Cinda Chavich’s      TasteReport.com

                                 taste the world

2013

 

Cinda Chavich’s best-selling cook books:











The Guy Can’t Cook by Cinda Chavich (Whitecap), sequel to the popular The Girl Can’t Cook

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Buy it...

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And here’s Cinda’s new pressure cooker book, with new recipes, including Caramelized Onion Soup, Kung Pao Pork, & Italian-style Pot Roast with Pasta.













Award-winning High Plains was also updated and reissued in 2011.


 
   Taste the world’s most delicious culinary corners with food, drink and travel reporter and photographer Cinda Chavich.

My food and travel stories appear in national and international books, magazines and newspapers and now you can have a soupcon of it all right here.

Read my reports from around the world and get a taste for what’s unique and delicious.
 
All stories and photos
Copyright 2000-2013 - Cinda Chavich. All rights reserved.

Follow the ongoing adventures of food and travel writer Cinda Chavich as she savours the world. Find her published food, drink and travel stories, and regular blog here at TasteReport.com.

More travel stories:

Mexico: travels in ceviche-ville


Running back to Saskatoon


Cajun Mardis Gras


The taste of Lyon


Arizona’s awesome rocks


Tasting Haggis in Scotland


Fondue in Switzerland


Scotland: Where the Royals Roam on holiday


Culinary tourism: Wales


First Nations art and Totem poles


Bargain Barbados


Watching grizzly bears in B.C.


Gastro pubs in Britain


A scenic train trip to bike-friendly Whistler


Summer in Scottsdale


Touring Romagna


Michelin releases Alberta guide


Go Slow: a food tour of Italy’s Piemonte


Crawdad season in Cajun country


Saving the blue iguana of Grand Cayman


The science of watching humpback whales


Quebec’s Ile d’Orleans


Gourmet sea kayaking


Hawai’i’s Big Island


B.C.’s Cowichan Valley


More food stories:


Best ground beef for burgers


Vancouver Island oysters


Sustainable foie gras


All about haggis


Grey Cup party food


Calgary’s Best Ice Cream


Pack a picnic


25 Best Things to Eat in Calgary - 2010


Making sushi from scratch


Cooking wild game


Saskatoon berries


The best bacon


Classic British puddings


Canadian foie gras


Team Canada at Bocuse d’Or in Lyon


Making Sauerkraut from scratch


Wild Turkey


Cloud berries on the Rock


Canada’s authentic buffalo mozzarella



Recipes:


Szechuan Noodle Soup


Best Grilled Cheese EVER


Spring Fiddleheads with Pasta


Vegetarian Haggis


Saucy Lemon Pudding Cake


Cappelletti en Brodo


Lobster Mac and Cheese


Quebec Christmas tourtiere


Saskatoon berry apple crisp


Cooking with sauerkraut


Vegeterian burgers


Cock-a-leekie soup


Grilled leg of lamb


Mac and cheese (from scratch!)


Banana pancakes


Pickerel in lemon butter sauce


Turkey dinner


ALL recipes....



More Drink stories:


Inniskillin Sparkling Icewine


The Dolcettos of Dogliani


Pretty Paso Robles


Super single malts


Cocktail Nation: Drink experts dish on latest


Orofino Riesling wins gold medal


Iced cider in Quebec


Taste Report: Prosecco


Touring Italy’s Veneto


Korean Soju


Rum Renaissance


More great hotels:


Pacific Sands Beach Resort, Tofino, B.C.


Three Ways House Hotel, Mickleton, UK


The Juniper, Banff National Park


The Banff Springs Hotel, Banff, Alberta


Opus Hotel, Vancouver, B.C.


Moraine Lake Lodge, Lake Louise,  Alberta


G Hotel, Penang, Malaysia


Shangri-la Hotel, Vancouver, B.C.


Hotel Arts, Calgary, Alberta


Kensington Riverside Inn, Calgary, Alberta


Mission Ridge B&B, Courtenay, B.C.


seen

Have you ever seen spring like this? The ultimate sign of the season - in all of it’s colourful, blooming glory - is in the spectacular Japanese garden in Victoria’s Butchart Gardens.

