Chocolate boxes by Thomas Haas

Like many modern holidays, Valentines Day had sombre beginnings that have morphed into a celebration of the more happy things in life. Valentine’s Day was originally created to honour Christian martyrs that were named Saint Valentine. In total there were fourteen of these saints and one of them died on February 14th. The romantic connotations of the holiday first began in the 14th century via a poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer to celebrate the engagement of Richard II to Anne of Bohema. The poem wrote about ‘Volantynys day’ as if it were historical fact. Fast forward through a few centuries of this being propagated, and we have the romantic holiday as we know it today.

Macarons by Thierry

Valentine’s Day is traditionally one of the busiest times of year for restaurants but for those couples wishing to avoid having an intimate dinner with dozens of people in near proximity here are some of my favourite Foodist ways to celebrate romance:

Watch a romantic food movie, paired with food, tipples and snuggling:
• Waitress – Piiiiiie and a dessert wine (late harvest, Sauternes, ice)
• Bridget Jones Diary – Leek & potato soup (sans blue string)
• Tampopo – Ramen or sushi, and sake
• Chocolat – Chocolate and port
• Eat Drink Man Woman – Dumplings and Riesling

Sweetheart Trio for Two at The Urban Tea Merchant

Share an unconventional Valentines day meal:
•  The most common Valentines meal is dinner but there’s also breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, and afternoon tea. Urban Tea Merchant is great place for high end teas, and for the month of February they are featuring a number of speciality tea blends as well as a delectable Sweetheart Trio for Two. It’s one of the most interested tea experiences I’ve had, featuring a beautifully plated selection of fruits, house made cakes, and tea infused dark chocolate ganaches.
•   Have the first meal that you ate together as a couple or something that has strong food memories from the beginning of your relationship. One of the most food knowledgeable couples I know had many a date at McDonald’s during their university days and a decade later, they still view it as a nostalgic romantic treat. (On a similar theme, my husband and I once went out for hot dogs as an anniversary dinner.)
•   Role switch in the kitchen – the partner that doesn’t normally cook makes the meal for the other and same for the dishwashing role. Bonus points if that’s normally the same person! Wives, remember not to stress out about how messy the kitchen is getting!

Chocolate cake by Thierry

For those seeking Valentines day chocolates, Vancouver has been blessed with many excellent chocolate and pastry shops. There’s the perennial local favourite, Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates & Patisserie. Newer additions to the quality sweets scene that I’ve tried and liked are Thierry, Bel Cafe, and Beta5. Each shop features a selection of handmade treats using premium ingredients. Whether it’s chocolates, pastries, macarons, or caramels, you’re sure to find something sweet to share with your loved one – Valentine’s Day or any day.

Chocolates by Bel Cafe

February is National Apple Month, and to celebrate BC Tree Fruits paired up with V by Earls in Yaletown, and popular Vancouver foodie Mijune Pak a.k.a “Follow Me Foodie”, to bring a little attention back to the red and green orb. Holding a VIP event for local food media we heard information about the apple industry by local growers, pitches about the fruit by marketing folks, nutritional information (making apples a superfood), and noshed on a series of gourmet eats and drinks featuring apple varietals.

Earls Head Chef Martin Keyer created the following fruitful offerings:

• Duck comfit with brie and Gala apples on crostini
• Chicken, fig, brie, and Granny Smith apple sandwiches
• Mini apple pie lollipops featuring Macintosh apples
• Blue cheese, Granny Smith and candied bacon on crostini

There was also a series of cocktail demos where we sampled the “Apple Collins”, and learned how to make an “Apple Martini”. For all you shakers – here is the recipe:

Apple Martini

• Fill martini glass with ice to chill
• 1 oz ginger simple syrup
• 1oz fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 oz Smirnoff Vodka infused with apple
• 1 oz fresh pressed BC apple juice
• 1 oz water
• Shake with ice and pour into an empty martini glass. Garnish with a thin apple slice.

Giving apples a bit more brain space than I usually do I realized that this is one versatile and powerful fruit, and I wonder why I don’t use it more. In fact I have three apples that stare at me every day from the second rack of my refrigerator. Maybe it’s time for a little applesauce, pork with apples, apple crisp, or maybe I should even make an apple doll – you know those creepy crafts from the 70’s?

Which brings me to another BC Tree Fruit initiative.  The group is putting some momentum behind the apple with a nationwide competition called The Artful Apple – asking fruit fans to decorate their favorite apple and then upload the works of art to share.  Prizes include an exclusive Okanagan vacation for four. Maybe my apple doll isn’t such a bad idea…more information can be found at www.artfulapple.com

And if anyone can show off an apple it’s Mijune Pak.  Everyone who attended took away her “Apple Pie In-A-Jar” -  super cute, tasty, and all packaged in “Follow Me Foodie” style.  She’ll be sampling this sweet concoction on February 18^th at Salty Tongue from 12:00-2:00pm, so you can try some too.

February doesn’t have to be all about Valentines Day, it can be about our love for BC apples – and I know I’m already appreciating them a bit more.

This nostalgic era is ghosted everywhere in this city if you know where to look. A world all around us yet shadowed in the past so that one can never get it back, unless you are willing to suspend reality. Hey, isn’t that what weekends are for? Your vehicle of change for this evening is a funky old pink double-decker bus. Now doesn’t that just say “WTF” already? It jars you just enough to upset the balance of your universe and goads you in to stepping onboard. You don’t make the decision to get on one of these things everyday, so when you do, you must be prepared for a few surprises. Deeper and deeper we spiral into this diabolical plot. Just enough out of our comfort zone to be slightly uneasy, then once the edge is taken off any fear, another level of the evening’s depths presents itself and we must take another step deeper into the abyss of time…

Who here can resist such temptation? The beckoning button of change… Dare to cross the threshold. Go on, close your eyes and press it. Who knows what will happen? You see the thing with buttons is, sometimes you can only push them once. Muahahahaha!

I did manage to suppress not only my urge to press that button but also that cheesy annoying Vincent Price voice in my head.

The first secret location turned out to be the old police headquarters’s “Coroners Court” building, now the home of the Vancouver Police Museum. The space is a bit creepy but hard, gritty and oozing with just the right amount of immersive themeing to take us all back to the seedy underbelly of the old downtown. I was now thoroughly entrenched in the past. Near the back, in the “wet room” of the morgue exhibit (which actually really was a fully functioning morgue), we were offered a Pimms Cup cocktail to steady our nerves. It seemed as though things were going to get, shall we say interesting…

As we made our way through this amazing collection of crime scene vignettes, I found myself with a glass beaker in my hand — “The blood of bulls” ( Salad – Beets with blood orange granite, mint and pomegranate ). Gruesome for sure, but a great combination of flavours.

..and then a steamy Erlenmeyer flask filled with Tomato consomme, pickled cauliflower and Hijiki seaweed. I found this one a little too acidic and not as pleasant a flavour palette, but full marks for the creativity.

