables and cook until just tender (if I’m cooking mushrooms I like to cook them until they’re juicy). Remove half the vegetable mixture to a plate.

Meanwhile, whisk your eggs and season with salt and pepper. If you cooked your potatoes in a separate pot, add half of them to the pan once the vegetables are cooked. Lower the heat in the skillet to medium-low and pour in the eggs, making sure the vegetables are evenly distributed. Cook until the eggs are just set and only the very top is still liquid. As they cook, slide a spatula under the cooked eggs and tilt the pan so the uncooked egg slides under.

Add the remaining vegetables and potatoes to the pan and sprinkle with goat cheese. Put the pan under the broiler until the eggs are puffed and brown. This takes me about 3 to 4 minutes, but the time will depend on how hot your broiler is. Keep a close eye on it.

Remove pan and cut frittata into wedges. Heidi suggests topping with chopped chives and sprinkling with olive oil. I think it would also be very good with your favourite hot sauce.

Morning Smoothie

2011-06-02T17:33:00.001-06:00

My new habit is eating a morning smoothie. I even got J into it.

It's a fresh, easy, delicious way to start the day. It may sound cliche, but I'm always trying to find easy ways to get more vegetables and fruits into our diets, and smoothies are a great one.
I also love them because they're so adaptable. You can add lots of different things - fruit, yogurt, any kind of milk, juice, vegetables (though I haven't tried this yet), ground flax seeds, nut butter etc.

Here's how I'm making mine these days:

I ripe banana
About 1/2 cup frozen fruit (we usually use berries)
About 2 Tbsp. ground flax seeds
a few spoonfuls yogurt
Enough milk or liquid to make it smooth and drinkable

Blend it up and enjoy!

We bought a new immersion blender recently, with a more powerful motor, so it makes this really easy. I find the combination of ripe banana and yogurt, plus some frozen fruit, makes the perfect consistency: thick enough, creamy and frothy. I always use plain yogurt (my fave) and I never add sugar - the fruit is sweet enough.

I've been buying Fairwinds Farm goat milk at the Italian Centre and using that in my smoothie. I tasted it on its own and was surprised to find it tasted just like cow's milk to me - no funky sharp taste like most goat's cheese and yogurt has. It blends up into a creamier mix than our other standby, almond milk, but almond milk makes the smoothie a bit sweeter. The goat milk is expensive, but it's really great to have on hand for recipes that just don't work as well without dairy.

To last through the morning without getting too hungry, I usually combine my smoothie with a bowl of whole-grain cereal with milk and raisins, or some gluten-free toast with peanut butter or avocado. Yup, I like a hearty breakfast.

What do you like in your smoothies? Do you add vegetables? Let me know, I'd love some other ideas!

Simmered Tofu with Pork

2011-05-19T21:51:00.001-06:00

Our eating habits have done another 180 in the past few months. Happily, we're back to eating more local foods.

Early this year I wrote about the challenges of shopping and cooking on a budget. While I learned a lot during that time, and cooked some tasty meals, our financial situation has changed again. J got a full-time, permanent job! And it pays really well, too. So now we can afford to eat out once in a while, pick up a few things at Planet Organic, and shop at the farmers' market.

Happily, this change coincided with the downtown farmers' market opening up in City Hall. It's been glorious to return to the market every week. We usually treat ourselves to a chunk of Smoky Lake goat cheese, some vegetables like peppers and cucumbers from Doef's Greenhouses, fresh eggs if we can find them, and maybe even some meat.

We both craved meat a lot through the fall and winter. We decided not to buy meat that wasn't locally and humanely raised, and we couldn't afford that good stuff. So the first biteful of local ground pork sure tasted amazing.

It was pork from a business called Serben Free Range, newly open at the market. They raise pigs, lambs, cows, turkeys and chickens near Smoky Lake, northeast of Edmonton (they're also at many other area farmers' markets - see their website for details).

J and I had both forgotten how delicious farm-raised pork tastes. It has a deep, rich flavour, nothing like the pale "other white meat" you see in grocery stores.

Here's one of my favourite ways to use pork - either ground or sliced. This recipe is adapted from an amazing cookbook called Seductions of Rice. It's one of several travel-anthropology-food books by cookbook-writing team Naomi Alford and Jeffrey Duguid. This is the only one I own, but they all look fantastic.

This dish convinced me how good it can be. It may look like sludge, but the whole things turns creamy and unctious, melding with the earthy saltiness of the soy sauce, the kick of fresh ginger and garlic, and the flavourful pork. This is a simple meal that's good every time. You can make it as spicy as you like with the chile paste or pepper flakes.

When I made this dish last week I used Irvings’ Farms ground pork – Serben didn’t have any on Saturday. It was just as good. For vegetarians, you can also make it without the pork.

We still treat meat as something special, and we usually only eat it once or twice a week, and often not as the meal’s main ingredient. It still satisfies our craving.

As for the market, I can’t wait to visit this weekend when it’s back outside on 104 street!

Simmered tofu with pork

adapted from Seductions of Rice by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Several green onions, cut into 1-inch lengths
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound ground or thinly sliced pork (either one is great, but I think I prefer ground because then you get some in every bite)
1-inch piece ginger, minced
1 to 2 tablespoons hot chile paste or 1 to 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons soy sauce
About 1 pound fresh (soft) tofu (I usually use firm silken tofu)
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
salt to taste
1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Heat a wok over the highest heat. Add the oil and swirl it around. When it’s hot, add the green onions and garlic. Stir-fry for 30 seconds, then toss in the pork, ginger, chile paste or flakes, and stir-fry for 30 seconds more, tossing and pressing the mixture against the sides of the wok. Add the soy sauce and continue to cook, scooping and stirring, for another 30 seconds.

Add the tofu and stock and bring to a vigorous boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes.

Add the salt (Taste first - I usually don’t need any because I use Braggs soy sauce and it’s salty enough) and stir well, then taste again and adjust the seasonings if you wish. Stir the cornstarch mixture, then add to the wok, raise the heat, and stir-fry for about 20 seconds more, until the sauce thickens and becomes clear.

You can turn it out into a serving bowl to serve, or just scoop from the wok. Serve over rice.

Corso 32–Edmonton

2011-05-14T09:50:00.001-06:00

Corso 32 might be the most hyped restaurant in Edmonton right now. And judging from our visit last week, all the hype is true.

After our extraordinary meal, I can't believe it's taken us so long to get there, and I really hope we can go back soon.

We had an early 5:30 reservation and were seated quickly at the back of the restaurant, right in front of the floor-to-ceiling black and white photo of an earthy, Italian farmer (the name of the restaurant is the address of chef Daniel Costa’s family in Italy). At first I thought it would be nice to get some of the beautiful light streaming into the front from Jasper avenue, but the back had a feel all its own: dim and cozy.

It's a small, narrow space and the tables are close together, creating a jovial, happy atmosphere, full of people enjoying themselves.

We decided to go all out and order lots of food and plenty of drinks too. One look at the menu brought us back to our Roman vacation (which I realize I still haven't written about!), with ingredients like prosciutto, crostini and roasted potatoes. It's a mouth-watering menu that changes all the time - and they print a new one every day for last-minute changes.

They don't archive the previous menus on their website, but from what I gather from reading online reviews, it's mainly the produce that changes with the seasons. This menu included some particularly springy ingredients: stinging nettles, fava beans and ramps.

The staff are well-versed in the gluten-free diet. When I told our host I had celiac, she pointed out everything on the menu I could have, and when our server arrived he also seemed well-informed. Unfortunately they don't have gluten-free pasta, but there were lots of options.

We started off with a skin and seed martini for J and a Corso Campari for me. The martini was delicious, though the coffee flavour from the espresso overwhelmed any taste of amaretto or grappa. It tasted like a chilled coffee martini - yum. My campari was a beautiful pink colour from the blood orange, and a refreshing way to start the evening.

For our first course we chose the arancini ($11) and the appetizer special, a pear carpaccio salad ($13): thinly sliced pears, shaved parmesan, arugula, roasted walnuts, with a black truffle vinaigrette. Unfortunately I couldn't eat the arancini - deep-fried, lightly-battered rice balls filled with smoked pork, oyster mushrooms and fontina. J said they were amazing, and they sure looked it.

Meanwhile I was enjoying my fantastic salad. It was served in layers - pear on the bottom, topped by arugula, parmesan, and bits of roasted walnuts. The bold flavours combined perfectly: fresh sweet pear, bitter arugula, salty earthy parmesan, the crunch of walnuts, and that amazing truffle flavour, with plenty of deeply flavoured olive oil and cracked black pepper. I haven't have a salad that good in a long time.

Next we shared the stinging nettle soup with a poached egg, parmesan and roasted pine nuts ($13). The bright green colour against the white bowl certainly looked springy - it's the colour I hope we start seeing on the trees soon! The soup was velvety and rich with a fresh, broccoli-like flavour, and the soft, runny poached egg dissolved perfectly into the puree. Normally it's served with a toasted baguette slice on the side, which would be perfect to mop it all up.

Service throughout the meal was flawless. Our server was knowledgeable with exactly the right manner: friendly but professional. We asked him for drink recommendations a few times and he ably responded. He paired an Italian San Gregorio Falanghina with our soup, which was bright and delicious (I don't know much about wine, and I don't even remember if it was on the dry or sweet side ... but it was good!)

My 48-hour chuck flat steak ($26) was a gleaming fan of red beef slices with a crisp brown exterior. It had a nice marbling of fat throughout, and the meat was soft in my mouth with lots of flavour. It was served with brussel sprouts leaves and thin strips of roasted parnsip for an earthy combination. The vinaigrette is called a "bagna cauda", which is a traditional hot Italian dip for vegetables made with olive oil, anchovy and garlic. I'm not sure I tasted those, though the agressive salt definitely could have been from anchovies. The salty profile of the sauce worked perfectly on the meat, but when eating a few brussels leaves drizzled with it, it was overwhelming. There was also a big mustardy punch, which I loved.

J couldn't help but order the Carbonara ($18), one of our favourite pasta dishes, and one we ate a lot in Italy. It was made with wide tagliatelle noodles, ramps and house-cured pork jowl. J concluded too much salt was its main flaw. He also described the noodles as "gunky" - he couldn't tell if they were overcooked, or just too wide for the light, eggy sauce.

With our mains we ordered two sides of vegetables, which might have been a little excessive (I ended up eating most of them as leftovers for lunch the next day). Having said that, I loved them both: the roasted potatoes with lemon and sage ($7) were tiny, blackened, crispy and perfect. The roasted kale with anchovy and lemon vinaigrette ($8) was chewy and juicy with blackened edges and an amazing fresh lemon flavour. J, however, found the leaves undercooked and far too chewy, and the vinaigrette too lemony, so it depends on your tastes. Greens cooked this way definitely aren't authentic, at least not to Rome. A side of cooked spinach or chicory is available everywhere there, but always boiled until quite tender.

At this point I was starting to get full, but I knew I still had plenty of room for sweets, so I was very happy that the chocolate torta ($9) is gluten-free. J ordered the pistachio and olive oil cake ($8), and we also tried the Testadura goat cheese with buckwheat honey and pepper ($12). I slathered the hard triangles of cheese with the amber honey and sprinkled pepper on top: a gloriously contrasting mouthful.

The meal came to a triumphant conclusion with these desserts. Accompanied by grappa for J (too strong for me) and a potently sweet melon liqueur for me, the cake and the torta were two of the best desserts we've had in this city. I couldn't taste the cake, but the sugar-sprinkled plate looked beautiful, with the creamy whiteness of mascarpone and bright pink of the blood orange. J's favourite part was the drizzling of olive oil and finely chopped pistachios on the plate under the sugar.

My torta was intoxicating. A log-shaped slice of chocolate mousse cut from a loaf pan, it had a texture unlike any mousse I've had. Creamy but not full of air bubbles, dense but not thick. The delicious chocolate was complemented by the crunch of the toasted hazelnuts scattered over top. J declared it the "Ultimate Nutella".

Chef Daniel Costa is a bold seasoner. Besides the few overly salted dishes, overall we really appreciated the aggressive flavours that made our mouths come alive.

It was an extravagant meal - but worth every penny. Corso 32 is a bright light on our city's dining scene, and from the looks of the packed restaurant on our visit, it's thriving. My best wishes to Chef Costa and his team, and thank you for a wonderful evening.

Corso 32
10345 Jasper Ave.
Edmonton
www.corso32.com

Queen of Tarts

2011-05-08T22:57:00.001-06:00

I only live a few blocks from 104th street, but I think I was subconsciously avoiding Queen of Tarts for fear of frustration.

This bakery-cafe is full of gluten. Delicious-looking gluten-filled treats: homemade artisan bread, tarts, cupcakes (they call them tulips), cookies, etc.

And yet - and yet! It’s totally worth going there anyway.

I stopped by with my Mom when she was in town a while back for J's recital. It's the kind of place I'm extremely proud to show off to visitors. I've taken my Mom to 104 street before, as one of the best examples of downtown Edmonton living, but new exciting places keep popping up on the street.

Many other Edmonton bloggers have written about Queen of Tarts, and posted photos of the gorgeous space and mouth-watering offerings. But being in the space itself is something else entirely. Despite the fact that it's in the basement, the high ceilings in the old building give it a spacious, bright feeling. It was especially beautiful in the late-afternoon sun.

