FOOD for the Holidays

Tags

Canada, champagne, Chestnuts, cuisine, dachshunds, Food, PEI, wines, World, XMAS

Recently a good friend and blogger asked me about food for the Holidays, what type of food did you have as a child for Christmas etc… So I told him, he was a little taken aback, suffice to say that I and my siblings did not have your conventional upbringing especially when it comes to food and drinks. So no it was not turkey and mash potato with gravy and green peas or ham or whatever is usually served in most households. Wine was also served on a regular basis to adults until I was old enough to have a glass. Cocktails and bubbly made their appearance as a matter of fact at the table. My father always chose the wines, he liked Montrachet.

During my professional life in the many countries we lived in, the menu varied a great deal, various cultures have various fare. In many countries, lamb is a regular staple with chicken a close second, pork is not available and beef is usually served stewed not as a steak. Same with vegetables, in some places root vegetables or squash of all kinds or potatoes are abundant, rice is a side dish with all dishes. So you have to get use to different culinary traditions. Per example in Greece, they will served grilled tomatoes, rice and french fries all together with lamb or fish. In many countries butter is replaced by Ghee butter which is highly saturated in fat but gives the most wonderful taste to food. Also the concept of dieting, allergies or vegetarianism or not eating meat or certain foods is totally unknown and people will enquire about your health, because such condition is associated with the sick and the dying.

So through the years we have modified our Holiday menu to a point where the conventional is not the first thing that comes to mind. This also includes desserts and any sweet. In one country candied whole fruits was a delight to behold, in others it was honey and nut pastries in phylo dough, in others it was rich cakes and specialty chocolates of the finest ingredients made in small batches.

The country I enjoyed the most for wines was Italy, every Italian region has vineyards and all produce regional wines, the volcanic soil of Italy and Sicily produces great wines, red of course but for the last 150 years white wines. Going to the wine merchant was a delight, you could always pair wines with your meal and given the reasonable prices buying several cases for Xmas was a given. One year I found a champagne I truly loved, Jacquesson from France, an exceptional Champagne. If you come across that name, you should get a bottle.

This year will be a quiet Xmas at home, Charlottetown is very quiet and it is pleasant. Christmas Eve I think 3 people are coming over for drinks. Christmas Day we are 7 for Lunch at home. Everything for the meal has been bought including the wines so I do not have to do any more grocery shopping.

While shopping for Chestnuts, I discovered that you cannot find it here anywhere because it is simply something Islanders do not know. A strange thing, but its like veal, you cannot find it, no one carries it. Why? It does not appear that there is any reason. I finally did find chestnuts and beautiful ones at GLOBAL MARKET on St-Peter’s road at Mount Edward. It is an Asian/African grocery store and they carry the most incredible array of goods, most Islanders have never heard of most of it. I was very happy, it’s the second time Global Market has saved my bacon, Mr Will has a knack for asking for the most obscure ingredients at the last minute. In the case of the chestnuts, he is making Chestnut Ice Cream.

Best Wishes to all of you for a Happy Christmas!

A picture of Nora and Nick, the Official Xmas Dachshunds.

Cold weather and travels

Tags

Charlottetown, Festivals, Franconia, Germany, lobster, Moncton, Moose, NB, PEI, Petitcodiac, Reykjavik, Travel, wines

I am constantly amazed at the amount of people who simply do not believe anything is wrong with the climate. Winter started in PEI in early November, it was not a snowy Winter, it was mostly ice rain and high winds. April was rain and more rain, May not much better so far with one warm day. The Weather is so out of wack that farmers cannot plant anything the fields are mud, big sticky red mud. Tourists are staying away given the cold around the freezing point and rain weather. Of course the joke is that PEI only has 2 Seasons, Winter and Summer, in Quebec its Winter and Construction.

So last week I decided to travel off Island to Moncton, New Brunswick which is all of 2 hours away by car and across the Sea bridge of 12 Km. Going was not bad in terms of driving but coming back 2 days later the wind was high so crossing the Sea bridge, you are 350 feet above the Sea, I had both hands gripping the steering wheel and all the big transport trucks 18 wheelers were in convoys. It is a 2 lane bridge and you cannot go any faster than 80km  per hour, but with high winds around 60 miles per hour you do not want to go fast.

