Over the weekend, the Everyman and I visited the annual Gourmet Food & Wine Expo here in Toronto.

This year I was fortunate enough to have free admission courtesy of my editor Sheryl, so all that stood between us and deliciousness were those pesky strips of sample tickets.

And even though every year we leave the Expo lamenting how there is way more booze than food, every year without fail we also go in with many more sample tickets than we’ll possibly need.  This year, we went in with 100 tickets between the 2 of us, which I could tell was probably too much, but we were both looking forward to hitting up the fancy wine room and trying a few expensive wines like we did last year.

I’d also wanted to see Grant’s presentation on the Food Network Stage which happened to be the first of the day, so we ended up getting there just as the show opened.  The unfortunate thing about arriving so early is that most booths aren’t quite ready for service yet, and since we’d decided not to have breakfast beforehand, we were absolutely famished and starving for options.

In order to push back the lightheadedness, we stopped at the first booth that was open, which in this case happened to be Sassafraz.  The Everyman helped himself to a pulled meat mini sandwich, while I grabbed what they were hyping as the world’s best brownie.  The sandwich was decently textured, but super bland without a generous helping of the various condiments that were available.  The brownie was tasty too, but much too sweet to be considered the best of the best.

Next, the Everyman wanted to stop at Canyon Creek, who were sampling a short rib on sour cream mash that was utterly succulent considering the source.  Had I not known that it had come from a chain restaurant, I don’t think I’d have been able to tell, which is quite the compliment I’d say.

As we approached the stage, I decided to stomach some real food, swayed by the pork belly hash topped with a sunny side up egg being served up at Eight.  It was an elegant balance of flavours and textures, and took the edge off my hunger just in time to watch Grant do his offal thing.

Once the demo got started, Grant pulled out a cute and cuddly pig’s head from the freezer.  A few people in the audience behind us were visibly squeamish, and one set of ladies actually got up and left once they started breaking the head down, but for the most part those of us that were there knew what we were in for.  He appeared palpably nervous, and kept slapping the sides of the pig’s head and jowls around between his 2 hands.  They went through the process of producing testina, and then quickly demonstrated how to cure guanciale.  Once finished, the audience was swept with offers of thinly sliced testina dusted with crushed hazelnuts, pickled chanterelles and Maldon sea salt that was luxuriant in its simplicity.

Once Grant’s show was over, we continued on our journey around the convention centre.  We paused for cheese at the Leslieville Cheese Market, then grabbed a few sips of rocket fuel-like sake at Ozawa.  At the Hernder winery booth I picked up some sample sized products from Essence Of Niagara, including a variety of fruit flavoured vinegars and jars of vinegar jellies.  Around this time the Everyman went to his favourite booth of the show for Embrujo Flamenco’s chorizo sandwich, which he boasts to have eaten 3 of last year.  Every year, this is always his most cherished bite of the show, but he restrained himself and only had 1 this time.  In the meantime, I headed over to the Zaza Espresso booth for a crunchy cannoli after seeing the server at a French alcohol booth chomping on one.  We stopped to try some Taboo BC absinthe, which he loved and I hated, a sipping tequila called Casa Noble for him, and some French Lejay Cassis for me.

Turning the corner we hit alcoholic’s alley, where the Everyman sampled beers to his heart’s content, and I fell in love with Fully Loaded Tea.  After tasting 2 of them, I quickly came away with boxes of the wild Siberian fruit tea and goji force green tea, unlike the brutish hillbillies at the booth with us, who insisted on sampling every single flavour twice, and then not buying a thing.  Once I got home I found that they’d stuffed my eco-tote with samples of all of their other blends as well, which made me even happier.  A stop at the Vintages booth meant I could sip some premium Ontario wine, after which we stumbled upon the half hidden Splendido table.  A delectable brisket slider topped with Blue Haze cheese went down mighty easily, and for my last bites of the day I nibbled a slice of coconut cake from the Antigua and Barbuda booth, plus some jumbo shrimp tempura from Acqua.

By this time about 2 and a half hours had passed, and we had close to 50 tickets still left between us.

Which of course meant it was time to head to the “high roller” wine section, where you can sample fancier stuff from 2 to ~30 tickets a pour.  And just so we’re clear, we’re not talking a full wine glass either but rather a 1 to 2 ounce pour.  Despite the fact that several of the snootier booths snubbed me and chose to ignore my presence even though I was the only one there, I still managed to do away with the rest of my tickets and experience some really amazing wines.  I can tell you that the “super Tuscan” that the LCBO gentleman suggested was my least favourite of the day, and that I did not taste anything of the calibre of the delicious cocoa, bacon and leather undertones of the wine I came home with last year.  But honestly, to me it’s all just grape juice, so I don’t get totally bogged down in the fanciness or details, I just like to taste and see.