I’ve take a few strolls through the gardens in recent weeks and when they say “a blaze of colour” it’s no boast - drifts of tulips and daffodils, and every kind of flowering ornamental tree you can imagine.

It’s my first experience with the voluptuous magnolia, bursting forth like a buxom Mae West with its massive pink blooms even before any leaves are in sight. And then there are the camillias - not the tea plant but the flowering trees - so profuse in their blooms that it’s really almost sinful to see. Never mind the heady, and I mean knock you down fragrance, of a massive drift of  white hyacinthe.

Sorry rest of Canada - spring may be here, but this is the way to do it.

sipped

I recently judged a food competition  at the Maui County Ag Fest with Peter Merriman, one of the leaders of the locovore food movement on the Hawai’ian Islands.

At his casual Monkeypod Kitchen in Wailea, the menu is fun - but just as carefully sourced from local farms as it is at his eponymous Merriman’s restaurant on the  Big Island.

Even the cocktails are truly inspired - like this Rain Tree Elixir, the first time I’ve ever had raw coconut water or kaffir lime leaves in a drink, never mind the exotic white spirit distilled by the Reum brothers at VeeV using acai berries from the Brazilian rain forest. Healthy? Dunno. But definitely unique and refreshing.

tasted

More on Hawaii inside, but I want to talk about some of the incredible tastes I’ve had here on this island (Vancouver Island, that is). Been on a few walk-abouts with tour guide Karma Brophy of late - her Island Feast culinary concierge company will organize a foodie tour of posh and tasty Oak Bay or the new Victoria Downtown Public Market when it opens in June.

We even did a tasteful tour of the farm markets, wineries and food producers in the Comox Valley (more later).

But on a recent foray in my own ‘hood, I picked up some of the killer chicken liver mousse and charcuterie at The Whole Beast (along with a brilliant Fol Epi baguette from the Village Butcher next door), then watched the Italian experts at they cut the Big Cheese at Ottavio.

Oh yes, and can’t forget the amazing Dungeness crab pulled from the dockside waters of the Oak Bay Marina and cooked to perfection with grilled lemons, fat mussels and clams, then dumped onto the table to devour cave-girl style, by chef Jeff Keenliside. Look for more great stuff from this recent arrival from the late great Vis a Vis, and more news on the tasty food scene in Oak Bay and environs. But this month, my Ode to Oysters is here.

TASTE, n. & v. : flavor, morsel, relish, sip, savor, enjoy, learn, experience -  the ability to discern the best quality.

slept

Got my serious zen groove going and crashed at one of the coolest new spots on the island - Maui’s laid back Lumeria retreat.

Oprah’s a neighbour - and I think Stephen Tyler is seen out and about in these parts, too - the Upcountry, cowboy, out of the way side of Maui.

Don’t expect great food - unless you’re there for the tasty organic fruit and vegetable Juice Cleanse - but for true unplugged peace (even inner peace) and quiet, there may be no place quite like it.

We were too busy to really chill out but with morning call to yoga after a spartan breakfast and a long walk to anywhere, I think you could seriously lose yourself in the moment here (and a few kilos, too). A stylishly re-imagined plantation workers’ residence, with stunning tropical gardens and lovely spaces to hide out, this is the spartan yogi life with a hearty dose of Asian opulence, and a little star power thrown around for good measure. From the dropped hints, I’m guessing it was lovely Liv Tyler and family that got clean and shiny from the inside out here, but it could be anyone. Would love to go back and give it a try myself.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CINDA NOW?

Just back from a trip to the Calgary Stampede Ranch to check out the stock for the upcoming rodeo in July.

I’m off to Quebec to explore the Eastern Townships later this month.

Next I’m flying off to Puerto Rico to explore their cocina criolla (and famous rum cocktails). I’ll be kicking back at the Caribe Hilton where they claim the Pina Colada was invented, so expect more on that topic.

Then it’s off to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to connect with Canadian travel colleagues - did I mention that my story about Saskatoon was shortlisted for the recent Saskatchewn Tourism awards?

And I’ll be traveling north to Whitehorse, Yukon, land of the midnight sun, as we approach the summer solstice.

All cool spots to explore. Let me know if you have somewhere else you’d like me to see!