Moncton is poorly planned or not planned at all, shopping malls everywhere, a new COSTCO by the highway, a very beautiful river crosses the city with lots of marshland all around, because of the muddy banks it is called the Chocolate river or by its real name Petitcodiac river and it has a very powerful tidal wave coming all the way from Shepody Bay (Bay of Fundy) some 52 Km away. Moncton also has 2 Universities so lots of academic stuff and students. I stayed in Dieppe a suburb of Moncton but you could confuse the two since only a street separates the two cities. Also a large airport serves the area which is handy if you want to fly to other large Canadian cities and cannot do so from Charlottetown PEI.

I saw friends in Moncton and went for lunch to a very nice Café called Tony’s, tonysbistro.ca the food was excellent and they have the most wonderful French pastry shop. I really do not know anymore if COSTCO is all that worth it, I cannot say I saved much money. The real bargain is cheese, for the quantity and price it is unbeatable. Cheese in Canada in general is so expensive that I wonder why they do not have armed guards in supermarkets. After 30 minutes of shopping I had to get out, I was feeling tired by the place.

Chocolate river or Petitcodiac river.

Since I was staying with friends, I brought them Lobsters, now of course you will think don’t they have lobster in New Brunswick, of course they do BUT it is coastal lobster fished in the Strait whereas my lobster is fished in the Gulf on the open sea side of PEI. The taste fishermen tell me is different because of the salt water content. I am not a big lobster eater and will have one per year. However I bought mine at the Water Prince restaurant across the street from my home and Shane and his son Cody sell wonderful seafood. The lobsters were each 2 pounders, the meat was rich and creamy, very good and at $11. per pound well worth it. Now I bought them cooked because I do not know how to cook them in Salt Water and you have to know how to do it. Salt Water in the cooking is very important, many people make the mistake of cooking lobster in unsalted water, big mistake as it changes the taste and the quality of the meat. The best way is to take the water straight from the Sea.

This was my lobster, please note the long antennas which indicates that this lobster was well fed and very fresh. If the antennas are damaged or missing, that is a bad sign, lobster if they are hungry and have no food, will eat their antennas.

Going to Moncton was fun and seeing my friends was a nice brake from the Island. We will be travelling again in June but this time to Ottawa for a week. A first return trip since we left 3 years ago. We are driving 14 hours, but we will need the car in town anyways. I also visited Memramcook (Micmac language meaning Crooked river) which is the birthplace of the first French Language University in the Maritime Provinces, U de Moncton. The Eudistes Fathers opened the university in 1864, the village of Memramcook is ancient, the Micmac indians have lived there since the beginning of time and the French speaking Acadians arrived in 1700. They were deported by British colonial troops coming mostly from the Boston area in 1755. However those who survived the ethnic cleansing returned after 1765. It remains an important historical and cultural site for the Acadians.

Whenever you travel on the highways in N.B. you have to be mindful that the vast forests all around you are full of Moose, you do not want an encounter with one of them, they are very large animals weighing often for a full grown male around one ton or a little more. There is a special number to call if you see one near the road and it is important to remember to stop if the Moose is on the road and stay well away from it. They can charge your car and will injure or kill you in the process if it is mating season.

Monument Lefebvre, first French speaking University in the Maritimes, now known as the Université de Moncton. These buildings are part of the National historical park now, the University moved to Moncton some years ago.

Coming back to Charlottetown, we had tickets to go to the Wine Festival held at this time each year. This year was featuring German Wines, we bought a few bottles mostly of dry Rieslings and met with the owner of a winery in the Franconia region of Germany, Regina ZenZen (from the German word for Licence collector) a very nice lady and in her presentation she paired her wines, in this case a wonderful Silvaner with raw Tuna in a light acidic vinaigrette, the chef was Mitchell from Claddagh Oyster House in Charlottetown, one of my favourite restaurant. Mitchell is a great guy only 28 but talented.

We are also now booking a 7 day cruise with Holland America from Amsterdam to Norway, we will spend some time in Holland, I want to re-visit the Rijks Museum now that the renovations are completed. We will also fly first to Iceland for a few days, there are direct flights from Montreal to Reykjavik on our way to join the cruise in September. Other than that we lead a dull life.