Whisked away once more on the bus-that-time-forgot we disembarked a few blocks away at the new Vancouver Urban Winery. This moody setting will be selling wine on tap in the near future. Tonight it was our speakeasy. We stepped into this Hopperesque painting…

…to discover rows of tables in a large hall. Bar at one end, and between one wall of wine kegs while the other wall ensconced a row of stainless steel vats where the wine will eventually be vinted and sealed into beer-like kegs. Kegging wine will allow establishments the ability to sell good quality wine by the glass without having to mark it up for potential incurred wastage. Within 3 months the winery portion of this venue should be in full swing but the room itself is already booked on the weekends for the entire year.

The evenings food was prepared by Dubrelle Culinary School grad, now Executive Chef at Bishops Restaurant, Andrea Carlson. Her much appreciated passion for local, organic ingredients grown and produced in a sustainable manner showed through on this parade of plates:

Poached Hen’s Egg on crostini with Forest Mushroom salad and red wine reduction. Paired with 8th Generation Pinot Noir 2010. Ya gotta love wild mushrooms and this egg trend is fun and delicious, but is it getting out of hand?

Pitt Meadows flat iron steak with potato pave, root vegetables and a mountain huckleberry & rosemary jus. Paired quite nicely with my favorite wine of the evening, Therapy Syrah 2008. A good and appropriate meat and potato interpretation. The texture of the pavé felt a little like forking through a heavy pastry, a nice surprise when dealing with a typical heavy potato.

Riesling baba, orange blossom semifreddo with pistachio and persimmon. Paired with Naramata Lang Vineyard’s Off Dry Riesling 2008. The Baba was quite sweet on it’s own but taken with the cool creamy semifreddo it was an endearing finish to the meal. An amazingly pungent floral explosion.

The dessert played out with a quartet of Lindy dancers scampering around the room in perhaps a weak attempt to get us all on our feet but more probably to reinforce the illusion yet again. After a few parting conversations and comparing notes with fellow tweeters, we all dissolved silently into the streets of the city.
I can’t “unpush that button” or ever relive that exact evening but… Swallowtail always seems to present that button to repush, swirling time, altering our perceptions and allowing us to play inside memories we never knew we even had.

Chef Josh Wolfe from Glowbal Group serves up amazing food to guests during Dine Out Vancouver. (photo courtesy Glowbal Group)

My wife and I stopped going to Dine Out Vancouver a few years ago after a couple of unfortunate experiences at restaurants who didn’t embrace the spirit of the festival—some even seeming to resent it. So when I was kindly invited by the folks at Glowbal Restaurant Group to sample of of their offerings this year, I figured it was time to give it another shot. And am I glad I did! Not only was the food shockingly good, and the serving sizes surprisingly generous, but all the staff at the four restaurants we visited (Black + Blue, Coast, Italian Kitchen, & Sanafir) were excited to host the public during the 17 day food festival. Global Group’s Assistant Corporate Chef Josh Wolfe (also owner of terrific food truck Fresh Local Wild) was particularly enthusiastic about Dine Out and generously offered to tell our readers the interesting story behind the event—now in its 10th year—and how the event is really about us, the diners. – ed.

Ten years ago a little festival called Dine Out Vancouver, that has come celebrate Vancouver’s unique food and wine culture, was created. But it was an idea ten years prior that got the ball rolling. In the summer of 1992, Kasey Wilson, an award-winning food writer, was in New York City following the Democratic National Convention where 15,000 journalists had covered the event. Restaurateur Joe Baum (most well known for his World Trade Center restaurant, Windows on the World) and Tim Zagat (founder of Zagat) saw an opportunity to showcase New York’s top restaurants at lunch to this captive and hungry audience for $19.92 (same as year). Restaurant week was born. Since then Restaurant Week has become a mainstay in most major American cities.

By the time winter rolled around in 2001 tourism and hospitality businesses around the world had begun suffer from the events of 9/11. In an effort to bring life to a traditionally already quiet time for restaurants, Wilson met with Tourism Vancouver (she had met with them twice previously, first in 1994 and then again in 2001, but there was no budget to put a festival together in 1994) to suggest a similar festival be held similar to the one she saw in New York. Dine Out Vancouver was born. Since then it has become the largest restaurant dining festival in Canada.

As a Chef I always found it interesting that an event created initially to some extent for restaurants has come to celebrate you, the diner. Dine Out has evolved into a sophisticated gathering of diners coming together to enjoy innovative, contemporary food expertly paired with locally produced British Columbia VQA wines. All this at accessible pricing makes it a win-win.

If you have ever enjoyed a meal at a participating restaurant you know how busy they can be and as you can imagine chefs are busy too (Ironically, I submitted this piece late because I have been so busy getting ready for Dine Out!). Over the years the latter half of January has tested the determination and true grit of cooks across North America and Vancouver has been a driving force. Those who have done their time in a restaurant during Dine Out understand what 900-1200 plates every night (300-400 guests each eating 3 courses) means. Imagine the dishes to wash! You’d think it would be easy, after all the extra hours, to resent this event. To pass it off as a pain the ass that you can’t wait to end. Well, there’s more to it than that.

For those of us who have come to love working in restaurants, meeting and greeting complete strangers, creating experiences and plain old showing people a good time Dine Out Vancouver delivers. So many great people are involved in bringing it all together. Anthony Gismondi, wine critic of The Vancouver Sun suggested a wine component be added to Dine Out Vancouver and it was the first city to incorporate that. Writers and bloggers alike now bring you live, minute-by-minute, commentary during the dinner hours across the city. And maybe most importantly chefs sit down, drink BC wines, talk shop and write menus for you to enjoy. When you put them all together we’re ready for great time!

When you eat in one of our restaurants please know that for us it’s more than just feeding you. We love meeting you, shaking your hands and knowing that you had a great time. If you dine with me this year, and I don’t come to meet you, please pop your head in and say hello. After all, it’s about you!

Chef Josh Wolfe
jw@jwolfecuisine.com

For more information on Dine Out Vancouver, be sure to check out http://www.tourismvancouver.com/dov

Nicli Antica Pizzeria's Bill McCaig has big plans for his neighbourhood. (photo by Tyler Wilman)

I am getting sick to death of hearing people say how awesome Nicli Antica Pizzeria is. I get it already—their Neapolitan pizza is very good, and it’s so authentic it earned Vancouver’s first Vera Pizza Napolentana certification. They were listed on Westender’s Top 10 new restaurants list, then readers voted them as #1 on Scout Magazine’s list of Best New Restaurants, and now international restaurant guide Zagat.com has named them the best newcomer in their 2012 Vancouver Restaurants Survey—even The Globe And Mail’s Alexandra Gill has offered her endorsement of Nicli’s pizza. But seriously people, they don’t even cut your pizza for you! I mean really…

OK, I have a confession to make. I love Nicli, as do other Foodists. And the restaurants owners, Bill and Alison McCaig, have become friends whom I adore. To say that the McCaigs are passionate about high quality Italian food would be an understatement of the highest order. They’re nuts for it. And their rapid rise to the top of the food scene in Vancouver isn’t slowing them down either.

Nicli occupies half of a building, and the McCaigs are now working hard on their next project next door: a casual 16 seat eatery featuring authentic homemade pasta as well as a classic Italian deli.

