Wednesday 6 November 2013
All you need to know to host a soup swap
When Angelika Heim had her first child three years ago, she started making large batches of soup to freeze as a time-saver for feeding her growing family.
She told her other new-mom friends what she was up to, some of whom happened to be excellent cooks, and before you could say, “Pass the ladle,” a soup swap was born.
The first time she held a swap, she invited four close friends to her house, asking each one to come with a big pot of soup. The recipe ideas were shared via e-mail ahead of time to avoid duplication and to invite feedback about allergies and aversions. Then, on the day of the event, “we divided up the soups into separate containers and everyone went home with five different freezer-ready meals,” says Heim, a Toronto lawyer who recently gave birth for the second time.
That first soup swap was named Super Bowl Sunday and the gathering was so successful that it soon spawned a second edition with a third planned for later this year. (A sauce swap is also in the works.)
“I do the swaps because I love to cook but sometimes my repertoire starts to feel repetitive,” Heim explains. “Trying other people’s food serves as inspiration and gives our family a night off from cooking, which is great when you have a toddler and newborn in tow.”
But the soup swap is popular for more than just the break from cooking that a well-stocked freezer provides.
The event itself gives the friends an excuse to get together on a Saturday afternoon and relax over a gourmet brunch that Heim prepares. There are no kids or husbands in attendance, there is always wine and the conversation typically touches on everything but soup – at least until the warm bottles and Tupperwares (and accompanying printouts of the recipes) are distributed at the end of the afternoon.
The soup swap is said to have originated in 1999 in Seattle by Web consultant Knox Gardner, who took the notion of soup-as-soul-food and turned it into a social-media phenomenon when he created the site soupswap.com.
Since its launch, followers from all across North America and as far away as Scotland have participated in National Soup Swap Day, whose seventh annual instalment took place this past January, following the tips laid out on Gardner’s site.
As he writes on his blog, soup swaps cement communities: “It’s good to know your neighbours and to have them know you. Drinking wine, swapping soup and listening to how much care and interest people put into cooking for others is a great way to start.”
That has certainly been the experience of Lydia Walshin, a Rhode Island-based e-cookbook author who is herself a National Soup Swap Day devotee. “I’ve hosted four soup swaps,” says Walshin, who shares her own recipes on the two websites she runs, soupchick.com and theperfectpantry.com.
“The first time, I invited five girlfriends, so we had six soups to swap including my own. The last time I did it, 24 women came. It’s definitely growing in popularity.”
This can present its own challenges.
Not everyone owns a pot that can hold more than six quarts of liquid, so for a larger soup party – that is, anything more crowded than the host and five guests – a little more organization (and a lottery system) will be required. Here are Walshin’s suggestions for a swap that’s sure to be a hit.
1. Let every guest know how many soup containers to bring and what volume of soup each one should hold (a quart-sized jar, bag or Tupperware is a good choice). And ask guests to bring all soups to the swap frozen. (They’re easier to transport that way.)
2. Ask all participants to e-mail their recipes to you before the event. You can collate them into a single document and forward them to everyone after the swap, but print one copy to have on hand the day of the gathering so that attendees can peruse the ingredient list of each soup before making their selections.
3. For a larger group, organize a lottery system. Start by making numbered tags to determine what order guests will choose their soups in. (You’ll need as many numbers as you have guests, not including yourself, because as host, you should be the last to choose in each round.) At the swap, you’ll place all the numbers in a bowl and invite guests to draw. Number one chooses a soup first and so on until all the guests have picked their first soup. Next, they’ll put all the numbers back in the bowl, then choose again for the second round, repeating until all the soup is spoken for.
4. When introducing the soups at the beginning of the swap, choose a lively storyteller to present her soup first – explaining what’s in it and why she chose the recipe. People tend to follow the leader, and a good presenter will set the tone for the evening. If you are the best presenter in your group, go first.
5. Invite the best soup makers you know, and don’t be afraid to challenge them with ground rules – all soups, for instance, could be gluten-free or meatless.
After all, it’s no fun when the only soups left are meat-based and the last people to select their soups are vegetarians.
Of course, it’s the host’s responsibility to trade a jar or two to make sure guests leave with soups they will enjoy.
She told her other new-mom friends what she was up to, some of whom happened to be excellent cooks, and before you could say, “Pass the ladle,” a soup swap was born.
The first time she held a swap, she invited four close friends to her house, asking each one to come with a big pot of soup. The recipe ideas were shared via e-mail ahead of time to avoid duplication and to invite feedback about allergies and aversions. Then, on the day of the event, “we divided up the soups into separate containers and everyone went home with five different freezer-ready meals,” says Heim, a Toronto lawyer who recently gave birth for the second time.
That first soup swap was named Super Bowl Sunday and the gathering was so successful that it soon spawned a second edition with a third planned for later this year. (A sauce swap is also in the works.)
“I do the swaps because I love to cook but sometimes my repertoire starts to feel repetitive,” Heim explains. “Trying other people’s food serves as inspiration and gives our family a night off from cooking, which is great when you have a toddler and newborn in tow.”
But the soup swap is popular for more than just the break from cooking that a well-stocked freezer provides.
The event itself gives the friends an excuse to get together on a Saturday afternoon and relax over a gourmet brunch that Heim prepares. There are no kids or husbands in attendance, there is always wine and the conversation typically touches on everything but soup – at least until the warm bottles and Tupperwares (and accompanying printouts of the recipes) are distributed at the end of the afternoon.
The soup swap is said to have originated in 1999 in Seattle by Web consultant Knox Gardner, who took the notion of soup-as-soul-food and turned it into a social-media phenomenon when he created the site soupswap.com.
Since its launch, followers from all across North America and as far away as Scotland have participated in National Soup Swap Day, whose seventh annual instalment took place this past January, following the tips laid out on Gardner’s site.
As he writes on his blog, soup swaps cement communities: “It’s good to know your neighbours and to have them know you. Drinking wine, swapping soup and listening to how much care and interest people put into cooking for others is a great way to start.”
That has certainly been the experience of Lydia Walshin, a Rhode Island-based e-cookbook author who is herself a National Soup Swap Day devotee. “I’ve hosted four soup swaps,” says Walshin, who shares her own recipes on the two websites she runs, soupchick.com and theperfectpantry.com.
“The first time, I invited five girlfriends, so we had six soups to swap including my own. The last time I did it, 24 women came. It’s definitely growing in popularity.”
This can present its own challenges.
Not everyone owns a pot that can hold more than six quarts of liquid, so for a larger soup party – that is, anything more crowded than the host and five guests – a little more organization (and a lottery system) will be required. Here are Walshin’s suggestions for a swap that’s sure to be a hit.
1. Let every guest know how many soup containers to bring and what volume of soup each one should hold (a quart-sized jar, bag or Tupperware is a good choice). And ask guests to bring all soups to the swap frozen. (They’re easier to transport that way.)
2. Ask all participants to e-mail their recipes to you before the event. You can collate them into a single document and forward them to everyone after the swap, but print one copy to have on hand the day of the gathering so that attendees can peruse the ingredient list of each soup before making their selections.
3. For a larger group, organize a lottery system. Start by making numbered tags to determine what order guests will choose their soups in. (You’ll need as many numbers as you have guests, not including yourself, because as host, you should be the last to choose in each round.) At the swap, you’ll place all the numbers in a bowl and invite guests to draw. Number one chooses a soup first and so on until all the guests have picked their first soup. Next, they’ll put all the numbers back in the bowl, then choose again for the second round, repeating until all the soup is spoken for.
4. When introducing the soups at the beginning of the swap, choose a lively storyteller to present her soup first – explaining what’s in it and why she chose the recipe. People tend to follow the leader, and a good presenter will set the tone for the evening. If you are the best presenter in your group, go first.
5. Invite the best soup makers you know, and don’t be afraid to challenge them with ground rules – all soups, for instance, could be gluten-free or meatless.
After all, it’s no fun when the only soups left are meat-based and the last people to select their soups are vegetarians.
Of course, it’s the host’s responsibility to trade a jar or two to make sure guests leave with soups they will enjoy.
Should you always tip at bars or restaurants? How much?
If you look up the etiquette for leaving a tip, pretty much the only thing you won’t find is a consensus.
Everyone seems to have their own set of rules and rationale for each situation. Tipping is of course standard for table-service, but many people get upset if they get prompted to leave a tip in the digital payment terminal for counter-service.