Reykjavik, Iceland

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas shopping

Tags

Food, home, Jordan, London, shopping, Travel, wines, XMAS

Many years ago when I was posted to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for the holidays I would fly back to Canada with a stop in London with British Airways. Amman  to London is about 5 hours. The fun of London was the shopping. The stores had so many fun items, you just wanted to buy it all. One request was to bring home to Canada a baby Stilton, the food hall at Harrod’s had such an item. The baby Stilton is the size of a human baby, this being Stilton it is pungent and needed to be wrapped up properly for the long flight home in Business Class. London is known for its great shopping and there was all kind of great gift food items and not to mention the visit to the wine merchants, what was on offer was mind boggling, not only wines and quality vintages but a great selection of Champagnes and liqueurs of all kinds, so many wonderful choices.

Not to mention the great restaurants and things to see in Museums and galleries. There was also the theatre and so many enjoyable plays. Yes that stop in London was lots of fun, it was always guaranteed to bring home unusual gifts.

And for Xmas how about this group Out of the Blue are Oxford’s all-male singing sensation and two times UK champions of a cappella. Featured on Britain’s Got Talent in 2011 and more recently being recognised by pop-diva Shakira and press all around the world, the group combines award-winning musicality with outrageously unprofessional choreography and mostly intentional comedy! Founded in 2000, the group is made up of students from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University. Each year brings a fresh batch of faces, voices and arrangements. They raises funds through their music for the Helen & Douglas House Hospice for Children and Young Adults a registered hospice charity based in Oxford, England, providing palliative, respite, end-of-life and bereavement care to life-limited children and young adults and their families. The Patron is HRH Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

 

 

Food in Portugal

Tags

cuisine, Food, Portugal, Restaurant, wines

The fun of travel is often to discover national cuisine in the place you are visiting. Portugal has a very distinct cuisine if compared let’s say to Spain next door. While we were in Lisbon we discovered some wonderful food. Portugal is known for its fish and seafood, Cod from the Newfoundland banks, Sardines, Octopus, etc. it is also known for its beef and pork dishes and its rich soups. I was looking forward to this food adventure despite having some friends who recently returned from a trip to Portugal to tell us that the food was ordinary and nothing to talk about.

The first night we went to Ramiro on Rua Palma, it is stricly a fish and seafood restaurant   though you can get the famous beef steak sandwich, it is a small steak no bigger than an english muffin and it is usually served after your fish meal, somewhat like a dessert dish.

Good wines and Portuguese beer like Sagres, the service is fast, this is a two floor restaurant, food is good and simple. It is all about the experience and talking with other people around you. They do not take reservations, you get to the restaurant, there is a computer which gives you a number, ours was 3317, no this is not the number of people in front of you waiting for tables, it is just a number. While you wait you can get a big glass of  Sagres beer for 2 Euro.

We ordered a giant swimming crab for dinner, very rich and good. Some large red shrimps and wine. In Portuguese restaurant, olives, bread and sardines paté comes automatically to the table. For dessert a favourite Portuguese sweet is lemon sorbet doused with vodka refreshing and cleanses the palate. It was a great meal.

Sitting on Tram no.12 which has 20 seats and 38 persons can stand. The trams are very small and 90 years old made of wood frame. The most helpful numbers to get you around are no.12, 28 and 15.

The next day we took the Tram no. 12 up all the way up to the Castle of San Jorge and afterwards we had lunch at the Solar Dos Mouros Hotel, their patio had a spectacular view of the city. The Hotel is on a street called Rua do milagro de Santo Antonio, translation the street of the miracles of St Antonio. Though most people think that St-Anthony was from Padua in Italy, he was in fact Portuguese and he travelled to Italy to join St-Francis and the Franciscan order. He is the patron saint of Lisbon and his church is very popular, just a few steps away from the Cathedral Sé of Lisbon.

