Tools for Life

I have become a bit of a mini-activist.  I'm not sure where it started, or how.  I've been searching for a charity that I really wanted to donate to for years, not really finding what I was looking for - not sure what I was looking for.  I think I saw a show on the Documentary Channel about the Sea Shepherd and their struggles in Taiji, Japan.  I'm not going to go into details, it's ugly and you should decide for yourself if you want to see what happens in our world.  I have my own personal email campaign.  The Sea Shepherd also practices passive aggression - I like that, they are an ever presence in Taiji, Japan but they never cross "the line".  You might have heard of the television series "Whale Wars" - that's The Sea Shepherd.  The head honcho is Paul Watson and he's a Canadian!

Recently one of the girls who has spent the past couple of month in Taiji, Japan documenting the tragedy that goes on there posted a picture on her blog.  Taiji is beautiful - breathtakingly beautiful.  Her picture was of a flat calm sea, with little ripples of wind sweeping across the water.  Normally I love weather like that, with flat water, a hint of a breeze that would make me smile, make me dream of those perfect sailing days.  Quietly ghosting along at 3-4 knots, just the sound of the boat pushing the water out of her way.  The sun shimmering off the occasional wave, the peace.  However, in this photo are 5 fishing boats, driving a large pod of striped dolphins into the Killing Cove.

Next time I'm on the water, when the water is flat, the light breeze blowing across my skin, the sun keeping me warm, giving our planet the tools for life, I will also remember the ugliness of that picture sent from Taiji and what that perfect day can turn into.  How we struggle to feed too many people with not enough to go around.

I wouldn't normally post this type of blog but I feel, as humans, we need to be aware of what we take from our planet, how poorly we treat the earth.

In 2001 Paul and I visited my dad and stepmom, Sue in Trinidad, they had spent a year sailing from Ontario to Port-of-Spain and were waiting out the hurricane season.  On our last day in Trinidad, we cleaned up the boat, Lady Simcoe, cast off the mooring ball and set sail to a little deserted island called Chacachacare, which is part of the Boca Islands in Trinidad and Tobago.  That is another story, very intriguing, very interesting.

On our trip back - it was one of those cloudless days, hot, no wind with the ocean like a mirror the never ending swell and the sounds of the infinite waves lapping up the island cliffs, broken only by the far off sound of a fishing boat's motor - we stumbled upon a large pod of dolphins.  I don't know how many there were but I do remember seeing them playing off in the distance.  We motored over and played with them for about an hour.  It was amazing to see them swim sideways along side the bow of Lady Simcoe.  They would look up you with knowledge, curiosity and playfulness. They knew what we were, they knew we were playing, knew we were laughing with them, having as much fun as they were.  It was probably one of the most enlightening experiences of my life

Maybe that's why I believe in what the Sea Shepherd and Captain Paul Watson stand for.  Without our oceans we are nothing.  Dead oceans will equal the demise of all life, after all, if you are a fan of Darwin, life evolved from the oceans.  Even if you don't believe in Darwinism, all life depends on the oceans.  

Currently, the oceans and ocean life are on a steep decline.  I hope one day to sail off somewhere on the ocean and I hope that there are dolphins and whales and dorados and flying fish and jelly fish to see in the wild, as they are meant to be, not in a zoo or an aquarium or at a place like Marineland.  I hope one day, my love of sailing and the water and open spaces and my zest for living that my dad instilled in me allows me to travel the planet to see the real world and the wild world.  I hope some day that my love of the natural world and the respect for life and our enviornment that my mom instilled in me will allow me to give back to the earth and help preserve it for everyone and everything that relies on our planet for life.

Please keep giving to your charity of choice but please don't forget to take care of the world we live in.

 

The Art of Being Creative

We're all good at something.  I think we are born with the skills and talent to do something and if some of us are lucky, we hit the nail on the head, either through development in school, after school activities or just from reading about something and having enough interest to give it a try.  I was lucky, I got the creativity gene.