We are warmer to the idea of a tip jar and on the occasion that someone impresses with their customer service behind a counter, we are happy to leave a tip. But the opportunity for that employee is somewhat limited as the interaction is very quick, so counter tipping doesn’t happen often. Even worse is when you call in a take-out order and get the tip prompt on the terminal when you’re simply picking up the food.
Using the automatic tip that is added to the bill of larger groups as a guideline, the standard tip for table-service is 15 per cent. We have the flexibility to adjust that up or down but it’s worth considering what the server is responsible for, and what is beyond their control. If the food is bad, that doesn’t warrant a lower tip. Conversely, if the food is great, that doesn’t warrant a larger tip. Presumably the menu prices will reflect the food quality, location, and ambiance of the restaurant. From a consumer’s perspective, the tip should be based on the service.
Last week I had two separate cab drivers earn themselves no tip within minutes of getting into their cab. Both took personal calls and spoke quite loudly for the majority of the trip. How else do I justify leaving a tip for the great drivers who help with luggage, engage in polite conversation when appropriate, and don’t drive like they’re trapped in a pinball machine? If the tip is a reward that moulds behaviour, I certainly want to encourage what I like, and discourage what I don’t.
That’s our prerogative, right?
Apparently not, according to some. I’ve often heard the argument that tips are necessary for the recipient to earn a decent living: the hourly pay in many food retail jobs is low, so servers rely on tips to bolster their earnings. Servers may rely on tips, but that doesn’t mean they should expect one. It just means that they have a greater incentive to provide good service. I’m happy to tip 20 per cent or more - when it’s warranted. But I’m also not afraid to forego a tip for poor service.
The notion that tipping should be mandatory in order to make it financially worthwhile to be a server suggests the economics of that business are wrong. If the restaurant can’t afford to raise the hourly wages and pass on the increase to customers, that restaurant isn’t good enough.
Conversely, when tipping is mandatory, that’s effectively the same thing as raising prices. But it precludes the great servers from making more money since their exceptional service wouldn’t be rewarded as much. Even worse, it could be rewarded at the same level as poor service.
Give us your two cents on tipping. What’s your philosophy? Do you have any rules of thumb? For example, some people tip a percentage on the food total before tax, and then a flat rate per bottle of wine when eating out. Others just tip 15 per cent on the total no matter what. Some never tip for delivery or counter service. Do you?
Everyone seems to have their own set of rules and rationale for each situation. Tipping is of course standard for table-service, but many people get upset if they get prompted to leave a tip in the digital payment terminal for counter-service.
We are warmer to the idea of a tip jar and on the occasion that someone impresses with their customer service behind a counter, we are happy to leave a tip. But the opportunity for that employee is somewhat limited as the interaction is very quick, so counter tipping doesn’t happen often. Even worse is when you call in a take-out order and get the tip prompt on the terminal when you’re simply picking up the food.
Using the automatic tip that is added to the bill of larger groups as a guideline, the standard tip for table-service is 15 per cent. We have the flexibility to adjust that up or down but it’s worth considering what the server is responsible for, and what is beyond their control. If the food is bad, that doesn’t warrant a lower tip. Conversely, if the food is great, that doesn’t warrant a larger tip. Presumably the menu prices will reflect the food quality, location, and ambiance of the restaurant. From a consumer’s perspective, the tip should be based on the service.
Last week I had two separate cab drivers earn themselves no tip within minutes of getting into their cab. Both took personal calls and spoke quite loudly for the majority of the trip. How else do I justify leaving a tip for the great drivers who help with luggage, engage in polite conversation when appropriate, and don’t drive like they’re trapped in a pinball machine? If the tip is a reward that moulds behaviour, I certainly want to encourage what I like, and discourage what I don’t.
That’s our prerogative, right?
Apparently not, according to some. I’ve often heard the argument that tips are necessary for the recipient to earn a decent living: the hourly pay in many food retail jobs is low, so servers rely on tips to bolster their earnings. Servers may rely on tips, but that doesn’t mean they should expect one. It just means that they have a greater incentive to provide good service. I’m happy to tip 20 per cent or more - when it’s warranted. But I’m also not afraid to forego a tip for poor service.
The notion that tipping should be mandatory in order to make it financially worthwhile to be a server suggests the economics of that business are wrong. If the restaurant can’t afford to raise the hourly wages and pass on the increase to customers, that restaurant isn’t good enough.
Conversely, when tipping is mandatory, that’s effectively the same thing as raising prices. But it precludes the great servers from making more money since their exceptional service wouldn’t be rewarded as much. Even worse, it could be rewarded at the same level as poor service.
Give us your two cents on tipping. What’s your philosophy? Do you have any rules of thumb? For example, some people tip a percentage on the food total before tax, and then a flat rate per bottle of wine when eating out. Others just tip 15 per cent on the total no matter what. Some never tip for delivery or counter service. Do you?
Monday 4 November 2013
If the Iron Chef can eat it so can i!
http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1015237/spicy-shrimp-saute.html
Spicy Shrimp Sauté
By MARIO BATALI
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1/4 cup sambal
- 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
- 2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 3 tablespoons light sesame oil
- 1 cup sliced scallions
- 2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
- 1(14-ounce) can light coconut milk
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped.
Preparation
- 1.
- Combine curry paste, fish sauce, sambal and chili sauce in a medium bowl; add shrimp, tossing to coat. Place a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add oil, and heat till smoking then add the shrimp mixture, and sauté for 2 minutes. Add scallions; cover, and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in soy sauce and coconut milk. Cook for 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Add
Michael Moss on Getting People to Eat Their Vegetables
Behind the Cover Story: Michael Moss on Getting People to Eat Their Vegetables
By RACHEL NOLAN
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times Michael MossGenerally The Times doesn’t commission ad campaigns for vegetables or for anything else. How did you come up with this rather odd idea?
The reporting started out in a very different direction. The idea was, how could we get blueberries to cost less so that people would be more open to buying them? This led me into the morass of supply issues like pricing. I spent weeks and weeks trying to untangle that. And I came out of the tunnel with a different question: how better to understand the demand side, which seemed more important. Farmers would never grow more fruits and vegetables if people didn’t want more of them. And that way the price would never go down. I had done some reporting for my book on the genius marketing strategies employed by the snack-food industry. I had spoken to the former president of Coca-Cola, Jeff Dunn, who had gone to work doing what he calls his “karmic debt” for a farm that grows baby carrots. And they had done a little campaign toying with the idea of stealing from the playbook of the junk-food industry to apply it to baby carrots, and it seems to have worked. I thought that baby carrots were too easy. I wondered if an ad agency could do something similar for one of the toughest sells in the produce aisle, broccoli.
So you chose broccoli because you thought it was, Bush Sr.-style, the hardest sell?
Exactly. From Bush Sr. to seeing it play out in my own family and knowing that it triggers bad memories for many baby boomers. But I also chose broccoli for being loaded with a huge number of nutrients. It has great potential, but a lot of negatives to overcome before selling more.
Did the ad-agency employees complain to you about the difficulty of selling broccoli?
They were really struggling. The Victors & Spoils employees were on a mission to try to understand what broccoli means to people, so they did a lot of interviews. They asked, for example, what people’s one-word associations with broccoli were. These were things like “healthy” and “good for you.” And it really seemed you couldn’t sell based on these criteria. That’s what the government has been trying and failing to do for years. People associate broccoli with something that wouldn’t help sell it. After the ad people had wandered around Colorado talking to farmers and chefs and people in schools, when they asked me what my single-word association with broccoli was, it was “despair.” I had no thoughts on how they would come up with anything at all.
The campaign they finally came up with was to pick a fight with kale, based on Pepsi versus Coca-Cola. How was it that that war helped raise sales of both?
I thought they were going to go after French fries or potato chips. Because ultimately that is what we are talking about here from a public health standpoint. Some of these people who had worked for Coca-Cola knew the secret of the great soda war, which is that when Pepsi went after Coca-Cola, or vice versa, ultimately sales of both went up. When the people at Victor & Spoils looked around for the big shot in the produce aisle, they realized it was kale. And they took off after kale. At first I was aghast — because the mission is not to drive down sales of kale — until they explained to me that sales of both would go up. Marketing people call this “buzz.” Of course, “43 percent less pretentious than kale” is obviously tongue-in-cheek.
