The Trout Lake Farmers Market Opens this Saturday in their NEW LOCATION - the North Lot of Trout Lake Park behind 13th Avenue between Lakewood and Templeton. Opening bell rings at 9am and the market will run until 2pm each week until October 23.

There is no parking in the surrounding neighbourhood.  Try cycling, walking or taking transit to the market, or if you must drive, please park at a distance and walk in.  The closest bus is the #7 NanaimoStn/Dunbar - get off at Grandview Highway and walk 2 blocks West.  There is bike valet for secure bike parking while shopping, and a Grocery Pickup Area for heavy purchase pickups. And a doesn’t a walk to the market sound like a great way to start the day?  It certainly does!

For more information about the new location, check out their website.

Fun new feature: How about planning your trip to the market with their Interactive Market Map?  Its a great tool that can help you find your favourite vendor.

Its going to be a great day at the market, see you there!

photo courtesy of The Comox Valley Shellfish Festival

Here’s an easy excuse to make that Vancouver Island trip you may have been considering lately!

The Comox Valley Shellfish Festival (and here on Facebook) is pleased to introduce this year’s list of BC grown chefs participating in the Gala Evening Dinner. On Saturday, June 19th, 2010, 200 guests will be treated to a nine-course gourmet seafood supper served outside along the lapping shores of Comox Harbour. For the first time, the festival is extremely excited to have two renowned chefs from famed Vancouver restaurants, Rick Bowman from Monk McQueens Restaurant & Patio and Scott Practico from Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop House.
Also volunteering their time and culinary mastery are:
• Nigel McMeans, Executive Chef, Blackfin Pub at the Marina, Comox
• Jonathan Frazier, Executive Chef, Atlas Café, Courtenay
• Troy Fogarty, Executive Chef, Kingfisher Spa & Resort, Courtenay
• Ronald St-Pierre, Executive Chef, Locals Restaurant, Courtenay
• Aaron Rail, Executive Chef, Avenue Bistro, Comox
• Mark Duncan, Executive Chef, Union Street Grill & Grotto, Courtenay
• Matt MacDonald, Executive Chef, Berwick, Comox

Tickets are $120 - to order yours and more information contact:
Matthew Wright, Festival Producer
250.890.7561 / matt@bcsga.ca

photo courtesy of The Comox Valley Shellfish Festival

I wasn’t a fan of school - at any level, be it elementary or my university days. I am very much the type who likes to get the assignment (quickly) and then go figure out how to get it done, and done well. Having recess, play-time and homeroom were frustrating road bumps in my to-do list filled days. (Hmmm control freak, Type-A personality much Jackie? Yes yes, I’ll be the first to admit it.)

But what I saw this Fall November morning made me want to be a kid in school again. Walking through the front doors of Grenfell Elementary at five minutes to nine, that smell of an old school building and the sight of hand made art projects pinned to the wood panelled walls whipped me back to my school days faster than that hilarious scene with Anton Ego in Disney’s Ratatouille. And what made me wish this upon myself, you ask? Project Chef.

"You must respect your food" Barb told the class.

Project Chef’s mission, through going directly into schools and giving kids the hands-on experience of cooking, is:

“To teach children the knowledge and skills necessary to make healthy food choices and enable them to make wholesome, nutritious meals for themselves so that they may lead healthy lives.”

What a concept! And let me tell you these kids weren’t totally out of the organic, local, know-your-farmer food scene. They knew what pesticides were; why an organic pear could hold the title of organic; and they knew why local was better (”Because it gets here faster!” the bright one at Kitchen Purple answered). But Barb, their teacher for the week, didn’t hold back in explaining why it’s good to know who grows your food and to buy from as close to home as possible.

Food stylist extraordinaire Angelyne Martin who helps with Project Chef

Today was extra special because Chef Michael Smith popped by to see what all the excitement was about. And to eat orange peels, which the kids got a major kick out of. (More on Chef Michael and his new book coming soon!)

Chef Michael...sans orange peel.

Sadly, my cooking partner Navida and I didn’t win our Social Bites cooking night. But kudos to the winner and his cooking partner, we heard they perpared some, shall we say, interesting food choices for their guests. But since we only lost by a mere 5 points (that’s right, 235 out of 240!!) I thought you might like to see some of the shots of what we made, a few more here, and click for the recipe cards Navida designed for our guests to take home with them: skewered!