One night we had dinner at Infâme which is across the street from Ramiro. It is a young hip place, and it is also located across the piazza from a nice little bar called Josephine as in Josephine Baker. We met 3 young guides there, Nuno 23 years old, Pedro 26 and Alexandra 35, all operate Tuk Tuks, a three wheel electric people mover which is so small it can navigate the very narrow streets of Lisbon at great speed. Josephine is a friendly place and we quickly discovered that Portuguese people are friendly and helpful, unhurried and just happy.

The restaurant’s business card.

For our anniversary dinner we went to Sommelier on Rua Telhal 57, as the name indicates they have 80 wines on their list and all are pared with dishes prepared by the Chef. It is a very elegant restaurant and the wines are all individually chilled at the right temperature for serving. A computer controls it all and the back wall is a great glass display and you can see each bottle with the temperature number electronically displayed. Since you taste the wines, what you ordered is measured and served in the correct glass corresponding to the wine you are having. A Sommelier would know which wine is served in which glass, it is not all the same, ours was very knowledgeable. I was very impressed with their expertise. The food was wonderful we ordered the Lamb salad, the best lamb ever, a grilled John Dory, Filet of goose liver poêlée, melt in your mouth good and grilled octopus done perfectly. For dessert we had a vintage moscatel wine and a dessert called Papo de Anjo or angels double chins, which is whipped and baked egg yokes in a sugar syrup.

There were many other places where we had meals and I will mention them in my next posting. Needless to say there are plenty of excellent restaurants with great service.

 

 

Nova Scotia

Tags

Acadians, Annapolis Royal, Blomidon, Caribou, ferry, Grand Pré, Halifax, Kismet Bar, Nova Scotia, PEI, Port-Royal, Seafood, wines, Wolfville

We went on a short trip, 4 days, to the province next door to PEI, Nova Scotia. A long time ago prior to 1740 it was known as Acadie and populated by French settlers who developed a dyke system for farming on the Bay of Fundy.

We first travelled from our home going East towards Wood Island to catch the ferry which crosses over to Caribou in Nova Scotia a 90 minute trip. The ferry service accommodates both big trucks, buses and cars. Once in Caribou we drove towards Halifax, the capital of the province which is about 90 minutes away. We rented an Air B&B by the Citadel and the architectural wonder new Library on Morris street. A very nice apartment with a nautical theme in the original design, this being an older well preserved building. By walking down hill you arrive in the Port of Halifax where Pier 21, the Canadian Museum dedicated to immigration and many other attractions are located including a larger than life statue to Sir Samuel Cunard, a native son and founder of the famous Cunard Shipping Line.

Halifax has many beautiful colonial stone buildings, old churches and museums. Founded in 1749 and replacing the original capital of Port Royal on the Bay of Fundy. It has a population of half a million people, lots of very good restaurants and bars where drinks mixology is the craze with very good barmen competing on who is the best. I often wonder how they remember all the complex drink recipes and it is great to watch them in action.

We had great weather and being in September the tourists crowds were less numerous despite the fact that 3 cruise ships were in town, it is a big enough city you can find oasis of calm. Halifax has always been an important sea port and a busy one.

     

The 78th Highland Regiment of the Halifax Citadel. Their bonnets are made of bird feathers unlike the Grenadier guards whose Busby were made of black bear skins.

The famous Bluenose II featured on our 10 cent coin in Halifax harbour.

We saw the Bluenose II in port, a beautiful sight and you can sail on her with her crew twice a day. I don’t know if there is something more Canadian than this ship.

We also in Halifax had some great meals and cocktails, mixology is all the rage now. We went to a new bar called Kismet on Agricola street. The four of us ordered from their cocktails menus drinks and then watch the barman create them, it was fascinating. Kismet Bar also has a wonderful kitchen and the food was excellent.

Then we travelled by car to Annapolis Royal formerly Port-Royal under the French Regime and the original Capital of Acadie today Nova Scotia. The drive through the countryside is very nice, green and full of beautiful sights.

Port-Royal was founded by the French envoy and explorer Pierre Dugua, Sieur des Mons and Samuel de Champlain in 1604.

Champlain declared that the site was “the most suitable and pleasant for a settlement that we had seen.” They called the spot Port-Royal, in recognition of the French king Henri IV who had granted de Mons a monopoly on the area’s fur trade, and it became the first European settlement north of Florida.

