Wild Food Article for September – Blackberries

I have been off island so much lately that I almost forgot to let you know about my September “Wild Food” column in Avid Magazine, based here on Pender.  This month, I`m talking about Himalayan & Evergreen Blackberries — which isn’t that surprising given that they’re EVERYWHERE.

Although we have reason to curse the 19th & 20th century European immigrants who brought these destructive invaders, sometimes you just have to make lemonade — make that blackberry lemonade.  Lots of it.

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Canadian Chefs’ Congress 2010

Over 300 chefs from across Canada gathered near Duncan on Vancouver Island last weekend for the 2010 Canadian Chefs’ Congress.  At a little over 30 km (as the boat floats) from my home on Pender, there’s not a chance I was going to miss out on this massive celebration of Canadian Food.

If we owned a boat, I could have been there in less than an hour.  But we don’t own a boat, so instead I had a 9 hour BC Ferries Experience that took me from Pender to Tsawwassen on the mainland, back to Duke Point near Nanaimo, and ended with a car ride with friends to Providence  Farm, where we pitched our tents in an open field surrounded by forest.

So, to whoever said that our lessons come from the journey and not the destination — in this case, I beg to differ.  I learned a ton at CCC 2010, but all I learned on my marathon journey with BC Ferries was that it’s best to bring your own snacks, and that the Duke Point Terminal really needs WiFi.

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My Journey to the Canadian Chefs`Congress

Great journeys always begin with food.  Don`t they?  Think about it:  The Elves of Rivendell sent Frodo & Fellowship off with weapons galore, but they also packed Lembas, the magical nourishing flatbread.   The nameless father and son from the post-apocalyptic road trip The Road packed their last remaining cans into a shopping cart, then spent most of their travels looking for more food, and more importantly, avoiding being eaten themselves.   Marco Polo stocked the holds of his ship with food for his crossing, and then returned home with mysterious Asian delicacies.  (Although the fact that he went all the way to China, and never once mentioned tea, has always left me feeling that Mr. Polo missed the Chinese culinary boat, so to say.)

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Top Five Friday – 5 Easy Cheeses to Make at Home

For some, the idea of cheese making conjures up visions of backbreaking work involving presses, mysterious chemicals, washes, brines & rinds…and time — lots of time for aging.

But cheesemaking can also be fast, easy and free of special ingredients/equipment.  If you have milk, a couple of lemons and a thermometer, you can make cheese this weekend.  Or this afternoon, for that matter.  Once you learn how easy it is to make mascarpone, ricotta, queso blanco, halloumi and more, I trust you won’t want to delay any longer.

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Smoked Garlic Butter Toasts

Did I mention that I have a lot of garlic these days?  It’s grown about 2 miles down the road from us at Charman Farms — so when I say I have a lot of garlic, what I actually mean is that I have just shy of 5 lbs — 6 different varieties — of fresh, juicy artisanal garlic with some serious bite.

Bite can be good, but sometimes (like say, after tasting over 12 varieties of garlic, RAW, on an empty stomach) mellow is what you need.  “Roasted garlic is mellow,” I said to myself as I was rubbing the dry spice rub onto the chicken legs destined for the smoker, and ultimately for our dinner plates that evening, “so hot smoked garlic should be mellow AND smoky, right?”

I love it when I’m right.

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