Archive for the 'Articles' Category
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
With lots of great sunshine this week, local strawberries are now ready! I have many wonderful memories of heading to Richmond farms as a kid to pick local strawberries and wanted to share this experience with my little niece, who’s turning 3 years old this summer.
In this world of multi-million dollar condo developments in the Lower Mainland, there seems to be only one farm in Richmond providing the U-Pick Strawberry experience - W & A Farms at 17771 Westminster Highway. The farm has ample parking and was already quite busy when we arrived at 10am. It was also very hot in the open sun so don’t forget your hat and sunscreen!
Strawberries cost $2 per pound, and you are encouraged to bring your own containers. You can purchase containers there for $1 each, and they also have cold water for sale. The price on these berries is comparable to those at supermarkets during high season. However, the experience was rewarding and educational for us, and the strawberries tasted great!
There’s something to be said about picking something fresh off the vine and popping it into your mouth shortly after. The strawberries were soft, ripened on the vine, and bright red and juicy inside and out. There is certainly a difference from, for example, fruits shipped from California and ripened in a refrigerated truck or warehouse.
Our local bounty yielded 12 pounds which cost us a total of $24. They estimate the weight of your buckets, or you can get them weighed before getting your hands dirty. Make sure to not get carried away! In hindsight we bought more than we could eat. And eat we did! They were fresh, juicy, and delicious. We washed them up and made strawberry smoothies, and we’ll likely freeze some for future use. They also make a really nice surprise treat for friends and family members.
There was nothing on the signage indicating these were organic, but I did not notice any “pesticide-y” tastes. One other note is that these strawberries are generally small to medium in size. There are the occasional larger ones but it appears that the Farm’s own berry pickers begin their work at the crack of dawn and are near the end of the field when the farm opens up to the public. I am curious as to what the prime, larger local strawberries retail for, so I will keep my eyes open next time I’m at the market.
We are fortunate that we can take advantage of such a yummy local harvest. Take advantage while you can! I think buying local produce provides fresher food, supports our communities, and reduces our carbon footprint.
The Strawberry Growers Association has more information on farms in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley on their website http://www.bcstrawberries.com/FarmList.php
Details:
W & A Farms
17771 Westminster Highway, Richmond
Tel: 604-278-5667
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Thursday, June 26th, 2008
Over a nice meal at Sakura Bistro the other night, gigi and I mulled over the idea of interviewing Mia Stainsby of the Vancouver Sun to get her thoughts on being a Restaurant Critic and Food Writer over the years. We figured that she must have had many interesting experiences and of course, share our love for ho yummy food! She graciously agreed to answer some questions for us, and a couple of them made me chuckle. I really enjoy Mia Stainsby’s articles in the Vancouver Sun and always look out for them. See my Q&A with her:
Q. During Christmas you wrote a great article about must-haves in your kitchen. Any new and exciting gadgets or items you’ve stumbled upon since?
A. Ice shaver, from Fujiya…very simple, inexpensive device. You freeze a block of juice or whatever, in the plastic container; when frozen, place it in the shaver and whirl the handle. It makes a soft, fluffy, frozen treat that can be low-cal if it’s say, fruit juice, and it satisfies my evening cravings for ‘just something’. At Gastropod, the chef uses it on a oysters on half shell dish.
Q. Can you tell us about your favourite dining experience and what made it so special?
A. Hmmmm. Maybe last summer, a dinner at Le Guirlande et Julie under the arches of Place des Vosges in Paris. A favourite spot, a beautiful night, made more intense because it was our last evening in the city. That’s a fave for now, anyway.
Q. When dining at restaurants, we sometimes take photos of our meals. This seems to bring on suspicions that we are reviewers and can occasionally result in “different” service. We know that the Vancouver Sun conducts interviews after the fact to protect anonymity, but do you have a memorable experience being recognized in a restaurant? If so, how did this affect your meal?
A. One that stands out from long ago… they didn’t know who I was, only that I was writing notes under the table. From then on, I was escorted to washroom and watched nervously and then escorted out to street as I got up to leave. I certainly didn’t feel like an ordinary diner, let’s say.
Q. What’s your favourite dish you like to cook at home?
A. Right now, it’s paparadelle pasta with my little machine. I hang the noodles to dry everywhere, on backs of chairs, on railings. I liked it with beef bourguignon in the cold weather. I think I’ll be moving on to grilled pizzas very shortly, though. I guess, too, I was into Caesar salads recently because my husband ever-so-cautiously asked if we could stop having Caesar salads the other day. I made up a huge swak of dressing with a Rebar recipe, using roasted garlic and it hadda be used.
Q. Can you tell us about the first time you recognized the impact of your reviews on a restaurant or chef?
A. When a friend of an owner threatened to break my knees. But I still say it’s not my (or anyone’s reviews) that make or break restaurants — they do that on their very own.
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, Mia! I don’t know about you readers out there, but I am curious about this ice shaver…
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Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
I’m a bit late to hop on this “breaking news” so I’m sure most people have heard about the salmonella outbreak in tomatoes in the US. I first saw this in the paper yesterday but it didn’t occur to me to blog about it until now. Well, that and Keith suggested I should. 
source: globeandmail.com
So far, the outbreak seems to be limited to the US, but several Canadian restaurants have pulled tomatoes from their menus as a precautionary measure. Restaurants include MacDoanld’s, Milestones, and KFC.