The first thing that struck me walking down the long staircase is the beautiful wood-cut floor. Then I spotted the racks of homemade bread behind the counter and the long black chalkboard. The details really make it a beautiful room.

The bread looked so good, my Mom considered taking some home to Halifax, but we thought it would probably get stale pretty fast, since I doubt it has any preservatives. We didn't buy any treats to eat right then, but I was happy to see they do have at least one gluten-free dessert: a decadent chocolate cake.

I didn't ask, but I would also guess that their soups are often or always gluten-free, and they look good. They also have a variety of coffee and tea drinks - we had just come from lattes at Credo, or we would have indulged here. I love the cafe area under the windows at the back - it looks private and cozy.

One thing I really appreciate about Queen of Tarts, since I can't eat most of their baked goods, is the variety of packaged products they sell: The Jam Lady's Jams and Mustards, teas, Mighty Trio Organics oils, and of course their own lime and lemon curd.

When we were there, they only had the lime curd packaged for sale, which was fine by me since it's our favourite. It's the best curd we’ve ever eaten: rich and buttery with the perfect tang. We ate it on pancakes the next morning, but I'm also happy to scoop it out of the package and devour it by the spoonful.

I have since been back to Queen of Tarts for tea and another of their gluten-free treats: a sweet and crackly almond rocher - like an almond meringue. (Unfortunately my London Fog - called a Foggy Queen - had a strange, syrupy taste.) On that visit they also had gluten-free macaroons on offer, as well as that chocolate cake. The woman at the counter told me she's trying to convince the kitchen to develop a gluten-free bread recipe. I’m hoping she’s successful, but there’s already enough to keep me coming back.

Edmonton’s Bagel Maker

2011-04-15T16:04:00.001-06:00

Just past the old Chinatown gate, there's a small, slightly shabby noodle restaurant. It's tucked in next to a Korean BBQ spot in a building with a strange, pastel unicorn mural on the side. And there, once a week, you can buy Montreal-style bagels from an old, stooped Chinese man named Siu To.

Siu To is 72 years old, but there's no doubting the sparkle in his eye. He's the owner of Noodle Maker, a ramen noodle restaurant that's about a year old. I've never eaten there. But I had the chance to visit Siu while he was baking bagels.

I think this cultural collision can be summed up in this photo:

Siu learned how to make bagels about thirty years ago. He says it was a happy accident.

I’m not going to tell you the story here. Instead I invite you to listen to the story I did on Siu To for CBC radio. You can find the link here. It’s really better when you hear his voice telling it.

But I will let you know that Siu To is once again selling his bagels at Noodle Maker. He only bakes them once a week, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday. You can call the restaurant, or follow him on twitter to find out when they’ll be fresh. He’s @Noodlemakeredm.

And no, I didn’t taste one of Siu’s bagels, because of course they’re made with wheat flour. But he gave me two paper bags full to take back to my colleagues. The smell wafting out of those bags was intoxicating, and the brown paper curled at the tops from the steam. My colleagues, one of whom is from Montreal, told me the bagels tasted like the real thing.

Noodle Maker restaurant
9653 102 Ave.
Edmonton
780 428 0021

In the right place

2011-03-30T22:06:00.001-06:00

It has been a crazy couple of weeks around here.

Tomorrow night is a big event in my husband's life - his final voice recital for his Master's of Music degree at the University of Alberta. He'll be singing an hour-long program of music, from classical to 20th-century, in five languages, accompanied by piano.

Solo recitals are always a big deal for musicians, but this one is especially important for several reasons. J has spent three years working on his Master's degree, after starting out in music theory and switching to voice performance after one semester. It's the culmination of nine straight years of post-secondary education, which included several shifts. He started out as an accordionist in Paris, then moved back to PEI to study organ, started taking voice lessons, took on voice as a major, and then started out in theory here in Alberta.

He's definitely in the right place now. I truly believe singing is what he was meant to do. See and hear him on stage and you'll agree with me.

But the craziest thing about tonight's recital is a more recent change. Last summer J was in Austria for a five-week training program in German song and poetry. He worked with some of the most famous classical singers and coaches in the world. It was there he learned that he's not actually a baritone, the voice type he'd been singing as for seven years. It turns out he's a tenor! (Tenor is the highest male voice type, followed by baritone and bass.) Needless to say, this was a surprise. He's spent the past nine months adjusting to this new reality, learning new repertoire, and tackling many technical challenges with his ever-supportive teacher and coach at the U of A.

You could say tonight is his Edmonton debut as a tenor. At age 26, he's considered a very young tenor, and his voice will still change a lot in the coming years. But tonight he gets to show it off in a program of beautiful, challenging music.

J's parents arrived in town today, and my mother, a classical musician herself and a huge fan of his, flies in tomorrow morning. Many of his friends and colleagues will be there tomorrow night too.

J started working full-time a few weeks ago, so he's been preparing for the recital on top of a 9 to 5 job. I am also playing piano for one song cycle on the recital, so I've been practicing extra-hard and we've been rehearsing together.

On top of all this, (were you wondering if there was a food element to this story?) I'm preparing and baking the food for the post-recital reception.

I have to admit there's some pressure about making this reception delightful in every way. But I think all the pressure is coming from me. At UPEI, where J did his undergrad degree, student recital receptions were kind of a big deal. Everyone tried to have the best one, most enlisting the help of their mothers and friends to cook and bake up a storm. The last reception I created like this one was for an organ recital J did back in 2007. I remember baking sugar cookies two ways, preparing chocolate-dipped strawberries, smoked salmon crostini and goat cheese-sundried tomato dip, all in our tiny red kitchen on Pownall Street in Charlottetown (the original little red kitchen, incidentally).

That reception was a ton of work, and this one has been too. But it's work I enjoy. I love the planning process - deciding what to make for a balance of foods and flavours, which foods work best in a reception setting (all cold food that's easy to pick up and eat), having enough options for the vegetarians.

And of course it's all gluten-free.

The biggest challenge, for me, is trying to figure out how much food to make. I really have no idea how many people will come to the reictal - it's hard to predict these things when it's free and you don't need to buy a ticket. I'm erring on the side of making too much instead of too little, but it may be that we are foisting off platters of cookies and crackers on our friends at the end of the night.

In terms of preparation, I am just about where I want to be at this point. The baking is done, and tomorrow morning I'll finish up the things that will not keep so well. It's going to be a bit of a blitz, with J's parents coming over to help me wrap dates in prosciutto and stick feta and tomatoes on skewers.

Here is the menu:

} Cinnamon sugar cookies
} Chocolate chip-walnut bars
} Lemon ginger bars
} Pumpkinseed Brittle
} Hummus with vegetables and crackers
} Tomato-feta skewers
} Prosciutto-wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese

I've been doing all my baking lately - and everything for this reception - using a new-to-me GF flour blend. It's from Gluten-free Girl, one of the most popular and authoritative GF voices writing online. Her blog has been around forever, and she has published two cookbooks. I greatly admire her drive and her work in raising awareness about celiac disease. So far, her flour blend works very well.

I'm off to cut the lemon bars. If you're free tomorrow night, come hear my husband sing! I promise it will be a fantastic performance, and if everything comes together, the reception should be decent too.

The recital is at McDougall United Church in Edmonton – 10025 101 st., 7:30 pm on Thursday March 31st. Admission is free.

A visit to the Italian Centre

2011-03-28T16:32:00.001-06:00

I definitely feel different now that the weather has shifted in Edmonton. Spring is not quite here in full force, but the months-long funk of minus twenty temperatures has lifted. The feeling I had of being chilled even while inside is gone. Birds are singing. The sun feels warm on my back, and the streets have turned slushy. I'm still wearing my winter coat, but I know that things are changing.

Our habits are changing too. In the past month or so, we've started doing the majority of our grocery shopping at the north side Italian Centre. I had been there many times before, but it was actually a comment on this blog that got me inspired to start shopping there regularly.

When I did, I realized how nice it is to shop there compared to the large Save On Foods I used to go to. It's a smaller store and feels centred in the community. I love hearing people speak Italian as I walk through the aisles. It's a lot easier to find staff to help you if you need something. And though it's small, it carries much of what we eat on a weekly basis. The produce is fresh and varied, lacking only in a few areas like greens (which surprises me, since when we were in Italy greens were everywhere), and much of it is cheaper than at Save-On. And the deli is fantastic, carrying many gluten-free meats and sheep's and goat's cheese.

Most of all, I really like the feeling of supporting a local business. I know the vegetables and fruits come from far away, but more of my money is staying here in Edmonton.

So I thought I'd take you with me on my shopping trip this week.

I like to walk to the store if I have time. It takes about twenty minutes from our apartment.

There is a beautiful cafe, Spinelli’s Bar Italia, attached to the store. If you feel like sipping a cappucino while you shop, that is definitely an option.

It's going to be a busy week for both J and I, so I planned simple meals, including turnip and potato patties, parsnip soup (with parsnips I picked up at the city market last weekend), and rainbow peanut noodles.

I really like their selection of bulk mushrooms, including oysters and shiitakes. When I started eating these I realized how much delicious flavour they have compared to the average button.

Cheap B.C. apples and a great assortment of hot peppers.

At the deli: a huge selection of meats (many gluten-free) and cheeses. This place is packed on a Saturday afternoon.

Prosciutto is one of our favourites. Just look at that beautiful vein of white fat … Although on a sad note, I found out that it is NOT gluten-free!

They carry a great variety of pasta, including many gluten-free kinds which are not astronomically expensive, and delicious canned tomatoes.

There is also this Italian brand of crackers and cookies, with varieties that are gluten-free, sugar-free and dairy-free. They didn’t have any gluten-free ones this time, so they’re not in this picture, but the crackers remind of of Stoned Wheat Thins with a hint of rosemary. There are also gluten-free tortillas, seen at bottom left.

Doesn’t this toffee chocolate crunch look amazing? I just noticed it for the fist time, and it’s gluten-free! It comes in four or five flavours, but I’ve been craving pistachios lately so I zeroed in on these. I decided not to splurge this time (they’re 9 dollars), but I definitely will in the future. I noticed since this trip they also sell these at Planet Organic.

It wouldn’t be an Italian store without a wonderful selection of olive oil. I like looking at the pretty labels too.

Laden with my shopping bags, I wait outside for the bus home (it conveniently leaves from right in front of the store and drops me right in front of my building). I look over at the statue of Frank Spinelli, the founder of the Italian Centre, in Giovanni Caboto Park. Frank looks pretty lonely, sitting at his table surrounded by snow, but I hope the park will soon be filled with green and buds and running children.

Here’s to Spring!

Turkey Tetrazzini

2011-02-25T14:57:00.001-07:00

I grew up in a home with a great love of food. But my parents approached food and cooking with completely different attitudes.

In our house, my Mom stayed home to look after my sister and me, while my Dad worked full-time. So Mom cooked all the weeknight dinners, and Dad cooked on the weekends, including all the big family meals.

Mom often made casseroles (this was the 80s after all) and one-dish dinners. I found out much later that she made a point to cook one vegetarian supper every week. One of her favourite cookbook authors was Jane Brody, the ultimate 80s health guru, whose books include The Good Food Book - Living the High Carbohydrate Way (can you believe how much things have changed??).

Mom made sure we were eating healthful foods. We accompanied her on trips to the health food store where she ladled natural peanut butter into plastic containers. I remember snacks of GORP (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts) and ants on a log, and there were never chips or pop in our cupboards. I barely knew what Joe Louis and Passion Flakies were, besides seeing the occasional glimpse in my friends' lunches. But I never felt like I was missing out. She baked treats a lot, and we always had delicious homemade cakes on our birthdays.

My Dad's meals were nearly always the protein-starch-vegetable formula, though he was also a big salad guy. He loved meat, and he loved seafood even more. His food was simple but always delicious. He loved to barbeque, often year round, and in the summer there was always fresh shellfish like lobster and clams.

My Dad's cooking was all about pleasure. His primary concern was not health, but taste. He fried his fish in bacon fat because it tasted damn good. He liked mashed potatoes with lots of butter and milk, grilled onions and mushrooms, steamed swiss chard with a side of mayonnaise (which as a child I thought looked absolutely disgusting). I never really talked to him about it, but I think he tried to bring out the real tastes of foods. My Dad died more than six years ago, and I really wish we could have had more conversations about eating and cooking.

I loved the meals both my parents made, and I realize that I've incorporated bits and pieces of both their styles into the way I cook today. I'm definitely interested in cooking for health, and in the benefits of vegetarianism. When I plan our daily meals I am conscious of making sure we have enough vegetables and fibre. I'm not a big casserole person, but even when I'm cooking with meat I gravitate towards quick, one-dish meals.

But I think my real love of cooking comes directly from my Dad. My Mom loves and appreciate food, but I know cooking isn't always her favourite thing to do (maybe because she was the one churning out reliable weeknight meals for years!). I love experimenting with new flavours, and I don't mind spending a long time in the kitchen to make a fabulous meal.

Mom always had a stable of meals in rotation on our dining room table. It's a smart idea - I'm sure I'll be the same way when I have kids. Since we're still in our freewheeling childless days, J and I often try a new recipe every night of the week. But I would love to eventually have about 25 recipes that I know and love, that we can make quickly and easily for weeknight suppers.