I remember one Christmas singing along with my new Sharon, Lois & Bram album (must have been REALLY young) and my mom and dad were astounded that I was singing right along.  I then begged for a flute one year, begged and begged and BEGGED - I got a guitar from Santa that year.  However, it turned out I was good at it.  Coincidence, maybe, I'll never know.  However, I ended up studying the guitar and music in College and then onto University.  Mistake, no.  I will never regret getting a University degree, however, being creative in North America is thankless and for most creative minds, one cannot make a living doing it and if they do it's just barely a living.  I eked out a living playing guitar for about 10 years before moving on.  However, having spent so much time with creative minds and having one myself, it's hard to let it go, I would say impossible.  I was sustained a serious injury from playing the guitar so there really is no way to go back playing anymore (although I wish I could).  I searched for a long time to do something creative where my injury would not come back to haunt me.  

Hmmm, clarinet, flute, oboe, violin...nope. So for a long time I wallowed like a Sea Lion on my couch watching television with the world going by, my mind in a constant state of beige.  One day, I just quit my day job, tired of the abuse, the yelling, the pressure.  Yup, just left.  I spent the summer sailing, reading, painting the eavestroughs until one day I was walking around my neighbourhood and stumbled upon a cooking school.  COOL.  I cleaned out Paul's savings account and enrolled.  I was hooked from day one.  I was able to get a job working as butcher and for the next year I went to school 5 days a week and worked 5 days a week - talk about one tired individual.  However I  no longer wallowed like a Sea Lion on my couch watching television with the world going by, my mind in a constant state of beige.  I was creating and being creative.  I also realized the importance of the trades and how underpaid and under appreciated the trades are.

Unfortunately the daily toil of the butcher shop wore me out physically and I was no longer able the do the job and I couldn't find a job as a chef making more than minimum wage so I went back to the beige office job I had before.  However, one difference, I could work for myself running my own pastry business part time and have the money to expand my pastry and catering skills.

Unfortunately, thanks to trash television with shows like Cake Boss and celebrity chefs like Duff Goldman, everyone thinks they can decorate a cake.  I'm not pooh-poohing anyone else's creativity or skill, lord knows there are a lot more creative and skilled cake decorators out there than me.  I do know that a lot of those 'companies' don't bake or make their products from raw ingredients.  I even know a few cake decorating companies who use boxed cake mixes.  I find the art starts from the raw ingredients.  The flour, eggs, butter etc.  It actually takes me more time to do the baking etc. then the decorating.  It takes artistry to create your signature cake or icing recipe, it takes a keen eye to choose the right ingredients and complimentary flavours.

Most people choose to buy their sweets, cakes etc. at places like Costco because it's "cheaper".  But where's the artistry in getting something cheaper...Then there's the question of what is the real meaning of cheaper.  You get what you pay for.  Those big box store 'bakers' just do what they are told, they aren't artists, anyone can write Happy Birthday on a cake, it's easy to follow a set formula for decorating a cake in the same old colours, the same design ad nauseum day in and day out without thinking.  So what does "getting something cheaper" mean to you?  To me, it means sacrificing our homegrown artists to the likes of the mass produced, fake products anyone can get or make.

I think when one finds one's talent in life we are blessed.  Even though I work really hard, long hours I am able to work part time being creative in an industry where creativity is embraced and welcomed.  Alas, once again a creative field that is not very profitable unless you are a rock star or a true celebrity chef (because we all know people who aren't on tv don't really count). 

Next time you go for something "cheaper" ask yourself if you are supporting ugly corporate America or fresh, creative ideas that people who care about their art come up with, not just to fill their bank accounts.

NOW LET THEM EAT CAKE!  Here's my favourite cheesecake recipe, right down to the caramel, bananas and RUM:

750 g     Cream Cheese
175 g     White Sugar
30 g        Flour
3            Eggs
2            Very Ripe Bananas
2 tbsp.   Dark Rum
320 ml   Heavy Cream
3 ml       Vanilla


Combine cream cheese and flour, mix until fluffy.  Add eggs 1 at a time until absorbed.

Heat sugar in a sauce pan until it just begins to caramalize.  Add banana chunks and continue to caramalize sugar.  Add rum and flame.

Slowly pur rum banana/caramel mixture into cheese mixture while mixer is on low speed, mix well.

Pour into 8" spring form pan.
Bake approximately 30-40 minutes.

