Walking back from the contemporary museum of Art in Place D’Armes in Montreal, I stumbled across a sea of cheese in the under ground mall. Artisan cheese makers from across La Belle Province had gathered together in one place to show of their pungent goods as if expressly for me. I couldn’t have been more excited – I would have had to travel all over Quebec to talk to these producers and taste their products but instead I am privy to a veritable buffet of stinky goodness at my disposal.

Of course I came home with a questionably smelling suitcase, as any good foodie would do. Here’s what made it back: (more…)

You can judge a food town by its market – after visiting Jean Talon Market, Montreal passes with flying colours. It is a produce market surrounded by food shops set in the heart of Little Italy open every day of the week . Locals seem to lament that the market is not what it was back in the day and that it has become a yuppy food emporium instead of the farm stand cheap seasonal produce market it once was – but I think Montrealers have had it too good. The prices and selection are good and the purveyors are knowledgeable about their products. I can see that it has probably gone a bit upscale which makes it a destination and not just a place for locals to do the daily groceries.

The day I visited there were food purveyors from around Quebec (more…)

Quelque Chose is the name of the Unibroue’s unique ale brewed with macerated cherries over several months. I had the opportunity to try it at the outdoor winter bar in Old Montreal during the Montreal Highlights Festival. The bottle suggests serving on ice as an aperitif or heated; yes, that’s right - I said hot beer. The instructions on the bottle say to “heat the opened beer in a double boiler a 70 degrees Celsius” until a light foam forms and the aroma intensifies. It was served in a small cylindrical vessel just big enough to wrap (more…)

I spent the weekend in Montreal – a fantastic food city all around. There is an unwritten law among Canadian foodie friends and Montreal expats - if you make a trip to Montreal, you had better bring back bagels. I knew the scorn I would bring upon myself if I were neglect in returning with a grocery bag spewing sesame seeds. As a matter of fact I met a New Yorker, a first-timer in Canada, who was also instructed to secure bagels for a Toronto native living in that fat-bready-bagel city.

So, any one who knows about Montreal bagels knows the eternal unanswerable question – St Viateur or Fairmount? (more…)

Friday night was the Women and Wine party at the Fifth in Toronto. Our wine writer Anne Martin participated on the panel of foodie and wine-os competing in a culinary and wine know-it-all contest. Local food celebrities Lucy Waverman, Trish Magwood and Donna Doher among others also participated. Here are shots from a successful night of fundraising for lupus.
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The test kitchen recently hosted a luncheon for visiting guests of one of our American counterparts to swap ideas and talk about current trends. We decide to use the occasion to showcase the biggest trends we see on the food horizon and as well as recipes from the Canadian Living, Homemakers magazine and the web. We wanted to incorporate artisan products, locally produced products, and seasonal foods - a nod to the 100 mile trend and a bit of a challenge since we are in the dead of winter in Canada. The starter was a (more…)

Saturday night was oyster-fest at my house. Every once and while a group of my friends get together with a box (or two) of oysters and have a shucking-fest. Really little else is served at these shindigs - this time I made a salad, got some great breads from Stonemill bakery, a couple pieces of cheese and for dessert custard tarts from my local Portuguese bakery and fresh raspberries. We had caesars to start, lots of Champagne, Chablis and one bottle of a fantastic 2001 Barolo that Marni and Dave brought which was the perfect foil for the cheese and raspberries.

OK back to the oysters. So I headed to Oyster Boy, my usually purveyor of choice for the best bivalves, (more…)

I was shopping in China town and came across fresh dates. You don’t often see them fresh so I picked some up. This is a picture of them, I had some friends over for dinner so I served them with cheese – a truffle laced sheep’s milk cheese and a creamy piece of morbier. Dates are grown on palm trees from late summer through December depending on where they are being grown. Dates are generally coming from California, the Middle East, and North Africa. The two major varieties of dates - the Medjools and Deglet Noors - are full of tannins and are not eaten fresh; these are the varieties we most often see dried. The Barhi variety are eaten fresh, (more…)

Colleen and I had so much fun reading your replies I thought I should post the highlights.

OVERALL BEST HANGOVER BETS:

WATER comes out on top. It seems all agree before during and after, water is the best way to keep the headache at bay, although many have warned of the impending full bladder that will wake you from the all important second best solution…

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Wow! How fun reading your responses – thanks for everyone who wrote in and participated, especially those who aren’t even able to pick up tickets in TO! Ok – we had way too many responses to actually try out the hangover cures (and if we had we would probably need to be hospitalized for alcohol poisoning at this point) therefore Colleen and I have based our winning cure on your creativity and our past libation experience.

Although all of you had excellent and creative comments, the tickets are going to (more…)