Lately I have been fondly remembering these weeknight meals from my childhood. I think it's because Mom made our favourite things over and over, imprinting their delicious flavours on my memory. Creamy baked macaroni and cheese, Italian fish casserole with noodles and tomatoes, shepherd's pie with a crispy cheese topping ... I think we all have these childhood food memories. The food might have been simple, plain or maybe even mediocre, but it's the memories that make it special. I remember the casserole dishes she always used for certain foods, and taking the leftovers for lunch in little plastic thermoses that kept it warm until noon.

I think my Mom's food actually tasted good, though. I don't think I've elevated it in my memory to undeserved status. Which is why I want to start recreating some of those meals in my own kitchen. The first one was Turkey Tetrazzini, an Italian-esque supper she made many times, often with leftover turkey or chicken. It's an easy meal that comes together very quickly if you're using leftovers, and you can adapt it in any number of ways. We used delicious rice pasta we brought back from Italy and leftover turkey from our belated holiday meal with J's parents back in January. I know these photos don’t make it look like the most appetizing dish, but I promise it tastes good!

I was curious where the name Tetrazzini came from. It sounds vaguely like a kind of noodle, but the casserole is made with spaghetti. It turns out this is a completely American dish, invented either in San Francisco or New York and named after an Italian opera star named Luisa Tetrazzini. Oh well. It doesn't have to be authentic to be delicious!

Turkey Tetrazzini

Adapted from Jane Brody’s Good Food Book

I was inspired by the wikipedia article, which says it's traditional to use almonds in this dish. My mother never did, but they added a nice flavour and texture element. You could also add leftover cooked vegetables such as broccoli, peas, or green beans.

½ pound spaghetti
½ pound mushrooms, sliced (about 3 cups)
I Tb. butter or margarine
2 Tb. Flour
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 cups milk, cow's or unsweetened soy
2 tsp. soy sauce
½ cup shredded Swiss or Cheddar cheese (optional)
1 green pepper, seeded & diced
4 or 5 sliced scallions
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 cups cooked turkey (about ½ pound), cut into small cubes
¼ cup grated Parmesan

Cook the spaghetti in salted, boiling water until al dente and drain well.

In a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, sauté the mushrooms in the butter, stirring them often, until they are just tender.

Stir in the flour, salt and pepper, coating the mushrooms. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. Add the soy sauce, and simmer the sauce, stirring it, until it has thickened somewhat.

Add the Swiss or Cheddar, green pepper, and scallions to the sauce, and mix the ingredients well. Stir in the almonds, turkey and spaghetti, combining well. Pour the mixture into a greased 2-quart shallow casserole or baking dish. Sprinkle the top of the casserole with the Parmesan.

Bake the casserole, uncovered, in a preheated 350º oven for about 20 minutes or until it is heated through. Raise the heat to 450 and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese on top is browned.

Gluten-free dining: Viphalay

2011-02-22T20:16:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I wrote about trying to save money on our grocery bill. Of course, belt-tightening also means eating out a lot less. But restaurants have also been more difficult because of our restricted diets, especially mine. I guess you could say it's a blessing that eating in restaurants is harder when we also can't afford it as often.

Sometimes, we splurge at places we love, and one of them is Viphalay.

Viphalay (pronounced Veep-a-lay) is the best Thai restaurant we've tried in Edmonton. Of course, there are many we haven’t been to, but it is very hard to find fault with this place, so we haven’t had to visit all the others. The food is fantastic, the atmosphere cozy, the service down to earth. We like Viphalay so much we've brought all of our family here when they visit: first my Mom and grandmother last year, more recently J's parents when they visited. Everyone loves it.

The best part? I loved this restaurant before I knew I had celiac disease, and now I can still eat there. The staff is extremely flexible in the kitchen, able to adapt most dishes to make them gluten-free with no change in taste that I can detect. It is an amazing feeling to know I can happily and safely eat at one of my favourite restaurants with no fear of feeling sick.

Our love of Viphalay was confirmed again after eating there with J's brother and his wife. Last year, they spent a few months in Southeast Asia, including travels in Thailand and Laos. Viphalay brought them back in a big way. They said the food and the beer was just as good as what they ate there, and that even the music playing in the restaurant reminded them of their trip.

The menu at Viphalay is extensive, with soups, salads, noodle dishes, curries and stir-fries. We've tried many dishes and enjoyed them all, but we keep coming back to our favourites: salad rolls, pad thai, drunken noodles, and curries.

The salad rolls not only taste delicious, they are miniature works of art. The thin rice paper reveals the curve of a pink shrimp and a delicate green basil leaf. Inside, there is also thinly sliced tofu, bean sprouts and julienned carrots. The best part might be the dipping sauce - a thick, sweet, peanut satay sauce that J has said on more than one occasion he could happily swim in. (The second dipping sauce, a clear sweet sauce with chopped peanuts, is good too, but doesn’t really compare to the thicker sauce.) The plate, and many others, comes garnished with a beautiful dark-red or orange flower, skillfully carved out of a beet or carrot.

Another great appetizer is the chicken satay, partly because it's served with the same intoxicating sauce. The strips of chicken skewers are also delicately flavoured with lemongrass. For the gluten-tolerant, the shrimp in red wine are apparently fantastic too, and the restaurant's most popular appetizer.

The Pad Thai is incredible: silky, fragrant, with perfectly-cooked shrimp and juicy tofu, crunchy bean sprouts and other vegetables.

I used to order the green curry, but after my diagnosis I learned only the Penang and the Massamum versions are gluten-free, so now the Penang (seen in the first photo above) is my go-to. Both of them feature thinly sliced beef or chicken in flavourful sauces that I could happily slurp up every day of the week. The green curry is quite spicy, the Penang sweeter with less of a bite, but both are equally good. We usually order sweet, light coconut rice to mop up the rich sauce.

We also love the drunken noodles, though I can't eat them anymore since the noodles are made of wheat. These thin, curly noodles are mixed with vegetables and meat or shrimp in a spicy sauce. The orange cashew chicken in another winner. Simple but delicious, with chunks of juicy chicken and crunchy cashews in an subtle, orange-flavoured sauce. We've also tried the coconut soup, with chicken, onion slices and fresh tomato in a thin, sweet and sour coconut broth. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't quite as good as the other dishes I enjoy, so I probably won't order it again.

They also offer a nice array of drinks, including Laos and Thai beer. We've enjoyed their refreshing pureed tropical juices, and the little teacups they serve with tea are works of art.

If you leave any room for dessert, the banana envelopes are excellent. Again, I had the pleasure of eating these before my diagnosis, and the memory is sweet. The little deep-fried pastries are thin and crispy, stuffed with warm, soft banana, drizzled with maple syrup and sprinkled with powdered sugar. A tray of them is perfect to share as a sweet ending to the meal.

The food at Viphalay hits the spot every time - I've never had a bad meal there or even noticed any small inconsistencies. The balance in the flavours is perfect, with notes of sweetness, heat, sourness and salt.

But another reason I love eating there is because of the friendly service. Viphalay is a family restaurant, with owner Vipha Mounma cooking in the kitchen and her daughter Susan, the manager, taking care of the dining room. On busier nights we've also had a young man serve us, who I believe is one of Vipha's sons-in-law. Often young children in the family sit at a table near the bar, but the room never becomes noisy and obnoxious. The decor is also simple and classy, with glass-topped tables covered with patterned red tablecloths and a pretty Buddha statue near the bar.

Now that I'm looking again at the menu online, there are so many other dishes I would love to try. But to be honest, I’m not sure when that will happen. We've found what we love, and that makes it hard to venture outside our favourites. I guess it means we'll have to keep going back to Viphalay again and again.

Viphalay Laos and Thai Restaurant
10724 95 st. Edmonton
viphalay.com

Gluten-free Pancakes

2011-02-01T16:07:00.004-07:00

I've always loved pancakes. My Mom used to make them on the weekend when I was growing up. My Dad was the eggs and bacon guy, but Mom always made the pancakes. She was pretty health-conscious, and she often used a Jane Brody recipe that included whole-wheat flour, cornmeal and wheat germ. I have to admit they turned me into a pancake snob. I loved their heartiness and their crunch, and as a result I've never been
able to appreciate the fluffy white Bisquick version.

Since discovering I have celiac disease, I've been reading a blog from Calgary called the Celiac Teen. Lauren has a great blog full of excellent recipes, most of which she creates herself. It's all the more impressive considering she's still in high school. I found the bones of this recipe on her website, but the beauty of these pancakes is their immense flexibility.

The first few times I made them, I used the flours in Lauren's version, but as I ran out of certain kinds of flour I started replacing them with others. Sometimes the batter was thicker, and sometimes it was thinner, but each time they tasted fantastic. Then one weekend morning, our wireless network wasn't working, but I wanted pancakes. I hadn't printed off the recipe, so I tried to make them anyway, working from memory. They still came out perfectly. When I checked later, I realized I had used quite a bit less flour overall than she calls for, but somehow these are magic pancakes. They are impossible to screw up!

I much prefer using weights to cup measurements when I bake. It makes the process so much easier and cleaner - you just pile it all into a bowl without getting all the cups and spoons dirty. It's especially handy with gluten-free baking since often you're using 4 or 5 different kinds of flour. It also makes adapting a recipe much, much easier. For these pancakes, I knew I needed a certain weight of whole grain flours and a certain weight of starches, but swapping different kinds was easy. I'm looking forward to being able to modify and invent my own recipes in the future using my trusty kitchen scale.

I'm also all about versatility when it comes to pancakes toppings. Classic real maple syrup is definitely a favourite, but honey is great too. I also love spreading peanut or other nut butters on the pancake and then adding something sweet (see above). Another habit is a dollop of plain yogurt and a drizzle of honey, sometimes with soft, sauteed apples if I'm really feeling fancy. And since these pancakes aren't very sweet, I'm sure they'd also be great with cheese and fruit.

Leftover pancakes are also great. It might sound a bit weird, but I like them eaten plain and cold straight from the refrigerator.

Gluten-free Whole-Grain Pancakes (adapted from this recipe)

You can play around with the flours in this recipe. Try using amaranth, sorghum, or quinoa in place of the millet. I probably wouldn’t use all quinoa flour because of its strong taste, but 1 oz. would be great. This batter is quite thin, but if you like thicker pancakes you can use an extra ounce millet flour and an extra ounce tapioca starch.

2 oz. millet flour
1.5 oz cornmeal
1 oz. flax meal
1 oz. tapioca starch
1 oz. sweet rice flour (sometimes called glutinous rice flour)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. xantham gum
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 to 1.5 cups milk – cow’s or soy works well
1/4 melted butter or oil.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Beat the wet ingredients until bubbly, about a minute. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir together, then whisk until smooth.

Heat a frying pan or a griddle to just over medium heat, and add a thin layer of oil. Fry the pancakes until brown, flipping when bubbles appear on the tops.

Not Eating Local

2011-01-21T19:01:00.001-07:00

When we came back from Europe in September, things were tight. After three and a half weeks of vacation, we pretty much drained our bank account. That, combined with J no longer being on scholarship meant we were living on a budget. We were forced to make a big shift in our eating habits.

No more local or organic food. Also, we decided to eat vegetarian since we couldn't afford the good, humanely-raised meat and fish. This made for an interesting season of eating. If you've been following this blog for a while, you probably know that for the past two years we've focused on eating as much local food as we can, and supporting local farmers and producers. What we didn't buy at the farmers' market, we usually found at Planet Organic grocery store. In September, this pattern changed. I got to know my local Save-On Foods very well. I planned meals around cheap vegetables, grains and proteins. I started to really pay attention to how much my food costs. The only fruits we ate were bananas and the apples that were 99 cents a pound. I started buying frozen vegetables, and thanks to my sister-in-law we discovered the joys of Costco, where we bought cheap quinoa, almonds, raisins and rice.

I have mixed emotions about these changes. I know that when you buy food directly from the farmer of producer, you're paying the real price, unlike in the grocery store. I really miss shopping at the farmers' markets, being able to buy locally-grown and pressed Canola oil at $10 a botttle, a $7 basket of B.C. apples and $4 bunches of fresh swiss chard. I miss connecting with my community, and actually knowing the people who've raised or made the food I put in my body.

But unfortunately, shopping that way is a privilege, and until our food system changes it will stay that way. We always justified our large food bills with the fact that food is very important to us, and we can afford it because we don't pay for other things, like a car or cable tv. I still believe that's a good reason, and that local food is within reach of many more people if they change their spending habits. I'm sure in the future we can go back to the market for at least part of our grocery list, but right now it's just not possible.

On the other hand, I don't find myself wanting in our daily meals. We still cook good food, and the photos in this post, all from meals and desserts we made last fall, prove that. I love bean, tofu, lentil and egg dishes, which have been a familiar presence on our weeknight table. Knowing how to turn cheap ingredients into healthy, tasty meals is an important skill, one I'm glad I'm learning. In the coming weeks, I hope to share some of the recipes and resources I've discovered.

One of our challenges in keeping our grocery bill down is our restricted diets. As a couple with celiac disease and lactose intolerance, we're not typical grocery customers. Soy milk, gluten-free cereal, wheat-free soy sauce and gluten-free bouillon cubes all regularly find their way into our cart. Of course it would be cheaper to buy "regular" versions of these foods, but it's something we have to get used to.

The luxury of buying foods in bulk is also something I always thought I could rely on. It probably doesn't seem like a luxury to you, but it sure does to me now. When the bins and scoops could be contaminated with gluten, I can't take the risk with most bulk foods. Buying dried beans, dried fruit, nuts and grains in packaged bags is far more expensive.