The new restaurant will be named Vicino Pastaria & Deli, the name itself an expression of their commitment to their community as “vicino” means “neighbour” in Italian. Not only is this new spot literally the neighbour to its big brother Nicli, giving customers more options when yearning for an Italian fix, but the deli will serve as a market for their neighbours in Gastown, offering only the best in authentic Italian fare.

“Fresh filled and extruded dried pasta will be made on site using the best ingredients.” promises McCaig, “with cured meats, imported, local and some made in house available to enjoy on premises or for your table at home.” The plan is to not only curate a terrific retail selection of ingredients, but apply the same approach to quality and authenticity used next door at Nicli to create a suite of signature sauces and which customers can take home and finish themselves, or sit down at the long share table and enjoy with other likeminded food fanatics from the neighbourhood.

McCaig said he hoped Vicino Pastaria & Deli’s would be open as early as spring 2012 (three months from time of writing), but needed to overcome the standard City Hall hurdles such permits and licenses. But even with this exciting announcement, McCaig had more to share.

Although Nicli Antica Pizzeria enjoys steady traffic—let’s face it, some nights it’s difficult to get a table—they’re starting to offer a special “Industry Feature” to their neighbours working in the numerous restaurants in Gastown. From 10pm – midnight daily, anyone that works in the restaurant business can purchase an entire Pizza Margherita and a Draft Howe Sound Lager for $12.

“Having worked in a few kitchens,” explained McCaig, “I know what it’s like to finish a long shift, wishing for a decent option for a quick meal and a beer, and be faced with the fact that the only thing left open is mass produced, fast food.” And he’s right: Vancouver’s hospitality staff who bust their asses to make and serve our meals deserve a place to get a great beer and an amazing pizza after work—and that place is Nicli. Now that’s neighbourly of him! But don’t expect it to be sliced for you—Bill assures me that’s not going to happen. ;-)

As we often do with restaurateurs we respect and admire, we asked Bill McCaig to sit down for a chat and answer our barrage of questions (with nods to CreativeMornings and Scout Magazine for inspiration) so we could better get to know the man behind the restaurant:

• How do you define creativity and apply it in your career? Creativity is taking the resources I have at hand and make something from them.
• Where do you find your best creative inspiration? I find my best creative inspiration within my own family and I look to society to see if Vancouver needs what I need.
• What’s the one creative piece of advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person? Just do it. And I know I must have seen that pretty much everywhere.
• Who would you like most to hear speak at a conference? Mario Batali
• What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done? Opening a restaurant on East Cordova.
• What did you learn from your most memorable creative failure? Don’t quit before completing the project.
• What’s your one guilty creative indulgence? Ableton Live
• What are you reading these days? Salted – it’s a book about the mineral how to use it and the history of its use.
• What fact about you would surprise people? I used to live on a buffalo farm.
• How does your life and career compare to what you envisioned for your future when you were a sixth grader? I wanted to be commercial pilot when I was younger. I would imagine my stress level is lower.
• How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger? I opened Vancouver’s first authentic Napolitan pizzeria.
• What’s the most recent thing you learned (big or small)? If you build it, they will come and I’m not talking about Nicli. I just went to a restaurant on Kingsway which opened with zero marketing or advertising and is already at capacity.
• If you had a magic wand, where would you be in five years? Right here in Vancouver, I love it I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Oh wait: magic wand? I’ll take clear and sunny days please, it can rain while I sleep.
• What keeps you awake at night? Tiramisu.
• Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you? My maternal Grandfather, he built bridges in Southern Ontario, and followed the axiom do it right, do it once.
• If you could interview anyone living or dead, but not a celebrity, who would it be and why? Arturo Nicli, he died before I got to know him as an adult.
• If you could do anything now, what would you do? Fly a glider.
• Where was the last place you travelled? Italy: Alison and I got married there and travelled around experiencing the food, sights and sounds.
• What was the best surprise you’ve experienced so far in life? The success of Nicli Antica Pizzeria has been wonderful.
• Where is your favourite place to escape? The Sunshine Coast, far enough away to disconnect, close enough to be there by lunch.
• What was the best advice you were ever given? Quality sells itself / build a better mousetrap.
• What practices, rituals or habits contribute to your creative work? Meditation and dining out.
• When you get stuck creatively, what is the first thing you do to get unstuck? Lose myself in another activity: walking, dishes, breathing.
• If you had fifteen extra minutes each day, what would you do with them? Stop and enjoy life.
• What has been one of your biggest Ah ha! moments in life? Everything is unfolding exactly when and how it should.
• What are three things about Gastown that make you want to live there? L’Abbatoir, the local colour, my apartment.
• What are three things that Gastown doesn’t have but should? 1) Top notch pasta, 2) a farmers market – dairy, meat & fish, produce and dry goods, 3) a boutique wine store
• Name the thing that you eat that is bad for you that you will never stop eating? Fat: It’s a flavour delivery vehicle.
• Default drink/cocktail of choice? Bourbon Sour
• Where is your favourite local patio? Chill Winston.
• The dumbest thing that you’ve ever done to your hair? Sun In.
• What are the three things you’d like to change about Vancouver? 1) The flashing green traffic light: as it is, it does nothing; use it as an advance green to get the people turning left around the corner. Extend the green but cut the walk signal back, so the people turning right can get around the corner.  2) Eliminate all 4 way stops and make them roundabouts. 3) Jaywalkers: realize you are taking your life in your hands and conduct yourself accordingly.
• Is there a local bartender who could sell you anything? Shawn Layton of l’Abbatoir
• Your go to, no-frills place for dinner? La Taqueria.
• If you could board a plane this afternoon, where would it be taking you? Buenos Aires.
• The strangest place you’ve ever been to? Egypt.
• Your ancestry? Scottish-Italian
• Your three favourite films? There Will Be Blood, Kalifornia, Grindhouse
• Television show that you could tolerate re-runs of? The Jetsons, at least I used to.
• Under what circumstances would you join the army? To make sure they were well fed.
• How do you know when you can trust someone? You can see it in their eyes.
• What musical instrument do you secretly long to play? Bass guitar
• Have you ever fired a gun? Yes, long guns only. Scariest situation: outrunning a mama buffalo.
• The one place that you have the least interest in ever visiting? Antarctica.

Nicli Antica Pizzeria is open daily from 11:30am to Midnight and is located at 62 E Cordova St in Gastown, Vancouver (GoogleMap), BC. 604-669-6985 (no reservations) niclipizzeria.ca Twitter @NicliPizzeria

Who do you think we should interview next? Email your suggestions to info@foodists.ca.

George Siu (L) and Park Heffelfinger (R) of Memphis Blues BBQ getting intimate with their menu.

Recently we were invited to partake in a good ‘ol fashioned Southern pig pickin’ to mark the 10th anniversary of venerable low ‘n slow barbeque joint Memphis Blues BBQ House. Started by George Siu and Park Heffelfinger at 1465 West Broadway in Vancouver, I still remember sauntering in to the original location in their earliest days. In fact, I have a vivid food memory of a lunch special consisting of lamb ribs, something you don’t see everyday on anyone’s menu. Best thing ever, and still sometimes available I believe (or hope)!