The Long Way

     "Exhausting gales, dangerous waves, dark clouds scudding across the sea with all the world's sadness and all its despair.  Continuing anyway, perhaps because you know you must, even if you no longer understand why.

     Clear skies, sunsets the colour of blood, the colour of life, on a sea sparkling with power and light, giving you all its strength, all its truth.  Then you know why you are continuing, why you will go right to the end.  And you would like to go further still." 

- Bernard Moitessier, from his book, The Long Way about his sailing journey around the world, alone, in 1968-1969

I haven't written about sailing lately, and with the cold weather, don't think of it that much.  However, I once again, for about the 5th time, started reading Moitessier's The Long Way.  The first Around Alone race, non-stop.  1968 it started and the last boat to leave on its journey was the Teignmouth Electron with it's skipper, Donald Crowhurst.  Only one sailor made it back home, Robert Knox Johnston.  Donald Crowhurst died during the race under mysterious circumstances, a couple had to turn back because of bad weather  Nigel Tetley capsized only 2000 kms from the finish.  Bernard Moitessier, after rounding Cape Horn decided to keep going and sailed halfway around the earth again before finally setting anchor in Tahiti.  

Back then they didn't have digital knot metres, no radar, no GPS, no HAM radio, no satellite telephones, weather faxes or lap top computers.  No fancy freeze dried food or scientifically created clothing.  No high tech carbon fibre boat hulls, lines, sails or equipment.  No 'team' back home designing sails, boats or gear.  They had friends helping to sew new sails or collect rubber hosing for water tanks.  Strangers donating old winches and a little money.  Some had wooden masts, wooden boats.  Others had new designs in sailboats that are very common today, a trimaran.  They depended on wool to keep them warm and mostly dry, canned food, instant coffee, canned milk, rice and hoped for whatever fish they might be able to catch to sustain them.  They collected rainwater to fill their jerry cans, and had to wait until the sight of land to radio the coast guard their Lloyds of London call number to report in, or call a passing ship to report their whereabouts. Moitessier had a slingshot, he would wrap up his rolls of film, letters, charts in a jar and hope it met its mark on a passing ship's deck.

Moitessier was a philosopher.  He writes about the open ocean, its quiet days, its nasty days.  He also writes about the life that kept him company while on his 10 month voyage.  The sea birds, the dorados, the jellyfish, the phosphorescence, the dolphins.  

Nowadays we are imprisoned in our consumer culture, the need for success in one's career, in one's pocketbook, the need to buy the latest and greatest television or electronic gadget.  We are imprisoned in a world where there is not enough food to go around, in a world that values money and possessions over life experiences, friendships and family.  It's refreshing to read Moitessier's journey.  This story is not just for sailors, it's for everyone.   The paragraph on the back cover of the book states "...Moitessier began to regard this as a voyage that could not end for him with the rewards of those whose values were not his."  Sometimes when I'm on the boat and there's no wind and we are bobbing along at 0.24 knots and it's just me and Paul, it's nice to think about nothing - just stare at the colours of the water, the colours of the sky, the life around you, the warmth of your companion.  I, like a lot of people always ask myself 'why are we here' and I don't ever think we will ever know the answer.  I think we all ask ourselves that question when we slow down, sit and think.  We should all do that more often, sit and think.  

Sailing gives me that time to sit and think.  Cooking does as well.  You have to be patient to cook, to learn, to create.  I like to work in my kitchen sometimes in the quiet, it allows me to think.  How often do we turn off the television (that really adds no real value to our lives), turn off the radio, turn off our man made world and stop and think.  Our thoughts don't have to be profound, sometimes I think about the rust spot on my car, at least I'm having a thought.  

Our lives are too complicated and I don't think some of us are really living. Our lives are short.  Let's re-evaluate our time here on planet earth!

"To have the time...to have the choice...not knowing what you are heading for and just going there anyway, without a care, without asking any more questions."  Thank you Bernard Moitessier for making me think.

