|
|
Issue No. 6
|
July 15, 2008
|
This Tapas will cover events from July 15th to August 15th. We will resume
biweekly mailings at that time. Happy summer vacationing!
|
|
|
EAT: Tapas
keeping your food news fresh
|
|
|
|
Want to keep your food news fresh? Click here to add your name to our newsletter contact list
Subscribe to Our Newsletter! |
|
|
event
Tableland Screening in the Okanagan Valley
A refreshing alternative to the usual summer shoot-'em-up blockbuster, Tableland is a beautifully-filmed, cutting edge documentary about the movement towards a more sustainable food system. Instead of blowing th ings up, Vancouver director Craig Noble pulled weeds and plunged his hands into beehives to create a film that trumpets the hard-earned achievements of North America's small-scale food producers. Rather than Angelina in tattoos and tight black, the film features real food heroes - such as the bakers, winemakers, farmers, and beekeepers of Salt Spring Island, Napa Valley, rural Quebec, and inner-city Chicago. BC folks have the unique opportunity to catch a screening of this yet-to-be released documentary in the Okanagan Valley (Kelowna on July 21st and Penticton July 22nd) served with -what else?- the valley's amazing bounty of local food, beer, and wine, thanks to Joy Road Catering. Noble will be hosting a Q&A after the showing. How very BC (and, thank god, totally un-Hollywood).
Get your tickets at Ticket Web
Check out the film at P1 Productions. (I recommend watching the trailer.)
|
event
Farmstead Wine Summer Evening in the Parkside Garden
Anthony Nicola, creator of Farmstead Wines believes every bottle of wine has a history worth telling. "Wine is about the story, the experience, the people. And it is the telling of those stories and the family traditions that go into the wine growing that should be shared and savored," he says. On July 22nd in Parkside Restaurant's shady garden, you can listen to Nicola recount the chronicles of each vintage you sip during a four-course dinner prepared by Chef Andrey Durbach. In the age of the locavore, wine-collector Nicola and Chef Durbach have a meeting-of-the-minds: both agree local is favourable, but extraordinary ingredients from afar should not be overlooked. Farmstead Wines supports small family farms of Europe who use sustainable and old-fashioned methods to make good wine that is "made in the vineyard, not in the laboratory." While Chef Durbach recently told the National Post: "I'm all for showing off our best local and regional products, of which there are many, but not being able to coax the best out of these ingredients by marrying them with the best products from elsewhere seems needlessly and pointlessly limiting." The result? A marriage of local foods, small-farm European wines, and exotic embellishments (zucchini flowers filled with ricotta di bufala and dungeness crab tortellini with sweet corn jus and summer truffles, for example). Not to be missed. Reserve a place early as seating is quite limited.
Phone 604.683.6912, Parkside Restaurant.
Farmstead Wines
And click here to read the rest of National Post's interview with Chef Durbach.
|
Event
Sooke Harbour House Winetasting
Man, we've got it good. BC's variety of micro-climates make it possible to create a treasure chest of lip-smacking, belly-warming wines. Consider the hot and sheltered south Okanagan, the windy Similkameen Valley, and Mediterranean-like Islands that produce such gems as Blue Mountain Vineyards, Poplar Grove Winery, Black Hills Estate, Le Vieux Pin, La Frenz and more. Sooke Harbour House wants you to taste what is growing in your own backyard. They'll be hosting a winetasting party on July 26th, the peak of summer. At only $50 a pop and located at one of the prettiest restaurants in the province, this is quite the event. Call to reserve a spot.
250.642.3421
Sooke Harbour House
|
local travel
Cowichan Valley
I've got to say, I've lived in Ontario, Nova Scotia, the Yukon, and now BC; and British Columbians, if you don't already know it, you are one lucky culture. I spent last weekend bicycling through the Cowichan Valley from winery to coffee roaster to ice creamery and never have I eaten so well or cycled through such lush beauty in Canada. Here's the lovely, lazy (with the exception of two long, but do-able hills) route my friends and I took and a few suggestions for stops:
We started out with a point-perfect lunch at Merridale Cidery sitting on their patio overlooking the orchards then biked North along Cowichan Bay road to Blue Grouse Winery. The Blue Grouse was one of our favourites with an exceptionally crisp Muller Thurgau and lovely, passionate staff. Cowichan Bay road will lead you to Koksilah where you can stop for a dip in the river (we did this many times and I would hi ghly recommend it) or continue on to Vigneti Zanatta. Definitely my personal favourite of the wineries, Zanatta's tasting of sparklers was transporting (be sure to try the Glenora Fantasia brut), but what really captured my heart was the perfect-yet-simply set table on the old farmhouse porch. We lingered quite a while over an incredible lunch and flights of champagne looking out on the vineyards and mountains. I declared myself a BC convert. Back to Cowichan Bay for the night, we made one last stop at Royal Creek Winery and loved their blackberry dessert wine that tasted like warm blackberries, not syrup. We just had to finish our picnic dinner with an ice cream cone from Udder Guy's. It was perfect -fresh (and often local) fruit, real cream, no preservatives or artificial colours. We heard some great stories to go along with how the flavours are made. I was impressed. A few other places worth checking out are Cherry Point for their Pinot Gris, Glenterra Winery, and Moziro Café in Shawnigan Lake for a latte I nearly applauded.