Another challenge was finding good snacks. You know, something you can just go into the kitchen and grab when you feel like nibbling. Crackers are great, but packaged gluten-free crackers and cookies are usually not in our budget. I like to have healthy, fruit-filled muffins on hand for a snack, but when I bake them they tend to disappear in a flash. So usually the snack is a rice cake with peanut butter and honey or a piece of fruit. Not bad, and definitely cheap. But man, I am getting so sick of rice cakes that feel and taste like styrofoam. I'm resolved to find a new, cheap and delicious snack in 2011. Even if I have to bake my own crackers. I've done it before.

Speaking of baking, it's usually what people complain about the most when they have to go gluten-free. Honestly, I really enjoy gluten-free baking, especially with all the great new cookbooks out there. But gluten-free flours are not cheap, especially since you usually have to buy several different kinds to be successful (unless you rely on a mix). But for me these ingredients are worth it, and since I don't bake every day or necessarily every week they last me a long time. I used to love having all-purpose and whole-wheat flour on hand to bake with whenever I wanted to, and even though I require many more types of flour now, it still feels great to have them available when I get the urge to bake.

Throughout the fall, J and I lamented the loss of delicious meats and cheeses, especially the ones we devoured in Austria, France and Denmark. We wished we could afford to visit Paddy's Cheese and the Italian Centre more often. We stretched foods to make simple meals like stir-fry with silken tofu, corn and scallions. We fondly recalled the days of homemade meatballs with spaghetti and salads of beautiful, butter-soft local mixed greens. But not only did our thriftiness save us money, it also helped us discover some fantastic new recipes and good habits. It will be interesting to see what our grocery bags will look like in 2011.

Smørrebrød and Rygeost

2011-01-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

Scandinavian food culture is not well-known in North America. You rarely see restaurants advertising Swedish, Danish or Norwegian food. I'm sure there are many reasons for this, but it definitely isn't because Scandinavia has no food culture. In fact, what's sometimes called "nordic" or "northern" food is currently wowing diners and critics at Rene Redzepi's Copenhagen restaurant, Noma. Chef Redzepi catapulted to fame when Noma was named the best restaurant in the world by San Pellegrino in 2010. Although we spent one day in Copenhagen on our trip to Denmark in August, it didn't include a visit to Noma (big surprise). But having visited Denmark twice, it looks to me like their food culture is alive and well.

One thing you see everywhere In Denmark is delicious open-faced sandwiches called Smørrebrød. They are made of thin slices of square, dense rye bread and whatever kinds of toppings you like. My Danish uncle, Eigil, makes these sandwiches to take to work for his lunch every day. He even has a special lunch box for them. It's a small plastic box with four little compartments to fit four different kinds of smørrebrød. How cute is that?

It's a very small box. You might be thinking, how can that be his whole lunch? But apparently, this rye bread, though it's thin, is so dense and fibrous that it's extremely filling. So two slices is plenty.

You can put all different kinds of things on these sandwiches. I've eaten them with pickled herrring, hardboiled eggs, tiny shrimp, mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, jam, and cheese.

There is lots of great cheese in Denmark. When we were there we ate soft, creamy blue cheese, logs of aged goat cheese, sharp, old cheddar from Ireland, and a Danish specialty called smoky cheese, or ryegost. (Danish is a difficult language to read unless you know a few rules. For example, y is pronounced like the french "u" and g's are silent. So ryegost is pronounced ru-euh-ost.)

Ryegost is a soft cheese that's very easy to make at home. We went to buy some from friends of Eigil and Lucy, an elderly couple who make it at their farmhouse. They don't sell it much anymore and they don't advertise it at their farm. But years ago they used to sell 50 to 100 cheeses every weekend.

Here's how Lucy described to me how you smoke the cheese: Put some hay in a bucket and place a metal pipe full of nettles above the bucket to keep the fire under control. Put the cheese on a kind of mesh grille over the bucket. Light a fire in the hay. The smoke will go up through the nettles to the cheese. It leaves it with a beautiful burnished brown top and a delicious, subtle smoky flavour. Right before you eat it you can sprinkle whole cumin seeds on top if you like, which Eigil loves. Smoky cheese is fantastic with all kinds of topping combinations. Eigil suggested:

mustard and pickles

butter and jam (funnily enough, there's no word for jam in Danish so everything is called marmalade)

pickled beets

Smørrebrød, and smoky cheese, isn't quite as good without the rye bread, but I still found it delicious eaten on rice cakes and great gluten-free bread we found. I also tried it with hummus, avocado, and tomato which is fantastic.

I'm sure Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia is alive with food traditions I have yet to discover. Maybe some day we'll see more Swedish bakeries and Finnish cafes opening in Canada.

The Little Red Kitchen in 2010

2011-01-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

2010 was a year of travel. We are lucky people around here, we really are. We got to explore new parts of the world, and I even had a glorious ten-day trip home. Along the way, there were wonderful meals, amazing ingredients and lots of fun cooking.

January - On my too-quick trip to Calgary, I ate what remains one of the best meals of the year: supper at Farm with Gina.

March - J and I went to Vancouver together for a few days to see Nixon in China at Vancouver Opera. There was lots of good food, including doughnuts at the Granville Island Market, hummus and shawarma at Nuba, Tacos at Bandidas Taquiera, and deep-fried mars bars at The Templeton Diner. The trip also included a fantastic visit with an old friend. To top it all off, Nixon in China was the most exciting and engrossing opera we've seen. They're doing it at the Canadian Opera Company this season so if you're in Toronto I definitely recommend it.

May - we went to Toronto for a culture festival with our Buddhist group for an absolutely amazing weekend. I stayed in Toronto for about a week to visit friends. Food highlights included Bi-bim-baap in Koreatown and another visit to my favourite chocolate shop.

July - My sister got married in Halifax. Not only was I the maid of honour, I also made 8 vegan wedding cakes. I was so happy to visit my hometown for the first time in two years. Bud the Spud fries, breakfast at Mary's Place, a trip to the best market ever, walking on the waterfront, lots of family time and wedding planning = some of the best fun I had all year and an absolute honour. The cakes were a hit, the wedding was fantastic, and the whole trip was amazing. I also had a wonderful meal at a favourite Halifax restaurant, Jane's On the Common, with a great friend.

August - I was off to Europe to join J for almost a month of vacation. In a year full of amazing travel, this trip was epic. A chance for J and I to explore on our own and completely relax. We also got to spend time with family who we connect with all too rarely. Many, many memorable meals and food experiences, from sausages in Vienna to macarons in Paris and smoky cheese in Denmark. I still haven't shared any stories from Denmark here but believe me, it's an amazing country.

December - It turned out our European adventures were far from over. To cap off the year, my grandmother offered us a completely unexpected Christmas trip to Rome with my family. What an incredible way to end an amazing year of travel. Being back in Europe so soon was such a treat, not to mention visiting Italy for the first time and spending the holiday with my sister, mom, grandmother, and my sister's in-laws. I want to write about Rome in more detail soon, but eating there made me love Europe and its food traditions even more.

Here in Edmonton there were some new restaurant discoveries. In my too-short career as a restaurant reviewer, we found a few favourites in 2010, especially The Bothy, Wildflower, Famoso Pizza, Sushi Wasabi and the Red Star Pub. If you love food and you live in Edmonton, you should visit these places. Some modest, some high-class, they all know what they are doing and they do it very, very well. (I'm not sure what's happening food-wise at the Red Star these days, since chef Daniel Costa has moved on to open his own downtown restaurant, Corso 32. Though I haven't visited yet, it looks like his humble, homespun Italian food with bold flavours has found a gorgeous new home.)

Despite all the life-changing travel and wonderful meals, the biggest thing that happened to me in 2010 was not a trip, but a different kind of food discovery. In July I was diagnosed with celiac disease, and the way I eat will never be the same.

Sometimes I still have to stop and remind myself that deliciously stretchy, gluten-filled breads are no longer an option for me. As much as I've accepted my new reality, when I stop to think about it, it still feels strange. I guess when you love food so much, you just don't expect to ever have such restraint in your diet. But when I think a little bit more, I realize it's not such a bad situation. I'm grateful I'm now so much more aware of my health, and I feel a lot better overall. Over the past five months, I've had so much fun experimenting with gluten-free baking at home, and discovering some gems in Edmonton's gluten-free dining scene. Most of all, I think of all the amazing foods I CAN eat. I am so grateful for cheese, one of my favourite foods (if only it wasn't so damn expensive!). As a vegetable lover, I'm so happy I can still eat them all the time. I could go on all day, but the point is, it's important to be grateful for what you have.

Over the coming months, I'm hoping to chronicle the gluten-free dining scene in Edmonton a bit more. Diet restrictions combined with lack of funds have meant we are dining out far less than we did before, but I have discovered some great gluten-free foods around town and I'd love to share them with you.

Here's to 2011! I plan to keep eating well and most of all, sharing food with the people I love.

Christmases Past and Present

2010-12-31T14:58:00.000-07:00

Christmas 2008 on PEI

When I was very little my family celebrated Christmas in Florida. For three years, we rented a house right on the canal near Marathon, in Key West. Those are the first Christmases I remember, and they were idyllic.

One year we couldn't find a real Christmas tree - this is Florida after all - so instead we bought a Norfolk Island pine. It was spindly, and only about 4 or 5 feet tall, but it ended up being the cutest tree ever. My Mom still has the tree ornaments we bought in those years. They remind us of warmer Christmases: slender, delicate seashells tied with ribbons, and brightly coloured wooden fish. I remember making decorations too: cutting squares out of paper and drawing with markers to create little flags that we strung on the tree.

There were sunny afternoons swimming in the canal, the time we rented a boat with my cousins, who lived in Florida, and spent the day driving around the maze of canals and jumping off the boat into the cool water. Lazy days at the Cabana Club, a nearby swimming pool on a beach. I think we spent nearly all our time in water of some kind.

My Dad had a crab trap set up in the canal behind out house, and I remember going with him to check the trap in the morning. I don't know if I liked eating fresh crab back then - I'd love to have some now. Eating on these trips was my parents' dream, especially my Dad's: he loved anything that came from the sea. He cooked fish year-round at home, but especially loved the freshest stuff in the summers from Nova Scotia and PEI. So being able to enjoy more fresh seafood over Christmas was fantastic.

As for food, what I remember most is the kid stuff: chili dogs at the canteen at the Cabana Club, and lots and lots of Christmas candy. Chocolate santas filled with marshmallow fluff, and sugar cookies left for Santa. Bowls of red pistachios that stained your fingers bright red, little paper baskets on the tree filled with candy and nuts. The baskets on the tree became a tradition that lasts to this day, when I'm lucky enough to celebrate Christmas with my family. We have red and white Swedish woven baskets, usually filled with peanut M and Ms or little wrapped candies. Going through the tree and picking out the candy is a great part of Christmas morning.

This year there were no paper baskets, no M and Ms, not even a Christmas tree. But there was much, much more. Chewy amaretti cookies studded with pine nuts. Soft, salty balls of snow-white buffalo mozzarella. One of the best Christmas days ever, cooking together in an extremely warm, unfamiliar kitchen with an 8-person extended family of three generations. Roasted, pureed butternut squash, roasted fennel with pistachios, mushroom risotto, lemony roast potatoes, chicken with red wine sauce, bottle after bottle of Italian wine. Singing carols, playing cards, telling stories. Midnight mass on Christmas Eve in a church with a statue by Michelangelo and a blue ceiling studded with stars, then a walk across a cobblestone piazza for hot chocolate and aged beef with parmesan at a little restaurant lit with Christmas lights. Wishing each other Merry Christmas at midnight, then peeking into the Pantheon, probably the most amazing building I've ever set foot in, listening at the doorway to the haunting notes of "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming" waft up to the impossibly high, perfect ceiling.

Those and a hundred other memories have made this Christmas season one I'll never forget. We are back in Edmonton to ring in the new year, but my mind stays in Rome with my family. A broken compueter means no photos yet, but soon.
Happy New Year, and thank you all for taking the time to visit this litte corner of the internet in 2010.

Le Timbre - Paris

2010-12-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

One of the best meals of our summer trip was at a restaurant in Paris called Le Timbre (the postage stamp). David Lebovitz mentions this place on his list of great food in Paris, and it also came up in a post I found from a woman with celiac disease. She said it was her favourite Paris restaurant, and that almost everything on the menu was gluten-free.

It was a cloudy day around noon when we wound our way out of the Luxembourg train station and through the small streets around the Jardin de Luxembourg to find the restaurant. Postage stamp is right: the place seats about 20 people, at tables of two pushed up against each other, forming two long tables on either side of the room. The decor is clean and traditional, with white linen tablecloths set with wine glasses, round white plates, and large, heavy silver cutlery. The tiny, open kitchen is set up at the end of the room, so you can watch the chef at work. The one waitress kept excellent tabs on the room as she hurried from table to table and back and forth to the kitchen, taking orders, pouring wine, and serving food. I noticed the economy of space in the kitchen - she even cut everyone's baguette in a little cupboard.

We were the first ones there for lunch and for a few minutes we had the place to ourselves. The waitress pulled out one of the tables so I could slip in to the bench. She offered us the menu du jour written up on a chalkboard. Though we're both fluent in French, many of the items were completely foreign to us, and we asked a few questions before deciding. We also had to make sure we knew what we could eat - me with no gluten, J with no lactose. The waitress consulted with the chef, who also spoke to us from the kitchen. They were very accommodating of our allergies, and almost everything was available. The price for three courses was very reasonable (26€ or around $35 Canadian) so we decided on that. You could also order two courses for 22€.