That was just the first phase, which would play well in Brooklyn or Portland. They came up with another stage to go after people who weren’t paying much attention to vegetables at all. And that’s when they came up with the “alpha” vegetable. The idea was broccoli as a big, powerful vegetable that could appeal to both women and men. The idea is to push emotional buttons of both groups. That’s what the ad people study and know about. And for that second group they came up with big, muscular ideas, like roasting broccoli in a helicopter over a volcano.
One of my criteria in choosing Victor & Spoils was that they let me sit in on their creation of this campaign. I happen to think that the video that Gabe Johnson has done to accompany this story is just fantastic. It takes you inside a “Mad Men”-like setting where real ad-agency people are struggling and ultimately triumphing. It is so much fun to watch them work. They spend most of their time selling consumer goods that are arguably very questionable for the world’s health, and so it is fun to watch them use their talents to do some potential good for the world.
Victor & Spoils did this campaign free for The Times, as an example, but might broccoli growers seize on it and actually roll it out?
Over the course of reporting this, back in June, people at the Produce Marketing Association started seeing the light on their marketing practices. They used to think, like the government, that all they had to do was say vegetables were healthy. They now know that they have to do something bigger. They have also come to realize that it doesn’t have to cost tens of millions of dollars to buy TV advertising. Social media is more affordable. That’s critical because produce farmers have thinner margins than those who make other products in the grocery store. Picking up on this campaign might cost about $3 million to $7 million, depending how big you wanted to make it. That’s within the means of the Produce Marketing Association.
The New York Times Mag asks: Can You Make Cabbage Cool?
By THE STAFF
Petar Kujundzic/Reuters But if kale can be made trendy, could the same happen to other vegetables? And what if advertising agencies that have successfully marketed processed food put that same energy toward broccoli?
Michael Moss, a reporter for The Times, decided to find out. For his article in the magazine this weekend, he asked the agency Victor & Spoils to create advertisements for broccoli. One resulting slogan calls broccoli “the meat of any salad.”
Think you can do better? We invite you to come up with a slogan or branding concept for these other tough-sell vegetables: peas, cauliflower, beet, cabbage or turnip. Submit your idea below. If it’s inspiring enough, our art department will create some mock advertisements and help bring your campaign to life.
50 Crazy Good Things to Eat and Drink: the ultimate guide to Toronto’s thriving artisanal food scene
Sommelier-blended tea: Sloane Teas (Image: Anya Chibis)
Small-batch root beer
Nickel Brook Brewery
Babbling Brooke’s Root Beer contains only ingredients our grandmothers would recognize: cinnamon bark, star anise, orange peel and water. The soda has a strong licorice bite, a hint of vanilla and a minty finish. $2. 864 Drury Lane, Burlington, 905-681-2739.
Leslieville-roasted coffee beans
Pilot Roasters
Andy Wilkin moved to Toronto from Wellington, New Zealand, bringing with him his native city’s coffee mania. He founded a pair of cafés (Te Aro and Crafted) and a roasting business, which supplies dozens of espresso bars with his blends. He makes trips to Central America to establish direct trade relationships and adjusts the roasting process with each new bag of beans. His Burnout Dark Roast is smooth and chocolatey, and his Ethiopian Sidama is bright with an uncanny hit of blueberry. $13–$16 a pound. Te Aro, 983 Queen St. E., 416-546-4006.
Pineapple beer
Spearhead Brewing Company
This two-year-old Etobicoke brewery makes an unusual Hawaiian-style pale ale that’s infused with pineapple juice. It has a hazy copper colour and a faint caramel sweetness. The finish is hoppy but not as bitter as a heavy IPA, making it an excellent early autumn sipper. $14 for six bottles. LCBO 294520.
Raspberry Milk
Moo Milk Bar
Danielle Oron, who trained at New York’s French Culinary Institute, opened Toronto’s only milk bar last year. She stirs add-ins like vanilla bean paste and house-made fruit preserves into creamy two per cent from Hewitt’s Dairy in Hagersville. The raspberry version has only a touch of sugar, which makes it a tart cereal soaker or light milkshake alternative. $3.50. 1918A Queen St. E., 647-343-4272.
Sommelier-blended tea
Sloane Teas
Hoda Paripoush, one of a handful of certified tea sommeliers in Canada, imports some of the world’s highest-quality and rarest leaves, like a single-estate Darjeeling dubbed the Cristal of teas for its pedigree. She mixes them with natural spices, scents and blossoms, creating tea so unusual and layered, it’s easy to get geeky over, with talk of top notes, balance and finish. Case in point: the Persian Palace is a perfect blend of malty Assam black teas, intensely aromatic cardamom and Jaipur roses. $26. Sloanetea.com.
Micro-distilled hooch
Still Waters, 66 Gilead, Dillon’s, Toronto Distillery
Ontario spirit distilling is poised to become a mini-movement. Concord’s Still Waters recently released a micro-distilled whisky called Stalk and Barrel. Because whisky takes at least three years to age, however, most of the new breed of hooch artisans are focusing on spirits they can bottle and sell more rapidly. For Dillon’s, a family-run operation in the Niagara fruit belt, that means a fearsome un-aged white rye made from 100 per cent Ontario rye (most big brands are supplemented with corn). In Prince Edward County, 66 Gilead infuses whole wheat vodka with fresh Canadian pine needles grown on the property, and makes gin that tastes like lavender and cucumber that even compares to Hendrick’s in smooth drinkability. Closer to home, the fledgling Toronto Distillery Company has set up shop in the Junction; its organic grain liquor (a.k.a. moonshine) will definitely put hair on your chest. It’s available both neat and in cocktails at the Queen West hipster bar Happy Child. Still Waters whisky, stillwatersdistillery.com; Dillon’s The White Rye, LCBO 337600; 66 Gilead Pine Flavoured Vodka, LCBO 288464; Toronto Distillery Company, 90 Cawthra Ave., 416-558-5523.
Falooda
Royal Paan
After a taste of the royal falooda, bubble tea seems as staid as a cup of orange pekoe. The rose-scented Indian milkshake is made with soft serve, puréed cashews and almonds, soaked basil seeds, a healthy splash of rose syrup and a fistful of chewy vermicelli noodles. The disparate components are suspended in the thick goo and come up helter-skelter through the straw. The mix of sweet and flowery flavours is very nearly overpowering, yet irresistible—an acquired taste that’s worth acquiring. Take-home tubs $3.50–$5. 2654 Islington Ave., 416-743-7226; plus three other GTA locations.Late-Night Food: Toronto’s 15 Best Snack Bars open past 11 pm!!!
THANKS FOR THE LOW DOWN TORONTO LIFE!
http://www.torontolife.com/galleries/late-night-food-toronto-2013/#food-and-liquor-2
The late-night food at west Toronto’s Happy Child (Image: Renée Suen)
 | BAR VOLO587 Yonge St., 416-928-0008 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | HAWKER BAR164 Ossington Ave., 647-343-4698 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | 30303030 Dundas St. W., 416-769-5736 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | THE FEDERAL1438 Dundas St. W., 647-352-9120 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | ODDSEOUL90 Ossington Ave. Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | FOOD AND LIQUOR1610 Queen St. W., 647-748-7113 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | BELLWOODS BREWERY124 Ossington Ave., 416-535-4586 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | ARCHIVE909 Dundas St. W., 647-748-0909 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | HAPPY CHILD1168 Queen St. W., 647-748-1599 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | GERALDINE1564 Queen St. W., 647-352-8815 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | HOOF COCKTAIL BAR923 Dundas St. W., 416-792-7511 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | BAR ISABEL797 College St., 416-532-2222 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | THE LIBERTINE1307 Dundas St. W., 647-748-8288 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | A-OK FOODS930 Queen St. W., 647-352-2243 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
 | 416 SNACK BAR181 Bathurst St., 416-364-9320 Click here for suggested snack pairing |
Timmy's got a new blend and people are liking it!
I am what some would call a “coffee snob”! I know a little
too much about the subject and indulge in coffee as though it is a fine vintage.
In fact, I am likely the first to argue that coffee can be appreciated the same
way we appreciate wine – the aroma, the colour, the legs and the origin all
influence the body, thickness, flavour and delectability of coffee. I love
coffee! So when I learned that Tim Horton’s recently launched a new blend of café
I was intrigued, sceptical, but intrigued nonetheless!
There is a spectrum of coffee drinkers in Canadian society. At the far left are the Tim Horton’s coffee
drinkers. Those that drink it – Love it!
