Yesterday, after surprisingly little prodding, I managed to successfully coerce the Everyman into joining me for an afternoon at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.
As far as I can recall I don’t think I’ve ever visited “The Royal” before, but if I did, it was probably during some grade school field trip or something nearly 20 years ago. I can vividly recount visits to the Winnipeg version of The Royal, if for no other reason than the presence of Bonhomme (du neige). Bonhomme is the mascot of the Quebec winter carnival, but there’s a surprisingly large French population in Winnipeg, so for some reason he makes an appearance there, too. The toboggan slaloms were pretty awesome as well, which unfortunately isn’t something we’d ever see in Ontario, I imagine.
Up until a few weeks ago I really had no yearning to go to the Ontario Royal. But, when I met my editor Sheryl at Pantry for lunch a few weeks ago (aside from having an utterly scrumptious mushroom and oxtail tart) she made an off-the-cuff remark that made me wonder how much of a foodie destination The Royal might be.
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Tags: Beau's Natural Beer, beer, Bonhomme, butter, Carmichaels, cheese, cows, cured meats, European Quality Meats, From These Roots, jam, Kernal, LCBO, Monforte Dairy, pantry, peanut butter, Pristine Gourmet, Purveyors, Rootham's Gourmet, Southbrook Winery, The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Traditions Of Thornloe, Upper Canada Cheese, vinegar, wine, Woolwich Dairy
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Work has been brutally kicking my ass lately, which is one of several reasons why I haven’t been updating as often as I’d like to.
It’s literally been so busy that it hurts; to the point that I’ve found it’s exacerbating an ulcer I’ve had on and off for nearly 10 years. For the past few months I’ve been working on a huge project that takes up all of my time (and then some) and I live the project, eat the project and sleep the project. It’s kind of exhausting. Every couple of days I’ll be at my office and some coworker or other will tell me how I look like shit lately. Well, duh! Of course I do!! I’m running myself ragged and not sleeping because of how worried I am over whether it will all get done. And the funniest thing about it is I’m not even working as a project manager anymore, so I’m really not accountable for the success of what we’re doing, but I just can’t turn it off, per se.
Of course, after a tough day at the office the last thing I want to do is stand around and cook for an extended period of time, but since the Everyman doesn’t really cook, that doesn’t leave too many options, otherwise. Especially when I’m trying not to do takeout or delivery more than once or twice a month.
So, what’s a mentally drained peon to do? Come home and whip up a sriracha-laced, crumb-topped, roux-thickened cup ‘o mac and cheese, of course.
And, it wouldn’t be complete without a sweet, refreshing glass of Gerwurtztraminer on the side, either.
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Tags: cheese, comfort food, Cooking, Gerwurtztraminer, macaroni and cheese, pasta, ramblings, rantings, sriracha, wine
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For a girl who despised blue cheese in any form for 27 years, this might seem like an odd breakfast option.
However, my love affair with blue cheese began to blossom around my birthday this year, when we went to Frank for dinner.
The combination of a poached pear, pancetta and some Blue Benedictin was all the convincing I needed to know that blue cheese has at least some merits. Then, when I was working on that chicken wing story, I absolutely fell in love with the blue cheese dip at Allen’s, to the point that I was dipping anything I could into it. As the Everyman is wont to remind me, once I find a new ingredient that I enjoy, I tend to want to add it to everything.
So, when I recently found myself in a grocery store (a rare occasion) and happened upon a chunk of Blue Benedictin whilst searching for bocconcini, I decided to grab a small slab, just in case.
This week, that “in case” happens to be a medley of chopped figs, a drizzle of honey, and a small crumble of blue cheese.
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Tags: Allen's, Blue Benedictin, cheese, figs, Frank, honey, Restaurants
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Having been at the cottage this past weekend, the Everyman and I made a pit stop at Cheese Boutique before we headed up, as is customary for the two of us.
Shopping at Cheese Boutique is often fraught with stresses for me, because there is always so much I want to see, but only a limited time allotted to me while the Everyman procures the meaty end of our selections. I am usually tasked with the cheese shopping, and our combined input determines the fruit, veg and bread. We tend to go away with much more food than we’ll ever need, but miraculously, it still manages to get eaten (snerk!)
One of the things I look forward to after a Cheese Boutique run is the leftovers that accumulate in our fridge. The fior di latte and tomatoes never last long in our house unfortunately, which in both cases is entirely my fault, what with them being two of my most dreaded forms of culinary Kryptonite. Most times I am able to scrounge together enough remnants to assemble a tasty lunch, which I did for work yesterday.
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Tags: antipasti, cheese, cottage, Purveyors, The Cheese Boutique
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Since I think it’s about to get nutty around here, what with the holidays and all, I thought I’d pre-preemptively post a year end wrap up before I go away to the cold, cold world that is Winnipeg.
So, without further adieu, let’s jump right into my favorite new foods of the year;
1- Beef Shortribs – As the Everyman succinctly reminded me the other day, until I tried them at Cowbell I never did much like the shortrib. It’s true, but what a convert I am. Now I must have them at least every 2 to 3 weeks or else I feel like I’ll go batty. I even convinced the Everyman to prepare his version of something I saw on Brad Long’s Veritas menu; a grilled cheese and shortrib sandwich. Heaven is a shortrib bounty. It tastes almost exactly not like a hamburger, in grilled form. Delicious.
2- Carpaccio – I always have loved raw fish, but this year was really when I finally turned on to raw meat. I still can’t stomach tartare; it must be the egg that’s the problem. And again, this transformation is primarily due to Cowbell and Brad Lamb. I first had an amazing beef carpaccio at The PT Club which started my intrigue with the dish, and then fell completely in love once I tried a few variations at Cowbell over the summer. I think we can safely say that my mantra for 2008 has become Eat. More. Meat.
3- Pork Belly – I’ll be honest. I used to hate pork belly. Really, really strongly hate it. Then one night I had it at Globe Bistro with a couple of sea scallops and thought, hmmm, this is pretty darn good! Then there was a low period where I hated it again after I had it at Treadwell (which I’d like to reiterate from my post on it is completely overrated). But I persevered, and now I actually like it. It’s rich for sure, but in small doses you just can’t beat it. I even had some fun this year cooking with it at home; though I will say if you’re inclined to try that, good luck, it’s really hard to find in Toronto even at high quality butcher shops.
4- The Hamburger – OK, before anyone gets bent out of shape, let me clarify this. I know hamburgers are not new and I have always enjoyed a good one (or cheeseburger for that matter). What I am trying to say is this is the year that I became fully obsessed with all things relating to them. I believe this can mostly be attributed to a little website I’ve mentioned before called A Hamburger Today. My discovery of this internet treasure is directly proportional to how frequently I now consume and dream about the humble hamburger. Mmmm, I could sure go for one of those right now.
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Tags: A Hamburger Today, artichokes, Brad Long, burgers, carpaccio, cheese, Cowbell, Ed Ho, Eigensinn Farm, Globe Bistro, Grace, kohlrabi, Lists, Mark Cutrara, pork belly, PT Club, Purveyors, saskatoonberries, shortribs, Stephen Treadwell, sunchokes, The Cheese Boutique, tomatoes, Treadwell, Veritas, year end review
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