We drank our water (plat (flat) and gazeuze (bubbly), respectively) and decided to each order a glass of wine as well, since it was affordable at 5€ each. Other groups of two began to arrive, and so did our food. Here is where the bliss set in. The food was simple and served in relatively small portions, with elegance and amazing flavours. I realized as I was eating that it was my first meal in a French restaurant, and probably my first meal of real French food.

My first course (entrée in French) was a terrine de campagne. It's like a pâté of meat all squished together and seasoned. My plate arrived with a good-sized slice of terrine, accompanied by a confiture d'oignons, a few miniature pickles, and little piles of coarse salt and pepper. I cut off a piece of terrine, slathered a little confiture on it, sprinkled on some salt and pepper, and stabbed a pickle. I can still taste it now: meaty, rich, sweet from the onions, vinegary from the pickle, crunchy, soft, velvety, with little bits of salt and pepper popping out. We ate in almost complete silence, in reverence for the quality of the food (J said his sauteed mushrooms with ham were divine).

For the plat principal I chose cochon noir de bigarre, which came with roasted cauliflower, and J had roast quail with shallots and mushrooms. The amazing flavours and textures continued, although I must say that if I had to choose one course to eat again it would be the terrine. The pork was fatty and full of pure pig flavour. It rested on the cauliflower - cooked not too soft with some kind of fantastic sauce. It didn't taste roasted to me, and wasn't browned at all, but the whole thing was delicious. One of the best parts was a swirl of oil around the edge of the dish that included a bit of black olive puree. I couldn't place the olive taste until I was almost finished, but the slight vinegar note was perfect.

The dessert menu seemed so original compared to most North American restaurants. There was a lot of fruit, not just in things but by itself as well. I chose the dessert du jour, a poached pear in a honey syrup, and J got the roasted figs. There was also some kind of prunes, a mille-feuille (a puff pastry with cream), a cheddar plate, and a peach-apricot crumble.

It was lovely to end the meal with a bowl of warm fruit - I'd love to make more desserts like this at home. The pear was slumped into slices in a bowl and surrounded by a syrupy, honey-flavoured liquid, spiked with vanilla and a bit of anise. J's figs were dark and lush, roasted with a red wine reduction. The two desserts were a study in colour contrasts, and both were delicious.

Our meal at Le Timbre felt like a languid dream. The grey day, the small, clean room, the unassuming yet charming waitress, and above all the superb, simple food. I felt as though I would just have to change a few details to slip back in time fifty years and eat the exact same meal. I don't know how else to describe the food except to say you could tell each ingredient had been treated with respect along its entire journey.

By the end of the meal there were several other parties in the restaurant, and we had one couple on one side of us. It would be quite fun to be here when the place was full - no privacy at all, but I'm sure it's a convivial, joyous atmosphere. And because of the small size I could easily look at other people's food being delivered and eaten. I saw some fish, a potato and leek soup, the crumble and the mille-feuille, and it all looked as tantalizing as what we ordered.

If you're in Paris I highly recommend Le Timbre. I'm definitely not an expert, but to me it felt like a very traditional French dining experience, but without any stuffiness and pretension. Also, the chef is British, so if you're uncomfortable about your French, you'll still be in good hands. I also heard the waitress speaking English to other customers. As another plus, they are clearly used to dealing with people's special dietary needs. But most importantly, it's affordable and the food is exquisite. I look forward to other meals there in my future, when we get the wonderful chance of visiting Paris again.

Le Timbre
3, rue Sainte-Beuve
6e, Pariswww.restaurantletimbre.com

Eating in Paris

2010-12-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

Les jardins de Luxembourg

From Vienna, we went to Paris for ten days to stay with friends. Sylvie and her two daughters Adele and Louise lived in a suburb of Paris called Aubervilliers - but they were in the process of moving away during our visit. Aubervilliers, to the northeast of the city, is kind of the ghetto. It's the department of France with the most immigrants, many of them living cramped together in big apartment buildings. Sylvie lived in a beautiful house there for ___ years, and a few days after we left she moved to a different corner of the city.

But she told us it feels like Aubervilliers is getting more and more dangerous. This is where J lived for almost a year when he studied in France eight years ago, and we stayed with Sylvie three years ago on our honeymoon. The winding streets are narrow, with most buildings abutting the road with only about a foot of sidewalk and curb. There's only the odd tree here and there, and no sign of grass. Among the apartments are dirty-looking bars and corner stores. There are definitely some nice spots, including a great bookstore and some decent bakeries. And just being in a place so different from our home is fasinating - the African and Arab cultures are on display in peoples' clothing, the shops, and the markets. But the next time we visit Sylvie, things will be a lot different. She's moved to a ritzy suburb, more like what you imagine of a little French town: pretty brick walls, flowering trees and quaint shops.

In Aubervilliers we did most of our food shopping at a chain grocery store near Sylvie's house. It's called Monoprix, and it's actually a department store. The bottom floor is full of clothes, housewares, and drugstore items, and you have to go up the escalator to find the food. Usually one of us headed towards the back to grab a few bottles of the cheapest wine we could find. Yes, this holiday was all about cheap wine. In Paris it seemed outrageously expensive to our bargain-hunting minds - 3.50 euros intead of the 1.99 we drank in Vienna.

Even in a boring, fluorescently-lit French grocery store, we could buy an amazing variety of cheeses, yogurts and meat products. Lots of goat cheese, thick Greek yogurt, and something I had never eaten before but fell in love with: rillettes.

Rillettes is a type of French meat pate, a mix of shredded or chopped meat and fat, and traditionally topped with a thick layer of fat. We ate pork, duck and chicken rillettes, which were all different and all delicious, spread on bread or crackers. Let me just say that a few years ago I'm pretty sure I would have found this food disgusting - for most of my life I've had a lot of disdain for animal fat. I think the combo of moving to meat-heavy Alberta and starting to add much more meat to my diet, plus reading Jennifer McLagan's wonderful book, Fat, have changed things for the better. I am now a huge proponent of natural animal fats. And so happy you can buy this stuff in the plastic tub at a French chain grocery store! I'm sure hand-made, locally-made rillettes are probably even more delicious, but this was good enough for us.

We also made a couple of special food excursions in Paris. I definitely missed the joy of French croissants and baguettes, but we went to Ladurée to buy macarons - naturally gluten-free! (made with ground almonds and egg whites). At David Lebovitz' suggestion, we tried the salted caramel and dark chocolate, as well as pistachio. At 13.50 euros for six tiny macarons, the things aren't cheap. But the salted caramel and pistachio were heavenly - rich flavours in a light package. And speaking of package, the box is the cutest!

Near Ladurée is a shop where we stopped on our honeymoon - La Maison du Miel. This translates as "house of honey" and that's exactly what it is. You can buy honey from all over the world and from almost any kind of tree or plant. It's really incredible to stare at all the jars and realize that you can get honey from rosemary plants and orange trees, and in colours ranging from almost transparent to caramel, with all the sunny, golden hues in between.

They also offer tastes so you can figure out what kinds you like. This time we bought tilleul, which is from a lime tree, and leatherwood, which comes from Tanzania. They both taste richer and more complex than any other honey I've had, and are best savoured by the small spoonful. The leatherwood is especially dark and dense, sweet but with a slightly bitter quality.

One of our favourite neighbourhoods in Paris is Le Marais. When Paris was founded it was the swampy area of the city - which is where the word Marais, meaning swamp, comes from. It's full of history, from the booming Jewish quarter in the rue des Rosiers to the elegant Place des Vosges. Before the French Revolution the neighbourhood was home to aristicrats and sumptuous architecture. The aristocrats are gone - replaced by an incredibly hip crowd of artists and fashion designers - but much of the architecture remains. A simple stroll through the Marais is enough to convince me that living in Paris would be incredible. The day we went to the Marais I forgot the camera, so you'll just have to imagine how charming it is.

We waited in line for the famous falafel on the rue des Rosiers. The better-known shop is L'As du Falafel, but according to some people the competitor just across the street is even better. I couldn't eat any of it, but J decided to sample the chicken shawarma instead of the famous falafel. He regretted it later when they brought samples of falafel through the line after he had already given his order. The small golden balls of crushed chickpeas looked and smelled fantastic. The atmosphere is wonderful too - hawkers for both shops call out to tourists and locals seeking a delicious, cheap lunch.

We lazed on the grass by the fountains in the Place des Vosges, among a crowd of sun-seekers. Then we went to visit another David Lebovitz recommendation, Dammann Freres tea shop, right on the square. This place is beautiful - high ceilings with tins of tea stacked to the top. When you make your order, the two young men working there climb up the ladders to fetch your request. There are gift and sample packages of tea wrapped up gorgeously in sleek black packaging, and plenty of loose teas to smell so you can make your choice more easily. We went home with a fragrant cardamom green tea.

Sylvie's three cats liked to help us out in the kitchen

One of my best food experiences of the entire trip was at a small gelato shop in the Marais. The famous Berthillon ice cream shop on the Ile St Louis is the most well-known in Paris, but many claim that Pozzetto actually makes the best ice cream. I ate a scoop of their pistachio gelato and have not felt the same about ice cream since. It was an earthy green, darker than any other pistachio ice cream I've seen, with flecks of pistachio mixed in. Imagine eating the freshest pistachios on earth, mixed with cream and sugar into cold, custardy goodness. I raved about that ice cream for weeks afterward, and it's now on my must-eat list of Paris.

There are so many good things to eat in Paris, it can seem overwhelming. If I didn't have a gluten problem, I would be happy to subsist on baguettes, croissants, and rich hot chocolate for all ten days. But luckily, delicious cheeses and meat products also form a large part of a typical French diet, so I could indulge to my heart's content.

Eating in Vienna

2010-12-14T15:42:00.001-07:00

Shopping for food in a foreign country is so much fun. Especially when you're in a place where food is everywhere - in little stalls on the neighbourhood square, sold from street-corner stands, slurped up by people eating at open-air tables that line the streets.

During our week in Vienna we fell into a luxurious routine. We'd sleep in, get up and make a large brunch-like meal, go out and explore the city, come back to our apartment and cook supper, drink cheap Austrian wine and go to bed. Repeat.

It was a pretty awesome way to spend a week in Vienna.

We saw some fantastic things in that city. The Belvedere art museum, housed in a baroque palace, with gorgeous gardens and the largest collection of Klimt in the world. Another Baroque Palace, Schloss Schonbrunn, with more beautiful gardens, a maze, and a zoo. The crazily over-the-top amusement park in the Prater park. The Leopold Museum in the new Museums Quartier, with a fantastic collection of modern art. And lots, lots more.

To keep us going on these excursions, we ate a lot of chocolate-covered rice cakes. Definitely one of the culinary discoveries of the trip, and available in many different varieties everywhere we went in Europe. I know they don't sound very exciting, but they are excellent. The rice cakes we ate in Europe were thin and crisp, with much more flavour than your average Quaker's variety, and coated with good dark chocolate they make a fantastic snack. We often went through a pack in a day while walking the Vienna streets.

I also fell in love with the cured sausages we snacked on. We bought them at Spar, a grocery chain found across Europe. They were long and thin, spicy, fatty and chewy. They had just the right amount of fat to balance out the meat and spices that made your tongue burn a little, but not too much.

We spent one afternoon at one of Vienna's most famous food destinations, the Naschmarkt. It's a long, outdoor market filled with stalls, cafes and shops selling all kinds of foods. We stocked up on vegetables, drank some delicious fresh juice, visited a wonderful cheese shop, and even found a health-food store selling gluten-free baked goods!

J picked up one of his all-time favourite Austrian meals - a kebap with fresh sheep's cheese. He said this one wasn't quite as good as the ones he ate all summer in Baden.

We also visited the Saturday farmers' market at the neighbourhood square right near our apartment, Karmelitermarkt. The rest of the week, the square is a place to pick up a few groceries and go for an evening drink and a bite to eat, with a handful of bars and cafes and stores selling vegetables, meat, cheese and bread. It's already quite lively, but on Saturday it was full to bursting with shoppers picking up the freshest vegetables and other products from farms around Vienna. The ubiquitous chanterelle mushrooms, available all over the city, were everywhere, and stalls were brimming with other fresh produce: peppers, lettuce, berries, potatoes, and carrots. There were succulent cheeses, crusty baguettes, oils and vinegars, and plenty more.

We stopped at one stand to buy green beans, lettuce and potatoes that all looked like they had just been plucked from the earth. When the woman behind the stall told us the price, we laughed with surprise. "Oh", she said, "We don't use any pesticides on our vegetables, so that's why they are a little but more expensive." We had to assure her we were shocked by how cheap they were, not how expensive. We told her that where we come from, organic vegetables cost way more.

Our final memorable shopping experience in the city was of the more expensive variety. We visited the beautiful Meinl food store several times - there was so much to see and all of it so enticing. Meinl is actually an Austrian coffeehouse chain, but they've expanded their wares. The store includes a coffee bar and ice cream stand at the front, plus a wine bar and cafe down one level. The rest of the two floors are filled with a dizzying array of fresh and packaged gourmet foods. Towering displays of hot chocolate and apricot preserves, in-store bakery, deli and cheese counter, wine, liquor and beer, and yes, even a small gluten-free section.

I adore the huge selection of yogurt you can find in Europe. J was extremely happy in Austria too, because sheep's milk products are everywhere - all kinds of cheese, yogurt, dessert puddings etc. And they're all packaged so cutely, you want to buy every one.

