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:

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.

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.

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.

A German man (recently laid off from a brewery) was able to make playable record lps out of chocolate!

Delicious.

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 is a cake made of cherry, pumpkin and apple pie baked inside white cake.

I have to go, I feel sick.

At a temperature of -17ºF last night, I wasn’t going anywhere. On TV we watched Les Stroud fend off polar bears, brave the arctic, and eat whale blubber. All while in his muck-lucks.

This recipe will warm you up and give you a good night’s sleep. (Especially if you drink a lot of the port).

Printable Recipe

Now that you’ve gorged on food for the past four days and you’re sufficiently broke, what’s next?  How about something cheap, light and painless.

Your poor little stomachs and wallets will thank you for this delicious, nutritious and inexpensive meal.

Printable Recipe