Timmy’s has a cult of followers that will drinking nothing else. All they need is a “Double Double” and they are on their way. Tim Horton’s customers
have been described by some as “blue
collar” or “proletariat”. In some ways, this description is very accurate. Their existing blend – which I believe is dark
and nutty. The biggest change that Tim
Horton’s has made to their coffee in years has been the size of their cups. Other
than this – their coffee has been the same since forever.
On the other end of the coffee spectrum are the Starbucks
lovers – the “bourgeois” of the coffee drinkers in society. These elitists want
to pay more, so that they can pronounce the size of their coffee cup on French –
Grande this and Venti that! In fact, this group of snobs spend a little too much
time perfecting their choice of coffee ie. “Ill
have a Venti an extra hot half sweet, half soy, mocha frap with a shot of caramel
with extra foam and a some cinnamon”.
As for me, I dislike Tim Horton’s – it often tastes burnt
and is rather watery for my liking. Let’s move on to condiments. I would argue BUT
FOR the 25% crème that is added to my
double double, Tim Horton’s coffee would be undrinkable. Despite more strong and
biased opinions about Timmy’s coffee, I am super excited to try this new blend.
I have a feeling this blend will bridge the divide and breed a new middleclass amongst
the coffee drinkers in Canadian society. Stay tuned to see what I have to say about
my experience. I am praying it is nothing like my recent McDonald’s experience
which was a total disappointment (those that think that McDonald’s coffee is
good are delusional and will be dealt with by me at a later point)
DISCLAIMER: I understand that I will have divided society
with this article and am prepared for the consequences.
Tim Hortons’ first new coffee blend since 1964 “actually tastes like coffee”
(Image: Tim Hortons/Facebook)
Thursday 31 October 2013
Another Douche Hangout or A Cool new Venue for Everyone Else?
(Image: EFS/Facebook)
EFS, 647 King Street West, 416-477-5460, efstoronto.com
Hello Foodies - its about to get interesting!
In this edition of Foodie Fortnight: creepy-crawly canapés, a culinary ode to Patrick Swayze and three more food events coming to Toronto in the next two weeks.
Beer and Bugs
http://www.torontolife.com/daily-dish/food-events/2013/10/29/foodie-fortnight-oct-29-2013/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=foodie-fortnight-oct-29-2013
This spooky Halloween soirée celebrates the creepy-crawly protein recently hailed by the UN as the solution to world hunger. Attendees can sample five crunchy cricket canapés, each paired with a craft beer selected by Canada’s only Master Cicerone, Mirella Amato. According to one organizer, crickets taste a bit like shrimp, only “nuttier.”
Oct. 31. $25. Victory Café, 581 Markham St., eventbrite.ca
Whisky Live
The eighth annual event includes dozens of rare and premium pours, a buffet dinner and tutorials on everything from barley-growing to distilling. For an extra $20, connoisseurs can sign up for master tasting classes on specific whiskeys, like Johnny Walker or Tweedale Scotch.
Nov. 1. $85. Westin Harbour Castle, One Harbour Square, whiskeylivena.com
A-OK Foods: Day of the Dead
The soon-to-close Queen West ramen shop pops back up in early November for Dia de Los Muertos (i.e. Day of the Dead), a multi-course Mexican fiesta in honour of the Latin American holiday. Drink pairings are included.
Nov. 2. $100. A-OK Foods, 930 Queen St. W., facebook.com
Splendido Black Truffle Dinner Series
The Toronto fine-dining institution’s new prix-fixe menu for fall includes a Matsutake mushroom salad, seared foie gras and egg yolk ravioli—all topped with copious shavings of the coveted fungi.
Oct. 15–Dec. 31. $85. Splendido, 88 Harbord St., 416-929-7788, splendido.ca
Youngblood Dinner at the ACC
An evening event at the ACC inspired by the cult-classic 1986 hockey movie Youngblood, starring Patrick Swayze and a baby-faced Rob Lowe. The sports-themed dinner showcases a cohort of culinary youngbloods, including up-and-coming chefs from Canoe, The Drake and Richmond Station.
Nov. 10. $95. Hot Stove Club, Air Canada Centre, 50 Bay St., Suite 500, uniiverse.com
Beer and Bugs
http://www.torontolife.com/daily-dish/food-events/2013/10/29/foodie-fortnight-oct-29-2013/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=foodie-fortnight-oct-29-2013
This spooky Halloween soirée celebrates the creepy-crawly protein recently hailed by the UN as the solution to world hunger. Attendees can sample five crunchy cricket canapés, each paired with a craft beer selected by Canada’s only Master Cicerone, Mirella Amato. According to one organizer, crickets taste a bit like shrimp, only “nuttier.”
Oct. 31. $25. Victory Café, 581 Markham St., eventbrite.ca
Whisky Live
The eighth annual event includes dozens of rare and premium pours, a buffet dinner and tutorials on everything from barley-growing to distilling. For an extra $20, connoisseurs can sign up for master tasting classes on specific whiskeys, like Johnny Walker or Tweedale Scotch.
Nov. 1. $85. Westin Harbour Castle, One Harbour Square, whiskeylivena.com
A-OK Foods: Day of the Dead
The soon-to-close Queen West ramen shop pops back up in early November for Dia de Los Muertos (i.e. Day of the Dead), a multi-course Mexican fiesta in honour of the Latin American holiday. Drink pairings are included.
Nov. 2. $100. A-OK Foods, 930 Queen St. W., facebook.com
Splendido Black Truffle Dinner Series
The Toronto fine-dining institution’s new prix-fixe menu for fall includes a Matsutake mushroom salad, seared foie gras and egg yolk ravioli—all topped with copious shavings of the coveted fungi.
Oct. 15–Dec. 31. $85. Splendido, 88 Harbord St., 416-929-7788, splendido.ca
Youngblood Dinner at the ACC
An evening event at the ACC inspired by the cult-classic 1986 hockey movie Youngblood, starring Patrick Swayze and a baby-faced Rob Lowe. The sports-themed dinner showcases a cohort of culinary youngbloods, including up-and-coming chefs from Canoe, The Drake and Richmond Station.
Nov. 10. $95. Hot Stove Club, Air Canada Centre, 50 Bay St., Suite 500, uniiverse.com
Really? Toronto Life says it may be time to strat hoardigng Sriracha!!!
The factory that makes the crack-like hot sauce Sriracha may be forced to close if a group of 30 residents that live near the California production facility gets their way. Some people in Irwindale, a small city near L.A. where the Sriracha plant is located, apparently suffer through waft after waft of burning pepper smells, which cause involuntary crying and pique-induced headaches. The city has asked a judge to close the factory if it doesn’t do something to control the fumes. “If the city shuts us down, the price of Sriracha will jump up a lot,” said David Tran, CEO of Huy Fong Foods, which makes the ubiquitous “rooster” sauce. But take a deep breath (unless, of course, you live in Iwindale). It’s not time to panic—at least, not yet. The judge will rule tomorrow about whether or not Huy Fong Foods can continue to produce its 200,000 bottles per day and avoid a steep increase in price. [L.A. Times]
What has the world come to?
Warning: Your Sriracha Supply Is in Serious Jeopardy
Uh oh ... Sriracha maker Huy Fong Foods is in trouble.
Apparently, the hot sauce odor wafting from the company's Irwindale, California, factory has nearby residents complaining of burning eyes, irritated throats, and headaches. The strong smell forced one family to move a birthday party indoors, and some residents had to leave their homes temporarily.
Now, Irwindale is suing. In a complaint filed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, the city requested that Huy Fong Foods suspend Sriracha production until the problem is fixed. The city reportedly met with the company earlier this month, and Huy Fong agreed to take action. They've since changed their tune, denying the problem and arguing that employees working at the plant have never complained.
A lot could be at stake. Roberto Ferdman at Quartz paints a chilling picture of hot sauce apocalypse:http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2013/10/your-sriracha-supply-serious-jeopardy/7406/The company uses only fresh chilies to make Sriracha, which means it has to process them within a day of picking. And all of over 100 million pounds of chilies it uses each year are harvested and processed in a two to three-month period in the fall, which is right about now. So any setback could hit its production for the entire year.
Friday 25 October 2013
Friday 4 October 2013
The Hyderabad Foodies -
What an impressive Group
http://hyderabadfoodiesclub.wordpress.com/about/about-the-club/
See what the Hin
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/Food/food-on-my-mind/article4558084.ece
Food on my mind
The Hyderabad Foodies are a vibrant bunch with whom you can explore the hottest eating joints in town.
http://hyderabadfoodiesclub.wordpress.com/about/about-the-club/
See what the Hin
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/Food/food-on-my-mind/article4558084.ece
Food on my mind
The Hyderabad Foodies are a vibrant bunch with whom you can explore the hottest eating joints in town.