And after a quick stopover in the LCBO retail booth, we left the show with less swag and stuffed bellies than usual, but slightly foggier minds.  In addition to that, I had a bag full of business and wine descriptor cards stuffed full of information on all of the places we’d been.  The bag full of promotional material actually ended up being larger than the bag of foodstuffs I brought home this year, which was quite a change from the normal course of things, and even from last week’s adventure at the Royal.

They really should change the name of this event to the Gourmet Wine & Food Expo, because really, there was probably 30% food and 70% alcohol.  Not that I’m complaining or anything, but a girl’s gotta eat!

Until next time…

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.

I’d intended to visit last weekend, but was too bagged from my disastrous week at work to do anything more than what little I did.  Earlier this week I almost changed my mind about going altogether, due again to more exhausting work conditions.  But, after an invigorating jaunt around Kensington market yesterday morning to procure supplies for dinner and finish up some Christmas shopping, I made the decision that I absolutely had to go.

It must be said that while The Royal is oodles and oodles of fun, it’s also decidedly hardcore.  This is not a carnival/festival/fair/tradeshow for wussies.  It’s big.  It’s intimidating.  And it makes for an afternoon filled with an awful lot of crowded shuffling around.  But, it really is an untapped food lover’s paradise, as well as a field of dreams (as the Everyman put it) for cow lovers like me.  And despite the slow crawl that we kept up during all of our laps, we both had a really good time sampling food at many of the booths, checking out various kinds of booze and strolling gaily through the cow paddock.

After close to 3 hours inside, we amassed quite a load of comestibles.  As is the case with any food-related show, the Everyman leaned heavily on the meats, while I stuck to the majority of cheeses, with some condiments sprinkled in for good measure.  The surprise of the day was that I also managed to find my dad’s Christmas gift, but will not be revealing it here, just in case.

Of the meaty mediums, we came home with;

• 2 bags of Carmichaels regular pepperettes
• 2 bags of Carmichaels Cajun alligator pepperettes
• 1 bag of Carmichaels Kangaroo pepperettes
• 2 chunks of European Quality Meats prosciuttini
• 2 large spicy European Quality Meats proscuitto-like sausages
• 2 mystery European Quality Meats sausages that they put in the bag for free

I should note that every time we go to some sort of convention, the Everyman always seeks out the Carmichaels booth.  He stocked up when we went to the Home Show back in September, but didn’t want to run out any time soon, hence the need for 50 more pepperettes.

I (on the other hand) was on a mission for cheese.  I’d perused the exhibitors list before leaving the house, and knew that there were at least 2 dairies whose booths I wanted to stop by.  Along the way though, I ended up finding a few more.

Here is my inventory of dairy goodness;

• 2 chubs of Woolwich fig goat chevre
• 1 tub of Woolwich blueberry and pomegranate chevre
• 1 wedge of Monforte toscano
• 1 wedge of Upper Canada Cheese Niagara Gold
• 1/2 lb of Traditions of Thornloe unsalted butter
• 1 wedge of Traditions of Thornloe Evanturel
• 1 wedge of Traditions of Thornloe St George

It’s certainly more cheese than we necessarily needed, but once I got started I couldn’t really help myself.  There were only 2 things that I tried that I didn’t end up buying, and that was the Casey Blue from Traditions of Thornloe and the Comfort Cream from Upper Canada; both of which I found much too assertive.

Adding to the pile, I also stopped at several booths filled with condiments, though I thought I managed to restrain myself quite well.  The only thing I regret not getting was the birch syrup, but the line was so long I just couldn’t wait for it.

What I did manage to procure;

• Pristine Gourmet blueberry baco noir wine vinegar
• Kernal Ontario-grown peanut butter
• From These Roots strawberry lilac jam
• From These Roots black currant violet jam
• From These Roots pear pansy jam
• From These Roots blueberry lavender jam

As a general rule I try not to ever buy jam at these kinds of shows since I already have a whole bookshelf-ful at home, but also because as much as I love jam (and I love jam), I don’t eat enough of it to justify buying more.  I pacified my lapse in judgment by telling myself that they’re only the mini jars of jam that you normally get at hotel restaurants, but even still.  I know once I crack open a bottle, I’m going to be hooked (like I am with Rootham’s) and I really don’t need any more jam habits.

Lastly, to round out all of the food, we stopped at the LCBO booth to grab the Everyman some Beau’s Natural Beer and some Southbrook Framboise wine for me.  I really quite enjoy fruit wines, and am dismayed that they aren’t nearly as prevalent as they were when we went to Quebec City.  And though I’m not a beer drinker by any stretch, even I was seduced by the clever ceramic packaging employed by the boys at Beau’s.

So, after what seemed like an eternity walking up and down row upon row of tchotchkes, farm exhibits and food, we finally decided to grab a quick poutine, cop a squat on the floor to eat it, and then head for home; our bags overflowing with delectable edibles.

It seems I’ve found another food-related tradeshow to add to the must attend list for next year.  I’d encourage you to do the same.

Until next time…