Look what's around us

I get asked a lot of questions about food, I'm considered a radical and I get into trouble and upset some people because of my big mouth, however, if I wasn't honest then I would be lying to myself.  So I comment on where I will and won't eat out, what I think of corporate pizzas and cheap chocolate, without hesitation.  After being told I'm a snob, I usually get asked lots of questions about what I cook and how I do it.

I cook from what I have in the fridge without a recipe.  Cooking from raw materials in your fridge is all about knowledge of techniques and ingredients.  As I have said before, North Americans have lost the ability to even make a simple soup from scratch.  Cooking is a very easy skill to gain, easy to improve and easy to practice.  Think about it, we eat 2-5 meals a day, that's 14-35 meals a week, 58-140 meals a month.  That's a lot of practice.  I think if we have a core set of "tricks" then you can have a multitude of palate pleasing meals.  Keep in mind, that not all experiments work out (I always have oatmeal on hand...).  One of my favourite cookbooks is the Joy of Cooking.  It's a perfect reference book on all sorts of things.  

Let's take soup, it's not rocket science.  Take the method of making soup - your veg, your liquid, your meat, your seasoning and your flavours.  Easy - take a butternut squash, peel and cubed.  Roast it in the oven, mash it, add garlic, salt, pepper, chili powder and chicken stock to make the desired consistency - add a nice ciabatta from your local bakery and voila - dinner in 45 minutes with leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 

The squash puree before adding the chicken stock, you can add to risotto rice and voila - squash risotto, or just mash the roasted squash in your food processor with garlic and ginger, serve as a side with steak - easy!  Three dishes from a handful of stuff I bet we all have in our fridge.

I also get a lot of questions from people who have the opportunity to charter boats in the Caribbean in the wintertime.  They think they have to eat like here.  The way we eat in a cold climate is much different in a hot one!  First rule, I promise you don't need to eat half the amount of calories.  Second rule, I promise you don't have to have 3 square meals a day, grazing through the late morning, early afternoon will keep you satisfied.

Breakfast is easy, fresh local fruit - like a banana, toast with peanut butter or whatever the locals like on their toast (sea grape jam rocks!) and a coffee with some rum -  Voila.  Graze throughout the day on fresh coconut meat, a coconut water drink with some rum (I sense a theme here), fruit, nuts, maybe a brioche from the bakery in town.  Dinner - see what is at the local market - fish, collard greens and even a tray of Caribbean style mac n' cheese.  You can make a stew with coconut milk, okra, leafy greens, fresh fruit and once the stew is ready, just pop in fresh chunks of local fish.  Voila!  Dessert - rum of course.  Throw out your ideas of an appetizer, formal dessert, stuffing your face.  Enjoy the experience of new flavours, a new culture and new and old friends sitting in the cockpit, the food is secondary!

Just look around you, we have a lot to eat, and we're lucky.  Ask the locals what to cook, how to cook it.  Go to the markets with a pen and paper, take notes.  That's what Paul and I do when we are on vacation, we've even purchased fish from the fireman on Little Cayman and from the fisherman on the boat launch on Cayman Brac.  I've cooked a whole fish wrapped in foil slathered with local mangos, limes, butter, rum and coconut and just slapped it down on the table with 2 forks and just enjoyed every single bite - no fancy silverware or even plates!  A good coconut water and rum drink to wash it all down - perfect.

If we look what is on hand, what is available seasonally and ask; cooking is easy.  If you don't know any cooking techniques or tricks, take classes.  What you learn in cooking classes you will have forever, knowledge is power.  Invest in your health - take more cooking classes.

Here's my favourite way to serve fish:

Serves 1

1 large piece of foil

1 fennel bulb - julienne (you can also use okra, green beans etc.)

1 carrot - julienne

1 clove garlic - fine chop

1 shallot - julienne

glug of olive oil

glug of white wine (or rum)

salt and pepper

caraway or nutmeg

Place all veg in one half of the foil, glug the veg with the olive oil and white wine.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and caraway (or chili powder or curry powder).  Place fish fillet over the pile of goodness.  Fold the foil over the entire pile, seal the edges.  Put in 400 F oven for 20 minutes.  Remove, tear open foil and voila - dinner with no effort.  You can do this on the bbq or grill, just put a cookie sheet on the grill, do not put the fish packet directly on the grill as the veg will burn.