If you are a true-blue foodie, there is very little that can lure you away from food. This theory proved to be true last Sunday when 65 people showed up regardless of the hot sun to treat themselves to pan-Asian cuisine at Mekong. A closed group on Facebook, Hyderabad Foodies started out small, where people came to discuss about food, as the group discussion suggests, “of all kinds of tastes and shapes”. As of today, the group has more than 1200 members. The ‘closed’ attribute of the group gives a serious edge to the group and helps in avoiding the onslaught of spam. The group was started by Benny Sumer Yanthan, a PHD student at HCU; the idea was later picked up by Vargab Bakshi, a training specialist at Mart Jack. Another member, Vishnu Rao, but popularly known as ‘Sankalp, the foodie’ has been organising and co-ordinating the meet-ups.
Making friends
Initially the group was only about connecting online, sharing recipes, reviews and a spot where users could post their latest finds; all that changed for the better when they came up an idea of actually meeting up and enjoying a meal together. Thirty two people showed up at Ebony Boutique Hotel for the first time and the numbers have only gone up since. Vargab says that earlier it used to be about one meeting per month, but over time advertisers looking for customers have begun to help them in organising more meets. “Sometimes we meet more than three times in a month. Not everyone can make it to all the meets, but there is always a good number that does show up,” he says. Vargab claims to have made many friends thanks to the group, “Meeting people via food is great fun,” he says. Vargab joined Hyderabad Foodies because of his uncle and was soon voted as the administrator by other members. Sabhyasachi, one of the older members of the group often comes with his wife Mousumi and son, Soumabha to the meets and says, “People in our group have particular interests and are very knowledgeable when it comes to food.” He adds that almost every weekend there is a plan to meet and eat. Sabhyasachi’s son, Soumabha points out that many restaurants and business owners have started approaching the group to try out their outlets. The Facebook page itself helps budding restaurateurs in advertising. Neomi Francis who runs a business along with her sister, Nymphea says that Foodies is popular because more people are connecting through social media than the brick and mortar way. Kamal, an ‘IT guy’ has made many friends thanks to foodies, “I want to get a taste of all the cuisines I can and meet all the people I can,” he smiles. Soumav studies in BITS Pilani and makes sure he comes to every foodie meet when he is in town.
Good for business
Sunil Indurthy of the newly launched Hazel Ice Cream Café in Gachibowli is organising a limited-seating foodies meet on March 30 for group members to come and try his ice-creams at a discounted price. “This way I get to hear actual feedback on the food and I can make changes if necessary,” he adds. Joydeep Majumdar, Executive Assistant Manager of Greenpark Hotels and a member of the foodies club feels that it is a symbiotic relationship that is budding. “Hyderabad Foodies offers a wide network of food-lovers who give restaurants a good word-of-mouth publicity,” he says. Vargab Bakshi however is sceptical and feels that an overdose of business might corrode the charm of the group, which is simply about a common passion for food but takes comfort in that fact that there is absolute freedom to be vocal about your likes and dislikes and no one is forced to write positive reviews on websites.
Wednesday 2 October 2013
Peek into Peek.com
Every Fall, Vouge Magazine comes out with
their biggest issue. I wait all year for this moment and the second the magazine
hits the newsstands Im there! Ill spend a full weekend reading the fabulous articles,
drooling over the couture and soaking in all the culture, fashion, trends the
world has to offer. What struck me in this year’s Vouge was an article about a travel
website called Peek.com. At first I
thought – oh look, another travel website – but after visiting Peek.com I
quickly realized it is a site unlike any other. Co-Founder, Ruzwana Bashir, has done a fabulous
job with this one stop shop travel hub. A self-proclaimed travel junkie, Bashir
has taken it on herself to explore pockets of the world and distill the experience
in a way that we can digest and comprehend. There is something for everyone! You will save
time, heartache and frustration by visiting this site - I challenge anyone that says otherwise. Check
it out and let me know what you think!
http://www.peek.com/
http://www.peek.com/
H20 "It’s a good drink. It’s cheap, it does us lots of good.”
Why not drink more H2O ? Its free, it tastes good
and its healthy, so why the drama? Take a peek at this article from the Globe and Mail.
Are we really supposed to drink eight glasses of water a day? By: CARLY WEEKS
Michelle Obama wants you to drink more water. Technically, she was speaking to Americans enamoured with calorific, sugar-loaded beverages when she made her pitch for H2O in Watertown, Wis., in September. But the message – everyone can benefit from drinking more water – resonates on this side of the border.
There’s one key component missing from the U.S. first lady’s plea, however. Just how much water should we drink, exactly?
The answer isn’t so simple.
The eight-glass-a-day myth
Ask anyone how much water the average person should drink in a day. Nine times out of 10, the answer will be eight glasses a day.
Maybe they heard it from a gym teacher, read it in the latest diet book or found it online. It’s accepted as a given – but that doesn’t make it true.
Health Canada doesn’t have a recommendation for water consumption. Instead, the department simply advises people to “drink water regularly.”
But the idea that we all should be chugging back eight glasses is so ingrained that few people stop to think about where that pearl of wisdom originated.
Luckily, Dr. Margaret McCartney has. In 2011, McCartney, a general practitioner in Glasgow, Scotland, wrote an editorial published in the British Medical Journal that turned conventional thinking about daily water needs on its head.
McCartney pointed out that there is no clear evidence that simply increasing the amount of water we drink each day is good for our health. And that the idea that everyone needs to aim for eight glasses a day is not rooted in science. She said there’s no point worrying about a recommendation that has “mythological origin.”
“If we drink according to thirst and comfort, I think we’ll be absolutely fine,” McCartney said in a recent interview.
So where did the eight-glasses-a-day notion come from?
A 2012 article in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health tells how the first recommendation to drink eight glasses a day may have been a footnote in the 1945 U.S. Dietary Guidelines. Despite the non-existent scientific evidence backing that particular recommendation, the idea stuck.
Don’t drink your calories
However, no one should mistake the questioning of water-intake guidelines for an argument against water consumption.
“I do think we need to drink more water in an effort to drink less sugary drinks,” said Dr. Michael Joyner, a physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Fruit juice, sports drinks and pop are often singled out by public-health advocates as a contributor to the rising rates of obesity in Canada. Those beverages are often packed with sugar and are high in calories and provide no real nutritional benefit.
Earlier this year, a study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health said sugary sweetened drinks contribute to 180,000 deaths around the world each year. Despite the messages about the potential harm, sugary beverages remain popular. For instance, according to a 2008 Statistics Canada report, more than half of boys and 35 per cent of girls between 14 and 18 drink pop on any given day.
In response to criticism, many beverage-makers are putting clearer labels on their products and are promoting consumer education.
Joyner said Michelle Obama’s move to promote the consumption of water over other beverages should be commended. But people should let their thirst dictate how much water they drink each day, not a meaningless guideline or promotional campaign.
“It really varies based on environmental conditions,” he said. “If you’re out in the middle of a desert or involved in a lot of heavy physical activity … you probably need to be drinking a lot more [than eight glasses],” he said.
Straight from the source
Health professionals aren’t the only ones who would like to see us drink more water. Bottled-water companies (many of which are owned by makers of pop and sports drinks) also deliver the message that H2O is good for health. Obama’s campaign, called Drink Up, is sponsored by numerous bottled-water makers. McCartney has been a vocal critic of Hydration for Health, an international initiative to promote water consumption. The campaign was created by multinational corporation Danone, which sells several brands of bottled water, including Volvic and Evian.
McCartney, who wrote about Hydration for Health in her BMJ article, said the growth of the bottled-water industry is concerning, because transportation and the leftover plastic bottles create unnecessary waste and environmental concerns.
“I’m not a fan of using bottled water,” she said. “I think that there’s a lot to be said for drinking tap water. It’s a good drink. It’s cheap, it does us lots of good.”
Are we really supposed to drink eight glasses of water a day? By: CARLY WEEKS
The Globe and Mail Published Tuesday, Oct. 01 2013, 5:00 PM EDT
Michelle Obama wants you to drink more water. Technically, she was speaking to Americans enamoured with calorific, sugar-loaded beverages when she made her pitch for H2O in Watertown, Wis., in September. But the message – everyone can benefit from drinking more water – resonates on this side of the border.
