The Yum Yum Factor

The Women of Savour Stratford Sometimes it seems like it's always only about the men when we talk about exciting culinary scenes and, as a woman, that must be so frustrating. Often females are relegated to front of house, baking, and other behind the scenes jobs that are, indeed, important, but they are not usually the ones getting the accolades but I have to tell you, there are an impressive group of women who own and operate businesses, head up the kitchens and run the show in Stratford. I met cheesemakers, chefs, tea and coffee sommeliers and candy makers, all incredibly active in the community and supportive of each other in a way that made quite an impression on me. Every time I sat down to chat with someone, they would tell their story and almost every single time, it turned out that their story intersected with at least one other woman in town. The cheesemaker helped the coffee shop survive after the bank turned her down for a loan for her "hobby", the ...

the highlight of my week was not food but chaperoning these four tiny wonders at the zoo and the four of them were far more delicious than anything I could have put in my belly. I have spent over a decade chaperoning groups of boys because you always get your own kid plus their posse on field trips. This means that the majority of my time was spent keeping boys alive, out of the lion pit, down from trees and depriving the komodo dragon from his lunch of fresh Montessori meat. Not only was it a rare treat, just look at their outfits!! I could not have art directed them any better so well done girls and the moms who dressed them, well done.

I honestly feel like all I have done lately is go out to eat. I am either at a media preview for someone's new summer menu or a cocktail party to promote Savour Stratford, which is great so don't get me wrong. I just feel like I haven't cooked anything beyond dippy eggs and toast for weeks. Father's Day was the perfect excuse to grill up a couple of beautiful striploins, bake some potatoes and make a giant salad. Simple, delicious, and most importantly, made by my own hot little hands. I taught my first cooking class at Loblaws a couple of weeks ago and it went very well, I think. Nobody threw things at me or booed and, most importantly, everyone seemed to actually listen to me. I was given a recipe for a seafood chowder with fennel and then I was to supply a second of my own choosing. Since the chowder would use up half a bulb of fennel, it seemed like a good idea to use the other half in a salad and showcase a way to eat it raw. The ladies in the class...

The Stratford Chef School Long Table Dinner  Market 707 I feel like I have not been cooking at all lately because we have been so busy eating out, which is what always happens to us in the summer. When other people start to stay home to bbq and enjoy their backyards, we hop in the car, put the top down and just drive. This is how we ended up at Market 707 at the end of the day on Friday after half of the stalls had already packed it in for the day. Luckily for me, a new Indian food vendor at the Market,  Ambeth's Kitchen,  was still open for business. Shack got some K Food bulgogi for himself, we ordered some takeout from Gushi to being home for the kid and I decided on butter chicken with biryani. The guy in the stall was very friendly and we chatted a bit while he made my meal and was very attentive. When he noticed that I had oohed and ahhhed over the coriander chutney, he kept spooning more over my rice until I finished. The butter chicken was rich ...

Get on over here and enter my giveaway for a gift basket full of Italian goodies courtesy of S Pellegrino I was sitting here thinking I hadn't done much this week until I started loading the photos and I realized that I had, in fact, eaten a ton of good stuff. It's so easy to forget by the end of the week when most of the food excitement was stacked up at the start of the week.

Peter Blush of Pucks Plenty When I anticipated my trip to check out Savour Stratford , the city's annual culinary festival that celebrates all things food and drink in Perth County, I was only expecting to eat. Being home to the Stratford Festival, one would expect that they would have to have a couple of fine dining restaurants, like Rundles, to service the theatre crowd. I assumed we would have some nice meals out, maybe visit a  couple of shops selling some local cheese or something.... how much could a small town like Stratford actually offer a big city girl like me, right? Wrong. This place is like some sort of culinary super magnet, attracting all sorts of chefs, cooks, coffee and tea sommeliers (did you know that even existed?), foragers and farmers, cheese makers and funeral directors turned chocolatiers. What kind of town actually starts up a Chef School primarily so that they can always be sure that they are creating top level talent to hopefully stay ...