Cheese and meat were the definite culinary themes of our whole European trip. In Vienna, it was amazing sheep's cheese, both hard and soft, plus "chevre-au-lard" - literally, goat's cheese with lard. Soft discs of goat cheese wrapped in meaty bacon, fried up in a pan and spread onto (gf) bread for a gooey, salty, delicious snack. We also ate sausage after sausage, both cured and fresh, and bought a block of cured ham that we used to flavour almost every meal, whether it was based on quinoa, pasta or potatoes.

There's one last thing we ate in Vienna that I still find myself craving, even though when I explain it to people, it really doesn't sound that special. We stopped at a few cafes, including the famous Cafe Central, where Trotzky and Freud used to sip coffee. At places like this there aren't many gluten-free options on the menu, but one of them was simple sausages served with strong mustard and fresh horseradish. The sausages were nothing special, really - kind of like long, thin hot dogs - but combined with the strong bite of the mustard and horseradish they satisfied every time.

I still find myself dreaming about our idyllic week in Vienna - the apartment where we slept with the floor-to-ceiling windows open to the courtyard, woken by the strange calling of a mourning dove, crossing the Danube canal to explore the city, the excitement of being free to do whatever you want in a place you've never been. It was everything we could have hoped for.

Pumpkin Seed Brittle

2010-12-14T10:58:00.002-07:00

On top of busy workdays and finishing essays, we're starting to celebrate the holidays in small ways around here. This is one of them.

We made this pumpkin seed brittle as a gift for two of J's teachers, along with an amazing roasted vegetable curry from the Moosewood Simple Suppers book. J's voice teacher and voice coach have really gone above and beyond this semester, so we wanted to find a small way to repay them.

We had never made brittle before, but I found the recipe on smitten kitchen and it looked easy. It was. More importantly, it was absolutely fantastic. The texture is hard, but kind of chewy at the same time, and the flavour is more than pure sugar: it's dark and complex, tasting of browned butter with salt, almost like toffee. It's really intoxicating, and I think it will become a Christmas-season staple.

In other news, we're going away for Christmas this year. It's a completely unexpected trip - we were planning a small, quiet Christmas in Edmonton with J's brother and his wife. Instead, Christmas in Rome with my entire family is how we'll be spending the holiday. It's unbelievable really, and even though we're leaving in a few days I haven't exactly realized that yet. We've never been to Italy, and I'm sure it will be amazing. Apparently it's a fantastic country for celiacs, with gluten-free products available everywhere. I'm excited to discover some new ones.

Before we leave I hope to post the rest of my stories from our summer European adventure - since it's now time for a new one!

Des si et des mets, Paris

2010-11-06T00:34:00.000-06:00

I was diagnosed with celiac disease about two weeks before leaving for Europe. I was pretty nervous about having to adopt a new diet while traveling in foreign countries, so I did a lot of online research about the foods I could hope to find in Austria and France. I knew we would have access to a kitchen during the entire trip, so we'd find a way to eat good food no matter what.

I was very happy to discover that David Lebovitz has a gluten-free guide to Paris on his website. David eats gluten, but he was kind enough to compile some information and advice for those of us who can't. Included in his list was the first, and only, gluten-free restaurant in Paris. I knew J and I would have to pay it a visit.

We went there on our first night in Paris, also my birthday. Pretty awesome. Although we had dined sumptuously at Osterreicher im MAK in Vienna the night before, who's going to complain about two birthday dinners? Not this girl.

Des si et des Mets is on a winding, hilly street in Montmartre, quite near the famous Café des Deux Moulins from Amélie (one of my favourite movies of all time). I had never been to Montmartre and J only once when he lived in Paris. We planned to go back to explore during the day, but never got around to it. I'm glad we got to see it by night.

The name of the restaurant translates as "Ifs and Dishes". It's a play on words because in French it sounds like "Ifs and Buts" (Mais, pronounced like mets, means but). It's a small, cozy place, with a modern and funky style: dark red walls, purple banquette, red beaded pillows. It was about half full when we arrived at 8:30 pm.

I was so excited to be eating in a place where I didn't have to ask any questions about what I could or could not have. There was even a bread basket! The bread was a little crumbly in texture, but tasty. Another plus: much of the menu was also lactose-free. J and I imagined how wonderful it would be to have an apartment nearby and come here once a week.

They had a prix fixe menu for 26€ (About $33 Canadian) so we went for that, plus a bottle of white wine. I started with the smoked salmon and J ordered the melon soup. The salmon was soft and creamy, and was served with spears of cold asparagus and a creamy dill sauce, with bread. I had never tasted anything like the soup before. It was bright pink, cold, sweet and refreshing.

I often find that appetizers are more impressive than main courses in restaurants. It's always disappointing when the best part of the meal is the first course, because your expectations are raised up high only to be immediately lowered. That's what happened here, although it wasn't extreme. My plat principal was a whole fish called dorade, with carrot-ginger puree. The flesh of the fish was delicious but it was very difficult to eat. Maybe it's a French thing to serve fish whole, but I had no idea how to efficiently remove the bones. The carrot puree was good but I found myself wanting something else on the plate.

J enjoyed his lamb chops with potatoes, but felt the same way. Maybe it was the way the meals were plated, but it seemed like something was lacking.

For dessert I chose the Crumble aux Pommes (the French don't have a word of their own for crumble) and J the Chèvre Chaud Sur Lit de Salades. The crumble was good, although I've gotta say I think I've made a better gluten-free crumble topping myself. J loved his salad, warm goat cheese on greens. With a sweet soup to start and a salad to finish, it was as though he'd reversed the appetizer and the dessert.

The whole evening at Des si et des mets was lovely. The service was friendly and quick, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Although the food wasn't perfect, it was tasty, and it was a great feeling knowing I could order anything from the menu. What freedom!

Des si et des mets
63 rue Lepic, 18e
Paris
www.dessietdesmets.com

Pumpkin Apple Upside-down Cake

2010-10-30T10:21:00.000-06:00

Lately I have been finding lots of inspiration over at La Tartine Gourmande.

Bea has a really beautiful website. She's a professional photographer and food stylist so her photos are always gorgeous. And I really like her style of food too. Very wholesome, with a focus on fresh fruit and vegetables. Since she's from France there's often a French influence in her food as well.

Bea definitely has a dessert and baking focus, and it turns out that much of her baking is gluten-free. As far as I know, she doesn't have celiac disease, but she seems to really enjoy experimenting with gluten-free flours. So far, all of her gluten-free recipes I've tried have been delicious. She uses a lot of nut flours and really likes quinoa and buckwheat.

She also often incorporates fruit and vegetables in her cakes and other baked goods, which I really appreciate. Sometimes it's great to be decadent, but if I want a little treat to nibble on and pack in my lunch, I like it to be somewhat good for me as well. Which is definitely the case with this fantastic pumpkin cake.

What could be more autumn-like? An incredibly moist cake with a rich pumpkin flavour and hints of quinoa and ginger with a caramelized apple top. I would love to try this as an upside-down cranberry cake as well, and it would probably be awesome with pears. It's also great just like this ... especially with a dollop of thick yogurt.

As you can see in the photo up there, I really like using my scale to weigh flours when I bake. I think it will really help me experiment more with different kinds of gluten-free flours as well. Some of Bea's recipes have weights and some don't. This pumpkin cake doesn't, so the last time I made it I figured out what they should be. If you like baking with a scale (it is a much more accurate way to measure flours, plus you don't have to get any measuring cups dirty!), here are the flour measurements for this cake:

1/2 cup quinoa flour: 2 oz.
1/2 cup brown rice flour: 2.5 oz
1/4 cup tapioca flour: 1 oz.
1/4 cup sweet rice flour: 1.25 oz

Here are a few other recipes from La Tartine Gourmande that I've enjoyed. Go peruse Bea's site yourself, I'm sure you'll love it.

Apple and Olive Oil Cake
Multi-purpose almond crumble topping
Cinnamon tea cakes

(This cake also looks amazing!)

Osterreicher im MAK - Vienna

2010-10-23T11:09:00.002-06:00

On August 18, I turned 26. I began my birthday in Vienna and ended it in Paris. This vacation was pretty much the best birthday present ever.

And since we flew to Paris on my birthday I ended up getting two birthday suppers out of it. Even better! The first one in Vienna was at Osterreicher im MAK. Its named after the chef, a famous guy named Helmut Osterreicher, and it's inside a museum called the Museum fur angewandte Kunst (MAK), or Museum for Applied Arts. We didn't get a chance to visit the museum but they have an amazing shop full of super cool houseware items, books and games.

I searched for a really nice restaurant to celebrate, and this one got great reviews in our travel guide and online. It ended up being a fantastic night out, although there was a close call when it came to gluten, which made me think the kitchen wasn't really being as careful as they could be.

The space is elegant, funky and eclectic all at the same time, although you really shouldn't expect much less from a restaurant in an art museum. It's all one room with soaring ceilings covered in a beautiful flower pattern. There are mirrors and black chalk-boards everywhere. The room is divided by a kind of half-wall between the bar/lounge area and the actual dining room. Big, beautiful wood-framed windows line the walls and a massive bottle chandelier hangs over the bar.

The menu is divided between classical Austrian dishes and modern Austrian dishes, with a page for each. Among the classical dishes is, of course, wiener schnitzel, plus beef goulash and beef in aspic (shudder). Actually, it's pretty much all meat. The menu clearly changes with the seasons, since when I just checked it online the modern section looked completely unfamiliar.

One thing I noticed right away is only two pages of the menu are accorded to food - the rest of the eight go to drinks: wine, beer, spirits, cocktails and non-alcoholic choices. We enjoyed two lovely bottles of white wine and managed to get rather tipsy ... I mean, what else are birthdays for?

It was fairly easy to navigate the menu even with our limitations - only a few things would cause problems. I started with a fantastic salad with Serrano ham and cream cheese, on arugula with fresh raspberries and an aged balsamic reduction. It was the perfect combination of textures and flavours. The cheese was nothing like what we call cream cheese in North America, as you can see from the photo. It was more like soft goat's cheese but with a subtle cow's milk taste.The balsamic reduction had a deep, rounded sweetness and earthiness that added an amazing element to the whole plate.

For my main I ordered some kind of boiled beef, I can't remember exactly what it was called. The meat itself was good, nothing spectacular, but I really liked all the little side dishes and how it was presented almost TV-dinner style. It was very old-fashioned, with creamed green beans and sort-of smashed, soft yet caramelized potatoes.

This was where I did, however, discover a dumpling in amongst my meat and vegetables. It's pretty obvious in the photo, there in the top left-hand corner. I'm just happy I realized what it was before I bit into it, and quickly moved it to J's plate. It was my birthday dinner and I wasn't going to freak out about it. Maybe once I've been gluten-free for years and I know exactly what happens when I eat it by accident, I will take these things a little more seriously.

J's main was also beef - a minute steak with onions and homefries. The fried onions looked fantastic.

There were fewer dessert options for us but what we ate was great. J had what I recall as some kind of fritter with sauteed apples on the side. Mine was a frozen chocolate mousse with a few blackberries and a fruit sauce. It was a delicious texture - cold and firm and custard-like.

There was more of the restaurant to explore. When I went downstairs to use the bathroom I snuck a peek into the kitchen. I find the hustle and energy of restaurant kitchens fascinating, and I wished I could have stood and stared for hours, but of course I didn't. I also noticed a dark, swank outdoor terrace off the lower level.

Our meal at Osterreicher was long and lingering. We spent a lot of money (although we are cheap when it comes to wine), but it was totally worth it. Afterwards we looked around the fabulous design shop in MAK and then wandered the streets, through the main Viennese square, Stephansplatz, and past Stephansdom, the cathedral. Finally we made it across the bridge of the Danube canal and home to our little apartment.

The next day we got up and flew to Paris. Incredible. Coming up: my second birthday meal, at Paris' only gluten-free restaurant. No chance of stray dumplings in their food.

Osterreicher im MAK
Stubenring 5
1010 Wien, Austria
www.oesterreicherimmak.at

Meierei - Vienna, Austria

2010-10-16T11:36:00.000-06:00

We ate some fantastic food on our European holiday. Most of it we cooked ourselves, like quinoa with sausages and chanterelles, potatoes with lardons, creme fraiche and red peppers, and pasta with mushrooms, fresh soft cheese and more lardons. There were also so many amazing things to eat straight up. Thick, Greek natural yogurt, creamy with an amazing tang. Fresh sheep's cheese slathered on bread. The best pistachio gelato I've ever had in Paris. Fresh-smoked soft cheese in Denmark. Spicy, chewy, fatty and highly addictive sausages that we munched while walking around the streets of Vienna.

We only ate out a few times, and in the next few posts I'm going to tell you about some of those places. Let's start with Meierei.

Meierei is a cafe and milk bar in Vienna. (Meierei is the German word for dairy.) There are lots of great things about this place, but one of the best? Definitely its location.

Meierei is inside the Vienna Stadtpark (city park). You can take the U-bahn line (subway) right into the park, although we walked here. Meierei is right below another, fancier restaurant called Steirereck im Stadtpark. The park is gorgeous, a long green rectangle with a canal running through it, big old trees, benches and statues. The restaurant sits overlooking the canal and the park. We didn't see where the entrance to Steirereck is, but we were beckoned down the stairs to Meierei by a big milk bottle.