Congrats Annika ~ another successful Social Bites night completed!

Chicken satays marinated in garlic, ginger, tumeric and coriander and cumin. © 2009 jackie connelly

Harissa Prawns with cucumber, tomato and fresh mint salad. © 2009 jackie connelly

Roasted skewered vegetables. © 2009 jackie connelly

Seriously, stunning photography, inspiring reflections on the food system… what more can a person ask for ask for?!? Reading Michael’s book and seeing what he’s accomplished for the world of food and farming, plus the fact that he shoots beautiful photos and does so for all of his books, this is an event not to be missed.

“ Food  may become the dominant issue of our time. The industrial system that brings it to us is unraveling, and the cost of that system,ecologically, socially, and personally is enormous. While Ableman will  touch on this crisis, he will leave us with a deeper sense of how we can participate in the solutions; on our farms and in our gardens,  in  our kitchens and at the dining room table, and in the broader communities where we live.

Michael will inspire us with his stories and powerful photographic images of individuals who are using community land, backyard gardens as well as urban farms for creating socially and ecologically responsible ways of growing food.“

This Wednesday October 21st, 7.30pm (rideshare available)

Centennial Theatre, 2300 Lonsdale Ave North Vancouver

Tickets are $10, available at Centennial Theatre, 604-984-4484. Pay by credit card over the phone or cash at the door.

Go to the Edible Garden Project website for more details.

That’s right, my Saturday was total and utter geekery…nerdiness…dorkiness…whatever word you prefer to use, that’s what my day was. And it was awesome.

Where was I, you ask? Vino Camp & Cheese Camp.

Let me first say on what level the day deserves this title, or ‘levels’ I should say. First, there was wine. A lot was organic, free from herbicides and pesticides and chemicals. Many were local, and most were very tasty. It was swirled, smelled, drank and discussed about.

Then there was cheese. Goat cheese, blue cheese, comte, brie - all of which, except for the blue in my opinion, were also very tasty (others were serious fans of the salty and savory taste of the blue). Don’t get me wrong, though it makes for the prettiest pictures, blue is just not my kind o’ cheese.

And then there was the third level of geekiness - the social media kind. Seriously, somebody organizing this event understands us nerds, understands how to get us all out to eat cheese and drink wine, and how to encourage us log the entire experience from start to finish. They give us wine and cheese, we drink, eat, and pretty much work the entire time tweeting, texting, photographing, blogging, and video blogging the deliciousness of it all while they sit back and watch. Er, eat and drink. Smartie pants.

Job well done to all who organized this event, I’m already looking forward to next year.

This past Sunday we hopped on our bikes like good little environment conscious Vancouverites and peddled down to the first Gastown Farmers Market. Little did I know I would get a lesson in a food I thought I knew well enough.

The subject: heirloom tomatoes

The teacher: Michael Allen from Garden Back to Eden

Seriously I had no idea there are so many different varieties of heirlooms, nor that each has their own name. And not just ordinary names. Names like The Black Price. Green Zebra. Striped German. And my favourite: Heart of Compassion. C’mon, these are poetic! Who names a vegetable, a food of any kind, Heart of Compassion? These kinds of names seem to suit incredibly valuable things with a rich history that needs to be protected. Or things that have a long lineage, traceable to all corners of the globe! Not…tomatoes??!!

But just you hold your horses for one moment my student, heirloom tomatoes are in fact from royalty (the seeds from The Black Prince were brought to England from Russia by an heir to the throne, so I was told); they do have lineage traceable back as early as the 1800’s from Belgium, Germany, Russia, the list goes on; and the history behind where the seeds originally come from is often long stories about people leaving (or being forced to leave) their country with just the clothes on their backs, their families, and their tomato seeds. Amazing.

Gorgeous! Heart of Compassion (foreground) and Green Zebra (background).

Vintage Heirloom

What did they taste like, you ask? The Black Prince was a gorgeous purple-brown-deep red colour that was only more beautiful when sliced open, and was ridiculously sweet. Lots of seeds, thin skin. Heart of Compassion was, suitable to it’s name, in the shape of a heart and quite possibly the meatiest tomato I’ve ever had; it was solid tomato the whole way through, very few seeds and was as pink as a watermelon inside. I squished out some seeds from both these varieties and they’re drying on my counter top right now; I can’t wait to plant them next Spring (they’re an indeterminate and my garden definitely has vertical space!).