Just in case you haven’t heard about this tomato panic yet and can’t live without tomatoes, health officials say that grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and tomatoes that are sold on vines should be ok for consumptions.
I have a fondness for tomatoes and often munch on them for a snack so I’m glad not all tomatoes are affected by the outbreak. What are YOU doing to feed your tomato fix?
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Friday, May 30th, 2008
Just a quick post for the weekend. I was told today that the 2008 restaurant closure list for the Lower Mainland is available.
For more info about food safety in general, check out the Vancouver Coastal Health website.
I’m happy to say that most of the restaurants I frequent were not found on the closure list. However, I did notice that several closures were centered around certain malls or areas. Gene suggested that it may have been due to construction taking place that affected the quality of water since the reason for most of these centralized closures were “lack of potable water” and only lasted a day.
Just something to think about over the weekend for you all.
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Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
With Valentine’s Day coming up, I decided to try making chocolate covered strawberries, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time! I’ve always loved eating these at our catered work functions, as they seem to make the strawberries extra tasty.
The task appears simple enough - heat up chocolate, dip, cool, and serve. Before venturing forth, I checked for recipes online to see what other tips and tricks others have. Some appeared fairly complicated, but I decided to stick with simple, easy and quick.
I went down to my local Superstore and purchased a pound of Strawberries for $5, along with bulk Callebault chocolate baking chunks, about 250 grams of each. I didn’t end up melting all of it - my suggestion is to start with a small amount, and keep adding chunks as you need them. I’m no kitchen connoisseur, as you’ll soon see - my makeshift double-boiler consisted of a saucepot with an inch of water in it, and a ceramic mixing bowl.
I washed and patted dry the strawberries while starting to melt the chocolate on low heat. Make sure to keep the bottom of the bowl out of the hot water as this will make the chocolate too hot. I started with white chocolate first as that’s my favourite, and used a trick I learned from one of the recipes I came across - using toothpicks to hold the strawberries as you rotate them around.
I’m alright with things being a little messy, so I just rolled them as best as I could, and tried pulling them out so that that last point of contact is the little tip on the bottom of the berry. I noticed as I moved along my batch that the chocolate mixture starts to become dry if you take too long, making it harder to have a nice smooth coat of chocolate. Some cooks recommend adding shortening to the mixture, but I don’t find this too appealing. All I did was added some more chocolate chunks, and that seemed to help with the consistency problem. I think the key is to act fast, however.
Next up was milk chocolate - some prefer dark as this might be too sweet but I figured I would give it a try. I made a few milk chocolate ones and tried to copy the tuxedo strawberries by dipping my white chocolate ones at an angle. Make sure you have refrigerated these first, as you don’t want the two mixtures blending in to one another. Another trick I tried was drizzling the opposite coloured chocolate onto the berries. Some suggested using a fork to do this but I found it very difficult. Some of my drizzles became plops and I had to improvise and blend things together! I have to say I didn’t get very far with the tuxedo idea, but perhaps with practice and a steadier hand, I’m sure one could get these to look great. I popped everything into the fridge to cool and poured the remaining chocolate into a small dish with some dried cranberries to form a candy bar of sorts.
I just tried one of the white chocolate strawberries with milk chocolate drizzle and it was ho yummy! Looking back, I spent about $11 on the strawberries and chocolate, and the whole process was quite fun and relaxing. This recipe, if you can call it that, yielded 17 strawberries. You can easily take breaks while melting the chocolate as everything is pretty steady on low heat. I would love to do this with my little niece who would enjoy licking the mixing bowl afterwards!
Let us know if you have any other tips and tricks, or comments on store-bought ones that you have tasted!
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Monday, November 5th, 2007
I am in the process of furnishing my kitchen these days and decided to check out some restaurant supply stores, based on a suggestion from Jenkins. One of the ones I went to check out was Genesis Food Equipment at 1990 Powell St in Vancouver. Most restaurant supply stores in Vancouver are not open to the public but this and a handful of others are…you just need to call around.
I found mixing bowls for $3-6. They come in all sizes and are like the ones you see in the professional kitchens on Food TV.
There is also a pretty good selection of professional pots and pans. They may not be finished as nicely as the ones in the Bay or Cookworks but I’m sure they are well made.
The supply of glassware is not very large and I found the prices to be comparable to what is available in most retail stores. They also have a small selection of china and higher end glass and stemware. However, I preferred the styles available in retail stores over what was available here.
There is also a large selection of squeeze bottles. I hear that this is popular for people who like to do fancy plating at home and and use it for sauces, oils, and other things. I don’t recall the prices for this but I think they were quite reasonable.
They also have a fairly large selection of restaurant-grade knives, including Henckles and Victorinox. The prices for these knives are on par with stores like Ming Wo. I will probably come back here to pick up some smaller items like spatulas, mixing bowls, and rolling pins but it definitely wasn’t a replacement for a regular retail cookwares store.
Do you have any recommendations for restaurant supply stores you like to go and what type of things you normally buy?
Details:
1990 Powell St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-215-1990
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