my perfect weekend at Savour Stratford - Sunday

Great to see that sunshine! (I'm thinking positive, right?)

So here we are, anticipating the Sunday of Savour Stratford and again I must plan my day to make sure I don't miss too many wonderful events!

8:00am sharp, Breakfast with Connie, don't miss it.  Even if you're not a morning person, it's Sunday, have a nap later.            [Buy Tickets]


10:00am, full belly, time for that nap.

Now that I am rested and well fed, a stroll through the market sounds nice, a wave to my friends from yesterday in the Craft Beer and Wine Pavillion, I'll be back later.

A few minutes' walk takes me to the Culinary Stage where Chef Denis Cotter demonstrates creative vegetable usage - local vegetables even.

Back to York st. for the main event: the Savour Stratford Tasting.  At $75 per person (general admission) it's a steal: 30 culinary teams, craft breweries and VQA wineries delight the senses.  Savoury and sweet, hot and cold, many different creative talents displayed in one place for you to enjoy.  Favourites from last year to seek out: Uptown 21, Bijou, The Parlour and The Prune.  Don't miss this event, you'll regret it!       [Buy Tickets]

I miss Chuck Hughes a second time, I guess I will have to console myself with delicious cocktails, again prepared and served by local bartending stars.  If only every culinary event had a 'beer tent' like this!


What a great weekend celebrating local food!  I'll see you at the after party back at Molly Blooms for a little risque food related burlesque, I hope the product is local!

my perfect weekend at Savour Stratford - Saturday

You are of course attending our city's greatest culinary festival this weekend, I have no doubt.  I too shall be there, and with so many things to do I've narrowed down my options and created a kind of schedule for myself.

I will start the day with a wander through the market, maybe a Brit's Apple Frit for breakfast...

Sometime around 10:30am I'll swing by the Culinary Stage to peek in on the 'Best Chef Challenge'.  It's good to keep up on the talent in the city to help decide where to eat dinner later on.

A hard choice to make whether to stay and watch the chefs battle it out to the end or skip on over to the Tasting Tent East to sample some Monforte Cheese and Chateau des Charms Wine?  It's never too early for a little booze, warms the heart and the gullet, but I can't miss Antony John taking to the Main Stage at 11:30am so I'll wander toward the 'Beer Tent' instead.

Perfect location:  the Craft Beer & Wine Pavillion located across from the main stage allows me to sip a tasty beverage and still catch Antony John's crooning sounds.  I skip straight to the cocktails - designed and served up by local bartenders, this is not your average beer tent!  I've heard rumours about hot toddy's.

I have to be honest, I may remain in the Pavillion for some time, why not? I am entertained by a continuous stream of local talent on the Main Stage (Dan Stacey - foot stomping Irish tunes, Montina Hussey - curious to see, Yellow Bird and the Open Cages - eclectic folk that's right up my alley) and great people to see and chat with.

I'm not a total lush (that may be a lie) so after sampling one of each cocktail and feeling quite warmed from the inside out I will meander back into the market for some fresh produce and a pie, you must not forget the pie!

Hmm.... troubling.  It's now 2:00pm, do I continue my foray into beverages at the Tasting Tent West with Sommelier Jamie Drummond, or delve into the gastronomic delights at Tasting Tent East?  Oh, right Connie DeSousa and Fred De Martines - charcuterie at it's finest.  Decision made!                               [Buy Tickets]

No time to make it to see Chuck Hughes today, so over to Market Square for a southern BBQ rib dinner, starts at 3:30pm-6:00pm and look Creemore Springs draft, you know me so well!


Can I still make it to work on time?  I think so...

Thanks Savour Stratford, and all you friendly volunteers, for the 1st day of culinary adventure - I'll see you tomorrow!

iron chef uptown season 3 winner: Nick and Nat's Uptown 21?

We're a few days removed from the final round of this year's Iron Chef Uptown competition that saw Langdon Hall get edged out by Bijou Restaurant in battle rhubarb.