There’s one key component missing from the U.S. first lady’s plea, however. Just how much water should we drink, exactly?
The answer isn’t so simple.
The eight-glass-a-day myth
Ask anyone how much water the average person should drink in a day. Nine times out of 10, the answer will be eight glasses a day.
Maybe they heard it from a gym teacher, read it in the latest diet book or found it online. It’s accepted as a given – but that doesn’t make it true.
Health Canada doesn’t have a recommendation for water consumption. Instead, the department simply advises people to “drink water regularly.”
But the idea that we all should be chugging back eight glasses is so ingrained that few people stop to think about where that pearl of wisdom originated.
Luckily, Dr. Margaret McCartney has. In 2011, McCartney, a general practitioner in Glasgow, Scotland, wrote an editorial published in the British Medical Journal that turned conventional thinking about daily water needs on its head.
McCartney pointed out that there is no clear evidence that simply increasing the amount of water we drink each day is good for our health. And that the idea that everyone needs to aim for eight glasses a day is not rooted in science. She said there’s no point worrying about a recommendation that has “mythological origin.”
“If we drink according to thirst and comfort, I think we’ll be absolutely fine,” McCartney said in a recent interview.
So where did the eight-glasses-a-day notion come from?
A 2012 article in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health tells how the first recommendation to drink eight glasses a day may have been a footnote in the 1945 U.S. Dietary Guidelines. Despite the non-existent scientific evidence backing that particular recommendation, the idea stuck.
Don’t drink your calories
However, no one should mistake the questioning of water-intake guidelines for an argument against water consumption.
“I do think we need to drink more water in an effort to drink less sugary drinks,” said Dr. Michael Joyner, a physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Fruit juice, sports drinks and pop are often singled out by public-health advocates as a contributor to the rising rates of obesity in Canada. Those beverages are often packed with sugar and are high in calories and provide no real nutritional benefit.
Earlier this year, a study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health said sugary sweetened drinks contribute to 180,000 deaths around the world each year. Despite the messages about the potential harm, sugary beverages remain popular. For instance, according to a 2008 Statistics Canada report, more than half of boys and 35 per cent of girls between 14 and 18 drink pop on any given day.
In response to criticism, many beverage-makers are putting clearer labels on their products and are promoting consumer education.
Joyner said Michelle Obama’s move to promote the consumption of water over other beverages should be commended. But people should let their thirst dictate how much water they drink each day, not a meaningless guideline or promotional campaign.
“It really varies based on environmental conditions,” he said. “If you’re out in the middle of a desert or involved in a lot of heavy physical activity … you probably need to be drinking a lot more [than eight glasses],” he said.
Straight from the source
Health professionals aren’t the only ones who would like to see us drink more water. Bottled-water companies (many of which are owned by makers of pop and sports drinks) also deliver the message that H2O is good for health. Obama’s campaign, called Drink Up, is sponsored by numerous bottled-water makers. McCartney has been a vocal critic of Hydration for Health, an international initiative to promote water consumption. The campaign was created by multinational corporation Danone, which sells several brands of bottled water, including Volvic and Evian.
McCartney, who wrote about Hydration for Health in her BMJ article, said the growth of the bottled-water industry is concerning, because transportation and the leftover plastic bottles create unnecessary waste and environmental concerns.
“I’m not a fan of using bottled water,” she said. “I think that there’s a lot to be said for drinking tap water. It’s a good drink. It’s cheap, it does us lots of good.”
Welcome to my Hood!
Leslieville (finally) gets bona fide destination dining
Name: Bero
Location: 889 Queen Street East
Phone: 416-477-3393
Website: bero-restaurant.com
Price: Four courses, $56; seven courses, $84
Atmosphere: Mid-range: White linens, good
crystal, a little bit of barnboard – Leslieville at its elegant best. Warm,
sometimes over-earnest service.
In a quiet Leslieville room that dark blinds shroud from Queen Street’s eyes,
the pleasures come unexpectedly. Here is a shard of Spanish goat’s milk cheese
that’s veined like onyx, served with creamy orange curd and a date cut into a
thin disk, like a slice of sausage, and a scattering of cracked espresso beans.
Here’s a drift of icy grapefruit granita on bass sashimi, crystalline sour cold,
clean oceanic sweet and radiating green heat from a swoosh of burnt scallion
puree.
Name: Bero
Location: 889 Queen Street East
Phone: 416-477-3393
Website: bero-restaurant.com
Price: Four courses, $56; seven courses, $84
Atmosphere: Mid-range: White linens, good
crystal, a little bit of barnboard – Leslieville at its elegant best. Warm,
sometimes over-earnest service.
In a quiet Leslieville room that dark blinds shroud from Queen Street’s eyes,
the pleasures come unexpectedly. Here is a shard of Spanish goat’s milk cheese
that’s veined like onyx, served with creamy orange curd and a date cut into a
thin disk, like a slice of sausage, and a scattering of cracked espresso beans.
Here’s a drift of icy grapefruit granita on bass sashimi, crystalline sour cold,
clean oceanic sweet and radiating green heat from a swoosh of burnt scallion
puree.
The cannelloni are wrapped in braised leeks here, filled with meaty duck and
mushrooms and cocoa nibs. The tomatoes are whipped and sweetened and gelled into
marshmallows. The corn comes as a pudding, the onions deeply caramelized in
golden-fried beignets. What’s unexpected is that an untested cook ,who’s learned
as much from books as from time spent in good kitchens, can accomplish this.
What’s unexpected is how extraordinary so much of it tastes.
The restaurant is a partnership between front-of-house bosses Andrew Bridgman
and Giulio Marconi, and Matt Kantor, its 44-year-old chef. Mr. Kantor is from
Poughkeepsie, in upstate New York. He worked as a business consultant and
software developer until 2003, when he enrolled at the much-respected Culinary
Institute of America. He met a Canadian and moved here five years ago. Mr.
Kantor did some catering around the city while also working as a software
developer. He later cooked private dinners under the name “Secret Pickle Supper
Club.”
He hasn’t cooked in a single Toronto restaurant before Bero. “But I’ve eaten
in a lot of them,” Mr. Kantor told me, adding, “I’m a tourist. A food tourist.”
His last position in a kitchen of any renown was a six-month work placement at
Picholine, in New York. That was nearly 10 years ago.
Yet Mr. Kantor’s pan-European and modernist-inspired plates at Bero, served
in either a four-course or seven-course tasting menu, don’t lie. Against long
odds, he runs one of the most creative, most refreshingly risk-embracing
kitchens in the city right now, with the skills to support its imagination. Did
I mention that it’s in Leslieville? At long last the neighbourhood has a bona
fide destination restaurant. That is highly unexpected ,too.
Mr. Kantor doesn’t much do what’s conventional in his kitchen. Witness the
gazpacho he made late this August. In place of tomatoes and cucumber, he made
the soup’s base from intense pureed peaches and a few drops of sherry vinegar.
He laid a tuile that tasted like shortbread and star anise across the bowl’s
rim, and dressed it with crushed pistachio, dots of yogurt, tiny orbs of fresh
peach, a powder made from Spanish ham. That onion-stuffed beignet was for the
mopping up. It was an odd dish; beautiful to look at, profoundly tasty.
So was his octopus: a single braised tendril tossed with coriander, cumin,
Spanish sweet paprika and lemon zest. It came with miniature purple potato chips
that looked a lot like sausage rounds, but tasted like the bottom of a bag of
Old Dutch barcbecue-flavoured. Whether by design or accident, the likeness was
brilliant. He added sea asparagus for freshness, a few drops of olive oil and
coriander flowers, an artful puff of smoked potato. Sublime. The peeled heirloom
tomatoes and fried capers in a salad got a foam that tasted of blue cheese.
Also, that tomato-flavoured marshmallow. I liked it. My dinner date, uncertain,
said, “This is daring.”
There was a corn pudding one night, with those leek-wrapped duck cannelloni.
Its texture was creamy, smooth, as light as corn silk. The flavour was pure and
intense.
Another night’s bone marrow-enriched gnocchi dissipated into an earthy, beefy
fog when you ate them. A friend of mine who, like Mr. Kantor, is a fan of
modernist cooking techniques, wanted to know how the chef had done it.
“The gnocchi are made from bone marrow?” my friend asked. “What magical
chemical makes that possible?"
"Flour," Mr. Kantor answered, smiling.
