Happy New Year, Foodies!

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In an effort to be as cool as Andrew over at International Metropolis, I thought I would borrow his idea of doing a review of 2008. Unfortunately, Andrew's review has to do with buildings that our city has lost over the last year...such a shame. I get to bring you good news though and review things I have discovered or businesses that we have gained over the past year.

Resolutions I kept (well, kind of) in 2008:

• Read a book a month - I was finishing school this year so including my 2 textbooks, I read 10 books; this year I hope to read the full 12 and none will be to do with school (yay!)
  
• Compost - I cannot believe how little garbage we now put out and am amazed at how quickly the composter breaks everything down
  
• Grow veggies - okay, so we did not exactly have bumper crops from the window boxes but it was great to reach outside and pick fresh herbs and hot peppers to put in salads; I joined Windsor Essex Community Supported Agriculture so 2009 brings me more local veg

Best discoveries/news of 2008:

• Finding out that a local dairy still exists: Lakeside Jersey Dairy
• The return of my local beer: Walkerville Brewery
• The creation of a local Community Supported Agriculture group: WECSA
• Being introduced to other local bloggers and learning a buttload of stuff from them: Windsor Bloggers
  
• Learning that we now have a new fruit winery (14th winery in SW Ontario, the 13th in Essex County!)
• Investigating rumours that we have a local flour mill

The last two points were exciting discoveries that I had only learned of a week ago. I will be posting about these as soon as I get to visit them within the next week.

I look forward to what 2009 holds in store and hope that some of you have made the resolution to eat more local food this year.

Wishing you much prosperity for 2009!
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Beans the Magical Fruit

With all that snow out there it is nice to stay inside and enjoy the view from the comfort of the couch. My favourite dinners this time of year are soups, chilis and stews...and I know that I am not alone.

This week we cooked a chili soup as well as a pot of chili using Thompson's Beans. Thompson's is a Southwestern Ontario company that processes and drys beans from different areas of North America. They sell a wide variety of beans and depending on what grocery store you go to, your options will vary. I picked up 15-Bean Mix and Red Kidney Beans from Sanson Estate Winery who are carrying the full line of Thompson's Beans. A visit to Zehrs gave me only one option: White Pea Beans for $1.29 (check out this PDF for White Pea Bean & Tuna Salad).

The beans are packaged in 1 lb bags and they have recipes printed on the reverse. I decided to follow the recipes exactly to see what would happen; we had good results but you will definitely have to add your favourite seasonings to adjust the taste to your palette. Here's a photo of the 15-Bean mix that we made into Chili Soup.

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Give Local

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Each year at work I have to create gift baskets for our clients. Sometimes I have to follow a certain theme, but this year I had carte blanche and $100 per basket. Look out stores!

All of the food/drink items in the basket are from Ontario (in fact, Toronto or closer). The wine is from Colio Estate Wines and the "Dennis' Blend" coffee (available only at Sanson Estate Winery) is prepared by Colonial Coffee in Windsor where they roast and grind the beans in-house. The sauces are from The Garlic Box, a southwestern Ontario company that grows their own garlic and then creates gourmet products from it; the dips are from Wildly Delicious Gourmet in Toronto.

If I had more time and a bigger budget I would have looked for a local basket (a Michigan-based company I order from uses locally made Mennonite baskets for their orders) and local mugs but sourcing that stuff takes time. If you have any leads for me, let me know!

So here it is:


I hope Santa brings you something special too. And if it is made locally, well that is just a bonus!
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Oliver's Twist

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Jamie Oliver is so funny and sweet that I just want to grab a hold of him and give him a big cuddle. Apart from his sheer adorableness, he is one heck of a chef and is extremely passionate about the state of nutrition and our youth.

If you do not know Jamie then here are some of his major accomplishments:

• starred in a TV cooking series on British television called "The Naked Chef"
• lobbied the government to invest in children's well-being by supporting healthier school dinners; not only did he get money out of the government and control of a school kitchen for 1 year to prove that he could cook healthy meals cost-effectively, Jamie was instrumental in banning fast food from schools and "chip vans" from school perimeters (to which some parents reacted by bringing fast food to their children and passing it through the fence!)
  
• created "Fifteen", a restaurant that takes 15 troubled teens and trains them for the hospitality industry; he is opening these worldwide now and one is planned for Toronto (I think Windsor would be an amazing place for this project!)

You can learn about what Jamie's up to now (he is always up to something) from his website or you can spend some time with these great interviews:

• Gremolata - Malcolm Jolley interviews Jamie (text); lots of "f" bombs!
• CBC Sunday Morning - Evan Solomon interviews "The Angry Chef" (video)
  

What does this have to do with local food? Jamie says that right now we are in a great era where most of us have access to local farmers markets and ingredients to make great meals...but the downside is that a lot of people do not know what to do with everything. Start experimenting in the kitchen, my friends; we do not want "The Angry Chef" to come after us (well, some of us might! :D).
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Meat & Greet

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Having a dinner party or do not feel like cooking? Olde Riverside Schwab's has added an oven that makes the entire store smell delicious the second you walk in. Each trip I am fighting over whether I should go home and cook or buy something that just came out of the oven...ribs, chicken, pie (yes, you CAN have pie for dinner!).

When you visit the deli at 5410 Wyandotte Street East you can sign up for their newsletter and receive information like these specials on local food:

• Rotisserie Chicken Dinner includes medium Roasted Red Potatoes & Macaroni Salad for $16.99 + tx (call ahead to order to avoid disappointment)
• Fresh Prime Rib Roasts $6.99/lb
• Schinkel's Legacy Football Ham $2.99/lb
• Valerie's Original Flavours (Hot and Mild) $7.49/1 litre jug

These are their current specials and are on until December 31st, 2008. Until December 14th you can drop off new clothes, toys or ornaments that will go to a needy family; Schwab's is also sponsoring a family for Christmas and will be providing a turkey dinner for them. These are the kind of businesses that we should be supporting.
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