In case you missed the details of Stratford's participation in this event I've boiled it down for you:
Bijou, of course, won twice.  Beating Langdon Hall and Versus Restaurant.
Stratford Chef School defeated Conestoga College.
Simple Fish and Chips made it a very close and entertaining battle (Slap-Chop ftw!) against Bhima's Warung.

Big wins all around; A great showing by the Stratford community.  Bijou showed off their Titan sized cooking skills.  The Food Bank of Waterloo Region received enough donations to allow them to distribute over $25,000 worth of food to those in need.  And I have something to blog about!

None of this would've happened without Uptown 21.  This is an event that is being talked about from London to Toronto and beyond.  It creates a great sense of community in southwestern Ontario, not just among cooks and restaurant types, but between restaurants and farmers, too.  It also showcases the underrated talent in this area to those who would not otherwise be aware (I am determined now to try 3-6-9 in Woodstock!)

Those who watch the TV version of Iron Chef might feel that they're watching an impossible task - featuring an ingredient that has only just been revealed in multiple courses?  All while being judged and scrutinized? How do they do it?  The trouble is, it's TV, therefore there is an element of fake.  Those cooks you see working miracles in kitchen stadium all know the secret ingredient well in advance.  There are cuts and lapses in time.  It makes for great viewing, but it is part illusion.

What happens at Nick and Nat's is like the grittier version of Iron Chef America.  (Picture Clint Eastwood compared to Vin Diesel and you'll get the idea).  These chefs have often just finished 10+ hour shifts in their own kitchens and come into an unfamiliar space to cook 3+ courses featuring an ingredient that's identity is actually unknown until 15 minutes before the clock starts.  It seems impossible and yet the dishes we've seen over the last couple months have been outstanding.

By donating their establishment, time, equipment and (at the peril of their bottom line) their pantry, Nick and Nat have created an event that I am already looking forward to for next year (though I hear rumours of a redux at Savour Stratford in the fall!).  I hope they continue and that the fan base for such a great event keeps growing.  Show your support for Uptown21, make the short drive to Waterloo to eat at this great restaurant, you won't be disappointed (some of the best service to be had in our area!).

Bonus Link!  Just noticed that there are several videos of the final still up on ustream, plus a few from previous battles, including the Chef School/Conestoga battle and Simple vs. Bhima's!  *Caution: a few of the videos grind my computer to a halt.*

(bi) weekly linkage: liquor laws, eating local, iron chef uptown finals and more!

Shall we dive right in?  I get a little over-excited sometimes and want to get straight to the new things that I have been enlightened by recently.  The internet is a vast place filled with useless information, here I boil it down and let you know about the things you may have missed of late - and shouldn't have!

First I must beseech the local decision makers to get on the band-wagon that our provincial government has decided to jump aboard!  I look forward to strolling the garlic festival and Savour Stratford with a frosty beer in hand!

As food trends come and go restaurants are always looking to the future to see if they are making the right decisions for their guests.  You decide: has eating local become annoying?

Finally BBQ season is upon us, with a vengeance.  I look forward to warm evenings spent grilling something delicious!  But besides all the great things to eat we of course need some suggestions on what to drink with BBQ deliciousness.

To get everyone in the mood for some sun and remind us yet again why we love this great abundant countryside in which we reside, how about a video?

In case you haven't been paying attention: there has been a great event re-occurring just down the road in Waterloo at Uptown 21.  Iron Chef Uptown was hosted Wednesdays for the past 2 months where a number of Stratford's own chefs were featured battling against the best restaurants of the Waterloo region.  Tomorrow night is the final and it features one of Stratford's greatest chefs: Aaron Linley.  If you can't make it to Waterloo (tickets are $5 with all proceeds going to the food bank) then watch from home and cheer really loud so Aaron can hear you! (link is live in real time so if it's blank for now, just wait until tomorrow night @ 9:30pm)

To get you psyched for what the secret ingredient could be please enjoy a ridiculous video from our 'honourable chairman'...

black krim? brandywine? cherokee purple?