Flour and an uncommonly light touch, as well as a kitchen brigade that’s come
into its own in the last month. My first time at Bero, six weeks into its life,
there were a few clumsy dishes: a mackerel plate with unbalanced flavours, a
pork dish that tasted forgettable when so much else had been superb. Mr. Kantor
has since appointed a chef de cuisine, hired from Acadia, and two line cooks
from Auberge du Pommier.
By the middle of this month, the flavours were consistently clean and sharp,
and as with those gnocchi, the technique was impeccable. Yet while Bero works as
a kitchen, it needs brushing up as a restaurant.
In place of the charming waitress who said “bernier” for “beignet” in Bero’s
early days, there was a different charming waitress the last time I ate there,
who didn’t much know the menu when I last ate there, who couldn’t describe the
wines. It’s not her fault. Why invest in elegant dishes and flatware and linens
for every table and an ambitious kitchen, but neglect to properly train the
staff?
The tables are constructed so that their legs go precisely where yours should
go.
Those blinds that make Bero its own environment on the inside and mysterious
for passersby aren’t entirely working. The room needs to be livelier first
(walk-in traffic could help), the service smarter, more effortless and graceful.
Fancy food requires service that stops time and suspends belief, or else it
risks feeling precious. The soundtrack could be better, too – it skews too
frequently to Harry Connick Jr. and Madeleine Peyroux, to soft, jazzy piano and
sepia-toned vocals from the 1990s, to romance music, as though Grandad finally
got that Cialis prescription and now he’s DJing. Maybe you like that. I didn’t
quite know where my hands should go.
These are mere distractions, though, and largely neutralized by the quality
and the boldness of Mr. Kantor’s work. For instance: the moist, gooey chocolate
cake one night that was served with halva, and a mildy bitter, undeniably
vegetal sorbet. Is that … eggplant? It took a moment’s attitude
adjustment to appreciate the oddly symbiotic pairing: each taste a foil for the
other one, the two of them together a head-scratching joy. (My dinner date:
“It’ll never make 31 flavours.”)
Or perhaps more pedestrian, another night’s Savarin cake: dense, delicious
yeast cake soaked through with Lillet and purled with pastry cream. It came with
a crunchy, toasty, dehydrated squash crumb as a garnish and a scoop of Italian
plum ice cream, tweaked with cracklings of black pepper.
Weird, yeah? Wild, more like it. And the last thing you’d ever expect.
No stars: Not recommended
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/restaurant-reviews/leslieville-finally-gets-bona-fide-destination-dining/article14570595/?service=mobile
Ever wonder where Montrealers Hangout....well here you go!
QUESTION:
Don’t we all want to live a little bit like Montrealers?
ANSWER:
A resounding yes!
This is a wonderful read - musician Murray A. Lightburn gives up the inside scoop on MTL and where the locals go to eat, shop and hang out!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/where-to-eat-and-drink-like-a-true-montrealer/article14604943/?utm_source=Shared+Article+Sent+to+User&utm_medium=E-mail:+Newsletters+/+E-Blasts+/+etc.&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links
Where to eat and drink like a true Montrealer
Let’s get this out of the way. A lifelong Montrealer, musician Murray A. Lightburn is a St-Viateur man.
“I’ve gotten into arguments with New Yorkers who think New York bagels are better than Montreal bagels,” says the frontman for indie band the Dears. “You’re out of your mind. No way. You can’t get a better bagel.”
Lightburn recently released his first solo effort, MASS:LIGHT An Electronic Pop Opera. The father of two shares his favourite hang outs in the city – some subtly influenced by his eight-year-old daughter. “If you were to live in Montreal these are things you would do on a regular basis,” he says. And don’t we all want to live a little bit like Montrealers?
Biarritz
That’s one of our favourite joints. The best part is that we don’t really feel self-conscious about bringing the kids. If you want a romantic dinner, you can do that, but if you want to bring the kids, you can do that, too. It’s run by Stéphane Bouzaglou. He’s a really phenomenal cook. He has a really artful, but simple punchy-with-flavour style. It’s tapas-style. Biarritz is near the border of France and Spain, so the restaurant is influenced by that region. At the same time he adheres to seasonal stuff. We had this dessert the other day that was lemon curd with basil and blueberries and mini-bits of meringue. It was delicious. 4801 St. Laurent Blvd., restobiarritz.com
Bar Pam Pam
On the flip side, there’s this bar around the corner from my house called the Pam Pam. It’s a little on the downtrodden side with quite a hilarious jukebox, pool table, a lot of VLTs. They serve one beer. So when I go there and ask for the usual there’s Vieux-Montréal. You get these pitchers and maybe you’ll buy a bag of chips. I don’t think it’s for everyone. But I like it. I don’t want an umbrella in my drink. I don’t want bitters made at home. I just want Vieux-Montréal on tap at a bar that is a stone’s throw away from my house. 491 Rue Jean-Talon West
The Pick-Up
The Pick-Up is like a mega go-to mostly for lunch, sometimes for breakfast. It’s part depanneur, part restaurant, so it’s kind of unconventional. It’s probably the only ‘hipster hangout’ where I feel very comfortable. I appreciate how welcoming the place is. My daughter will sometimes insist we have to go to Pick-Up for a grilled cheese sandwich. She loves going there. 7032 Rue Waverly, depanneurlepickup.com
St. Michel Flea Market
It is only open on the weekend. As a family we love to junk shop. We love a garage sale. We like finding old treasures. It’s two floors of relics, junk, old stuff, a lot of analog stuff. It’s phenomenal, and it’s surprisingly not picked clean. I found an Olympus XA point-and-shoot camera. It has such a wicked lens. On eBay it’s $80 to $150. I paid $15 for mine. I was so giddy when I got this camera for $15 I almost had tears in my eyes. My daughter will buy the odd Tintin book, the odd necklace. 3250 Cremazie Blvd. East
Jean-Talon Market
This is a twofer: If I’m going to the market and I haven’t had a coffee yet, I’ll go down to Dante to this place called Caffé San Simeon, which is near the market. I’ll go get a coffee. I’ll go get my beans. Then I’ll go over to the market. And within the market, I have a few go-tos. It’s where I do a lot of my grocery shopping. There’s the cheese guys. There’s the potato guys. There’s literally a mushroom guy. He has all kinds of other stuff but his main thing is foraging for stuff around Quebec. Caffé San Simeon: 39 Rue Dante, caffesansimeon.com; Jean-Talon: 7070 Avenue Henri Julien, marchespublics-mtl.com
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Don’t we all want to live a little bit like Montrealers?
ANSWER:
A resounding yes!
This is a wonderful read - musician Murray A. Lightburn gives up the inside scoop on MTL and where the locals go to eat, shop and hang out!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/where-to-eat-and-drink-like-a-true-montrealer/article14604943/?utm_source=Shared+Article+Sent+to+User&utm_medium=E-mail:+Newsletters+/+E-Blasts+/+etc.&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links
Where to eat and drink like a true Montrealer
Let’s get this out of the way. A lifelong Montrealer, musician Murray A. Lightburn is a St-Viateur man.
“I’ve gotten into arguments with New Yorkers who think New York bagels are better than Montreal bagels,” says the frontman for indie band the Dears. “You’re out of your mind. No way. You can’t get a better bagel.”
Lightburn recently released his first solo effort, MASS:LIGHT An Electronic Pop Opera. The father of two shares his favourite hang outs in the city – some subtly influenced by his eight-year-old daughter. “If you were to live in Montreal these are things you would do on a regular basis,” he says. And don’t we all want to live a little bit like Montrealers?