The Joys of Baking

It's 6 days until Christmas Day.  I have made, to date, over 500 truffles and molded chocolates and over 5 pounds of English Toffee.  Almost all my deliveries are done and I can now do some Christmas baking for myself.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my kitchen activities so will only make one or two kinds of cookies, maybe a cake - but this year, I'm addicted to the cute little French Macaron.  It's not like the North American Macaroon at all.  It's a cute little sandwich cookie made with heaps of sugar, egg whites and ground almonds.  Then it's filled with all sorts of amazing flavours.  This weekend I'm making dulce de leche, pistacho, black sesame, rose water and I hope to have time for passion fruit.  The flavours are endless and I wish I could just make hundreds of different flavours and share them all!

Even though I sell stuff, chocolates, candies, cakes, deep down I wish I could just give it all away, share my passion with others, alas, the ingredients cost money so I share when I can.  Even though I charge for my product I don't make a lot of money, never a profit, my joy is seeing people's happiness when they taste something they have never heard of, taste something new and exotic.  There are very few new flavours I get to enjoy and when I do taste something new, I'm hooked.  Last year I got the opportunity to spend 7 months in Chocolate School and the 3 flavours I will never forget tasting for the first time are Green Tea Ganache, Cardamom and Saffron Ganache and Rose water buttercream!  My fellow classmates wondered why I went on and on about new flavours and my Chef Instructor explained that a lot of chefs don't often have an opportunity to taste new flavours and it's an event.

That's the beauty of pastry for me, new flavours.  I'm a newbie in the pastry world, just 3 years in and still finding new flavour profiles, new ingredients and mixing some flavours with others I never would have thought of. 

But I digress...back to home baking.  Most of us can remember baking alongside their moms or grandmas.  I remember doing both.  My mom liked to keep things clean and tidy, mostly I watched and stuck a little kid finger in the cookie batter when she turned her back (always afraid of the eyes watching me from the back of her head).  My grandma, she let us taste her icing by the spoonful, used to spray whipcream from the can right into our mouths, letting us get flour where ever we wanted, after all "that's what a vacuum cleaner was for!", she would say.

Ever since I was little I loved to bake: chocolate chip cookies mostly, the odd chocolate cake.  Now, although I love the fancy stuff, frangipan, tortes, Bavarians, mont blancs etc., what I love most are the shortbread cookies, the hand rolled truffles, gingerbread and cakes filled with gobs of french buttercream.  That's my comfort food.  And I like to get messy, that flour on my nose, the gob of cake batter down my shirt, the chocolate under my fingernails, the cookie dough stuck on the bottom of my sock.  We can always clean it up later, after sharing all that goodness with our family, friends, neighbours and co-workers.

So here's my French Macaron recipe, it may take a few tries to get it right and to figure out your oven temperatures but once you have the technique down, it's really a lot of fun!

Vanilla Macarons - Yield 80 Twoonie sized cookies or 40 sandwich cookies

300 g     Icing sugar
225 g     Ground Almonds
150 g     Fresh egg whites (4-5 egg whites)
150 g     Sugar
5 ml      Vanilla 

Choice of food colouring

Preheat oven 310 F.

Sift together icing sugar and almonds.
Using a mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk egg whites to a stiff peak.
Gradually add sugar.  Whites will become shiny.
Manually fold almond and icing sugar mixture into egg whites.
Add colour.
The most important part:  Work filling with a spatula until the mixture doesn't hold a peak any longer, it should spread very slowly.
Pipe twooney sized rounds onto lined tray and let air dry for 10-20 minutes.

Bake 10-14 minutes (will vary a lot depending on your oven).

Fillings are endless, here's my buttercream recipe that you can flavour with fruit, rose water etc.  You can also use flavoured ganaches like tea, sesame etc. and please colour your macarons to reflect your flavour - makes life more colourful!

Easy Buttercream

450 g    Icing Sugar
680 g    Butter
95 g     Pasturized Egg Whites
15 ml    Vanilla

Using a mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and icing sugar until pale and fluffy.
Gradually add the egg whites, whip for another 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Can add lemon zest, lemon juice or passion fruit compound etc. as required.