Over the years Memphis Blues has become synonymous with a side of ribs, pulled pork sandwiches and their legendary Elvis Platter. For me personally, I have to admire those who attempt to bring authentic barbecue to the masses because, well, typically there is a preconceived notion by the general restaurant-going public of what good barbecue is and is not. Reconciling people’s desire for fall-off-the-bone ribs vs. ribs done properly must be tough and what I’ve found in general is that after an initial attempt to be competition-level authentic, there’s a compromise for the sake of the business. I don’t think Memphis Blues is any exception to this, but so what?

More recent entries into this category include Richmond’s Hogshack Cookhouse, Pekinpah in Gastown and the ReUp BBQ food truck. All are doing their own thing in an attempt to bring varying levels of authenticity to the craft. I’m not going to play critic here since all have worthy offerings, and as I’ve come to learn over the years, there are as many opinions about good barbecue as there are people. You be the judge. And if you want to literally be a judge, go here.

Below is our interview with George and Park. Up front are some BBQ specific questions, followed by some deeper stuff. There’s always surprising and unexpected gems each time we ask these. So, without further delay, let’s get to know these guys…

How would you categorize the type/style of bbq you offer at Memphis Blues?
George and Park: Memphis style (tomato and molasses based, sweet sauce; mostly pork – ribs, sausage, pulled pork; and sauce is served on the side so you can taste the meat).

How do you reconcile the difference between competition-level bbq vs. customer expectations? (I.e. toothsome ribs vs. general public’s preference for fall-of-the-bone)?
George and Park: Competition level is more authentic, we’ve spent the last 10 years educating people on Memphis style. Some people don’t like it, and that’s fine. But the gulf is smaller due to the Food Network.

How do you keep it interesting after ten years?
George and Park: We’re expanding – Franchise development adds a whole new discipline and learning curve – keeps you on your toes! We also wrote a cookbook, called “Bringin’ Southern BBQ Home”; our sauces and rubs are being bottled; promoting our staff; and most of our trips are “research” on eating and drinking new things.

What are your favourite wine/wine varietals to pair with pulled pork, ribs and brisket?
George and Park: For pork – Mosel Riesling, Mosel Riesling, Mosel Riesling! Hands down. Oh – and maybe Pinot Noir. A Cabernet Sauvignon is great with brisket.

What’s next?
George and Park: Moving our North Van store to Robson Street; opening in Abbotsford next year; expanding into Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba… tomorrow, the world!

How do you define creativity and apply it in your career?
George: Brainstorming with staff, talking to customers and using those ideas to get better.
Park: Coming up with something interesting and beautiful from something mundane or ugly.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration?
George: When eating and drinking on trips out of Vancouver.
Park: Books.

What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
George: Network with people who can inspire you and give you good advice.
Park: Dream big.

Who would you like most to hear speak at a conference?
George: Bill Clinton.
Park: Tony Bourdain.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
George: When I moved from TO back to Vancouver in 1989, I drove through the Southern States with a friend. Small town Texas isn’t very welcoming to a Chinese guy and a white guy with long hair.
Park: Came home overland from India though Europe with $40 US.

What did you learn from your most memorable creative failure?
George: You can’t have success without a few failures first. Learn from them, but don’t repeat them.
Park: Stay away from North Vancouver.

What’s your one guilty creative indulgence?
George: Food porn.
Park: Charcuterie making.

What are you reading these days?
George: Keith Richards’ biography, Conan the Barbarian, 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader.
Park: The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles.

What fact about you would surprise people?
George: I’m 50, and have been married for 20 years.
Park: I’m actually very nice.

How does your life and career compare to what you envisioned for your future when you were a sixth grader?
George: I always saw myself as an entrepreneur (I sold firecrackers to the other kids in elementary school).
Park: I’m not a doctor.

How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger?
George: I take tough meats, and turn them into tender, delicious food.
Park: I sling meat.

What’s the most recent thing you learned (big or small)?
George: You’re only as good as your staff–treat them well.
Park: I agree.

If you had a magic wand, where would you be in five years?
George: Wintering in a sunny, warm climate.
Park: Body surfing with my family in a Tropical location.

What keeps you awake at night?
George: Bad landlords, City of Vancouver bureaucracy.
Park: My one-and-a-half-year old.

Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you?
George: Chef Alan Dunelle–he taught me a love of food, and to nurture my intuitive cooking.
Park: My Mum. She taught me to be interested in what people have to say.

If you could interview anyone living or dead, but not a celebrity, who would it be and why?
George: Shakespeare–did he or didn’t he write those plays?
Park: Ghandi.

If you could do anything now, what would you do?
George: Practice law.
Park: Live in the Tropics.

Where was the last place you travelled?
George: Paris (eating and drinking – heaven!).
Park: Vietnam.

What was the best surprise you’ve experienced so far in life?
George: When we told people we were opening on Commercial Drive they said we were crazy, it was all vegetarian food. The weekend we opened there were line-ups down the block, and people said thanks for bringing meat to the Drive.
Park: What a joy it is raising a family.

Where is your favourite place to escape?
George: Moorea (I have family in Tahiti)
Park: Hawaii

What was the best advice you were ever given?
George: Buy your location instead of just renting (haven’t managed to do it yet, unfortunately); and leverage your money.
Park: Listen.

What practices, rituals or habits contribute to your creative work?
George: Making my morning espresso helps clear my head, and help me get the day organized.
Park: Reading.

When you get stuck creatively, what is the first thing you do to get unstuck?
George: Meditate, go for a workout.
Park: Read.

If you had fifteen extra minutes each day, what would you do with them?
George: Sleep.
Park: Meditate.

What has been one of your biggest Ah ha! moments in life?
George: Becoming a father, it’s very humbling.
Park: Our first night at home from Vietnam with our six month-old adopted daughter.

Vancouver's newest cantina meets yoga studio, Che Baba.

“Hey! Long time! How are you?” shouted Stephan Gagnon as his face lit up when I walked into Che Baba.

I looked around, and was met with a dimly lit room filled with locals cheerfully chatting over delicious looking continental fare such as beat salad with confit shallots, pistachio encrusted liver paté, mushroom risotto with truffle oil, gnocchi with sage & brown butter, braised lamb with celeriac purée, fish en papillote with quinoa, squid stew on crispy polenta, and other terrific looking plates. No wonder these people were cheerful—the menu looked and smelled amazing.

“What is this place Stephan?” I wondered as I took in the funky curves and patterns that seemed reminiscent of the psychedelic sixties. “And how have I not heard of it before?” I challenged my friend, who was grinning widely as he gave me a tour.

What Gagnon showed me was a new concept in Vancouver’s restaurant scene: one part local cantina and one part yoga studio. The eclectic, psychedelic aesthetic started to make sense, reminding me of hippy living rooms of the early seventies. Gagnon, who practices yoga himself, had created a spot for he and his friends to practice, relax, laugh and eat good food together.

The designer and builder behind Les Faux Bourgeois and other popular Vancouver restaurants has created an ambiance somewhere between zen and psychedelic.

“In Spanish-speaking countries like Argentina, “che” is a slang nickname similar to “dude” or “bro” and “baba” is an Indian word for “father”, “wise man” or “guru” Stephan explained with his thick French Canadian accent and a glint in his eye. So essentially the restaurant is called “Dude Guru”! Hilarious.