Biarritz
That’s one of our favourite joints. The best part is that we don’t really feel self-conscious about bringing the kids. If you want a romantic dinner, you can do that, but if you want to bring the kids, you can do that, too. It’s run by Stéphane Bouzaglou. He’s a really phenomenal cook. He has a really artful, but simple punchy-with-flavour style. It’s tapas-style. Biarritz is near the border of France and Spain, so the restaurant is influenced by that region. At the same time he adheres to seasonal stuff. We had this dessert the other day that was lemon curd with basil and blueberries and mini-bits of meringue. It was delicious. 4801 St. Laurent Blvd., restobiarritz.com
Bar Pam Pam
On the flip side, there’s this bar around the corner from my house called the Pam Pam. It’s a little on the downtrodden side with quite a hilarious jukebox, pool table, a lot of VLTs. They serve one beer. So when I go there and ask for the usual there’s Vieux-Montréal. You get these pitchers and maybe you’ll buy a bag of chips. I don’t think it’s for everyone. But I like it. I don’t want an umbrella in my drink. I don’t want bitters made at home. I just want Vieux-Montréal on tap at a bar that is a stone’s throw away from my house. 491 Rue Jean-Talon West
The Pick-Up
The Pick-Up is like a mega go-to mostly for lunch, sometimes for breakfast. It’s part depanneur, part restaurant, so it’s kind of unconventional. It’s probably the only ‘hipster hangout’ where I feel very comfortable. I appreciate how welcoming the place is. My daughter will sometimes insist we have to go to Pick-Up for a grilled cheese sandwich. She loves going there. 7032 Rue Waverly, depanneurlepickup.com
St. Michel Flea Market
It is only open on the weekend. As a family we love to junk shop. We love a garage sale. We like finding old treasures. It’s two floors of relics, junk, old stuff, a lot of analog stuff. It’s phenomenal, and it’s surprisingly not picked clean. I found an Olympus XA point-and-shoot camera. It has such a wicked lens. On eBay it’s $80 to $150. I paid $15 for mine. I was so giddy when I got this camera for $15 I almost had tears in my eyes. My daughter will buy the odd Tintin book, the odd necklace. 3250 Cremazie Blvd. East
Jean-Talon Market
This is a twofer: If I’m going to the market and I haven’t had a coffee yet, I’ll go down to Dante to this place called Caffé San Simeon, which is near the market. I’ll go get a coffee. I’ll go get my beans. Then I’ll go over to the market. And within the market, I have a few go-tos. It’s where I do a lot of my grocery shopping. There’s the cheese guys. There’s the potato guys. There’s literally a mushroom guy. He has all kinds of other stuff but his main thing is foraging for stuff around Quebec. Caffé San Simeon: 39 Rue Dante, caffesansimeon.com; Jean-Talon: 7070 Avenue Henri Julien, marchespublics-mtl.com
This interview has been edited and condensed.
An arguement for the legalization of private wine, beer and spirit sales in Ontario!
This is a great
article that I found in the Globe and Mail regarding the legalization of
private wine, beer and spirit sales. As a matter of principle I agree with the
state (or the LCBO in the case of Ontario) monopolizing the sale of alcoholic
beverages as a way to control consumption of alcohol generally and collect
revenue from sales. The problem is there has been little to no transparency about
how the LCBO operates, how much it generates and where the funds are being
spent. It is difficult to support the monopolization of alcohol sales when we
have no information about the viability and benefits of a state monopolized system.
Until we have more transparency I vote for the deregulation of wine, beer and
spirit sales.
Tom Moher believes it’s a matter of time before every province legalizes private-store wine, beer and spirit sales. As a vice-president at Mac’s Convenience Stores, an Ontario/Western Canada chain owned by the largest convenience-store operator in the country, Alimentation Couche-Tard, he’s paid to think that way. He’s also lately stepped up a public lobbying effort in Ontario to see that that future comes sooner rather than later.
His timing seems shrewd. Saskatchewan recently relaxed its government grip, announcing it would leave future expansion in private hands. It joins British Columbia and Nova Scotia among provinces with similar private-public liquor-store systems, and Quebec, where beer and wine are sold next to chips and coffee in convenience stores. Alberta did away entirely with government stores 20 years ago.
Perhaps most significantly, in Ontario, the trade group representing most wineries – frustrated with limited liquor-board shelf space for its growing output – last year broke with traditional neutrality on the issue and began publicly beating the drum for private wine shops, a significant move for a powerful industry lobby group. And Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak has thrown his support for grocery-store alcohol sales, with just a minority Liberal government now standing in the way.
The Globe asked Moher to defend his case for convenience-store sales.
Why the renewed call for wine, beer and spirit sales in private stores now?
It’s what our consumers are telling us they want. Sixty-seven per cent of residents in Ontario say they want to see beer and wine in convenience stores.
Is there growing support in the rest of the country where liquor boards still monopolize the markets?
I think that the provinces that do not have a privatized alcohol system in place are looking at the options available. I think they recognize that [privatization] meets the needs of consumers better and it can provide better revenue for the provinces. Most notably, it can reduce the capital spent by provinces on building their own government-run stores.
Liquor boards have long argued that governments need to monopolize retail sales to ensure maximum financial gains from alcohol to fund things like health care and education. True or false?
There is a study that was completed back in spring [by Anindya Sen] out of the University of Waterloo that showed that, if alcohol retailing in Ontario was expanded, it could produce greater profitability and revenues to the province.
Do you anticipate that increased competition would lead to better prices?
People in Ontario recognize that if they travel into Quebec, they find lower retail [prices]. I can’t speculate what the future would be in Ontario, but I can cite a compelling study, again by Professor Sen at the University of Waterloo, where he studied the difference in prices of beer – identical products in Quebec and Ontario – and found that the [higher Ontario prices] allow the Beer Store, which is a foreign-owned [quasi-monopoly] entity in Ontario controlled by three major brewers, Anheuser-Busch InBev of Belgium, MolsonCoors of the U.S. and Sapporo of Japan, to collect as much as $700-million annually in incremental profits. Those are incremental profits that leave the province.
Liquor boards have argued that they are uniquely qualified to guard against sales to minors. But stores like Mac’s already sell age-restricted products, such as cigarettes and lottery tickets. What’s your response?
I’m very disappointed when I hear that comment. In a study completed in 2011, the Beer Stores, LCBO and convenience stores were checked on the sale of age-restricted products, and when it came to that study, the pass rate for the LCBO was in the mid-70s. It was in the low to mid-80s for the Beer Store. Convenience stores across the province actually scored in the low 90s. And I’m very proud to say that Mac’s – this is something that we invest heavily in, the training, follow-up in terms of our own external age-testing by qualified shopping companies – posted a 94-per-cent success rate.
What about the late closing hours at convenience stores? Over the years, I’ve received letters from readers insisting that late-night liquor sales by convenience stores would put the country on a fast track to social ruin.
I think we don’t need to venture too far to answer that question. Many of us have had experience travelling to Quebec and I don’t think we see the type of behaviour that those people may suggest. I think what it boils down to is that the people in the province of Ontario are simply being asked to be treated like adults.
What can we realistically expect in terms of product selection if convenience stores outside Quebec were allowed to sell booze? In certain neighbourhoods in the United States, it seems like the selection ranges from Bud Light to Sutter Home White Zinfandel and not much in between. Pretty dismal.
First and foremost, we’re not suggesting that the LCBO go away. I think they do a great job when it comes to their Vintages [fine wine] selection and certainly the facilities they build. However, they’re not convenient. Given the size of the footprint of convenience stores, we would have a reduced selection. But where I think we have a big opportunity is in more local wines or craft beers. I think we’re very fortunate in Ontario that we have some great craft breweries. And our wine areas, whether it’s Niagara or Prince Edward County, are becoming world-renowned. So, I think we can celebrate that.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Monday 30 September 2013
Cafe du Monde, New Orleans
Here Is Foursquare's Ten 'Busiest' Coffee Shops List
Cafe du Monde, New Orleans. [Photo: jc. winkler / Flickr]
Foursquare has published a list of the top ten "busiest" coffee shops across the US (that is, the ones with the most check ins). And the old school Cafe du Monde in New Orleans has defeated trendy new coffee shrines throughout the land on the power of its cafe au lait and beignets.
After that, though, it's coffee nerds forever: New York City's La Colombe Torrefaction comes in second, followed by an NYC Stumptown location, and San Francisco Sightglass coffee comes in fourth.
The original Starbucks in Seattle does make it on the list at seven.
Below, the top ten; and do check out Foursquare's check in visualizations from last week.
Foursquare's Ten Busiest Coffee Shops in the US
1. Cafe du Monde, New Orleans
2. La Colombe Torrefaction, New York City
3. Stumptown Coffee Roasters, New York City
4. Sightglass Coffee, San Francisco
5. Four Barrel Coffee, San Francisco
6. Blue Bottle Coffee San Francisco
7. Starbucks, Seattle
8. Birch Coffee, New York City
9. 85°C Bakery Cafe, Irvine, California
10. Intelligentsia Coffee, Chicago
2. La Colombe Torrefaction, New York City
3. Stumptown Coffee Roasters, New York City
4. Sightglass Coffee, San Francisco
5. Four Barrel Coffee, San Francisco
6. Blue Bottle Coffee San Francisco
7. Starbucks, Seattle
8. Birch Coffee, New York City
9. 85°C Bakery Cafe, Irvine, California
10. Intelligentsia Coffee, Chicago
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