Your homework: Next Sunday go to the Gastown Farmers Market, find Michael at Garden Back to Eden and pretend like you know nothing about heirloom tomatoes. Ask for the what’s what of heirlooms and you’ll see with your own eyes the passion this man has for this gorgeous and tasty food. * Notetaking optional (I used the paper bag I took my 6 tomatoes home in).

Straight from the incredible ambitious and dedicated people at the Vancouver Farmers Markets: the Gastown Farmers Market opens this weekend! Please spread the word and support your local producers.

Looks like the Market is also being supported/promoted by The City of Vancouver’s Summer Spaces program, an initiative whereby “select commercial streets are opening up on Sundays this Summer for local residents to experience as temporary public spaces”. For more info on that go here to find your neighborhood’s Summer Spaces events and here for Gastown.

The opening market is this Sunday August 2nd from 11am to 3pm and will continue until September 27th. The full list of vendors to date includes:

A Bread Affair - organic artisan bread
Anna’s Blumen Design - locally grown dahlias, sunflowers and more
Bad Girl Chocolates - artisan chocolates, truffles, candy and dessert sauces
Cropthorne Farm - Squash, Lettuce, Salad Mix, Potatoes, Cabbage, Broccoli, Peas, Beans, Corn, Carrots, Asian greens, Leek, Parsnip, Cucumbers, Aubergine, Kale, Chard, Beets and more
Dundarave Olive Co - olives, flavoured olive oil, tapenade
Garden Back to Eden - organic heirloom tomatoes, brocolli, eggplant, berries and more
Golden West Farm - organic cherries, peaches, apple chips
Great Day Bokashi - indoor composting systems
Healthy Bagel Factory - bagels
Jobst-Hof Farm - cherries, peaches
Klippers Organic Acres - organic tomatoes, peaches, apricots, walnuts, plums, lettuce, squash, eggs, peppers, herbs, dried fruit, jam
Maan Farm - corn, peppers, berries
Matsqui Blue Farms - organic blueberries, hazelnuts, pears
Richmond Urban Farmers - garlic and ground crops
Royal Herbs - body care, soap, aromatherapy, tinctures, natural home cleaning solutions
Say See Bon Patisserie - Parisian macaroons
Sweet T’s Pies - pies - fruit and nut, cookies
Thai Princess Enterprises - Thai stir-fry sauces
The Cambie Bakery & Café - sweet and savoury baked goods
Wenger Sheep Farm - lamb and sheep products

You can also go here for more info. See you there!

Who’s got questions about raising chickens in your Vancouver backyard? I do! I do!

Sadly I don’t have the space for backyard chickens, I so wish that I did. If you have the space, and want to learn how to do things properly, here’s a place to get some answers!

Here’s the skinny:

” In preparation for a modified bylaw that will allow Vancouver residents to keep backyard birds, we finally have our first urban chicken workshop taking place in Vancouver. Sign up to learn what it takes to responsibly care for chickens on a small scale. Including information on housing, feed, disease control, pest and predator deterrents, and generally how to prepare for the commitment and joys of raising chickens.”

So at 10am on Sunday July 19th get yourself to Strathcona Garden (on the SW corner of Hawks and Prior, just WEST of Strathcona Park). You must also reserve your spot via email at jwnield@ffcf.bc.ca. Entry by donation, $25 recommended.

If you’re new to this whole backyard chicken thing, check out some resources on the Chickens In Vancouver blog to get yourself up to speed.

Table Champetre translates to country table, and being that this local food experience is held in a field, with food from the area farmers prepared by one of the Comox Valley’s newest Chefs, there’s no doubt the title is quite appropriate.

The event will take place at Tannadice Farm in Courtenay, BC on July 26th, with food prepared by Chef Ronald St. Pierre of the Valley’s very popular Locals Restaurant. Tickets are on sale now, so if you plan on being in the Comox Valley at this time, or considering a Summer Island excursion, this might just be the perfect dinner event.

I photographed some of Chef Ronald’s creations this week as part of a larger project (exciting details to come soon!) and I don’t think I’ve ever met a chef with a more outward sense of humor. During the shoot, he literally brought out a 4′ long painted ceramic fish and, holding it up towards me, asked “Shall we put this in the background of the gazpacho?” His humour, combined with his culinary skills and the local food scene in the Comox Valley will surely make this event a success.