“When we opened Les Faux we wanted to create a friendly, unpretentious bistro for the neighbourhood. But when it started getting so busy it became hard to get in, and sadly the locals from the neighbourhood came less and less often.” Enter Che Baba.

“I haven’t done any marketing or promotion at all.” Gagnon explained “I’m so busy doing my own thing, I don’t even know what’s going on in the industry these days, and I wanted to create a warm, friendly space for the neighbourhood.” He went on to explain how he managed to convince local chef Marta Pan (owner of Pan-o-Pan Foods) and Geoff Van Hussel to join him on this unique neighbourhood project.

The large illuminated sign on the side of the building still advertises the print shop which used to be house in the building, and Gagnon plans to use that space as a community-access art project to showcase various artists in the neighbourhood.

As with other past projects of Gagnon’s, which aside from Les Faux Bourgeois include Vancouver gems such as Jules, Gastropod, and Bistrot Bistro, he teamed up with his partner Scott Cohen. Nearly all the design concepts and construction was done by Gagnon himself in the workshop at the back of the building.

This isn’t really a restaurant review website, so I’ll spare you the long descriptions and my opinions of my first visit and just post a few photos below of our plates to give you an idea what to expect. But I predict good things for this spot and will be heading back soon—who knows, maybe even for a yoga class!

This gem of a restaurant only seats around 35 and they don’t take reservations so locals can access the space on a first come, first seated basis. So much for Gagnon’s idea of creating a restaurant for those frustrated by how busy Les Faux is. But I’m confident you’ll find it worth a little patience if you have to wait for a seat.

Che Baba is open seven days a week for brunch, lunch and dinner (just brunch and lunch on Sundays) and is located at 603 Kingsway (just down the street from Les Faux Bourgeois), Vancouver, BC; 604-558-1519 www.chebaba.ca @ChebabaCantina (no reservations)

The vegetarian Punjabi dish chole bhature—curried chickpeas with fried bread—is one of the most popular breakfasts in North India. It’s not tough to understand why: It’s a spicy plate of legumes paired with puffy, crispy bread, a readymade vessel for mopping up that full-bodied richness. On any given morning in New Delhi, you’ll find a crowd of rickshaw drivers, students, and shopkeepers elbowing their way to the counter at the local chole vendor. It’s often eaten standing up, usually for a lack of seating but also because it’s too damn delicious to not wolf down.

In Delhi last spring, doing research for our food-travel website Eat Your World, my husband and I first encountered the dish at our hotel’s small buffet breakfast. It quickly became our favorite item, and we knew, of course, we had to try the real thing on the street. One morning, we took a rickshaw to a nearby local-blogger-approved vendor and joined the masses on a street corner for our own plate (and one for our rickshaw driver) of piping-hot chole bhature. The staff kindly gave us two pieces of bread, which they’d fried in a woklike vessel of hot oil.

The dark-colored chole was spicy and hearty, the bhature perfectly crispy on the outside and super soft inside, showing shreds of paneer (Indian white cheese). It’s finger-licking messy to eat in the standing-room-only storefront, but so satisfying we immediately ordered another. Appetites thus whetted, we couldn’t leave without trying another local specialty, rajma chawal, or soupy kidney beans and rice.

Fast-forward to a few weeks later in Udaipur, Rajasthan, where we stayed at the friendly Hotel Krishna Niwas. One of the owners, Sushma Khatri, runs cooking classes on pretty much anything you’d like to learn in Indian cuisine, so of course we asked to cook chole bhature (among other dishes). The version we made with Sushma tasted a bit different than the one we had in Delhi—lighter in color, the bhature much smaller and without paneer—but was delicious nonetheless.

My copy of Sushma’s recipe is already tattered and covered in notes, as I’ve attempted to double and even triple the yield for a dinner party (alas, I have cooked only the chole at home, not the bhature). The first time I made it was for a bunch of friends one morning at a beach house this summer. They were initially skeptical about chickpeas—heavily spiced, no less—for breakfast, but one bite and they were hooked.

CHOLE BHATURE

(adapted from Sushma Khatri’s cooking class at the Hotel Krishna Niwas, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India)

For the chole:

Note: This recipe serves about 4. I usually double it, as it makes for good leftovers. I’ve had good results using (rinsed) canned chickpeas as well.

1 ½ cups chickpeas, soaked over night (yields 4.5 cups cooked chickpeas), or about 3 cans

1 bag of black tea (preferably assam)

2 tsp ginger, chopped

2 tsp green chopped chile

2 tsp amchur powder (a.k.a. mango powder; can substitute lemon juice for similar tang)

1 tsp red chile powder

2 tsp roasted ground cumin seeds

1 tsp garam masala

1 ½ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp coriander powder

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 bay leaves

6 peppercorns

1 black cardamom

3 onions, chopped

4 tomatoes, peeled and pureed

Fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Cook the chickpeas with the tea bag—Sushma recommends using a pressure cooker and 3 cups of water, then boiling for 15 minutes or until soft. (If using canned chickpeas, I recommend skipping the tea bag altogether. Your chole will be lighter in color, but soaking canned legumes in water makes them too soggy.)
2. In a large pan, combine the cooked chickpeas with the ginger, chiles, and first six spices. Cook until any water in the pan (from the boiled chickpeas) dries up; if using canned, you’ll have to add a little water or stock to the pan to moisten a bit.
3. In a second pan, heat the oil and add the bay leaves, peppercorns, cardamom, and chopped onion. Cook until golden-brown.
4. Add the pureed tomato to the onion mix. Heat, then add the contents of the pan to the chickpeas.
5. Combine, add some chopped fresh cilantro, and serve with bhature (or, lacking that, any Indian bread, even roti).

For the bhature:

Note: I have not tested this recipe at home; only in Sushma’s class. Where needed, I’ve filled out some details using other recipes.

2 ½ cups of fine white flour

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

½ cup curd/plain yogurt (preferably Indian style)

½ tsp baking powder

1 pinch baking soda

Vegetable oil for deep-frying

1. Mix all the ingredients together with some water, enough to make a very soft dough. Cover with cloth for at least three hours so it rises a bit (look for tiny bubbles on the surface).
2. Using a rolling pin, flatten out to the shape of a small chapati (or Mexican tortilla), then heat up the oil in a deep pan, like a wok. (To test if it’s hot enough without a thermometer, pinch off a piece of dough and see if it rises to the surface and sizzles.)
3. Slide the bhature dough into the oil. Using a slotted spoon, flip it after a few seconds, once it starts to puff up a bit (you may have to push down on it a little). Your timing might take some trial and error—you want them to puff up and turn golden, but not too brown; they should stay soft inside.
4. Place hot bhature on a paper towel to absorb excess oil, but eat while warm. Serve with sliced raw onion, lemon, and, of course, chole.

Although many of you might be a little disheartened in the upcoming tasting choice, I for one feel that introducing myself to as many different foods, flavors, and textures allows me to appreciate the art of cooking, the passions for food and the appreciation of where our sustenance comes from.