I realize it is only April but you can't blame me for fantasizing.  As soon as the sun warms my face for the first time on a balmy spring day I start to think about tomatoes.  Sure, the long harsh winter has brought plenty of Mexican tomatoes to our city, but those little bastards are waxy and grainy - a far cry from a summer tomato.  Once the heirloom varieties begin to ripen (unfortunately not until the end of July and beyond) I keep my eye on menus to find them showcased in the simplest forms.  A really good heirloom tomato does not need a great deal of pomp and circumstance; sliced and served with some local cheese and a light vinaigrette is just about perfect.

Aaron Linley at Bijou always seems to get his hands on some of the most delectable and varied heirlooms this countryside has to offer.  Last summer they were served with C'est Bon Goat's cheese and an adobo vinaigrette with a few renegade pieces of arugula scattered about for that pepper note, simple perfection.

I wait, somewhat patiently, for Savour Stratford when artisans bring their gorgeous tomatoes to our fair city, then buy as many as will last.

Nature gives us so many beautiful flavours when we accept her timing and so, though I will eat tomatoes in the winter time, nobody says I have to like it!

organic? local? free range? grain-fed? what do these terms really mean?

Our city is very focused on the terminology of food, we are blessed to live in the abundance of Perth County, surrounded by local farmers and artisans who offer superior products, but what does it all mean?

Organic:
My grandfather was a pioneer of organic farming and though he was rather brilliant, his timing sucked.  He was too early and didn't get a great response from buyers as his products always had a shorter shelf life than the non-organic producers.  Now that 'organic' has grown in popularity new challenges face small organizations.  In 2009 the federal government took a stand on what could be labelled certified-organic.  This offers some guarantee to the consumer but creates plenty of difficulties for the small farms who have to shell out significant amounts of money to have their products labelled as such.  It also causes some confusion - does the average consumer know the difference between "certified" and ordinary organic?  It's all in the labelling.

Local:
'Think Global, Eat Local' right?  Of course during the growing season and beyond into the harvest there is nothing like local produce.  But during the long harsh Canadian winter everyone loves a juicy apple, or a little guacamole now and again, it's hard to last 5-6 months eating only rutabaga and preserved veggies.  "We have greenhouses, technology!" the people shout, 'but what of the power sources to run such operations?' I reply.  There are some who say that there is less negative impact on the environment from shipping Florida fruit to Ontario than there is from growing it in greenhouses in sub-zero temperatures.  At least we will always have luscious pork year round!

Free-range:
Upon hearing this term everyone's heart warms at the thought of bright yellow chicks pecking at springtime bugs in a lush green meadow, I too feel hopeful of this.  But the reality is that free-range means that an animal has access to an outdoor area for an indeterminate amount of time and there may or may not be grass in that area.  Very few strict rules have been attached to this term, it falls in with things like 'ethically raised', 'free-run', 'artisanal', 'natural' etc. which all have lovely connotations that terrible corporations take advantage of.

Grain-fed:
There is one very important thing about this term and that is: an animal cannot be labelled 'grain-fed' if it has been fed animal by-products, and that is a good thing!  Who am I kidding, that is a GREAT thing!  Here comes the but...BUT unfortunately it can also mean that the animal in question is fed only grain (usually corn) which is not a healthy alternative to grass.  Even the term grass-fed is deceiving as it can mean an animal was started on grass but ultimately fattened on corn.

Fortunately for those of us living in Stratford and the surrounding areas we can have a REAL connection with a lot of the producers who provide our food.  From Perth Pork Products and Monforte Dairy to Soiled Reputation and beyond!  We are also lucky to have such incredible events such as Savour Stratford that allow us to meet these producers and even sample some of their products.  So forget the labels and get to know the people so you can build a relationship and maybe even meet your dinner before it gets to your plate.