Handmade Floating Food Rings
SouZouCreations over on Etsy has some very interesting accessories.
Included are “floating rings” that depict plates of food.
You can find Sofia on Twitter and on her blog, From Japan With Love.
I’d love this mustard ring, except I might eat it by accident.
More photos after the jump:
Dufferin Grove Market
It’s very rare for me to get a day off on a Thursday, however this week I was lucky. I’ve been meaning to go to the Dufferin Grove Market, which is (guess what?) open exclusively on Thursdays (3pm to 7pm, all year round).
To be completely honest, I spent a couple of hours researching and debating what it was I’d make for dinner. After a while, I decided to close all of the books and let the market tell me what to cook. I know it’s so cliché, but I was feeling a bit uninspired.
I found some delicious celeriac, collard greens from local farmers. I also found delicious white fish from the Akiwenzie Fish farmers of Georgian Bay. He packed my fish in the comics, or “funny papers” as I call them. ”Cool, I got the funny papers”, I said. (Laughing) “I haven’t read them in years, but I do love that damn sudoku”, he replied.
There is a small kitchen serving soups, sandwiches and delicious little banana-chocolate vegan muffins. If you have the time to go, it’s completely worth it. Be sure to bring cash, as everything is cash only.
CRFA Show 2010
Ah, the CRFA show.
In a nutshell, it’s a packed showroom with everything relating to the restaurant world that you can imagine. Food competitions, tilt skillet retailers, kangaroo meat companies, snow cone makers, popcorn machines, banquette resellers. The list goes on and on.
The best part of course, were the beer “samples”. “Can I have one, oh and one for my friend?”. Thanks to Amsterdam and Mill Street Breweries. The sad and tired looks on your faces didn’t go unnoticed, despite our coming back to your booths two hundred times. If a person could get a liquor license in that joint I am certain they would make a fortune. Everyone was lining up for alcohol thinking it was the %#@ food and wine show!
Lauren and I got up on the stage with Rob Montgomery to receive a lesson on mixing a perfect whiskey sour. Kevin Brauch and his rosy cheeks had left earlier to proceed onto another event.
We saw Chef Lynn Crawford do a demo on Berkshire pork from Black Bow Farms Inc. What lovely people.
Here are some photos from the event:
Umami in a Tube
Well, it seems like this week’s theme is tubes!
A lot of people seem confused by the Japanese term umami (the fifth taste). It’s what happens when something in your mouth is so good, you have to close your eyes. A food-gasm if you will. It’s an experiential process that is personal and unique.
If you’ve ever been unable to stop wolfing down a bag of Lay’s BBQ chips or maybe can’t stop adding MAGGI to your soup, this is a chemical reaction caused by MSG. Although MSG is not the only substance that can cause umami, it is probably the most common in North America. You can also cause umami from having a perfect balance of salt, sweet and sour flavours.
Behold Taste No5 invented by Laura Santtini. Umami in a tube.
Unfortunately it’s only available at Selfridges and Waitrose and La Grande Epicerie. C’est domage. I’d probably brush my teeth with it.
Wine: Single Tasting Tubes
For those of us who can’t afford a ten year-old bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a company called Wineside is offering fancy wines in a 0.01 liter package.
Coming in a small, slender vile a controlled atmosphere filling guarantees spoiling or alteration of the original wine. ”The taste is trapped inside ready to be released into your mouth!”
You can even mix and match. Available are: Pessac Léognan, Saint Emilion Grand Cru, Pomerol, Châteauneuf du Pape, Médoc, Côtes de Bourg, Blaye, Sauternes, Bandol, Banyuls, Maury, Muscat de Rivesaltes, Rivesaltes Ambré, Bas Armagnacs XO, to name a few.
Terroir Toronto, 2010
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending Terroir at the Hart House (U of T). Terroir is: “A celebration of the hospitality industry, celebrating diverse professionals creating forums and venues where industry members can come together and support each other”.
We begun the event at the insane hour of 7:30am. Insane for a cook, at any rate. Breakfast was brought to us by Hart House, Vertical Restaurant, Crush Wine Bar, Cheese Boutique, Ancaster Old Mill, Langdon Hall, Local Kitchen, The Only on King, and last but not least Niagara Street Café.
Breakfast:
We had an hour long talk about the design of the restaurant in the Yankee Stadium (from II by IV) followed by a panel of top food journalists talking about elevating our positions in the culinary world.
My afternoon was spent in an interactive discussion on how to create a local menu. We listened to Jamie Kennedy, Scott Vivian, Mark Cutrara, Joshna Mahraj and Kevin McKennan. We were talking about food. We were talking about food and again, hungry.
Lunch was fantastic. I did lose my menu card, unfortunately and embarrassingly enough. Let the photos put water in your mouth.
Highlights of the day include meeting John Gundy, creeping on Corey Mintz’s -really- soft cardigan, noticing how good JK smells (with Ama), begging David Mitton for Macallans on his whiskey list and making trouble with Ivy Knight and Lauren Wilton.
Terroir 4
I’m here at Terroir 4 with the lovely Ivy Knight. lots if photos and descriptions to come.
Chocolate LP Records
A German man (recently laid off from a brewery) was able to make playable record lps out of chocolate!
Delicious.
Culture Club
What do sour dough, small beer and Orangina have in common? Well, they’re all alive!
I’ve currently made a detailed schedule that takes almost a month to complete.
I’ll be running around gathering ingredients and I’ll update soon on the experiment’s progress.
Additional posts to come in the meantime.
Love,
-KG
Cherpumple
Watch as Charles Phoenix makes the dessert version of turducken.
Cherpumple is a cake made of cherry, pumpkin and apple pie baked inside white cake.
I have to go, I feel sick.
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