An opportunity recently came up for me and a some fellow Foodists to try some seal meat, and after watching Anthony Bourdain experience his first seal we were all very interested in the textures and tastes that made these people so excited about their meal. I should state that this meat was not controversial baby seal, but sourced through a local importer via government-sanctioned herd culling in Northern Quebec where seal populations have spiked and are depleting fish stocks.

BBQ Champion Ron Shewchuk was our chef for the experience and served us some raw seal steaks, slicing against the grain to allow us to dive into the raw flesh. It was surprising how red the richness of the colour was, and how soft and smooth the meat was to the touch. It smelled as if rich with iron with a hint of the ocean. Apparently seal meat is very rich in protein, calcium, iron, magnesium and vitamin B-12. The meat is leaner since seals carry all of their fat directly beneath their skin, and it is free of hormones typically used in farming to increase mass or growth.

Tasting the meat, the texture on the tongue was just the same. Silky smooth and seemed quite gamey (almost like an organ meat) yet had a subtle flavoring familiar of the ocean. We pondered the taste and were surprised at how little the fishy flavor was present in the meat. The irony aftertaste proved to be a bit overpowering with Mark Busse commenting that it was “like a bloody nose” but commented that he “felt manly somehow about eating it, like an Inuit hunter.”

For the second round Ron added a pinch of sea salt to the meat. This punched out the fishy flavor and made it all the more evident that this was seal meat. Next, he added some truffle oil along with the salt which cut through the fish flavor and added to the soft texture on the palate and allowed the richness of the seal flavoring to come forth.

Ron then slightly seared the seal meat, giving it just a bit of heat on each side while leaving the inside raw. This began to give the meat a very familiar flavor, reminiscent of caribou or venison. A gamey irony flavor that completely disengaged the senses from associating this animal meat with the sea that it came from.

This was an incredible experience and one that I will not soon forget. Eating the meat in its purest raw form almost made me feel closer to that of a hunter, or the people that rely on seal meat for daily sustenance, fuel and warmth for their bodies in very cold climates.

In the future I don’t know if I would rush out and purchase seal like I would beef, but it would be interesting to try some of the authentic recipes and various ways of preparing seal.

What are your thoughts around this controversial meat? Would you try seal if you had the opportunity?

As you’ve no doubt heard, The Cannery, an iconic Vancouver restaurant for 38 years, has closed its doors. All that is left on their website is the announcement of the auction that will be selling off some of the maritime antiques. It is sad, but I did find their recipe for Salmon Wellington online. So, if you offer to help with the puff pastry, then maybe I can make this for you at my place! You won’t be able to arrive at my place via float plane, but it just might have to do.

As Degan confessed in her beef wellington post, it is hard to make! Although, when I showed the recipe to Mark, he said, “Easy! Just make a duxelle, the mousse, and then do the puff pastry. When it is baking, then you can just whip up the pinot noir butter sauce. You can do most of it ahead of time.” Sure – I’ll just do 6 hours of work ahead of time.

But, not to be intimidated by a recipe, I set out to Finest at Sea to get my salmon and was on my way. Don’t be overwhelmed by the long recipe -  it actually wasn’t hard. It just took some time. And the results were well worth it.

*Note: Since posting this in 2010, I’ve made this a couple times, and have had to tweak the recipe so it actually works… I’ve added some detail to the original recipe and have tested the results. Delicious. (Serves 4)

Ingredients:
4 pieces fresh spring salmon fillet (skinned and deboned)
1 package puff pastry (yes, I cheated!)
2 oz baby shrimp
1 egg yolk and 2 tbsp milk whisked together for egg wash

Duxelles:
2 oz button mushrooms
1 oz foie gras or chicken liver diced
1 medium shallot
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp butter
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 c sherry, vermouth, or dry wine
salt and pepper to taste

Fish Mousse:
2 oz salmon
2 oz whipping cream
pinch of salt
1 egg white

Sauce:
1/4 lb butter
1 c pinot noir wine
1 c whipping cream
1 medium shallot
1/2 tsp honey
2 sprig fresh thyme

Preparation:

Mushroom Duxelles:
Finely chop the mushrooms in a food processor. Place mushrooms on a clean dry towel (not terry towel, and use an old towel as this will stain it). Twist the mushrooms in the towel to remove any water. You want them as dry as possible. Heat 1/2 tsp butter, add the mushrooms, shallots, foie gras (or chicken liver), thyme, salt and pepper and saute for a few minutes until brown and dry. Add the other 1/2 tsp of butter and once that has melted, add the sherry and cook until the sherry has evaporated.

Let cool for a few minutes and add the chopped parsly and mix. Place on a plate and keep refrigerated until needed.

Fish Mousse:
In a clean food processor, place the 2 oz salmon, add the salt and chop the salmon into a very thin mousse. Add the egg white and mix. Slowly add the 2 oz of cream and mix for one minute. Be careful not to over mix, the mousse will split. Remove mousse from the food processor and place in refrigerator until needed.

Salmon Wellington:
Flour a dry counter or marble, and roll the puff pastry into a rectangle (8″x10″). You will need enough dough to fold over the length of the salmon and make a seal. Evenly space the salmon fillets along bottom edge of the puff pastry. Leave a margin of pastry at edge to seal the Wellington. Season with salt and pepper. Spread 2 tbsp of mousse evenly over each fillet. Spread the duxelles evenly over the salmon fillet to coat it and keep it moist. Top it with shrimp meat. Brush the edges of the pastry with egg wash, taking care not to touch the salmon.

Fold puff pastry forward to completely cover salmon. Cut pastry between fillets. Press the edges together with a fork to seal and make a decorative pattern. Trim edges. Prick the pastry top to allow air to escape while baking. Place the Wellington on wax paper over a baking tray. Brush the top with egg wash. Bake in a preheated 400F oven for 15 minutes then turn the heat to 375F for an additional 15 minutes.

Pinot Noir Butter Sauce:
Place the chopped shallot in a saucepan over medium heat. Pour in the red wine and honey. Reduce until almost dry and add the cream. Reduce 1 cup cream to half and turn heat to low. Slowly whisk in the butter. Whisk constantly until butter is fully combined in reduction. Pour the sauce through a strainer into a clean saucepan. Adjust the seasoning and serve with the Wellington.

So maybe I can make the Salmon Wellington at home, but we’ll definitely miss the Cannery’s ambiance.

A few years ago I went on a search for an eggnogg recipe as find most store bought varieties quite disgusting.

As I love vintage I ended up adapting a recipe from Esquire’s Handbook for Hosts that was originally published in 1949. Below is my variation on “Old Virgina Eggnog.” I’ve left in a few of their choice instructions starting off with the description from the eggnog section:

“To tradition-steeped Christmas celebrants, the season would be bleak unless thickly upholstered with Eggnog”

6 eggs, new born
1 cup granulated sugar (I usually put slightly less)
1 cup Grande Marnier
1 cup Metaxa (or whatever brandy you have)
1 cup dark rum
2 cups light cream
2 cups whip cream
4 cups whole milk
Vanilla (to taste)
Nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice (to taste)

Separate the eggs and beat the yolks relentlessly while adding the sugar until they are a pale yellow. Add the liquor, dairy, vanilla and spices. Place in fridge overnight. When ready to serve beat the egg whites until stiff and fold this side show into the main show. Partakers will need spoons as this calls for spadework.