Click here for a map of the area.
-
|
wine of the week
Erath, Pinot Noir and Cristom, Mt Jefferson
EAT's Certified Sommelier in the field, Michelle Bouffard reports: "Summer is the perfect occasion to do road trips and to explore wine regions. Oregon is without a doubt one of my favourite places to go during summer. Producers are extremely friendly and welcoming; there are plenty of great wines to try and an abundance of fresh local products. Pinot Noir is Oregonian's claim to fame and for good reason. It is one of the few places in the world where Pinot Noir reaches its apogee. Beware though; Pinot Noir is a finicky and hard grape to grow so the wines tend to command high prices."
Michelle's recommendations for this week:
2005 Erath, Pinot Noir, $32.95 (sku 919779)
2005 Cristom, Mt Jefferson, $42.99 (sku 11684)
Hear more from Michelle live on CFUN radio.
|
in season
The Strawberry
Strawberries astound me. It always takes me a long time to eat the first one because I get caught up in their design. It kind of blows my mind that the seeds are spaced in perfect symmetry along the outside of the flesh. Did you know that the seeds are the actual fruits of the plant? Technically speaking, the deep red fleshy part that we love is actually a modified receptacle tissue (modified receptacle tissues and cream, anyone?). Strawberries are the only fruit whose seeds grow on the outside -how cool is that!? Then there's the smell. They smell like summer. They are the official emblem of high-July-and-the-livin'-is-easy. No man-made thing could ever rival the strawberry.
Strawberries are a member of the rose family, and the plants we most often grow here in BC descend from Chile. Strawberries love BC; they grow like mad.
There are dozens of farms you can spend the day eating fresh berries and take home a few pails for pies and jams. In my opinion, they are meant to be eaten sun-warmed, just-picked, and in the throngs of summer. No chain-store imports for me -they're blasphemy in this province of plenty. Go for the real deal and check out the Fraser Valley Strawberry Growers' Association well-versed website for a complete list of farms where can pick your own berries (or for the time-crunched, buy freshly-picked).
Strawberry drawing by Lynne Broberg.
|
recipe
Classic BC Strawberry Jam
from the Fraser Valley Growers Association
5 cups crushed BC strawberries
7 cups granulated sugar
4 tbsp bottled lemon juice
1 pkg Bernardin Fruit Pectin
Place 6 clean 250 or 236 ml mason jars in a boiling water canner; fill with water, cover and boil hard for 10 minutes to sterilize jars. Boil SNAP lids 5 minutes - not longer - to soften sealing compound. Keeps jars and SNAP lids in hot water until ready to use.
Wash, hull and crush strawberries, one layer at a time. Measure 5 cups (1250 ml).
Measure sugar; set aside.
Combine prepared strawberries and lemon juice in a large, deep, stainless steel saucepan. Whisk in fruit pectin until dissolved.
Stirring frequently, bring mixture to a boil over high heat. Add sugar. Stirring constantly, return mixture to a full rolling boil; boil hard for 1 minute. Remove from heat; skim foam.
Ladle into a hot, sterilized jar to within 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) of top rim (headspace). Using non-metallic utensil, remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness. Centre SNAP lid on jar; apply screw band securely until fingertip tight. Do not over-tighten. Place jar in canner. Repeat for remaining jam.
Cover canner; return water to a boil. At altitudes up to 1,000 ft (305 m), process - boil filled jars - 5 minutes. Remove jars without tilting. Cool upright and undisturbed for 24 hours; DO NOT RE-TIGHTEN screw bands. After cooling check jar seals. Sealed lids curve downward. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Store screw bands separately or replace loosely on jars as desired. Label and store in a cool, dark place.