Once inside, the theme is definitely milk. Lots of milk. In fact, the walls of the foyer are covered with floor-to-ceiling photos of milk, all froth and bubbles. Inside the restaurant, there are milk bottles lining the wall behind the bar and white everywhere.

We sat outside on the deck. It was beautiful out there, with a little shade from the awning.

With J's lactose allergy, a restaurant specializing in milk might not seem like a natural choice. But I read about this place online and I knew they offered all different kinds of milk he could drink. They have cow's milk, goat's milk, soy milk, rice milk, coconut milk, and even horse milk! That last one kind of freaked us out. On top of the plain milk they have all kinds of flavoured milks, warm or cold. J ordered strawberry goat's milk and I ordered warm cow's milk with cardamom.

We enjoyed them both, although the cardamom milk was very sweet. But of course we couldn't stop there. On top of milk, Meierei offers a full cafe menu, but one of their specialties is, of course, cheese. We are not ones to turn down a good cheese plate. Because of J's limitations, we went for the cow-goat-sheep plate, although I would have loved to try the selection of Austrian cheeses or raw milk cheeses as well.

The presentation of the cheese plate was outstanding. I really loved the way they did it at Farm in Calgary, but this plate had so much elegance and panache. The smear of apricot preserves, the pumpkin seeds tossed haphazardly, and all the tiny labels on the flat porcelain made it very luxe.

Of course the cheese was fantastic. I don't remember how they all tasted and I definitely didn't take any notes, but we loved all of them but one. You see the little dish with the runny cheese in it? That one was vile. It was the consistency of gluey cheese fondue and tasted like strong, moldy garbage. We could barely smell it.

But everything else was delightful. Of course the plate came with a basket of bread that I couldn't eat, but we had just bought some gluten-free bread, so I discreetly slid it out of my bag and into my lap, and ripped chunks off the slices to eat my cheese with. Very convenient.

While we were eating I felt the urge to try another kind of milk, so I ordered the milk with chocolate, orange and ginger. This concoction is something I can't get out of my head, and if I ever open a restaurant (not likely!) it is going on the menu. The concept is brilliant. A glass of warm milk arrives at the table accompanied by a frozen chocolate popsicle. You dip the popsicle into your milk and swirl it around until it tastes the way you like it. You can leave it in there to melt or eat it right off the stick. Amazing! And it tasted fabulous - rich chocolate spiced with orange and ginger. The most original hot chocolate I ever drank.

We had already eaten a lot that day and I could barely finish the three cow's cheeses on the plate (of course I tasted all the others as well). It doesn't look like much, but with all that milk in me I was full to bursting. J decided to try one of the desserts, Rhubarb Snow with Violets. I was intrigued as to what this would be, and it looked gorgeous. It was basically a granita - shaved ice with sugar and flavourings. Despite the bright pink colour it didn't taste all that much like rhubarb. The highlight was the sugared violets. They were crunchy, sweet and like nothing we'd eaten before.

Although we didn't sample the other food at Meierei, given the cheese and milk offerings I'm sure it's good. When we are next in Vienna I hope we can visit this place again. The temptation of amazing cheese and milk plus a beautiful location is a winner.

Meierei im Stadtpark
Am Heumarkt 2A, A-1030 Wien
http://steirereck.at/wien/meierei/

A New Direction

2010-10-06T23:05:00.004-06:00

I'm not sure what's the best way to share big news on a blog, so here goes: In July I was diagnosed with celiac disease.

Of course there are two ways of looking at this. As someone who revels in all types of food, loves to cook and bake, and adores eating out in restaurants, I could see this as a major handicap. Or I could see it as a challenge. I feel lucky that I know how to cook and I already take time to do it each day. I'm happy that I've already tried my hand at gluten-free baking. I'm grateful that I was diagnosed at a time when there is more information and awareness out there about celiac disease than ever before, when I can go to most mainstream grocery stores and buy gluten-free granola bars, waffles, bread and cereal. Most of all, I'm happy to have my health back.

I was shocked when my family doctor told me back in May that he thought I probably had celiac disease. Of course, I had been getting sporadic stomach aches since I was about fourteen, but no other doctor had ever suggested this could be the cause. I thought I had already ruled out a gluten intolerance after my cleanse in 2009. My first thought was relief that it wasn't something more serious, that I wouldn't have to take any medication or have surgery. But then I began to feel despair. What about eating in restaurants? What about continuing my restaurant reviews? What about being a food writer? It all seemed impossible.

But the despair didn't last long. In the two months between my blood test and the confirmation of my illness, I had time to realize this was actually good news. Yes, I had a serious disease, but unlike most I could completely cure myself just by what I ate. What freedom! I knew it would be a challenge, but I was determined to feel better. I also resolved to continue writing about food in my job at CBC and here on this blog. Who knew where this new direction could take me?

I have now been eating gluten-free for nearly three months. Although my health isn't entirely on track, I do feel a lot better. And I'm still discovering what I can eat every day - I'm sure I'll be learning for the rest of my life. There is so much to explore and experiment with. The food we eat at home still tastes fantastic, and I've recently started my adventures in gluten-free baking, which I hope to write about soon. The internet is awash in gluten-free websites and blogs (for a few of my favourites so far, see my new GF blogroll). The amount of information out there is astounding. I can't imagine having celiac disease even ten years ago, let alone 30 years ago. It must have felt like such a struggle. Today, it is getting easier and easier.

Here is just one recent example: J's brother and his wife are planning a dinner at The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant in Edmonton, for next month. "I'll have to call them and see if they have gluten-free options," I told J. "They probably don't". He berated me for being too pessimistic and handed me the phone. Sure enough, the friendly woman at the restaurant informed me they have an entirely gluten-free menu. Every one of their fondues can be made gluten-free.

So this is our new adventure, and I plan on writing about it as much as possible. Fist up, travels in Europe. Then we'll get back to home cooking. Although this blog will now be entirely gluten-free, I'm not planning on changing the name. I might add some kind of GF sub-title, but I'm not sure yet. The main ingredient of The Little Red Kitchen hasn't changed: personal stories about cooking and eating real food that tastes fantastic.

These photos are all from our travels in Europe, and they are making me hungry! I'll be back with stories from our trip soon.

My sister's wedding cakes

2010-09-29T21:16:00.005-06:00

My trip to Halifax in early July was everything I hoped it would be. Fun. relaxed. Full of wedding-ness, family and cake-baking. It felt awesome to be back there. Awesome and a bit weird. It's my home, but my home is also in Charlottetown, and now sort of in Edmonton too. It makes for a strange feeling.

I ate some great food, home-cooked and out in restaurants. Of course there were places I wanted to visit that I didn't, but I have a couple of food posts in the works about the trip.

And the cakes! Oh yes, the cakes. Well. I made eight cakes, which was not as hard as it sounds. We wanted to have layer cakes so they could be filled, but the thought of baking 16 cakes instead of eight was, frankly, terrifying. So instead we baked eight, and cut each one in two so we could fill them. The final formula was orange cakes with lemon buttercream and lemon filling with sliced strawberries.

First I baked them, split them and froze them by wrapping first in plastic wrap and then in tin foil.

Then I made the buttercream and the filling. That meant a LOT of lemons. Thank God Claire has a juicer. This used to be my parents' and I love it.

Then it was time to put the cakes together. After thawing, I spent the morning before the wedding filling, crumbing and frosting in stages. Crumbing is when you put a thin layer of icing on a cake to seal in the crumbs. Then you have to chill it before frosting.

These steps actually took less time than I thought they would - I think I really got into the zone. I made sure the decorating was simple: I just piped a single border on the bottom of each cake. I don't have a lot of experience piping, but I managed to make them all look pretty good. The frosting was super fluffy and fantastic to work with.

I definitely learned a few things through this whole process. If you are baking wedding cakes, or any large-scale baking project for a special occasion, this is my advice:

1. Make sure you have all the right equipment. I couldn't have done it without my mini palette knife to spread the frosting in straight lines, the right piping tip (in my case it was the star tip), and a turntable (or a revolving cake stand) to help ice the cakes easily.

2. Plan the transport of the cakes. We bought cardboard cake plates and cardboard cake boxes at the Bulk Barn in Halifax. The cakes were 9 inches and we bought 10-inch cake plates and 12-inch boxes. Emma, one of the other bridesmaids, helped me transport the cakes from Claire's apartment to the hall where the wedding was (thanks Emma!), and even with a little sliding around in the boxes, there was no mussing of the icing.

3. Buy extra of all ingredients. It took me about half an hour to calculate what I would need to octuple (is that a word?) these recipes, and I erred on the side of caution when I was at the grocery store (although of course I forgot a few things and had to make a few extra trips later). There's nothing more annoying than running out of lemons when you're still 2 tablespoons short of lemon juice.

4. Make sure your leavening agents are fresh. To be honest, I've never really thought much about this, but it really makes a difference. We made the first cake as a test with older baking powder and it did not rise that much. When we made the others with new baking powder they rose way more.

I would recommend all three of these recipes to anyone - and not just vegans! Not only are they all delicious, but practically they really hold up too. The cake recipe freezes well and was firm enough to cut easily without any crumbly bits. Despite the hot, muggy weather in Halifax, the buttercream (made with vegetable shortening and vegan margarine) showed zero signs of melting or separating even after the cakes sat on the display table at the reception for 12 hours (and no air conditioning in the room). Impressive, I say. The orange cake and buttercream are both from the fantastic book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World - a solid investment if you are a vegan or if you have any vegans in your life you like to bake for. The lemon creme filling is from another vegan dessert book called Sweet Utopia.

I was very lucky to be making these for an extremely grateful and non-demanding bride and groom. It was so great to be able to do this as a gift to both of them. Since they both love food, I knew the cakes had to taste amazing (hence the four test cakes before leaving Edmonton). But they weren't very picky about appearances, which I appreciated very much. We ended up decorating the cakes with an array of fresh summer fruit - red and Rainier cherries, strawberries, and blueberries. We left the fruit whole so it wouldn't bleed onto the white icing, which meant we had to remove some of it to make the cakes easier to cut, but it was okay. The cakes were all displayed together on one table on cake stands we had borrowed from friends and family. The final effect was very pretty and summery.

I got lots of compliments on the cake from people at the reception, which felt great. I thought it was good too. Although, to be honest, I probably won't be making another citrus-flavoured cake for a long time.

After a fantastic wedding and party, Claire and Alex went to Turkey on their honeymoon. Congratulations guys!! Maybe I can bake a cake for your anniversary party in the future ...

Just a Taste

2010-09-13T20:38:00.006-06:00

I can still taste the silkiness of this poached pear, the vanilla-scented honey syrup with a faint aftertaste of anise, the perfect warm ending to an amazing meal.

This is just a taste of a transcendent lunch we ate in Paris, and just a nibble of our entire European adventures. We are back in Edmonton after an amazing summer. Three and a half weeks in Europe, and so many stories and experiences. Plus my sister's wedding in Halifax and some fun times here at home too. I'm so lucky to have these memories - it truly was the summer of a lifetime.

I can't wait to share it with you all, but unfortunately the blogging software I use isn't working on my computer right now, so we'll all have to wait a little bit longer. (I'm using blogger to post this but I really can't stand it for long posts).

I promise lots of good things coming up - photos of Claire's wedding cakes, plus more food experiences in Halifax, excessive amounts of cheese and sausage products in Europe, some special meals, and also some big news. This blog is about to head in a new direction ... and I can't wait to tell you all about it.

See you soon!

Wedding cake: a last-minute update!

2010-06-30T23:09:00.001-06:00

I’m flying out of Edmonton for Halifax bright and early tomorrow morning. After four test cakes, I think I’ve decided on the cake I want to make … but I’ll still need to test it before the wedding. The consensus from my testers (mostly grateful opera students in a program with J) was that the first cake I made, the orange one from the last post, was the best. So the plan right now is orange cake with lemon buttercream and a vegan lemon creme filling with sliced strawberries. The filling is made with silken tofu, and it’s delicious.

Wish me luck with the final product! We’ve also decided not to do a tiered, stacked cake but instead bake several individual layer cakes and display them all together on one table at the reception. The idea of all those dowels and huge cake pans just made me too nervous.

There are still a few details to iron out, but I think we’ll mostly decorate with fruit and some fresh flowers, plus a little piping thrown in for good measure. Buttercream won the contest against fondant, which I’m pretty happy about.

I’m hoping to update the cake results from Halifax, because when I get home I’ll be computerless for about three weeks. I’m going to take a little blogging break … not sure how long yet. I’m heading to Europe to join J in August for three weeks. I’m sure there will be lots of amazing food to blog about, but it might just have to wait until I get back in September.

So have a great summer! I’ll be enjoying Halifax, Edmonton, Vienna, Paris and Denmark … what fun!

Out of the Park

2010-06-30T20:12:00.001-06:00

On Tuesday night we had supper at the Wildflower Grill with J and his Mom. She was visiting for a week and we thought we’d take the opportunity to go there for the first time. I also took the opportunity to review the place for CBC. And it hit the ball out of the park, delivering up one of the best restaurant meals I’ve had in Edmonton. For this price level, I only have Zinc to compare it too so far, but it is many notches beyond.

No photos (I try to go incognito when I’m reviewing), but the best dishes were the beef carpaccio – stunningly soft, creamy and flavourful – and the chocolate tasting. Oh. my. god. If you like chocolate at all you must try it. But what impressed me most was the overall package. Wonderful atmosphere, fantastic service and original, high-quality food.