Every year I make this nog slightly differently, sometimes I use Metaxa, sometimes bourbon or cognac. I vary the spices and to make it thicker I’ve beaten the whip cream before adding it in. Let me know what your favourite variations are!

Butter On The Endive's Chef Owen Lightly

On a cold November night, many of Vancouver’s foodie elite descended to the new Gastown location of The Found & The Freed ”pop up” shop for an event called Sweater Season. Accompanying the kitschy collectibles and eclectic collection of antiques was served a fabulous meal prepared by Chef Owen Lightly, the genius behind Butter On The Endive.

Small plates of yarrow meadows duck confit tortellini in a pine mushroom broth, seared Qualicum bay scallops with bacon wrapped salsify and apple-mustard vinaigrette circled the room. Then various canapés such as caramelized onion, marinated anchovy and niçoise olive toast, pig face and sweetbread croquette with pumpkin-currant chutney, and grass fed beef tartare with parmesan crisp and watercress continued throughout the evening. Each dish was packed with flavour and elegantly prepared and served. The final sweet note was provided by a memorable quince beignet with almond and brandy caramel.

We were too busy stuffing our faces, drinking and buying trinkets to take many pictures, but here are a few:

Later, we sat down with Owen and subjected him to our barrage of interview questions, which are below:

• Why did you leave kitchens like West and Araxi to start Butter On The Endive? I took a month off and went to Europe and came back energized with an entrepreneurial spirit. It started with a pop-up dinner in Squamish and grew from there.
• How would you categorize the type/style of cooking you offer? That’s a hard question to answer. Italian food has had a huge influence on my cooking in recent years, but above all, I just try to make food that is honest, made from scratch and really delicious.
• How do you keep it interesting after nearly a decade as a professional cook? My dad used to say to me, “boring people get bored”. I try to keep that in mind.
• What are your favourite kind of customers or events to cater? I love doing events in unique locations for open-minded people.
• What’s next? Hopefully a very busy 2012 and eventually starting to look for a brick and mortar location…..
• How do you define creativity and apply it in your career? Creativity for me is the distillate of a lot of reading, eating and thinking. It comes in flashes (usually when I have a knife in my hand) and then it’s a lot of hard work to turn that flash into reality on a large scale.
• Where do you find your best inspiration?  Walking through a market looking at ingredients or when I’m running.
• What’s the one piece of advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person? I’m going to leave this to William S. Burroughs “Avoid fuck-ups. We all know the type. Anything they have anything to do with, No matter how good it sounds, Turns into a disaster.”
• Who would you like most to hear speak at a conference? Mike Watt.
• What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done? I got married young, and subsequently divorced not long after.
• What did you learn from your most memorable failure? That the little voice in your head is usually right.
• What’s your one guilty indulgence? Those borderline tabloid New York food blogs ie. Eater, Grub Street….
• What are you reading these days? Tiger by John Vaillant. Consequently not going to the Siberian Taiga anytime soon…..
• What fact about you would surprise people? That I was in a punk band in high school called Spent Load.
• How does your life and career compare to what you envisioned for your future when you were a sixth grader? I honestly don’t know if I had a clue what I wanted out of life when I was in the sixth grade. I was pretty much looking ahead to high school with terror/dread and wondering what sex was like.
• How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger? I make food happen in various places for all kinds of different people.
• What’s the most recent thing you learned (big or small)? How to make a Swiss meringue.
• If you had a magic wand, where would you be in five years? I don’t believe in magic wands, but if I have my way I‘ll be cranking out amazing food in both the catering realm and in a busy restaurant.
• What keeps you awake at night? Fear and self loathing.
• If you could interview anyone living or dead, but not a celebrity, who would it be and why? I would probably interview my grandparents on my dad’s side, who I never had the chance to meet. I think it would help me understand my dad and myself a little bit more.
• If you could do anything now, what would you do? Play more music. I’ve been so focused on work lately that my guitar has developed a nice layer of dust on it.
• Where was the last place you travelled? New Orleans for work.
• What was the best surprise you’ve experienced so far in life? How many rich experiences cooking would give me.
• Where is your favourite place to escape? Sleep.
• What was the best advice you were ever given? Put your head down and work.
• What practices, rituals or habits contribute to your work? Sharp knives, lists and deep breaths.
• When you get stuck creatively, what is the first thing you do to get unstuck? Have a glass of whiskey and look at The Flavor Bible (or its earlier incarnation Culinary Artistry). Solid gold. You can start with any ingredient you want and go in a million directions.
• If you had fifteen extra minutes each day, what would you do with them? Read.
• What has been one of your biggest Ah ha! moments in life? Travelling throughout Italy a couple of years ago was filled with them. Fried anchovies in Liguria, all’Amatriciana in Rome, pizza in Naples……could go on and on.

Who do you think we should interview next? Email your suggestions to info@foodists.ca.

Foodists.ca founders Mark Busse and Ben Garfinkel meet Food Network celebrity chef, author and television host, Roger Mooking and discuss his career in the exciting setting of D Original Sausage Factory.

Maybe you caught the Q&A with Roger Mooking on this recent post, or the latest video in which Mark and Ben interview him in our favourite underground sausage making facility, D-Original?

Well, if either of those leave you feeling like you need more Mooking action, this is the contest for you. Roger kindly signed a copy of his latest cookbook Everyday Exotic for one lucky Foodists fan.

Everyday Exotic features some not-so-traditional ingredients in traditional dishes. The concept being that once you learn to master the ingredient, it will become “obedient”. I like how recipes are clustered around more than 50 of these ingredients. A great way to expand your daily meal horizons I’d say.

To enter, post the following on Twitter (one entry per tweet):

@RogerMooking takes a turn for the wurst. Enter to win a signed copy of Roger’s cookbook Everyday Exotic from @Foodists—http://t.co/SSt0JEf4

We’ll draw one winner on January 3, 2012.

My friend Sean and I made our first batch of fruitcake in 1995; I was 16 and he was 17 years old. It started as a joke. See, we had this theory that nobody actually ate fruitcake, they just hung onto it for a while and eventually re-gifted it. We wanted to see how long it would take before we got one of our own fruitcakes back, so we set about making some. Our plan backfired horribly for two reasons: It turns out that people not only eat our fruitcake, they freaking love it. Also, people assumed that since we make fruit cake we must also love fruit cake (not true, folks!) and they’ve started gifting us with fruitcakes of their own.

We knew so little about fruitcake making that first year. And, we were terrible at math. We drastically overestimated the quantities of ingredients we’d need, and schlepped about a three year supply home from the local grocery store. It’s a good thing that fruit cake ingredients practically never go bad.

