Stark and sweet

It's that time of year again, when people go away to sunny locales and return to a cold and brooding Canada and wonder why it is that they live here. Why miss out on vitamin D when it's sunny all day long in Mexico?

Why freeze when you could be in Belize?

Personally, I love the change of seasons; bundling up in winter leads to welcoming the warming rays of April. Shvitzing during Toronto's humid summers means looking forward to September's autumnal bliss. (Pores get smaller, hair defrizzes, etc.)

Besides, winter has a lot going for it, including the Niagara Icewine Festival. Around this time last year I was coiffing at an ice bar in Jordan, Ontario, munching on Canada's first raisin harvest and roasting homemade marshmallows over an open fire.

Just like anything in life, you can either hide from it or embrace it.

Me? I plan on pulling on my toque and going skating -- if it ever actually snows this winter.

We need Trader Joe’s!

On a recent trip I had a few minutes to duck into Trader Joe's to pick out a bag of delicious sounding and reasonably priced items we can't get here, including a pumpkin pancake mix, which I thought would come in handy at the cottage during the holidays. Fast-forward a couple of weeks, and with the addition of melted butter, eggs and water; a few minutes later it was nothing but “Mmms” and “Wows” from the usually hard-to-please breakfast crowd. Then someone new would lumber down the stairs late and add to the chorus with a heartfelt "Yum."

This boxed mix comes by its deliciousness honestly. It's not full of bad stuff (no hight fat or sodium trickery) -- just friggin awesome, flavourful pumpkin-spiced pancakes, made even better when I toasted some pecans and poured on the maple syrup.

For five brief morning minutes, all was right with the world.

One of my brothers vows 2012 is the year he brings Trader Joe’s to Canada, even though he is not involved in the import/export business nor the food industry in any way. Understand this: He will not succeed. So if anyone out there knows someone who is already in the process of bringing Trader Joe’s to Canada or has the ability to bring Trader Joe's to Canada, please let me know so I can pass the good news along. (We really, really loved those pancakes.)

Happy New Year to one and all!

The year in review

This year I travelled, I cooked, but mostly I ate. Herewith I present my top 10 memorable food trips of 2011.

1. There are no two ways about it. Copenhagen is awesome.

2. But you know what’s even better? Baiersbronn!

3. And Tofino? Forget about it!

4. Meanwhile, Cleveland was a revelation.

5. I drank so many cocktails and so much tea in Victoria that I almost floated away.

6. I finally made it to Calgary during Stampede, and when I wasn’t eating my weight in funnel cake, I was eating dozens of doughnuts.

7. Freshest seafood ever? Try the east coast.

8. It was my first time in San Antonio, but it won’t be my last.

9. Boston’s food scene is on the upswing. Watch for it.

10. Finally, who says you have to travel far to experience the best? Niagara never fails to impress.

Let us all raise our forks and glasses to a great 2012. Happy New Year everyone!

Donna to the rescue!

Chef Donna Dooher is the owner of the fabulous Mildred's Temple Kitchen, an airy cream and green apple room in Toronto's Liberty Village, where they dish out dependable blueberry buttermilk pancake brunches, chicken avocado club lunches, and gnocchi poutine with oxtail gravy dinners. And now they're getting into the holiday spirit by dishing out advice to those in need. Mainly, skittish home cooks.

Since chef Dooher has planned her fair share of holiday parties over the years, she's decided to lend her expertise to timid hosts, and has opened up her email line for those stumped for ideas or looking for the answer to culinary questions.

Simply email her at mildred@templekitchen.com with the subject heading "Ask Donna" and she'll get back to you within a day. She launched the "helpline" December 14th and will close it December 21st, so best to start that menu planning now, lest yea be out of luck later.

P.S. This photo is of the butterrific traditional shortbread available at Mary Macleod's. (See? I'm helping too.)

Christmas in Cleveland

As we near the end of 2011 and look back on the year that was before I head to Laywines to buy the 2012 insert for my Filofax (some habits die hard), I’m reminded of all the great spots I visited; most of the trips all too brief. But one in particular that stood out as a place that would be perfect to head back to around the holidays, is Cleveland.