Under the direction of Jean de Biencourt, who led the expedition after de Mons returned to France,  Port-Royal was built in the summer of 1605, resembling the fortified farm hamlets that could be seen in 1600s France.

We visited Fort Anne in Annapolis Royal first established in 1629 by the British and Scots colonists. The region reverted to French control in the 1630s and Charles de Menou d’Aulnay began work on the first of four forts on the same site, then known as Port Royal. In 1702, the French began construction of the current Vauban fortifications that we see today. During Queen Anne’s War, the fort fell to British and New England troops after a week-long in 1710 which marked the British conquest of Acadia. A British governor and garrison replaced the French at the fort renaming the Port Royal settlement Annapolis Royal in honour of Queen Anne. With the Treaty of Utrecht three years later, the British gained full control of mainland Nova Scotia and kept Annapolis Royal as the capital until the founding of Halifax in 1749. We had a nice time visiting the area though the sky was cloudy and rainy. Upon leaving we stopped at a distillery named STILL FIRED on Highway 8, sampled some of the goods and it was delightful. The owners suggested we stop at Blomidon Wineries in Canning near Wolfville and so we did.

The weather was stormy but the clouds were moving fast and it rained intermittently, when we arrived at Blomidon   https://blomidonwine.ca we visited the shop and had a great lunch of Charcuterie and cheeses with the wines on offer. It was great fun and we bought a few bottles.

The wines were very pleasing, a red, a rosé and a white.

We arrived in Wolfville on the Bay of Fundy and stayed at a wonderful Bed & Breakfast, the former home of a high society family of the area. Wolfville is a University town, Acadia University established in 1838 has about 4000 students, the town is quite pleasant surrounded by wineries and historical sites including Grand Pré, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Wolfville is on the shores of the Bay of Fundy and you can see the dramatic tides coming and going, impressive. Grand Pré is the site of an Acadian (French) settlement and where a peaceful people were violently and forcibly removed by British troops in an act of ethnic cleansing in July 1755 ordered by British Governor Charles Lawrence. Some 10,000 people were deported and lost all their private property and belongings. Grand Pré is also the site of the romantic novel Evangeline by Longfellow, a beautiful park, a memorial church and a museum helps visitors relive the life of the area. A cross marks the site where families were separated before being forced on board leaky boats, some 3000 died at sea.

Grand Pré is also an area where you can see the agricultural efforts of the Acadians to reclaim salty marshland from the sea for cultivation. A very ingenious system requiring a lot of work over a large area. It is well worth the visit.

Grand Pré, the park which was formerly the cemetery of the French settlement

High tide on the Bay of Fundy, at low tide the water disappears and a depression of 40 feet red mud is created.

Here is a map of the area where the Mi’ kmaq have lived for the last 15,000 years. Today the Maritime provinces, part of the Gaspé péninsula in Quebec and Newfoundland.

On the last day we made our way back to Caribou to catch the ferry back to PEI and we arrived back on the Island around 6pm and made our way to Point Prim to have dinner at the Chowder House which closes for the Season on 30 September. It is one of our favourite spot to have dinner facing the Strait of Northumberland, great food.

The view from the Chowder House at Point Prim with the setting sun.

Here is a cruise ship exiting the Harbour of Charlottetown and making its way into the Strait going to Cape Breton. Such a dramatic view.

Remember Pesaro, Capri, Sicily

Tags

beef, Canada., Capri, Charlottetown, Cheese, cuisine, PEI, Pesaro, Seafood, Sicily, wines

A few weeks ago I wrote that our new home and now it is revealed it will be Charlottetown the Capital of the Province of Prince Edward Island. It has in common with these 3 places in Italy the following, with Pesaro on the Adriatic, music and culture, with Capri, it is an Island of great beauty and with Sicily, it has fine cuisine, seafood, beef, cheese and wines.

An aerial view of our neighbourhood, I can see our house on this photo (circled in red), in the Summer cruise ships come into the Harbour area on the Hillsborough river. You can see the entrance of the harbour giving unto the Northumberland Strait. From our living room window we can see down Prince street to the Harbour the ships as they dock.

So only 11 weeks left before we leave for PEI.