We made mistakes nearly every year. The first year, we didn’t know that there was such a thing as ‘candied citrus peel’, so we spent ages peeling lemons, grapefruits, and oranges and tossed the peel into our fruitcake batter. The cakes were slightly bitter, but people loved them. One year we accidentally dropped an entire egg into the whirling food processor, shell and all. We stopped and tried picking out the fragments of shell, then looked at each other, shrugged, and turned the machine back on. The recipe calls for grape or pineapple juice, but we always used whatever kind of juice we found in Sean’s mom’s fridge (though we did draw the line, after serious consideration,  at using tomato juice). You’re supposed to wash and then dry the raisins and currants, a process which takes hours. We may have done this twice and then gave it up. Apparently you’re supposed to make fruitcake months in advance and let them cure; we’ve made them as late as December 23^rd. People loved every single one of those cakes.

In the early years fruitcake production took us close to an entire day. But we’ve become older, wiser, better, and more efficient at making fruit cake. We’ve switched to buying the ingredients in exact amounts at a local bulk food store. We’ve switched from cutting up and buttering brown paper bags to parchment paper. We’ve discovered pre-chopped dates! We know our respective jobs well, so we set out a giant “Make Love, Not Fruitcake” button on the counter, and get going. We’ve got this thing down to a science and can now churn out a double batch of fruitcake (yielding about 20 cakes) in a matter of a couple of hours (not including cooking time).

A few years in (once we had both reached legal drinking age, of course) we decided it was time to start soaking our fruitcakes in brandy. We bought the cheapest brandy we could get our hands on and worked like this: one for the fruit cake, one for Sean, one for the fruitcake, one for me. On one thoroughly brandy soaked taxi ride home I attempted to tip my cabbie with a fruitcake. He awkwardly declined.

The only year since we started making fruitcake that we didn’t make any was in 1999, when I was living in New Zealand and Sean decided he wasn’t going to make fruit cake without me. The people were massively disappointed, so the next year we upped to a double batch and have made a double batch every year since. Now, since I’ve moved to Sweden making fruitcake has become a bit of a logistical problem and I’m sorry to say that unlike last year when we were organized enough to make them while I was in Vancouver in August, this year it didn’t work out. It’s entirely my fault; I was only in Vancouver for brief moment this summer for my sister’s wedding, and I didn’t get around to organizing fruit cake day. I emailed Sean to see what he was going to do about fruitcake this year and he replied, sadly, that for the first time ever he’d do it alone, but  he’d only be making  a single batch this year.

I got a text from Sean yesterday letting me know that the fruitcakes were done, and he was going to take a fruit cake round to my dad, a fervent fruitcake fan. To appreciate the sweetness of this gesture you need to know that Sean and my father, who Sean used to call (to his face) ‘Oscar the Grouch’ had a bit of a tumultuous relationship over the years. Sean, one of my oldest friends, used to drive my father around the bend torturing our family dog, making my little sister cry, and dressing up as my dad, among other things. And now, all these years later, he’s making the effort to take a fruit cake to my father. And that is what it’s all about, folks. It turns out all this time we have, in fact, made love, not fruitcake.

Happy Holidays.

After decades of quietly smoking and grilling away, food trucks have lately earned a lot of attention and column inches.  In an era where multiple arugula options and gourmet ketchup are stocked in mass retailers like WalMart it is natural sidewalk sizzlers offer fare for a more gastronomically demanding public on the go.  A confluence of factors including economic trends, relaxed urban regulation, stuffy dining fatigue, and simple yet potent communications tools are drawing top chefs to offer top quality and inventive fare atop four wheels.

California is naturally the epicenter. The state’s summer 2011 international tourism campaign even focused on food trucks to entice visitors.  Recently, food truck staple cities like Portland and Austin were joined by newcomers like Vancouver developing their own scene. Cultures without their own native street food are particularly drawn to internationally influenced and gastronomically intriguing food truck fare.

Paris, has given much to the world’s cuisine – from haute cuisine to the humble saucisse and cheese stuffed baguette.  Hot on the tails of the much heralded Bistronomy movement of recent years Paris now has its first “food truck.”  Opened by French trained American chef Kristin Frederick who hails professionally from Michelin starred Spago in Beverly Hills and more recently revamped the Parisian kitchen of Rice & Beans in the 2^eme to rave reviews.

Frederick’s venture Le Camion Qui Fume (translation: The Smoking Truck (think Au Chien Qui Fume) focuses exclusively on American burger culture.  After a summer of testing (note the above image of a “grueling” testing session naturally paired with champagne) Federick’s burger truck took to the Parisian streets permanently this past week.  For a city who embraces most anything of American culture, except maybe American tourists, appetite for Le Camion Qui Fume is already strong.

BM: What did you take from French cuisine to make this a great burger?

KF:French products! We are using French cheeses, French beef, and bread made for us daily. We will have a burger du jour that will be composed of ingredients which I find fresh at the local market everyday. Clearly you are going to see things that wouldn’t be available fresh to me if I was in the US. I like to think also that since I was trained in France and most of my professional cooking experience has been in Paris that I incorporate a bit of French technique as well.

BM: Who are more discerning consumer of burgers – the French or Americans – and why?

KF: Haha…well the French are certainly more discerning when it comes to food in general… but burgers might be the one area where I would say the Americans are more critical, well, burgers and BBQ. We’ve eaten so many burgers in our lifetime that everyone can recall their perfect burger. That’s always hard to compete with.

BM: Food trucks arguably are one of this decade’s top food phenoms – why does Paris, a culture of UNESCO protected gastronomy – need food trucks?

KF: Because every culture deserves delicious street food. Gastronomy is one thing, and I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to enjoy everything Paris has to offer from experimental bistros to classic Michelin-star fine dining. However, there isn’t really a street food movement here, yet.

BM: Just as bistronomy has rewritten the rules of bistros in Paris is international cuisine undergoing a similar renaissance in Paris?

KF: I hope so. I remember when I first moved here from California I was so disappointed in the international cuisine available here. I realize that a lot of international dishes have been toned down for French palates.  In general, French people don’t care for flavors that can be considered overpowering like black pepper, raw garlic, or spicy chilies. Clearly the restaurants have to cater to that sensitivity. Its not surprising the many expats and tourists alike will find themselves eating bland Mexican food, mild Szechwan, and just horrible Indian food. I think that is changing. You can see Mexican restaurants popping up all over town, and although I have yet to see a chili reilleno on a menu, I think it’s not too far down the road.

BM: Seriously, what’s the deal with the Parisian high end burgers (€16+) with processed cheese?

KF: I don’t know. It’s the reason we had this idea. Ground beef isn’t terribly expensive here…more so when you grind nice cuts yourself like we do but most places don’t. And floppy plastic cheese is practically free so the only thing I can think of is the restaurants are uncomfortable putting a reasonably priced burger on the menu next to a 19€ steak frites (which is also expensive).

BM: What accompanies the perfect burger?

KF: A napkin. Not a fork and knife. That’s going to be a tough habit for us to conquer. If you watch the people who order burgers in a bistro here everyone uses their utensils to cut away polite bites of burger. In the truck we are going to be encouraging a fork free dining experience. Also fresh fries and a cold beer.

BM: Does being in a truck make it better?

KF: It certainly makes it interesting. Being mobile is a fun concept. You are not limited by location like traditional brick and mortar restaurants. However, it introduces a whole new set of complications of “where are we going to park today?” That’s part of the fun though especially being the first to attempt it in Paris. We are receiving tons of encouragement from people have been anxious for us to start.