Not only was this city a terrific culinary surprise, but they’re also coo-coo for Christmas. Part of it has to do with the fact that the perennial favourite, “A Christmas Story” was filmed there. (I even met someone who was one of the kids in line when Ralphie was pushed down the slide. He recalled getting 10 days off of school and making $60; a fond memory.) The house/museum ode to the movie is also quite popular.

Then there are Snow Days at the Cleveland Indians’ Progressive Field, which includes a regulation sized frozen diamond, a skating rink, snow tubing slides, and all sorts of fun wintry games.

There’s also the annual “How the Kishka Saves Christmas”, which includes wieners, polkas and the traditional stringing of the sauerkraut on the Christmas tree at Happy Dog.

Even so, while I was in Cleveland the Christmas-themed thing I heard about most was the short-lived, beloved seasonal Christmas Ale brewed up at the local Great Lakes Brewing Company. This stuff is made with gallons of honey, spiced with fresh ginger and cinnamon, is 7.5% alcohol, and is known to make people behave very, very badly.

The brewery has several pub rooms, from the Taproom, with its 1890s-era Mahogany bar, to the Beer Cellar, which would be my regular haunt if I lived in Cleveland: It’s a low, intimate turn-of-the-century “rathskeller” with stone walls, brick floors and a wooden bar strung with twinkly lights. (Historically, it was the building’s basement for seed and feed.) The beer is fresh from the tap and the warm, salty pretzels are to die for. Certainly something to give thanks for in Cleveland this Christmas.

Snack of the Day: Homemade microwaved popcorn

I love popcorn. In fact, I didn’t realize how much I loved popcorn until I was searching for a past blog post and found that I’ve talked about popcorn here and here and here and here and probably a bunch of other places too, but I think I’ve made my point.

Yet even though I eat more microwaved popcorn than I care to admit, do you know what I don’t love about it? That greasy, yellow, chemically stuff that lines the bags.

The solution? PaperChef parchment cooking bags. Using these bags makes popcorn as light as air-popped but without the klunky popper.

All you do is pour ½ cup of popcorn kernels into a parchment bag, fold the top over at least three times (you don’t want the steam – or popcorn – to escape), and pop it in the microwave on high for about 2 ½ minutes. Then pour popcorn into a bowl and top with melted butter and salt or whatever else you choose.

This, my friends, is what you call a snacking game-changer.

Enough already

Okay Toronto, I'm officially sick of it. Over it. Perturbed. Perplexed. Vexed.

Why don't we have food trucks? Nobody has ever really explained the reasons to me.

Because the strange thing is, we've actually had food trucks for years, scattered throughout downtown, on the streets outside of Nathan Phillips Square and on Front Street near the ACC/Rogers Centre. On the UofT Campus, too. All of the fries with gravy, ice cream and hot dogs you could ever want. Even Chinese food.

But nothing more, and nothing new. Why?

Could it be that Mayor Rob Ford hasn't tasted the Nirvana that is the freshly prepared multi-ethnic cuisine on wheels featured in just about every major American city I visit (plus Vancouver, to great effect)?

I've had hot, crispy falafel in Manhattan and a bright Banh Mi in Boston.

There are entire shows dedicated to the topic, for goodness sake, as well as cookbooks and apps. (This thing is officially happening, people!)

Food truck food is largely honest affordable food made by passionate people using fresh ingredients and indigenous (or creative takes on trusted) recipes.

In other words, it's exactly what Toronto is all about.

So enough already. Let's cut the red tape and get this truck moving.

If anyone knows how I can help, let me know, and then I'll let everyone else know.

And then soon enough, we'll be eating grilled cheese sandwiches and kimchee tacos, and before too long we'll never know an evening that is not brightened by a Montreal smoked meat sandwich or a warm Belgian waffle by moonlight.

It will be a beautiful thing.