I will post more pictures of my macrons later today! 

What's that heavenly smell?

Name something the majority of us consume everyday - some of us every 2 hours.  Here are some hints, it's used as a flavouring in sweets, cakes, meats, savoury sauces?  No idea yet.  Well we all know the smell whether we consume it or not and 99% of us smell it first thing in the morning.  No not yet?  We pay pennies for it, pay a lot for it.  Black, cream, sugar, vanilla flavour shot, lots of foam, no foam, double sweet medium temperature, a little extra water, strong, weak, decaf...Well you have got to be kidding me if you haven't figured out yet that I'm talking about coffee!

The history of coffee is long and sordid.  Thought to have originated in Ethopia but maybe not.  The name might have come from the Turkish "Kawha" - meaning "wine of the bean" (from Wikipedia).  However what we all know about coffee is how much we take it for granted in our every day life - until the unspeakable happens, it tastes terrible...

How many times have we woken up on a Sunday morning with that throbbing headache or that rumbling in our stomach and thought "let's go out for breakfast"?  You go to the local egg place, order whatever suits your fancy and order your cuppa joe.  The waitress takes your order, takes your menu and hops away to let the fry cook know your wishes.  She then flies over with a fistful of chipped white coffee mugs and a handful of plastic encased creamers tossed down with packets of white sugar and sweeteners stained with old strawberry jam.  You can tell from the pot the coffee will be weak, You can read the writing on the opposite of the carafe telling you not to place this pot on direct heat.  The brown coloured hot water smells like coffee - but you know - it's no Gold Coast blend from the mountains of Hawaii.  Depending on how you take your coffee you could be drinking warm cream or hot sugar syrup.  

Me, I am usually disappointed in the coffees at the majority of breakfast places.  Places where people go to cure their hangover, stuff their faces or just  for the love of breakfast (like me).

Oh no, is that peppy waitress coming my way again with more brown hot water, should I resist?  Oh what the hell, pour another, I need my caffeine, I'll go home and make a proper cup of coffee later.  Why, why don't we complain about this tragedy?  The restaurant makes the effort to offer 6 kinds of toast, 10 kinds of pre-packaged jam,  fresh fruit garnish on your plate.  They take the time to cook your eggs exactly how you order and make your bacon extra, extra, extra crispy without burning it.  So why is a flavourful, interesting cup of coffee so out of reach?  It's not just the cost, a cupper usually runs between $1.50 and $2 in those joints.  If I ever find a egg place that serves tasty, eye opening, interesting coffee (and possibly fresh made hollandaise sauce) then I will be a customer for life.

Let us now turn to our favourite breakfast foods.  Me - Eggs Benedict, aka Eggs Benny.  However, the Hollandaise sauce is a lost art.  I'm sure most chefs don't realize that you can make Hollandaise from scratch and adding water to a packet of yellow powder is not the only way to make Hollandaise.  Sure it takes a bit of practice, but it's well worth it.

According to Wikipedia: "Lemuel Benedict, a retired Wall Street stock broker, claimed that he had wandered into the Waldorf Hotel in 1894 and, hoping to find a cure for his morning hangover, ordered "buttered toast, poached eggs, crisp bacon and a hooker of hollandaise." Oscar Tschirky, the famed maitre d'hotel, was so impressed with the dish that he put it on the breakfast and luncheon menus but substituted ham and a toasted English muffin for the bacon and toast."

I like that a "hooker of hollandaise".  The meaning is a "slug or glug of hollandaise".  Hollandaise takes practice but well worth the rich tartiness effort over those creamy poached eggs, salty bacon and crispy English muffin - Please do not let your muffins go soggy and keep the hookers coming!

Yeah Hollandaise - Boo bad coffee!  And with my hangover all gone and a pot of great coffee made in my Italian espresso maker here's an easy Hollandaise Sauce recipe to make for next Saturday's breakfast or Monday night's dinner.

Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 egg yolks
• 3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 pinch ground white pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Fill the bottom of a double boiler part-way with water. Make sure that water does not touch the top pan. Bring water to a gentle simmer. In the top of the double boiler, whisk together egg yolks, lemon juice, white pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and 1 tablespoon water.
2. Add the melted butter to egg yolk mixture 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time while whisking yolks constantly. If hollandaise begins to get too thick, add a teaspoon or two of hot water. Continue whisking until all butter is incorporated. Whisk in salt, then remove from heat. Place a lid on pan to keep sauce warm.

Local eating and eating locally

I did my yearly catering job for The Store Mason's Chandlery last night.  I look forward to it every year, they love it and I always have a great time.  Lori pretty much gives me free reign of what the menu will be which makes is all the more enjoyable!  Last night's menu, goat cheese and leek tarts, leek and green peppercorn tarts for the app., dinner was gnocchi with beef ragu and lots of local, in season veg and garlic bread.  Finally the piece du resistance - dessert -my current fav. - Pavlona.  All that crunch, creaminess, sweetness, topped off with cranberries, sour cherries, pistachios and shavings of white chocolate.  MMMMM

The fun for me also in creating menus; choosing as much local, in season foods as possible.  Obviously, from the menu above, I cannot get local chocolate, pistachios, pepper or salt.  However, I can get local goat cheese, leeks, puff pastry, eggs, butter, canned tomatoes, cranberries, cherries, squash, celery root, juniper berries etc.  I like to think that I am helping local farmers by buying local from suppliers that are small, family run joints.  If we look around, most of the stores, restaurants, bakeries either are run by extremely large corporations, mostly American or they are supplied by large corporations and who knows where they get their produce or meat.  

I like the thought of family run businesses, they have character, personality and no one is the same.  They have an uphill climb to compete against the corporations who are endless money pits.  They don't have the 'buying power' of large corporations, so their profit margin is lower because they pay more for their produce and meat.  I don't mind paying more, it's worth it for me to fight against the monster we call capitalism.

Some of you know that I struggle to produce great food, great cakes and great chocolates that are affordable.  I can't compete against Costco, Laura Secord, Lindt or Pumpernickles, I also won't compete against them!  I spend time researching what my customers buy from me.  I am proud that I can say I support local as much as possible, I am also proud that I can say I only use seasonal ingredients.  I have actually told customers that I don't to chocolate dipped strawberries in February!  So if I lose that customer, c'est la vie, I unlike corporations, don't have shareholders to answer to - the beauty of the family run business.  I also try not to contribute to the demise our our earth.

I know we are all powerless in some way to avoid the few corporate run food suppliers in this world but when I drive up to Bobcaygeon, I know my step mom has purchased her butter and eggs from the local farmers.  I get my produce  and eggs from Lanzarotta, again mostly local and a family run business.  My meat comes from farmers as close as Woodbridge, my wine comes from Kawartha County.

The restaurants I go to, well I'm lucky that I know the chefs, but I run into them at my butcher!  They buy local too.

Let's raise a glass to family run businesses.  I'm a bargain hunter like most people, but lately I'm wondering at what cost to our world and our community.  I don't have a membership at Costco, I don't shop at Walmart.  I don't mind paying more for butter and eggs as long as it's from mom and pop!

Eat local - eat fresh!  Food is life and let's share our community with each other! Let's discover the talented farmers, butchers, bakers and chefs that live nearby.

Talking of local, and it's a cold, cold day outside and we all love comfort food, how about dark beer, cheddar soup for dinner!  I love this soup, it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside and every ingredient can be bought from local mom and pop shops.

CHEDDAR ALE SOUP

½ cup butter
1 cup red or yellow onions, chopped
½ cup carrot, diced
½  cup celery, diced
½ cup flour
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt or to taste
 ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper or to taste
16 oz chicken broth
4 cups milk
12 oz can dark beer - Stout preferably!
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese grated - at least 5 year old cheddar

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the aromatic vegetables and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. If you don't have carrots and/or celery on hand, increase the amount of onion. Some variations of this soup only use onion.

2. (Have your liquid ingredients measured before starting this step.) Add the dry ingredients and cook, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes.

3. Gradually stir in the liquids. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the soup comes to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened. Do not let it boil.

4. Stir in the cheeses until they melt. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Let the soup barely simmer for another 10-15 minutes to mix the flavours.