Follow the British Columbia Food Trail Beginning on the Coast with Grilled Spot Prawns

Grilled Spot Prawns with Lemon Fennel and baby Arugula Salad

As seen on Honest Cooking...Here in the interior of British Columbia we herald in Spring with tender local asparagus, freshly shelled peas, and crimson stalks of rhubarb but on the coastal waters of British Columbia nothing ushers in Spring better than fresh live Spot Prawns. From May 1 until July 1, we have the opportunity to devour some of the freshest and best-tasting prawns in the world here in British Columbia which are one of the most tantalizing things to be found in our coastal waters. Sweet, firm, peachy-pink and tender, these alien-looking prawns are sustainably harvested by local fishermen. This means we are able to enjoy eating them well into summer and still feel good about it. The summer has been sneaking up pretty quickly with the window of opportunity to enjoy this delicacy being relatively short but rest assured we have rolled up our sleeves and feasted on local Spot Prawns often.

Twisted Caprese Salad with Sea Grass Oil from l'Anse aux Herbes

Twisted Caprese Salad with Sea Grass Oil from l'Anse aux Herbes

In the province of Quebec there is an archipelago The Magdalen Islands where shipwrecked and Acadian ancestors have lived for 300 years. They are magical islands lined by blood-red cliffs and pristine beaches.

A kingdom of wild scents and flavours, the Magdalen Islands make their l’Anse aux Herbes products uniquely organic and original. Everyday, the inhabitants breathe in fresh, salty sea air which infuses every one of their scented oils and savoury herbs grown on the island. L'Anse aux Herbes is located in the enchanting site of Belle Anse, renowned for its beautiful sunsets over the sea and cliffs. In the warmth of the summer heat their herb gardens and medicinal plants grow all around their beautiful 12-acre site. They offer a range of culinary and health products from flavoured olive oils such as "Shallots and Herbs", "Sea Parsley" and "Tomato" and organic canola oil infused with Magdalen Island lobster. They also offer seasonings such as "Surf and Turf" and "Cajun," basil mustard, comfrey and chamomile balms, herbal teas and massage oils.

Blueberry Bannock

Blueberry Bannock

Sunday morning.....it has been a lazy one for me so far. In this heat it seems only natural to move slowly in tune with nature and have a leisurely breakfast. Only on Sundays do I have time to truly enjoy the morning, kick back and move to my own drummer. Today I felt like some experimentation, so, turned to a recent episode on Food Network.

French Canadian Pouding Chomeur for a Taste of Spring

French Canadian Pouding Chomeur

Spring has definitely sprung and with it we shed our winter coats, our hearts seem lighter and our smiles more ready!!!!! The buds are on the trees and tulips and daffodils have just started to blossom. Spring is here and with its arrival, an array of new taste sensations and ingredients. 

 For people from the provinces of Ontario and Quebec Spring is not Spring without a trip to a sugar shack, or "sucrerie." It's a centuries-old tradition when tapping the maples, collecting sap, hewing the wood to fire up the cauldrons and boiling down the syrup required every family member to be involved.  Flash forward to the 1960s when this tradition of necessity turned into a fun outing to buy the year's supply of syrup, and to indulge, just once a year in a real belly-buster of a meal... pea soup, baked beans, meatballs, thick omelettes, tourtiere, ham, sausages, pickles, pancakes, and sugar pie. I remember being at the "sucerie" and the owners would throw hot boiling syrup on the snow to make a special kind of "taffy". Of course by the time I took my own daughter to the sugar bush they were charging for this special treat but it was still just as special.

A Recipe for Maple Glazed Peameal Bacon with Potato Latkes a True Canadian Experience

Welcome to 2010!!!!

Maple Glazed Peameal Bacon with Potato Latkes

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"This tree, which grows in our valleys, on our rocks...
grows fast, and when it is tall and strong,
does not fear storms and overcomes the North wind which is unable to shake it.
 The Maple is king of our forest;
it is the emblem of the Canadian people".

- Denis-Benjamin Viger
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Welcome to 2010 and the beginning of a new decade. The upcoming year is full of possibilities we just need to take those roads untravelled and live each moment as it comes. I decided to bring in the New Year with some traditional and not so traditional Canadian dishes. I roasted some peameal bacon with a maple syrup glaze and fried up some potato latkes. The peameal bacon is lean and with very few calories...but not so much the latkes. They were a marriage made in heaven with a few slices of campari tomatoes and a Cranberry Mimosa. I personally think it was the perfect balance to usher in 2010!!!For dinner I went out for our traditional Chinese dinner with friends as I have done for the past 30 years on New Years Day no matter where I have lived across the country of Canada. This morning I am headed out for breakfast to a local hangout with L'il Burnt Toast and The Boy since L'il Burnt Toast is moving back to the coast for university.

A Recipe for Acadian Weasel Fricot with a Salted Herbs Recipe...No Weasels Were Harmed in the Making of This Dish

A recipe for Salted Herbs (Herbes Salees)

Here it is almost Christmas and my mind is wandering back to the warm sundrenched days of summer. This is a common occurance this time of the year but I don't usually begin daydreaming until at least January. Perhaps with the first snowfall of the season yesterday I am feeling a little chilled and in need of some comforting foods. Last Christmas in 2008, Canada experienced the first nation-wide white Christmas in thirty-seven years, when we experienced a series of pre-Christmas storms that hit all across the country, (including the normally rainy British Columbia Pacific coast). Every child dreams of a white Christmas don't they so we may have one this year... you never know!!!! Perhaps another reason for my daydreaming is that all of my Christmas shopping is completed, everything is wrapped and I am just waiting for a tree to go up this weekend. I am looking  for other avenues to use up some boundless energy. With time on my hands I am looking into preparing some traditional Canadian dishes for the holiday season.

Getting Back to My Canadian Roots with a Recipe for Pate Chinois

Pate Chinois

Throughout the years I have lived and worked in numerous provinces throughout Canada from the small fishing villages of Newfoundland, to the rolling foothills of Alberta. I grew up in an urban centre very close to the Greater Toronto Area in what is referred to as Mennonite country in the province of Ontario with it's rolling hills, orchards and farmland. This is where my passion for food and the "foodie" culture began to reach fever pitch. I now live and work in the Okanagan Valley in the interior of British Columbia framed by picture-postcard views of lakes and mountains and a cluster of outstanding wineries, countless orchards and seasonal farm stands, restaurants and artisan-food producers. They all take full advantage of our areas natural abundance and is very similar to where I grew up in Ontario. It is easy to see why Canadians are passionate about their food and what we consume.