Eat Here: Quartino

I just got back from a whirlwind weekend trip to the Windy City, where I was checked into the Trump Hotel Chicago, to check out the Trump lifestyle ahead of the January 31st opening of the Trump Hotel Toronto. (Hint: Cannot wait.) There was so much going on in Chicago this weekend. It happened to be the 20th annual Magnificent Mile Lights Festival on Saturday night, which starts the holiday season in earnest with a grand parade led by Grand Marshals Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse and thousands of their friends. It's the busiest weekend of the year in the city, and there were over a million people taking in the glittery parade and fireworks, a mass of humanity woven across bridges and through the streets while we took in the view from our plush chairs in the hotel's buzzy Rebar cocktail lounge while slinging back martinis and scarfing sushi. (Irony alert: This year's parade was sponsored by BMO Harris Bank, AKA, the Bank of Montreal.)

More on Trump later. For now, I'd like to talk about a delicious restaurant just a couple of blocks from the hotel, called Quartino. Man, was this place ever good. Though it's big and boisterous, chef John Coletta and crew still make everything in house, from the mozzarella to the sauces and sausages, salumi and pastas and desserts, and as a side note, their incongruous Sangria is killer.

They practically sent out the entire menu for our group to taste, from the amazing steamed clams in a pino grigo and red chili broth to sicilian caponata, roasted beet salad with ricotta salata and walnuts, to eggplant parmigiana, beef short ribs, crispy polenta fries, dates wrapped in pancetta, gnocchi with green beans and arugula pesto, skate wing with Brussels sprouts and pancetta, and a couple of signature pizzas including an impeccable thin-crust margherita.

And there wasn't a wrong answer in the bunch.

Gold Medal Eats

Earlier this week my friend Ivy scored us some media tickets to the annual Gold Medal Plates culinary competition cum Olympic fundraiser in Toronto, and though I had attended once before and totally loved it, this year's soiree was even better. I didn’t try all of the competing plates (most, but not all), still, the dishes I ate were all delicately composed while busting a move with flavour and creativity.

Two things stood out though: There were no female executive chefs competing, and most of the dishes were needlessly heavy. (I can’t help but think some would have been a little lighter had there been a woman or two at the propane stoves, as in years past.) That said, my favourite dish, and the winning dish, happened to be both gorgeous to look at and sprightly on the tongue.

It was the handiwork of Chef Jonathan Gushue of Langdon Hall Country House Hotel & Spa. I’ve had his food before, and the chef is nothing short of a practitioner of white magic in the kitchen with all things local, vegetal, snouty and swimmy. He took home the gold for his dish of creamy salsify topped by Langdon Hall’s own Brussels sprouts leaves, crispy black salsify chips, all tossed around a preserved oyster -- just a hint of vinegar in it -- plus grated duck’s egg and smoked trout caviar for good measure. Somehow, it all formed a perfect bite, especially so with a taster glass of Organized Crime, 2009, Fume Blanc, also the winning wine pairing of the night.

Chef Gushue will compete at the Canadian Culinary Championships, the Gold Medal Plates Finale, held in Kelowna in February, 2012. Buy your tickets now (and visit the incredible Sparkling Hill Resort while you’re there), or just dig deep and donate to a great cause, Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They bring us all so much pride. Let’s show them how proud we are of them.

P.S. I took this photo at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, AKA, the Best Olympics Ever!

It’s getting cold out there

Let’s warm up with some seasonally appropriate, soul-soothing Broccoli Cheddar soup. While it’s not exactly a new taste sensation, this no-fuss winning combo of greens and cheese never goes out of style.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter

1 cooking onion, chopped

1 large head of broccoli, florets cut into medium pieces, stems peeled and roughly chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

pinch of cayenne

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock

½ cup cream (whatever you’ve got, from 5% to 18%)

2 cups grated sharp cheddar, plus extra for garnish.

Method:

1. In a large saucepan heat butter over medium, fry onion for several minutes, then add chopped broccoli, carrots, salt and pepper and cayenne. Cook for 5 minutes more, stirring often.

2. Add stock, bring to a boil, cover and lower heat to medium-low for 30 minutes. Remove from heat; get out the immersion blender and puree.

3. Add cream and cheese, heat on low for several minutes (do not let in boil), taste for seasoning and serve it hot, with an extra bit of cheese and pepper for good measure.