For more details listen to my review Friday morning on Edmonton AM (93.9 fm) at 7:50. If you miss it you can listen here.

Wildflower Grill
wildfloweredmonton.com
10009 107 st.

A very important wedding cake

2010-06-17T16:57:00.002-06:00

I have an announcement to make: I am baking a wedding cake!

Not just any wedding cake. The cake for my sister Claire’s wedding. The same sister who is as obsessed with food as I am. The same one who is a passionate vegan and baker extraordinaire. That sister.

There might be a wee bit of pressure involved in this project.

But the prospect of fun and excitement far outweigh any nerves I may have. I’m no professional baker, and most cakes I bake aren’t even frosted, but I want this to be the best. wedding. cake. ever. Which is partly why I’m sharing this news here.

First up, the details:

- the wedding is on July 10 in Halifax.
- the cake will have to serve about 175 guests (eep!). This means at least three tiers, possibly four.
- there is to be no chocolate involved (groom’s request) and also no nuts (just in case people have allergies). Flavours such as coconut and mocha have also been vetoed. For now, the flavour palette involves some kind of fruit, most likely citrus.
- of course, it must be vegan!

The fondant/buttercream debate continues. We are thinking fondant would be a neater, cleaner-looking cake (see above about not being a professional cake baker), and there is no risk of melting frosting (the reception is indoors, but you never know). The downside is it doesn’t taste so hot, and doesn’t look so natural. I’ve never worked with it and don’t remember ever eating it either.

So far I’ve baked one test cake – the one you see here in the photos. It was an orange cake with lemon buttercream (both recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World – a must-have book in vegan baking circles). J took it to a party where it was a huge hit. I like it too, but I’m not convinced it’s the one. I used the buttercream to fill and frost it, but I thought that made it too sweet – this was likely also because I made the filling too thick. Ideally I’d like to have a filling different from the frosting (if we end up using frosting and not fondant).

There’s a lot I need to learn about construction and decorating a cake this big, and a lot of supplies to buy – dowels, cardboard cake rounds, a turntable, tinting colours, and if the frosting option prevails, palette knives and tinting colours. For preparation, I plan on baking the cake once I get to Halifax and freezing the layers. The morning of the wedding I’ll frost and fill each tier, then transport them to the venue to assemble and add final decorations. Did I mention I’m also the maid of honour? It’s going to be quite the day.

Tomorrow I’m going to buy a vegan desserts cookbook that looks promising, and I’m hoping it has some inspiring cake and filling recipes in it. I’m thinking of testing a lemon cake or vanilla cake next, and possibly experimenting with some kind of strawberry filling. I’m planning for several more test cakes before I head to Halifax July 1st.

So now I appeal to you, dear readers. Any advice for the first-time wedding cake baker? Fondant or buttercream? Flavours, decorating techniques, words of wisdom?? I am beyond excited about this, but a little guidance would not hurt at all.

St. Lawrence Market - Toronto

2010-06-04T08:30:00.001-06:00

Visiting food markets in new cities is something I love to do when I’m traveling. Sadly I haven’t had many opportunities. I’m hoping to take in a market or two when we visit Europe this summer – so excited! I’ve heard so much about the Pike Place market in Seattle and the Ferry Building market in San Francisco. I really hope I get a chance to visit them someday. When we were in Vancouver last March I loved the Granville Island Public Market, and it immediately reminded me of the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto.

I first visited the St. Lawrence Market about a year ago, and I went back when I was in Toronto recently. It’s a pretty cool place, and just like the one on Granville Island, makes me wish we could have a market that was open during the week in Edmonton. It’s in a big old warehouse building downtown on Front street, and covers two floors. The top floor is mostly food and some kitchen-related items. When you head downstairs there is more food but also some arts and crafts mixed in.

There is so much to see.

Tantalizing cheese – big creamy wheels of it.

Lots of meat too.

Many varieties of shellfish.

Several bakeries (my mouth is watering at that Challah…).

Fresh Montreal bagels.

There’s a store on the lower level that has an astonishing array of bulk items – nuts, beans, all kinds of weird candies I’ve never heard of. They also sell different kinds of bulk salt, like Himalayan pink salt and smoked salt. It’s a great way to try new kinds of salt without paying an arm and a leg for a whole box. Last year I bought a small container of fleur de sel that’s not quite gone, and this year I bought Maldon salt. I haven’t tested them side by side yet to see if I can taste a big difference, but they’re both fantastic for sprinkling onto your food right before you eat.

The market also has many produce stands, both organic and non. When I was there in mid-May, they already had local berries. Jealous!

I can’t wait to discover more markets on my travels. Where are your favourite markets?

Soma Chocolatemaker – Toronto

2010-05-23T17:30:00.001-06:00

Whenever I visit my friend emily in Toronto, our activities revolve around food. When I was there around this time last year, I spent almost a week hanging out with her, and the days went something like this: walk, eat, walk some more, eat again, walk a bit more, eat another treat. It was fantastic.

I visited emily again last week, but this time I could only stay for a few days. Not to worry: we still managed to fit in some good eatin’. It has become a tradition for us to visit the Soma chocolate shop whenever I come to Toronto. I first discovered it about four years ago when I was studying at a chamber music program in nearby Oakville. My group came into the city to see a concert in the Distillery District, a small neighbourhood near downtown where all the distilleries used to be. Full of old, brick buildings and pedestrian cobblestoned streets, it doesn’t feel like you’re in the city. Near the concert hall was this chocolate shop, and my friends and I stopped in. It was incredible. If you like good chocolate and you go to Toronto, Soma is a requisite stop.

Soma is a shop, a cafe, and a mini chocolate factory. It sits in a beautiful Victorian industrial brick building, with high ceilings and a sophisticated, breezy atmosphere. It is what’s known as a bean-to-bar chocolate maker – one of only a few in Canada (including Choklat in Calgary). They buy cocoa beans directly from plantations and make the chocolate themselves. The variety of products they create is astounding, and includes single-origin bars made from beans from the Ivory Coast, Masagascar, Peru and other countries.

They roast the cocoa beans and make all of their chocolate products on-site. There are large glass windows looking from the cafe into the production area so you can watch the chocolate artisans at work. Unfortunately when I was there last week the area was dead, but it was still interesting to look at the machines and wonder what they do. I don’t know if Soma offers tours but I would definitely go on one.

As for the products themselves, whenever I am there I pretty much want to buy everything. Along with their plain bars, they make small bars with added flavours, such as candied lemon and orange peel, almonds, and candied ginger. (I always pick up a ginger bar for J – they’re his favourite). They also create a similar product with large round discs of chocolate. I like the way the flavours are in large chunks or whole nuts and show through the chocolate – it has great visual appeal.

They also make various other sweet treats with combinations of nuts, dried fruit and chocolate, such as chocolate-covered nuts and coffee beans, and many types of cookies.

In the cafe you can order handmade truffles that beckon like jewels from the display case. If you’re in the mood for a hot drink there is a great variety of hot chocolate, including Mayan with spices, Italian hazelnut, “dark side of the mug”, and even a single chocolate shot (emily’s choice).

And to top it all off they make their own gelato. This time around I chose a double scoop of coconut and mango. Both flavours tasted like the essential nature of the ingredient in a cold, creamy package. It was definitely some of the best gelato I’ve ever had.

There is a lot of great chocolate in Edmonton, and Kerstin’s Chocolates is one of my favourite shops in the city. But Soma is something completely different. If you are in Toronto I highly recommend it.

SOMA Chocolatemaker
55 Mill St.
Toronto, ON
www.somachocolate.com

Spring Entertaining: Olive and Pistachio Tartine

2010-05-07T23:49:00.001-06:00

After a long entertaining dry spell, we decided it was finally time to clean up the place and have some people over for supper. I think it was the lovely spring weather that put us in the mood. We love to entertain, but when we're super busy we kind of forget about it. We forget how much fun it is to plan a simple menu, cook up some delicious food, and share it with friends.

In my ever-so-lucky job at CBC radio, I get the chance to test-drive lots of cookbooks. We took some inspiration for our two recent soirees from one I received recently and another I reviewed last fall: Giada At Home by Giada de Laurentiis, and French Taste by Laura Calder.

I've never used a cookbook by Giada, though I've watched her show a few times on the Food Network and mostly been impressed by the size of her cleavage. But this cookbook is good. Simple recipes and a nice style. A few too many family photos for my taste, though.

Laura Calder's French Taste is fast becoming one of our favourite cookbooks. I loved this when I reviewed it, and we're still loving it. Confession: I never used to like Laura when I watched her show. She seemed kind of uppity. But when I interviewed her she was the sweetest thing, and I quickly became converted. I love that this book has little essays on the importance of shopping well, of eating with friends, and other civilized things. She's a charmer, and her recipes are great too. She brings a chic elegance to French food that has nothing stuffy or staid about it.

We made:

Pea Pesto from Giada

Olive and Pistachio Tartine from Laura

Warm Roasted Potato Salad from Laura

Sesame Soy Avocado from Laura

Prosciutto-wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese from Giada (these were good but sooo rich)

Pineapple Upside Down Cake from Nigella Express (another great
book)

Our cookbook collection has probably doubled in the past year and a half (through CBC and my own buying), and now I find myself with books on the shelf that I've barely used. This week I'm beginning our menu planning more vigorously, and I'm going to try to use some of the books I don't know very well. Up next: Michael Smith's Chef at Home, Nigella Express, and We Eat Together by Julianna Mimande and Gabe Wong.

Olive and Pistachio Tartine
Adapted from French Food at Home by Laura Calder

This is is the easiest thing in the world but so satisfying, and it was one of the most popular things on the table the night we made it. I always forget how much I like olives and this is a great way to remind yourself.

All you do is take about a cup of black or kalamata olives, pit them (or do the smart thing and buy them pitted), chop them up into small pieces, and mix them with a few tablespoons olive oil, a few teaspoons of chopped thyme, zest from about half a lemon and a little lemon juice to taste. Season with ground black pepper, and that’s it! Spread onto rounds of crisped baguette and sprinkle with chopped pistachios – the combination is so perfect. This is basically a very simple version of olive tapenade, and if you wanted a smoother mixture you could easily blitz it through a food processor or crush it in a mortar and pestle. Really, you could season olives any number of ways and they would be delicious, so experiment and see what tastes good.

Zinc at the AGA

2010-05-06T08:47:00.006-06:00

This morning on CBC radio I reviewed Zinc, the new restaurant at the Art Gallery of Alberta. You can listen to the review here. Usually when I review restaurants for CBC, I leave my camera at home. I don't want to draw atttention to myself and make the restaurant think I'm doing some kind of review. But I really want to return to Zinc if only to take photos! It's the most beautiful restaurant I've been to in Edmonton, and one of the most beautiful I've been to anywhere. Chic table settings with luminous blue water goblets, light coming in everywhere from floor-to-ceiling windows, and that amazing end-cut douglas fir wall.

The food looks great too, but the results weren't always fantastic. Definitely not worth the price tag for us. I found the menu pretty blah - a lot of typical choices, and very French preparations. Food like this doesn't have to be boring, of course - it all depends on the chef. The cocktails were delicious, though, and there are some other dishes I'd like to try (like the blueberry and lemon panna cotta and the Brome Lake duck breast).

I've read a lot of negative comments about the service on forums and other blogs, but our service was quite polished. A bit too earnest, and as others have noted, pretty green, but well-timed and polite, even when my husband had to send back an after-dinner drink twice.

We generally eat out at moderately-priced, casual places. The only other high-end restaurants we've visited in Edmonton are the Red Ox and the Blue Pear. We went to the Blue Pear during Fork Fest for the reduced price menu, and I still consider their regular prices prohibitively expensive. The food there was impressive and really pushed the envelope, but the service wasn't great and the atmosphere stank. We really liked the Red Ox and I think it is worth the price. The other high-end places I am itching to try are Madison's and Wildflower Grill - and although it's a little more casual, Wild Tangerine is also near the top of my list. It would be nice to find another special-occasion restaurant in Edmonton.

What are your favourite high-end Edmonton restaurants?

The Flavours of Edmonton CBC Cookbook

2010-04-20T20:12:00.001-06:00

In my work at CBC radio I've been lucky enough to do a lot of writing and interviewing people about food. It is probably one of the best parts of my job. Right now I am working on a new venture at the CBC - a cookbook.

CBC is on the search for recipes for an Edmonton cookbook. It's a fundraiser for the Edmonton Food Bank. We are looking for your family's favourite recipes, and the stories that go with them.

Almost every good recipe has a good story, right? Maybe it's something your Mom or Dad used to make, a dish your kids love, or something that always shows up at family parties. Maybe it's something you tasted while traveling in a foreign country and then recreated at home. It doesn't need to be fancy or complicated (in fact, simple is probably better). It could be a main course, an appetizer, a dessert or a baked good. Just make sure it's something original and never-published. Of course, almost all recipes start out published somewhere, but usually you put your own spin on it. What we want is something that's not copied word-for-word from a cookbook or magazine.

Submitting your recipes is easy. Just go to this link on the main page of CBC Edmonton. From there, simply fill out the recipe form with your story. You could have your family recipe published in the final cookbook!

This is a really fun project to work on, and we're hoping communities across Edmonton get involved. So spread the word and tell your friends ... sharing recipes is one of the best parts of cooking!

Update: Any recipes that have been published on a blog are allowed to be submitted.