Servings: makes about 6 jars
|
book
The Wild Gourmets
Tapas editors are taking a brief hiatus to persue respective camping and cottaging endeavours and we hope you'll have a chance to do the same. But how to eat well when living out of a tent? The Wild Gourmets is my beloved camp bible. It contains everything from beautifully drawn instructions for such practical skills as tying knots, foraging wild herbs, and identifying different specimens of crab to a catalogue of recipes that rival anything made in an uber-equipped indoor kitchen. Authors Thomasina, or Tommie for short, and Guy guide you on how to forage ingredients for Potato and burdock root scones, Venison braised with chilli and chocolate, and grilled scallop salad with wild garlic and anchovy sauce, to name a few. The photographs are snap-shot style -no simulated studio replications of outdoor living, they are the real deal- full of exquisite natural light and wild flora and fauna (not to mention the lovely Tommie in every stylish camper's dream  outfit).
If picking your own mushrooms or building a tent from canvas and tree limbs daunts you, note that Guy and Tommie felt like royalty during their year of living in the wild: "We did not set out to pretend we were SAS survival experts. Quite the opposite -luxury was our aspiration. Why live off limpets and pine needle tea when we could eat like kings? Why shiver away at night in a dark crook when we could sleep on thick mattresses of spruce and pine, lulled by the crackle of the nearby fire?" Even if you don't camp, the book is a work of art well-narrated by the easily-likable Tommie and Guy. And if you are an avid camper, you might find you want to follow some of their suggestions back on urban ground. Since reading it, I've been trying to convince my roommates we need an outdoor shower and a pit-cook in the backyard. They're coming around.
The Wild Gourmets is available through Plenty in Victoria, 250.380.7654 and at Barbara Jo's Cookbooks (Granville Island location), 604.688.6755.
|
The Tapas Bulletin Board
Internationally successful Chef Daniel Boulud ambled his way through Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks
mid-July and left behind signed copies of his books. To reserve a
signed copy of one of these rare finds, please call 604.688.6755.
Tom Douglas, also known as "the King of Crab Cakes," will be hosting a crab cake and chardonnay social and class at Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks on Thursday, July 24 from 6-8pm.
Click here to learn about Madrona Farm, a productive, biologically diverse urban farm on Blenkinsop Road in Victoria, under strong development pressure. By voting for this project in the "Green your Campbell Cash" contest, you can help Madrona Farm win money to protect the land from developers.
Les Dames d'Escoffier BC Chapter is pleased to announce the recipient of the inaugural Debra van Ginkel award to Barbara Finley for her Project CHEF: Cook Healthy Edible Food. This program is designed to teach children in grades 4 & 5 about wholesome, healthy food choices. Les Dames d'Escoffier is a society of professional women whose purpose is to promote the understanding, appreciation and knowledge of food, wine and the arts of the table.
Jules Bistro in Vancouver is adding a menu of light French apres-midi fare, accompanied by FIP en Direct broadcasting the music of Paris. A perfect place to do as the French do and people watch from the sidwalk cafe while sipping champagne. 604.669.0033 www.julesbistro.ca
Seaside Marketing wants to spread the word about Sableenes, delicated morsels of collarmeat from BC's beloved Sablefish. "Since we all want to conserve and enjoy the bounty of our oceans we must make sure we enjoy the little and the big of each species," says Julie Bell, director of Seaside Marketing. Sablefish is ranked as a " very good choice" in theOcean Wise program run by the Vancouver Aquarium.
Drink up! Vancouver based Ethical Bean Coffee Company will once again be offering a chance to win two weekend passes to this year's Folk Music Festival. In true Willy Wonka style, passes have been hidden inside specially marked bags of Ethical Bean Vancouver Folk Music Festival Blend, which are on shelves now.
Village Wines in Kitsilano is offering wine tastings on Saturday afternoons in July. Visit Village VQA for a complete schedule and listing of wines you can try.
Chaine des Rotisseurs Garden Party. July 27, Sooke's stellar Markus' Wharfside Restaurant is the host. www.chainevictoria.com
Spanish Day at Ottavio. Join Andrew and his team in this annual celebration of Spain. Jamon serrano tasting, cafe con leche, special tapas menu, flamenco guitar and live flamenco dancing by Alma de Espana. Manchego cheese & arbequina olives, Spanish wine tasting of course, live bullfighting. 11 to 3 pm. Ottavio Italian Bakery & Delicatessen. 250.592.4080
The Galiano Wine Festival, the annual fundraiser
for the Galiano Health Care Centre, will take place August 9, from 1 to 4 pm at Lions Park. It
is possible to include the Festival in a day trip from either
Tsawwassen on the mainland or Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island. Full details on
Island accomodations, links to ferry schedules, and updated Festival
information can be found at www.galianoisland.com.
|
|
Did you know?
We archive each Tapas e-letter so you don't have to. Click here to access all previous Tapas and look up that book or recipe that caught your eye. You can even make our archive your homepage for easy referencing.
|
|
|
|
EAT Magazine
Box 5225 Victoria, British Columbia V8R 6N4
www.eatmagazine.ca
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
